The Babysitter Wants to Stop Dying

Chapter 2: Another Fine Day at the Center (2)

I was possessed.

And into a game I'd never even played, one rampant with all sorts of special abilities.

Kim Min-gyu.

Twenty-nine years old, who gave up on college but lived a decent life thanks to learning a suitable skill. It was an ordinary life where the only joy was playing with my busy sister's son, my one and only nephew.

‘If I had known I would die so senselessly, hit by a car, I would have skipped work now and then, perfect attendance be damned, and enjoyed life a little more.’

I couldn't confirm it myself, but it was certain that my original self was dead.

At first, I was seriously bewildered. The situation I was in was what it was, and when I opened my eyes, I had become some twenty-year-old stranger. There was a time I was happy about being younger, but that joy soon turned to bubbles.

An extra in the game ‘The Demon King of Astava’, Arsen Neroro.

Weaker than my past life in every way, from running to strength and stamina. That was my new life.

Possession? A mission?

Well, it was fine. I had to accept what I had to accept, and quickly. That was the only way I could survive.

Fortunately, I wasn't dropped in with just my bare body; perhaps because of the 'Player' setting, I was given three abilities.

I still didn't properly know what one of them was, but one thing for sure was immortality. To be honest, calling it immortality was a bit ambiguous, but since the system called it immortality, let's just go with that.

No matter what was done to me, I died and came back to life. Even if I was burned to ashes or shattered to pieces, after a certain amount of time passed, I would reappear near where I died, as if respawning. The previous corpse would disappear completely.

Ah. If the corpse is intact, I can even be perfectly healed and come back to life just like that.

Just like this.

"Heok-!"

"Oh! You're up? I'm so sorry. I had no idea you were there. Are you okay?"

The moment my eyes flew open, a tingling sensation shot through my entire body. As I gasped for breath, it felt like the smell of something burnt was coming from my mouth. My limbs ached, and my head was dizzy as if my brain had been shaken.

A moment ago, I had definitely died. Because of the man right in front of me, whose glib lies lacked even the slightest sincerity.

"Wow. It's amazing every time I see it. Your breathing definitely stopped, but you're moving again, aren't you?"

I'm so jealous! The voice, so light it was on the verge of evaporating, pierced right into my eardrums. As I coughed and writhed in agony, I only heard him sound even more fascinated.

"It seems that even though you're an immortal, there's a risk when you come back to life? You always look like you're in pain."

‘This son of a bitch….’

I grit my teeth at the man's action of thrusting his face at me as if he were watching a spectacle. When I tried to get up, all my joints creaked as if they were broken. It felt even more agonizing than before.

As expected, this thing called death was something I could never, ever get used to. Goosebumps covered my entire body, and it was so nauseatingly horrid. I felt like I could vomit everything inside me at any moment.

I only calmed down after coughing for a long time onto the dirt floor while lying face down. My shaky focus converged into one.

"Why don't you lie down a bit longer? You're making the person who killed you feel sorry, struggling like that."

The name of the man, now sitting next to me and chewing on a sandwich that appeared from who knows where, was Cobe Alecman.

He was about thirty years old, with striking bright blue hair. He was one of the Rankers protecting the Center, a guy who would occasionally kill me like this.

The sight of him munching on the lettuce sticking out of his sandwich stirred an impulse I didn't have before. I clutched my throbbing head and slowly took a deep breath.

‘…This time, I really died without any preparation.’

The world went dark in an instant, and I died just like that. From the few times I'd been through it, it was clear that I'd been hit squarely by Cobe's electric shock.

‘I always try not to let my guard down, but again like this….’

Suppressing my dejected heart, I turned my eyes to the culprit.

"Are you crazy? What the hell is this!"

"Aish. You're bursting my eardrums."

When I yelled, Cobe stuffed the rest of the sandwich into his mouth and picked his ear as if annoyed. No matter how unethical and senseless this world was, he was a true madman.

"You came back to life. If you're alive, that's what matters. I said I was sorry, didn't I?"

"Ha...."

It was always like this. Especially with this attitude towards immortals, it was no wonder the rare, almost non-existent, immortals lived in hiding or concealed their abilities.

Putting together the information I've gathered so far, the ability of immortality usually came with a powerless body, and because of the nature of the ability itself, they were treated no differently than meat shields.

Even if they wanted to resist, their bodies, close to that of an ordinary person, were nothing but unbreakable toys to other superhumans of a completely different level.

I, too, had been such an existence at the ‘Academy’ I attended before coming to the Center.

‘I can't even do the same to him….’

Those who have never died knew nothing about death.

Even less so, just how chilling a sensation it was.

"Give me a break. Besides, I waited by your side until you came back to life, didn't I?"

When I looked at him with a face that said, "Are you really saying that right now?" Cobe lightly shrugged his shoulders. Was he actually expecting a thank you for waiting?

Just when I thought I had become quite used to Astava's common sense, feeling this kind of disconnect made me realize I still had a long way to go.

After scratching his philtrum for a moment, Cobe subtly changed the subject.

"By the way, the time has shortened. It used to take over three hours before, but I don't think it took that long today?"

"Yes. That's just great news."

I stood up, brushing myself off, showing my fiercely crumpled brow without reservation.

What Cobe was talking about was my revival cycle. It must be related to the phrase, ‘All abilities become stronger the more they are honed,’ from the notification window I saw after being possessed into Astava.

‘The cycle has shortened to within three hours, huh….’

This was actually better news than I thought.

Before coming to the Center, the time it took for me to revive was exactly 6 hours, so my ability had certainly improved by leaps and bounds after coming to the Center and being killed by this madman.

"How did you get here?"

Despite my tone filled with displeasure, Cobe still didn't seem to think much of his mistake and began to chatter with a beaming smile.

"Hey, I found out this island had such a scenic spot, you know? I was looking for a secluded place to try some new training today, and what do you know, I found it! You're telling me only Arsen knew about a place like this? Huh?"

And so, another one of my hideouts was discovered. Since there weren't many eyes around, this psycho would probably frequent it. And he'd kill me.

‘Where am I supposed to rest from now on….’

Fatigue washed over me along with irritation at the thought of having to explore this vast island again.

"So you just fired an attack at me, right there? As a joke?"

"Ehey. Why do you have to jump to conclusions like that. I was just curious about how accurately I could aim at a target from a certain distance, and whether I could snipe an enemy's heart with even a very small lump of electricity."

‘This son of a bitch.’

Why did that target have to be me. Curses were about to burst out, but I had to endure it. I couldn't throw a fit at this man as I pleased.

Because in Astava, where skill is everything, it was no exaggeration to say that the human rights of superhumans were divided solely by their grade.

A kind of class system.

Yes, that was the perfect description.

S, A, B, C, D.

I was a C among them. Not the lowest, but not in the middle either. In terms of treatment, ordinary people were better off. They were the ones being protected.

In contrast, Cobe Alecman was an A. And an A-rank Ranker protecting the Center at that.

The S and A-rank people were celestial beings whose faces I couldn't even meet outside. But still, there was a way.

"If you use me as a test subject one more time, I'm going to report you to the Administrator. I was a fool for putting up with it until now."

"What? A test subject? I never thought of it like that! Arsen, are you really going to do this? I thought our relationship was quite special!"

Cobe's eyes widened, and he spewed out nonsensical excuses. What was this nonsense. I didn't even know where to begin pointing things out.

Shaking my head, I tried to move away, but he grabbed my trouser leg.

"Are you really going to tell? That guy is a total boomer, you know? I'll get punished! My salary will be docked!"

"So you just have to not kill me from now on."

"But this isn't killing!"

"What is that.... Never mind. Let's not talk."

"Arsen!"

"Don't follow me."

I walked away, leaving the half-wit Ranker who was pretending to cry. If I didn't leave quickly, that shameless man would stick to me again.

"Damn it."

My stomach still felt queasy. Still, it wasn't all just unfair.

"Three hours...."

The time it took to die and come back. At some point, that cycle had stopped shortening. I had wondered if I could shorten it further, and I finally achieved it. Thanks to that damn man killing me as he pleased.

Coming down from the top of the hill and walking along the cliff path, I could soon see the Center down below. A reasonable distance had also opened up between me and that Cobe fellow.

"What a crazy world."

I sat down, rubbing my dry face. It was truly a remarkable world. Just when I thought it was bearable enough to live in, it would send my mood plummeting like this.

"Haa-."

At least the wide-open scenery soothed my mind and body.

A vast sea with no end in sight and a lush, green island. The air carried both a refreshing earthy scent and a subtle saltiness.

The ‘Center’ where I worked was located in the middle of the vast ocean. I didn't know where the other Centers were, but most of them were probably in bizarre locations like this.

The Center.

To explain this, I first had to go over the ecology of Astava.

Astava was a new union of nations established around the 20th century of the Earth I used to live on, when super abilities and things called Gates appeared. It's the setting of ‘The Demon King of Astava’.

When Gates opened all over the world and vicious monsters poured out, the four continents formed a treaty with one mind and created a new system called Astava.

And along with that, a new humanity appeared in the world.

Superhumans.

They were a new species that had transcended the limits of humanity due to the influence of the opened Gates. They protected the crumbling world by destroying monsters and Gates with power that defied common sense.

But great power always comes with a backlash. As terrorism and crimes by superhumans also became severe, Astava established a superhuman management agency called the ‘Association’.

Tasked with the registration and control of super abilities, they created a grading system for efficiency and a Ranker system to designate the most outstanding superhumans among them.

And to facilitate the activities of superhumans, the Centers appeared. They were places where their children were raised.

‘Though it seems only Rankers can use them.’

I was about to doze off, leaning against a tree trunk from the overwhelming fatigue, when.

"Mr. Arsen! Mr. Arsen!"

A familiar voice was desperately looking for me. When I opened my closed eyes, I saw Amanda running towards me from afar, out of breath.

My sweet break was over.

Actually, it was almost a huge problem. If I had fallen asleep, it would've been an accident, this.

My neck prickled at the situation where I almost missed my return time. The Administrator was very strict about time.

To think I blew more than half of my mere four-hour break a day on dying because of that damn blue-haired guy. I will definitely get my revenge on him in the most brutal way someday.

"What's the matter?"

I raised my half-reclined body as if I had naturally intended to get up.

Amanda was someone I was relatively close to at the Center. It should be her break time too as a sitter, so why did she come all this way to find me?

And with such a frantic look on her face.

‘This isn't good.’

Her long, fluttering skirt looked uncomfortable, so I went to meet her halfway. She, who was about two handspans shorter than me, bent over and gasped for breath.

"Something's happened! Lottie, Lottie...!"

Oh no.

A sense of dread instinctively washed over me. Then, Amanda let out a scream, exhaling the breath that had risen to her chin.

"Lottie's gone!"

Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever had my full four hours of break.