Cai didn't notice when his hands started shaking.
At first, it was subtle. Just a slight tremble as his fingers hovered over the mouse, adjusting a layer by a few pixels. Then again. And again.
"Still off…" he muttered.
The glow of his monitor painted his face in pale, artificial light. It was past midnight. Or maybe early morning. He wasn't sure anymore. The blinds were closed, and the only thing that existed in his world was the screen in front of him.
A logo.
Clean. Minimalist. Balanced.
Wrong.
He leaned back in his chair, eyes half-lidded, staring at the design like it had personally offended him.
"Why does this look wrong…"
His desk was a battlefield. Empty cups. Coffee stains. Crumpled notes. His tablet pushed to the side. His phone buzzed once, then went silent again.
He ignored it.
Instead, he reached for another cup.
Cold.
He frowned. "I already finished this?"
A quick glance to the side confirmed it. One. Two. Three. More than he wanted to count.
"Right."
He stood up slowly, legs stiff, and walked toward the small kitchen area of his apartment. The floor was cold. Everything felt slightly delayed, like his body was moving a second behind his thoughts.
He grabbed another espresso shot from the tray he had prepared earlier.
Strong. Bitter. Immediate.
He exhaled through his nose.
"Just one more push."
That was what he always said.
Cai wasn't special. He wasn't a genius. He wasn't a prodigy. He wasn't even lucky.
He was just consistent.
He worked. He improved. He worked again.
That was it.
But in a world where talent often hit a wall, consistency carved deeper.
And so he became good.
Good enough to get clients. Good enough to get deadlines. Good enough to get pressure.
His current project was for a high-paying client. A branding package. Clean, modern, "global appeal."
Simple words.
Endless revisions.
He sat back down, cracked his neck, and pulled the mouse closer.
"Alright…"
Click.
Zoom in.
Adjust.
Something clicked.
Not in the design.
In his chest.
He paused.
"…Huh."
A strange tightness spread across his sternum, like someone had pressed a dull weight against it. He leaned forward, elbows on the desk.
"Just tired."
He'd felt worse.
Deadlines did that.
He took another sip of coffee.
Bitter. Strong. Necessary.
Time blurred.
Minutes stretched. Or maybe collapsed.
The logo began to make sense. Lines aligned. Spacing corrected. The balance returned.
"There."
A faint smile touched his lips.
Finally.
Clean.
Finished.
Perfect.
He leaned back and exhaled deeply.
That was when it hit.
Pain.
Sharp. Sudden. Crushing.
His chest tightened violently, like something inside him had clenched too hard and refused to let go.
"What—"
His breath caught.
His fingers slipped from the mouse.
The room tilted.
"Wait—"
He tried to stand.
His legs didn't respond.
A cold sensation crept up his spine and wrapped around his neck.
His vision flickered.
"No, no…"
His thoughts, usually sharp and controlled, started to scatter. His heartbeat was too fast.
Then it became worse.
Wrong.
Irregular.
"I just—"
Another wave hit.
Stronger.
His body collapsed forward, slamming against the desk. The monitor shook slightly, the cursor still blinking over the finished design.
He tried to breathe.
Air wouldn't come.
"Not now…"
His voice came out as a whisper.
"I just finished…"
Even then, the irony wasn't lost on him.
The last thing Cai saw was the screen.
The logo.
Perfect.
Centered.
Complete.
Then everything went dark.
Silence.
No pain.
No sound.
No weight.
Just nothing.
Then—
Noise.
Distant at first.
Muffled voices.
Music.
Laughter.
A low hum of something chaotic.
Cai's consciousness stirred.
"…What…"
His body felt heavy.
Too heavy.
Like it didn't belong to him.
A strange warmth clung to his skin. The air was thick, humid, unfamiliar. He tried to move.
Pain.
Dull, deep, lingering.
"Where…"
His eyelids felt heavy. He forced them open.
Red.
Dim lighting.
A ceiling he didn't recognize.
His breathing was shallow.
Too shallow.
"What the hell…"
His voice sounded different.
Lower.
Rougher.
He slowly turned his head.
The room spun.
A cramped space.
Messy sheets.
A faint smell of perfume mixed with sweat and alcohol.
Voices outside the door.
Laughter.
Music.
"No way…"
Then he felt it.
His heart.
It was wrong.
Unstable.
Fading.
Memory hit him.
Coffee.
Pain.
Darkness.
Death.
"…I died."
The realization came quietly.
Too quietly.
"So why am I—"
His chest tightened again.
Harder this time.
His breath hitched.
"No. Not again—"
His vision blurred.
Darkness crept in from the edges.
His body was failing.
Again.
"Are you serious…"
A weak laugh escaped him.
"I wake up just to die again?"
His fingers twitched.
Barely.
Every part of him felt like it was shutting down.
Then a sound echoed inside his head.
Not from the room.
Not from outside.
Inside.
[System Detected: Subject Near Death]
He froze.
"…What?"
[Emergency Protocol Activated]
Something cold spread through his body.
Not warm.
Not painful.
Just strange.
[Vital Stabilization in Progress]
His chest jerked.
Air rushed violently into his lungs.
"Ghk—!"
He coughed, body spasming as his lungs forced themselves to work again.
[Death Status: Pending… Denied]
Silence returned.
Cai lay there, breathing hard, staring at the ceiling.
Alive.
Still alive.
"What… was that…"
His heartbeat, though weak, had steadied.
Slowly, carefully, he lifted one hand.
It didn't feel like his.
Different muscle.
Different weight.
Different proportions.
He stared at it for a second, then let it fall back to the bed.
The room was still there.
The red lights.
The noise.
The smell.
"A brothel…"
A quiet breath escaped him.
"Of all places…"
He swallowed hard and looked up at the ceiling again.
The words still echoed in his head.
System.
Near death.
Activated.
He didn't understand any of it.
Not the voice.
Not the messages.
Not why he was alive.
Not why he was here.
He only knew one thing.
He was supposed to be dead.
But somehow, he wasn't.
Cai closed his eyes for a moment, breathing slowly, forcing himself to stay calm.
"Alright…"
His voice was weak, but steady enough.
"Let's just… not die again."
Outside, the music continued.
Inside, Cai lay in a body that wasn't his, in a world he didn't understand, listening to a heartbeat that should have already stopped.
And somewhere deep inside him, something waited.