When I opened my eyes —
Everything was a blur. And I was in pain.
"Damn it... where am I?"
My head was splitting. The dizziness was overwhelming, crushing me from the inside out.
I tried to move my hand — and what I saw stopped my thoughts cold.
My hand was tiny. Impossibly small. Like an infant's.
What kind of madness is this? Why is my hand this size?
And my chest — it was burning warm, as though something deep inside it was radiating heat from within.
In that moment I hadn't yet grasped what had happened to me, so I tried to stand. I couldn't. So I tried to speak —
And instead, I screamed.
Like a newborn child.
My voice was the voice of a baby fresh into the world.
In the midst of that raw panic, a woman appeared.
Beautiful. Short black hair. Bright, luminous eyes. Neither tall nor short — a gentle figure, a modest build — but her beauty was something distinctly her own. She was gazing down at me with a wide, radiant smile.
Why is she smiling like that, the madwoman?
But her eyes... her eyes were filled to the brim with something I had almost no memory of.
Tenderness.
She was speaking in a foreign tongue — and yet, strangely, I understood every word.
"My precious little one — why are you crying?"
And she lifted me into her arms.
At that moment, a man strode in.
He had a large mustache, handsome features, long black hair, a tall frame, a small nose, and eyes dark as midnight. He came toward me quickly — and he too was smiling. He wrapped an arm around the beautiful woman, leaned down, and kissed my forehead.
"Why all this crying, boy? You've made your mother worry."
Then, from behind him, another woman entered.
She wore a maid's uniform.
And she had cat ears.
She was smiling too.
I don't understand why they're all this inexplicably happy.
Wait.
Hold on a moment.
...Are those cat ears?
I have finally, completely, and thoroughly lost my mind.
Is what I'm seeing right now actually real?
Wait — hold on —
Is that a tail too?
When I saw it, something between shock and absurd disbelief seized me entirely.
But I tried to calm myself — and strangely, the calm came quickly.
I laid out what I knew. Three possibilities:
One — I am insane. Utterly broken. And my mind is weaving all of this with masterful, seamless precision.
Two — I am under the influence of some strange narcotic that one of my enemies used against me.
Three — I am genuinely in another world.
I didn't particularly care which one it was. There was nothing I could do about it either way.
What I could see was this: the man before me was my father. The woman holding me was my mother.
Had fate actually given me another chance at life?
In that moment, the memory of what happened in the darkness came flooding back.
Was that real? Did I truly travel to another world? How did this happen?
When I looked at my father and mother again, I noticed something hovering above them.
I focused on it.
A single word.
"Status"
I thought about the word — and it slowly dissolved.
Then beside my mother, a large floating panel materialized, and on it was written:
Name: RahabOccupation: HousewifeFeels intense love toward you.
What is this panel? Why do I suddenly feel like I'm inside some kind of game?
What kind of son of a— who is doing this to me? I will kill you in the worst way imaginable.
I looked toward my father and decided to test it again. I thought the word:
"Status"
Name: AmirOccupation: Village ChiefFeels love and hope toward you.
I like using my mind. But I don't like abusing it.
Right now I'm pushing every ounce of it just to process what's happening around me.
But none of it makes logical sense. I am dead. I remember the feeling of dying — it's painful. Though now isn't the right time to tell you just how painful. You'll all find out for yourselves someday.
Then, without warning, another panel materialized before me. Another idiotic floating board.
"Special Abilities"
1 — Status 2 — Attributes 3 — Skills 4 — Shop
I stared at it in stunned silence — and before my shock could even settle, descriptions began appearing beside each entry, exactly as before:
Status: Allows you to view the condition of those around you and their feelings toward you. Can be leveled up to reveal greater detail.
Attributes: Allows you to view your own personal attributes.
Skills: Allows you to view your skills and level them up.
Shop: Allows you to purchase whatever you desire from the shop.
I understood what each ability did. So I decided to run a test.
I thought the word:
"Attributes"
A panel appeared:
Name: JokerLevel: 0Occupation: NoneHealth: 100/100
Strength: 1 Intelligence: 50 Endurance: 1 Luck: 30 Charisma: 20 Magic: 0
By increasing your level, you may raise your abilities.
What is all of this?
I genuinely feel like I'm inside a game right now. Is this other world literally a game? Or what?
But in that moment — I felt something.
Something beautiful.
My mother was holding me tightly against her chest. And I felt —
Safe.
Loved, in a way I had never once felt across the entirety of my previous life.
This was the first time — in any life I had lived — that I felt it.
That someone truly loved me.
I didn't want anything else in that moment.
I have a gentle mother now. A decent father who treats me well.
I feel like I'm in paradise.
And so, in that moment, I made a decision.
I would live a normal life. Far, far away from trouble. I would be an ordinary person —
But what I didn't know then...
Was that fate had entirely different plans for me.