Chapter 1

　　In my previous life, there was a novel titled Preventing the Destruction of the World.

　　I had been a little creeped out initially because the early-story villain shared my exact name. However, "Dohyun" isn’t exactly a rare name, so I brushed it off. Before I knew it, I was completely hooked on the story—drawn in by the protagonist’s stubbornly upright personality, the occasional frustrating obstacles, and the cathartic payback that always followed.

　　PDW was a fantasy novel about a righteous protagonist named Do Yudam who, true to the title, struggled desperately to stop the apocalypse. And Do Yudam had a nasty, petty rival. That rival was—

　　"Waaaaah! Uncle! Come with meee!"

　　—currently clinging to my leg for dear life: Baek Hamin.

　　"…Would you care to explain what on earth is going on here, Hunter Seong Dohyun?"

　　My question exactly. Why the hell is the main villain of the original story stuck to my leg like a piece of chewed gum?

* * *

　　To explain this, we have to go back about three months.

　　Back then, I wasn’t in some monster-infested book world. I was living an ordinary life in South Korea, a modern country with an advanced civilization.

　　I had fallen asleep after work while reading a webnovel.

　　"What the—!"

　　I shot up in bed, jolted awake by a deafening roar that felt like it was splitting my eardrums. Did a war break out? Still half-asleep, I looked around—and slapped a hand over my mouth at the bizarre sight before me.

　　What the hell is that?

　　A creature with a wolf’s head on a human body was baring its teeth, charging straight for me. Instinctively, I tried to scramble up and run, but my body locked up.

　　Low growls echoed from all directions. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t do anything. Just as I froze, paralyzed by fear, a slender, glowing thread appeared in front of me.

　　The thread twitched, as if beckoning me to follow. I took off after it, running for my life, when—

　　"Argh!"

　　The ground suddenly heaved beneath my feet. I screamed, losing my balance, but before I hit the ground, someone yanked me up by the scruff of my neck.

　　"Are you all right?"

　　"Ah, yes. Thank you."

　　"Well now… that’s a relief."

　　Huh? That didn’t sound like someone who was actually relieved.

　　The man looked me up and down, his drawl dripping with sarcasm that made it clear this was anything but a relief. Then, he dropped me like a sack of laundry.

　　Thanks to him, I rolled across the dirt. I stared down at my palms, which were scraped raw and beginning to bleed. Blowing on my stinging hands, I glared at the man who had "saved" me. If you’re going to help, couldn’t you at least be a little nicer about it?

　　Anyway, what the hell is this situation? I tried to look around, but the growling only grew louder. Blue eyes gleamed at me from every direction, sending a chill down my spine.

　　"You can at least clean up your own mess, can’t you?"

　　After that snide remark, the man stepped onto a staircase that had materialized in midair. I scrambled to follow, but by the time I reached it, the steps had turned translucent. I couldn’t climb them.

　　Meanwhile, the wolf-headed creature was creeping closer, teeth bared. Its body was low to the ground, coiled to pounce.

　　"This is a dream, Seong Dohyun. It’s just a dream."

　　I squeezed my eyes shut. I just needed to wake up. Fast. I wanted to jolt awake drenched in cold sweat, gasp, "What a crazy dream," and laugh it off—but the growling surrounding me only intensified.

　　I was going to lose my mind. The wolf’s claws flashed—silver, either shining like metal or actually made of it. I screwed my eyes shut tight.

　　I don’t want to die!

　　At that moment, accompanied by a soft chime, blue text popped up in front of my eyes.

　　[Would you like to use the skill ‘Splish Splash’?]

　　"Anything!"

　　The second I answered, my heart started pounding in a strange rhythm. Rippling waves appeared around the wolf’s head, pulsing in time with the beat.

　　Like ink spreading through water, the ripples formed an eerie current, then coalesced into a single thread. The thread floated toward me. The moment I grabbed it and yanked—

　　The wolf’s head exploded with a wet pop.

　　"Urp."

　　The grotesque sight made bile rise in my throat, but my fingertips moved on their own, plucking at the threads spilling from the wolf heads as if I were playing a zither.

　　A short while later, every wolf head had burst. I stood in the middle of a scene drenched in blood, unable to pull myself together.

　　"Are you satisfied now?"

　　The man who appeared in front of me was the same one who had "rescued" me earlier—or rather, the one who had thrown me into this pit and disappeared.

　　"What the hell did you do?!"

　　"That’s my line, Hunter Seong Dohyun. What were you thinking, touching the Core?"

　　His voice was as smooth as his languid features, so even though his pronunciation was crisp, my brain refused to process his words.

　　"Me…?"

　　"Yes, you. Once again, you opened the Core without authorization, and once again, I was the one who had to clean up the mess. You might have killed the most werewolves this time, but… I’ll be the one getting the credit."

　　I curled my still-trembling fingers into fists and glared at him as he descended the stairs one step at a time. His cream-colored coat flared around him, perfectly matching his hair.

　　An inexplicable fury, a genuine killing intent, boiled up inside me.

　　I could see threads flowing from his body. For a second, I wondered if I could pop him like I’d popped the wolf heads. But in the end, I let the strength drain from my hands.

　　"And as always," he added.

　　He trailed off, then stepped back onto a staircase that appeared in midair, looking down at me with a smile.

　　"You’ll stand there and look up at me in awe."

　　My brain sizzled like it was boiling over.

　　I had no idea what conversation I’d just walked into. Part of me wanted to grab him by the collar and demand to know what the hell he thought he was doing. Another part just wanted to escape this nightmare and go home to sleep.

　　I was still glaring at him when I sensed people nearby.

　　"Hunter Baek Eunseong, sir, good work. We’ll take over from here."

　　"Yeah, Eunseong. Go get some rest."

　　The man they called Baek Eunseong turned away, saying he’d leave the rest to them. I watched the hem of his coat recede, then noticed the people who had bowed politely to him approaching me instead.

　　White uniforms with green crosses. Anyone could tell they were medical staff, but for some reason, I felt a surge of resistance.

　　"Let’s get you treated first, Hunter Seong Dohyun."

　　Huh? Hunter? Me, a hunter? And why was that guy addressed as "sir" while I was just addressed casually? Is that why I felt so prickly?

　　While I frowned, one of them approached, sprinkled some unknown liquid and powder on my wounds, and wrapped them in bandages. Then, out of nowhere, he clamped a hand around my wrist.

　　"What are you doing?"

　　"Look, could you stop tailing Eunseong already? You’re making a scene."

　　When did I ever tail that bastard? I wanted to argue, but the moment he finished treating me, he stood up and walked off to someone else before I could get a word out.

　　Left alone with no one to complain to, I could only look around. Everyone else was heading back in groups of two or three. I was the only one standing by myself.

　　I stayed put, just in case someone came looking for me, hugging my loudly growling stomach. I couldn’t remember eating breakfast. Last night’s single pack of instant ramen had been it. No wonder I was starving after running around like that.

　　Sighing, I patted my pockets. There was no food at home, so I’d have to buy something on the way back. I dug around automatically—and then froze.

　　Did I go to bed in these clothes last night? I was sure I’d changed into pajamas before sleeping, but right now I was wearing a slightly oversized hoodie and black track pants. Did I even own pants like this…?

　　Frowning, I patted down the pants and found a wallet. I didn’t own this wallet either. Mine was brown leather. This one was a fabric wallet with a Velcro flap.

　　Staring blankly at it, I opened it and checked inside. The first thing I saw was an ID card.

　　Korea Hunter Association Certified Hunter License

　　Hold on… I forcibly pushed away the hypothesis flashing through my mind. Standing there doing nothing, I finally mustered the courage to run over to a glass window.

　　I cautiously checked the face reflected in the frosted glass and let out a shaky breath.

　　"Ha… What the hell."

　　For a second, I thought I’d been shoved into someone else’s body. Thankfully, it was my face. My eyes were sunken like I hadn’t slept in over a week, and my cheeks were so hollow they looked ready to cave in, but it was still me.

　　Ignoring the strange sense of wrongness as I stared at the glass, I looked around.

　　First… first, I eat. I’ll think after I eat.

　　The moment I thought that, hunger hit me like a truck.

　　The instant I thought, I could really go for a hot bowl of soup, the same kind of guiding thread that had shown me a way out earlier appeared in the air.

　　I followed the thread to a restaurant, drawn in by the warmth and delicious smell of soup. In a daze, I sat down and ordered a bowl.

　　The owner, wiping down the next table, glanced at me and grunted, "Pay first."

　　"Ah."

　　With this hobo look, anyone would ask for payment upfront. That thought made a knot of anxiety tighten in my chest. What if I didn’t have any money?

　　Heart pounding, I opened the wallet—and couldn’t help but grin at the sight of cash stuffed in tight. I handed over a ten-dollar bill and polished off everything from the rice and soup to the radish kimchi, scraping the bowl clean. Once I was full, my stalled brain finally started working again.

　　No matter how hard I tried to push it down, one uneasy theory kept shoving its way to the front of my mind. I forcibly ignored every "what if" and "no way" and reached for my phone to distract myself—but there was only the wallet in my pocket.

　　Too scared to open the wallet again, I stared blankly at the dark TV screen until I finally picked up a newspaper someone had left behind.

　　The moment I unfolded it, I froze in shock.

　　The man who had been smirking at me earlier was plastered across the front page.

　　White Domain Guild’s Baek Eunseong: The Future in His Hands.

　　White Domain Guild. Baek Eunseong.

　　Muttering the name under my breath, I scoured the paper, praying, Please, no, let it not be what I think.

　　Why do bad hunches never miss?

　　Unlucky Awakener Do Yudam: Top of His Class at the Ability Academy.

　　I squeezed my eyes shut and, with trembling hands, opened the wallet and pulled out the hunter license.

　　Korea Hunter Association Certified Hunter License

　　S-Rank Hunter: Seong Dohyun

　　The sharp-featured man in the photo had the exact same face as me, except for the golden eyes. Even the name and birthdate were the same.

　　And Do Yudam was the protagonist of the novel I’d been reading before bed.

　　Putting all that together… this was the world inside the book. And I was the villain fated to kidnap Baek Hamin, the nephew of Baek Eunseong and the man who had just been glaring at me like he wanted me dead.