A Snake’s Life Ch 1

Chapter 1

Blink.

Gasp!! Wait, where is this?

What I saw before my eyes was grass. And it was so ridiculously tall that it filled my entire field of vision, making even the sky invisible, and the smell of soil was strong. No matter how much I looked around, it was definitely not my room.

No… where the hell is this? Everything around is green… grass? Is it grass? But how can it be this big? And it was so cold that my body was trembling.

I thought maybe someone had kidnapped me and dumped me here. But why would anyone do that? If that were the case, I should have some memory of it. Then does that mean I collapsed and passed out on the way somewhere? Was there a place like this near my house? In the sudden situation, my vision blurred and my head felt dizzy.

What is this? What the hell is going on? As I panicked, a memory surfaced in my mind.

I had definitely gone to work and, to celebrate receiving my first paycheck, went to a bar with my friends for a heavy drinking session. It was a bar we often went to, so the owner gave us some snake liquor he had brewed himself as a regulars-only service. I clearly remembered sharing that liquor with my friends. We poured and drank and drank some more, but the liquor was so strong that it surpassed my drinking limit and I got completely drunk. I was staggering home under the influence of alcohol. I remember seeing the green light and crossing the street when I heard a honk, but my drunken body didn’t react fast enough.

I recalled the driver’s shocked face as he turned the steering wheel, and the reflection of myself in the car window. What came next was the twisting pain in my body, and then the night sky with a full moon. That pain wasn’t fake. That means I had been in a car accident.

Right. I got hit by a car…

I definitely got hit, but the fact that I was conscious meant I must have survived. But the accident happened on asphalt, and right now I was lying on the ground that smelled like dirt. Not in a hospital filled with white ceilings… I stared blankly up at the sky.

…Let’s move.

Though I hadn’t fully grasped the situation yet, I thought I should at least look around, so I tried to move my body. But it wouldn’t move. My eyes trembled with shock. I soon convinced myself that maybe I couldn’t move because my body was damaged from the accident.

But just because I told myself that didn’t mean my immobile body would suddenly start working. I was trembling from the cold just lying there. I didn’t know where I was, but one thing was clear—if I stayed like this, I would freeze to death! I took a deep breath and called out loudly for someone.

“Somebody help~!”

Just then, I heard a hissing sound, but in my dazed state, I didn’t think much of it. I shouted several more times, but there wasn’t a hint of anyone nearby. I couldn’t move, and I could definitely feel the cold.

What, are they telling me to die twice or something!!

I had just started my job, moved out of my parents’ house, and began living alone shouting for freedom—and now this trial struck me. And I wasn’t even hit by a dump truck, just a regular sedan? After struggling so hard to escape my home and finally setting up my own nest for a month, now I was in a state where I couldn’t move at all. Tears welled up in my eyes, but I held them back. No matter how I thought about it, I didn’t want to accept this situation, and I couldn’t suppress the rising anger, which burst out of me.

“This goddamned world!!!”

Just then, that hissing sound rang out again.

Huh? Hissing? Come to think of it, didn’t I hear a similar sound earlier when I spoke? My mind went blank. Ha. Ha. Ha. No way. There’s no way a person would make a sound like that. No way. That’s just ridiculous.

I denied it, hoping with all my might that I hadn’t actually heard that sound, and tried speaking again, but the hissing sound remained. What the hell is this? The continuous hissing sound felt like it was mocking me.

A sudden ominous thought crossed my mind, and a chill began to envelop me.

Then I suddenly remembered a friend who raised unusual pets. Yeah. It was the day I visited that friend’s house. I had gone into their room to borrow some clothes, and there were a bunch of drawers—which turned out to be enclosures for snakes and lizards, and I’d been totally startled.

“Dude. Why the hell do you raise reptiles as pets? There are plenty of dogs and cats.”

“Hey! You’ve just made enemies of all reptile lovers! You have no idea how cute and pretty they are! Look at this skin. Look at it!”

Because of that one poorly chosen comment, he glared at me and introduced each and every one of them. I remember hearing for over two hours about what their charms were and what made them special. He wouldn’t calm down at all, and eventually, I managed to escape by reluctantly saying, ‘Well, they’re kinda cute, I guess.’ That memory came back to me vividly.

No way… It couldn’t be, right?

I desperately hoped it wasn’t true and tried to move again. I didn’t try to move my arms or legs, just shifted my torso—and I wriggled forward. The situation I had feared deep down turned out to be real. Cold sweat started to stream down my back.

And there was only one thought in my mind.

I’m seriously screwed.

Why? Because I drank snake liquor? It’s not like I killed a snake and brewed the liquor myself!

They say assumptions kill, and now I had died and reincarnated as a snake. I wanted to confront whatever god I hadn’t even seen before and ask them with boiling rage—why me? And why did I have to retain all my human memories? What kind of shameful death is this?