Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Reincarnator's User Manual
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Shunk.
A razor-sharp blade plunges into the man's chest.
His slack-jawed face is something to behold.
He wears an expression of utter bewilderment, as if he can't comprehend a thing.
[Why... why can't I reach you...?]
His desperate gestures and his pleading tone screamed of injustice.
Every single action was a cry toward the girl.
But her response was frigid.
[What're you blabbering about? Just die already.]
The man, defeated in the duel, could never reach the girl until the bitter end.
All his daily efforts were utterly futile.
He had swung his sword relentlessly just to catch her eye or to surpass her.
No matter how hard he tried, he could never defeat her.
Because he was ordinary.
And she was a genius.
A genius.
Not as some metaphor or exaggeration, but a being born with talent bestowed from the heavens.
If you likened human talent to light, the gap between them was vast.
It was vaster than the gap between the midday sun and a firefly on the verge of death.
Family, village, generation—mere specks beneath them.
The ordinary fade away into oblivion before time itself, content in their mediocrity.
Meanwhile, heroes stand eternally atop the heavens, loftily illuminating history.
That yawning chasm couldn't be bridged by a few years of earlier training or superior elixirs.
Their very seeds were different.
A typhoon and a heat shimmer.
A dragon and a loach.
A cheetah and a racing hound.
That was the difference between a genius and everyone else.
I was pissed.
I'd grown sick of watching the character who looked just like me die so pathetically.
On the screen, he died pointlessly over and over.
This character had been moving just moments ago.
Without exaggeration, he had died in at least a hundred different playthroughs.
It didn't matter what choices I picked at every branching point.
He was a so-called "deliberately unclimbable character".
One you could never clear the game with, no matter what.
And of all characters, it had to be one that resembled me.
I'd think even I'd nitpick it—call it overactive self-insertion or some bullshit like that.
Still, the resemblance wasn't something to brush off as cliché happenstance.
The furrowed brow with wrinkles from frowning.
The scar near the eye from a childhood fall.
The habit of rubbing the nape of the neck when it felt stiff.
They were me to a T.
Of course, I'd chanted to myself, "Just coincidence, probably not," denying it over and over.
But now.
I'd tried every choice in the game.
I watched the end credits all the way through—ones I'd always skipped before.
Finally, I had my confirmation.
[Creativity Designer: Shin Yura]
There it was—a familiar name.
It was bundled up tight with our tenacious bad blood.
"Fucking bitch".
I'd heard a few years back that she'd landed a job.
Who'd have thought she was wasting her time making crap like this.
Curses flew from my lips unbidden, and my mouth went bone-dry.
Shin Yura.
Just seeing those three letters dragged up a thought I'd buried deep in my chest.
'Why the hell does this bitch always have it out for me?'
Yura—no, this twisted little shit—had always fucked with me.
I hadn't liked her from the jump.
[Top of the mock exam again?]
She'd brag about shit I didn't even want to hear.
She never did a damn thing for me.
[Nah, don't think so. Your mom'd agree with me, right?]
The second I opened my mouth about anything, she'd shoot it down.
[I told you, right? You won't pass doing it that way. I get what you're thinking after ten years of this, but isn't it about time you learned?]
I had let slip a bit of regret over bombing my top-choice university.
Those words she spat became a thorn still embedded deep in my heart.
Maybe that's why relief hit before despair over the rejection.
The relief of finally ditching her bitch ass.
Looking back, it might've even turned into a fond memory.
Time rolled on like that—contact naturally dwindled.
Updates on each other grew scarce—until today.
'Scratching at the scab again, huh.'
"Fucking bitch".
I chugged some water, trying to settle my churning gut.
'What grudge does she even hold?'
Unfortunately, none at all.
Sure, there were petty squabbles, but nothing grudge-worthy.
If anything, all that lingered was childish regret.
The daily urge to smack her, and wishing I'd actually done it.
A ton of time had passed, but the conviction solidified again.
Dark, filthy emotions surged.
The inferiority complex of "I hate smug assholes."
More precisely, I hated those types who strutted around oblivious to others' feelings.
I loathed admitting I was shackled by such base envy.
I fought denying it tooth and nail, but those three letters knew me too well.
It stung so bad to face myself like that.
Blood rushed to my head, leaving me dizzy.
As the endless end credits finally wrapped up, I got swept into another maelstrom.
[We were always happy to have Shin Yura with us.]
[We will remember her here.]
"......What?"
I bulged my eyes at the line capping off the credits.
Because right there, plain as day: Yura was dead.
An unbelievable fact made my trembling hands drift to my phone.
But, "......"
My limp hand shook.
The hope it'd all be a lie shattered cruelly.
My childhood friend's death.
My mind went blank at the news.
Thud— "......"
With the excitement drained, my whole body went slack.
I collapsed onto the bed like a ragdoll.
Dizzy, my head felt stuffed with fog.
If this was really true... my chest tightened like a boulder was crushing it.
I hated the bitch, sure, but this ending was way too abrupt.
'...You kept jerking me around till the very end, huh.'
That goddamn childhood friend toyed with my emotions until her last moment.
Maybe because I'd heard the tragic news about Yura, she showed up in my dream.
"Hey. Quit bothering me and fuck off".
Of all things, it was childhood Yura.
The Yura from when we first met.
It's been a while.
That first-meeting Yura had a mouth like a sailor.
Even as a kid, I got why other children steered clear of her vibe.
Yura was a pitiful friendless kid before she met me.
She was a socially stunted, prideful brat getting bullied.
The ever-talented Yura having no friends as a kid... she'd changed in so many ways.
"Pfft".
Maybe seeing her face again was nice, or maybe the tough-acting kid Yura was ridiculous.
Even in the dream, I couldn't hold back the laugh.
"......What're you on about? Eat something bad? Or did the cold fry your brain?"
She squinted, face twisted in confusion.
"Nah, just... kinda nostalgic scene".
"Nostalgic scene?"
Yeah, a nostalgic moment from a nostalgic time.
Yura's childhood was playing out before my eyes.
"Hey".
It felt good.
Back then, I was such a goody-two-shoes kid that I couldn't leave loner Yura alone.
So I said stuff like this: "You got no friends, huh?"
"......What?"
"You know? You scream 'friendless.' Act all prickly, and no one's gonna stick around".
Refreshing, that was a solid hit.
Just saying it eased the knot in my chest a bit.
"......"
But something felt off.
Kid Yura's face was twisting demon-like, golden irises glaring murderously.
Golden irises? 'What the hell?'
A wave of wrongness hit me.
For starters, I hadn't met Yura first in some barren snowfield.
The hazy scene sharpened, and my dull senses honed sharp as a blade.
The floating sensation faded, replaced by crystal-clear awareness.
"Ah".
A tiny gasp escaped.
'Not Yura.'
The girl in front of me wasn't Yura.
The rare red hair and golden eyes proved it.
Only then did I notice the wooden sword gripped in the girl's hand.
Clang— "Ha".
The red-haired girl tossed the wooden sword to the ground.
She was pissed as hell.
I instinctively backpedaled: "Wait".
"What? You pick a fight and now 'wait'?"
"Something's weird".
"Yeah, I've been thinking the same".
I couldn't say more.
"Getting underestimated by some snot-nosed brat. What an idiot I am".
Thwack—! "Guh......"
In an instant, she closed the distance, her fist slamming into my chest.
That massive shock cleared my foggy mind.
Still, I could make out her face.
'Yeah, I knew she looked familiar.'
Lucia Prien—the game character I'd been cursing.
'That... fucking kid.'
A dream where a game character beats the shit out of me.
'What kinda dogshit nightmare is this?'