'I'm still not ready to abandon my name.'
He was just on the verge of success! They had just held their first-ever concert abroad, and he was slowly getting known. Just why did he have to die all of a sudden?!
Sigh.
There's no use lamenting about these matters.
Seeing that Rayen had gradually calmed down, Yuzuka suggested with her trembling voice, "L-Let's check the list of your possible new identities!"
Rayen flashed a wry smile. "Thank you for waiting."
Yuzuka blushed for a moment and looked sideways in embarrassment. On her side, Miles glowered at Rayen, who didn't even notice. He was already looking at the monitor in front of him.
Each of the seats in the meeting room had a monitor embedded in the table.
Rayen's mood was still glum, but unlike him, the sponsors were quite enthusiastic. But it was all doused when they saw the list projected on each of their screens.
"What's this? Only one life book? We don't get to choose at all?" Sophie complained.
"Let's see first the background of this new Identity," Ms. Beatrice said.
[Im Rayen]
'This is my new identity?'
"It actually has the same name as the Stupid Seed. No wonder," Miles said.
Sophie also cut in, her eyes fixated on the screen. "But their life seems pretty..."
'Pretty what?'
Rayen still hadn't checked the details about this Im Rayen guy, so he still had no idea why the atmosphere suddenly turned sullen. He blinked in confusion.
"Pretty unfortunate," Harjun finished Sophie's words.
Everyone nodded to themselves except Rayen.
Unable to take in his curiosity anymore, Rayen tapped on the screen to read the description of his new identity. One minute later, he sighed.
'That was truly unfortunate...'
"Do I really have to take on this new identity?" Rayen glanced at his sponsors, uncertainty clear in his eyes.
"Well, you have no choice," Miles said, relaxedly leaning on the back of his seat.
"Why?"
"It's part of the process."
"Process?"
This time, it was Ms. Beatrice who responded.
"You have to take on a new name since it would complicate the world if you appear again with your old identity. The world recognizes you as dead already, so it is a necessary part of the process."
"I'm just missing, according to the news I've read."
At the end of the table, Harjun smiled. "If you appear in your old identity under a different agency, what do you think will happen?"
This time, Rayen was rendered speechless.
'That's right...'
He was known as missing, but if he suddenly appeared in public well and alive, it would be a huge scandal. Not only that, he might even face a lawsuit for breaching his contract with his old agency.
But still...
Rayen bit his lips. He refused to give it up that easily.
"But isn't the owner of this identity also dead?" he asked.
Doesn't that contradict what they just said earlier?
"Well, yes, they're already dead, however, the owner of these identities had long been dead. No one recognizes them anymore."
"....."
Sigh.
'I guess, I really have no choice about this...'
After thinking over it for a long time, Rayen nodded begrudgingly. "Then, let's begin the process."
The sponsors smiled at Rayen.
Rayen turned toward his own screen. The grafting was a simple process. He just had to tap the button at the corner of his screen.
However, doing this meant that he had to accept that he was no longer Rayen de Guzman. He was no longer the main vocalist of Adrift. After this, he would just become a participant in this wretched idol show who can sing well and dance badly.
With eyes closed, Rayen at last tapped the button. The moment he did, he suddenly found himself in another place.
...
The life of the small child played out in Rayen's mind, as if he were re-living it.
His short legs were running, knees scratched and bruised. He was abandoned on a dirt road, crying and huffing, unable to find his parents.
After walking for almost a mile, he stumbled upon a lone hut. Its garden was huge and gated with a white fence. From outside, Rayen saw a small sickly boy who was playing alone. The boy sensed his gaze and turned to him.
This boy later became his younger brother. The parents of the sickly boy treated him like their genuine child, and he gradually grew up into an amicable and kind man.
But his peaceful life ended with the death of his loving foster-parents.
That was the beginning of his unlucky spree.
When the scene switched again, Rayen noticed his body was bigger than before. This time, he was a teenager instead of a child.
What disoriented Rayen wasn't his physique but his situation. He found himself inside a smoke-filled hut, his lungs burning. A scorching pillar struck his calf, and he screamed in agony. It was unbearable.
The scene lasted until he was rescued.
Accident after accident kept repeating that even Rayen became too numb to it.
One time, he almost drowned. Another time, a carriage came rushing at him as he walked along the sidewalk. Even while eating, he once choked on a fruit's seed and couldn't breathe.
'Just how unlucky was this guy? It's a miracle that he even made it to nineteen years old.'
Finally, Rayen arrived at the scene of the death of the unlucky guy. After countless times of brushing with it, he was finally claimed by the death reaper.
Perhaps it was even this person's saving grace.
At last, he wouldn't be haunted by different accidents. At last, he could rest from his anxiety. At last...
He lay on the cold and hard ground, struggling to breathe and keep his consciousness.
How did he end up here again?
After a moment of thinking, the information appeared in his mind.
"Oh..."
When he was finding firewood in the mountains near their home, he somehow saw a wild edible mushroom on the side. Unfortunately, before he could get to it, he tripped and fell on the cliffside.
'... So unlucky.'
The clear night sky was mesmerizing, the round moon too beautiful that he couldn't bear to close his eyes.
Although his death was peaceful, he suddenly felt a pang of regret in his chest as he remembered his younger brother.
Who would care for him after he died? He couldn't even fetch himself a glass of water. How would he live?
But in his blurred vision, a dark silhouette suddenly appeared at the corner.
"My silly brother, I told you not to go out today. Look what happened."
Rayen couldn't see the person's face clearly, but Im Rayen, the person whose life Rayen was re-living right now, knew who this was.
It was his brother who was supposed to be in his bed, battling an incurable disease.
Finally, Im Rayen closed his eyes forever.
...
Once the flashback ended, Rayen opened his eyes in a gasp. He grasped ahold of himself, trying to feel for any injuries, but found nothing.
Dazed, he glanced at his sponsors.
"Are you okay?"
Rayen also wondered.
'I'm fine?'
He was still a bit disoriented about what had happened. What was his name again?
Right, he was Rayen. But was he Rayen de Guzman or Im Rayen?
'Ugh. My head hurts.'
"Do you need water, perhaps?" a distorted voice asked with a concerned tone.
Somehow, a bottle of water made its way into Rayen's hand, which he immediately gulped. After one sip, his mind instantly calmed down. The cloudiness fogging his mind disappeared completely. At the same time, he also remembered who he was.
'I am Rayen.'
After calming down completely, he glanced at the bottled water in his hands and realized it was actually a Revitalizing Water.
"Ah. The expensive water..."
Suddenly, the sound of laughter reverberated inside the room.
"Pfft."
Rayen glanced in the direction the sound came from and found a little midget in front of him. His androgynous face was breathtaking, but the more Rayen looked at it, the more his mind couldn't comprehend it.
'... What's this guy doing here?'
Plotter stifled a laugh.
"Sorry," Plotter apologized. "How was it? Was the grafting successful?"
"I-I think so..."
Rayen glanced around to see his sponsors sitting straight and watching the two of them.
When Rayen checked his status window, the name reflected on it was a new one. It was no longer just Rayen.
[Im Rayen]
"Tell me, how do you feel?" Plotter asked.
"I... feel the same," Rayen answered.
"Hmm, I guess it really worked then. Congratulations~" Plotter clapped. "Now that you've got a new identity, let's work on your looks next!"
Once again, Rayen glanced at his sponsors.
'Why are you guys silent?'
The sponsors turned their gazes away from him.
'Why do I get a bad feeling about this?'