CH 3

Inside the novel, Seo Go-woon committed all sorts of assaults, yet he took great care to protect his own body. Whenever he was even slightly injured, he would not only go to the hospital but also shamelessly visit the guild to receive healing from a healer. However, both the hospital and the healing were only possible under Seo Taeju’s implicit approval, so Seo Go-woon bought ridiculously expensive healing potions and hid them all around the house as insurance.

What I thought of was a potion.

‘Ah, damn it, you bastard. When will I ever beat you up?’

As I searched for the potion, every movement sent a tidal wave of pain rushing through me. Despite gritting my teeth and enduring the agony, I finally found what I was looking for – a cold glass bottle within reach. Inside was a top-grade healing potion, colorless with shimmering silver pearls floating in it. It was infused with holy water and had the ability to mend any injury, as long as it wasn’t fatal.

‘Who would have ever imagined that a potion that expensive would be hidden under the left seat of the sofa?’

I gathered my last strength to open the potion’s cap and drank it down in one go. As soon as the tasteless potion entered my body, all the pain I felt with each breath disappeared.

“Wow…”

I cautiously moved my body to check the healing effect. Even the slightest touch used to make my hair stand on end with pain, but now I felt no pain at all. There was no pain even when I got up.

“I almost died,” I sighed with relief as I sank into the sofa. “So, I really did enter the novel.”

Ever since leaving the shelter, I had fought monsters with the sole purpose of staying alive, but I was unable to grasp the reality of the situation. The pain had clouded my senses, preventing me from understanding the gravity of my situation. But the potion had cleared my head, and the harsh reality dawned on me. Placing the empty bottle on the table, I rose to my feet. While the potion had healed my injuries, it seemed to have no effect on muscle soreness, as I felt a faint ache throughout my body.

“I can’t believe I’m sore from just running. This would have been a breeze if I still had my original body.” Grumbling to myself, I loosened my stiff muscles and set out to find Seo Go-woon’s room.

“What a terrible fate. What kind of misfortune is this? Tsk.”

The house was very spacious and had many rooms, probably because it was once a home where he lived with his parents. I had to be cautious because if I chose the wrong room, I would face Seo Taeju’s terrifying aura when he returned home.

I opened the door to the first room that I saw.

“Ha, there’s no need to look for this one.”

Upon opening the door, I was greeted with the sight of expensive-looking designer clothes and jewelry scattered across the floor. “I could buy weapons with this money,” I muttered as I made my way into the room. Not wanting to step on the luxury items, I carefully pushed them aside and settled into a chair in the corner.

“Anyway… this is driving me crazy.” I sighed heavily, feeling more hopeless than I had during months of chasing down a single target. Despite having many leads, each clue was something I didn’t want to face.

“Transmigration, huh…”

I haven’t read many novels, but generally, the characters who transmigrated always seem to die in reality. Some are hit by a truck, others by a motorcycle. That’s why terms like “reincarnation truck” and “transmigration motorcycle” were coined. However, I never experienced being hit by a truck, nor did I hear someone say, “Wake up, hero.”

‘So why am I possessing this body?’

“Could it be that I died?”

Although it would make sense if I died, considering the cliché of transmigration stories, but it’s unlikely that I wouldn’t remember my own death.

Right before I opened my eyes, I had dozed off only for a moment.

If this were a movie, a gangster who noticed the detective’s stakeout would have planted a bomb on the car, and it would have exploded in the blink of an eye. However, in reality, gangsters can hardly obtain a gun, let alone a bomb. Besides, most of the cars used for stakeouts are hastily acquired from the used car market, making it almost impossible for the gangsters to know about them.

“How on earth did I get transmigrated? No, no… Right now, the important question isn’t why I got transmigrated, but how do I return?”

Most protagonists in novels have no lingering attachments to their original world. But I am different.

My name is Kim Hae-ah, which means ‘child of the sea.’ I was a baby abandoned by the seashore during a typhoon and tsunami warning. If a worried fisherman hadn’t found me tied to a boat on the pier, I would have died. I was named Hae-ah and grew up in an orphanage.

Because of my fierce appearance, I was never adopted and faced all sorts of ridicule while attending school.

One day, I met the person who changed my life. He was the most righteous, strongest, and gentle person I knew – a detective in the violent crimes division. He was my benefactor, who saved me from false accusations and wearing handcuffs due to my orphan background.

I wanted to be like him.

After being discharged from the military, I passed the police exam, and the only thing left for me was to join his team and become his partner. But now, should I give up the goal of my life, my whole existence, and the culmination of all my efforts just because of this one obstacle called transmigration?

That would be denying my entire life.

“I will return. Somehow.”

But the problem is that I have no idea how to go back.

“Ugh… This is really frustrating.”

I calmly reviewed the contents of the novel. The novel “Cradle of Apocalypse” was a fantasy story about hunters fighting against the Tower’s trials given by God.

“Come to think of it, there was a god in this novel, right? Should I meet Him?”

The setting of this novel was like the modern world, but with gods actually existing. The problem, however, is that…

“—the god never descended.”

In the novel, the god only conveyed messages through the saintess and never appeared directly. Moreover, the saintess, who was the only one able to communicate with the god, never left the temple. She didn’t even lift a finger to help with the ‘Cradle’ strategy, which would lead to the destruction of the world if failed.

So, the remaining option is….

“I must join the party that’s attacking the cradle,” I voiced, tapping my desk with my index finger.

The hunters in the novel attacked the cradle not only because the penalty for failure was the destruction of the world, but also because they could obtain a bead that would grant their wishes if they succeeded.

“It’s infuriating when I think about it. Why did I have to possess this character?”

Fortunately, I remembered all the contents of the novel.

“It’s better than being in a novel I know nothing about. Phew.”

I recalled the description of the cradle after calming my mind. In the novel, the cradle itself was the final stage; which is the first and last SSS-rank dungeon.

But there’s one problem.

In the novel, the attack on the cradle failed, and the world was destroyed. <Cradle of Apocalypse> was truly a hopeless, bad ending, and a failed work.

“Was the failure of the cradle attack due to the lack of competent hunters?”

Yes, the failure of the cradle attack was due to a single reason—the absence of high-ranking hunters.

“Then I need to save them before they become ‘corrupted.'”

In the novel, high-ranking hunters died from an unexplained explosion of power in the early stages of the story. Later on, it was revealed that their deaths were due to a unique setting in this work, called ‘corruption.’

“I can’t tell them not to kill monsters either.”

The corruption that occurs when killing monsters is not visible on the surface, but gradually accumulates. When the corruption completely covers their bodies, they either go berserk or die instantly. The higher the rank of the monster, the more corruption accumulates. In the end, high-ranking hunters who hunted such monsters all died from corruption.

“In the end, the only solution is ‘purification.'”

From the middle of the novel, information related to ‘corruption’ and items that could purify it were revealed. However, by that time, most of the high-ranking hunters who could have been core members of the cradle attack party had already died.

In the end, the party made up of the strongest hunters at that time was annihilated, and the protagonist, Seo Taeju, also died along with the cradle attack party. But at this point, no hunter had died yet.

“I don’t have a choice.”

‘If I save the hunters necessary for the attack, there might be a small chance of success. And if the attack succeeds…’

“I might be able to return to my world.”

◈◈◈

Having set a goal, I first called up the status window to understand Seo Go-woon’s exact situation.

Level: 4

Job: Alchemist

Grade: D

Age: 27

HP: 300 / MP: 2,000

Attributes: Strength C / Stamina C / Agility D / Magic A / Dexterity S+ / Attack F / Defense F

Unique Abilities: [Disassembly] / [Synthesis] / [Comprehension]

“… Quite low level, huh.”

Seo Go-woon awakened at the age of 20, but his level was still only 4. What on earth has he been doing? Well, judging from the descriptions in the novel, it’s fortunate he even managed to reach level 4…

‘Ah, mandatory dungeon training.’

Seo Go-woon, who was afraid of monsters, wouldn’t dare enter a dungeon, so he must have gained levels through the mandatory dungeon training that all awakened hunters receive. Why didn’t I think of that? The fool wouldn’t go into a dungeon on his own.

However, there was something even more serious than his level.

“His HP is a total mess.”

Even after drinking the highest-grade healing potion and fully restoring his HP, it was still only 300.

Wow, this is a pathetic amount of HP. Is it because of his low level? Or is it just garbage to begin with?

“Anyway, there’s nothing I like about this guy, no wonder I disliked him. Let’s check the skill window.”

“…At least he seems to have used his skills quite consistently.”

Attribute levels increase by killing monsters and gaining experience, but skill levels increase as they are used, not by experience points. Considering his attribute level of 4, the fact that his Disassembly and Synthesis skills are at levels 8 and 9 shows that Seo Go-woon has used his skills to some extent.

“What about passive skills?”

Seo Go-woon died early as an extra, so the original novel mentioned his skills, but not even a word about his passive abilities. As a result, there was still no way to know exactly how these abilities were used.

‘Hmm. I can roughly grasp the truth and the continuity, but I don’t know what amplification is. Well, I’ll figure it out as I use it.’

My goal was to return to my original world.

There was no need to understand everything, as I wasn’t going to live my entire life as Seo Go-woon. I closed the skill window and fell into deep thought.

“Um. The strategy for the cradle…”

The reason why the strategy team that first entered the ‘Cradle’ in the novel was flustered was because the attribute of the ‘Cradle’ was darkness. Darkness had a certain resistance to all attributes except light. Higher ranks could overcome attributes, but one couldn’t ignore it’s complete superiority.

During the cradle strategy, there was even a scene where the protagonist Seo Taejoo muttered that it would have been better to bring a B-rank light attribute hunter instead of an A-rank fire attribute hunter if he had known that the dungeon’s attribute was darkness.

“Then I have to find someone with a light attribute first. Hmm. Light attribute…”

Many names came and went in the novel, which had a large number of characters.

However, in the latter part, most high-ranking hunters were dead, so the highest light attribute hunter who appeared frequently was about B-rank. The rarity of the light attribute itself also played a part.

In the end, a new thought came to my mind.

“Since there aren’t many A-rank or higher light attribute hunters, should I look for a dual attribute?”

In “Cradle of Apocalypse”, there was a unique setting with multi-attribute hunters, nicknamed ‘Multi,’ who had two or more attributes. The abilities of multi-attribute hunters were divided into primary and secondary, in which if the primary ability was high, the secondary ability was often high as well.

“If it’s a Multi with light… Ah, Shin Soo-ha.”

When I thought of Multi, Shin Soo-ha came to mind immediately.

Shin Soo-ha was the strongest character in the early and mid-novel, ranking first in strength, but was the unfortunate character who was the first to leave as the story emphasized the risk of corruption.

“Right, even in the novel, it was mentioned that it would have been great to have Shin Soo-ha as one of the party members.”

Shin Soo-ha was an SSS-rank, on par with the Cradle, and a multi-attribute hunter with the main ability of telekinesis and a secondary ability of light, making him the most suitable candidate for the Cradle.

“I must save Shin Soo-ha no matter what.”

As Shin Soo-ha was not the protagonist but an extra, his death scene was not directly shown. It was just slightly exposed as if to give a hint, and the first time it was mentioned was…

“Seo Taejoo heard the news at the funeral… Huh?”

Funeral.

Seo Taejoo, the chief mourner, heard about Shin Soo-ha’s death at the funeral.

Seo Taejoo was the chief mourner at only one funeral. Seo Go-woon’s funeral.

In other words…

“…Shit, it’s today.”

Translator’s Notes

Please be minded that there’s a loooooooooooooot of profanity in this chapter. Same with the next ones.

Apart from that, I hope you enjoy reading about MC’s comedic yet unfortunate situation.