Death X Rebirth

As Kevin learned his name, certain memories began surfacing in his mind, such as how to recognize written words.

"I can't read the words... yet I can understand what people say directly."

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For a moment, he had no idea what was going on with his memories—or rather, with the memories that seemed to belong to the original owner of this body.

He continued rummaging through the wallet in his hand, doing his best to search for useful information with his understanding of the writing.

Identification documents, bank cards, and several strange cards he could not make sense of.

Still, he learned a few things from those cards and documents.

For example, "he" came from a country called the Kingdom of Ganyou.

Great. He had never heard of it.

But it had to be a major country.

Huh? Why did I know that?

When he learned the name Kingdom of Ganyou, more memories began surfacing in his mind.

This body was like an amnesiac. It needed something to trigger its memories, and now that he was controlling it, those memories could be recalled through stimulation.

Is this normal?

It should be normal, right?

What else could I do, anyway?

Kevin found what amusement he could in misery. He needed to learn more about himself, and more about this world.

His gaze drifted to the pile of clothes he had changed out of in the corner. Maybe searching through them would help him recall more.

He acted as soon as he thought of it.

He immediately got to work.

Sure enough, he found many ragged tears and holes in the clothes, with bloodstains all around them.

But the more he looked, the more something felt wrong.

Did these traces really look like they had come from falling off a mountain?

He spotted several remarkably smooth tears, smooth as though they had been cut open by Scissors or a sharp blade.

Once that thought occurred to him, the clothes looked more and more suspicious.

Wait. How exactly did "I" die?

"You noticed something was wrong?"

"!"

The voice that suddenly sounded behind him gave Kevin a fright. He spun around in terror and stared at the man from earlier.

He had no idea when the man had appeared behind him. He had made no sound or movement at all.

Seeing that Kevin had clearly been startled by him, the man scratched his hedgehog-like hair.

"Sorry, I scared you. But after thinking it over, I had too many questions I wanted to ask you.

I don't have much time, so I'll just be direct."

What?

Having recovered from the shock, Kevin wore a baffled expression.

He had only just steadied himself and begun trying to learn more, yet this man's words plunged him back into confusion and panic.

"My name is Jin. Jin Freecss."

Jin introduced himself.

Kevin nodded instinctively.

"I killed you. I killed you with my own hands."

"Huh?"

Kevin was bewildered.

What the hell? Was he suddenly dropping that kind of explosive information on him?

Jin clearly had no intention of stopping in the face of Kevin's confusion. He continued, "We were enemies, so I killed you. But when I was about to dispose of your corpse, the injuries on your body healed.

I had confirmed your death at the time, so you came back to life. That kind of phenomenon isn't common, and it differs somewhat from what I knew before.

So I brought you back to see whether you would wake up."

No, man, wasn't that a little too much information at once?

Jin's sudden revelation left Kevin's mind completely blank, as if an enormous flood of information had been poured into his head.

Every plan he had just considered was swept away by those words.

Fragments did begin flashing through his mind. It seemed that he had been fighting the man before him.

Only, those fragments were hazy. They could only confirm that what Jin said might be true.

As those memories emerged, Kevin could not help touching his body, feeling the places where the old wounds had healed, as though pain still lingered there.

Wait, no.

"You just said you've seen other cases of resurrection? More than once?"

Kevin caught the key point. Could someone encounter something like this multiple times?

Was it that common?

Based on the vague memories of the battle, this world seemed a little abnormal.

"You admitted it. It seems my guess was correct—you have some awareness or understanding of your current condition.

Judging by your reaction, though, your understanding doesn't seem complete. Hmm..."

After pondering for a moment, Jin added, "It's like seeing a dragon in a work of art but never believing dragons exist in the real world. Yet when you actually see a similar creature, you apply the name dragon to it."

Having finished explaining his own reasoning, Jin finally looked at Kevin.

"You were terrified of your current body. That reaction didn't look like amnesia. It looked more like... another soul, or another consciousness, had entered this body."

He had gotten everything right.

What are you, some kind of great detective?

The external situation had abruptly turned extremely grim, but that instead calmed the dazed Kevin. His mind began racing.

He could not help recalling the brief period after he had first awakened.

His performance then had indeed been terrible, but that was understandable. No one could go through something like that and immediately stay calm enough to make sound judgments.

And—and the man before him had possessed absolute control from the beginning, so he had been guiding Kevin all along.

That included his manner of speaking, even the deliberate pauses in the middle, and the mirror that happened to reflect Kevin's face.

There might even have been many details Kevin had not noticed at all.

This man had carefully planned everything.

His worries had been meaningless. From beginning to end, it had been the worst-case scenario.

And his current situation was... Kevin could not help raising his head.

Jin watched him without urging him on, as quietly as though he were waiting for Kevin to think things through.

"Phew."

Kevin let out a breath.

It was meaningless.

Jin had killed the former "him," and the incomplete fragments in Kevin's mind had already proven his combat ability.

Meanwhile, Kevin had absolutely no skill in controlling this body in battle.

And in terms of intelligence, the man before him was clearly no fool.

If anything, Kevin was the one who looked like a fool in front of him.

Resurrection, and terms like consciousness and soul, all suggested that this world might possess some kind of supernatural power.

Of course, Jin might have been bluffing him, but certain details in Kevin's fragmented memories supported it.

And so far, Kevin had not heard any "ding" sound.

It seemed that the greatest safeguard of a transmigrator was gone.

In the end, did he actually have to hope the other person was a good man?

"While I wouldn't call myself a good man, I'm definitely not an evil one."

Mind reading?

"Not mind reading. Just simple observation."

Was I really that obvious?

"Not really. I just know a bit about this sort of thing, and I've studied it.

Oh, and my intuition is quite accurate. My sense of smell is good too."

No, what exactly were you introducing about yourself?

And so, with Kevin expressionless and Jin answering his unspoken thoughts on his own, the two began to converse.

Jin suddenly sat down cross-legged on the floor, facing Kevin.

"It seems you've digested what I said. You're someone who can think and judge, so you should understand the current situation. This isn't a threat.

But you should also understand my abilities, so shall we speak openly?

Think of it as a transaction. You need help right now, don't you? Your confusion and unease are written all over your face."

Kevin let out a breath and nodded.

And once again, he confirmed in his heart that this Jin was absolutely a formidable person.

A wise man knew when to yield.