[00:05]
It was already twelve in the morning, and although Jae-hyun was traveling the next day, he was still wide awake.
"One more chapter."
For someone who always thought he was some kind of main character in the world, he always found himself pitiful when it came to reading novels.
In most manhwa and novels, nearly all main characters before their transmigration could read 1000 chapters in a day or 100 in an hour. For him, who couldn't even do 20 in a day, it was more magical than getting straight As or dodging a bullet.
Which meant either all MCs were superhuman, or they didn't even read anything in the book. But the second option wasn't possible, since they always remembered what happened in chapter one even at chapter 1000.
'I guess that's why it's called slop.' He shook his head, edging a bit closer to the single bedside lamp that illuminated his room. He couldn't turn on his light and broadcast the fact that he was awake or go outside, since there was always a set of servants awake at all times.
The story he was currently reading was something no one else had in this world.
It wasn't some limited edition, one-time–offer book that his insanely rich parents bought him for his birthday. It was a series that a crazy old man gave to him.
Jae could still remember the day he got into his first fight trying to save his cousin sister from a group of men who were following her.
Back then, he was just a ten-year-old kid whose parents had banned him from learning martial arts because of how monstrous his talents were.
He used to curse at them then, but now he could see their perspective a little. He was his grandfather's favorite, and his grandfather was essentially a Mafia lord; whose parents would want their child to go down that path?
But that prayer of theirs wasn't answered, because that very day was when he stumbled upon the small store. A store that was hard not to notice because of how run-down it was.
He had passed it before, and the only thought that entered his head back then was how the owner fed himself and his children, and what it was like being poor.
He didn't know that fate had other plans for him. The store that would become more than a home, an old man that would become not just a master but a friend.
And the man whose death would cause him to become the king of Incheon, bathing in blood from one school to another.
The rumors his parents were told were that he subdued all the schools. But would they have sent him back to Korea if they knew exactly what happened?
Jae-hyun shut his eyes for a moment, and the scene of the rain falling on bloodied bodies that were scattered around flashed in his mind. At its center was a face he had seen over a billion times, holding one boy by his collar and standing over the rest.
A small exhale escaped his lips as he removed his glasses, put them in their case, and placed the book by his side. 'Better start sleeping.'
There was no point in thinking about the past. The only thing those memories did was bring back that intoxicating feeling fighting brought.
"But…" He glanced at the book with a smile. "This one is really interesting."
The crazy old man had given him over twenty books of two thousand chapters to finish. He had said that these stories were real documentaries from him, and that he wasn't from this world or some crap. 'Crazy old man.'
Jae had already finished the other books, which were mostly about magic and sorcery, about different people in magical worlds, and even one about the old man.
Honestly, as an otaku, Jae-hyun wanted to believe it, but when he rationalized it, he threw those thoughts away. Magic existing, dragons, elves, goblins—no matter how much his nerd mind wanted to believe it, reality just made it impossible.
But this new story was different. It was the final one out of all the stories the old man had given him, with over 4000 chapters.
At the start of the story, the old man said he should read as far as his brain could take him and make sure to stop at the end of one person's main story.
Jae had not understood what that meant before he started it.
The story had a weird start, with writing from the author (the old man) as if he was talking face-to-face with him.
The words were simple: [Dear student, by the time you are reading this, you'll be far away from me. If by then you still hold even a little of the memory of our time together, then this story will surely bring color to your life. There are many ways to "Escape Your Wives in a Teen Romantic Comedy"; I can only remember a few. But one thing is certain: the you reading this novel now will get to see your happy ending.]
Those were the exact words he had written. Still, the entire story was interesting.
Escaping My Wives in a Teen Romantic Comedy. Honestly, the title was a bit misleading.
The story followed the MC, y/n. He was a kind and gentle—"No, that's not right." The MC in question had no character, like the old man made it in a way that anyone could self-insert themselves.
For such a way of writing, the story didn't come out bad. The MC was a student of a big school in Korea when different girls started falling in love with a virgin like him. He was happy at first, thinking that his harem-protagonist days had begun until he found out what each of the women brought with them.
They loved him, yes. But they had misfortune and chaos constantly going around them, and they even refused to confess or progress his relationship with them. If he did confess or asked them why they wouldn't confess, then he would die and have to start over again.
From one girl being involved with the most dangerous gang in Seoul and the MC having to take them down, to another girl being kidnapped by terrorists with bombs strapped on her, to another having a ship wreck like the Titanic and the MC being forcefully teleported there to save her. And if he died trying to save her, he got reset.
Fed up with his life, the MC decided to run away from all of them, even before he met the other female leads. Just five were enough to drive him insane.
"I guess the old man was trying to show me how bad harems and double dating can be." Though for him it was a weird way of going about it.
Regardless, the story was interesting. Although he found the MC a little pathetic since he couldn't deal with such a situation.
Tomorrow he was heading to Korea, and here he was thinking of a fictional character's love story. Jae lowered the brightness of his side lamp and shut his eyes.
As if waiting for the moment he slept, the book—which was an inanimate object meant to be still—began moving slowly until it landed on the floor.
Suddenly, a bright golden light shot out from it. The pages of the book tore apart as the book automatically filled from one page to another.
The pages of the book, at least the part Jae-hyun had read, swirled around his bed, then exploded into a brilliance of golden light, like a supernova exploding.
Jae-hyun was completely oblivious to this fact. And just as it had begun, it vanished just as fast.
However, now, neither the pages torn nor the book itself were in the room anymore.