If I asked you: what's the worst opening line to a novel you've ever read? What would your answer be?
Now, if you're the kind who devours novels or binges shows and movies like a starving beast, maybe it'll take you a while to remember something that left a bitter taste from the very first page or scene.
Or maybe you wouldn't even need a second to think, your brain would immediately spit out that one pitiful moment you were tricked by a flashy synopsis, forcing yourself to choke down the story's opening like a bad medicine.
Whatever the case, in this fast-paced world of ours, the quality of creative work has plummeted so hard, we end up spending more time searching for something worth our attention than actually enjoying it.
And maybe, just maybe, amidst all those mountainous piles of genres and titles, your eyes fall on an alluring cover, a title that piques your curiosity, and a synopsis that reels you in...
And in that very moment, when you commit the sin of turning to the first page, it suddenly requires every ounce of courage, recklessness, and free time you've got to survive even the first paragraph.
No matter who you are, whether you're a web novel junkie, a proud bookworm, or even just a casual ootak, you've probably had that one experience.
And now, after listening to your answer, why don't I share mine?
The worst opening—not just to a novel—but to anything I've ever been forced to witness.
Though… unlike you, I won't need to describe the story.
I don't have to.
Because I…
---
"Harder~ Push harder! Aaah… I just can't get enough of this~"
"You filthy slut. So this is your true self, huh?"
"Ahh… Yes! More! Please…!!"
"…"
No... Honestly, I wish I could describe the scene properly.
I wish I could.
But for whatever goddamn reason, I'm watching it unfold with my own eyes.
Right now.
Live.
"Haaah… haah, so deep~ Yes, please… just a little more… mooore~"
"Looks like you're enjoying this quite a bit, huh? Don't you care about your son watching you from over there?"
"…"
If you're the kind who occasionally dips into those less-than-wholesome genres, you probably have a rough idea of what I'm seeing.
"S-Sora…"
She called a name.
Not my name.
Bot somehow, I also feels like it is my name.
"…"
But even then… I couldn't say a single word.
Not even a simple one.
"Look at her now, brother. Completely obsessed. I bet you're giving her a better time than her husband ever could! Ahahahaha!"
The laugh, disgusting, smug came from a man standing behind me. Silver hair, sharp features. Handsome, as most would say. His suit alone screamed wealth, the kind that lets you crush lives without consequence.
"She's just a whore, William. Anyone agile enough to jump on her back would be ideal for her,am I wrong?"
"Jump," he said, as he thrust forward again. The woman's breath caught as her head was shoved deep into the mattress, her muffled moans mixing with the creaking bed. And then, with a final strong push…silence.
The man had finished.
"Hah… hah… hah…"
Collapsed on the bed, her body was trembling, her flushed face buried in sweat and shame.
"Enjoying the moment, huh? You're a real piece of work."
The blond man muttered with a sneer, stepping away like someone tossing aside a used toy.
"Tch, the whole room reeks now. You better clean your mother up, boy," William said beside me with a mocking laugh, eyes locked on mine. "I don't think she'll be able to move for a while." He followed up with a hysterical laugh and a slap across my face hard enough to send me crashing to the floor, chair and all.
"At least unbind him, William. Not that he's gonna be much help to that whore now."
The man who'd finished his… sport, buttoned up his pants, walked toward me, and grabbed me by the hair, lifting both me and the chair I was bound to.
"Poor boy. I think you showed him more than his mind could handle, Beryard. Maybe we should leave him like this until he snaps back?"
William chuckled coldly, staring into my blank eyes and numb face.
Still, he pulled out a small knife and cut the ropes binding me.
And just as I fell free, his laughter rang out again.
"Oh? Ahahaha! Look, brother, he's turned to stone!"
My arms hung limp. I couldn't feel my legs. And William couldn't stop laughing, no matter how he tried.
"Maybe I overdid it." Beryard chuckled too, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a few metal coins.
"Here, go buy something to help you forget..or maybe.." He leaned down, his tall frame looming as he whispered into my ear.
"Try renting your mom, if you're curious how it feels to 'jump.'"
Tossing the coins into my lap like trash, he patted my head and went to grab his shirt.
William followed… but not before placing something on my lap.
At first, I didn't understand what it was.
But as I looked down… I felt the bile rising.
I didn't have to touch it.
The leathery texture… the pinkish flesh… stained with a hint of blood.
A familiar shape.
Something once part of someone I… knew.
And when I glanced at the bed again, it all made sense.
There she was.
Still trembling from what they'd done to her. The filthy white fluid dripping from her body...and something darker, reddish black, leaking from her chest.
From the breast I once drank from as a baby… something was missing.
The wound was raw, hideous… torn with precision like claws had carved her flesh on purpose.
I didn't need to look twice.
I already knew what had been taken.
She groaned in pain, weakly raising her hand to the blood-soaked side of her chest.
She didn't need to search for what was lost.
Because I was already holding it.
The gift that William left me..
Her left nipple, torn off and wrapped like a souvenir.
---
The Asura Household.
One of the three major noble families in the Kingdom of Avalis.
With a legacy tracing all the way back to the founding of the kingdom itself, House Asura wasn't just influential—it was one of the keystones of Avalis. From laying its very foundations to adorning its royal palace with the finest jewels and architecture, their contributions were undeniable.
In recognition of that legacy, the crown had granted the Asura family a jaw-dropping 40% of all Avalisian land—a territory that continued to grow even as I stood there, narrating this.
Yet even with all they had poured into the kingdom, blood, wealth, and generations of loyalty, they were still only one of the three noble houses that had sacrificed everything for Avalis' prosperity.
Just like House Asura, the other two families had received generous shares of land. slightly less, perhaps, but enough to split the kingdom's resources and leave the royal family itself confined to the central capital, with a meager 10% of the land to their name.
Maybe "confined" isn't the most appropriate word here.
But give it time... and no other word will suit the royal family's future quite like that one. Especially when referring to that fool of a king.
"How dare you… you filthy disgrace of a man!"
It was almost like he'd read my thoughts. His roar echoed like a war cry as he slammed his fist into the wooden table, splitting it clean in half without even trying.
"Do you even understand what you've done?!"
"…"
The man in front of me had the face of a lion, and right now, he looked like one moments before a kill. Furious, unhinged, and proud.
No, he wasn't roaring at me because I'd insulted the royal family.
Please. As if anyone here gave a damn about the royals.
Eyes fixed downward, I tried to avoid looking up at him. Not out of fear (okay, maybe out of fear) but mostly because I didn't care to see whatever twisted expression he was wearing right now.
Instead, my eyes wandered.
Past him.
To the woman seated behind him.
A woman with long, glimmering silver hair that reached her waist.
Eyes white as frost, unique and ethereal. A beauty that no queen could match, and yet, she too was staring at the floor.
She should've held her head high. Her looks alone were enough to make even goddesses jealous. But the glow in her eyes was long gone.
It was as if some kind of shadow had smothered the light behind her gaze.
A kind of darkness that could make any man's heart ache.
But mine didn't ache.
Not even a twitch.
In fact, the moment that man's screaming faded into white noise, and all I could see was her lifeless figure.
Agony exploded at the top of my skull.
Like a hook had been buried in my scalp and was now yanking me skyward.
"You wretched disgrace!"
"G-ghhh!!"
His massive hand fisted into my hair, lifting me like I weighed nothing. Then..
*Boom.*
He slammed me against the wall with inhuman strength.
The wall didn't crack, but that was somehow worse.
It held strong, bouncing me right back and slamming me into the floor like a sack of broken bones.
I didn't need a doctor to tell me my spine had definitely shattered in at least a few places.
And just to confirm it, something heavy stomped onto my back.
Hard.
"What, can't even handle this?!"
His voice was venom, thick with mockery as he ground his foot into the spot that hurt the most.
He knew. He knew. And he pressed harder.
I wanted to scream.
Really, I did.
But his foot was pressing so deep into my ribs and gut that my mouth only let out a pathetic squeal,
Like a dying animal begging for mercy.
He didn't stop.
Didn't even flinch.
He kicked me in the head.
Then again.
And again.
Each insult sharper than the last, each blow somehow heavier.
To be fair?
He had reason to be angry.
"You bastard whelp… you don't even begin to understand what your actions mean for House Asura!"
House Asura.
"You have no idea what the noble society will do to us once this scandal leaks!"
The high nobles.
The real rulers of Avalis.
"Answer me! Do you even understand the gravity of what you've done? What you've done to this family?!"
Family.
The very same family that helped build this kingdom with their bare hands.
"ANSWER ME!"
He kicked my ribs again.
Not hard enough to kill me, but just enough to launch me an inch off the ground.
And then I landed.
Smack onto my mangled spine again.
"Filth like you doesn't deserve a place among the worthy…"
His voice faded as I stared at the ceiling, my vision slowly growing blurry.
I braced myself for another round of punishment—
But it never came.
And just like that...
I blacked out.
---
[Rise of Asura]
It was a dark fantasy novel that took the world by storm the moment it hit shelves.
Didn't take long before the producers jumped in, cashing in on its popularity with anime, live-action dramas, games, and even collectible statues and banners plastered on skyscrapers.
People didn't just love the genre anymore, they loved this story.
The plot followed a young protagonist, the youngest son of the prestigious House Asura, the very family that helped build the greatest kingdom in the world: Avalis.
But everything spiraled when his mother, after being Raped by some men, framed her own son to hide her shame.
And that's where the hell began.
He was cast out, branded, stripped of his title, and sold off to another of the two noble houses… as a slave.
No name.
No rights.
No future.
A slave to people who once bowed before his ancestors.
And throughout the novel, the suffering never truly stopped.
It wasn't the kind of story that comforted you with "hope" or "justice."
No.
It was raw.
It was brutal.
So brutal that you'd start to wonder if the author had some personal vendetta, like they named the protagonist after their own eediti or manager or something.
And the title?
[Rise of Asura.]
Yeah… it was a lie.
There was no "Rising."
No magical comeback.
At least Not until the very, very end.
Don't ask me how the world became obsessed with such a sadistic story.
Maybe we've all just been bottling up these kinds of twisted emotions inside us, And someone out there finally gave them the outlet they craved, through a miserable protagonist who never got a taste of mercy...
Not even when he finally gave up on rebuilding his life.
*Thunk.*
Jolted violently, a sharp pain stabbed into my skull,
forcing my eyes open as the ache surged through every inch of my body like wildfire.
"Oi, wake up, you damn sluttish prince. Can you hear me?"
The poking only got worse, annoying enough to drag me out of my daze and force my aching body upright.
A pounding headache crashed through my skull,
and even just the act of sitting up sent pain searing down my back and below.
When I tried to prop myself up with my left hand..
*Yank.*
Something pulled me back. I couldn't move.
"Huh? They didn't unchain you? Those dumbass guards…
Do they really think you're gonna try escaping? From here?"
The voice snorted mockingly before letting out a loud, rough laugh that made my ears hurt.
"Wait here. I'll go grab the keys," he said, followed by the sound of footsteps...
which suddenly stopped.
"Oh, and don't even think about trying anything with the guy next to you, got it? He's not some lovely lady, though, hey, not that I'd mind, really. Not like you'll be getting much free time from now on, anyway."
With another grating laugh, he jumped off the cart and disappeared.
Looking around, it didn't take me long to realize where I was.
Some kind of wagon, the floor scattered with hay.
Nothing else inside but me... and a guy sleeping beside me.
I glanced down at my hands to confirm what was holding me.
"Chains… huh."
My voice was dry.
Chained up for some reason.
My entire body throbbing in pain for some reason.
Thrown into this crap-smelling wagon for some reason.
And lying next to some half-naked guy dressed in what was clearly slave rage....for some reason.
Of course… I knew exactly why I was here.
Why all this was happening.
What I couldn't quite wrap my head around..
Wasn't the _why_, but the _how._
Yeah. How.
How could a grimdark fantasy story, probably set in some made-up medieval timeline and created inside the brain of one messed-up author...become real...
to someone like me, who was just living a normal twenty-first century life only a few hours ago?
"Lets go now, sluttish prince! Time to greet your new life!"
The annoying raspy voice returned, this time accompanied by its owner.
A man whose face was hidden beneath a thick, dirty black beard.
The sluttish Prince...
Of course. That was the nickname slapped on the protagonist of this twisted novel, after he was accused, falsely, mind you, of sleeping with his own mother, the women who bore him.
Not that he actually did it.
"After this delivery, I'm gonna be rich for sure! No more dragging this nasty cart around! Maybe your little 'incident' was the very thing I needed to turn my life around! AHAHAHA!!"
Boasting about the reward promised by the head of the Asura family.
my father.
the man, clueless of the fact that the only thing he'll be getting from that old man…
is his head sliced off his shoulders.
He unshackled me and tossed me out of the cart, along with the other guy.
Falling from a not-so-high ledge, I slammed against the ground.
The impact reigniting every ache in my battered body.
I blinked slowly as my eyes focused on a group of men in sleek black servant uniforms.
"Good. House Heavens will take care of this rat from here on."
One of the suited men spoke coldly, gesturing for the others to move.
They grabbed my arms, hauling me up and forcing me to stand.
Then, those eyes.
Sharp as blades. Red as fire.
A man who looked like the head butler stepped forward and stared into my soul.
In a voice deep and commanding, he spoke:
"Sora Asura. From this moment onward, all your rights as a noble of the esteemed Asura family will be revoked.
Starting today, you are to serve the noble House of Heavens, as their obedient slave."
He stepped closer, gripping my jaw so tight I heard something crack in it.
"And I expect you to adhere to their moral standards.. to the letter. You depraved dog."
Then came the slap, hard, ringing, and he turned his back to me without another word.
Someone shoved me from behind, urging me forward.
Toward the grand mansion looming behind the wagon.
The estate of House Heavens.
second only to House Asura in power and influence.
And so, the suffering of this story's protagonist began.
Sora.
For whatever absurd reason, it seems I've reincarnated into his body.
and I'm now living out this brutal, twisted tale in his place.