Chapter 1

When I opened my eyes again, I saw the same orthopaedic surgeon who had treated me the last time when I fell from the sixth floor. He adjusted his glasses, staring at me with a look of sheer disbelief.

"Young man, you still have a long life ahead of you. Sure, your body can handle a lot, but this… this isn't the way to test its limits. You jumped from the tenth floor and still survived!

"It's truly a miracle. Your ancestors must've done everything they could to save you."

Before leaving the room, the surgeon reminded me again to cherish my life. I wanted to tell him that it was just my life—it didn't matter. Besides, dying was something I had a hard time executing.

The next second, the hospital room door was pushed open with a bang.

Leon Sylvester, the eldest son of the family and Henry Sylvester's biological brother, walked in. Beside him was, of course, the innocent-looking Henry.

"Marcel, are you insane? If you want to die, just do it somewhere else without terrorizing Henry! He still has to prepare for his SAT!" Leon shouted at me.

I was helpless, too. If I could, I would've chosen to die immediately.

The first time I was close to death, the system found me. It refused to let me die. Instead, I was supposed to find hope in living again before I could have a normal death.

I lied to the system and told it that I desperately wanted to live, but it saw right through me. That explained how I walked away almost unharmed despite jumping from the tenth floor.

I looked up at the two brothers standing together, their bond seemingly unbreakable.

I got out of bed and solemnly asked, "Leon, can you tell me a way where I can die for sure, then? Can you kill me again, Henry?"

Perhaps a homicide could be exempted from the system's rule.

My question seemed to frighten Henry. He yelped and hid behind Leon. "Leon, w-what's he talking about? He's freaking me out. Is something wrong with him? I-I mean, I can't even kill an ant. Why is he asking me to kill him?

"Leon, I'm scared I'll have nightmares from this and that it will affect my performance on the SAT."

He was so terrified that he started crying, struggling to catch his breath.

Then, I received a slap. When Leon's hand struck my face, I remained so calm that all I could think about was dying.

I asked the system, "Tell me, how am I supposed to find the desire to keep living when these are my circumstances?"

The Sylvester family could've simply let me leave, but for the sake of appearances, they kept me as their adopted son. Without even realizing it, they kept hurting me again and again.

The system didn't answer, and I was used to it. It only ever appeared when I was about to die.

My lack of resistance caught Leon off guard, as if he regretted hitting me so hard. But the moment he heard Henry's sobs, the anger returned to his eyes.

"Marcel, you've made mistake after mistake. This time, I want you to go home and reflect in the basement!"

"Okay," I said obediently. After returning home, I went straight to the basement without uttering a single word.

When the last bit of light above my head disappeared, all I could see was darkness. According to what I'd read, a person could only be driven to the brink of death after going seven days without food or water.

Thus, I hoped they would lock me up for seven days. That way, I should be able to bypass the system and finally die.

Every day, I relied on the voices outside to determine the time. By the sixth day, I was already so weak from hunger that I could barely move.

The basement was filled with the stench of my own waste and the musty smell of the poorly ventilated space. The system had yet to appear. Was I finally going to die?

Just then, the basement door creaked open, and blinding sunlight poured in, enveloping my body.

It was my adoptive parents—Alan Sylvester and Margot Sweeney—and Henry. When they saw the filthy, disgusting state of the basement, they turned around and vomited.

Only after that did they look back at me, lying there, barely alive.

Henry's voice came from above. "Mom, Dad… I messed up. I forgot that Leon had had him locked up in the basement."