Chapter 164 - 162 (Season 3)

Chapter 164: Chapter 162 (Season 3)

A sharp gasp escaped my lips as I jolted upright and for a brief, terrifying moment, I thought I had gone bling because everywhere I looked was white.

Just... white.

There was no ceiling above me, no walls surrounding me, not even a floor beneath my feet. It was as though I had been dropped into an endless canvas that stretched infinitely in every direction.

"...Where am I?"

My voice echoed into nothingness but no answer came.

Frowning, I got to my feet and started walking.

At first, I thought maybe I simply couldn’t see the end because of the blinding light but five minutes have passed yet the scenery remained exactly the same.

"....What the fuck?"

I spun around in a slow circle.

There were no doors nor windows.

There was even no giant glowing portal that screamed, "Congratulations! You have died once again!"

A horrible thought suddenly crossed my mind.

"...Am I dead?"

I looked around again, as if expecting someone to pop out with a clipboard to confirm my suspicion.

"Like... dead dead?"

I stared blankly into the endless void before throwing both hands into the air.

"No, no, no... this is fucking unfair!"

"I thought if I died again I would wake up back in my own world!"

"What kind of false advertising is this?!"

"I demand to speak to whoever’s in charge!"

A familiar chuckle echoed from every direction.

"I thought you’d finally grown out of swearing every time you got frustrated."

The teasing voice continued, filled with amusement.

"But it seems you’re still the same little brat."

I froze as every hair on my body stood on end.

’That voice...’

It couldn’t be.

"Who’s there?"

I frantically looked around, my eyes searching the endless white space.

"Show yourself!"

A sigh full of exaggerated disappointment echoed through the empty space.

"I’m deeply wounded."

"To think my own granddaughter would forget my voice."

"...G-Gramps?"

"No."

The voice answered immediately.

"I’m someone else’s grandfather."

I stared blankly into the endless white as I pinched the bridge of my node.

’...Still as sarcastic as ever.’

A laugh escaped me before I could stop it.

"Gramps!"

I instinctively ran forward, intending to hug him, only to almost trip over absolutely nothing when I remembered there wasn’t actually anyone standing there.

The voice chuckled warmly. "Were you scared, my little—"

"IT’S REAL!"

I practically shouted over him.

"Transmigration is actually real!"

"I can’t believe it!"

"I told you those novels weren’t completely ridiculous!"

"I really went to another world gramps!"

I didn’t even give him a chance to respond before the words came tumbling out one after another.

<anno data-annotation-id="75966ddb-47b4-3c3d-a6eb-81aad45780ec" data-title=""They have flying aircraft, holograms, advanced technology, and somehow they still live under a monarchy! Isn’t that weird? It’s like someone mixed science fiction with medieval fantasy and somehow made it work!"">"They have flying aircraft, holograms, advanced technology, and somehow they still live under a monarchy! Isn’t that weird? It’s like someone mixed science fiction with medieval fantasy and somehow made it work!"¹</anno>

I laughed excitedly, completely forgetting everything else.

"Oh! And I own a workshop now!"

I puffed my chest out proudly, unable to stop grinning.

"It’s nowhere near as big as the companies I own back home, but honestly? I like it so much better."

I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly.

"At least I’m not being worked to death here."

"Since when did we ever overwork you, you little brat?" Grandpa Benjamin interrupted with an offended scoff.

"I was emotionally overworked."

"You only worked three hours a day. The rest it’s either you go shopping, annoy either me or your parents, or you suddenly decide to work on the project your client requested months ago!"

I shamelessly ignored him before he could continue.

"I also carve energy stones!"

My excitement immediately returned.

"They’re basically stabilizers that help calm people’s hysteria. Everyone needs them, so they’re incredibly valuable!"

"I’ve made so much money already!"

I spread my arms dramatically before deflating almost immediately.

"Well... most of it disappears because I keep buying food."

"I knew it."

"You don’t understand, Gramps!" I clutched my chest dramatically.

"The food there is unbelievable!"

"Forget Michelin stars, they deserve their own galaxy! I don’t know what they season everything with, but their desserts alone are enough to make me forget my own name!"

"So that’s where all your profits went."

"They’re called investments."

"In your stomach?"

"In my happiness." I corrected without the slightest shame. "Same thing."

Grandpa Benjamin remained completely silent.

"...Gramps?"

Silence.

"Gramps, you still awake?"

He let out a long, exhausted sigh. "Are you done—"

I perked up immediately. "I’M AN ALBINO LEOPARD BEASTKIN!"

Silence.

"Can you imagine that?"

Silence.

"Probably not."

Silence.

"The only downside is... I’m still stuck as a cub."

I looked down at my imaginary body and pouted.

"If you could see me, I look less like a majestic leopard and more like a chubby house cat wearing expensive leopard print."

"..."

Grandpa Benjamin was quiet for a long moment. Then, in the gentlest voice I’d heard from him since arriving here, he said, "It’s alright, dear. You don’t have to keep talking. You can let it all out."

The smile on my face faltered as I lowered my head, staring at the endless white beneath my feet.

"...H-How did you know?"

"You’ve always done this."

"When you don’t want anyone to see you cry, you start talking."

"You keep talking and talking, hoping no one notices what’s really happening."

"You’ve been doing it since you were little."

I sniffled, quickly rubbing my eyes with the back of my hand.

"I wasn’t—"

I stopped halfway through the sentence.

’There was no point lying.’

"...I was really scared."

The moment I admitted it, everything I’d been desperately keeping locked away came crashing down all at once.

"When I first woke up..."

My voice cracked.

"...I looked down and saw paws instead of hands."

"Do you know how terrifying it is to wake up one day and realize you’ve turned into a leopard cub?"

"I genuinely thought I’d finally gone insane."

I smiled weakly through the tears gathering in my eyes.

"Luckily, someone came flying out of the sky."

I paused before letting out a small laugh.

"Though, if we’re being honest, instead of him rescuing me from that island, I somehow ended up saving him first."

"I still don’t know how that happened."

I shrugged.

"After that, I somehow started living with him, going to school, and managing my own shop."

Grandpa Benjamin let out a long, disapproving sigh. "Next time, can you not follow strangers so carelessly, you brat."

I frowned. "...But I am the only stranger in that world."

Another sigh.

"You’re exactly like your father, brat."

"I’ll take that as a compliment."

"That wasn’t a compliment, you brat."

I pouted and folded my arms across my chest. "Gramps, stop calling me a brat. I’ve already grown into a mature and responsible adult."

A snort echoed through the endless white space.

"So mature that the first thing you did after meeting me was spend ten minutes bragging about food."

"That was... an important update."

"So was the part where you somehow managed to adopt yourself into another man’s house after following a complete stranger."

"He wasn’t a stranger by the time I moved in."

"You’ve known him for less than a day."

"...Details."

Grandpa Benjamin sighed and it sounded like a sigh of a man who had spent decades raising an impossible granddaughter.

"We’re changing the subject before I figure out a way to get over there and pinch your cheeks."

I instinctively covered both sides of my face. "You can’t even touch me here."

"I’ll find a way."

I opened my mouth, ready to defend my dignity for at least another five minutes, but he beat me to it.

"Listen... Your body’s currently in a coma-like state and if you want to return here, you have to accomplish something in that world first."

Instead of panicking, I narrowed my eyes suspiciously.

"Why are you so calm about this?"

The more I thought about it, the stranger it became.

"And why does it sound like you already know what’s going on?"

"Because..."

Grandpa Benjamin hesitated.

"All the Frostine’s have all experienced the same thing."

"...What?"

"We all transmigrated to that same world. Only on different timelines."

I stood there with my mouth hanging open, my brain simply refusing to process what I’d just heard.

"...Wait."

I held up both hands.

"No, no. Hold on."

I stared into the empty white space as if looking at him would somehow make this make more sense.

"So you’re telling me... our family... are all transmigrators?"

"Yes."

My eye twitched. "So we’ve been casually hopping between worlds and nobody thought this was important enough to mention during family dinners?" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Grandpa Benjamin laughed. "It wasn’t exactly something that came up over dessert."

I threw both hands into the air.

"But why?"

"Why do we transmigrate?"

"What’s the reason?"

"When did this even start?"

"Who started it?"

"Is there some ancient family curse?"

"Did Great-great-grandfather annoy a god or something?"

"I don’t know."

His answer came without hesitation.

"I don’t know how it started."

"I don’t know why it started."

"And I certainly don’t know when."

He sighed softly.

"All I know is that when it’s your turn, you accept it, and find out why you were sent there."

I folded my arms.

Then slowly narrowed my eyes.

"...Cut the crap, Gramps."

Silence.

"I know you."

I pointed accusingly into the endless white void.

"Mission, my ass."

"You definitely had the exact same reaction I did when you first got there."

"I refuse to believe you calmly accepted waking up in another world."

Grandpa Benjamin burst into laughter. "You’re too smart for your own good."

"I learned from the best."

"I suppose you did."

His laughter gradually faded.

"But I’m telling you the truth."

"I really did complete a certain task before I returned to our world."

He paused for a moment before casually adding, "I transmigrated there the moment I got hit by a truck."

"You..... what?"

"Got hit by a truck."

"No, I heard that part." I stared blankly into the empty white space. "I’m just trying to process why you said it like you were telling me you went grocery shopping."

Grandpa Benjamin chuckled. "It happened a long time ago."

"Wait..." A thought suddenly occurred to me as I lowered my hands. "Does that mean all of us had a near-death experience before transmigrating?"

"Yes."

I nodded slowly. "So our ancestors really offended someone huh?"

"Yes."

’I knew it.’

There was absolutely no way a normal family tree led to this.

Our ancestors definitely annoyed a god, stole something sacred, or accidentally signed the weirdest family contract in human history.

I was mentally apologising to every deity that might’ve been involved when Grandpa suddenly inhaled sharply.

"There is... one more thing."

"What is it?"

He took a very deep breathe before the words came rushing out so quickly they blended into one incomprehensible sentence.

"You’rereallyfromthereyourrealfatherusedhisabilitytosendyouhere—"

"...What?"

Before I could even process what he was saying, everything around me flickered violently before the endless white space fractured like shattered glass.

"Gramps?"

His voice became distorted.

"...Your mother..."

The world cracked again.

"Louder!"

"I can’t hear you!"

"Gramps!"

The darkness spread across the white void, swallowing everything in seconds.

"GRAMPS?!"

Nothing.

"...Gramps?"

Still nothing.

My eye twitched when I realized something.

"Did you seriously wait until the last possible second to tell me something this important?"

I pointed accusingly at absolutely nothing.

"HOW DARE YOU LEAVE ME HANGING?!"

My voice echoed through the darkness.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I’M FROM HERE?!"

"AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN DAD ISN’T MY DAD?!"

I clenched both fists.

"GRAMPS!!"

"I SWEAR IF THIS IS YOUR IDEA OF A DRAMATIC REVEAL, I’M GOING TO MISPLACE ALL YOUR THINGS AND LET YOU THINK YOU’RE GETTING OLD AND FORGETFUL!"

The darkness swallowed my voice whole as I continued plunging to the dark abyss.

"...AAAAAAAAAH—!!!"

My scream was cut short as I jolted upright with a sharp gasp, my lungs desperately dragging in air.

For a few seconds, everything was blurry.

I blinked multiple times before my vision finally focused and instantly frowned.

"...Pink?"

The ceiling was pink.

The curtains were pink.

The walls...

Pink.

The sofa in the corner?

Pink.

Even the flowers sitting on the bedside table were pink.

"..."

I slowly turned my head to the other side.

The cabinet was pink.

The carpet was pink.

The lamp was—

"...Also pink."

I stared at the room in utter disbelief.

"Did I wake up in Sylvie’s room?"