-Thump thump.
I tried kicking it, and it felt like the hard wall vibrated.
Right now, I’m inside a solid shell.
I have no idea how much time has passed.
Something… it feels like my body is growing larger.
It’s starting to feel a bit cramped.
At first, it was a little overwhelming, but once I got used to it, it wasn’t too bad.
I can move around to some extent?
I don’t feel hungry either, probably thanks to the yolk.
It’s quite cozy, actually.
What’s fascinating is that I can breathe.
I remember hearing that eggs have air holes, and it feels kind of like that.
I still don’t know what I am right now.
I can’t open my eyes properly, and I can’t really touch myself either.
Occasionally, I feel like someone is rolling me around.
It’s probably the being that will become my parent.
I heard that birds roll their eggs around to check the position of the air hole.
But still, even if I’m becoming a bird, it seems like my intelligence is intact.
…Does that even make sense?
But then again, the idea of being reborn itself doesn’t make sense, so I decided to let it go.
Just in case, what if I hatch and my head turns out to be huge…
Hmm, the image I imagined was more terrifying than I thought.
Anyway, one day, as I was steadily growing…
-Boom!!
“!!!”
A deafening sound pierced through the shell and reached my ears.
W-What?! What’s going on?!
Wait, something feels off.
It feels like I’m spinning around.
-Gurgle gurgle.
Oh no.
Looking at the way the egg white is swaying next to me, it seems like I’m rolling around right now.
Judging by the dizziness in my head, that seems to be the case.
What the hell?! How do you even incubate an egg to make it roll like this?!
It was such an absurd situation, but amidst it all, there was nothing I could do.
All I could do was hope that this solid shell surrounding me wouldn’t crack.
“Please, please, please, please, please, please.”
“Dear God, please save me!”
“You didn’t bring me back to life just to torment me like this, right?!”
“I haven’t even kept my promise to fly and meet them again!”
“I haven’t even seen the faces of my parents in this life! Am I supposed to go out like this?!
“Are you messing with me right now?!”
I begged, I argued, I pleaded for mercy.
-Roll, roll, roll, roll
This insane runaway train never stops, boy~
I’m seriously doomed.
“Argh! Stop!”
“Ugh, I’m gonna throw up! I’m gonna throw up! I haven’t even been born, and I’m already about to throw up!”
Maybe even God didn’t want to witness someone throwing up.
Clunk!
I felt something catch, and suddenly, all movement stopped.
I almost died before even being born.
But now what happens to me?
How can a young chick hatch without a parent to take care of it?
Is my life—no, my bird life—over already?
No matter what, I can’t let this life end so meaninglessly.
Didn’t I waste a third of my previous life aimlessly too?
To be honest, I had a lot of hopes while inside this shell.
Will I be able to communicate with my parents in this life? How much time has passed?
Is this still Korea?
If it is—
If it really is, can I see my sister again?
Honestly, I think I’ve had enough of being stuck in this shell.
Even if it’s a little early, maybe I can try hatching now.
It’s not like dying early or later makes much of a difference anyway, does it?
Let’s just try it.
I gathered all my strength, trying to open my eyes that wouldn’t budge, and slammed my head against the shell.
There must be a hard spot at the end of the part I can feel with my mouth.
Birds crack their eggs using the hard tip of their beak, after all.
But no matter how hard I rammed, I couldn’t feel the shell cracking at all.
Instead, I felt something soft, like my lips bumping into something hard. What the heck is this?
Am I a mutant or something?
But if I give up here, nothing will change.
Maybe my claws are sharp enough?
“!!!! Damn it!”
It hurts so bad.
What is this? Do I not have claws either?
Seriously, what’s going on?
Am I really a mutant?!
How is this possible?
Why did I have to be reborn as a mutant too?
I clearly heard a voice at the end saying my body would be “synthesized.”
Wasn’t this supposed to be handcrafted by some divine being?
This isn’t fair.
How could this happen?
Couldn’t they just let me rest in peace? Or at least let me meet my parents after I died?
Then I could’ve waited for my sister in peace from above.
Watched her find a good man, have kids, and live happily.
Overwhelmed by frustration, I started thrashing my whole body.
“I don’t want to die like this!”
“You said I’d get another chance to live!”
“You said my life would be full of blessings!”
As I desperately flailed, putting all my energy into struggling—
-Crack!
I heard the sound of the shell cracking, even though my head didn’t touch it.
“Huh? What?”
I was confused.
But there wasn’t any time to process what was happening.
The moment the egg started to crack, cold air from the outside began seeping in.
If I didn’t get out now, I’d die.
Even if I’d probably die after getting out, it was better than dying without ever seeing the world.
With that thought, I began shaking my head furiously, clueless about what was happening.
And then—
-Crack! Crackle!
With my increasingly vigorous movements, the sound of the shell breaking became more dynamic as well.
And then, the dark, confined world started letting in light.
It was the moment I broke free from the small world that had imprisoned me and emerged into the vast, wide world.
“Ugh! Cough, cough!!!”
?
Something felt strange—cough, cough?
It didn’t take long for me to realize.
I wasn’t a bird.
Somehow, my wish had been granted, but this…
This wasn’t what I had wished for.
A golden tail.
-Swish, swish!
White wings.
-Flap, flap!
Something about my appearance felt off.
What the heck? I do have wings, but…
They look like bat wings. Gross.
And what’s more…
“Why can I talk?”
Why am I able to speak?
Wasn’t I supposed to be a bird?
I didn’t look like a human, but why could I speak?
I tossed the question to myself internally.
“Well, it’s not like there’s anyone around to answer me, so what’s the point─”
[Congratulations!]
[Due to the extremely low outside temperature, the passive skill: Temperature Immunity has been activated.]
“????”
Before I could finish my sentence, huge text appeared in front of me.
“…What is this now? A status window or something?”
The font looked oddly familiar.
What was it again?
I didn’t have to ponder for long.
“Isn’t this from Hero Fantasy?!”
[Correct!]
[I am your personal status window, created for the last player of Hero Fantasy, Mr. Han Minho!]
A personal status window?
[This is visible only to you, Mr. Han Minho, and cannot be seen by others.]
“Really? Then can we talk whenever?”
[Not always… just for now……………..(%]
[But remember, I’ll always be with you! (*,,ᄋᄉᄋ,,)]
Is this thing the GM? Its tone is exactly the same.
[I’ll now display Mr. Han Minho’s status and take my leave. If you ever want to see me again, just shout ‘Status window!’ Lastly…]
[Congratulations on your hatching! May your future dragon life (Yongsaeng) be filled with nothing but flowers!]
[This concludes the message from… er, your status window!]
“Damn, this thing really is the GM.”
What the heck is going on?
Am I dreaming right now?
As I stood there, bewildered, the status window started filling up with information about me.
[Entity Name: (Undecided)]
[Species: Dragon]
[Lv. 2]
[Skills: Polymorph, Breath, Flight, Roar, Charm… and more.]
[Strength: 99]
[Magic: 99]
[Intelligence: ?]
[Health: 99]
What the heck?
Why is there a ?
only for Intelligence?
And why don’t I have a name?
Is it because of my previous life’s name?
Maybe someone has to name me for it to update.
No matter how I look at it, this font is definitely from Hero Fantasy.
Even the skills are…
“Hmm, they’re typical dragon skills.”
So, this isn’t Earth, huh?
And I’m not a bird or a human but some kind of lizard, aren’t I?
“…Status window, show me what I look like.”
As soon as I said that, a hologram appeared in front of me, spinning 360 degrees for a full preview.
Where it would usually say Avatar Preview, it now said Body Preview.
And the appearance was…
-Ta-da!
“Ugh, adorable.”
A small, sleek, white-scaled dragon with golden eyes.
It didn’t look human at all—it had the body of a four-legged Western dragon.
“But the tail… it’s like an Eastern dragon’s.”
Well, that’s just how Hero Fantasy dragons are designed.
Anyway, this confirmed everything.
My appearance, the skills listed in the status window…
“Hmm, so it’s certain that I’m inside the game?”
But seriously, why? They said they’d save me, so why throw me into their game?
“Couldn’t they at least make me human?!”
[Skill: Polymorph activated.]
Right after the status window said that, light radiated from my body, and my form started changing.
-Pop!
With an adorably cute sound effect.
[Body Preview.]
How thoughtful. It immediately showed me my new appearance.
“Wait. I’m a girl?!”
I had transformed into an incredibly cute little girl.
“What’s with this white cloak? And I’m wearing clothes too?”
[Polymorph: A magic spell that transforms the user into a human form based on their default appearance. Even if you’re not wearing clothes, it’ll conjure something appropriate.]
“Huh. So it’s a silent conversation, huh? I just have to read it?”
Man, they’re really lazy about this.
Dragons, lately, have been on edge due to severe low birth rates.
Normally divided into factions based on their skillsets, they’ve even merged together to form a united front.
The dragon dynasty, which had lasted for 3,000 years, was now facing a crisis.
With the population in decline and royal lineage on the verge of extinction, the situation was dire.
“The queen has given birth!!!”
The news of the queen’s childbirth spread joy throughout the kingdom.
But during their journey back to the capital after the queen’s postpartum recovery—
“No! My baby!”
-Roll, roll, roll, roll.
“Execute the caretaker immediately!!!”
“Find the egg!!”
Due to a caretaker’s negligence, the egg was lost.
An extreme emergency ensued!!!
Lol.
Tftc!
Oh god, lmfao. What a chaotic thing, that’s why she was rolling everywhere.