Bai Ying had always been beautiful. The kind of beauty that made people sigh in admiration and grumble in jealousy. He knew it, owned it, and wielded it like a well-sharpened sword.

"This is ridiculous. I look like a tragic male lead in a romance drama—where's my soft-focus lighting and melancholic background music?"

"You really shouldn't be joking about this," Wen Li muttered, arms crossed as she sat beside his hospital bed. Her sharp eyes were red-rimmed, her expression hovering somewhere between irritation and grief.

"I'm not joking," Bai Ying said lightly, tilting his head to examine himself in the reflection of the window. Even now, with his skin paler than ever and dark circles creeping beneath his eyes, he was still annoyingly attractive. "Seriously, where's my artistic cinematography? At the very least, I deserve some dramatic rain outside."

"It's been raining all day," Wen Li deadpanned.

"Ah. So the universe does recognize my main character status."

She exhaled sharply, rubbing her temples. "You're unbelievable."

"That's why you love me."

The silence that followed was heavy. Bai Ying felt it, and from the way Wen Li's fingers curled against her sleeve, he knew she felt it too.

He was dying.

And they both knew it.

No miracle, no dramatic last-minute cure—just his body slowly shutting down, piece by piece, like a theater set being dismantled after the final act.

At first, it had been easy to ignore. A little fatigue? Nothing a good night's sleep couldn't fix. A fever? Just a seasonal thing. But then the symptoms stacked up. The weight loss. The way his body ached in places it shouldn't. The endless string of tests, the sympathetic glances from doctors who had already seen the ending of this story before he had even gotten the script.

He hadn't even made it to the second act.

Bai Ying let out a slow breath, leaning his head back against the pillow. He could feel it now—that bone-deep exhaustion that no amount of sleep could fix. His body was giving out. He was running out of time.

And yet…

"Do you think it'll be boring?" he murmured suddenly.

Wen Li frowned. "What?"

"Death," Bai Ying clarified. "Do you think it's just… nothingness? Or is there something after?"

Wen Li was silent for a moment. "I don't know," she admitted. "But if there is something after, knowing you, you'll find a way to make it entertaining."

Bai Ying chuckled. "I am good at that."

He looked down at his hand, turning it over as if studying every line, every detail. It felt surreal, knowing that in a few hours, maybe even minutes, this body would no longer belong to him.

Wen Li suddenly reached over, gripping his wrist tightly.

"You should rest," she said, but her voice wavered.

Bai Ying hummed. "Yeah… I probably should."

He closed his eyes.

And then, it started.

A sharp pain lanced through his chest, stealing his breath. His fingers twitched, his body seizing up as if someone had yanked the strings of a puppet too tight.

The machines around him beeped in alarm.

"Bai Ying?!" Wen Li's voice was frantic now, her grip on his wrist tightening.

He tried to respond, to reassure her with another joke, but the words wouldn't come out. His chest felt heavy. His thoughts grew sluggish. He was sinking, deeper and deeper, like a stone dropped into a vast, endless ocean.

Wen Li was shouting.

The nurses rushed in.

The beeping turned into a steady, droning tone.

Ah…

So this was it.

A strange sense of calm settled over him. He had expected fear—terror, even. But instead, all he felt was a quiet, lingering regret.

Not because he was dying.

But because it felt like his story had been cut off before it could truly begin.

If I had one wish, he thought distantly, I'd want to live an interesting life. Even if it's short.

The world blurred.

Faded.

Then—

Darkness.

Endless, suffocating, absolute.

For a moment—maybe a second, maybe an eternity—there was nothing. No sound, no breath, no sensation. Just a vast emptiness stretching in all directions.

Was this it?

Was this all that remained after death?

Bai Ying couldn't tell if he was thinking or if the silence had simply swallowed every part of him, leaving behind only the faintest remnants of awareness.

Then, after what felt like forever—

A flicker.

Faint at first, barely more than a distant glow, but it grew stronger. A soft, bluish-white light, cutting through the void like a crack in a perfect black canvas.

With it came sensation. A weightless feeling, like drifting through water. A dull, echoing hum that seemed to vibrate through his very being.

His fingers twitched.

Slowly, the numbness faded. His body—if he even had one—felt like it was being pieced back together, nerve by nerve, muscle by muscle.

His eyelids felt impossibly heavy, but with effort, they fluttered open.

The light was blinding at first, searing through his vision with a cold brilliance. He winced, instinctively raising a hand to shield himself—only to freeze as he finally took in his surroundings.

Glowing blue symbols floated in the air around him, shifting and rearranging like ancient script come to life. The space was vast yet eerily silent, a hollow expanse where time felt meaningless.

A single screen hovered in front of him, words appearing in sleek, digital strokes.

[Welcome, Bai Ying. You have died.]

His brain stalled.

Then, after a long pause, he exhaled.

"Well," he muttered, blinking at the glowing text, "that's a hell of a way to greet someone."

The words on the screen shifted.

[You have been selected for the Dimensional System Program. This is a unique opportunity to continue existing beyond death. By participating, you will be assigned missions in different worlds. Succeed, and you may earn rewards—including life itself.]

Bai Ying tilted his head.

"So, I get to live again... by playing some kind of game?"

[Correct.]

He hummed. It sounded too good to be true. But then again, he was already dead. What did he have to lose?

"Alright," he grinned, "I'm in. But tell me—what's the catch?"

The system hesitated.

[Your missions will not be simple. Failure will have consequences.]

"Sounds fun."

[You will begin in your first assigned world immediately. Role and mission will be provided upon entry.]

Bai Ying barely had time to process that before the glowing symbols around him pulsed—

And then—

Everything shattered.

The first thing Bai Ying noticed was the mirror.

The second thing was his face.

His new reflection blinked back at him—peach-blossom eyes still intact, but his once black hair had turned a dazzling blue. His skin was even more flawless than before (how was that even possible?!), and the air of charm he had carried in his past life had somehow intensified.

He looked... ridiculous.

Why do I look like an overpowered anime protagonist?

Before he could question it further, a chime rang in his head.

[Welcome to your first world: The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.]

[Role: Teruhashi Makoto, Older brother of Kokomi Teruhashi.]

[Mission: Romancing Saiki Kusuo.]

Bai Ying choked.

"HOLD ON—WHAT?!"