Chapter 1

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Translator: penny

Chapter: 1

Chapter Title: Possessed into a Solo Protagonist Hunter Novel

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Flashy setup and a sprawling world—Awakening to SSS Hunter Academy, the hit webnovel better known as Kakheonheon.

It was a flawless story. Except for one thing.

The protagonist.

"This is ridiculous."

Lee Seong-hyeon, the protagonist of Kakheonheon and a regressor.

He couldn't care less about saving people or acting for anyone else's sake. The world existed for him alone, and anyone who got in his way needed to be crushed underfoot before he felt satisfied.

A man who moved solely for his own amusement.

'Fine, I like that.'

Selfish? Great.

Selfishness was my creed too. I considered myself pretty self-centered.

"But this crosses the line."

The text on the screen made me grimace without realizing it.

I'd powered through up to Seong-hyeon's fourth loop, treating it like a detailed setting bible rather than a novel.

From the fifth loop on, I'd read while spitting blood over all the money I'd sunk into it so far.

And finally, he'd gone too far.

Seong-hyeon in the eighth loop.

No matter how trashy he'd acted before, no one expected him to kill the heroine that readers assumed would be his main girl.

Does that even make sense?

And get this—it happened because the heroine, now useless, had become an annoyance.

This isn't selfish. This is just psychopathic!

It wasn't like endless loops had worn down his mind and twisted his personality. The guy was just born rotten to the core.

Selfishness means pursuing your own gain.

Seong-hyeon's actions went way beyond that.

"A perfect world and setup, ruined by Seong-hyeon."

Like sprinkling ash on a perfectly cooked meal.

Maybe because every other part was so flawless, that one blemish—Seong-hyeon—stood out even more.

'Gotta say something.'

I rarely left comments, but this time I couldn't hold back.

I glanced at the crosswalk signal changing color and fixed my eyes back on my smartphone.

I hit post on the polite, respectful comment.

That's when it popped up.

Subject: Empty Mail

[

]

Just like the title—an endless blank space.

No body text at all.

A chill ran down my spine.

"Who pulls a prank like this?"

I went to close the creepy email.

That's when a single line started typing itself into the formerly empty first line.

The familiar musty smell of mold.

But the room around me was completely unfamiliar.

The clock straight ahead read early morning.

"January 20th, 2:50 AM."

A date and time that felt oddly familiar.

Déjà vu, huh?

'More importantly, 2:50 already?'

Looks like I'd been out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cold for over half a day.

But where the hell was I?

The view outside the window was definitely Seoul.

Yet it looked somehow different from the city I knew.

I scanned my surroundings.

No matter how I looked, it was a strange room.

"Definitely not my place."

And I didn't have any friends who'd lend me their bed.

'Did I get kidnapped or something?!'

Nah, no way.

What kind of sloppy kidnapping ends with you untouched, no restraints, and an unlocked door? Worst case, I could jump out the window.

'So why am I lying here?'

It was a plain room, but the vibe was off.

Once I got out, I'd figure things out.

As I sat up with that thought, a splitting headache hit, and my last memory before blacking out flashed back.

"The email."

The cliché of the author shoving a critical reader into their own novel.

"Haha... what a joke."

I knew it was absurd.

But a single sheet of paper on the rickety cardboard desk was fueling my doubts.

National Seoul Hunter Academy Application Form

The main stage of Kakheonheon.

I shook my head.

Ridiculous.

'Did I hit my head so hard I'm mixing up reality and fantasy? Snap out of it.'

I slapped my cheeks to focus.

But the seed of doubt in my mind was growing.

I carefully lifted the paper from the envelope.

2025 National Seoul Hunter Academy Written Exam Results
Exam Number: 0300213
Name: Kim Si-woo
Type: 1 Page
Pass/Fail: Pass
Score: 95/100

"Kim Si-woo."

I snorted.

Not that common in real life, but in webnovels? That name was everywhere.

More importantly...

The written exam imposed penalties based on your skillbook.

A 1-page skillbook meant you could only use a single skill.

'Basically worthless.'

Even if a 1-pager miraculously passed the written test, they'd flunk practicals hard. No one with that applied in the first place.

And in 2025, the year Kakheonheon was set? If this was really the novel's world, a standout applicant like this would've stuck in my memory.

Embarrassed by my own wild thoughts, I let out a hollow laugh.

"If this is really the Kakheonheon world, maybe a skillbook would pop up."

Ching—

Before my thought even finished, a translucent blue screen materialized in front of me.

Words floating in midair—an unreal sight.

The familiar panel I'd seen a hundred times in the novel.

A skillbook.

This was real?

No way.

But I couldn't deny the impossible happening right before my eyes.

That's when I noticed the unfamiliar face reflected in the window, eyes wide in shock.

A guy in his twenties—not drop-dead gorgeous, but a solid, average handsome type.

Impossible, but the evidence was clear.

I'd been possessed into the world of Awakening to SSS Hunter Academy.

"Hahaha..."

A hollow laugh escaped me unbidden.

Not excitement over isekai into my favorite novel, or anticipation for a new world.

In Kakheonheon, where powerful skills meant power and money, this was my skillbook.

Anyone would despair.

'One page.'

Skillbook pages equaled the number of skills you could hold.

With this, even scraping E-grade hunter status would be a stretch.

Kakheonheon was a hunter story.

If I'd really been isekai'd here, failing to become a hunter would render all my foreknowledge useless.

"This is ridiculous."

The original world was crap anyway.

I'd dealt with it since childhood—no point lamenting now.

Time to tackle what I could.

That's when a massive rumble shook the floor beneath me.

What the—?

The vibrations grew fiercer, showing no sign of stopping.

Then the date and time on the clock flashed in my mind.

Ah.

That's why it felt familiar.

A date and time I'd seen countless times.

If this was truly Kakheonheon's world, the source of this shaking was obvious: an anomalous gate spawning in the heart of a Seoul residential area, claiming countless lives.

The same day Lee Seong-hyeon awakened.

In other words, a new loop of Kakheonheon was beginning.

Krummmble—

Which meant the gate was about to swallow the whole neighborhood!

The realization hit, and I hurled myself in the opposite direction of the epicenter with everything I had.

"Haa... haa..."

In an instant, half the room vanished.

Between buildings devoured by the gate, something enormous loomed into view.

'Anomalous gate.'

Where Seong-hyeon awakened and scored his first item.

I caught my breath.

Soon after, monsters started pouring out from inside the gate.

Now it made sense why this felt off.

Kim Si-woo had a skillbook so trashy it'd stick out anywhere.

If he was an applicant to the Seoul Hunter Academy from Kakheonheon, I'd have remembered him.

But I hadn't because...

"Kim Si-woo was fated to die today."

Even in the pitch-black dawn, eyes gleamed amid the debris.

Hairs stood on end all over my body.

Instinctual fear made my muscles tremble.

Yet paradoxically, the corners of my mouth were curling up.

'A lottery ticket to flip my rock-bottom life is right there—how could I not smile?'

Running would boost short-term survival odds.

But there was something in that gate I had to get.

I snatched the dagger from the corner of the room.

Per Kakheonheon's lore, the monster horde would pause briefly after spawning.

That was my window.

As the gate flashed purple, I bolted for the shattered window.

My body tumbled across the floor amid glass shards.

Blood poured from wounds everywhere, but there was no time to feel pain.

"Haa... haa..."

I sprinted toward the gate with all my strength.

Thud thud thud—

The monsters crawling on the ground whipped around at the noise.

They let out shrill cries and charged my way.

Kyaaak—!

But my foot was already crossing the gate's threshold.

"Catch you on the flip side."

The drooling monsters faded as I stepped inside.

"So this is it."

Dark, damp, not a single light in sight.

The dungeon inside the gate.

'Way more intimidating in person.'

No plans to cower, though.

Seong-hyeon got two items from a hidden dungeon in here.

The prize was a skillbook titled Myth of Ashte.

Skillbooks were books imprinted on your soul at birth.

You filled their pages with your life's story as you went.

And they vanished with their owner's death.

That was a skillbook's normal lifecycle.

But a few exceptional souls got titles on theirs. And if they broke normal limits, their story became myth.

Mythic skillbooks didn't vanish on death—they became itemized books.

"Myth, huh."

Seong-hyeon wasn't much better than the guy I possessed—only two pages.

What let him rampage through Kakheonheon wasn't his regressions.

It was snagging Myth of Ashte.

Soul-bound skillbooks never changed.

Born with trash skills? Hone 'em—that's it. No new ones.

Some are born to the sword, some to the gun.

Sword guy can't pick up a gun.

Complain all you want; sharpen that blade.

That was Kakheonheon's rule.

But myths defied common sense.

Claim a mythic skillbook, and you inherit its skills.

So even with Kim Si-woo's trash skillbook, grabbing the complete Myth of Ashte would shatter my limits.

"Myth of Ashte."

No matter what, I had to claim that power for myself.