Darkness.
Endless.
Silent.
Hiro thought that was the end.
But suddenly—
Light.
A blinding beam of white light burst through the void.
Before Hiro could even understand what was happening—
He gasped.
Air violently filled his lungs.
His body lurched forward—
And he fell off a chair.
"Ghk—!"
Hiro grabbed his neck in panic, desperately sucking in air.
His throat burned as if it had just been crushed.
His eyes darted around wildly.
This wasn't his apartment.
The room was unfamiliar.
The furniture looked different.
Everything felt… wrong.
Then Hiro noticed something even stranger.
His body felt lighter.
Smaller.
Thinner.
A nauseating sensation rose from his stomach.
Before he could react, Hiro collapsed to his knees and began vomiting violently onto the floor.
"Ugh—!"
Dark liquid spilled from his mouth along with streaks of blood.
The bitter taste burned his throat.
After several painful minutes, the vomiting finally stopped.
Breathing heavily, Hiro staggered toward the nearby bathroom.
He turned on the sink and washed his mouth repeatedly before splashing cold water across his face.
His heartbeat slowly calmed.
But the moment Hiro lifted his head—
He froze.
A stranger stared back at him from the mirror.
The face was younger.
Much younger.
Smooth skin.
Sharp features.
Messy hair framing unfamiliar eyes.
This was not his body.
Before he could even process the shock—
Pain exploded inside his head.
"AAAH—!"
Hiro screamed as he clutched his skull.
Memories flooded into his mind like a raging torrent.
Images.
Voices.
Fragments of a life he had never lived.
The pain continued for several long minutes before it finally subsided.
Hiro collapsed against the bathroom wall, breathing heavily.
Two sets of memories now existed inside his mind.
His own.
And someone else's.
"…What the hell…"
To confirm he wasn't hallucinating, Hiro suddenly slapped himself.
Smack.
The pain was real.
Too real.
He immediately rushed back into the room.
From the memories he had just inherited, Hiro learned something shocking.
The body he now possessed belonged to a sixteen-year-old boy.
His name was Arin Vale.
And moments before Hiro appeared—
Arin had committed suicide.
The memory struck Hiro like lightning.
The boy had drunk poison.
His body trembled as he remembered Arin writing a final note before collapsing.
Hiro turned toward the dark puddle on the floor where he had vomited earlier.
Realization slowly dawned on him.
That black liquid…
It was the poison Arin had swallowed.
Hiro had unknowingly expelled it when he woke up in this body.
Still shaken, Hiro began looking around the room.
That was when his gaze stopped on something hanging near the wall.
A coat.
At first glance it looked ordinary.
But then Hiro noticed the symbol embroidered on its chest.
His pupils shrank.
There was no mistaking it.
He had seen this exact emblem before.
In a web novel.
The symbol belonged to one of the most prestigious academies in that story.
The very same web novel he had finished reading just before dying.
A terrifying realization slowly formed in his mind.
"…No way."
Hiro turned pale.
He had not only been reborn.
He had transmigrated.
Into the world of that novel.
Into the body of Arin Vale.
Driven by curiosity—and growing unease—Hiro slowly walked toward the desk.
A single sheet of paper rested on it.
Arin's final note.
Hiro reached out.
And picked it up.