Death wasn't dramatic.
There was no heroic scream.
No final words.
No meaning.
Ren collapsed face-first into the mud, his lungs burning, fingers clawing uselessly at the ground as his vision blurred into gray. The monster behind him didn't roar. It didn't celebrate. It simply stepped forward and crushed his spine like snapping a twig.
Pain lasted less than a second.
Then—
Darkness.
Ren gasped.
Air flooded his lungs violently, like he'd been drowning and someone had dragged him back by the hair. His body jerked upright as if pulled by invisible strings, sweat soaking through his shirt, heart pounding so hard it hurt.
"…What?"
He was alive.
No—alive wasn't the right word.
He was back.
Ren stared at his trembling hands. No blood. No broken bones. No crushed spine. His cheap wristwatch blinked faintly, still cracked from the day he bought it.
He looked around.
A narrow alley. Rusted fire escapes. Neon signs flickering overhead. The smell of oil, trash, and rain.
The city.
The same city he had died in.
But something was wrong.
Ren stood slowly, every muscle tense. The alley felt… off. The walls leaned at slightly wrong angles, like a poorly rendered background in a low-budget game. Sounds echoed half a second too late. His shadow lagged behind his movements, as if reality itself needed time to catch up.
"This is… before."
His eyes widened as memory snapped into place.
Three hours earlier.
Before the sirens.
Before the screaming.
Before the world cracked open.
Before the Gates appeared.
Ren stumbled out of the alley and onto the main street.
Cars were still moving. People were still arguing on the sidewalks, staring at their phones, laughing, living. A delivery drone hummed overhead. A billboard flashed an ad for some energy drink.
Normal.
Too normal.
Ren's stomach twisted.
Because he remembered what came next.
The Gates didn't announce themselves with explosions.
They simply opened.
Black fractures tore through the sky like shattered glass, hovering above cities across the world. From them came creatures that didn't belong—things with too many limbs, eyes that bent light, bodies that ignored physics.
Human weapons barely slowed them.
Civilization collapsed in weeks.
And Ren?
Ren had died in the first hour.
Not saving anyone.
Not fighting bravely.
Just running.
"Damn it…"
Ren pressed his palms against his face, trying to steady his breathing. This wasn't a dream. He knew that instinctively. Dreams didn't carry this much weight. This much continuity.
More importantly—
He could still feel the pain.
The memory of his spine snapping replayed vividly in his mind, making his legs shake.
"I died."
He whispered it aloud, just to hear the words.
"And I reset."
A sharp chime echoed in his head.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZING…]
Ren froze.
"…System?"
Blue text materialized in front of his eyes, hovering mid-air like a hologram only he could see.
[Reset Confirmed.]
[Death Count: 1]
[Compensation Calculating…]
Ren's breath hitched.
Compensation?
[Unique Trait Acquired: "Escalating Value"]
[Effect: Each death increases your existence's "market value."]
[The higher your value, the greater the rewards upon reset.]
Ren stared at the words, trying to process them.
"…Market value?"
As if in response, another line appeared.
[Warning: Higher value also increases acquisition risk.]
[You are no longer disposable.]
A chill ran down Ren's spine.
"That doesn't sound good."
The text faded.
The world snapped back into focus.
And right on cue—
The sky cracked.
People screamed as a black裂 opened above the city center, space folding inward like paper set on fire. Wind howled upward, pulling debris into the growing void.
The first Gate had opened.
Ren's legs moved before his brain caught up. He turned and ran.
He didn't run toward safety.
There was no safety.
He ran toward a place he remembered clearly.
A subway station.
In the first timeline, he had hidden there with dozens of others. Most of them died when monsters broke through the entrances.
This time, Ren didn't plan to hide.
He needed information.
He sprinted down the stairs as alarms blared overhead. People shoved past him, panic spreading faster than any virus. Someone fell. Someone screamed.
The air grew colder.
Then—
The monster dropped from the ceiling.
It was smaller than the one that killed him before. About the size of a large dog, with segmented limbs and a head that split open like a flower to reveal rows of teeth.
People froze.
Bad move.
It lunged.
Ren grabbed the nearest metal pole and swung with everything he had.
The impact rang through his arms painfully—but the monster staggered.
"Move!" Ren shouted, though no one listened.
The creature shrieked, claws scraping sparks off the floor as it charged again.
Ren knew he couldn't win.
He also knew something worse.
If he died here again—
What would his "value" become?
The thought made his stomach churn.
He backed toward the platform edge, eyes locked on the monster, every instinct screaming.
Then the creature leapt.
Ren dodged—
Too slow.
Claws tore through his side. Pain exploded. Warm blood soaked his shirt.
He fell backward onto the tracks.
The monster followed.
Ren lay there, gasping, vision dimming, blood pooling beneath him.
So this was it.
Again.
As darkness crept in, blue text flickered faintly at the edge of his vision.
[Death imminent.]
[Do you wish to reset?]
Ren laughed weakly.
"Do I have a choice?"
The monster raised its limb.
Everything went black.
Ren woke up screaming.
Same alley.
Same rain.
Same flickering neon sign.
[Reset Confirmed.]
[Death Count: 2]
[Value Increased.]
[Reward Amplified.]
This time, something else appeared.
[You feel watched.]
Ren's laughter died in his throat.
He slowly looked up at the sky.
For just a moment—
He could've sworn something was looking back.
And for the first time since resetting, Ren hesitated.
If dying made him stronger…
What would happen when dying made him too valuable?
END OF CHAPTER 1