Chapter 2

Out of the corner of my eye, I glanced at the screen—there were quite a lot of views. What, was this him telling me he’d made a lot of money? Planning to repay me in cash? If so, too bad for him—I already had more money than I could spend.

But Lim Sungyeon didn’t stop there.

“I’ve known for ten years—no, even longer—that this day would come. I’m glad I got into the habit of keeping notes from a young age. No one else will recognize it for what it is—a revelation—but I put it out there. Which means my duty... is done.”

The way he muttered to himself made him look like a complete lunatic. I stayed silent, just watching him. He had his head bowed, then suddenly snapped it up to meet my eyes. There was madness in them.

“You’re not reacting at all. I knew you wouldn’t.”

“When someone spouts complete nonsense, the normal reaction is to be speechless.”

“Haha! No, no...”

He shook his head at my perfectly reasonable reply. Maybe he really had lost it. Though I had heard that creativity required a certain amount of madness.

“You’re... a little different.”

That actually made me laugh.

“Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

“You’re calling it a compliment?”

He pressed his lips shut for a moment, then jerked his chin toward my phone.

“Read it. It’s not that long. It finished recently, so you could get through it in two—no, three days at most.”

“You’re telling ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) me to pay for your work?”

“If you need the money, I’ll send it to you. Give me your account.”

“Sure.”

Curious about how he’d react, I went ahead and sent him my account number. Without batting an eye, he transferred the money.

[Deposit: 54,900 won – Lim Sungyeon]

“You’re 2,500 won short.”

“...The first 25 chapters are free.”

This guy’s insane.

“Anyway, you should read it. As soon as possible. And more than once—memorize it until... No, never mind. You have a good memory.”

Leaving me with that, Sungyeon stared at me for a moment, then opened the door and stepped out. He got a little ways off, then abruptly turned back and knocked on my window. I rolled it down, and he leaned in just far enough to speak.

“You’re in it. Obviously.”

“Am I allowed to sue?”

But Sungyeon ignored me and walked away. Unbelievable—he just stuck me in his novel without asking and now expected me to read it?

Was that 54,900 won the last scrap of his conscience?

I half-tuned out his rambling, but his words came back to me in pieces. This day would come. Revelation. Duty’s over. Special...

Yeah. Just your average cult leader.

My high school friend, whom I’d once helped, had grown up to become a lunatic cultist. Like finding out the charity kid you sponsored had become a pirate. And the so-called “help” he’d offered me was... a link to his web novel? Was this his way of saying I’d get a share of the royalties?

If I was in it, then what kind of novel was it?

I pulled up the title I’d skimmed over earlier.

'I Alone Am a Munchkin S-rank Hunter.'

This bastard... was he joking?

***

I didn’t bother reading it. Not because I was annoyed—though I was—but because I actually had things to do. “Read Sungyeon’s novel” wasn’t anywhere on my to-do list.

But one thing nagged at me. Sungyeon had asked for my help when we were seventeen. He’d made that promise back then. And yet, the first chapter of his novel had only been uploaded at the end of the year before last.

So... he’d been planning it all along? How the hell did he know it would succeed? And didn’t he say something about “ten years” earlier?

And above all—he still hadn’t told me what exactly this “help” was. Just kept telling me to read the novel. Was he guaranteeing me some new hobby or something? No clue.

But in the end, I did read it. A week after the reunion.

The reason? Idle small talk with a younger guy in my English study group.

The group had been meeting since the start of the year, and this kid was a year younger than me—bright, capable, the kind of person who handled chores well enough to be tolerable.

We were the first to arrive at the café for that day’s session.

“What do you want to drink?”

“Oh, I’ll pay for mine—!”

“Who said I was paying?”

Where’d he get the idea? His face went crimson at my words, and he stammered,

“I’ll have an iced mocha latte...”

“Right. One iced mocha latte, and—”

“...With two pumps of hazelnut syrup, tapioca pearls, substitute oat milk, espresso whipped cream on top, and, uh, add chocolate drizzle.”

...You’ve got to be kidding me.

I stared at him in disbelief, but he repeated the order, unflinching despite his red face.

“Iced mocha latte, two pumps hazelnut syrup, pearls, oat milk, espresso whip, and chocolate drizzle...”

“One of those, and an iced Americano.”

“That’ll be 12,400 won.”

Jesus Christ. So much for thinking well of him. No wonder his drinks always looked like architectural projects. The barista looked pale.

I silently handed over my card. The kid kept chattering behind me, but I tuned it out, my brain still reeling from his laundry-list order.

Once we sat down, he started up again, like he’d been waiting for the moment.

“Thanks for the drink. If I’d known you were buying, I would’ve just ordered an iced Americano.”

“When’d you get out of the army?”

“Oh, it’s been a while, but for some reason, whenever I talk to you, my speech—”

Christ, he was the kind of idiot who got dumber when he opened his mouth. If I’d known that sooner, I’d have kept him silent forever.

And he kept going. I let it wash over me, until something familiar caught my ear.

“...So I thought maybe you too, haha, but it’s probably just a coincidence the names are the same.”

“Wait. What?”

“Uh? Just that it’s probably coincidence—”

“No, before that.”

He flinched under my glare and stammered it out again.

“There’s this character in Nas-hun with the exact same name as you, and, uh, his personality’s kind of bad, so I thought—”

“What’s Nas-hun?”

“It’s a web novel... I Alone Am a Munchkin S-rank Hunter. It’s kinda popular. Do you read web novels?”

“No.”

I rolled the title around in my head. Only one reason it sounded familiar—Sungyeon had told me about it a few days ago.

Not only had he used my name without permission, but... he’d made the guy an asshole?

So he’d completely forgotten that I’d once helped him.

The realization that my high school friend had repaid kindness with spite was... a bit shocking. And not just any spite—he’d made me into some unlikeable prick?

That night, I finally opened Sungyeon’s novel. I planned to remember every absurd detail and sue him for all he was worth.

And I couldn’t help but laugh once I saw it.

The “Seo Jehyun” in there wasn’t just unpleasant—he was a raving, psychopathic villain who betrayed the protagonist over and over.

***

“How... could...”

I felt my life slipping away as I stared at the figure in front of me. Too much information—my brain couldn’t process it. Maybe the blood loss was making it worse.

But one thing was certain.

The person in front of me... was Seo Jehyun.

That was my last memory.

"..."

“Hah!”

I shot upright. The familiar ceiling. The familiar room.

No way...

I scrambled to check the date. Unbelievably, I’d gone back five years. Three months before meeting Seo Jehyun.

“Is this even possible?”

“This can’t be real.”

I let out a hollow laugh.

The novel began with the protagonist, Kwon Taehan, being betrayed and killed by Seo Jehyun, then returning to the past five years earlier. In his second life, he was given a status window and the mission to save the world. Seo Jehyun’s goal, on the other hand, was to bring about its destruction—killing Taehan again and again. Naive to the core, Taehan tried repeatedly to convince him to change, only to be met with the same result every time.

The author had even helpfully spelled out that Seo Jehyun was a psychopath—incapable of empathy, only able to mimic it—and a calamity in human form. Supposedly, he even smiled while killing Taehan.

“What the hell does this bastard think of me?”

Sungyeon had really repaid my help with pure spite.

Never mind the plot—even the writing was choppy, the pacing nonsense. But somehow it was popular. I guess in a dopamine-starved reality, that was to be expected.

I mean, if the world suddenly split apart and people awakened with superpowers, it would be interesting.

Anyway, I read through each of Seo Jehyun’s crimes carefully, chapter by chapter. Because I read so thoroughly, it took me three full days to finish.

By the end, I had every detail burned into my mind.

If this was what Sungyeon meant by “help,” then the right thing to do was sue him.

Yes. Sue him.

The thought made me smile. I drifted off to sleep, exhausted after three unplanned days of web novel bingeing.

When I woke—after what felt like a longer sleep than usual—something was wrong.

'Welcome, Seo Jehyun!'

In a familiar space, with an unfamiliar feeling, a massive translucent window floated before my eyes.