Song Igym worked himself to death,

only to wake up as something far worse.

A dragon.

Not just any dragon, but Barkaion, a calamity-class monster fated to be slain by the story’s hero.

And this world?

It’s a romance webnovel he once read.

Which means one thing,

his death is already written.

Determined to survive, he abandons his role entirely.

Taking on a human form, he hides in a quiet rural village, erasing all traces of his true identity while carefully tracking the timeline.

One year remains until the original story begins.

One year until the hero comes to kill him.

For now, life is… manageable.

A simple routine.
A herbalist friend.
Minor problems like debts, poachers, and controlling overwhelming power.

But something is wrong.

The story isn’t unfolding the way it should.

Mana surges where there shouldn’t be any.
Events shift.
And the world begins to change around him.

The closer he gets to the beginning of the original plot,

the clearer it becomes:

This isn’t just about surviving the story anymore.

It’s about what happens…

when the story starts breaking.