Rebirth

“Thump!”

The sound of my fist hitting the pillow echoed softly in the quiet studio apartment.

The faint blue light of dawn seeped through the gaps in the blackout curtains, but the cold white glow from my smartphone screen swallowed even that.

Only my weary sigh, exhausted from an all-nighter and defeat, flowed out lonely from under the blanket.

“No way, how am I supposed to beat this…”

Muttering in despair, I placed my smartphone on the pillow.

On the screen, the words ‘DEFEATED’ flashed mockingly in red letters.

The game I had been clinging to until just now was called 「Shadow Symphony」.

A new mobile game released less than two months ago, it had become a hot topic by topping the user count charts upon release.

The core of the game was collecting heroes from 1-star to 5-star, forming a party, and clearing labyrinths teeming with monsters.

Though the concept wasn’t fresh, the vast worldview and flashy battle animations had captivated me.

I had started playing during my leave of absence when I had free time, but before I knew it, it had become part of my daily life.

After finishing my part-time job and returning home, I would naturally embark on adventures with the heroes in the game, and what began as a light hobby had unknowingly become the source of my dopamine.

But everything changed two days ago when the Stage 5 boss ‘Petramos’ was updated.

‘Did they really make this to be beaten?’

Even with my party filled with max-level 5-star heroes, I couldn’t even reduce the boss’s health by half.

Realizing this wouldn’t do, I entered the Shadow Symphony gallery, but there were no strategies-only complaints and curses directed at Petramos.

With every scroll, the anger and frustration of other users seemed to reflect my own image like a mirror.

‘Hmm… Looks like everyone’s in the same boat…’

Feeling troubled by the thought of the money I’d wasted on Shadow Symphony, I logged into the plant gallery as if to escape.

Even though I didn’t raise plants myself, I often visited here for healing because I liked the mature and peaceful atmosphere.

Looking at the daily photos of companion plants that users proudly shared would always calm my heart.

While browsing the gallery, a long apology comment left by the author of a controversial post caught my eye.

It was impressive how they had written the post in heightened emotions but returned just a day later to apologize politely.

“As expected of the plant gallery.”

Like plants sprouting and growing bit by bit, perhaps the hearts of the people here grew that way too.

Suddenly, I wondered if I should place a small pot by the window.

As I continued my serious contemplation, sleepiness gradually crept in.

Checking the clock, I realized I had stayed up all night and it was already past 1 PM.

Thanks to the pitch-black blackout curtains, I had completely lost my sense of time.

‘How can this be? It’s already broad daylight?’

I resolved not to play Shadow Symphony until the next patch and began preparing to sleep.

I gathered my personal trio of sacred items for perfect sleep, one by one.

A sleep mask that claimed to absorb light like a black hole,

Earplugs that wouldn’t let me notice even if a band performed right in front of me,

And this bed I had been lying on, which wouldn’t budge even if an elephant walked by.

I never compromised on sleep quality.

…

‘Ugh… Hot… No, scorching.’

My surroundings felt hot and stifling as if I had entered a sauna.

It also seemed like some noisy sound had been ringing in my ears for a while.

Irritated by the intense heat and annoying noise, I sat up abruptly, and a cough burst out.

“Cough!” “Hack!”

Phlegm came out along with a black lump from my mouth.

Startled, I removed my sleep mask to find the area filled with choking black smoke.

When I took out my earplugs, loud alarm sounds blared from all directions, and the sound of flames roaring came from below.

‘Wh-what!? Fire, fire!?’

The sacred items I had prepared for perfect sleep had instead become a disaster.

Before I could make sense of the chaotic situation, I choked again.

“Cough! Cough!”

Another black lump was spat out.

My throat hurt and burned terribly.

It seemed like my airway had already been burned.

Perhaps because I had inhaled too much smoke, my body wouldn’t move properly.

When I barely managed to open the front door, the entire building was filled with black smoke.

Squinting my eyes, which were stinging and hard to open, I looked around and saw that all the other doors were open.

It was clear that everyone had already evacuated.

‘Did everyone evacuate? Haven’t the firefighters arrived yet?’

I needed to find a way to survive.

I remembered there was a refuge area on the rooftop.

Keeping my posture as low as possible, I took step by step toward the emergency staircase, but my head hurt and felt too dizzy.

Eventually, I lost my balance and collapsed on the floor.

“Ugh.”

No strength remained in my body.

Even though I wanted to get up, my legs wouldn’t obey.

“S-save me!”

I shouted, hoping someone would hear, but my desperate cry was drowned out by the roaring flames and ear-splitting alarm sounds.

It seemed like I was the only one left alone in this officetel.

“Save me…!”

…

“Sa… save…”

“C-cough!”

No more sound came out.

I intuitively knew I didn’t have much time left.

There seemed to be no hope of rescue.

Even as my consciousness faded, I felt strangely calm.

What came to mind in my final moments wasn’t the game’s defeat screen but the photo of a small sprout I had seen in the plant gallery.

‘They say burning pain is the most painful among sufferings… Is it fortunate that I’m suffocating to death instead of burning…?’

My consciousness gradually faded. In the final moment, it felt like someone was calling my name, but even that faded into the darkness.

***

Darkness like an infinite abyss.

In an absolute silence where neither time, space, nor any sensation existed, the consciousness called ‘I’ awoke.

As if floating alone in the deepest part of the universe, the surroundings were filled with pitch black that swallowed even light.

In this perfect void where no sound, warmth, or presence could be felt, only thoughts endlessly swirled.

‘Where… is this?’

The fact that I could think felt strangely unfamiliar.

If I couldn’t think at all, it wouldn’t have been this terrifying.

My last memory was losing consciousness in the officetel engulfed in flames.

The hot smoke that burned my throat, the ear-splitting alarm, and the sprout photo from the plant gallery that flashed in my final moment.

All of it felt as distant as a story from long, long ago.

I desperately tried to move my body, but shockingly, the concept of a ‘body’ itself didn’t exist.

Not only could I not move my limbs, I couldn’t even twitch a finger.

No, more accurately, it seemed like there was nothing to move at all.

I couldn’t feel myself choking or my heart beating.

Only pure consciousness was floating in the darkness.

‘Yikes, I can’t even move a finger! I’m not breathing, my heart’s not beating… Wh-what happened?’

‘What is this… D-did I become a vegetable?’

Fear gripped my consciousness.

Was I rescued from the black smoke and lying on a cold hospital bed in the ICU?

But this was different from being in a vegetative state.

Medical documentaries said that conscious patients could at least faintly hear sounds or feel touches.

They said they could hear their family’s voices and feel their touch…

This current state was on a completely different level.

The isolated consciousness couldn’t even gauge the passage of time.

Had a minute passed, an hour, or had several years already gone by?

In the endless solitude, anxiety only deepened.

‘Please… This won’t last forever, right?’

Fear washed over me like waves.

I desperately missed all the sensations from my previous life.

The cold morning air, warm sunlight, sweet coffee scent, even the feeling of fingertips tapping on a keyboard.

Everything I had taken for granted now felt incredibly precious.

‘Wait… Could this be… the afterlife?’

Realization struck like lightning.

Then the good deeds I had done came to mind.

The monthly donations I made consistently, the volunteer work I didn’t do often but still worked hard at…

‘I lived decently enough! But ending up in a place like this… Isn’t this too much!?’

Though it might not have been a great life, I was confident it wasn’t bad enough to be sent to such darkness.

‘This doesn’t make sense! Even if I can’t go to heaven, I should reincarnate and be born again! Being trapped in eternal darkness like this is too unfair!’

Despite denying reality, my reason coldly faced the situation.

Thinking that I might already be dead, the time I had spent escaping into virtual game worlds felt meaningless.

If only I had grown real plants during that time, left behind even slightly more meaningful traces… Regret washed over me.

‘No, there must still be hope. This must be part of the recovery process. If I wait a little longer…’

Then a thought occurred to me.

‘Strange. Since when was I this emotional? Normally I would have analyzed the situation rationally to the end… My way of speaking feels different too…’

‘No, now’s not the time to think about that. First, let’s find a way to get out of here.’

Consoling myself, I sharpened my consciousness as much as possible, as if searching for even a sliver of light.

Holding onto the hope that there might be something beyond the darkness, I focused my consciousness deep within.

Like peering into a deep well, I concentrated my mind toward my deepest self.

That’s when it happened.

Very faintly, but definitely, I felt ‘something’.

『 ★ (Nameless) Seed LV1 0 years old ♀ 』

‘Huh?’