Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 1 Note Please dont worry about chapter number and chapter titles if they are wrong all chapters are in order but if by any chance if the chapter it self is wrong pls report in discord thank you
Chapter Title: Nayeo-ju Saves the World
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Finally, we did it.
The boss monster fell, and we cleared the gate.
At the same time, my body, which I'd been forcing to hold on, crumbled powerlessly.
"Nayeo-ju-ya!"
"Nayeo-ju!"
I could feel two men rushing toward me, calling my name.
"Nayeo-ju-ya, open your eyes. Look at me, Nayeo-ju."
"Move. We're going to the hospital."
I thought I should reassure the two of them, who were bickering with me in the middle again.
I'm not dead yet, you guys.
Forcing my eyes open, I saw Kang Han and Sama Young's faces through my blurry vision.
Both were covered in blood, looking far worse off than me.
Raising my gaze a bit higher, I saw numbers floating above their heads.
A chuckle escaped me.
Someone needs to rein these guys in.
Then, the system, which had been silent for a while, kindly informed me of my condition.
That made sense.
In the final battle, I'd squeezed out every last drop of my power and passed it to the two of them.
Along with the warm body heat of whoever was cradling me, I felt my mind starting to drift hazily.
In the meantime, it looked like we'd safely exited the gate.
Click! Click, click!
Cameras flashed from all directions.
And the excited shouts of reporters.
"Has the apocalypse really been stopped?"
"Guild Master Kang Han! Guild Master Sama Young! A word for the people!"
"What's the status of Hunter Nayeo-ju?"
"You've become the heroes who saved the world—what are your thoughts?"
Our steps halted abruptly.
At the same time, Sama Young's cold voice came from beside us.
"The one who saved the world is Nayeo-ju, not us."
And Kang Han added in a low voice,
"We're on our way to the hospital. Please make way."
His usual polite tone.
If you ignored the last bit he'd tacked on.
"Before I sweep you all away."
As my eyes closed, a blue system window appeared in the darkness.
It's finally starting.
Wonder what bullshit it'll give me this time.
I listened to the cheap slot machine whirring for a moment, then a flashy effect burst forth, and a system window popped up.
Damn, I got the worst one.
But I smiled.
Because of the final message that appeared before I lost consciousness.
Gathering my last 1% of energy, I moved my lips.
"We... we won..."
Fuck yeah, now I'm rich.
Kang Han breathed his last. Looking up at the sky being swallowed by the gate, black tears flowed from his unseeing eyes.
And so, the world met its end.
-Prevent the End of the World Complete-
「Kang Han breathed his last breath. As he gazed at the sky being devoured by the gate, black tears streamed from his unseeing eyes.
Thus, the world came to an end. -<Prevent the End of the World> Complete- 」
"Author, are you insane?"
My hand trembled as it gripped the phone.
"This is the end? It just ends like this?"
I couldn't believe it. I didn't want to.
But no matter how much I scrolled down, the word "Complete" didn't vanish, and no next chapter button appeared.
"The world just ends and everyone dies? That's the ending?"
The fantasy novel Prevent the End of the World, which I'd been reading daily for three straight years waiting for updates, wasn't some trash that deserved this shitty bad end.
Yet here it was, killing off the protagonist and all the side characters who'd built massive fanbases one by one, then slapping a irresponsible line like "In the end, they couldn't stop the apocalypse" to call it complete.
As the emptiness faded, rage surged in.
"You fucking author, go fuck yourself and die, I'm dropping this shit."
And sure enough, the comments section was in chaos.
From people wailing that it couldn't end in such a mess,
to those sharing the publisher's email to organize a protest.
Don't tell me not to get too immersed—it's just a novel.
The author tormented the protagonists mercilessly throughout the story.
Starting with setting the protagonist 'Kang Han' as the guild master of the Justice Guild—one of Korea's top five guilds that had since fallen into ruin—making his life hell, then later inventing this 'berserk' phenomenon caused by 'darkness' addiction leaking from gates to kill off all the hunters he'd grown attached to one by one.
Every time, the comments turned into a funeral home.
But despite that, countless readers followed the serialization to the end.
Because they wanted to see these protagonists survive this hopeless, dreamless world and find happiness no matter what.
"And you dump this shit on us?"
I took a deep breath and calmed down, my face composed as I started typing a comment.
It got a bit heated in the middle, but I didn't say anything wrong.
I hit post, saw my comment register, but it was quickly buried under the flood of other readers' rage.
"Sigh, what's the point. My fingers just hurt now."
After venting in the comments, an immense wave of exhaustion hit me.
I flopped onto the bed and stared blankly at the ceiling.
Then, all the realities I'd ignored while reading Sejongmak started creeping back in.
I turned my phone back on and opened the banking app. A pitiful balance greeted me.
"After paying next month's rent and bills, I'll be broke again."
I scraped by with part-time jobs every month, but saving even a little meant living paycheck to paycheck.
And I had no family or friends to complain to about this harsh reality.
That's why I'd splurged a few tens of thousands of won—huge money for me—every month to read Sejongmak.
"What the hell do I live for now."
Rubbing my eyes, I muttered.
I hadn't even showered after work, but suddenly sleepiness overwhelmed me.
The day had been busy, but not this tiring.
Did the completion of Sejongmak hit me that hard?
It's all that damn author's fault.
Forcing my heavy eyelids open, I reopened the webnovel app.
I stared at the screen still filled with furious readers and the word "Complete."
"Come back now, author. Say it's actually an infinite regression story and launch season 2. Yawn... I'll forgive you if you do..."
In the end, as the phone screen went dark in my hand, I surrendered to my heavy eyelids and fell asleep.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
"Gah! What the—?!"
I jolted awake at the blaring alarm.
"Fuck, I turned off disaster alerts ages ago! ...What the hell is this?"
Something was off about this disaster alert.
I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and looked again, but it was still weird.
"What the hell?"
Something was clenched in my left hand.
The small receipt-like paper was crumpled and wrinkled from how tightly I'd gripped it.
"Mega... Lotto?"
What?
Did I buy a lottery ticket drunk again?
And my room looked strange too.
"Is... is this a hospital?"
The IV connected to my arm, the white-dominated interior, and the patient gown I was wearing.
It was definitely a hospital.
"But why am I admitted?"
I'd clearly fallen asleep in my studio apartment bed.
I remembered that much perfectly, but waking up in a hospital room?
What the hell happened while I was out?
Waking up to an unfamiliar ceiling—not like some cliché possession setup or anything.
I let out a hollow laugh even amid the haze.
As if.
Waking up not in my dingy old studio but in a shiny hospital room...
"This is obviously a VIP suite!"
I'm screwed.
I should've realized when the hospital bed felt this comfortable!
Cold sweat trickled down my back, the kind that hadn't flowed even when I first came to in this unfamiliar place.
I'd never been sick enough to be hospitalized, but I knew roughly how much a room like this cost.
Even if I emptied my bank account, I couldn't cover a single day's stay here!
Get me a six-bed ward, stat!
I reached for the call bell by the bed to summon the staff right away.
That's when.
"Oh? Nayeo-ju-ssi, you're awake."
The door slid open, and a doctor in a white coat entered with a beaming smile.
"This six-bed... no, where am I?"
The plea to move rooms almost burst out, but I gathered my wits and asked the most important question first.
"National Awakener Hospital. Do you not remember collapsing?"
"Pardon? Where?"
"The Awakener Hospital in Seodaemun-gu. Hmm, you must have hit your head when you fell..."
"National Awakener Hospital in Seodaemun-gu?"
A spark jolted through my mind like electricity.
I dropped the call bell and snatched my phone.
It was still there. Not a half-asleep hallucination.
The disaster alert from the 'Gate Prediction Management Headquarters.'
And the National Awakener Hospital in Seodaemun-gu.
These two things alone were enough.
This was the Korea from the novel I'd been reading: Prevent the End of the World.
...I'd badmouthed the author and ended up possessing that story. The ultimate cliché karma trope. Right on me.