The hospital window was left open, allowing the evening wind to drift inside and brush gently against the young man's pale skin.
Outside, the world continued as usual. People passed by the hospital grounds, and across the street, children laughed and ran freely on a small field. Watching them stirred a quiet sense of nostalgia in his heart.
It was a beautiful sight.
"Ah… since I'm going to die," he murmured weakly, "at least I had a nice view."
Life hadn't been entirely bad.
He grew up in a poor home with his mother and little sister. He never really felt hopeless though. His father, the man who left them when he was a baby was not really someone he remembered. The father was like a faint memory, to him.
Of course, living under such harsh conditions had never been pleasant.
But in the end, he had achieved his goal.
At only twenty-two years old, he had attained financial freedom. He had bought a large house for his mother and sister one where they could live comfortably and without worry.
That alone made his life feel complete.
"Ah… why do I feel like a retired soldier?" he muttered with a faint chuckle.
To his left, a medical monitor displayed his vital signs.
Beep… beep…
The sound was faint, irregular, and strangely distant.
Dying at twenty-four.
Life was cruel. Especially to someone whose future had once been overflowing with promise—someone who had achieved the highest title and rank in chess, standing at the very peak of the world.
"Life is so unfair," a voice sighed softly outside the hospital room.
Outside, a crowd had gathered. Friends, acquaintances, reporters.
Yet inside the room, only three people remained.
Finn and the two people he cherished most.
"Finn, my son…" a woman's trembling voice broke the silence. "Did you call us?"
His mother stood beside the bed, her once gentle face etched with fatigue and grief. Beside her was a fifteen-year-old girl, her head lowered, tears silently streaming down her cheeks. She looked strikingly similar to Finn.
"Yes…" Finn replied softly. "My beloved mom… and my little sister."
He paused, taking a shallow breath.
"It won't be long now. I can feel it."
Then he smiled.
It was a bright, carefree smile—one untouched by fear, as if death were nothing more than an inconvenience.
"I just want you to know… I lived the greatest life," he said gently."Being born as your son… and as your brother."
The moment those words left his lips, his sister broke down completely.
"Brother…!" she sobbed as she rushed closer to the bed. "Isn't there any way to save you? Are you really going to die?"
Finn wanted to answer.
But even speaking was now too much for him.
Instead, his mother Julia held his hand tightly and spoke through her tears.
"My girl… you know your brother's condition is related to his heart."
She swallowed hard.
"An infection has attached itself to it. Even the world's greatest surgeons can't save him. If they attempt surgery… his heart will bleed out before they can stop it."
Her voice cracked.
"You must be strong… and say your farewell."
Deep inside, Finn wasn't ready to die.
He wanted to live.
He wanted to live more than anything.
"Ah… this damned heart…" he whispered. "It hurts so much…"
His fingers slowly loosened from his mother's grasp.
Julia froze.
A sharp, heart-rending scream erupted from the room, echoing down the hospital halls.
Elissa totally collapsed seeing his only and loved brother had passed away.
Those outside already knew.
One of the most beautiful flowers one that had yet to bloom fully—
had withered away.
Outside the hospital, lotus petals drifted to the ground, as though even nature mourned his passing.
Name: Finn Wilson
Age: 24
A flower destined to bloom brighter than all others—
died just like that.
A shivering cold surged up from the floor beneath him. Finn awoke with an overwhelming sense of discomfort, his body trembling uncontrollably as the chill gnawed into him, refusing to fade no matter how hard he tried to steady himself.
So cold…
As the thought surfaced, he tried to remember where he was.
That was when he noticed the child.
Finn jolted—not because the boy had suddenly appeared, but because he seemed to stand there all along staring at him.
The terror came from the realization that the child had been there all along.
Standing close.
Finn opened his mouth to speak.
Before a sound could escape, a voice reached his ears low, heavy, impossibly deep. It carried a weight that pressed against his chest, vibrating through his bones.
"Do you want to see a dance?" I'm just asking it doesn't matter whether you want to or not.
The sound did not belong to a child.
It was profoundly wrong for such a small body to hold a voice like that, as if something far older were speaking through him rather than from him.
"Then why are you asking?" Finn asked with a slightly frustrated tone. Yet something was missing his heart felt completely fine, beating boldly in his chest.
He was alive.
The sudden thought of seeing his mother and little sister again brought a smile to his face.
As if he didn't care about his answer anyway, he started dancing.
It was a very strange dance; he had never seen this kind of dance before.
His limbs were moving with extreme agility, but they were not coordinated. It was chaotic and ominous it felt fundamentally and deeply wrong.
Seeing this kind of dance gave rise to an extreme, deep, primordial fear inside him. All of the boy's movements were disconnected from anything human because humans couldn't dance like this or nor they do.
After a while, he finally finished his dance and declared that it was the Dance of Madness.
"Congratulations, human! You have passed the trial!"
Although his words were meant to congratulate him, they didn't feel like congratulations at all.
"If you had possessed a weak soul, you would have certainly lost your consciousness."
"Sorry if I scared you, but this is the duty I must perform for those who come from Earth."
"You can call me Karl. I am the assistant of the Demon King, Baron. The reason I performed such a strange dance was to make your soul acquainted with the Demonic World. Your soul has been tempered a little but that is far from enough to enter the Demonic World. You must overcome two more trials ahead of you."
The reason was simple—humans were weak by nature, the lowest among the myriad races of the universe. Asura, angels, dragons, and beast races could enter without restriction,because they were born with innate talents far stronger than those of humans.
Hearing this, Finn's face grimaced.
What the hell?
I'm already in Hell, and this little kid is telling me I still have to clear two more trials?
"Sorry to interrupt you," Karl said calmly. "But I'm not a kid."
"Oh…"
So he can even read my mind.
"Finn Wilson," Karl continued, staring directly at him, "if you wish to see your family again, you must enter the Demonic World."
Entering the Demonic World is extremely hard. Normal people couldn't stay alive for even five seconds. Only those with strong souls can withstand the pressure. Its nature is fierce and unforgiving, and one must be strong to survive.
"I see," Finn replied. "I'll do whatever it takes to return to my family."
"But… didn't I die?"
"About that," Karl said apologetically, "our Demon King mistakenly lost his Demonic Worm. It accidentally attached itself to you. Its food requires a strong heart… sigh. After that, well you already know what happened."
Hearing this, Finn's face paled.
"So in the end," he muttered, "my luck is just terrible."