Chapter Text
The sun was shining far too cheerfully for a day someone was scheduled to die.
She squinted at it from her hospital bed, feeling mildly offended. "Rude," she mumbled, adjusting her eyeglasses with the grace of a coffee addict on her third iced coffee.
“The weather's supposed to match the mood. Where’s my cinematic rain?”
Nurses bustled around with the usual cheer, but none dared interrupt her bubble of sarcasm and blanket fortitude.
A poster board leaned against the wall beside her, plastered with Polaroids and violently colourful markers spelling out:
The Wish List
Thirty-seven items. Thirty-six crossed off in thick, defiant red.
Eat ten scoops of ice cream in one sitting without getting brain freeze? Done.
Flip off her high school principal during his retirement speech? Glorious.
Stand on a rooftop and scream, “I’M THE MAIN CHARACTER”? She had neighbours filing complaints. Worth it.
But the last one...
She looked at it again. The only line untouched. It was just a joke on her part. There should be one wish left for regret. So she wrote that on the day she was diagnosed to live only for two years.
Today is her expiry date. She jokes to herself as a comfort.
"Reincarnate into Chung Myung’s world." She read aloud
A fantasy novel. A martial arts nightmare. A swordsman with the personality of a demon-possessed squirrel and the wisdom of a half-sober monk. Her favourite disaster. Her sword saint.
The nurse glanced over and smiled, politely ignoring the fact that her dear patient was whispering to herself again.
“You’ve done so much,” she said gently, voice kind.
The girl smiled, lopsided and bright. “Yeah. But not everything.”
“Sweetheart…” The nurse paused. “You do know that one’s… impossible?”
She tilted her head, eyes gleaming. “You say impossible. I say challenge accepted.” She can't help but joke at her own demise today. That's how nervous she is, and that's how she copes with it.
And somewhere, perhaps in the folds of reality, in the quiet space where fiction hums, a system began to boot up.
> [STATUS: User Death Imminent]
[TRANSMIGRATION CONDITIONS: 99%]
[ONE WISH DETECTED]
[Target World: Return of the Blossoming Blade]
Confirm transfer upon cardiac arrest? Y/N]
[Auto-confirm enabled.]
The girl sighed, content. And nervous as she stared at the ticking hands of the wall clock.
“Chung Myung… you better be as unhinged as advertised.”