Chapter 1: I've been reincarnated into the game I used to run. And I've got all my admin privileges.

In the year 2050, virtual reality had reached new heights. It wasn't just about seeing and hearing anymore; you could taste, touch, and even feel the breeze on your skin. The most popular game of its time was called Mundo—a revolutionary blend of otome game romance and open-world multiplayer combat. Players could fall in love with one of the many characters, embark on dangerous quests, and alter the story's outcome based on their choices. With countless heroines, villains, and intricate storylines, it attracted both boys and girls from all over the world.

But what really set Mundo apart was its realism. The game could connect to all six senses, allowing players to feel as though they had truly entered another world. You could taste the food, feel the sword in your hand, and hear the whispers of danger from behind a dark forest. However, despite this immersive experience, it didn't solve one major flaw: you'd still feel hungry in real life.

In the hidden corners of Mundo, above the sprawling mountains and lush valleys, Alex floated invisibly, watching over the game. He was an admin—one of the few people entrusted with maintaining the game's balance, checking for bugs, and monitoring NPC behavior. From his perch high above the mountain peaks, he surveyed the landscape, ensuring everything was in order.

Alex yawned and stretched, floating in mid-air with the mountains beneath him. "Everything looks fine today," he muttered to himself. The NPCs were running their pre-set dialogues with players, quests were being handed out properly, and the hostile NPCs were engaging in fights just as they should. It was a peaceful day in Mundo.

Checking the in-game clock, he noticed it was noon. His stomach grumbled. "Man, I'm starving."

With a sigh, Alex logged out of the game. The world of Mundo vanished in an instant, replaced by the plain, cramped interior of his one-room apartment. He rubbed his eyes and grabbed a cup of instant ramen from his kitchen shelf, barely waiting for the water to boil before diving in.

Once he had finished his ramen, Alex logged back into the game, but something felt off. His hunger wasn't entirely gone. Back in Mundo, now invisible again and floating high above the mountain range, he opened his in-game inventory, which as an admin, was limitless.

A medium-rare steak and a cold beer appeared in his hands. "If only I could eat this stuff in real life," he muttered, setting up a small picnic for himself on the mountaintop. The steak smelled divine, and as he took a bite, the rich, savory flavor exploded in his mouth. It tasted as real as anything he'd ever had, but it left a bittersweet feeling. No matter how real the food felt in Mundo, it wouldn't actually fill him up outside the game.

After finishing his virtual meal, Alex sighed contentedly. "Guess it's back to work," he mumbled. He hovered lazily, checking over the NPCs in nearby villages, making sure they were responding correctly to players. The life of an admin was pretty simple—monitoring things, fixing bugs, and sometimes responding to issues reported by players. And Alex? He was content just minding his own business, quietly keeping the world running smoothly without interacting much with anyone.

Hours passed, and soon it was time to log out for the day. Alex removed his VR headset, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting of his small apartment. The room was cluttered with gaming gear, empty snack wrappers, and a stack of untouched books he always meant to read. Today was payday, and he smiled slightly, feeling a bit of excitement for once. He could finally afford his favorite real-life meal: Mang Inasal's BBQ chicken with rice.

[NOTE:Mang inasal is a popular food franchise in the Philippines.]

He grabbed his phone and opened his banking app, tapping impatiently until his balance appeared. The payment had come through, just as expected. "Finally," he muttered to himself, a faint smile forming on his lips. "I can taste Mang Inasal again."

As he stretched and stood up, his phone buzzed with a series of messages from his coworkers in the admin team chat. They were making plans for the evening.

"Karaoke tonight, who's in?"

"Night market after? Heard they got new stalls!"

Alex glanced at the messages, leaning against his kitchen counter as he scrolled through the conversation. They were a lively bunch, always trying to get him to join their outings. It wasn't that he disliked them; they were friendly enough, and sometimes he enjoyed the banter. But socializing felt like a chore, something he'd never been good at. He was more comfortable in his own world, with his games and solitary meals.

Another message popped up, this time directly from his closest coworker, Jack.

"You coming, Alex? Gonna be fun!"

Alex sighed, typing a quick reply. "I'm good, maybe next time."

Jack's response was almost immediate: "One of these days, man. You gotta live a little!"

Alex chuckled to himself but shook his head, putting the phone back in his pocket. "Living is overrated," he said quietly, grabbing his jacket. He locked his apartment door behind him and stepped out into the cool evening air. The city was bustling, even at this hour, with people rushing to their destinations, cars honking, and the distant chatter of friends catching up over dinner.

He walked down the familiar streets, the smells of street food vendors filling the air. The scent of grilled meat, fried snacks, and sweet desserts momentarily tempted him. He paused by one of the food stalls, where a vendor was flipping skewers over a charcoal grill.

"You want some? Freshly cooked!" the vendor called out, noticing Alex's interest.

"Nah, I'm good. Got something else in mind," Alex replied politely, moving on. His mind was set. He was going to get his BBQ chicken.

After a short walk, he finally reached Mang Inasal. The bright lights of the restaurant cut through the evening gloom, and the warm aroma of grilled chicken greeted him like an old friend. He ordered his usual—a perfectly grilled chicken, paired with their iconic unlimited rice—and waited at the counter.

The cashier handed him his takeout bag, the warmth of the food seeping through the thin plastic. "Thanks," Alex said, giving a brief smile before heading back out into the night. He took his time walking back, the streets quieter now as the sky darkened. He passed by a group of kids playing near a corner store, their laughter echoing in the evening air, and an elderly couple chatting on a bench, enjoying each other's company.

As he neared his apartment, the dim lights of the alleyway flickered, and he caught sight of a commotion between two buildings. A man in a hoodie was trying to yank a purse away from a woman, who was desperately clinging to it.

"Help!" the woman cried, her voice trembling with fear.

Alex hesitated, his instincts telling him to keep walking. He'd seen this sort of thing before, and it never ended well when you got involved. But the situation escalated when the thief pulled out a gun, aiming it directly at the woman's chest. She let go of her bag in terror, stumbling backward.

The thief, now holding the purse, sprinted down the alley—right in Alex's direction. Alex tried to step aside, not wanting any part of this, but in his haste, the robber misinterpreted Alex's movement as an attempt to block his path. Without a second thought, the thief raised his gun and fired.

The shot rang out, echoing off the brick walls, and Alex felt a searing pain in his chest. He collapsed to the ground, clutching the wound as his vision blurred. "Damn… So this is how I die?" Alex thought bitterly, his grip tightening on the Mang Inasal bag. His last regret? "I didn't even get to eat my BBQ chicken."

"..."

"..."

"..."

When Alex opened his eyes again, the pain in his chest was gone. He sat up quickly, his hand instinctively reaching for the spot where the bullet had hit, but there was nothing—no wound, no blood, just a faint, lingering ache.

"What…?" He blinked and looked around. He wasn't in the street anymore. Instead, he was lying in a bed inside a room that was completely white. It looked sterile, almost like a hospital, but there were no machines, no doctors.

"Am I in a hospital?" he muttered, getting up from the bed. There was a door in the corner of the room. He walked over to it, cautiously opening it,and he found himself in a room far from anything he expected. Sitting at a table was a tall, skeletal figure cloaked in a black robe. The figure's hollow eye sockets glowed faintly, and a bony hand scratched away at a seemingly endless stack of paperwork. A large scythe leaned against the wall nearby.

"Who's this guy in the cheap Halloween costume?" Alex muttered under his breath, still disoriented.

The skeletal figure didn't look up from the papers. "I heard that," it said, its voice cold and echoing. It continued writing for a moment before finally setting the quill down and turning its empty gaze toward Alex.

"You... You must be Death, right?" Alex asked, feeling the weight of the situation hit him. He remembered the pain, the gunshot… Could this really be happening?

The skeleton nodded slowly. "Indeed. I am Death. You, however, seem a little slow to catch on."

Alex blinked, still not fully convinced. "So, I'm dead, huh? This isn't some kind of prank?"

Death sighed, the sound like the rustle of dry bones. Without warning, it raised a bony hand and Alex felt the sharp, agonizing pain of a bullet tearing through his chest again. He collapsed to his knees, clutching at his chest, but when he looked down, there was no blood—no wound. The pain vanished as quickly as it had come.

"That should wake you up to reality," Death said, standing and towering over him. "You were shot and killed. It's over for you in that life."

Alex rubbed his chest, still in shock, the pain lingering in his memory. "So… I'm really dead," he muttered.

Death flipped through a few pages on the desk. "Let's see here… You died trying to save a woman during during a robbery—"

"I wasn't trying to save anyone!" Alex interrupted, flustered.

Death's skeletal face didn't move, but the air grew colder as if he was glaring. "Did I say you could interrupt me?" His voice was laced with an eerie finality. "As I was saying, you died during a robbery, at the age of 26, leading a rather lonely life. And your last words... something about regretting not eating your BBQ chicken?" Death raised a bony eyebrow, clearly unimpressed.

Alex sighed. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Well," Death said, "since your life was so pitiful, and in light of your… 'sacrifice,' you've been granted the chance to be reborn."

"Reborn?" Alex perked up, feeling a sliver of hope. "Well, that's better than nothing, I guess."

Before he could even process what was happening, the ground beneath him vanished, and he was falling. He didn't have time to scream or react before his soul slammed into something solid.

When Alex opened his eyes again, he wasn't in the white room anymore. He was lying on the ground, covered in blood. His clothes were torn, and there was a sharp, stabbing pain all over his body. He groaned and tried to move, but every muscle ached.

As he struggled to sit up, he noticed several bodies lying around him—dead bodies. His mind reeled as memories flooded in, like watching dozens of movies all at once.The rush of memories was overwhelming, yet strangely familiar. Alex blinked, trying to separate the images swirling in his head. He wasn't just Alex anymore—he was Kevin, a 15-year-old orphan adopted by a mercenary group. His new body was tough for a teenager, trained in combat, and already experienced in battle. But now, those memories painted a grim picture: his mercenary family had been slaughtered by orcs. Huge, green-skinned beasts with crude weapons and bloodlust had attacked them without mercy.

Kevin—Alex, he corrected himself—looked down at his body. There were deep cuts and bruises everywhere, but as he gingerly touched the wounds, he noticed something strange. The pain was dulling rapidly, and before his eyes, the cuts were healing. "What…?" he muttered.

Just then, a sharp ding rang out in his head, an all-too-familiar sound. It was the exact chime he used to hear while working as an admin in Mundo. A system prompt appeared before his eyes, glowing faintly.

---

[Admin System]

Name: Kevin

Race: Human

Level: ∞

Title: None

Attributes: None

Blessing: None

Strength: ∞

Agility: ∞

Endurance: ∞

Intelligence: ∞

Skills:

Edit (max)

Teleport (max)

Limitless Storage (max)

Flight (max)

Eye of God (max)

---

Alex—now Kevin—stared at the prompt, his eyes widening. "This… This is the admin interface." His voice trembled slightly, a mix of shock and disbelief. He had been reincarnated into Mundo, the game he used to monitor. But not just any part of it—he was in the admin mode.

"I guess I'm not just another player here," he said under his breath, looking around at the bloody battlefield. The bodies of fallen mercenaries lay scattered across the ground, and the stench of death hung heavily in the air. He recognized the scene. It was one of the events in Mundo, a tragic side quest where a young orphan loses his adoptive family in an orc raid. Players could intervene if they got here in time, but it seemed like, for Kevin, no one had come.

"Well, this is… intense," he muttered, feeling the weight of his new identity settling in. The system screen remained in front of him, waiting for input. He tried moving his fingers through the air like he would in the real-world admin interface, and to his surprise, the system responded just like it did in his old life.

He accessed his inventory, which, of course, was limitless. Pulling out a fresh set of clothes, Kevin quickly changed out of his bloodstained rags. His mind buzzed with questions. "So, I've got the same powers I had as an admin back then…"

He glanced at the dead mercenaries, his adoptive family in this world, and felt a knot form in his stomach. It wasn't just a game anymore—this was real. These people had lives, emotions, memories. But now they were gone, leaving Kevin alone in a cruel world.

Shaking off the weight of it all, Kevin muttered, "I need to get to a village and figure out where I am." He pulled up the map in his admin interface, seeing the vast world of Mundo laid out before him. He was in one of the outer regions, far from the central cities where players usually started. In the distance, he could see markers for different settlements, but it was a long way off.

"Well, that's a problem…" Kevin sighed. "Good thing I've got admin abilities." He smirked, activating Teleport. With a blink, he vanished from the battlefield.

---

Kevin appeared in a small, dusty village at the edge of the forest. The town was humble, with wooden houses and a handful of NPCs walking about their daily routines. It was a classic starting area for new players—safe, quiet, and far from any dangerous creatures or high-level quests.

As he wandered through the village, the NPCs greeted him with their usual canned lines. "Greetings, traveler. How may I assist you today?" one of the shopkeepers asked, smiling mechanically.

Kevin smiled back awkwardly. "This is so surreal," he muttered. These were characters he used to monitor, test, and sometimes tweak, but now, he was among them.

Walking past a tavern, Kevin heard a few adventurers boasting about their recent quests. "I took down a whole den of wolves last night!" one burly man exclaimed. His companions laughed and slapped him on the back.

Kevin paused, listening. I need to gather information about this world. He may have been an admin before, but now that he was part of it, things might work differently. He stepped into the tavern, sitting at a table in the corner where he could overhear conversations.

The room was filled with chatter. Some were discussing bounties on monsters, others were planning trade routes. The bartender, a middle-aged man with a thick mustache, came over. "What'll it be, lad?"

"Uh…" Kevin hesitated. "Just a drink. Whatever you have."

The bartender nodded and returned with a mug of ale. Kevin took a sip and sighed. The taste was crisp, just like the beer he'd had on his mountain picnic as Alex. He leaned back, staring into the foam of his drink, thinking about his strange new life.

So, I've been reincarnated into the game I used to run. And I've got all my admin privileges. But what should I do now? Kevin had no clear goal—he wasn't like the players who sought to conquer dungeons, fall in love with NPCs, or become famous adventurers.

He took another sip of his ale. "Guess I'll just mind my own business… try to live quietly."

But living quietly in Mundo wasn't as easy as it sounded. Players, NPCs, and the game's many storylines would inevitably pull him into something bigger. Even as he planned to lay low, Kevin could feel the weight of destiny creeping up on him. The mercenary group he had been part of hadn't just been wiped out by accident—the attack had been part of a larger plot that would likely resurface.

Suddenly, a sharp noise interrupted his thoughts. The tavern door swung open, and a group of ragtag adventurers burst in. They were battered and bruised, covered in dirt and sweat. "We need help!" one of them shouted. "There's been an orc attack just outside the village!"

Kevin's eyes widened. Orcs. The same creatures that had slaughtered his mercenary family.

The room erupted into chaos. Adventurers sprang from their seats, gathering their weapons and supplies, readying themselves for battle. Kevin remained seated, torn between the desire to stay uninvolved and the knowledge that he had the power to end the threat with a single command.

One of the adventurers locked eyes with Kevin. "Hey, you! Are you just going to sit there? We need every able body out there!"

Kevin sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Of course, this would happen…" He downed the rest of his ale, stood up, and followed the group out of the tavern.

As they left the village and approached the site of the orc attack, Kevin couldn't help but feel a strange sense of déjà vu. The air was thick with tension, the ground littered with debris from the earlier fight. Several orcs were still alive, their massive green forms looming over the bodies of fallen villagers.

The adventurers around him drew their swords, preparing for battle. Kevin, on the other hand, simply watched. I could wipe them out in an instant, he thought, clenching his fists. But should I?

The adventurers charged forward, weapons raised. Swords clanged against the orcs' axes, the sound of metal on metal ringing through the clearing. A young swordsman leapt at an orc, aiming for its neck, but the orc swung its club with brutal speed, knocking the adventurer back into a tree. The impact left him crumpled on the ground, struggling to breathe.

Kevin watched as a mage stepped forward, chanting incantations. Flames burst from her staff, engulfing one of the orcs. The creature roared, thrashing wildly as it tried to douse the fire. But before the mage could cast another spell, a second orc blindsided her, sending her sprawling into the dirt.

Another adventurer, a hulking man wielding a massive axe, charged at the nearest orc, landing a solid blow on its shoulder. The orc grunted but swung back with relentless fury, forcing the man to block with his axe. Sparks flew as the weapons collided, each swing more desperate than the last.

Kevin stood at the edge of the battle, his mind racing. He could see the adventurers struggling, their attacks sloppy and frantic. One by one, they were being overwhelmed. An orc grabbed a rogue by the leg, lifting him effortlessly before slamming him into the ground. The rogue gasped, clutching his ribs as he tried to crawl away.

Kevin clenched his fists, feeling the urge to intervene. He opened his admin panel discreetly, his fingers hovering over the command to weaken the orcs. Just a small adjustment, enough to give the adventurers a chance.

He hesitated. I shouldn't interfere. But then his eyes fell on a young girl, barely more than a teenager, brandishing a dagger with shaking hands. An orc loomed over her, ready to strike. Kevin gritted his teeth, his decision made in an instant.

Activating Edit mode, he quickly adjusted the stats of the orcs, reducing their strength and defense just enough. The change was subtle, almost unnoticeable, but immediately effective.

The tide of battle shifted. The adventurers, once on the brink of defeat, found new strength. The mage, regaining her footing, unleashed a barrage of ice spells, freezing an orc in place. The young swordsman, now more confident, delivered a swift slash that severed an orc's arm. The hulking axe-wielder roared, landing a crushing blow to an orc's skull, finally felling the beast.

Kevin watched as the adventurers rallied, their teamwork improving as they adapted to the weakened foes. He had barely done anything, but it was enough. The orcs, now visibly struggling, began to fall one after another.

When the last orc hit the ground, the adventurers were left panting and bloodied, but victorious. They exchanged weary smiles, and a few even cheered. One of them glanced at Kevin, nodding in gratitude without realizing how close they had been to disaster.

Kevin stayed behind, watching the aftermath. He hadn't revealed his full power—only a fraction—but the consequences still weighed on him. This wasn't just a game anymore. The people here, NPCs or players, were real to him now.

"Guess I'll need to figure out what kind of role I'm going to play in this world," he muttered, staring at the bodies of the fallen orcs. "I can't just sit back and watch forever."

He turned and walked back toward the village, the sun dipping low in the sky. The distant sounds of the tavern's celebrations echoed faintly, adventurers toasting their victory without knowing how it had really been won.

Kevin slipped back inside, returning to his corner with a fresh drink. He stared at the wall, deep in thought. The orc attack was only the beginning—trouble would find him again, no matter how much he tried to avoid it. And as much as he wanted to keep a low profile, the power he wielded would always be a temptation.

With a sigh, Kevin raised his mug, taking a long sip. "Let's just hope I don't end up causing more trouble than I fix," he said quietly, the weight of his new reality settling on his shoulders.

And so, his strange new life in Mundo continued. Kevin was no longer just an admin—he was part of the world now, with choices to make and consequences to face. The shadows were his refuge for now, but he knew that, sooner or later, he'd have to step into the light.