There was no hesitation in her response. "As you wish, Young Master."
With that, she stepped out of the room, the door clicking shut behind her.
I waited a beat, listening. No footsteps. No unnecessary movement. She had already stationed herself outside.
'Efficient as always.'
Turning away, I walked to the door, twisting the lock into place with a quiet click.
'Good. No interruptions.'
I stepped back, glancing around the room once more before making my way toward the bed. The silk sheets felt smooth beneath my fingertips as I sat down, resting my arms on my knees.
[System Repair: Start.]
The robotic voice rang out, mechanical and precise.
But before I could even process the words, a wave of dizziness crashed over me.
My vision blurred, dark spots creeping into the edges of my sight. My head felt heavy, my balance shifting, as if something was pulling at me from the inside.
[Admin Connection: Initializing...]
[Verifying System Integrity...]
[Unidentified User Detected.]
The text flickered across my vision in rapid succession, the robotic voice layered with a strange, distorted static.
The room spun, my body felt weightless for a brief second—
And then, everything went dark.
I opened my eyes to nothingness, my body weightless, as if I had been dropped into some endless purgatory.
The words barely left my lips before they felt swallowed by the space around me.
I looked down at myself—my body was there, solid, real. I clenched my fists, testing my own presence. Everything felt normal. Too normal.
"You're finally here."
The same one I had just heard before passing out—the one that had spoken in those cold, robotic system prompts.
I turned my head sharply, my eyes narrowing—
And what I saw made my stomach twist in disgust.
Same bloated belly. Same sweaty, hairy body.
Chubby cheeks, stained with fucking Dorito dust.
Greasy black hair. Beady blue eyes.
The body of Damien Elford.
But I could tell—this wasn't Damien.
There was something off. Something wrong.
"Heh... I thought you'd recognize me."
That voice. That tone. Smug. Bitter. Crawling with resentment.
And then he spoke again—
"You spoke as if you knew everything about me."
My breath hitched for just a second.
But as I looked into those petty, rage-filled eyes, I knew.
I stared, my mind still catching up to what was in front of me.
And then, almost instinctively, the name slipped from my lips.
The bloated man in front of me grinned—wide, smug, victorious.
Like he had been waiting for me to say it.
"Ah, so you do remember." He tilted his head, his arms crossing over his stomach, his belly folding over itself like layers of soft dough. "Righteous_One. That was my name on the thread, wasn't it?"
I didn't respond. I just watched him.
Because this... this was insane.
What the fuck was happening right now?
How the hell did I end up here?
But before I could even process anything further, he took a step forward, his beady blue eyes glinting with something unreadable.
Then, with a smirk, he asked—
"So? What do you think now that we're face to face?"
For a moment, I just stood there, staring at him, my mind processing what was in front of me.
This scene—this whole situation—it didn't make sense.
That pathetic, self-pitying bastard. The same guy I had torn apart on the forums, the one who had broken down in real-time as I exposed every inch of his miserable existence.
Standing in front of me. Smug. Confident. Like he had won.
"Can't answer?" he taunted, tilting his head. "What, were you all talk?"
I already had my suspicions that he was behind this. That the person who had dragged me into this mess—the one who had set everything in motion—was him.
But seeing it with my own eyes...
Having it confirmed...
Laughter. Loud, unrestrained, hysterical laughter.
It tore through my throat, raw and unfiltered, bubbling out of me before I could even stop it.
This was fucking hilarious.
Of course it was him. Of fucking course.
The guy who had spent hours crying about how life was unfair. The guy who wrote a game to wallow in his own misery. The guy who tried to drag everyone else down with him.
Now he was standing in front of me, acting like he had won.
I laughed so hard my chest ached, my stomach twisting, my breath hitching between bursts of sheer amusement.
This was just too good.
Righteous_One's grin faltered.
His beady blue eyes narrowed slightly as he watched me, his arms still crossed over his bloated stomach.
He looked... confused.
"What the hell is so funny?" he muttered, his tone carrying a flicker of irritation. "Did you finally lose it?"
I wiped a tear from the corner of my eye, my laughter tapering off into a low chuckle. My body still shook slightly from the sheer absurdity of it all.
"As I thought... you're just a pathetic excuse of a man."
I grinned wider, leaning forward slightly, letting my gaze drag over him.
"A loser. A fat fucker. Some basement-dwelling sack of lard who thought he was deep just because he could write some depressing, self-indulgent trash."
His fingers curled against his arms. His jaw clenched, his entire body going stiff.
"You really thought you were someone, didn't you?" I continued, voice low, taunting. "Sitting behind your screen, acting like some enlightened philosopher, crying about how unfair life is, blaming everyone else for your own failures."
I let out a slow breath, shaking my head.
"But in the end, you're just this."
I gestured at him. At his swollen belly, his greasy hair, his slouched posture—every miserable detail of his existence.
"This is all you are. And it's all you'll ever be."
His expression darkened.
Righteous_One's expression twisted.
Not just with anger—though that was there, bubbling beneath the surface—but with something else. Something deeper.
Or perhaps it was disappointment.
He let out a slow exhale, unfolding his arms, his bloated fingers twitching slightly.
"You really don't get it, do you?" His voice was lower now, carrying something weightier than before. "You sit there, running your mouth, acting like you're untouchable. Like you have the right to judge me. But you never once stopped to ask the real question."
My smirk didn't waver. "Oh? And what question is that?"
He stared at me for a long second, as if waiting for the words to sink in. Then, finally, he spoke—
"Why do you think you're here?"
The void around us pulsed. A strange, almost imperceptible shift in the air.
And in that moment, I realized something.
Righteous_One wasn't just here.
He wasn't some fluke. Some dying man clinging to a last-minute stroke of power.
That's why I had been dragged here. That's why I had been transmigrated into this place, into Damien Elford's body.
Because he made it happen.
And yet, even as that revelation settled in, even as my mind raced with the implications—
Righteous_One's eyes narrowed.
"You think this changes anything?" I scoffed. "That just because you have some power, it makes you any less pathetic?"
He stared at me, unreadable.
"You still whine like a bitch when things don't go your way. You still hide behind self-righteous bullshit, acting like you're some misunderstood genius. You still sit there, wallowing in self-pity, waiting for the world to acknowledge you."
I leaned forward, grinning.
"And people like you? People who can't even stand on their own without blaming the world for their failures?"
I let out a sharp breath.
"You don't deserve empathy."
----------A/N---------
Since this is a new book, any power stones would help.