Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 001
Chapter Title: Once Again, Writer
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This is a work of fiction and has no relation to any real names, events, organizations, locations, or individuals.
Prologue.
Drip, drip!
The moment Woo Ji-hyun felt the thick blood gushing from his nostrils, his consciousness began to fade.
He could tell his final moment had arrived the instant he sensed the blood vessels in the back of his head contracting sharply.
No, he had no choice but to know.
He was looking down at his own body, slumped over the keyboard with blood pouring from his nose.
And on the monitor right in front of that crown of his head was a blank Hangul file.
Filled to the brim with dozens of lines of text—his novel, now his posthumous work.
"Hahaha..."
Though his death had come suddenly, Woo Ji-hyun felt no anger.
Just emptiness and regret.
He had spent over twenty years writing—no, clinging to writing—yet he was dying without ever producing that one breakout hit he'd so desperately wanted.
And as he perished without even coming close to his dream of becoming an S-Rank Writer, one of the so-called top-tier authors, Woo Ji-hyun shed tears even in his out-of-body state.
He'd worked so hard, convinced that if he just kept writing diligently, success would come to him too.
Whether thanks to his meager talent or some stroke of luck, he'd debuted at twenty and written nonstop until turning forty.
But the result was this—the sight before him now.
"Some people just aren't meant to make it, huh. Talent really is everything."
Unable to sob aloud, Woo Ji-hyun simply let the tears flow as he muttered in a voice thick with resentment.
Not that there was anyone around to hear him anyway.
Then, like a panorama, his entire life flashed before his mind's eye.
"You really did work hard, didn't you? Looking back like this, I can see you truly gave it your all."
With the single-minded goal of succeeding as a writer, he'd run relentlessly from the moment the market turned favorable.
He'd kept writing without giving up, believing it would explode someday, that he could do it too.
But reality had been cruel, and in the end, he'd closed his life as a mere B-Rank Writer—one of countless unremarkable authors.
And there probably wouldn't be many people mourning his death.
"They might not even notice."
Woo Ji-hyun muttered with a sneer.
His social circle had never been wide, so imagining what came after his death was all too easy.
"You seem awfully aggrieved."
Woo Ji-hyun, who had been gazing at his own body cooling on the desk, turned around.
A chilling male voice had spoken from behind him.
Startled!
A man in a black dress shirt and black suit, topped with sunglasses—his entire outfit a uniform black—stared steadily at him with a pale complexion.
"A-Are you the Grim Reaper? I heard Reapers come in threes. The third-class ones come to collect the souls of the newly dead..."
"To answer that: No, I'm not a Grim Reaper. Though to you, it probably amounts to the same thing."
"What do you mean?"
"You have two choices. Call it a reward for your diligent life. Someone took pity on your ordinary yet extraordinary existence and granted you one extra option. So, you just need to choose: challenge life once more, or head straight to the afterlife as is."
"'Challenge life once more'—you don't mean...?"
Woo Ji-hyun's pupils dilated as far as they could go.
He could infer one word from the man's statement.
That overused, bone-tired cliché from genre fiction, milked a hundred times over.
"Exactly. Regression. Consider it recompense for your hard-lived life. But nothing comes free. Everything has causes and effects, and twisting them demands an equivalent price. As a writer, you should know the law of equivalent exchange, right?"
"What is the price?"
Woo Ji-hyun asked calmly, his face composed as if he'd already made his choice.
The man couldn't help but acknowledge how unusual Woo Ji-hyun was.
Most people, upon realizing they'd died, flew into a rage or lost it completely—but Woo Ji-hyun showed none of that.
Whether due to his nature or simple acceptance from the start, he'd resigned himself without fuss.
It intrigued the man, even amused him.
"Complete erasure."
"That seems like too steep a price for equivalent exchange, doesn't it?"
"This is a miracle-level feat. Something originally impossible, no less—so the cost isn't excessive. Besides, the choice is yours. If erasure doesn't appeal, just go to the afterlife now."
The man shrugged.
It made no difference to him either way.
He was making the offer, but the decision rested solely with Woo Ji-hyun.
"I'll do it."
"Hm?"
"It's all far in the future anyway. And heading to the afterlife now doesn't guarantee safety or happiness just because it's the 'safe' path. So I'll choose the present. Instead of fretting over the future, I'll seize this happy now and fulfill the dreams I left undone."
"Even knowing the price is erasure?"
"Yes."
Woo Ji-hyun replied in a steady voice.
He knew this offer was, in truth, an opportunity.
And he wanted to live properly one more time.
Unlike his first life, mired in mediocrity, he yearned to experience a brilliant, dazzling existence.
*Even if it ends in erasure.*
Talent had eluded him, but chances had come his way a few times in life.
He just hadn't seized them properly.
But if he went back, things would be different.
"I'll give you one more chance to think it over."
"Before that, one question: Are there no restrictions at all? Like, being reborn as a chaebol heir or something..."
"You return as yourself. Just with your memories intact."
"So you knew I wouldn't care about lotto numbers..."
Woo Ji-hyun muttered.
Listening to the man, he regretted not paying more attention to lotteries or stocks.
"That's your karma. Don't get greedy."
"Fair enough. No one ever expects to regress. Ah, by any chance—are there others who've regressed?"
"Who knows."
The man wore an ambiguous expression.
He offered no clear answer.
Yet Woo Ji-hyun's resolve remained unshaken.
"I'll go back."
"You'll live without regrets, just as you feel now?"
"Thank you for the opportunity."
"Heh."
The man silently watched as Woo Ji-hyun bowed politely in greeting.
And in that instant, Woo Ji-hyun vanished.
At the same time, the surrounding world shattered like glass.
*-Won't you regret it?*
In the rapidly crumbling world, a heavy, somber voice echoed.
An eerie tone, as if emanating from the underworld itself.
"I have no regrets. If anything, I'm grateful. You've granted my wish."
*-No need for thanks. It was merely a transaction.*
"But you accepted it, making it possible."
Shhh...
As the world nearly collapsed entirely, the man's body began to disintegrate too.
From the lower half, it turned to dust, scattering like grains of sand.
"Please..."
The man pictured Woo Ji-hyun's radiant smile as his final image.
And with that, his consciousness faded away.