I cannot see. I cannot touch anything. This isn't right. What happened to me?
The last thing I remember was the shouting. My coworkers were ganging up on me again. My supervisor was red in the face, screaming at me just because I finally complained to the boss. I had been doing everyone's work since the first day I arrived at that company. The others did nothing but got all the praise, while I, the one doing the real labor, only got blamed.
I finally gathered some courage to save the boss from a mistake, thinking it would better my life. I was always a wimpy coward. I was a pushover because I just wanted to be loved. My parents abandoned me when I was only ten years old. I had to take care of myself ever since. I just wanted a friend, a family... and I died just like that?
I never got to enjoy life. Life is unfair.
Suddenly, a warm, tight sensation surrounded me. I realized with a shock that I was in a womb. I was being reborn as a baby.
In this life, I won't lower myself to anyone, I vowed in the dark. I will live for myself and those who love me. Respect is earned, and I'm done being a doormat.
Then, I heard a voice. It was muffled but full of fear.
"When will they stop chasing me?" a woman whispered. It had to be my mother. "I thought I lost them. They really plan to wipe us out completely... every last one of us."
Am I in the middle ages? Or some kind of Murim world from those novels? I wondered. How can things be this lawless right after I reincarnate? Am I just an unlucky bastard?
I felt her moving, her heart racing against my small frame. Then, the movement stopped. She began to hum a soft, sad tune.
"Hu... hu... hu..."
"They have stopped chasing us for now, my baby," she whispered, her voice trembling. "I hope you live a better life after I'm gone. Please, don't seek revenge. Let the hate stay with us in our grave. They won't recognize you, so just live well."
I felt her pain. We were in a deep forest. I could hear the distant roars of things that didn't sound like animals. They sounded like monsters.
"Ah! Ah!" she cried out suddenly. The pain was sharp. "I'm in so much pain... I'm delivering. Don't worry, my child. I won't let anything happen to you. Push! I have to... push!"
With one final, agonizing cry, I felt the world open up.
"Nwa!! Nwa!!"
I let out my first cry. The air was cold, but her hands were warm.
"Welcome, my son," she breathed, her voice growing weaker. She tucked me into a small, hidden hollow covered in soft moss. "Let me put you somewhere safe. May the heavens protect you. No matter what, I won't let them take you."
My mother is too kind, I thought as I looked at her blurred face. But I won't be like her. I won't be merciful like I was in my last life. Those who harm the ones I love will pay back a million times over.
Not far away, in the heart of the dangerous woods known as the Monster's Hub, a pair of ears twitched.
"Is that a baby crying in this hellhole?" a raspy, old voice muttered.
An old man walked through the thick brush, his eyes scanning the shadows. He looked ancient, his clothes tattered but his stance firm. He spotted the mossy hollow and the tiny infant inside.
"What kind of merciless parents would do such a thing?" he sighed, looking down at me. Then, a strange smile touched his lips. "Well, I was just thinking I needed someone to inherit my legacy. My sect was disbanded a thousand years ago, and I can't take these secrets to my grave."
He picked me up with surprising gentleness.
"The old man up in the clouds will agree with me, right? I'll take this little one as my disciple. At most, I only have six years left to live. That should be just enough time to turn a baby into a warrior."