(Prologue)
Right before dying, I was reading a manhwa.
It was nothing special. On my way home from work, crossing the crosswalk, a truck that ignored the signal. I closed my eyes without even screaming.
The last thing that filled my vision was the smartphone screen.
Hero Chronicle — Episode 27. Blank Awakens.
It was a manhwa I'd binged three times over three years. I'd read it straight through whenever the cooldown hit, so this was my third full run. That's how much I loved it. I enjoyed the cathartic hero action and the solid world-building, but above all, the characters felt alive.
Except for one. There was always one character I felt was a missed opportunity.
Hero Association code name. B-Rank Wanted Villain. Exact abilities unknown, affiliation unknown, motives unknown. Appears only three times in the original story, then goes missing after Episode 27. Among fans, the prevailing theory was "the author just forgot about him."
When I opened my eyes—eyes that should've been grinding against the asphalt—I was standing in front of a mirror.
Inside the filthy mirror, covered in fingerprints and water stains, was Blank.
What the hell. Is this.
I slowly raised my hand. The figure in the mirror raised his hand too. I blinked. He blinked.
Black mask. Short-cropped hair. Sharp eyes peering through the jagged eyeholes of the mask.
I had reincarnated into the body of the villain from the manhwa I'd read for three years. The villain treated like a legendary creature because of his nonexistent screen time: Blank. No way I'd mistaken it.
And right before Episode 1 even started, of all times.
The future of Blank as I knew it consisted of three moments.
Episode 11 — Hacks the Hero Association database. Success. Episode 27 — Clashes with A-Rank HeroFlash. Escapes successfully. Minor injuries. Episode 41 — Goes missing. No further mentions. Just a chill villain life.
Total screen time: About twelve panels.
Dialogue: Two lines total.
Even as a reader, I didn't know much about this character. He just didn't show up enough for there to be any real info.
How minor was he? The theory that even the author forgot about him had become canon. And yet, his design was annoyingly cool-looking, which made it even more frustrating.
With such minimal screen time, these forced hype posts that secretly roast him had become a template.
Somehow, that twisted affection led to fans who morbidly awaited Blank's appearances, creating a chaotic multiverse of fandom.
Despite everyone's hopes, Blank still hadn't shown his face in the finale. Maybe he'd just quit being a villain and gone to live a normal life. That was the most reasonable guess.
For now, it was clear I'd possessed Blank. Accepting reality, I tore my eyes from the mirror and looked around the room. A rundown one-room apartment. City lights seeped through the blinds. Outside the window, tall buildings bore billboards emblazoned with the Hero Association logo—the exact one I'd seen a million times in the manhwa.
This was that world.
Desperate to hold my sanity together, I forced myself to speak, comforting myself out loud.
“......Let’s survive.”
That was step one.