Ch 1 - Transmigration

The barrel of the gun hovered inches from Evan's face. He could only stare at his brother in stunned silence as golden radiance burned in Reid's eyes and Sacred Light enveloped his body. The warm smile Evan had grown used to seeing was gone, replaced by a cold, contemptuous sneer.

"Demon," his brother hissed.

Evan couldn't help wondering if he could have prevented this. Maybe if he had been more careful. Maybe if the System hadn't been such a sadistic bastard. Then again, with the curse dragging his luck into the abyss, perhaps he had never had a chance.

His thoughts drifted back to the chain of events that had brought him to this unfamiliar world in the first place.

***

This has to be a dream, Evan thought.

He blinked several times, taking in the 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. The spotless ceiling almost made him think he was in a hospital. 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 sat a desk with an open laptop and a stack of textbooks. Opposite it, a wardrobe stood with its door left slightly ajar, revealing neatly folded clothes inside.

Had he gotten drunk and passed out on the street, only for someone to carry him home and dump him in their kid's bedroom? Impossible. He rarely drank, and he hadn't touched a drop in weeks. The last thing he remembered was reading web novels on his phone, wasting time as usual after getting fired from his latest job. Then everything went black, and somehow he had ended up here.

Evan got out of bed and shuffled over to the mirror. The reflection looking back at him was unmistakably his, yet far younger than he remembered. His red hair framed black eyes, without 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 original appearance thin and frail, but this version of him was healthier, with a modest amount of muscle.

Did I somehow travel through time in my sleep? Evan pinched his cheek, and the sharp pain immediately crushed that theory.

Still half convinced none of this was real, Evan stepped out of the room and found a man standing at the stove in an apron. He was well over six feet tall, with dark hair, sharp features, and dark gray eyes slightly upturned at the corners.

The man shifted his attention from the cutting board to Evan, who watched him with a blank expression. "Evan? You're awake already? That's rare," the man said, one eyebrow lifting.

Evan remained frozen, his gaze fixed on the floating screen that had appeared in front of him.

[Name: Reid Whitfield]
[Age: 25 years old]
[Status: Unawakened]
[Title: The Legendary Demon Hunter, Reincarnator]

His brain rebooted and stalled in a restart loop. What?

This couldn't be happening. There was no way he'd suddenly woken up looking seventeen, in someone else's apartment, with a man who knew him and a System window floating before his eyes. Maybe he was hallucinating, or lying in a coma somewhere. Anything made more sense than the one explanation his mind kept circling back to.

"Evan?" Reid called. When Evan didn't respond, Reid set the knife down and crossed the room. He reached out to rest a hand on Evan's shoulder, and the movement was enough to snap Evan back to the present.

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

"Must have been something strange."

"Very strange! Let me get a wash to wake myself up."

Before Reid could say anything more, Evan hurried back into his room and shut himself inside. The moment the latch clicked, he buried his face in the pillow and screamed into it, clutching the fabric as panic finally caught up with him.

No way. He pinched himself again and again, hoping the pain would snap him awake. It didn't. Every sting only confirmed that this nightmare was real.

Had he really been transmigrated? But why was he in his own body? And why did he even have the same name? This wasn't his world, and it certainly wasn't his apartment. And who was that guy? The Legendary Demon Hunter. The title had already planted a terrible suspicion in his mind. Evan didn't dare take that thought any further.

Questions piled on top of each other until a headache began to form. The System screen appeared before him again. This time, instead of displaying Reid's information, it showed his own.

[Name: Evan Whitfield]
[Age: 17 years old]
[Status: Unawakened]
[Title: Transmigrator]
[Status Effect: The Curse of ■■■■■■]
[Skills: -]

The shared surname suggested that Reid and the original Evan were brothers. The age explained the textbooks in the room, while the title "Transmigrator" confirmed what he had already suspected. What really caught his attention, however, were two entries: "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. With a System floating in front of him, he almost expected to step outside and find a giant gate hanging in the sky.

So this was one of those gate-based web novel worlds? But which one? He had read so many that he had probably forgotten most of their plots. That question could wait. The curse was more important.

The Curse of ■■■■■■.

What did it mean? Who had cursed him? Was the censored name connected to his transmigration? And why had they chosen him? Plenty of protagonists had miserable lives before getting whisked away to another world, but there were millions of miserable people out there. He'd spent his old life scraping by, barely standing out from anyone else. He didn't fit the mold of a "chosen one." So why him?

Evan lingered on the words "The Curse of ■■■■■■" displayed on the System window before letting his eyelids fall shut. Panicking wouldn't change anything, not when he needed to adapt to whatever came next. He drew in several slow breaths, and gradually, his racing heart settled. When it did, he opened his eyes and faced the System again.

"Inventory," Evan said, testing whether any of the usual System features would respond.

The window remained fixed on his information.

"Bag?"

Nothing.

"Map?"

Silence.

"Quest?"

Still nothing.

"Are you useless?" Evan muttered.

This time, the System responded.

[╭∩╮(￣ヘ￣)╭∩╮]

Evan's eye twitched. "You bastard," he growled, 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 continued displaying the same obscene gesture.

"I'm serious! I'm not protagonist material! I can't do this!"

Despite Evan's protests, the System simply closed the window.

Knock, knock.

"Evan? Are you okay in there?" Reid asked.

Evan stiffened. "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 dragged a hand down his face and headed for the shower, hoping the cold water would clear his head. He stepped beneath the icy spray, sucking in a sharp breath as the chill hit his skin. He stayed there until the panic in his chest went quiet.

At least this version of him had lived a much better life, one with a comfortable home and a brother who genuinely cared about him. The only question was whether their parents were still around.

After drying off, he pulled on a hoodie and a pair of long pants. The fabric was thick and unbelievably soft compared to the cheap clothes he had worn for years. His attention shifted to the phone on the desk. He unlocked it with his fingerprint, and the unrecognizable logo on the screen was another reminder that this wasn't the Earth he knew.

He searched through the phone for anything that might help him understand the original Evan's life. The gallery was filled with photos of him and Reid together. Whether they were eating out or taking random selfies, the brothers seemed to share a close bond.

That could be a problem. Evan didn't have a single memory belonging to this body. If the original Evan had different habits, mannerisms, or preferences, Reid would eventually notice something was wrong.

After scrolling for a while, he found an old family photo. A red-haired woman posed beside a dark-haired man wearing glasses, with a much younger Evan standing between them. Beside him, a teenage Reid flashed a bright smile at the camera.

They seemed like a happy family, yet every recent photo contained only the two brothers. Had their parents died? Or had something else happened? Well… that was two fewer people he had to fool.

Another series of knocks came from outside.

"Breakfast is ready!" Reid called.

"Coming!" Evan slipped the phone into his pocket and opened 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 rich scent of tomatoes and sesame oil made his stomach rumble.

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

"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 sweet and savory flavors, and he was already twirling another bite onto his chopsticks before he'd finished swallowing the first.

"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 that was actually true was another matter. Judging from the open notebooks on the desk, the original Evan had probably finished everything already.

The brothers kept talking as they finished breakfast. Between sips of soy milk, Evan's gaze lingered on Reid, the so-called Legendary Demon Hunter. There were plenty of demon hunters in fiction, but only one had ever stood out to him, and that was the character from the story he'd been reading right before waking up in this new world.

Reuel.

The protagonist of Chronicles of a Demon Hunter.

A/N:

And that's the first chapter! I hope you guys like the story so far, and if you do, please consider leaving a comment! What do you think of Evan? Do you like him? He's definitely got his issues, but that's how most protagonists start their journey.

FYI, the book cover artwork was made by yours truly! I hope you like it!