Chương 1: Transmigration

Ch 1 - Transmigration The barrel of the gun hovered inches from Evan's face, leaving him unable to do anything but stare in shock. Before him stood his brother, golden radiance blazing in his eyes as Sacred Light surrounded his body. The warm smile Evan had always known was gone, replaced by a cold, contemptuous sneer.

"Demon," his brother hissed. Evan wondered if he could have avoided this situation if he had been more careful. But then he remembered the trolling System and the curse that plagued him with abysmal luck. Maybe this outcome had been inevitable from the start. His mind drifted back to the chain of events that had dragged him into this unfamiliar world.

This has to be a dream, Evan thought. He blinked several times, taking in the unfamiliar ceiling above him. It was far nicer than the one in his apartment, where mold crept across the corners and cobwebs hung beneath a layer of dust. It was so clean that he almost assumed he was in a hospital room. A quick glance around proved otherwise. He was lying on a twin-sized bed with warm bedding and a thick, plush pillow. Against one wall stood a desk with an open laptop and a stack of textbooks.

Opposite it stood a wardrobe with its door left slightly ajar, revealing neatly folded clothes inside. From the textbooks on the desk, it seemed he was in a student's room. Had he gotten drunk and passed out on the street, and someone carried him home so he could sleep off his drunkenness in their child's bedroom? Impossible. Aside from the fact that he never cared much for alcohol, even after his miserable life, he was certain he hadn't had a drink recently.

The last thing he remembered was reading web novels on his phone, wasting time as usual after getting fired from his latest job. Then, somehow, he found himself here. Evan got out of bed and shuffled over to the mirror. The face staring back at him was unmistakably his, yet far younger than he remembered. His red hair framed clear black eyes, free from the dead, exhausted look he'd carried for years. The gauntness was gone as well.

His cheeks had filled out with a healthy flush, while the dark circles beneath his eyes had vanished. Years of missed meals and poor nutrition had left his old body thin and frail, but this one was healthier, with a modest amount of muscle. Am I dreaming, or did I get time-traveled in my sleep? Evan thought as he pinched his cheek and felt a sharp sting of pain. So not a dream. Still half convinced none of this was real, Evan stepped out of the room and found a man in an apron cooking in the kitchen.

He stood well over six feet tall, with dark hair and dark gray eyes. Even from the side, he looked ridiculously handsome. A sharp jawline, phoenix-like eyes, and perfectly balanced features made him seem more like a celebrity than an ordinary person. Combined with his broad shoulders and athletic build, he looked like someone who belonged on the cover of a magazine, not making breakfast in a kitchen. Why the heck is a celebrity here?

The man shifted his attention from the cutting board to Evan, who stood there with a blank expression.

"Evan? You're awake already? That's rare," the man said, one eyebrow lifting. Evan remained frozen, his eyes fixed on the floating screen that had appeared before him. [Name: Reid Whitfield] [Age: 25 years old] [Status: Unawakened] [Title: The Legendary Demon Hunter, Reincarnator] His brain booted up and got stuck in a restart loop as he tried to process what he was seeing. What? This couldn't be real.

There was no way he'd suddenly woken up in a younger body, in an unfamiliar apartment, with a man who knew him and a System window floating before his eyes. He had to be hallucinating, or lying in a coma somewhere, trapped in delirium. Evan simply couldn't accept that transmigration, or whatever this was, had actually happened to him.

"Evan?" Seeing that Evan wasn't responding, Reid put down the knife in his hand and approached him. He raised a hand, as if to touch Evan's shoulder, but Evan finally reacted and laughed.

"Ahahaha! Sorry, I was still half asleep! I just had a really weird dream and couldn't tell if I was awake or not!" Evan said.

"Must have been some strange dream," Reid said.

"Very strange!" Evan replied.

"Let me get a quick wash to wake myself up." Before Reid could say anything more, Evan headed back into his room and closed the door. Then he buried his face into the pillow and let out a silent scream, his hand clutching the fabric as he tried to stop himself from panicking. No way. No way. No way. There was no way this was real. Evan pinched himself all over his body, trying to wake himself up, but all he felt were stings of pain and no sign of escaping this insane dream. It really couldn't be real, could it?

Had he really been transmigrated? But why was he still in his own body, and why did he even have the same name? This was not his world, and this was not his apartment. And who the heck was that guy? The Legendary Demon Hunter. The title stirred a growing suspicion, but Evan didn't dare follow the thought too far. It couldn't be that guy, could it? Questions swirled through his thoughts until a headache began to form. Then, without warning, the System screen appeared before him again.

This time, instead of displaying Reid's information, it showed his own. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. [Name: Evan Whitfield] [Age: 17 years old] [Status: Unawakened] [Title: Transmigrator] [Status Effect: The Curse of ■■■■■■] [Skills: -] Unlike Reid's information, his own panel contained more detail. Based on the shared surname, it seemed Reid and this Evan, whose body he was now inhabiting, were related.

The age showed he was seventeen, which explained the textbooks in the room. The title "Transmigrator" only verified what he already suspected, but what drew his attention most was "Unawakened" and "The Curse of ■■■■■■." As someone who had read countless web novels and webcomics, Evan was more than familiar with the term Unawakened. It was a common label in action fantasy stories involving hunters and gates.

And with a System already bound to him, he would not be surprised if he stepped outside and saw a floating gate in the sky. So did that mean he had been transmigrated into some gate-based web novel world? Which one, though? He had read so many that he had probably forgotten most of them. No, what mattered more was "The Curse of ■■■■■■" What did it mean? Who had cursed him? Was the censored name the one responsible for his transmigration? Why choose him?

He knew that many people chosen for transmigration stories were usually unfortunate souls with tragic lives, but there were millions of those. He had never thought he was special enough to be picked. So why him? Evan glared at "The Curse of ■■■■■■" in the System window before closing his eyes. Calm down. There was no point panicking. Since he had somehow ended up in this foreign world, he needed to adapt. He took long, steady breaths, forcing his heartbeat to slow.

After a minute, he opened his eyes again and examined the floating System window.

"Inventory," Evan said, testing whether any of the common System features would respond. The System window did not budge, remaining fixed on his information.

"Bag?" No response.

"Map?" Nothing.

"Quest?" Nothing.

"Are you useless?" Evan muttered. This time, the System responded. [╭∩╮(￣ヘ￣)╭∩╮] Evan's eye twitched at the symbol.

"You bastard," Evan hissed, barely keeping his voice down.

"So you're one of those sentient Systems, huh? Why did you kidnap me? Let me go back!" The System didn't budge and just kept showing the same symbol.

"I'm serious! If you don't let me go back, I'm going to kill myself!" Evan shouted.

"I'm not protagonist material! I can't do this!" Evan knew exactly what he was: a loser. At the very bottom of life's food chain. His personality was awful, he had almost no marketable skills, he was broke, and he didn't have a single friend. Someone like him wasn't protagonist material, so even if he somehow ended up in one of those transmigration stories, he'd probably die before the first major arc was over. Despite his protest, the System just stonewalled him and closed its window.

Evan stuffed his face into the pillow and screamed. Knock, knock.

"Evan? Are you okay in there?" Reid asked. Evan stiffened and said, "It's nothing! I just stubbed my toe!"

"…Okay. Breakfast will be ready in half an hour, so don't sleep in again."

"Got it!" Evan ran a hand over his face in frustration and decided to take a bath. Maybe a cold shower would help clear his head. Water streamed over his body as he stood beneath the spray, trying to wash away the lingering panic. He surveyed the spotless bathroom around him. The glass enclosure was perfectly transparent, and the air smelled clean instead of damp and moldy like the bathroom in his old apartment. Leaning against the cool wall, Evan tried to look on the bright side.

At least this version of himself seemed to have lived a much better life than he had. The apartment felt warm and inviting, and Reid genuinely seemed like a caring older brother. The only question was whether their parents were still part of the picture. After drying off, he changed into a hoodie and a pair of long pants. The fabric felt thick and unbelievably soft compared to the cheap clothes he had worn for years. His attention soon shifted to the phone on the desk.

Unlocking it with his fingerprint, he noticed it wasn't from any brand he recognized. That only reinforced the fact that this wasn't the Earth he knew. He searched through the phone for anything that might help him understand the life of the original Evan. The gallery was filled with photos of him and Reid together. Whether they were eating out or taking random selfies, the brothers looked genuinely close. That could become a problem. Evan didn't have a single one of this body's memories.

If the original Evan had different habits or mannerisms, Reid would notice eventually. After scrolling for a while, he came across an old family photo. A red-haired woman stood beside a dark-haired man in glasses, while a much younger Evan stood between them. Beside him, a teenage Reid flashed a bright smile at the camera. The family looked happy. But every recent photo contained only the two brothers. Did their parents die? Or had something else happened? Well… That was two fewer people he had to fool.

Knock, knock.

"Breakfast is ready!" Reid called from outside.

"Coming!" Evan locked the phone and slipped it into his pocket before opening the door. The aroma of breakfast greeted him. A pair of steaming bowls of egg and tomato noodles sat beside a plate of golden scallion pancakes, with two glasses of soy milk. The warm scent of tomatoes and sesame oil filled the apartment, making his stomach rumble.

"Smells good," Evan said as he took a seat. Reid chuckled.

"Hungry?"

"You have no idea." Evan took his first bite and paused. The noodles were soft and springy, coated in a light tomato broth that balanced sweetness with savory richness. Without a word, he shoveled another mouthful into his mouth. Reid laughed.

"Slow down. I'm pretty sure you ate plenty last night."

"I'm a growing teen," Evan mumbled through a mouthful of noodles. Reid sighed.

"Don't talk with your mouth full. Anyway, you've finished your homework, right? I hope you weren't up all night chatting with your friends."

"I did!" Whether he actually had or not was another matter. Judging from the open notebooks on the desk, the original Evan had probably finished everything already. The brothers continued chatting while they finished breakfast. As Evan took a sip of soy milk, he looked back at Reid. The Legendary Demon Hunter. There were plenty of demon hunters in fiction. But only one had consumed him completely, the very story he'd been reading right before he woke up in this new world. Reuel.

The protagonist of Chronicles of a Demon Hunter.