Chapter 0

People die when they do something they don’t usually do.

Even if it’s just a trivial act, like walking towards the stairs instead of the elevator they always take.

– Stumble.

“…Ah.”

Losing balance on a wet step I hadn’t noticed, I crashed down hard.

My whole body throbbed with pain, but the ache in my head was particularly intense.

Not long after that, red liquid dripped onto my white patient gown.

As I closed my eyes once due to an indescribable thumping in my head, I realized I was being carried somewhere.

“You can’t sleep, patient! Keep your eyes open!!”

I heard a voice laced with urgency.

I saw the dazzling light of a penlight blinking every second.

However, in less than 10 seconds.

– Slump.

I could feel the boundary between consciousness and unconsciousness blur, and I finally closed my eyes.

I didn’t want to know that I would never open them again.

As often mentioned in famous poems or novels, it was truly a pathetic life.

*

– Pat pat.

– Pat pat.

A strange sensation.

“Oh, who do you take after to be born so beautifully, our Ha-eun?”

“Hmm, they say daughters usually resemble their fathers…”

“What did you say?”

A strange voice.

“Of course, I can’t dismiss the mother’s DNA either. No, now that I look at it, you take after him completely.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

A strange atmosphere.

In a landscape where nothing felt familiar, the hypothesis that this was all a dream was thoroughly denied.

In a situation that was both surreal yet annoyingly realistic, the only conclusion I could reach was reincarnation.

‘…It’s a strange feeling.’

Generally, it’s said that good people go to heaven, and bad ones go to hell.

In my case, having done nothing during my life, was I sent back to this world?

Thinking that way, it didn’t seem so outlandish after all.

Yeah, a life spent struggling with illness until the end isn’t quite right.

“Our Ha-eun, say ‘mommy’. Mom, my!”

“What are you saying to a child who hasn’t even turned one yet?”

“Who knows, maybe our Ha-eun is a genius of the century?”

I felt a bit sorry for the woman gazing at me with a mixture of anticipation and affection, as I slowly began to get drowsy.

It seemed my tolerance for sleep had been readjusted towards zero as my life progress approached zero.

Not long after, I drifted off to dreamland.

However, the inability to perceive the passage of time was the same as in reality.

“Happy 6th birthday, Ha-eun!”

“Congratulations, our daughter.”

When I came to my senses, I had already reached an age where I could not only walk by myself but also say the word “mom” effortlessly.

Without noticing, my infancy and toddlerhood had been abruptly snatched away.

“Blow out all the birthday candles at once to make a wish, Ha-eun. So, blow it out with all your strength!”

Finally, the candles extinguished with a single puff of breath.

The time that had vanished in an instant, like the candles that went out at once, felt like a waste.

Of course, there wasn’t much a child who hadn’t even entered elementary school could do besides eat and sleep.

But perhaps due to memories of having lived a life on borrowed time, I wanted to spend even a little more meaningful time.

The day was the morning right after my 6th birthday.

I picked up a small hand mirror from the dressing table and tried to have a semblance of a conversation with myself while looking at my reflection.

It was something I intended to do just to seriously contemplate what I should do moving forward.

I just wasn’t yet entirely accustomed to the youthful appearance reflected in the small hand mirror.

“Hmm…”

Like many who experience something as unrealistic as reincarnation, I had quite a cute and beautiful appearance.

Of course, every time my mother looked at me with a cute expression, it felt a bit exaggerated.

I couldn’t even say I was ugly; my face was such that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to say I wanted to be a model or actress.

However, I hadn’t decided to pursue a career as a model or actress so soon.

While my appearance was currently flawless, there could be complications as I grew into adulthood.

After spending considerable time pondering the future of “Lee Ha-eun,” I recalled a memory sleeping at the back of my mind.

‘…Why is the visitor having so much fun while leaving the patient alone?’

‘Ah, this is about Virtual YouTubers—’

The memory momentarily resurfaced and lingered at my ears.

Now that I think about it, that was an option too.

Having read stories about people suddenly transforming into girls and becoming streamers or Virtual YouTubers, I could easily envision a future as a Virtual YouTuber.

At the time of reading those stories, I never imagined I would be the subject of such an unrealistic situation… but what could I do?

To my surprise, the more I thought about it, the more appealing the option of becoming a Virtual YouTuber seemed.

Especially since I was in a time when the concept of Virtual YouTubers wasn’t even known yet.

In the case of models and actors, the competition was fierce even now.

The entertainment industry could hardly be called a blue ocean.

However, if I prepared step by step to pursue a career in a field that is not even a red ocean but still uncharted,

I could patiently wait until the influence of the Internet surpassed that of broadcast media, and be among the first to dive into the blue ocean of Virtual YouTubers.

By doing so, I might grasp what people commonly refer to as “success.”

No one but God knows how things will turn out, but that’s precisely why it is important to choose a path with the least risk of failure.

Thus, while reviewing all the memories of Virtual YouTubers still lingering in my mind like a panorama,

I carefully opened my mouth while gazing into the still awkward reflection of the little girl in the hand mirror.

“Ha—up.”

I tried to mimic a Virtual YouTuber who puffed up her cheeks in response to a donation received during a stream.

And just a mere second later.

“Ribbit ribbit. Are you playing with your mom’s mirror from this morning? Ribbit ribbit.”

“Ribbit ribbit. I guess the Frog Prince story you read to me last time made an impression. Ribbit ribbit.”

“…!…!!”

Suddenly, the playful voices of two shadows that had been standing behind me transformed me into a frog.

My cheeks flared up, becoming more tomato-like than a tomato itself.

Feeling the embarrassment of the Virtual YouTubers caught off guard with the red paint while embodying the petite body of a child who hadn’t even debuted yet was a bit much.

…This was already proving to be difficult.

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