Chapter 1: The Protagonist’s Sister

Chapter 1: The Protagonist’s Sister

-----

Beep.

Beep.

Beep...

I slowly awakened up to the sound of a machine showing my heartbeat. As I had anticipated, I found myself lying over a bed in a small hospital room as I opened my eyes. A young man who appeared to be no more than twenty years old, and who had short, shiny black hair and pale blue eyes, welcomed me directly to my left. He held in his hands an empty yet artistically painted bottle, tears running down his face.

"Anna! The elixir worked!"

"Huh?"

What the hell was happening right now? Anna? My name is not that. I also have no memory of having a brother. When was I admitted to the hospital, exactly?

"Ugh...!"

As I tried to sort my thoughts, a sudden rush of memories of two completely different people flowed into my mind, merging and forming my new self, the me of right now. This is wild; now I remember. My previous life name was Julia Martinez. I was a web novel writer, and I was rather unsuccessful at that. I was an orphan and had no family whatsoever. Throughout my life, I've always liked to read because it helped me cope with the harsh reality that was my life. Because of that, I started writing web novels to pass the time. Ultimately, I started earning some pennies out of it, and I thought I could become a full-time writer with enough effort.

Oh, how wrong I was...

I wrote romance after romance, but nothing clicked—less than 100 collections, almost no views, hundreds after hundreds of chapters—and nobody read them! I keep scrambling my head for new ideas, but despite liking reading romance so much, I was terrible at writing it. And then someone, an online friend, recommended that I read another genre: action, adventure, and systems. And there I was, like an idiot, reading novels after novels until I ended up with one that was the most popular of them all, the most popular of this stupid, overused, and lazy genre.

Solo Player.

It sounds as uninspired and dull as you can imagine. It's the usual template: monsters come out of the gates, hunters with powers fight them back, society stabilizes, the main character shows up weak and mocked, then awakens a special system, levels up, gains powers, and blah, blah, blah. It was one of the most generic things I've read, yet I was able to understand why this genre was so popular. I even had fun reading this uninspired thing!

Yet...

I died. Just when I was obsessively reading in the middle of the streets on my way to buy instant ramen.

BAAM!

A truck ran me over. I can't believe I died so clichédly.

"Can you talk? Anna, do you recognize me?"

And as if things couldn't get weirder, a system window showed up in front of my face, but my brother couldn't even see it. And what do you mean selected for transmigration? Was this the doing of somebody else?

Ding!

The Cosmic Throne {Butterfly That Flies Across The Universe} is wondering why there are so many gazes directed at you... She quickly finds your flabbergasted face a bit funny.]

[Due to the entertainment you've brought to her, she has tipped 10 plot points (PP)!]

[The Cosmic Throne {Monkey that Dances in Chaos} is wondering why this klutz is harnessing the attention of the Nebula Stream.]

[He has to admit, though, that the face you're making is beyond silly.]

[He has tipped 5 plot points (PP)!]

What is going on? These are Constellations! But Anna wasn't supposed to even become a player.

[By the command of [], a Constellation will be sent to explain your current situation.]

[The Cosmic Throne {Jester Filled With Lies} has decided to manifest an illusion avatar before you!]

[The Nebula Streaming Services have been temporarily halted within your vicinity; no Constellation can see you or what's happening now.]

POOOF!

Suddenly, an enormous quantity of white smoke exploded into the room, making me cough frenetically.

"Cough, cough...! What the...?!"

And within the smoke, a jester emerged, laughing calmly. I couldn't discern his face, hidden beneath a mask, showing a divided expression of joy and sorrow.

"It seems you've woken up. Welcome to your new life, Anna."

This was straight out of the wildest of my dreams.

And if this is a dream, please, someone, wake me up.

-----