The first thing he felt was cold air.
Not the stench of blood.
Not chains.
Not the iron tang of death.
Air. Thin, sterile, unnatural.
His eyes snapped open.
Bright lights burned them.
White walls stretched endlessly. Machines beeped. Nurses screamed.
"What… what is that?!"
Someone staggered back, a cloth pressed to her mouth.
Another stumbled, almost dropping a tray.
He tried to move—but his body protested. His arms. His legs. His back. Everything ached.
A burning pain struck his forehead.
He touched it.
A crystal embedded under his skin.
The same one the Beauty Devil had stabbed with her nail.
The nurses gasped, horrified:
"His face… gods… his face…"
"That jaw… twisted… is he even human?"
"Skin… pockmarked… his bones… deformed…"
Ugly.
Disgusting.
Broken.
He had been reborn cursed.
His body was malformed: dwarfism, bone deformities, allergies flaring painfully, pimples covering his skin.
His looks rated at -10, while an average human measured 5.
This was the reality he would live with until he turned sixteen.
Humiliation, a familiar old friend, flooded him.
He wanted to scream. To die. To end this nightmare.
Then the world shifted.
A window tore open in the room, stretching across his vision.
This time, it was perfectly symmetric, alive, pulsating, carved from black and red shadows:
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ⛧ BLACK PILL ⛧ ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ NAME: King of Ruin ║
║ AGE: 6 ║
║ HEIGHT: 95 cm ║
║ WEIGHT: 20 kg ║
║ LOOKS: -10 / Average: 5 ║
║ CURSES: 5 Active (Dwarfism, Bone Deformity, Pimples, ║
║ Allergy, Humiliation) ║
║ EXPERIENCE: 100,000,000 (Past Life Slaughter) ║
║ LEVEL: 10 ║
║ QUESTS: Randomly Assigned ║
║ SHOP: Available (Enhance Looks, Remove Curses, Items) ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
The nurses shrieked and ran, leaving him alone with the window pulsating in front of him.
The devil's voice echoed in his skull:
> "Welcome back, my king. You have chosen rebirth.
Almost one million humans butchered…
One hundred million experience. Enough to jump straight to level 10.
> You are cursed with this body, your appearance, your weakness.
Until sixteen, this is your prison. Your suffering.
But the system… the quests… the shop… these are your tools.
Obsession will be your power. Revenge, your weapon."
The king stared at the Black Pill window.
It was no longer a simple accept/reject choice:
Stats glowed red
Curses taunted him
Shop items shimmered like temptations
Quests flashed, waiting to test him
The poem he had already read came alive in his mind:
> "What regrets haunt your bones?
What pain stains your fate?
You were broken once—
yet destiny kept your gate.
You hold a second chance,
a path sharpened by hate.
Rise, if revenge still breathes in you—
for your enemy may return at this very same rate."
He clenched his fists. Pain, rage, humiliation… all mixed into a single, unyielding fire.
The window pulsed:
[NEXT QUEST: UNKNOWN — Complete to gain first upgrade]
The nurse's terrified footsteps receded. The world outside the hospital was waiting.
And the king—reborn, cursed, hated—smiled.
He would not be humiliated again.
Not in this life.
Not in any life.