That night was silent.
On the edge of a deserted road, shaded by hundreds of well-maintained trees, their shadows swallowed the asphalt. Only the moonlight illuminated the figure of a lone man standing still.
He was tall, his posture straight. His gaze was calm—yet sharp, fearless. Long black hair cascaded down his back, starkly contrasting with his muscular build. Even beneath his clothes, the contours of his muscles were clearly visible.
"Hah… how troublesome. Why do I have to end up with a lecturer like this?" he muttered softly.
"I even went all the way to his house just to ask for a signature."
In a narrow, pitch-dark alley, another man staggered as he ran. His left hand clutched an arm that appeared broken.
"Damn it… I'm really unlucky."
"I have to kill myself as soon as possible… I have to die."
He burst out of the alley and onto the brightly lit main road. Without paying attention to his surroundings, he collided with several pedestrians.
"CRASH!"
The long-haired man came to an abrupt halt.
Suddenly, excruciating pain surged through his head. It felt as though every cell in his brain was burning, pierced by thousands of needles over and over again. Flashes of foreign memories flooded his mind like a waterfall—far too fast to fully comprehend.
Fragments of memory slammed into his consciousness like a puzzle assembled without order.
"Take a guess."
"Because I am human."
"My name? John Dead."
"Because I am a fraud."
"Thank you all for always being such a bother to me."
"I don't believe in love."
"LYXANDER, please save everyone. I'll give you everything."
"Because I enjoy doing it."
"Yo, Lyxander."
"Regression to 1009, regression to 2789, regression to 5677."
"Kill me, Lyxander."
"But we are human… not gods."
Abruptly, the pain vanished.
All previous memories faded away as if they had never existed.
When he opened his eyes, blinding sunlight greeted him.
"The sun? Wasn't it night just now? What happened?"
People wearing Victorian-era clothing stood around him. Yet towering skyscrapers and lines of modern cars passed by the street, as though the world itself was out of sync… strange.
Instead of helping, one by one, people raised their phones to record the scene. Not because ambulances didn't exist, but because everyone assumed someone else had already called.
He tried to get up.
A loud voice shattered the air.
"You lunatic! Why did you jump in front of the truck?!"
An old man climbed out of the truck's cabin, his face twisted with anger and panic.
"Jumped in front of a truck? Me?" he muttered in confusion.
Pain struck his head again—this time different. He touched his forehead and saw blood staining his palm.
Shouts erupted from the crowd, urging someone to call an ambulance immediately.
His consciousness faded before help arrived.
•••
Five days had passed since the accident.
He now understood the bitter truth: he had transmigrated into the body of a young man named Lyxander.
He learned the name from the patient ID tag attached to his clothing.
He was currently in Faulust Hospital, a massive building located in the heart of Faulust City—a city that had never existed in his original world.
Yes, this was another world.
After accepting his new identity, he began attempting to access Lyxander's memories.
Inside the VIP room, he sat in silence, unraveling fragments of memories that did not belong to him. His unique ability allowed him to open the entirety of those memories: photographic memory.
Apparently, this ability originally belonged to Lyxander.
Unfortunately, the sheer amount of information was overwhelming—and most of it useless.
Eight foreign languages mastered, world history ranging from crucial events to trivial facts, hundreds of complete novels neatly stored.
How did this person not go insane? he thought irritably. Searching for a single piece of information felt like stirring an endless ocean.
In that case, let's try a keyword. "Family."
"Family is the smallest unit of society, consisting of individuals bound by blood relations, marriage, or adoption, living together in one household, loving and protecting one another, playing roles in character formation, providing emotional support, and serving as a place of belonging and return for its members."
Damn it. What I want to know is Lyxander's family, not a sociology lesson.
This guy really does resemble an automated search engine.
Fine, then let's look into this world's history. "World history."
"Long ago, the entire universe was destroyed by a great flood…"
"Skip."
I don't need this.
"During the era of human hunting…"
"Skip."
Come on, what's the point of knowing that?
"Nine Immortal Emperors waged war for the throne of the sole emperor. The war lasted an extremely long time, causing countless beings to suffer from an unending conflict."
This one seems interesting. Let's continue.
"Hard times give birth to strong people. This proverb perfectly describes the war of the Nine Immortal Emperors. In this era, countless heroes were born, among them three heroes who brought the war to an end. A genius scientist who brought change to all civilization, Einstein. The son of the Last Emperor who killed his own father to end the war, Arturius Jahanam. And the great and noble god who bestowed grace upon all living beings, Yohan."
"These three would later be known as the Three Heroes who defeated the Fire Emperor Gehenna, the Black Emperor Tamisra, the Undying Emperor Avici, the Void Emperor Tartarus, the Law Emperor Naraka, the Prison Emperor Diyu, the Death Emperor Helheim, the Soul Emperor Sheol, and finally, the Last Emperor Jahanam."
"With no true victor in the war of the Nine Immortal Emperors, Arturius Jahanam declared himself the One Emperor Jahanam, granted Yohan the right to spread his religion, and bestowed upon Einstein the title of Grand Duke."
"Then, with his overwhelming power, he unified the nine continents into one. To this day, his descendants rule the Jahanam Empire, which governs the entire world—leaving the world with only one emperor and erasing war for the past three hundred years."
What a fascinating history…
Admiration filled his heart.
The Three Heroes… especially Yohan—one who proclaimed himself a god.
And power capable of uniting nine continents… does magic exist in this world?
Knock. Knock.
A knock came from his hospital room door.
"Come in," Lyxander replied.
A beautiful female nurse entered the room and smiled at him.
"Lyxander, I have good news for you. Care to guess?"
Lyxander tilted his head slightly. "I'm allowed to go home now?"
"Hehe, not just that. Your family is coming to pick you up," the nurse replied.