NOVEL NEXT #001
#001
Prologue
Manager Park was right.
I was a complete idiot. It seemed that the manager’s wish for a useless troublemaker like me to die was finally coming true.
‘She’s just a girl I don’t know.’
Why should I care about a female student walking with her head down, staring at her phone? Why did I jump out to push her away and get hit by the car instead?
Even in this situation where my body felt shattered with pain, I could feel my chest tightening with the prelude to a seizure.
Perhaps since the day my parents had that car accident, my fate was already decided like this. A invisible person at the company who’s no help. Maybe this kind of death is fitting for someone like me who only finds joy in watching game characters grow.
‘Ah…’
The girl’s bobbed hair swayed greatly. I could vaguely see the screen of the phone that had fallen to the ground.
The words “How to be Loved by an S-Class Esper” flashed by dimly.
And then, snap.
My consciousness faded.
***
The notification sound kept ringing. It was a familiar sound… the notification from the game I play, ‘Limitless Nine’.
‘Did Shatang and Dubu fill up the warehouse again?’
As I was groggily thinking it might be a pet notification with my eyes closed.
Suddenly, my whole body broke out in goosebumps.
“…Gasp!”
The traffic accident!
Wasn’t I dead?
Somehow, while my heart sank with relief, I also felt a bit disappointed. Along with the thought that I didn’t want to die like this, I also felt that I had failed to die once again.
‘It was really a natural opportunity to die.’
I was dumbfounded at the thought of dying for a complete stranger, but thinking about it calmly, there wouldn’t have been such a natural opportunity for death again. Instead of people buzzing about my suicide, they would have likely accepted my death casually.
Anyway, since I didn’t die, I had to open my eyes. I needed to check if there was anything wrong with my body.
‘Why is it so quiet?’
I must have been taken to the hospital, but it was strangely quiet. I could only hear the ticking of a clock. Feeling ridiculous for thinking about the game first in this situation, I chuckled and opened my eyes…
“Where… is this?”
An unfamiliar place came into view. It was a very small and modest studio apartment.
The peculiar thing was that all the furniture was broken. As if a burglar had broken in, everything was shattered and fallen. Everything was unfamiliar. Is this that student’s house?
‘She looked like a high school student at best, how could she live in a studio apartment?’
Thinking that, I got up from my spot, and my whole body ached. It seemed to be the aftermath of the accident.
Why bring me home instead of taking me to the hospital?
‘First, I need to check how badly I’m injured, then send a message to the company… to Manager Park, no… to Deputy Lee that I can’t come in due to a traffic accident….’
As I was thinking about what I needed to do immediately, I felt extremely glad at the thought of not having to go to work. Although I couldn’t recklessly attempt it in case I ended up with a disability from a clumsy injury, even a traffic accident didn’t seem too bad.
First, I really need to check if I’m seriously injured anywhere. Although I seem to be able to get up, so it’s probably not a serious injury, my whole body still ached.
‘There’s no mirror in this house.’
There’s no mirror in my house either. I deliberately didn’t bring in mirrors because I didn’t want to see my face, but surely there must be a mirror in the bathroom of this house too.
Thinking that, I entered the bathroom and the moment I looked in the mirror.
I fell back with a thud, shocked.
‘Who is that?’
The height… is taller than me. It was a stunningly beautiful woman. And that beauty, with a dumbfounded face and mouth agape, just like me…
“…Me?”
I got up on shaky legs and examined the mirror again.
Raising my right hand, left hand, slapping my cheeks. No matter what I did, the person reflected in the mirror was doing the exact same actions.
“What is this!”
Shocked, I clutched my cheeks and screamed. To wake up after a traffic accident and find myself in someone else’s body!
Ding!
At that moment, the notification sound rang again. It really was the familiar game notification sound.
With trembling hands, I reached into my pocket. I felt a vibrating phone along with the notification sound.
‘There’s no grip tok.’
I had attached a small grip tok to make gaming easier, but the phone in my hand was smooth. Trying to suppress the feeling of an impending seizure, I lifted the phone.
The home screen was very clean, as if hardly any apps were used. There was only one unfamiliar app, a clock, a messenger app, and not much else installed. And then there was my game app that I access daily, more than familiar.
Suppressing the creepy feeling, I tapped on the game, and it logged in instantly.
: Hello, Yeonsoo! Here’s today’s quest notification! (NEW!)
Pet Shatang has filled the farm!
Pet Dubu has filled the mine!
Pet Dobi has sold all the items!
What is this. It really was my account.
The server 1 emblem I received for winning the Master Craftsman Competition three months ago was neatly attached next to the nickname ‘Yeonsoo’. 999,999,999 gold displayed in the inventory, even after filling the bank to the brim. The diamonds from heavy spending were also fully stocked, just as I saw this morning.
And the Star Candy Headband and Star Candy Angel Wings that I had difficulty obtaining a month ago. The Five-colored Elemental Hair shimmering brilliantly in opal colors. The [Yeonsoo] Night Gown series I made myself and the Crescent Moon Hammer.
‘It’s fortunate that the account is intact, but…’
Why is it connected to someone else’s phone? I closed my eyes and opened them again, clutching my throbbing head in this situation that felt like a continuing nightmare.
Shatang, Dubu, and Dobi fluttered around my neatly dressed character.
Shatang: I missed you, Master!
Dubu: Master, spend money quickly!
Dobi: Sold everything today! I’m perfect!
The pets I had customized to my taste kept displaying text.
Everything is the same, why is only my appearance different?
“What on earth…”
As I was tapping the phone, suddenly a quest window popped up. All the quests I had been working on had disappeared. The only one left was a quest blinking with NEW.
It was a quest called
: *Contact Kim Sehyun*
Quest Rank: Tutorial
You have learned that Kim Sehyun has become Shin Haejun’s pair guide. Let’s contact Kim Sehyun and cause some trouble!
Reward: ???
What is this? Limitless Nine was a Western fantasy MMORPG. Although there were occasionally Eastern characters, this was the first time seeing a quest filled with such Korean names.
“…Who is Kim Sehyun?”
What’s a pair guide? And why should I cause trouble? These were sentences I couldn’t understand at all.
‘Should I check the quest guide?’
Limitless Nine provided tips for each quest window to help progress quests smoothly. When I pressed the tip button, the quest window became a bit more helpful.
: *Contact Kim Sehyun*
Quest Rank: Tutorial
You have learned that Kim Sehyun has become Shin Haejun’s pair guide. Let’s contact Kim Sehyun and cause some trouble!
TIP: Check the phone contacts.
Reward: ???
Phone contacts? Where is there a phone system in Limitless Nine?
After fumbling for a moment, with a slight hope, I put down the game app and opened the contact list. Then I saw the name Kim Sehyun on the empty screen.
‘Should I contact?’
I had to make contact anyway, at least to find out who the owner of this phone was. I needed to figure out whose house this is, and what reward I would get for completing this quest.
‘It would be good to find out what happened to my body too…’
Intuitively, I felt it would be difficult to figure that out.
For now, since there was no other way, it seemed best to try calling Kim Sehyun.
‘I’ll ignore the part about causing trouble for now…’
I couldn’t understand why this person’s name was displayed in the game, or what exactly was happening now. But I had to try something.
‘Ah, I want some Xanax…’
Muttering the name of the medicine I used to take whenever I felt anxious or about to have a seizure, I made the call. After four rings, the other person picked up with a click.
– Jaeha! What’s going on? You disappeared without any contact yesterday, I was so worried.
“Ah…”
Just as I thought I should try something, my mind suddenly went blank.
What should I say to this person? That I saved someone and then my body changed?
– Jaeha, Jaeha? Lee Jaeha!
Apart from knowing that the body owner’s name is Lee Jaeha, I couldn’t figure out anything else. I didn’t know whether to speak honestly here, or how to choose, so my mouth remained shut like it was broken.
As my body was stiffening up, not knowing what to do at all.
Suddenly, a simple window popped up in front of my eyes.
Comments (15)
Ej****: Binge-reading the ‘How to be Loved by an S-Class Esper’ event.
GG****: Came back after binge-reading. Damn, what did I just see?
‘What is this…’
In the blink of an eye, the sentence that remained in my memory flashed by.
‘How to be Loved by an S-Class Esper’.
It was definitely what was displayed on the screen that the female student was intently looking at.
‘…Is it a novel?’
I’ve read fantasy novels occasionally too. I intuitively realized that these were novel comments.
The thought ‘Did I enter a novel?’ flashed through my mind, and I was surprised to find that I had been transported into a novel I hadn’t even read. At the same time, I felt relieved to see the comments. People write about what they’ve read in the comments, so there might be a way to overcome this situation written there.
Comments (15)
Fe****: I’m the advance party, save your money ^^
└I should have listened to this…
└I’m dropping out
As soon as I saw the top comment, I screamed, “No!” They need to keep writing comments for me!