-Thump-thump.
Every kick sent a vibration through the solid wall.
I was currently encased within a sturdy shell.
I had no idea how much time had passed.
Yet, I could feel myself steadily growing larger, and the space around me seemed to have tightened slightly.
Initially, this whole situation was quite startling, but I had grown accustomed to it, and it wasn’t so bad.
I could move around to some extent.
I wasn’t hungry either, likely due to the yolk.
It was actually quite cozy in here.
Strangely, I could even breathe.
I’d once heard that eggs have tiny pores for breathing; perhaps this was a similar sensation.
I still didn’t know what I truly was.
My eyes weren’t properly open, and I couldn’t really touch anything to find out.
Occasionally, I felt as if someone was gently rolling me around.
I presumed it was the being that would become my parent.
I’d heard that birds constantly shift their eggs while incubating them, checking the position of the air pores.
But even if I became a bird, my intelligence remained intact.
…Does that even make sense?
Then again, being reborn in itself defied logic, so I decided to simply accept it.
Who knew, maybe when I was born, I’d have an enormous head…….
The image I conjured was more horrifying than I’d anticipated.
Anyway, one day, as I continued to grow steadily.
-CRASH!!
“!!!”
A tremendous roar pierced through the shell, reaching my ears.
What, what is it?! What’s happening?!
Wait, something feels off.
It felt like I was spinning uncontrollably.
-Slosh, slosh.
…….I’m utterly screwed.
Seeing the egg white next to me sloshing violently, it seemed I was indeed rolling.
A growing dizziness in my head confirmed my suspicion.
Madness! How could an egg being incubated just roll away?!
An absurd event was unfolding, yet there was nothing I could do.
All I could do was pray that this hard shell encasing me wouldn’t break.
‘Please, please, please, please, please, please.’
‘Oh God, save me!’
‘You wouldn’t have brought me back to life just to torment me like this, would you?!’
‘I haven’t even fulfilled my promise to fly and meet her again!’
‘I haven’t even seen my parents’ faces in this life! Am I supposed to just go like this?!’
‘Are you playing a cruel joke on me right now?!’
I pleaded, I argued, I begged for mercy, but.
-Roll, roll, roll, roll.
This crazy runaway train just wouldn’t stop, boy~
I’m truly screwed.
‘Aaagh! Stop!’
‘Ugh, I’m going to throw up! I’m going to, going to throw up! I haven’t even been born yet, and I’m already vomiting!’
Perhaps even the gods found the prospect of witnessing my vomit unpalatable.
-Thud!
Something snagged, and all movement ceased.
I almost died, and I hadn’t even been born yet.
But what would happen to me now?
How could a young bird hatch without a parent to incubate it?
Was my life—no, my bird-life (TL Note: A pun on ‘인생’ (insaeng), meaning ‘human life,’ here ‘조생’ (josaeng) refers to ‘bird life’)—ruined?
Even so, I couldn’t let this life end so meaninglessly.
Hadn’t I already wasted a third of my previous life?
To be honest, I had harbored many hopes inside this shell.
Would I be able to communicate with my parents in this life when I awakened? Had much time passed?
Was this still Korea?
If it was…….
If it truly was, could I see Noona again?
Honestly, by this point, the shell felt suffocating.
It might be a little early to hatch, but couldn’t I manage it?
After all, wouldn’t dying be the same outcome either way?
I just had to try.
With all my might, I tried to open my still-closed eyes, repeatedly ramming my head against the shell.
There had to be a hard part at the tip of the area I felt with my mouth.
Birds supposedly break out of their eggs with a hard point on their beak.
But no matter how hard I tried to hit it, I felt no cracks forming in the shell.
Instead, it felt like soft lips hitting something hard. What was this?
Was I a mutant? Was that it?
But giving up now would mean nothing.
Wouldn’t my claws be sharp?
!!!!
‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’
That hurt like hell.
What was it, did I not even have claws?
No, what in the world?
Was I really a mutant??
This made no sense.
Why was I reborn as a mutant again?
The last voice I heard clearly stated that my body would be ‘synthesized.’
Wasn’t I supposedly created by some divine being?
It’s unfair.
This is ridiculous.
Why couldn’t they just let me close my eyes peacefully! They should have just let me die and meet my parents!
Then I could have waited for Noona in heaven with peace of mind.
I could have watched her meet a good man, have children, and live happily.
Consumed by such indignation, I began to thrash my entire body.
I don’t want to die like this!
‘You said you’d let me live again!’
‘You said you wished my life would be full of blessings!’
As I struggled and flailed with all my might at that very moment.
-CRACK!
My head hadn’t even touched it, but I heard the sound of the shell cracking.
‘? What is it?’
I was thrown into confusion.
But there was no time for that.
The moment the egg began to crack, I felt a cold wind from outside; if I didn’t get out now, I would surely die.
I probably wouldn’t last long even if I did get out, but it was better than dying without ever seeing the world.
With that thought, and without understanding why, I simply shook my head as hard as I could.
Then.
-CRACK! CRACKLE!
As if in sync with my increasingly dynamic movements, the sound of the shell breaking became even more pronounced.
And gradually, light began to stream into the world that had been nothing but darkness.
It was the moment I shattered the tiny, confining world I was in and emerged into the vast, wide world.
“Cough! Cough!!!”
“? Something felt wrong. Cough, cough?”
It didn’t take long.
I soon realized I wasn’t a bird.
It seemed my wish had been granted, in a way.
But this wasn’t what I had hoped for.
A golden tail.
-Sway, sway!
White wings.
-Flap, flap.
My appearance was somehow strange.
What was this? I had wings… but they looked like bat wings. Disgusting.
What’s more.
“Why can I speak?”
Why was I able to speak?
Wasn’t I a bird?
At least my current form didn’t seem human, so why could I talk?
I pondered these questions to myself.
“Well, what’s the point of questioning it when there’s no one here to answer me anyway─”
[Congratulations!]
[Due to the extremely low outside temperature, the passive skill: Temperature Immunity has been activated.]
“????”
No sooner had I finished speaking than huge letters appeared before my eyes.
“…What is this now? Is it some kind of status window?”
The font seemed familiar.
What was it called, again?
My deliberation didn’t last long.
“Isn’t that the Hero Fantasy font…?”
[Correct!]
[I am the personal status window of ‘Han Minho’, the last logged-in player of the so-called Hero Fantasy game!]
[Aside from Han Minho’s eyes, I am not visible to anyone else.]
“Really? So I can talk to you anytime?”
[Only now is it possible…….｡°(°¯᷄◠¯᷅°)°｡ ]
[Nevertheless, please remember that we are always together!✧(*,,ÒㅅÓ,,)✧]
Is this thing a GM? Their manner of speaking is exactly the same.
[Finally, I will display Han Minho’s status and then depart. If you wish to see me again, please shout ‘Status Window!’ in any manner.]
[I sincerely congratulate you on your hatching, and I wish you a path filled with flowers in your future dragon-life (TL Note: A pun on ‘인생’ (insaeng), meaning ‘human life,’ here ‘용생’ (yongsaeng) refers to ‘dragon life’)!]
[This has been G… no, the Status Window!]
“Damn, this thing really is the GM.”
What in the world was that thing?
Was I dreaming right now?
As I reeled in confusion, my information began to stream across the status window.
[Individual Name: (Undecided)]
[Species: Dragon.]
[Lv.2]
[Skills: Polymorph, Breath, Flight, Roar, Charm… and many others.]
[Strength: 99]
[Magic: 99]
[Intelligence: ?]
[Health: 99]
What was this? Why was only Intelligence marked with [?] and why didn’t I have a name?
Was it because of my previous life’s name? Perhaps my name would change once someone gave me one.
No matter how I looked at it, this font was from Hero Fantasy.
And the skills too…….
“Hmm, these are skills a dragon would have.”
So this wasn’t Earth?
And I wasn’t a bird or a human, but a mere lizard hatchling, was I?
“…Status Window, show me what I look like.”
As I spoke, a 360-degree rotatable hologram appeared before my eyes.
Normally, it would say [Avatar Preview] at the top, but now it read [Body Preview].
And the form displayed was.
-Chirp. (TL Note: A sound effect, ‘kkyu,’ often used to denote cuteness.)
“Ugh, adorable.”
It was a supremely adorable little dragon with sleek white scales and golden eyes.
It wasn’t human-like; it resembled a four-legged Western dragon.
“But its tail is Eastern-style.”
That was a characteristic of Hero Fantasy dragons, though.
At any rate, this confirmed it.
My appearance, and the skills in the status window, all pointed to one thing.
“Hmm, it’s definitely a game world, then?”
No, you said you’d save me, so why are you dumping me into your game?
“At least let me be born human!”
[Skill: Polymorph activated.]
Immediately after the Status Window spoke, my body began to glow and transform.
-Pop. (TL Note: A sound effect, ‘ppyo-ng,’ used for sudden, often cute, transformations.)
Accompanied by a very cute sound effect.
[Body Preview.]
Oh, how considerate.
The Status Window immediately displayed my new form.
“Huh. I’m a girl?”
I had become a very cute girl.
“What’s with the white cloak? I’m wearing clothes too.”
[Polymorph: A magic that transforms the user into a human form based on their basic appearance. Even without wearing clothes, it roughly provides suitable attire.]
“Hmm, since you can’t have a conversation, you’re just telling me to read?”
Well, that’s incredibly casual of you.
Dragons had recently become highly sensitive due to the low birth rate issue.
Originally, their factions were divided according to the skills they used, but they had even merged those, becoming one collective.
Thus, the dragon dynasty, which had endured for 3000 years, was now in a state of emergency.
The low birth rate was so severe that children were already scarce, and the royal lineage was on the verge of extinction!
“The Queen has given birth!!!”
The news of the Queen’s delivery was announced.
Afterward, during the Queen’s post-natal recovery and the King and Queen’s return to the capital.
“No, my baby!”
-Roll, roll, roll, roll.
“Execute that person immediately!!!”
“Find, find the egg!!”
An accident occurred where the egg was lost due to a caretaker’s negligence.
Emergency! Ultra-emergency!
