From the moment Lyra . An was born, one rule was carved into her life:
Fall behind once, and you lose everything.
So she learned early.
In kindergarten, her days started before sunrise and ended long after dinner.
While other children went home, she stayed for extra classes.
Weekends didn't exist. Rest was a reward she hadn't earned yet.
Whenever she slowed down, even for a moment, her mother would lean down and whisper:"If you're late today, you'll be late forever."
That sentence followed her for years.
Middle school.
High school.
Four hours of sleep, twenty hours awake, endless exams stacked on top of one another.
Her mother promised her:"Just get into a top university. Then it'll get better."
So Lyra . An did.
She entered the best university in the country.Chose the most demanding major-Architecture.
Her schedule was packed.Classes from morning to night.Studios on weekends.Certificates, licenses, competitions—she took all of them.
Her eyes darkened from lack of sleep.Her hands shook from exhaustion.Still, she didn't stop.
Her mother smiled and said:"Once you start working, life will finally be easy."
Lyra . An got a job.
That was when she learned the truth.For seven consecutive days, she worked past midnight.
No sleep.
No weekends.
Her team rushed to meet a client's deadline—drawing revisions, redesigns, endless modifications.On the seventh night, at nearly three in the morning, the client finally replied:
"Actually… the first proposal feels better.Can you refine that one and send a new version? We'll discuss again."
Lyra . An stared at the message.
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard.And for the first time in her life, she said the thought she had never dared to voice:
"I don't want to live anymore."
The moment the words left her mouth, her vision went black.Her last coherent thought was strangely calm.Even the King of Hell works overtime now? That was fast.
When Lyra . An opened her eyes again, chaos surrounded her.
Voices overlapped.
Whispers, gasps, tension thick in the air.On a table in front of her were three porcelain boxes.
Inside them:
A spider.
A centipede.
A scorpion.
Venomous. All of them.
"She wouldn't dare touch those…"
"They're bound familiars. Impossible to tame."
"This is clearly a warning."
Lyra . An listened without reacting.
She caught one word-Poison.
Poison is good, she thought calmly.
She reached out.
"Hello?" a voice echoed inside her mind, cheerful and synthetic.
"Hello? Can you hear me?"
Lyra . An ignored it.
She picked up the scorpion.
It stung her instantly—sharp pain, brief and shallow.
That's it? she thought.That hurts less than realizing I still had two mock exams left at midnight.
She raised the scorpion to her mouth.
"WAIT—!!!"
The voice in her head screamed:"That's a SCORPION! Not food! Why are you eating it?!"
Screams erupted around her.
"She swallowed it—!"
"Even one is lethal!"
"She'll lose consciousness!"
Unconscious?That's disappointing.
Lyra . An reached for the centipede.
The system voice dissolved into censored static.
By the time the third creature disappeared, she closed her eyes with a faint sense of relief.
Finally, she thought.
I can sleep.
She didn't die.
Instead, the room fell silent.Footsteps retreated in terror.Someone tripped while fleeing.When Lyra . An opened her eyes again, everyone was staring at her.
Fear.
Awe.
Something like reverence.
She exhaled softly.
"…Water."
A trembling hand passed her a cup.
She rinsed her mouth, calm as ever.
"Anything else?" she asked.
"If not, you may leave."
They fled.
Only then did she finally acknowledge the voice in her head.
"What happened," she asked flatly, "and why am I still alive?"
The voice hesitated.
"Um… welcome. I'm the Live Once Happily System."
Lyra . An paused:"You're celebrating too early," she said.
She was reborn into a world ruled by a system.