My name is Rei.
I was twenty-three years old when I died.
Not in an accident.
Not murdered.
Not in some dramatic way.
I died quietly—
on a hospital bed,
because my body finally gave up.
The room was silent.
The machines stopped beeping.
No one noticed at first.
And yet…
I didn't disappear.
---
I opened my eyes.
The ceiling looked familiar. White. Cracked. Old.
But something felt wrong.
My body was too light.
No—
I didn't feel my body at all.
I tried to breathe. Nothing happened.
I tried to move my fingers. There were no fingers.
That was when I saw it.
My own body.
Lying on the bed.
Pale. Motionless. Covered by a thin white sheet.
"…Ah."
So that's how it is.
I died.
---
Panic should have come.
Fear. Screaming. Desperation.
But strangely, I felt calm.
Maybe I was too tired to be afraid.
Or maybe…
I had already accepted it before death came.
I looked down at my hands.
They were transparent.
Faint.
Like mist shaped into human form.
A ghost.
I had become a ghost.
---
Suddenly, a cold mechanical voice echoed in my mind.
> [Initializing System…]
I froze.
"…System?"
The air in front of me distorted.
Blue light gathered, forming translucent words only I could see.
> [Initialization Complete]
[System Detected: Compatible Host Found]
Compatible… host?
I was dead.
What kind of system chooses a dead person?
---
> [Welcome, Rei.]
The system knew my name.
> [Status: Deceased]
[Current Form: Ghost]
[Existence Stability: Extremely Low]
My vision flickered.
A sharp pain spread through my consciousness—
as if my very existence was being torn apart.
> [Warning: Your spiritual form is unstable.]
[If stability reaches zero, you will cease to exist.]
So even after dying…
I could die again.
---
> [Main Objective Unlocked]
— Return to Life
My heart—
if I still had one—
skipped a beat.
"…Return to life?"
> [To achieve this objective, you must complete system tasks and evolve your spiritual form.]
Evolve… as a ghost?
> [First Task Issued.]
The blue text changed.
> [Beginner Task: Survive as a Ghost for 7 Days]
Reward: Spiritual Stabilization + Basic Ghost Ability
Failure Penalty: Erasure]
Seven days.
If I failed—
I wouldn't even remain as a ghost.
I would be nothing.
---
I stared at the system screen in silence.
Then, slowly, I laughed.
A quiet, hollow laugh.
"So that's how it is…"
Death wasn't the end.
It was only the beginning of something far worse.
Or—
Maybe…
Something that could give me a second chance.
I looked once more at my lifeless body.
"Alright," I whispered.
"Let's see how far a dead man can go."
---
> [Task Started.]
---