I Reincarnated Into a Novel I Didn't Even Hate-Comment On

"Man."

A young man ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in Korea named Seomun Yu-cheon was staring at his friend Kim Ho-cheon with a deadly serious look on his face.

"Do you honestly think this makes any sense?"

At Seomun Yu-cheon's words, Kim Ho-cheon nodded, his expression hollow.

"Yeah, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it doesn't make any sense. How the hell does an ending like this even exist?"

Both of them were looking at a web novel on the computer.

The web novel Academy Hero Chronicles, written in a light novel style, was a story that borrowed the well-worn material of an academy setting and a supposedly heroic protagonist. Its popularity sat at roughly mid-tier on the site. Even so, Kim Ho-cheon and Seomun Yu-cheon had genuinely enjoyed it.

Four heroine candidates!

It was catnip for two guys who lived for a stacked cast, and they had spent hours arguing over which of the four would become the official wife. The readers in the comments had been going back and forth over the same question.

"And this is the result."

Seomun Yu-cheon was staring at the ending with a look of pure emptiness. Speculation had run wild over which heroines the protagonist, Seomun Hyeon, would end up with. The actual ending was the worst possible answer.

"Not Lee Se-na, the healing-type who'd been with him from the start. Not Aria, the otherworld princess. Not even Yu Hyeon-a or Ye Eun-chae, who'd been throwing themselves at him. What the hell is this?"

Kim Ho-cheon nodded hard, sharing every ounce of his friend's outrage.

"Right? Kang Mi-hyeon? He suddenly swerves to this bitch who popped out of nowhere and ends up with her? What was all that bonding and emotional connection with the heroines even for?"

"It's absurd. Seriously."

His friend mentally checked out, collapsed onto the nearby bed, and went into emergency brain-recovery mode. Kim Ho-cheon left him there and set about typing a comment on the final chapter with grim enthusiasm. He considered it a reasonably restrained piece of criticism.

Aside from a tiny handful of people running defense, every reader's reaction had been terrible, so his opinion wasn't anything special.

The author himself had written a reply. The moment Kim Ho-cheon read it, a strange light burst from the computer screen.

"What?!"

He'd never experienced anything like it, but he had the distinct feeling he was living through an incredibly common cliché. Was this that thing you always saw in web novels? Leave a hate comment and get possessed into the story?

A spike of panic hit him. Kim Ho-cheon threw himself sideways — and the light shooting from the computer sailed through the space where he'd been sitting and struck Seomun Yu-cheon, who was lying on the bed trying to put his brain back together.

In the same instant, Seomun Yu-cheon vanished, as if he had never been there at all.

"Y-Yu-cheon?"

Kim Ho-cheon called his friend's name in a voice thick with terror. Then another message arrived.

"Wait—?!"

That was the last thing Kim Ho-cheon ever remembered.

Damn it.

A little kid whose brain hadn't even finished developing was staring at the ceiling and sighing. The child's name was Baek Seo-jun — and that reincarnated boy was me. Four years into this life, I still couldn't get used to being a little kid. And today, of all days, I'd finally figured out what world I was in, which only made me sigh harder.

I leave a hate comment and they reincarnate me?

It wasn't even the novel I'd hate-commented on. My friend Seomun Yu-cheon had been sent into that world, so the slot was taken — and they'd apparently dumped me into some other novel instead.

Figuring out which novel-world I was in didn't take long. I was currently inside a light-novel-style web novel I'd read before: I Became the National Power Level SSS-Class Heir.

How did I know?

"Seo-jin! It's Daddy! Peek-a-boo~"

"Seo-jin, it's Mommy~"

Because the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠four-years-younger brother my parents in this life had given birth to was named Baek Seo-jin.

The protagonist of I Became the National Power Level SSS-Class Heir.

As the title made obvious, this was a hunter-genre world. Unlike other hunter stories, however, the power structure here sat beneath the Kangin Guild — the strongest guild in the nation, which effectively ruled South Korea — with countless other guilds existing as subordinate organizations under it.

South Korea was uniquely rich in mana, and its hunters ranked among the strongest in the world. Foreigners often came here from a young age to train, then returned home after they'd grown stronger.

It would later be revealed that all of this existed so that a being called the Black Snake That Devours the World could raise this world's value before swallowing it whole. Using mana, it would push humans to grow beyond their station — and then devour those elevated souls in one gulp.

But the final boss was a problem for later. Until then, the real issue was the villains.

This world was built so that among the villains who honed their strength in Korea and then ran rampant across the globe, there were even several of SSS-class. The setting was stacked with powerhouses even among its villains.

In the original story, Baek Seo-jin made a name for himself fighting those villains. Then, as the title spelled out, he was officially recognized as successor by Choi Kang-in, guild leader of the Kangin Guild that held the nation in its grip. He inherited the Kangin Guild, received every resource they had prepared, and grew stronger.

The Kangin Academy, operated by the Kangin Guild, existed to systematically train hunters and produce active-duty professionals — but it was also a place to raise the successor to the Kangin Guild, the rulers of South Korea.

In the original, Baek Seo-jin caught Choi Kang-in's eye at the Academy, became the Kangin Guild's heir midway through, collected love calls from various heroines as he grew, and eventually succeeded in killing even the final boss — the Black Snake That Devours the World.

Not at full strength, though.

I'd read in the afterword that a world saturated with mana made it difficult for such a being to descend. Whether out of impatience or something else, the Black Snake That Devours the World hadn't taken enough time to prepare. It descended in a rush, unable to bring even a tenth of its full power to bear — and that was the original story.

Even at one-tenth strength, Earth's major forces — including Baek Seo-jin and the heroines — had barely held on. In the end, Baek Seo-jin gathered the wishes of humanity, transformed them into his own power, and brought the final boss down. That was how the original went.

And those wishes weren't some shonen-manga speech about friendship. They were just everyone, with one heart, wanting to stay alive.

In a way, it was realistic. When death itself is staring you in the face, of course all of humanity would wish to live.

But I could set the original story aside for now. My own situation was the problem.

They won't even look at me.

Whether because I was a reincarnator, or because I was a person who hadn't existed in the original — my parents in this world, Baek Hyeong-won and Kim Yu-jeong, wouldn't so much as glance my way. They took care of me out of obligation and nothing more. I never saw a scrap of parental affection.

As long as it isn't abuse, I can live with it.

I told myself that as long as they weren't putting me through anything painful, it didn't matter, and I went on living day by day. I knew the original story, so preparing to save the world from destruction seemed like the smart play.

That was how naively I was thinking.

The day I turned ten, it happened without the slightest warning.

The place was a puppet theater.

"AAAAAH!"

"KYAAAAH!"

Screams erupted from every direction. A thick, choking stench of blood hit my nose. People who had been alive only moments ago now lay in pieces, torn apart where I could see them.

It wasn't the work of a monster.

So Gang-seok — one of the worst villains South Korea had ever produced, an SSS-class villain — was laughing as if this were the most entertaining thing in the world. He had already killed people, and he was savoring the moment, his subordinates in tow. The children who had come to watch a puppet show, and the parents who had come along as their guardians, were all trembling in terror.

My own parents, Baek Hyeong-won and Kim Yu-jeong, were no exception.

My father, Baek Hyeong-won, was an SS-class hunter, ranked among the top one hundred in Korea. In front of that SSS-class villain So Gang-seok, even his power was utterly worthless.

"I-it's okay, Seo-jin. Mommy's right here. Don't be scared."

Kim Yu-jeong clutched Baek Seo-jin and did nothing but soothe him. Baek Hyeong-won watched his wife and son with a look of raw anxiety, already angling to run. Watching them, I understood.

They're planning to leave me behind.

I didn't like that. I hadn't asked to be reincarnated, but that didn't mean I wanted to die a dog's death. There was no guarantee I'd return to my original world if I died here.

Even then, I was still thinking too naively.

Because what was about to happen would far surpass my pathetic imagination.

Truly. Damnably. Fucking so.