Laurel slowly opened her eyes and saw the familiar white ceiling. Her eyes were devoid of any emotion as she gazed at the white ceiling, where the beeping sounds were coming from the heart monitor next to her bed.
She felt nothing of the sort of emotion.
A person would eventually lose the energy to react when they had already experienced the same thing for the fourth time.
She remained silent the whole time, as she felt her body shouting at her to give up.
The sterile hospital room felt suffocating, a stark contrast to the vibrant life she used to lead outside those walls.
She was there in one of those white rooms, lying on the same boring white bed with strings attached to her body to the beeping machines placed beside her bed.
Laural keeps staring at the ceiling as memories of her prior life that she keeps repeating come crushing down on her.
Rather than feel any emotion that she usually felt for the past three lives, she was now consumed by a sense of numbness, a feeling of detachment from the world she once knew.
The beeping machines seemed to mock her, a constant reminder of her current state of helplessness.
She can feel her heart being crushed as if someone were clenching it, but she can't feel anything to show a sense of pain.
The heartbreak that she was supposed to feel when she remembered that she did something heinous in her third life was because of the sense of betrayal that she felt when the man she loved so much was now living happily with someone else who was supposed to be her; she didn't feel it.
Even the fact that she died with the hand of the man she loved still clutching hers was a bittersweet memory that haunted her in this new existence.
The weight of her past mistakes and unfulfilled desires weighed heavily on her soul, leaving her feeling lost and alone in a world that no longer felt like home.
She was like a soulless wanderer, searching for redemption and a sense of purpose that seemed forever out of reach.
Laurel was in a daze when she was snapped back to reality when a high-pitched voice came into her ear as she shifted her eyes and saw a man clad in white clothes, whose eyes were wide open while looking at her.
"The patient is finally awake!" the nurse said in a relieved tone.
Before Laural could even process what was happening, the nurse went out of the room and came back with many people clad in the same outfits.
Their mouths are spouting something, but Laurel seems to be unable to distinguish what they are saying. Some nurses tried to talk to her, but she could also stare at them.
They were doing something with the machines and checking on her vital signs.
She was in that situation for a few minutes until the door burst open again, but this time a person was clad in blue protective gear and went beside Laurel's bed.
Laurel followed the person's figure curiously.
The person's face was covered with a surgical mask, and her head had a blue cap, but once their eyes met, Laurel immediately recognized the person.
"M-mom," Laurel mustered up to call with her dry lips quivered as her throat tightened with emotion.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she reached out a trembling hand towards her mother, who smiled warmly behind the mask and gently squeezed Laurel's hand in reassurance.
The familiar touch brought a wave of comfort and relief to Laurel, knowing that her mother was there by her side during this difficult time.
"Y-yes, baby. M-mommy is here," her voice cracked as tears welled up and trailed down her cheeks as she gazed at her daughter's buttered face.
"O-oh my god," she mutters, feeling overwhelmed with love and gratitude for her daughter's strength and resilience in the face of adversity.
Laurel doesn't know what happened, but once she got sight of her mother, who has always been supportive of her in every life, it made her emotional.
She was relieved that despite all that she had gone through, she could still feel emotion whenever she was around the people she loved.
Relief washed over Laurel's body, and it relaxed.
Her eyes went heavy, and the last thing she saw before she blacked out was her mother's teary eyes through her covered, masked face and her warm hand on hers.
The following days after that, Laurel woke up with a much better feeling.
Compared to her past lives, Laurel's recovery progress has been smooth and fast. She didn't have to go through a few months of a coma.
She didn't know if the body that she had from her previous life affected her present, but from the way her body has been responding, it seemed like she was healing quicker than expected.
A few days after she woke up, she was transferred to the normal rooms out of the emergency room, where she has been staying for almost four months.
And just like her previous lives, she witnessed through the screen of the television the progressingly changing world since the gates appeared.
How the heroes, who are called hunters, started increasing and how the others craved independence from the government.
Guilds are established by the hunters, and the technology has also been advancing rapidly to keep up with the new threats that emerged.
It was the same world that she has been living in her three lives. It became unrecognizable. However, Laurel learned to survive in that dangerous world but failed every single time.
Now that she was given a fourth chance, she swore she would survive this time. And she will stop chasing that hopeless love she was always fixated on, focusing instead on honing her skills and becoming a formidable hunter in the new world that has emerged.
Laurel knew that this time, she had to adapt quickly and embrace the changes if she wanted to finally succeed in her quest for survival.