The sky of the high heavens was filled with blinding golden lights.
Below lay the seven Gods of evil dead in ash.
The war was over.
The universe was saved.
And Kai, the Demi-God of Time, Space, and Shadows, stood atop a mountain of divine treasures, holding a cup of crimson red nectar that could grant eternity with a single drop.
He took a sip.
"It tastes like shit."
Kai gazed at the horizon where galaxies spun like dust.
He had amassed wealth that could buy galaxies.
He had bedded queens whose beauty made stars dim in shame.
He had reached the absolute ceiling of existence.
Yet as he stared into the infinite horizon, he felt only a cold, hollow wind whistling through his chest.
A god-sized vessel with nothing but boredom.
"Is this it?" his voice echoed through reality itself.
His dark violet eyes narrowed.
"If the peak of life has nothing to offer…"
His voice dropped sharp and cold.
"…then let's see what the bottom of death has to offer."
He willed his own essence to unravel. His physical form began dissolving into the void. As his vision began to fade, something flickered inside him—
"What is this...is this fear?"
He almost laughed at the thought.
"No. I think it is relief"
Just when his vision was about to fade completely—a text box with neon pink light appeared before him.
[Wait, wait, wait! Hold your horses, Big Guy!]
Kai's eyes narrowed.
"Huh! What is this"
[You think you can just 'alt-f4' out of the universe because you're bored? After I spent decades setting up this balance? Ugh, are Demi-Gods really this dramatic?]
Kai irritated at someone interrupting his final moments commanded.
"Be gone spirit"
[Spirit? I'm the 'Void-Filler' System. And honestly? Your soul is a mess. It's like a black hole of existential dread. It's tacky. It's 'edgelord' chic. I can't let you die like this—it'll ruin the feng shui of the afterlife.]
He couldn't take it anymore.
"I don't care. Just let me R.I.P."
[Nope! You need a hobby. Or a heartbeat. Or both. I'm sending you somewhere where you'll start from zero. No power, no gold, and a body so pathetic it'll make you miss being a god.]
"I will destroy you," Kai threatened, but his form was already being pulled into a swirling vortex of space-time.
[Sure you will, 'Lord of Shadows.' But first, try not to die from a common cold. Good luck with the new family—they're absolute vipers. You're gonna love it!]
The last thing Kai saw was a mocking, digital wink.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The sound was rhythmic and annoying.
Kai tried to move his arm, but it felt like it was made of leather and glass. A sharp, stinging pain flared along his wrist. He forced his eyes open to see where he was. The gold of the high heavens was gone—replaced by a harsh, flickering fluorescent light and a ceiling stained with water marks. He tried to speak, but his throat was dried.
A cold feminine voice drifted from the corner of the rom.
"So... he's finally wake."
Kai slowly turned to see who it was.
A woman sat there, leg crossed, wearing a suit that probably cost more than a small village. Her eyes were like shards of ice, and her beauty was sharp—calculated and cruel. This was Kang Seo-Rin, the third child of the Shin-Hwa Group—his sister.
"You really are a nuisance, Do-Hyun," she said, not looking up from her tablet. "Even your suicide attempt was a failure. Do you have any idea what this does to the company's Q3 projections? Father is furious. You should have just stayed asleep."
Kai—now Kang Do-Hyun—stared at her. Memories of a life he never lived surged forward: the bullying, the weakness, the constant humiliation of being the 'Trash Son' of the nation's wealthiest family. He looked at his own pale and trembling hands.
The something popped up in front of his face:
[Ding!]
[Welcome to your new life, Trashy! How's the 'bottom' treating you?]
[Status: Extremely Pathetic. Vitality: 5%.]
[Current Objective: Don't cry in front of your sister. (Reward: 1 piece of chocolate).]
A cold, dark amusement began to stir in the depths of Do-Hyun's new chest. He gave of cold-sharp-predatory glance at Seo-Rin.
"Is that all?"
Seo-Rin paused, her fingers hovering over her screen. For a split second, she fell like she was in the presence of something completely non-human. A shiver ran down her spine.
"Get out," Do-Hyun said." I don't think you're needed here."
She got up and left without a word.
As the door slammed shut and the System began to cackle in his head, Do-Hyun looked out the hospital window. In the distance, despite it being the middle of a Seoul spring, a single, crystalline snowflake drifted against the glass.
For the first time in a thousand years, he the spark of something new inside—hunger.