Chapter 1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: The Start
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Argh! Just do it already!! She's dying the next day anyway! You impotent bastard!"
BAM!!!
I was currently slamming my fist down on the desk like cocking a shotgun.
A sharp sting shot up from my hand, now buddies with the desk, but I had to do something or the rage wouldn't subside.
And the reason? The one webtoon I was reading right now.
Webtoons are meant to be read on a computer, as the saying goes.
Guided by that belief, I sat at my desk staring at the monitor. With both hands free, I slammed down a satisfying desk shotgun.
The webtoon I was reading was called Despair of the Apocalypse.
As the title suggests, it was a webtoon emphasizing apocalypse and despair themes.
The author had started serializing it with the concept of going all-in on despair, and it had continued that way ever since—Despair of the Apocalypse, shortened to Ajeol.
The story and composition were above average but didn't quite reach masterpiece level.
Its defining apocalypse and despair elements blended decently enough to satisfy niche fans.
But if that was all, Ajeol wouldn't have stayed in the top 10 rankings without ever dropping out.
The real reason was the art style and the heroines.
With its 15+ rating, there wasn't anything explicit, but the female characters were so alluring—even in 2D—that they captivated tons of guys, and the quality was top-tier.
To put it bluntly, it was a webtoon that rode its art style to popularity.
Despite the polarizing despair genre, comments like "I read for the girls" flooded the section at times.
Fan art and NSFW stuff got churned out in droves; the girls were drawn super hot and pretty.
But true to its themes, as the series progressed, the heroines that had boosted its hype started dying off one by one.
Readers shed bloody tears protesting to the author, but from the start, it had declared apocalypse and despair as its core, so complaints fell on deaf ears.
Call it backbone, I guess.
In the end, the author killed off even the final heroine—the last hope of the readers—right up to the finale.
Up to now, Ajeol had mocked us with "There's no hope~" by killing off its heroines in unique, varied ways without repetition.
The causes of death were wildly diverse: zombie combat or ambushes were tame.
Dying in fights with hostile human alliances, drowning, implied cannibalism by savages (no gore since it was 15+), tripping and dying while walking, buildings collapsing, bridges breaking leading to crushings, crushings plus drownings, and more.
The sheer number and brutality of these deaths showed a perverse obsession that scarred many readers deeply.
And then, the final heroine—everyone's hope, Lee Sua—died in the most anticlimactic way.
Her cause: accidental death.
Dying from external factors—literally an accident.
And the culprit? An arrow trap.
You know, the classic dungeon trope where arrows shoot from the walls.
At the very end.
Right after defeating what seemed like the final boss, just before the protagonist and Lee Sua shared a kiss for the highlight.
It should've ended happily after that kiss, but a randomly triggered arrow trap pierced her head, killing her. That's how the webtoon concluded.
And with the protagonist's suicide in despair over her death, followed by the "END" text, I finally lost it and slammed the desk.
How could it end like this?
Couldn't they let at least one survive happily? Right to the end, that dogshit author kept stabbing my heart.
The day before, the steamy atmosphere between the protagonist and Lee Sua had given everyone "maybe...?" hopes, doubling my rage.
"...Still feels kinda good to vent, though."
As the sting in my hand faded and my excitement cooled, my thoughts settled.
I exhaled the heat rising from my dantian, leaned back in my chair, and stared up at the white ceiling of my studio apartment.
Yeah... complaining about despair in a despair story from the start is just dumb.
Truth be told, I had no real reason to be mad.
I wasn't the type to demand chicken from a donut shop.
I was just your average, perfectly sane guy.
Getting into a despair webtoon for the art and then bitching was for the dimwitted.
Strip away the despair, and the artwork was solid, the story engaging enough. So the work itself wasn't that uncomfortable.
Plus, the heroines were drawn so tantalizingly hot—thanks for that.
Next time, pick webtoons properly.
Lesson learned: don't judge by art alone. I decided to let it go.
Life lesson with a heavy price, but whatever.
Oh, but gotta do what I gotta do.
'Thanks, it was great.'
A short comment.
Anything longer might turn into a 5700-character rage post, so I condensed it all into one line in Ajeol's final episode comments.
Nothing deep—just a vibe like "Nice meeting you, it sucked, never see you again."
Hard to pin down exactly.
That's love-hate for ya.
I switched the computer to sleep mode.
Then pulled up the delivery app on my phone and started picking chicken.
I craved the crispy healing of Chicken Lord right now.
Venting helped, but the emotional scars lingered.
'Despair trauma, fuck...'
I ordered from my usual spot, flopped onto the bed.
The fluffy blanket wrapped around me gently, cradling every inch.
Surrendering to the bed brought a languid drowsiness, easing the scars a bit.
Might be placebo, but it was enough to glue me there.
Lying blankly, real-life worries started surfacing.
'Oh yeah, not much left in the bank.'
About 4 million won.
How many months could an early-20s loner last on that?
Reality sucked.
I became an orphan at 18.
More precisely, Dad died when I was 5. Mom raised me till 18, then ditched me for some foreigner and left the country.
No desire to track her, and practically impossible anyway. I dropped out of high school, crashed at a shelter for runaway teens, worked part-time jobs till adulthood, saved up.
Soon as I hit legal age, I got this studio with my savings and here I am.
No feelings now, but I cried a ton at first.
Got numb from getting kicked around.
Life's been quiet: one coworker friend from work, reading webtoons/novels then heading to shifts.
Not bad if I don't envy others...
My eyes drifted to the full-length mirror across from the bed.
Tall and narrow, so just my face showed.
Clean enough from regular washing, no grime, but utterly average features—boy next door.
At least not fat, body decent-ish. Small consolation for this normie staring back.
The guy meeting my gaze? Total virgin.
XY chromosomes who'd never seen the S in sex.
That was me.
'Wanna have sex...'
Random, but after that pink-tinged scene, the urge hit hard.
Of course, despair ruined it after, but who cares.
Sudden horniness is guy instinct.
I'm pretty horny.
More like, I love lewd stuff.
Stamina average-plus, but overflowing lust makes me a lewd addict.
Right now, dying to jerk off to some smut or hentai.
But nah.
'Chicken's coming; don't wanna greet the delivery guy mid-stroke.'
Ding-dong—
Perfect timing.
I got up, headed to the door, opened it.
There: red-helmet delivery guy and glistening Chicken Lord.
Snatched the chicken, set the table quick, tore in.
Crunch—!
Ding—!
"Huh?"
The crispy batter crunch came with a mystery alarm.
I looked up instinctively, and before my eyes...
Doomsday 40:00
Doomsday 39:59
A hologram clock floating in mid-air.
And I knew exactly what it was.
Thud.
"We're fucked."
I dropped the chicken on the floor, sensing doom.