Thunder rumbled outside the window like an irritated beast.
Seo Yeon-hwa lay sprawled across her bed, tablet glowing above her face as she scrolled to the last page of Blooming Winter for the second time that week. Not because she loved it. Not because she was addicted.
But because she still couldn't understand how a character could be so utterly, painfully, brainlessly stupid.
With a loud groan, she sat up and tossed the tablet onto the blanket.
> "Why does she ruin everything? Ugh."
The villainess of the novel — also named Seo Yeon-hwa — was everything she despised in a female character:
spoiled
irrational
clingy
desperate
pathetic in her blind love
Worst of all, she chased a man who clearly never loved her.
Blindly.
Shamelessly.
Ridiculously.
Yeon-hwa rubbed her temples.
> "If a man ignores you for ten years, you stop chasing him. That's just… common sense."
But not the novel's villainess.
Oh, no.
The fictional Seo Yeon-hwa worshipped her childhood sweetheart, Kang Min-joon, just because their families had signed a marriage alliance contract when they were kids.
A contract.
A stupid piece of paper signed twenty years ago.
And because of that—
Because of that—
She threw away her pride.
Her dignity.
Her sanity.
Her entire future.
> "What a waste of a character," real Yeon-hwa muttered. "Her parents gave her everything. Old-money background, beauty, influence, business connections—and she used it to chase a man who didn't even look at her. What is wrong with her?"
Her frustration climbed as she remembered the villainess's tragic end.
After her family business collapsed, the fictional Seo Yeon-hwa spiraled into anger and jealousy.
She became cruel.
Bitter.
The antagonist of the story.
She burned bridges until there were none left.
And then—
She died.
Alone.
Forgotten.
Pitied.
Real Yeon-hwa let out a disgusted laugh.
> "Honestly, if I were in her place, I'd dump the engagement contract in the trash. Let the boy run away with his little true love—I'd walk out with my pride intact."
She pushed her hair behind her ear and picked up the tablet again.
The villainess's final humiliation scene was still glowing on the screen.
Crowd whispers.
Broken engagement.
Scandal.
Family disaster.
Father in a coma.
Her entire life crumbling.
Real Yeon-hwa clenched her jaw.
> "Stupid girl. She had everything. ALL she had to do was use her brain. Why make herself so pathetic? Why—"
She froze.
The villainess's name blinked on the screen.
Seo Yeon-hwa
Her name.
Her exact name.
> "Of all names…" she muttered, rolling her eyes. "Couldn't the author choose Seo Mi-yeon? Seo Ah-rin? Seo anything-else?"
The room was dim except for the flickering light of her tablet.
Yeon-hwa sighed deeply and fell back on her pillows.
Rain hammered against the windows.
Thunder growled again, closer now.
A sudden gust rattled the glass.
Outside felt like a storm scene straight out of a horror movie.
Inside, her room felt strangely still.
Unnaturally still.
She sat up, uneasy.
Her tablet flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then glitched violently.
Static filled the screen.
> "What now…? Did I overheat it again?"
The screen pulsed with garbled words.
SYSTEM ERROR…
USER PROFILE FOUND…
MATCH CONFIRMED…
SEO YEON-HWA… SEO YEON-HWA… SEO YEON-HWA…
Her body froze.
> "What… the hell?"
She leaned closer just as the screen flashed white.
A sound like cracking glass echoed in her ears.
Pain exploded at the base of her skull.
Her chest seized.
Her breath caught halfway in her throat.
Her tablet slipped from her hand and clattered onto the floor.
Her heart lurched painfully.
A sharp metallic taste filled her mouth.
Her vision blurred, darkening around the edges.
> "Wh… what is… happening…?"
Her knees buckled.
Her body collapsed against the edge of the bed.
The room spun wildly.
Her hearing faded under a heavy ringing sound.
Her fingers trembled against the carpet, desperate to grab onto something, anything—
Her pulse faltered.
She gasped for air but nothing came.
Her last thought, unbearably ironic, drifted in:
> "What… I didn't even finish insulting the villainess yet…"
A cold, mechanical voice whispered through the suffocating darkness:
> [Transmigration Complete.]
[Welcome, Seo Yeon-hwa.]
Her consciousness shattered like glass—
and the world faded to black.