NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1
Where do humans go when they die?
Do they become ghosts and wander the world?
Do they fall into heaven or hell?
The afterlife is a mystery, and that’s why people live with fear and turn to religion.
To be promised peace in the afterlife.
But from my experience, such things don’t exist.
When you die, you just endlessly repeat your next life.
And speaking as someone with experience…
“Is this world I’ve been reincarnated into another battle genre?”
If you want to maintain continuity in the afterlife, I want to say it’s not about useless religion, but about training your mental power.
Behind me, the figure of a man with a burst head scattered into dust.
*
There’s a saying.
Humans remember their past lives right after they’re born.
They simply grow up, forget their past lives, and become just ordinary babies once they’re able to communicate.
Is this merely a fanciful tale?
There must be a reason such a saying exists.
Could it be a more credible story than some heavenly or hellish realm?
The conclusion is that becoming a reincarnator that remembers one’s past life is surprisingly simple.
“You just need to maintain your memories through mental power.”
– Are you insane?
– Shh! Anyway, that’s the concept.
– So, am I a reincarnator too?
“Looks like no one believes me.”
These foolish humans can’t even trust the truth…
I felt ridicule as I looked at the chat from the stream where viewers were discussing.
I went through the trouble of teaching them the secret of eternal life, and yet they couldn’t even accept it.
As expected of worthless mortals…
Well, isn’t that way of thinking what distinguishes reincarnators like me from ordinary people?
If everyone was like me, reincarnators would be overflowing in this world…
Feeling a bit superior, I focused once more on the screen.
Even if they seem foolish, they’re still the viewers responsible for my livelihood.
So I guess I can teach them a little more.
“By the way, this is my seventh life.”
– When’s the real concept going to break?
– Have you ever been to a fantasy world?
– They’ll probably say I’m a hero or something.
– Hero nonsense, lol.
“Ah, fantasy worlds… it’s a bit delicate but not exactly what you’d expect.”
Fantasy!
Swords and magic!
I envisioned a medieval world bursting with adventure and romance, but the reality was quite different.
I recalled the fourth world I had reincarnated into.
“It was a world that stimulated men’s dreams.”
Logically speaking, a world with convenient magical omnipotence shouldn’t be worse off than modern times.
The typical medieval fantasy is like the prehistoric era on Earth.
The very early stages of civilization.
The difference is that while humanity needed five thousand years to evolve from the prehistoric era to the modern age, a fantasy world could reach that level in just three hundred years.
And from the day the first human kingdom was established, a millennium passed.
That was the era I had reincarnated into.
Medieval?
Well…
Certainly, chronologically, it aligns with what would be the medieval period on Earth.
Year 1307 of Humanity.
Humans had conquered their inner universe and explored outer space, and giant GunX units were popular sports as they simulated battles in the cosmos.
At that time, modern technologies like smartphones or AI were seen as ancient relics, occasionally unearthed remnants from olden times.
Thanks to the advanced civilization, I enjoyed long life, and by the time I reached around 700 years of age, I was slowly dying of old age when the Demon Lord invaded…
“[The Cosmic Weapon used for Inner Universe Invasion](
In any case, the fantasy world I remembered wasn’t one of swords and magic, but rather one dominated by badass beam sabers, GunX, and space battleships.
At least the age of swords and magic came to an end when the development of a magic that could cause nuclear explosions began, around the 150-year mark of humanity’s calendar.
Afterward, a global treaty was established that prohibited the direct use of magic in wars.
– Is that… fantasy?
– Demon Lord Darth Vader… Hero Starwalk…
– Have you piloted GunX?
“I did pilot a GunX. You could buy sports models even as civilians with money since they weren’t strategic models.”
Like bikes, it was common for families to have at least one.
Prices were reasonable; you could get a good GunX for around 500,000 won in Korean currency.
Those even operated in space and had basic beam saber and firepower capabilities, but such models were barely more than toys in that era.
Overall, it was a world where the power balance was completely off.
Beep beep—
While I was in the middle of sharing my stories, my smartphone, which was sitting beside my computer, started ringing.
11:55 PM—Oh no, it’s already time…
“It’s time’s up. I was planning to play a game today, but I didn’t even start it.”
– Hey, let’s play a bit longer, bro.
– They said a new champion came out for Legends of League.
– Autumn Leaf Cube, let’s go!
“No way. Good adults know it’s bedtime now.”
– You’re a bad adult.
– It’s 12 o’clock, and you’re leaving already?
– Where are you going? I’m cold; where are you going?
“See you all tomorrow.”
Click—
I turned off the stream and got up from my seat.
“Ugh…! So annoying!”
Honestly, I’d prefer to just hang around here and kill time if possible.
“Well, what can I do? Even if it’s bothersome, I have to get things done.”
57 minutes.
Just three more minutes left.
I threw on my jacket and left the house, standing in front of the elevator in the corridor.
Before the time came, I pressed the button to call the elevator to my floor, preparing myself.
It was a precaution to prevent any innocent bystanders from getting caught up in this.
I’d never seen anyone else who lived in this apartment…
But you never know.
A student might have been lured by the low rent to move in.
Huh? Why would someone live in such an apartment?
Did I mention how cheap the rent is?
An apartment in Seoul that’s not even 100 million won? How could you resist that?
With hardly anyone around, it’s managed surprisingly well.
Though I’ve never seen anyone managing it.
Beep beep—
The alarm on my phone went off in my pocket.
Midnight sharp.
Time’s up.
I opened the elevator and pressed the button for the 13th floor.
By the way, the apartment I live in ends at the 12th floor.
There’s no 13th floor.
At midnight, an additional button appears, making all the buttons lead to the 13th floor.
I’ll never forget the shock I got when I went all the way up to the 13th floor for a late-night snack on my first night moving in.
The doors opened, revealing the corridor of the 13th floor.
It looked exactly like any other floor’s corridor, but there was something subtly unsettling about it.
As I walked down the corridor, I saw a man in a security uniform approaching, ominous riot baton in hand.
“I keep telling you that if you hit people with that, it’ll cause an outcry for excessive force, right?”
Or is that not the case?
A security guard in an apartment doesn’t really do that, right?
Well, it doesn’t matter.
As I said, this world’s genre is battles.
In the battle genre, the police generally just mess around rather than actually working.
Meanwhile, at that very moment.
“Senior, what’s that over there?”
“I don’t know… What is that? It’s scary!”
Two bulky men in suits were observing the scene from the rooftop of the opposite apartment using binoculars.
[A Telescope Showing What Should Not Be Seen]
Recently, there were unusual phenomena reported every night, but they’d vanish quickly, and since nothing happened, it was deemed [Abnormal].
It’s one of the few special devices that allows you to grasp what’s happening inside the [Abnormal Space] without direct contact.
Thanks to this telescope, the two men could vividly see what was happening on the [13th floor] where they shouldn’t be.
“Come on, come on.”
Creak—
“Huh? Running away? Where do you think you’re going?”
Creak—bang!
“How dare you throw the first punch and then run away?!”
Crack! Bang!
“Yikes!”
A clearly [Abnormal] being was getting mercilessly beaten up.
“Wasn’t that guy the one who threw the first punch…?”
“He really threw that uppercut well.”
It was a straight punch so clean it could have been used as a martial arts manual, thought the man called ‘senior.’
“It’s obvious that he’s pointing that terrifying riot baton at him. Isn’t that an attack?”
“Ah, that baton does look pretty terrifying.”
“Can I borrow the telescope?”
“Sure, here you go.”
“…Who are you talking to?”
“Uh, my senior…?”
The senior’s voice came late.
The junior, realizing something was off, turned his head to find the man who’d been pounding the [Abnormal] now examining the [Telescope Showing What Should Not Be Seen] while holding the bloodied [Abnormal] in one hand.
“Oh, this is interesting. Even though it ends at the 12th floor, the 13th floor overlaps on top of the roof?”
Both the senior and junior broke out in cold sweat seeing that sight.
Confront him?
Against a human smashing [Abnormals]?
No way.
Run away?
They weren’t even recognized as they approached.
No way.
This was a human who was beating up [Abnormals] barehanded.
Wait, is that even a human at this point, now that he’s taking down [Abnormals]?
“Nice job. You’ve got a fascinating device there.”
The [Strange Man] returned the telescope he’d been examining to the junior’s hands.
“There have been plenty of ghost stories recently. Lots of disappearances too. You don’t seem like someone who’d be out there looking for trouble, but it’s dangerous at night, so try not to wander around too much, okay?”
As he spoke, the [Abnormal] disintegrated in his hand.
… Is this how [Abnormals] can just disappear?
“Well, I’m heading in now.”
The man, confirming the vanished [Abnormal], began to walk back as if he had finished all his business.
Just when the [Strange Man] became invisible to them.
“Senior… we are still alive, right?”
The junior’s trembling voice, which wasn’t worthy of his size, rang out.
“Shit, don’t ask me….”
That day, the two men confirmed a new [Abnormal].