Sixteen candles guttered on a small cake. His parents tried to smile; the light only threw harder shadows across his bandaged face.
He probed the wound over his forehead with a trembling finger—where the crystal slept—and muttered, half to himself:
"I… I thought it was a dream… but it's real."
A chill crawled up his spine. The gem burned. The world narrowed to that single pain.
Then the air tore.
A window carved itself into his vision — black and red, symmetric, living, like a mouth formed from carved bone.
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ⛧ THE BLACK PILL ⛧ ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ A cold claw presses the crystal in your brow. ║
║ The void remembers you. The devils whisper. ║
║ ║
║ "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." ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ [ ACCEPTED (Persisting) ] ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
It didn't ask again if he accepted — that had been decided years ago in the void. It only announced the restart. The crystal thrummed.
Immediately after, a second panel unfolded below it — the exact, symmetric status readout he'd learned to fear:
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ⛧ STATUS WINDOW ⛧ ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ NAME: King of Ruin (Reborn Identity) ║
║ AGE: 16 ║
║ HEIGHT: 145 cm ║
║ WEIGHT: 38 kg ║
║ LOOKS RATING: -10 / AVERAGE: 5 ║
║ ║
║ CURSES: ║
║ • Severe Dwarfism ║
║ • Bone Deformity ║
║ • Chronic Facial Pimples ║
║ • Allergic Reactions (skin, breath) ║
║ • Low Grip Strength / Weak Muscle Density ║
║ ║
║ SPECIAL: Forehead Crystal (active) ║
║ EXPERIENCE: 100,000,000 (Past Life) ║
║ LEVEL: 10 ║
║ SHOP: LOCKED ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
The numbers blinked coldly. He felt every syllable like an accusation. -10. A score the world would laugh at. Sixteen years of living with this score, and the curse would not lift until he reached — and survived — whatever the system demanded.
Beneath the status window, another box slid into place — the quest list, neat and merciless:
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ⛧ QUESTS ⛧ ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ COMPLETED: 0 ║
║ PENDING: 1 ║
║ FAILED: 0 ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ PENDING QUEST ║
║ ➤ FIRST QUEST: Kill a living being ║
║ REWARD: Unlock SHOP (Enhance Looks / Remove Curses) ║
║ NOTE: "Living being" need not mean human. ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
His chest tightened. For the briefest second, the world narrowed to the thin porcelain cake before him and to the faces of his parents trying to pretend this was normal.
His mother's voice trembled: "What would you like for your birthday, son?"
He lowered his head, fingers touching the bandages.
"I won't need anything from now on," he said flatly. "We're poor. I'm born cursed."
He left the table with rattling steps, each move awkward from his malformed bones. The house smelled of cheap bread and stale pity. He closed his door and slid down to the floor in the corner, bandaged face pressed against his knees.
His thumb found the crystal at his brow. The gem pulsed under the skin like a trapped heart.
The window hovered at eye level. The "PENDING" flag in the quest panel blinked.
He looked around the dim room. Trash, a cracked mirror, an overturned bowl. Movement in the far corner — a small shadow darting between the boxes.
A rat.
His throat tightened. The note had said: not necessarily human. Relief and revulsion warred inside him.
He rose unsteadily and lunged.
His hands, malformed and weak from the curse, flailed. He missed. The rat scuttled away with sick ease. He lunged again—this time reckless—only to trip, his balance failing as his bones twisted painfully.
He lay on the floor, chest heaving, hot tears burning at the edges of his eyes. Despair cracked his composure.
The rat paused on an empty tile, whiskers twitching. It seemed to watch him as if curious about the slow animal in human skin.
Something in him broke. Not logic — hunger, humiliation, a furious refusal to be humiliated once more.
He lunged forward with one last savage impulse.
Unable to rely on hands, he clamped his teeth over the rat's spine. The world narrowed to the metallic taste of blood and the animal's frantic squeal. He bit down until the squeal died. He spat the limp thing onto the floor, breath ripping from his lungs.
Silence, then—
╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ❖ QUEST UPDATE ❖ ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ ➤ FIRST QUEST: Kill a living being — COMPLETED ║
║ REWARD: SHOP UNLOCKED ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ NEW SHOP ACCESS: ║
║ • Enhance Looks (Cost: 50,000 EXP) ║
║ • Remove One Simple Curse (Cost: 25,000 EXP) ║
║ • Temporary Stat Boost (Cost: 10,000 EXP) ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
The pop-up glowed like a brand. The chest inside him—long dead to hope—fluttered oddly. Power, at last. The shop unlocked a door he had only dreamed of.
He sat on the cold floor, hands shaking, the taste of blood still in his mouth. The window's light painted his bandages black and red. Around him, the world stayed the same—small, silent, unaware. But inside him, something had shifted.
He had crossed the first threshold. The curse had not lifted, the scars were still his, his face still a -10 to the world's eyes—yet a small, terrible promise burned: he could buy change. He could claw himself into a face that would not inspire disgust.
Outside, muffled laughter and footsteps echoed from the street. Inside, the crystal in his forehead cooled to a slow, steady pulse. The devils in the void watched.