Chapter 1
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Starting as an Official Doctor Tomorrow, But Overwork Death?
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“Ughhh...”
Hansol stretched his arms out long and wide.
It was already 10 p.m.
His haggard face, worn from pulling all-nighters for days, bore a rare, refreshing smile.
“Finally, tomorrow it all ends!”
A grin crept across Hansol's lips.
What was ending?
The long, grueling med school and residency!
Hansol hummed softly as he packed his bag.
It had been tough, but he was satisfied.
Compared to the hardships of his childhood, this life was downright luxurious.
He'd been abandoned by his parents, cut loose with just the umbilical cord severed.
He'd lived in an orphanage until adulthood.
Sharing a cramped orphanage with dozens of kids and scant resources had been brutal.
He couldn't have the food he craved.
He had to yield everything he wanted.
He truly owned so little.
So Hansol made a vow.
I can't live like this, so unhappy.
On the day his birthday treat—an ice cream secretly given by the director—was snatched away.
He happened to glimpse it.
A child passing by the fence, one hand in their parents', the other clutching a massive family-size ice cream, laughing innocently with pure joy.
That smile looked happier than anything imaginable, and at the same time, it made Hansol feel utterly wretched.
That night, after sobbing uncontrollably into the wee hours, Hansol diagnosed the root of his misery.
First: parents. Family.
That was beyond his control.
Skip the unchangeable factors.
Second: money.
Fortunately, that one he could fix.
Or rather, his future self could.
He never wanted to worry about tomorrow while scraping by on one meal today.
So Hansol wanted to make a ton of money.
And he knew only one way to do it.
Study.
From then on, he threw himself into studying like a madman.
His best shot right now was acing exams to get into a top university.
He studied as if his life depended on it.
Every night, nosebleeds and all, he'd sneak into the bathroom after lights out, flipping on the light to read.
The orphanage folks shook their heads at his relentless drive.
And the results paid off.
He got into Korea University's med school,
with full tuition covered for his first year, no less.
But that wasn't the end.
He had to earn the next semester's fees.
So Hansol kept grinding.
Six years of insane study,
never falling behind, snagging scholarships to make it through.
All to live comfortably in the future.
After graduation, he'd busted his ass through one year of internship and four of residency, and he could say with pride he'd given his all.
And tomorrow was the day he'd finally reach the finish line of that endless journey.
His psychiatry residency spot was already locked in.
Now it's smooth sailing from here!
A broad smile spread across Hansol's face.
As he took a step toward the door,
ping—.
His head throbbed like it'd been struck.
“Ugh... What the hell?”
Hansol clutched his head, dizziness overwhelming him.
His legs felt like they might give out any second.
A passing nurse spotted him staggering and rushed over.
“You okay?”
His head rang like a bell.
Someone was yelling, but the voice faded like he was drowning.
“—! Hurry—! Nurs—!”
His vision darkened.
Damn it... What the fuck is...
Why on the last day of residency, of all times...
Terror surged. For the first time, his body wouldn't obey him.
Am I dying like this? The thought consumed Hansol's mind.
No matter how hard he fought to keep his eyes open, darkness swallowed him.
Everything went black.
Boom! Crash! Rumble!
Kaboom!
The explosive roar jolted Hansol awake.
“Aaahhh!”
“Help!”
The scene before him was nothing like the hospital ceiling he'd seen moments ago.
Fires raging everywhere.
Bloodstains splattered freely.
People screaming and fleeing.
What the...?
For a split second, Hansol wondered if he'd stumbled onto a movie set.
But that notion vanished instantly.
Nausea welled up.
The visceral reality hit him—this was no act.
If hell existed, this was it. A slaughterhouse of horrors.
Thick blood stench mixed with acrid smoke.
His skin stung from heat and embers.
Hansol froze amid the chaos, mind blank, unable to process it as real.
Then—
Ding—!
A small sound, and something popped up before his eyes.
Huh?
A glowing blue window, like a game system panel.
Hansol read the text.
You have died from overwork. Out of pity, a second life has been granted.
“Over...work death?”
What the hell?
I'm dead?
Hansol's fingertips trembled.
As tangled thoughts swarmed his mind, a running man shouted at him.
“Kid!”
Hansol didn't react to the childish nickname.
No one would call a thirty-something like him “kid.”
But the man charged up, grabbed his arm roughly.
“What're you doing?! Tieren troops are coming! The Bellenuus Empire is done for! Run!”
Before Hansol could respond, he was dragged along.
Even as they bolted, one word the man had said stuck with him.
Bellenuus.
Bellenuus. It rang a bell, so familiar.
He'd heard it somewhere.
Then, the voice of his closest college friend, Yerin, echoed in his head.
It had just been casual chatter.
“Hansol! You listening? That's when the heroine and hero first meet!”
He could still picture Yerin's dreamy expression.
Hansol slowed to a halt.
His heart pounded wildly.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
It drowned out everything else.
Sweat slicked his palms; his body shook.
The man ahead yelled something, but it didn't register.
At the same time, Yerin's cheerful voice replayed.
“At the Bellenuus Empire's academy!”
“Holy shit!”
Hansol cursed harshly.
Bellenuus!
That's why it sounded familiar!
Of all places, in this nightmare battlefield, that's the detail that clicks?
Hansol followed the lunatic calling him “kid” out of the chaos.
Hours later,
after quizzing survivors and piecing it together, realization dawned.
He'd somehow fallen into a novel.
His bestie Yerin's fave romance fantasy: Love for the Kind Imperial Princess.
Several months later.
A rundown building with a spacious yard.
This was the village's only monastery.
Ah... So sleepy.
Tail lay sprawled on the monastery floor, dozing lazily.
Lunch today was spicy radish salad, right?
Sounds tasty.
His stomach growled at the thought, and he scratched it idly.
Then—
“You lazy brat! Slacking again?”
A bellow from right beside his head.
Tail smirked at the gruff voice.
“Ah, slacking? Nah, this is training in its own way.”
“What kinda training is this ridiculous?!”
Tail rose at the sight of the shouting abbot.
White hair and beard, a kindly old face weathered by years—that was Noha, the monastery's master.
Tail grinned shamelessly.
“Ridiculous? Keep yelling like that, Abbot, and you'll keel over from high blood pressure.”
“If you weren't such a pain, I wouldn't!”
Noha's face flushed beet red.
“I do fine all the time.”
“Tail!!! *Cough* *Cough*.”
As the abbot hacked from yelling, Tail grabbed an empty bottle and sauntered out.
“I'll fetch some water~ No one's else around, right?”
“Y-You little—!”
Ignoring Noha clutching his neck, Tail stepped outside.
“Haa...”
Once clear of the building, Tail sighed deeply.
He'd slaved away studying his whole life, finally became a doctor to rake in cash, and then...
“Damn overwork death.”
Tail kicked a pebble across the ground.
He could've stomached dying unjustly if that was it.
But why dump me into a second life like this?
Tail ground his teeth.
If you're giving a new life, make it loaded or at least nobility.
And an extra commoner, of all things?
Yeah.
He'd possessed Tail, a nameless extra's extra in Love for the Kind Imperial Princess.
Not even mentioned in the story.
A penniless orphan commoner.
Wealth: 0.
Status: 0.
Family: 0.
Possessions: 0.
Irritation boiled over; Tail ruffled his hair roughly.
Nothing! Absolutely nothing! How am I supposed to survive?!