"You've worked hard enough… live for yourself now, my son…"
Her voice was soft, barely above a whisper. I gripped her frail hand, feeling how fragile she had become.
"Mom, don't talk like that." My voice cracked, betraying the fear clawing at my throat. "You're going to be fine. The doctor said—"
She smiled. Weak. Tired. Knowing.
And then... she was gone.
Just like that, the last person I had in this world left me behind.
I sat there, staring at her motionless body, unable to process it. The room felt too quiet. Too empty.
What now?
---
I spent years struggling to survive. But now, I had no one left to struggle for.
For as long as I could remember, my life had been an endless cycle of work and exhaustion. My father died when I was just a kid, leaving my mother to take care of me alone. She worked tirelessly, sacrificing everything so I could get through school.
But fate didn't care about sacrifices.
By the time I reached high school, she fell ill. Medical bills drained every penny we had. There was no choice—I had to drop out and start working.
Day after day, I labored under the scorching sun at construction sites, my hands blistered and raw. At night, I picked up part-time jobs, barely scraping together enough for her treatment. Every breath she took was my reason to endure.
But it wasn't enough.
She still died. And with her, my purpose disappeared.
What's the point of it all?
For the first time in my life, I stopped fighting. If life was going to be this cruel, I'd live however the hell I wanted. No more chasing stability. No more struggling for a future that would only end in disappointment.
And if nothing else, I would finally do the one thing I had always dreamed of as a kid—get myself a gaming PC.
I didn't have much saved up, but it was enough to buy a decent setup. Nothing high-end, but it worked.
Every morning, I still went to work. But at night? I lost myself in gaming.
That was when I found World of Estroma.
A medieval fantasy RPG filled with magic, adventure, and intricate world-building. Oddly enough, the game had already been installed on the PC when I bought it. At first, I assumed it was some pre-installed trial version, but when I tried searching for it online, I found nothing.
When I asked my coworkers if they had ever heard of it, they just gave me blank stares.
Weird.
But the game itself felt real. More immersive than anything I had ever played. It was addicting, pulling me deeper with every session.
Weeks passed.
Then, one night, just as I was about to log in, a message popped up on my screen:
[Tutorials are over. Update the game to continue.]
I frowned. "Update? I don't remember seeing any patches for this."
Shrugging, I clicked the button and stretched, exhaustion weighing down on me. I didn't even wait for the update to finish—I just shut my eyes and let sleep take over.
I had no idea that by the time I woke up, my world would never be the same again.
---
Something was wrong.
I felt it the moment I stirred.
The air smelled different—clean, almost fragrant. The sheets beneath me were impossibly soft. The bed was huge, far larger than the cheap mattress I was used to.
My eyes snapped open.
A high, ornate ceiling greeted me, illuminated by the glow of a chandelier.
I sat up with a jolt, my heart pounding. The room around me was absurdly lavish—expensive furniture, intricate décor, golden embellishments lining the walls.
I sucked in a sharp breath. "What the hell…?"
Scrambling out of bed, I nearly tripped over my own feet. My body felt off—taller, stronger. My hands were too refined, my arms lean yet toned.
Dread coiled in my stomach as I staggered toward a nearby mirror.
The face staring back at me was… not mine.
It belonged to someone else.
No. No, no, no.
My pulse roared in my ears. Because the reflection wasn't just unfamiliar—it was a character from World of Estroma.
Not the hero.
Not some side character.
But a third-rate villain—a perverted noble who existed solely as a stepping stone for the protagonist.
I stumbled back, panic surging through me.
This is a dream. It has to be.
Before I could process anything, a translucent screen flickered to life before my eyes:
[Update Complete. Transmigration Successful. Synchronization: 0%... 1%...]
My breath hitched.
'What is happening?'
A sharp, searing pain stabbed through my skull. My vision blurred as memories—not my own—flooded into my mind. Scenes of a life I had never lived, people I had never met, emotions that didn't belong to me.
I gasped, clutching my head as my knees buckled.
And as the world spun into darkness—
I collapsed onto the floor.