ZERO: Before the Beginning

The blood had stopped.

After the final beat of her heart echoed in the room, the hospital fell into an almost unnatural silence.

The doctors left.

The machines were shut off.

But I did nothing.

No—I chose not to do anything.

I just sat there, holding her motionless body.

> "Juhui…"

There was no answer.

Her eyes remained closed.

Her fingers were cold.

Her lips were dry.

But that only made it feel more real.

As if she could open her eyes any second and call my name.

Time passed without mercy, and the world moved on, emptying the room as if nothing had happened.

A nurse quietly approached.

> "It's time to… prepare."

Her words were soft, yet pierced me like a blade.

I looked up.

The ceiling was white.

Blank, like it refused to hold any memory.

This wasn't the first time I'd lost her.

She had left me before, again and again.

And I had clung to her each time.

But this time…

It was over.

No matter how tightly I held her hand or pressed on her chest—

She wouldn't come back.

I broke down.

Sitting beside her, I cried in silence, hugging her lifeless body.

My throat burned, and the sound of my sobs was raw.

Her warmth seeped away from my cheek as I held her close.

That night, I refused to leave the hospital.

I shook my head at requests for funeral preparations.

Some cried.

Some cursed me.

> "All this over one dead girl?"

But she wasn't just anyone.

She was everything.

My time, my reason to live—

And every sin I'd ever committed.

I remembered it all.

Her last words.

Her last expression.

Her last pain.

Those memories writhed inside me like thorns in my brain.

I lost count of the days.

Eating, drinking, breathing—it all lost meaning.

Each day, I sat in the same place, reliving her death.

I grabbed my head, slammed it on the floor, prayed.

> "Please… just one more chance."

If this was life, I didn't want it.

But would death change anything?

No.

She wouldn't return.

And I couldn't undo what I'd burned.

Then, it happened.

In the early hours, as night turned to dawn—

A strange light shimmered.

From the corner of the room.

From the chest of her heartless body.

Light—from her.

I opened my eyes.

But I was no longer in the hospital.

I was drifting in darkness, wrapped in something I couldn't feel or name.

No weight, no form—

Just a floating consciousness in an unknown void.

Did I even have a body?

I couldn't speak.

Couldn't move.

Only drift.

Then, something approached.

A black void.

No shape, no form—just the presence of nothingness.

It pierced through me.

Crushed my breath.

Split my self.

And then—her eyes.

Juhui's final gaze.

That saved me.

My being condensed into a single point.

I was pulled in one direction,

Like being born again.

Like diving into someone's body.

And then—

I saw it.

A tunnel of darkness.

Slimy walls that pulsed.

Countless others streaming with me.

They were all… sperm.

I had returned.

Not reborn—

Restarted.

At first, I couldn't believe it.

I wanted to die.

Begged for release.

And this was the answer?

A sperm?

I floated in microscopic fluid, unable to comprehend what I was.

Yet everything felt real.

I had no sight—only perception.

Not just feeling—data.

I was alive. But I was also processing like a machine.

> [System: Cellular consciousness activated]

[Gene Code – ZB000.001 recognized]

[Memory fragments restoring…]

[Identity confirmed: Taemin (回歸체)]

"Taemin... me?"

Something surrounded me.

This wasn't a womb.

Not yet.

I was in the deepest chamber of the male reproductive system—

The Kingdom of Testes.

A place where billions of sperm were born, competed, and discarded.

And I—was the only one with memory.

> "Damn it."

The words didn't come out as sound.

Instead, an electric signal transmitted my will.

> [Sperm count: 4,812,331]

[All prepared for ejaculation]

[Memory/DNA awakening: 0%]

But I knew.

This wasn't just survival.

Something was hiding in here.

Chaos.

The name flashed in my mind.

Juhui's final words.

The abnormal gene in her blood.

The transfusion I refused.

> "It's too late… it's already inside."

I hadn't understood then.

But now I did.

Chaos wasn't a virus.

It was a concept.

Born from failed reproduction, hatred, and destruction.

It passed through cells, infected them,

And ultimately—stole life.

And now, Chaos… was here.

> [Warning – abnormal energy detected]

[Route: Seminal vesicle → Vas deferens → Urethra]

[Caution – Sperm migration initiated]

The tunnel opened.

A wave of sperm surged forward.

And I—was swept along.

But I was different.

I had a mind, a goal, a direction.

I moved against the flow.

My tail whipped through the fluid, propelling me.

> [DNA Code Activation – Sensory System Sequence 1 Detected]

[Entering: Temple of Senses]

Light split the darkness.

For the first time since my return—

I could see.

Before me stood an infinite temple.

Six gates, each guarding a sense.

And in the center—

A man in a black cloak.

He didn't turn.

But I felt it.

The deepest darkness in this realm.

Chaos.

A fragment of him had arrived here first.

His presence faded, but a gate remained open.

And I stood before the first door.

> [Temple of Senses – Gate 1: Trial of the Tongue – Path of the Five Tastes]

[Entry Conditions: No emotional weapon / Self-awareness >10% / Memory retained]

Conditions met.

Gate opening…

I was pulled in.

The floor pulsed like raw flesh.

The air burned with a spicy sting.

This was—

The Tongue.

The domain of taste.

Hell surrounded me.

Boiling saliva like lava, slicing winds,

And in the center—

A monster wielding a whip of flame.

> [Gatekeeper – Biselga / Attribute: Fire / Rank: Guardian of Taste]

> "So you're the purifier. Then learn what it means to burn."

He charged.

His whip tore through the air.

> Whoosh!

Crack!

SHRAAAK!

I dodged, but the floor melted.

A wing-like fin burned off.

> 'Damn… I'm not used to this body.'

But I couldn't stop.

This wasn't just a sensory trial.

Lose here, and I lose everything.

I dove through the flames.

Twisted my body.

Targeted his core.

From now on—

I will conquer each of these sensory kingdoms.

Because I must return.

To where Juhui waits.