When he was young, Choi Hyun-woo was obsessed with reading but he became especially drawn to novels with tragic endings, simply because he could relate to them.
Losing his parents at an early age, being neglected by relatives, and repeatedly experiencing heartbreak and betrayal, he had learned that happy endings were not meant for him. Over time, he grew to dislike them, both in life and in stories.
As he got older, he discovered a love for writing.
He started posting his own tragic romance stories on Webnovel, spending countless nights crafting tales of love and heartbreak and one of his masterpieces, Until You Break, quickly became a fan favorite.
Soon after finishing the book, it skyrocketed in popularity to the point that a publishing company contacted him, offering to release it in hard copy and even adapt it into a comic.
Hyun-woo became so busy that he went almost four days without sleep. And just when he thought he could rest, the company insisted he write an alternative ending or a happy one for the main couple.
He hesitated.
Why would he?
Happy endings had never made sense to him but after endless calls, persuasion, and pressure from the company, he finally agreed… and worked himself to the point of collapse.
Just when he thought he could finally rest, finally escape a life filled only with misery, Hyun-woo woke up with a start.
But nothing was familiar.
The world around him was chaos where screams and shrieks tore through the air, mixing with the sound of things crashing and bodies hitting the ground.
He blinked, trying to make sense of it, but his eyes only landed on a bloody highway stretching in all directions, littered with fallen people and scattered debris.
Above him, enormous birds circled the sky.
Their wings were so massive that their shadows could swallow entire trucks, and the way they moved made him instinctively flinch. People were running past him in all directions with faces frozen in horror.
Some even tripped and fell, some didn't get up at all, and no one seemed to notice him.
Hyun-woo's mind spun.
"Where am I? What is happening?"
Everything looked familiar, yet distorted like a nightmare built from pieces of his own life.
He wanted to run, hide or to do anything but his legs felt heavy, as if the fear itself was rooting him to the ground.
His heart pounded so loudly that he thought it might burst.
Every sense screamed that this was dangerous.
The smell of blood, chaos of screams and the unnatural size of those birds didn't make any sense at all. He just wanted to scream and to call for help, but his voice caught in his throat.
Even amid the chaos, Hyun-woo forced himself to look at himself.
He was wearing a plain office outfit, a sling bag slung over his shoulder and a phone still clutched in his hand.
Everything about him looked… normal but then he looked at the world around him again. The screaming people, the blood-stained streets, the massive birds circling overhead and his chest tightened.
"Is… is this a dream?" he whispered to himself, but even as he said it, the fear felt too real.
The heat of panic, the smell of blood and the unnatural size of those flying beasts all screamed that this was no dream.
Sweat poured down his face, and his body trembled.
His heart raced so fast he thought it might explode. Then he saw it, a shadow looming over him from behind.
Seeing that, he slowly turned his head only to widened his eyes in disbelief. And then it hit him… the thought he had never imagined in his life.
"O-oh shit… there's n-no way this is happening…" he muttered.
Before him stood a massive mantis with its fangs clicked menacingly, and its long, blade-like arms shot forward as if ready to slice him in two.
"N-no… oh my God… this can't be real! N-no way…" he stammered, panic making his words tumble out in fragments.
His tragic BL novel, Until You Break, was set in a world where dungeons were crawling with lethal monsters, and only the strongest survived.
At the heart of the story was Seo Do-hyun, the first-ever Awakened, gifted with Omnisense, an ability that amplified all his senses to superhuman levels. With it, he could detect danger, read the slightest movements, and anticipate threats before they happened, making him virtually unstoppable in the dungeons.
But such immense power came at a cost.
The constant overload of information and heightened perception prevented him from ever resting properly. He suffered from chronic insomnia, leaving him perpetually exhausted, irritable, and sharp-tongued, with an aura so intimidating that even his allies feared approaching him.
The world saw him as cold and untouchable, but in truth, the power that kept him alive also kept him isolated.
The only person who could calm him was his guild member, Han Seung-ah, a quiet but skilled hypnotist whose presence alone could soothe his frayed nerves.
Over countless battles, perilous dungeon explorations, and sleepless nights, the two developed a bond that went beyond trust. What began as dependence slowly grew into something deeper, romantic feelings that became a fragile light in Seo Do-hyun's otherwise dark and brutal life.
But in a world designed to break even the strongest, even their love was constantly tested.
Every dungeon, fight and every sleepless night threatened to tear them apart forcing Seo Do-hyun to confront not only monsters in the dark, but the torment of his own unstoppable power and the human need for connection he had long denied himself.
And… in the very first chapter of that story, one of the extras met his fate that Hyun-woo never even bothered to name.
A nobody.
A background character with no importance, no chance of survival, and no one to remember his name.
"Unless… that damn extra became me… I'm screwed. Damn it…"
Hyun-woo muttered under his breath with sweat pouring down his face that the screams and shrieks echoing around him slowly faded into nothing, drowned out by the violent pounding of his own heartbeat.
His vision narrowed until there was only one thing left in the world.
The towering mantis beast standing right in front of him.
"Damn it… what the hell…" His thoughts spiraled. 'Was this God's idea of punishment?' His breath came out in short, shaky gasps. "I, I don't want to die… I don't want to die again… damn it…"
No matter how hard he tried, his body wouldn't listen and his legs refused to move. Terror rooted him to the ground, leaving him helpless as the creature loomed closer as if following the tragic fate that waits for the person he possessed.
Just when Hyun-woo thought he was done for, after all, this was exactly how he had written the first chapter, he instinctively covered his face with his trembling hands, waiting for the fatal strike.
Then, suddenly, a liquid splashed across him, cold and sticky, and a voice cut through the chaos.
"Are you hurt?"