My name is Kim Sohyun, twenty-eight years old, and I work as an ordinary office employee. The cycle of my life had always been painfully mundane, painfully repetitive.
Wake up, breakfast, work, eat, work again, sleep. Then wake up and do it all over again.
Sometimes I filled the dullness by reading novels. And among all the stories I devoured, only one made me fall in love, obsessively so.
A novel titled Never Ending Story. An apocalypse-themed story set in a kingdom.
Obsessed? Yes.
But could my obsession with the novel possibly be the reason I ended up inside it?
…Of course not.
[You have successfully survived the First Cataclysm!]
[You have obtained 20 points!]
[You have obtained 5000 gold!]
The floating blue hologram in front of me was the answer to all the questions swirling in my mind.
Wasn't this… just like a game system?
I tried touching it, but my fingers passed through as if it were transparent.
[Welcome, Reader! The system manual is currently under repair. A temporary version will be provided.]
[Would you like to view the system guide?]
[Yes] / [No]
A system guide? My head was starting to hurt.
"Lady, here your drink."
The beautiful blonde woman who had helped me earlier handed me a bottle of water. After finishing off the orcs, they had taken the mana stones from their bodies and brought me here.
This place was apparently their base.
"Hm? I haven't seen you before. Are you a foreigner?"
The blonde woman examined me from every direction, her curious gaze making me uncomfortable. Honestly, I still couldn't process the fact that I had really entered my favorite novel.
"Your clothes are strange too. Hmm…" She poked my arm several times.
Please stop. You're scaring me.
"Oh? How is she, Eve?"
One of the men who had fought the orcs entered. He was tall, muscular, expected, considering his overwhelming strength.
Wait… did she say Eve?
"Oh, Lei. She's fine. No major injuries, her mental state seems stable too."
I had definitely heard that name before in the novel. There were countless characters in Novel, so it wasn't surprising that I didn't remember all of them. But Eve wasn't just some side character.
[Skill "Genius Reader" activated!]
…Huh?
Suddenly, I could recall the novel with perfect clarity.
"The Ziert Group was a band of criminals. That was why Kael decided to wipe them out.
To Kael, villains were obstacles to his path, existences that must be removed."
"Yet among all of them, among the dozens of corpses lying in pools of blood,
only one person was left alive."
"Her name was Evelynn Lawyen.
An assassin who possessed the strongest poison magic."
I remembered it vividly now. Kael spared Eve because her poison abilities were exceptional.
"What's your name, Lady?"
Goodness. She startled me.
"I'm Kim Sohyun."
"Kim… Sohyun…?"
Uh. I probably shouldn't have used my Korean name.
"Just call me Kim."
"Kim, huh? Odd but unique!" Eve smiled brightly.
Was she always this cheerful? Eve's backstory was never detailed in the novel. It was understandable, she wasn't the main heroine. Still, it was hard to believe a woman with such a radiant smile would later become Kael's deadliest weapon.
"My name is Evelynn! We're from the Ziert Group!"
"The… Ziert Group?"
For now, acting clueless was the safest choice.
"Oh, you don't know? The Ziert Group is—"
"That's enough, Eve. You shouldn't reveal too much to a possible spy." Lei's sharp eyes pierced through me. He clearly didn't trust me.
Of course. He was one of the Ziert members Kael eventually killed.
"Lei, she's not a spy! Why do you always assume the worst of strangers?"
Eve puffed her cheeks in annoyance.
"The world has changed, Eve. We can't trust anyone anymore."
"But she's just a victim!"
How long are they going to argue...? This could get troublesome.
"I want to ask something. Which region is this?"
Their argument stopped instantly. Eve answered with her usual friendliness.
"This is the southern region."
I knew it. If this was the south, where the orcs appeared, then the First Cataclysm must have already ended. The system also said I survived it.
[Skill "Genius Reader" activated!]
The First Cataclysm marked the beginning of the Apocalypse itself. That meant I was at the early part of the story, around chapter forty. The time when Kael was probably destroying the Ziert Group. Kael was also located in the southern region during the First Cataclysm.
Wait. Kael… is in the southern region?
"You said your name is Kim, right? You'd better tell us who you really are—!" Lei released an overwhelming aura, making my skin prickle.
This brat—he's threatening me?!
Unfortunately, I had no power to defend myself. I hadn't even managed to check the system properly.
"Lei, stop!"
"Move, Eve."
The pressure around me grew stronger. Even the tent reinforced by Eve's magic started to shake.
[Special Skill "Reader's Protection" activated!]
…What?
The crushing aura that had been piercing my skin vanished instantly.
"You—! How can someone without magical defense survive this?!"
This is bad. His power kept rising, and the tent's structure was coming apart.
"Lei! I said stop!" Eve stood in front of me, and at the same time, vines burst from the ground, forming a barrier.
Her skill—Serpent Hide Shield.
It was still a low-level version, but its durability wasn't weak. In the novel, the skill eventually evolved into the highest tier of protection.
Seeing it in person was surreal.
"How heartless can you be?! Can't you see she's trembling in fear?!" Eve shouted angrily.
…Who's trembling? Me?
"I admit she's weak, so weak she's practically an insect. But that could easily be a trick!"
…Weak? Insect? Are they talking about me?
"You're the one being stubborn, Eve!"
"No, YOU are!"
…Why are they like this?
BOOM!
A powerful explosion echoed outside, sending shivers down my spine.
"Aaakh! Run!"
"Monsters!"
"We're going to die!"
Screams filled the air.
"Lei!" Eve sprinted out, Lei following closely behind.
…Could it be the Second Cataclysm? No, impossible. It shouldn't happen this early.
Unless… No way.
[System Repair Complete!]
A new screen popped up suddenly.
[Main Quest has arrived!]
What…?
-
-
-
More than ten bodies lay scattered on blood-soaked ground. All of them had been killed by a single man—a man whose every step radiated an overwhelming aura that made the earth tremble.
He was known as the Slaughterer of Bandits.
"Stop right there!" Lei and Eve appeared instantly.
Eve summoned Serpent Hide Shield, a towering transparent barrier wrapped with enormous phantom serpents.
"Who are you?! What did you do to our people?!" Eve shouted, but the man didn't answer. He simply kept walking toward them.
"So you're not the type to talk, huh?"
Lei drew his sword, eyes sharp with fury.
He dashed forward, delivering a powerful strike, but the man stopped it with a single effortless movement.
"Are you the leader of the Ziert Group?" The man finally spoke.
Lei's brows furrowed. "Why are you looking for our leader?"
"I want to kill him."
"You—!"
Lei's aura flared violently.
"Did you kill Cielo and Harsh?" he growled.
"You mean them?" The man glanced at the corpses on the ground.
"You bastard…!"
Eve activated Viper Blood Awakening, boosting Lei's strength by 60%.
"I'll kill you…!"
Lei shot forward, attacks swift and relentless, yet the man dodged them all with ease.
"Just tell me where your leader is. Then I will spare your lives."
"Shut up, you bastard!"
Lei attempted another strike, but the man had already moved behind him. A single punch to the stomach sent Lei flying. Lei managed to activate a defensive skill in time, but blood still spilled from his lips.
"Lei!"
"Stay back, Eve…" Lei wiped the blood away. "Damn it… he's too strong…"
The man unsheathed his sword, a blade that radiated a chilling aura. The relic sword connected to death itself.
Blade of Oblivion.
"The judgment begins." He raised his sword, ready to strike.
"Stop it! Kael!"
A woman's desperate voice pierced through the tension, and the frightening moment came to a halt. The voice belonged to none other than…
Kim Sohyun.
__________________
To be continued...