Prologue
To everyone who has loved Forever until now, I dedicate this work.
I will return next week with an afterword.
Thank you.
Ten million views. This year's Rookie Webtoon Award. And still, the popular webtoon I had loved, Forever, had just come to an end—on a finale no one had asked for.
"So it really was a dragon head, snake tail... a grand start, and a miserable end."
It had gathered its following on remarkable art and a wildly beloved opening, but the back half was buried under twists with no logic to them, the absurd death of the final boss, runaway power creep no one could walk back, and every other disaster that can befall a comic. In the end it closed as an ill-starred series.
"Still, I enjoyed it. Maybe I should at least send a letter of consolation."
It was the pioneering work that had set the hero boom roaring through Korea, and as a fan I figured I owed the author a letter to mark the finale. I sent a long one through the author's email.
Someone else might have fired off a 5,700-character letter boiling with rage, but I had never been the sort to stake my life on the series. It was only the comic that had made each day's waiting worthwhile, and I was only bitter that a story I had been enjoying had ended so poorly.
Tonight, for some reason, I had a feeling the drinks would go down easy.
Might as well try to break my personal record.
Chirp! Chirp!
"Huh?"
And the next day, I had become a Phantom Thief.