I woke up in a room that shouldn't exist.
No windows. No doors. Just walls the color of old bone, cracked and veined like something that had once been alive. The air was damp, not humid—but wet. Like it had been exhaled from lungs too large for a human body.
I didn't know who I was.
Not at first.
My head throbbed like a war drum, and the silence in the room pressed down like a physical weight. My hands trembled as I sat up on the floor, my palms sinking slightly into the uneven, flesh-like surface beneath me. Carpet? No. It was warm. Breathing, almost.
The only thing I remembered was my name.
Kai.
That single word was anchored in my skull, carved into me like a scar that refused to heal. But beyond that—blankness. No memories. No voice in my head saying, this is who you are. Nothing.
And then it began.
A whisper.
At first, I thought it was my own breath echoing too loud. But no—this voice didn't come from me.
It came from everywhere.
> "Welcome, sinner."
I froze. The walls pulsed. A sound, like something slithering behind the surfaces, followed the voice.
> "You have been chosen for correction. You have been given a second chance."
A second chance at what?
My throat was dry. I tried to speak, but my voice cracked like glass.
"Where am I?"
> "The system has initiated."
That was when it appeared—burned into the air in front of me, words forming from nothing, letters outlined in dark crimson light.
---
[SYSTEM: SINS OF THE DEAD]
Status: UNREDEEMED
Name: Kai [Last Name Unknown]
Crime: CLASSIFIED
Memory: RESTRICTED
Moral Standing: Unknown
Sin Level: 1 / ???
Mission Status: PENDING
---
I stared at it, heart pounding. What the hell was this?
The letters pulsed once, then vanished like smoke.
> "Your soul is fractured. Your memories withheld. Redemption or corruption—your path will decide."
I gritted my teeth. "Redemption for what?"
No answer. Just silence.
Then the walls groaned.
A crack split the floor beneath me. The room peeled apart like skin, revealing a stairway descending into total darkness. The air that rose from it stank of rust and rot and something deeper—something wrong.
I should have run.
But there was nowhere to go.
So I stepped forward.
Every step echoed like it was being recorded, like someone was keeping track of each decision. With every footfall, I felt the weight of something watching—measuring—judging.
---
[New Mission Generated]
Sin Detected: Negligence
Task: SAVE THE GIRL YOU ONCE IGNORED
Location: Old Cross Junction – 03:00 AM
Time Limit: 2 Hours
Failure Consequence: One Memory Lost Forever.
---
I blinked.
What girl?
What negligence?
Before I could think, the stairway shifted—folded space, or maybe folded me. I didn't walk out—I was pushed.
And then I was standing in a street.
A real one.
Cold wind slapped my face. Neon lights flickered above. Trash scattered along the cracked sidewalk. It was nighttime, and the air reeked of oil and rain.
Somehow, I knew this place.
Old Cross Junction.
It looked abandoned—like time had forgotten it. Buildings leaned too far in, cars sat half-rusted in alleys, and there wasn't a single soul around.
Then I heard it.
A girl's voice. Faint. Trembling.
"Help… someone…"
It came from inside a boarded-up convenience store. I rushed over, but the boards wouldn't budge. I could hear her sobbing inside.
I kicked harder.
Panic clawed at me. This wasn't just about saving her. It was about saving me—my identity, my past, whatever the system stole.
The door finally broke open.
Darkness.
The store was completely black inside, except for a single flickering bulb at the back, barely illuminating rows of broken shelves.
And there she was.
A girl. Maybe twelve. Pale. Thin. Curled behind a counter, eyes wide with terror. Her lips were moving, but no sound came out anymore.
"Hey," I whispered, kneeling down. "I'm here to help."
She didn't move.
Then I saw the shadow behind her.
It wasn't human.
Its limbs were too long. Head twisted at a wrong angle. It made no sound, but the moment I looked at it, my heart stopped—literally skipped—and restarted with a scream in my chest.
> "You ignored her cries once," the system whispered inside my head. "Now suffer the weight of her memory."
I don't remember doing that.
But part of me believed it.
Because I couldn't deny the guilt blooming inside me like a disease.
The shadow lunged.
I grabbed the girl and ran, heart thundering, breath slicing through my throat. The world around us warped. The aisles stretched, the lights blinked out, and walls groaned like flesh tearing open.
We barely made it through the exit when everything behind us vanished into ash.
She turned to me.
"You remembered me this time," she whispered. Then she faded—dissolving like a phantom into the night air.
---
[MISSION COMPLETE]
Sin Level: 1 → 0.9
Memory Recovered: Fragment 001 – "A girl at the station."
Reward: +5 Sanity Points | +1 Resistance | Moral Path: Undefined
---
I collapsed to my knees.
I saw something—just a flash.
A train station. Rain. A girl crying beside a vending machine. Me walking past.
No… choosing to walk past.
And now I was here. In this game. This punishment.
This system.
I didn't know what sins I carried.
But it was clear now—
This wasn't about survival.
It was about atonement. Or damnation.
And I had no idea which one I truly deserved.