I Became an NPC That Rankers Are Obsessed Over

The last scene of my life was my dead sister’s face.

The last sound was the pouring rain.

I was definitely dead.

Yet the loud sound of rain still knocked at my ears.

I wanted to get up and escape the rain.

But my body, as if melted away, refused to listen.

Just like my dead comrades…

Perhaps I, too, had died like them and already arrived in another world.

So, is this heaven or hell?

If it’s one of the two, I hope it’s the latter.

Because I tried to abandon my sister and run away.

I even offered up my entire life to glimpse into her dying heart.

So the world I should see when I open my eyes again must be filled with an ashen sky and lava.

It must be.

“…”

But the world unfolding before my eyes was not hell.

It wasn’t dry; it was a damp, humid room.

The acrid air made me cough uncontrollably.

Though it wasn’t hell, it was just as suffocating.

I glanced around, wondering how such a foul smell could exist in a place where humans live.

And soon, I realized that this was neither hell nor heaven but reality.

A musty one-room apartment bed.

Trash strewn across the floor.

“—.”

The rain sound that had tormented me was the noise from a television.

I turned off the TV with the remote on the bedside.

Only then did the world fall silent again.

Alone in the quiet room, I looked over my appearance.

Shoulder-length bobbed hair.

Small, thin arms and legs.

A tight-fitting T-shirt and shorts.

This was definitely not my body.

I wondered if this was reincarnation or possession, something you’d only see in movies.

The weight of this body kept drawing my gaze downward.

Perhaps due to that unfamiliar sensation, my whole body felt hypersensitive.

“A new life…”

I murmured in a cracked voice.

Hearing a voice I had never heard before snapped me to attention.

A husky girl’s voice.

It was clear I had completely left behind my past self.

But I wasn’t happy.

I just felt my eyes well up with tears.

Because all the memories and disgrace of my past remained intact in my head.

Even if my body had changed, I still trembled in fear of death.

The faces of my comrades dying were still vivid.

Hyun-soo’s and Gyu-seon’s bodies melting and collapsing.

Ji-soo noona was torn apart like a toy.

And the deranged rankers who toyed with her.

Their images replayed in my mind endlessly.

A new beginning that everyone had hoped for.

I couldn’t be part of that “everyone.”

Holding my aching chest, I leaned against the bed wall.

With the horrific ringing in my head, I experienced the first day of this bizarre possession.

On the second day, tears finally began to flow.

My soul had begun to connect with this body.

Not much flowed.

Just a single tear sliding down my cheek.

This body allowed me only that much sorrow.

On the third day, I started to feel the sensation of dying for the first time.

Because I had sat in the same spot for three days without eating or drinking.

Exhausted, I looked around the floor.

A medicine bottle lay rolling on the ground.

White pills spilled from its cap.

I immediately knew they were sleeping pills.

Even after three days, my body remained drowsy and lethargic.

To obtain such a quantity of medicine, this body must have belonged to someone with a prescription.

At minimum, they would have had depression or schizophrenia.

If so, I’d prefer schizophrenia.

That way, all the memories I had experienced and this pathetic self would be mere fabrications of illness.

I reached out and grabbed a handful of pills.

My faint heartbeat grew louder and louder.

This arrogant body that had been indifferent to everything was finally reacting.

Now it was my turn to ignore it.

I shoved the pills into my mouth.

I didn’t want to live my life drowning in this guilt.

If I had to, I’d fulfill the wish of this body’s owner who had wanted to die.

“!!!”

The moment the round pills touched my throat, my body convulsed violently.

Along with red blood, the pills I barely managed to swallow were vomited out.

The excruciating pain, something I had never felt in life, caused me to fall off the bed.

Lying sprawled on top of black garbage bags, I gasped for breath.

“Not even dying goes my way.”

I murmured in a cracked voice.

“The worst.”

The word “worst” struck me as familiar, and I let out a hollow laugh.

To think I’d say those words myself.

It felt absurd, laughing while crying.

But strangely, that laugh had a calming effect.

Lying spread-eagle atop the pile of trash, I took a deep breath.

This dilapidated one-room apartment was so old I could hear noises from outside.

Losing myself, I listened intently to the sounds.

The sound of someone climbing the stairs.

The blaring of car horns.

Even the thundering of my heart, startled by my suicide attempt.

The sounds seemed to whisper to me, begging me to live.

To not die and atone for the rest of my life.

Remembering them.

“…”

Should I try living?

Deeply and for a long time.

So that when I meet my comrades again in death, I won’t be ashamed.

“System…”

I murmured into the air.

Soon, a blue holographic window appeared.

「Welcome back, Si-ho.」

The AI, like this body’s owner, seemed far from normal, its color faded and filled with subtle noise.

「Have you slept well?」

“Slept…?”

「You said you’d take a long rest and to wait until you called again.」

A long rest, it said.

Knowing what that meant, my heart sank.

The AI felt like a companion dog left behind.

“I’m sorry, but I’m not the Si-ho you know.”

「Are you saying you’ve become someone different from who you were yesterday?」

“No… I’m a completely different person. The girl who used to be here isn’t here anymore.”

Even as I spoke, I felt stupid.

The AI, too, seemed to think so; it froze momentarily as if lagging, offering no reaction.

Eventually, it wrote on the system window, “Searching for a route.”

“What route all of a sudden?”

「The nearest mental hospital to your current location is ‘Hope Hospital.’ It’s a 10-minute walk away…」

Right…

Even for an AI, it couldn’t possibly understand this situation.

“My name is Kwon Do-hyun. The owner of this body committed suicide with sleeping pills, and I was killed at the same time, causing me to possess it.”

「Searching for information on Kwon Do-hyun.」

Age: 28.

Occupation: F-rank Hunter.

Ability: Angelic Hand.

You can read a target’s happy memories.

When used on a target, they will experience their happy memories as illusions.

Info: Recently died during a Wyvern raid.

「Are you claiming to be this person?」

“Yes.”

「There has been no documented case of a successful soul transfer reported anywhere online.」

How can I explain this to this clueless AI?

Is there a way to prove that I am Kwon Do-hyun?

I re-read the information about myself.

Then my gaze stopped at “Angelic Hand.”

Yes, this will do.

“Watch.”

I extended my palm.

If my soul remembers, I should be able to use it.

As I focused all my energy on my fingertips, a faint light began to form.

It worked…!

It was weak, but the skill was activating.

「Angelic Hand.」

“Now do you believe me? There’s no way this girl could use a healing skill.”

「Then does this mean Si-ho is truly dead…?」

“You would know better than me, as the system.”

「She was so reserved and timid that I cannot say for certain.」

If even the system doesn’t know, who could possibly know?

I let out a deep sigh.

For now, let’s start by finding out what kind of person this “Si-ho” was.

The reason for her suicide can come later.

I gestured to review the personal details of “myself.”

Age: 21.

Occupation: Staff at the Moment Inn.

Ability: None. (Angelic Hand was recently transferred but is not registered in the system.)

“An abilityless… person?”

I blurted out in surprise.

The sudden exclamation caused me to cough.

I’d heard of abilityless people before but had never actually seen one.

They weren’t particularly rare, but… being one myself felt ridiculous.

“Ha.”

A dry laugh escaped me.

It doesn’t feel so bad.

In a world overrun by monsters, living with just a single healing skill would be the worst punishment imaginable.

Oddly, it felt like some of my guilt was lifting, putting my mind at ease.

After finishing reading the personal details, I got up.

First, I needed to clean up this blood and smell.

I went to the bathroom and stood in front of the full-length mirror.

Then I called the AI.

“System.”

「Yes, Si-ho.」

Si-ho…

It was my first time being called by someone else’s name.

“Tell me about this girl’s past.”

「Shall I start with memories from when she was one year old?」

“Not that far back. From five years ago, when the Gate opened.”

「I will recount Si-ho’s major life events.」

「On the day the Gate opened, her parents were killed by an 8th-grade monster, a werewolf. Her sister, a military officer, went missing.」

「The shock caused her to live as a recluse for years.」

「Recently, she squandered her inheritance and began working part-time at a nearby inn.」

「However, she eventually ran away from that job too.」

「With her remaining money, she purchased a large quantity of illegal sleeping pills at a night market.」

This is grim.

I, too, lost my family when the Gate opened.

They were wiped out without a trace by the breath of a 5th-grade monster, the Black Wyvern.

As I was enlisted at the time, I didn’t even get to see their last moments.

It felt like I had been living alone in this world from the very beginning.

This girl must have felt the same…

I looked down at Si-ho’s hands.

A long red scar stretched across her wrist.

She had slashed her wrists so many times that her skin was torn and healed into an unsightly scar.

“Foolish…”

I gently ran my finger over the bumpy scar.

She’s only 21; there’s still so much life ahead.

It’s too early to give up on life.

I stared blankly at the mirror.

Bright, lively eyes, a small mole under the right eye.

Her face wasn’t bad-looking…

Her hair was long and annoying, but that could be fixed.

I opened the bathroom cabinet to deal with it.

“Ugh…”

The shelves were covered in cobwebs, making me hesitant to reach in.

I pulled out a hairbrush, sweeping away the cobwebs haphazardly.

Then I took out a pair of scissors, their blades blackened with rust.

「What are you doing?」

“Cutting my hair.”

「You do not have any hairstyling skills.」

I ignored the AI’s blunt remark.

I simply blocked the sink and turned on the hot water.

“Don’t worry.”

The warm steam caressed the mirror.

“Humans aren’t beings who rely solely on skills.”

It was something someone I knew used to say often.

Thinking of her made my chest ache.

“—?”

But the world didn’t give me time for such reflections.

The running water suddenly stopped.

“What the…? Why did it stop…?”

「Your water supply has been cut off due to unpaid bills.」

The system spoke firmly.

The water’s been cut off?

Even with unpaid bills, it’s rare for the water to actually be shut off…

I gestured to quickly check Si-ho’s financial status.

Her balance didn’t show a number but was instead covered in ominous red notices.

She was already five months behind on rent, with a total debt of 4.5 million won, including utility fees.

Revenge on the rankers who killed me.

Reclaiming life with this second chance.

None of that mattered.

What was important now was simply to survive.

And to do that.

I needed to make money, starting immediately.

For now, I’ll head to the inn.

As someone essentially abilityless, it’s the only thing I can do.