The Hell Did I Just Get Into?

A dull, persistent beeping filled Zhao Wei's ears, mingling with the faint hum of distant voices and the sterile scent of antiseptic. His eyelids felt like they weighed a ton, but he forced them open, wincing as bright fluorescent lights stabbed into his vision.

Where the hell…?

His head pounded like a drum, a sluggish, disorienting dizziness swirling in his skull as he struggled to focus. He was lying in a hospital bed, an IV drip connected to his arm, and his entire body felt like it had been run over by a truck—twice.

He groaned, trying to shift, but even that felt like a goddamn workout. His limbs were weak, unresponsive, and every breath came with a dull ache in his chest.

Then, out of nowhere, a glowing screen appeared in the air in front of him.

[Quest: Fix Relationship with Parents]

Zhao Wei blinked.

Then blinked again.

"The fuck…?" he rasped, staring at the floating text like it had personally offended him. His brain was barely working, but this? This was not normal.

He turned his head to the side, catching his reflection in the window. His breath hitched.

The person staring back at him wasn't him. It was the kid. The same scrawny, pale high schooler he had tried to save.

What the actual fuck?!

Panic surged through him like a live wire. His heart pounded against his ribs as he clenched the hospital sheets, his mind screaming at him to wake the hell up from whatever nightmare this was.

No. No, no, no.

This wasn't happening.

He hadn't agreed to anything.

He shot a glare back at the glowing screen, his pulse hammering in his ears.

"I didn't agree to this!" he snarled, his voice hoarse but filled with raw frustration. "I never accepted any goddamn deal! Put me back!"

Silence.

His pulse quickened as dread curled in his stomach. The screen didn't disappear. It just hovered there, mocking him with that ridiculous quest. Fix relationship with parents? Whose parents?! His own were dead!

"I'm not doing shit!" he snapped, forcing himself to sit up despite the way his body protested. "I don't care what kind of twisted game this is, but I'm not—"

Before he could finish, a sudden, agonizing pain shot through his body like an electric shock.

He groaned.

It was the kind of pain that ripped through his nerves, burned through his veins like molten lava, and crushed his lungs until he couldn't even breathe. His vision blurred, spots dancing in front of his eyes as every inch of him felt like it was being torn apart from the inside out.

He gasped, gripping his chest, his fingers clawing at the thin hospital gown as the pain escalated to a mind-numbing level.

The screen flickered.

[Sorry, but I really need your help.]

"You selfish bastard!" Zhao Wei gritted out, his forehead damp with sweat as his body trembled under the sheer force of the pain. His head pounded, his heart slammed against his ribs, and for a terrifying second, he thought he might actually die again.

His teeth clenched so hard his jaw ached, veins bulging in his temples as he fought against the agony threatening to break him.

Okay. Fuck this.

"Okay! Okay! Fucking bastard, I accept!" he roared, the words tearing out of him as he arched against the bed, barely able to think straight.

And just like that—

The pain vanished.

It was so sudden, so jarring, that it left him gasping for air like a drowning man. His chest rose and fell rapidly, his skin damp with sweat, his fingers still trembling as if his body hadn't gotten the memo that the torture was over.

Zhao Wei slumped back onto the pillow, sucking in desperate gulps of air. His heart was still racing, his body aching from the aftershocks, but at least he could breathe again.

"Holy… shit," he croaked, dragging a shaky hand down his face.

That was not normal. That was not remotely fucking normal.

His eyes flicked back to the screen, which was still hovering in the air, as if waiting for him to process everything.

Fix kid's relationship with his parents?

God, what fresh hell had he just signed up for?

He groaned, pressing his palms against his eyes. He didn't know what was worse—the fact that he was stuck in some kind of supernatural nightmare or the fact that he had been forced into it with literal pain as leverage.

Fucking fantastic.

His stomach twisted as he realized he really was in the kid's body now. Which meant his own body was… what? Gone? A lifeless corpse on the pavement? The thought made nausea churn in his gut.

Just then, the door to the hospital room creaked open.

Zhao Wei's breath caught as a woman stepped in—middle-aged, with tired eyes and a face that looked like it had forgotten how to smile. Her hands clenched at the straps of her handbag as she hesitated in the doorway.

"…You're awake."

Zhao didn't respond immediately. His mind was still a mess, still trying to comprehend the nightmare he had found himself in.

The woman sighed, stepping closer. "Do you have any idea how worried your father and I were?" Her voice was strained, like she was trying to balance anger and relief but wasn't quite managing either.

Zhao Wei's jaw locked. Right. The kid's mother.

He knew that tone. That exhausted, frustrated, I'm-at-my-wit's-end tone. He had heard it in his own mother's voice long ago, before she…

He exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair as he forced himself to sit up properly. "Listen, lady, I don't—"

The screen flickered again.

[Quest Activated: Fix Relationship with Parents.]

Zhao's eye twitched.

Of course. Of fucking course.

So, what? If he refused, was he going to get zapped again?

His teeth ground together, irritation bubbling inside him like a volcano ready to erupt.

"Yihan, are you listening to me?"

Zhao Wei froze. Yihan?

That was the kid's name?

Wonderful. Now he was stuck being Yihan.

This was going to be hell.