Chapter 0
Terminally Ill, but It's Okay — Episode 0
Prologue
────CRRRRASH!
A pure-white flash bored into my wide-open pupils.
The world shook with it, my mind fading, then complete darkness.
.
.
When my interrupted train of thought returned, my eyes snapped open.
And what I found was a massive meteor shower.
BOOOOM!
There was no time to react.
Clusters of stars filling the sky poured down like artillery fire on an enemy position.......
"Ah, it's a chandelier."
Drip—
My vision must have been unstable enough to fool me for a moment.
Once my sinking heart settled back into place, relief came with a bit of sheepishness.
Ahem, anyway, so I did get in?
Fortunately, my limbs were properly attached. As sensation returned throughout my body, I slowly sat up.
Then I took a look around.
"This is......."
......A penthouse?
It looked like the home of some chaebol family's youngest son.
A vast, high-ceilinged space that seemed to be the living room.
Furniture so luxurious that even an ignoramus clueless about interior design would admire it.
One entire wall was made of glass, revealing the city at night.
As if drawn, I walked over and stared blankly for a moment.
"......Seoul of another world."
When Hannam Bridge suddenly came into view, a scoffing laugh slipped out.
The dissonance of a familiar landscape.
It was because the feeling of something familiar yet strange was quite awkward.
It was still too early to get lost in sentiment, so I looked around again.
Step, step—
Passing through the vast living room and heading inward, a long hallway appeared.
The ornaments arrayed on both sides also looked quite valuable.
A faded Buddhist statue, an ancient book that looked as though it would crumble at a touch.
Not a single ordinary thing among them.
Where the hell is this?
I was checking things one by one, moving forward to find an answer, when—
"What's that?"
A large framed picture hanging at the end of the hallway caught my eye.
Inside it, a handsome man presumed to be the owner of this house wore a vacant expression.
Tousled navy-blue hair, a pale complexion, and sharp, well-defined features completed the picture.
Even as a mere painting, the man's looks had not lost their shine.
"Damn, he's good-looking."
It was a face striking enough to make my eyes go wide, but what surprised me even more was the fact that I knew who that man was.
"Park Ha-yul."
Geunwon Sulga, one of Korea's ten great families. The youngest son of that grand and venerable house.
And the hidden protagonist of the novel Epic of Salvation, which I was in charge of adapting into a webtoon.......
He was a character I had drawn with my own hands, so there was no way I wouldn't recognize him.
But why was there a painting of Park Ha-yul here?
My deliberation didn't last long.
The moment my mind snapped alert, I hurried to stand in front of a mirror.
And then I realized.
"......They said to enter the novel, but I didn't expect it to be possession."
And of all people, Park Ha-yul?
Coincidence or fate?
I reached out and touched Park Ha-yul's...... no, the face that had now become mine.
At the same time, an old memory flashed through my mind.
"Park Ha-yul's model is seriously me?"
"Yeah, your face, your build. Draw him exactly like that."
"What the hell. Stop joking."
"I'm not joking. I mean it. Keep the original as is, but add just a touch of decadent charm."
"No, why would you suddenly want to model him after me?"
"Hmm, I'll tell you that later. For now, let's just say it's because of your looks. You've got kind of a sharp-edged handsome look, you know?"
If there was any difference, as someone had said, it was only about one drop of decadent beauty added.
"The real thing looks better than the illustration."
Muttering to someone who could never hear me, I slumped down.
Around this timing, usually.......
"Th-this is insane."
"Am I dreaming?"
"Why did I enter the novel?"
Normally, you'd at least go through this much denial.
Was it because I had entered willingly?
With a rationality calmer than usual, I retraced the situation so far.
First of all, my name is Lee Do-hyeon.
I was a promising rookie artist who had even held a solo exhibition in England.
But an unfortunate accident had clipped my wings and left me unable to even make a living.
The one who reached out then was that someone.
The original author of this novel, who had used me as Park Ha-yul's model.
Her name was Yoo So-young.
A friend like family to me, someone I'd been with for 18 years.
Because of a promise from childhood, she entrusted me with the webtoon adaptation of her novel Epic of Salvation.
It amounted to picking up a pen instead of a brush I thought I'd never hold again, but.......
Breathing life into someone's story was meaningful work.
It gave me just as much joy as the high art steeped in a lofty artist's elitism.
But the happiness didn't last long.
Because one day, Yoo So-young disappeared.
Without any explanation, leaving only a message saying she was entering the novel Epic of Salvation.......
What happened after that, I'll skip for now.
One way or another, I ended up following her in, and as a result, I possessed Park Ha-yul.
But then.
[90%]
[91%]
.
.
It was at that moment that strange numerical holograms appeared at the edge of my vision.
The numbers rose rapidly, as if hoping for heightened emotion, but.......
Given my profession, I wasn't shaken.
At most, it's probably synchronization or something like that.
[100%]
[Synchronization Complete]
[The Character Window is now active.]
Figures.
A predictable ending to a predictable setup.
I stared at the empty air for no reason and muttered.
"Hey, a more original method......."
[The World Setting recognizes the existence of an Outsider.]
[Your remaining stay is reduced.]
[Remaining Time for you: 4 days 23 hours 59 minutes]
[If all Remaining Time is exhausted, you will be absorbed into the World Setting.]
"......Damn it. No, this is too much."
At first, I thought I'd misread it.
But no matter how many times I chewed it over, the meaning of the message didn't change.
I'd finally steeled myself and come in, and now absorption?
"You're telling me to die in just 5 days?"
It was at that moment, when I was so dumbfounded I couldn't even get angry.
Into a cage sealed on all sides, one appetizing piece of bait dropped.
[Tutorial Quest #1 — Proof of Qualification]
[Objective: Deal with one of this world's calamities]
[Reward: +5 days to Remaining Time]
A quest that gives time as a reward.......
"So I have to do what it says if I want to live?"
I glared at the empty air for a moment, but there was no answer.
Goddamn it.......
All I did was come looking for my friend.......
It seems I've somehow become terminally ill inside a novel.