Am I… dead?
That was my first thought.
It wasn't far-fetched — the last thing I remembered was the searing pain in my chest.
I could definitely tell I was dying.
But, strangely, I wasn't afraid. albet regretful
I suppose this was the kind of calm people said came before the end.
If I was being honest… I was relieved.
That the burden was finally gone.
That I was gone.
The weak, useless Nam Gi Won who couldn't keep up. The boy whose life was nothing but pitiful
Now, my family could finally move on — without worrying about keeping me alive.
If anything, I almost wanted to laugh. What a pathetic thing to think as your last thought.
When I opened my eyes again, what I saw wasn't heaven.
Nor was it hell.
It's just a vast, endless void — dark, yet somehow illuminated by soft ripples of blue light.
The ground? None.
The sky? None.
Up, down, left, right — meaningless.
It was like floating underwater, only there was no water..
Just silence, eternal and serene.
It was… peaceful.
Too peaceful.
"Is this what death feels like?"
My voice didn't echo. It was swallowed whole by the emptiness.
I raised my hands. They were translucent, pale, like thin glass beginning to crack. Particles of light slowly drifted from my fingertips.
I stared at them — and then sighed.
"If this is the afterlife, it's kind of disappointing."
No judgment. No pain. Just nothingness.
Eternal, silent, empty nothing.
"Am I supposed to just… float here forever?"
That thought hit harder than I expected.
It wasn't the fear of death — it was the fear of nothing after.
Loss of purpose
Was this what my existence amounted to?
A faint chuckle slipped from my lips, breaking the silence.
"Figures. Even in death, I'm useless."
Then, a memory. A voice. A face.
Her.
The girl who kept chasing impossible dreams, the one who refused to stop no matter how much the world broke her.
The one I could never save.
Unlike me, she wasn't afraid of falling.
Even when she failed, even when her name was cursed, she kept looking up — toward a dream so far away it scraped the heavens.
To her, it didn't matter if the world called her a fool.
She'd burn herself to reach it.
…Truly, an intriguing woman.
I closed my eyes and muttered.
"Why the hell am I thinking about someone else when I'm probably dead?"
Maybe it was obsession. Maybe it was guilt.
Or maybe — it was regret.
If I was given another chance…
If I could redo everything…
I'd try to save her again.
Even if it cost me everything.
Even if it meant dying again.
And as if the void itself answered my thoughts—
Ting.
A clear chime rang through the silence.
---
[Welcome, Player.]
A screen flickered into existence before me — not projected light, not an illusion.
It was real. Tangible. Floating.
Words appeared in glowing silver text, each letter carved into the void itself.
[Eternal Fate System – Reboot Mode Initiated.]
Then another line appeared beneath it.
[World Code: 0 – Origin Space.]
[Admin Access: Granted.]
I blinked.
"…Wait. This… this interface…"
It was familiar.
My heart — or whatever counted as one in this place — skipped.
"E.F.O…" I whispered. "Eternal Fate Online."
Before I could question how, a voice spoke. Calm, androgynous.
It wasn't quite mechanical, yet it wasn't human either.
[Nam Gi Won.]
[I am T.O.W.K.]
[It's nice to see the man who has witnessed the end of all fates.]
My throat went dry.
[You have seen every bad ending.]
[Would you like to rewrite it — one last time?]
"…Rewrite it?" I asked, my voice trembling slightly.
"You mean… the world of E.F.O?"
[Correct.]
[You may alter its outcome — save it, destroy it, or forget it ever existed.]
[Choose your path.]
Two panels appeared — golden and crimson.
Forget Everything.
Challenge Fate.
I didn't even think.
"I've come too far to forget."
The moment I said it, the void rippled.
The blue light surged, spinning around me.
Particles gathered — glowing, forming symbols, circles, windows.
And suddenly — I was standing.
***
A character creation screen.
Everything from the faint hum of mana crystals to the ethereal mirror was exactly how I remembered it.
My reflection looked back — pale, tired, yet calm.
"So even here, it starts from the beginning, huh…"
[Choose your identity.]
An endless list of names appeared before me.
Clare Michigan.
Elrion.
Lina Astrea.
Ragner.
Seris...…
Names that carved themselves into my memory — heroes, villains alike.
I stared at Clare's name for a moment longer.
The cursed genius, fated to freeze everything she loved.
The one I could never save.
Then I shook my head.
"Not this time."
My hand hovered over the last option.
[Create Custom Character.]
---
A blank slate appeared. Lines of editable data.
The process was simple I input my original name and gave it my appearance
He had a black hair and was brown eyed. His body was lean with an average height
He didn't feel like fixing it perhaps he wanted it that way.
He had a face that isn't too handsome or something that can be called ugly
It's just average
Someone that won't be remember if one encountered in the crowd
Profile:
Name: Nam Gi Won
Age: 18
But when I reached Background, I hesitated.
Back then, I'd type whatever I wanted — something like "Fell from the sky" or "Found in the trash can ."
But this time it is… real.
What if these backgrounds mattered?
What if they were more than text flavor?
I thought for a while before typing:
Background:
A commoner who once lived in the village of Gordon. The village was destroyed during a black mage attack. As the sole survivor, he resolved to become a knight to protect others from the same fate.
It was short and simple but realistic
Very convenient — since Gordon no longer existed in canon.
"Alright," I muttered. "Now for the important part."
Stats.
This was where the game shone.
Unlike pre-made characters, custom builds didn't come with traits.
But if you distributed your stats in a specific pattern, you could trigger hidden traits — bonuses, curses, mutations, whatever fit the setup.
It was my favorite part of E.F.O. — experimenting.
---
[STATUS WINDOW]
Name: Nam Gi Won
Age: 18
Race: Human
Strength: 0
Endurance: 0
Agility: 0
Will:0
Mana: 0
Title: None
Skills: None
Status Ailment:
Remaining points:25
---
Looking at my status panel I knew already what to prioritize
Because of the nature of the trait I would choose I'll prioritize the willpower stat which gave me enough strength to control it
I balanced what I gave to strength and agility and gave a but more in endurance
Without hesitation, I dragged all my remaining points to Willpower.
The system chimed a warning.
[Warning: Setting Mana to 0 will cause permanent damage to your Mana Circuit.]
[Proceed?]
"Proceed."
[Confirmation Required. This may result in death.]
"I said proceed."
E.F.O. was a world governed entirely by mana.
No mana meant no magic, no life, no future.
But I wasn't worried.
This world had always operated on a cruel balance — every curse came with a blessing. Every weakness had potential.
The moment I confirmed, something tore through my chest.
Like a hole opening where my heart should be.
Energy — my energy — bled out of me, sucked away into the void.
---
[STATUS WINDOW]
Name: Nam Gi Won
Age: 18
Race: Human
Strength: 8
Endurance: 9
Agility: 8
Will: 15
Mana: X
Title: None
Skills: None
Status Ailment: [Broken Vessel D] – Unable to generate or contain mana.
Remaining points: 00
---
Then came the message.
[Trait Unlocked: Broken Vessel. D]
A rare trait appearing once every century.
The body constantly leaks mana due to a shattered mana core.
Exposure to dense mana may cause physical corruption or death.
[Sub-Skill Unlocked: Absorption E (Passive).]
Due to the absence of mana, the body automatically absorbs ambient energy to survive.
Risk: Over-absorption can lead to collapse or mental erosion.
Chance of inheriting properties from absorbed energy.
---
"Absorption…" I whispered, a smile creeping across my lips.
"That's what I wanted."
The Broken Vessel — one of the most hated traits in the game.
It crippled your ability to use mana.
It killed you slowly through pollution.
But it also held one of the most broken potentials.
To absorb.
To adapt.
To evolve.
To endure.
The only one that could save her.
"Looks like the trash build's making a comeback," I murmured.
It was suicide. Even I knew that.
But death wasn't new to me.
I've died a hundred times.
This world had killed me more than my illness ever did.
And yet… here I was again.
Ready to risk it all for a good ending that wasn't even mine.
[Character Creation Complete.]
[Custom Data Successfully Registered.]
[Commencing Transfer to World Layer.]
The world around me cracked.
The blue light shattered into shards like glass.
Beyond them, I saw it — a sky. A field. A distant city wrapped in dawn.
For the first time, I felt the wind again.
And the voice — that calm, ancient voice — whispered once more.
[Welcome back, Nam Gi Won.]
[Your fate begins anew.]
[Mission Objective: Save the world — or perish trying.]
The light swallowed me whole.
And as my consciousness slipped, I thought—
So it begins.
My final game
---
✦ End of Chapter.