\=\=\=

[Kim Suho]

17 – 27 years old in the story

A righteous, honest man and a hard-worker. Though he comes from a common background, he is of extraordinary character and talent. As a genius who made his name known in the military academy, he possesses a sense of justice and other upright characteristics befitting a hero. He carries a special secret that he hasn’t revealed to anyone.

[Shin Jonghak]

17 – 27 years old in the story

The fourth generation descendant of the Jinsung Corp, one of the greatest chaebol in Korea, which contends for the number one spot. As a child of a chaebol family, he is a narcissist and an elitist. Because of his personality and the sense of inferiority he feels against Kim Suho, he later becomes a villain.

'I have to be the best. I cannot tolerate anyone being above me.' With such obstinacy, he confronts Kim Suho.

\=\=\=

The above two were the two main characters of my novel.

Though the novel had many more characters, write them all down was impossible. Within my novel were billions of characters. Unless the characters have ‘important roles’ like the heroine or the helper, giving a character a name wasn’t necessary.

… Why was I saying all this?

—Hero Association’s Agent Military Academy Seoul Branch Graduation, Class of 2024, Rank 1 Cadet, Kim Suho.

It was because the story in my novel was happening in front of my eyes.

Called up to the stage, Kim Suho walked up with a stiffened face as though he was nervous.

We were in a huge auditorium suggestive of a temple. In it were 3000 cadets and thousands of spectators. Their gazes all turned to one person, Kim Suho.

“He’s Kim Suho? Wow.”

“He’s so handsome\~”

Several women watched with admiration and adoration.

“…This is why people say Gift is all that matters. Who cares if you try hard? People like him end up taking first place anyways.”

“That guy completely lucked out with his Gift.”

And naturally, he received the jealousy and envy of young teenagers.

“His grades are said to be the greatest in the past 10 years.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of him. His Gift was announced too, right? What was it again… Sword Saint?”

Guild associates, who came to watch the best cadet in recent history, flashed their eyes.

They were looking down from the highest seats of the auditorium. However, I could hear their voices. They had to be at least a kilometer away, but as long as I looked their way, I could hear their words clearly.

Not only their words, but I could also see their faces, almost as though I was right in front of them.

Perhaps, this was my ‘Gift.’

“Yes, in regards to swords, he is said to receive the world’s protection.”

“Hm… That’s a pretty vague description, but I guess the information from the academy is all like that.”

“We called dibs on that kid so don’t touch him.”

I recognized one of the whispering faces.

Yun Seung-Ah. An important assistant of the main character and one of the heroines who almost became the main character’s lover. Just when the two of them were hitting it off – in reality, when the main character was hitting off with many of the heroines – I suspended my novel. Thus, the two never became lovers.

“Dibs? What dibs. When it comes to cadets, there is no such thing.”

At another guild associate’s callous words, Yun Seung-Ah smiled sweetly and rebutted.

“Is that why 'Essence of the Strait' can’t escape second place?”

I knew Yun Seung-Ah’s face. Surprisingly, she looked like my first love from college. That was probably because I thought of her when I was describing Yun Seung-Ah’s character. Though, she was my crush to be exact.

“…Can I take that as a challenge?”

“I’m kidding, of course. Plus, we still have three years to go before we can scout any of them.”

“It’s two years.”

“…You know contacting them before they graduate is illegal, right?”

“That’s only if you’re found out.”

Yun Seung-Ah and the man glared at each other. With their staring contest as the starting point, the VIP seats’ atmosphere began to heat up.

And thus, the fight for Kim Suho had already begun.

—Class of 2024, Rank 2 Cadet, Shin Jonghak.

Meanwhile, the other main character stood up.

He was the descendant of the Jinsung clan. His appearance rivaled Kim Suho as well.

The audience stirred just like when Kim Suho walked up. But unlike with Kim Suho, envy and jealousy didn’t exist. There was only admiration and adoration. With Kim Suho, they thought, ‘Why is he better than me?’ but with Shin Jonghak, it was, ‘He was better than me from birth.’

As if to show off his noble blood, Shin Jonghak walked up to the stage completely composed.

Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak.

Standing side by side, the two glared at each other.

Electricity seemed to crackle from their eyes.

Without a shadow of the doubt, these two were characters from my novel.

Then where was I?

I wasn’t on the stage but in the farthest back seat of the auditorium. I wasn’t ‘one out of three thousand’, but a member of the ‘three thousand.’ No guild associate looked my way.

“Chundong, what rank are you? I’m rank 2900.”

Next, to me, a boy resembling a piglet asked. On his nametag were the characters ‘Kim Ho Sup’. This meant that he had an eventual role. Though he couldn’t be a Hero because of his nonexistent physical abilities, his Gift was outstanding for information gathering.

“Chundong-chan★?”

“… I don’t know.”

I didn’t know who I was. I didn’t even know why my name was Chundong.

If something like this had to happen, shouldn’t I be one of the two on stage?

“Hey, c'mon, if you don’t know that…”

“I don’t know.”

Once again, I didn’t know. This world was the novel I wrote, but I was in the body of a character I had never written before. Other than being a cadet in the Agent Military Academy, I was the most ordinary and the most connectionless character, the type whose name wouldn’t exist anywhere in the novel. In other words… I was an extra.[1]

…No, I was a speck of dust.

In English, an extra is usually referred to as “background actor/performer/cast/etc”, but I will be sticking with ‘extra’.

One day, I received an email. The sender asked if he could remake my novel.

At the time, I was dumbfounded. I might have been on a short hiatus, but to ask to remake a novel that was in paid serialization…

I, of course, refused. In fact, I didn’t reply.

It was partly because doing something like that without permission would go against copyright laws, but it was also because I was ashamed of the 'hiatus' status I was in.

The ******** I was writing was called 'The Returnee Hero.'

It wasn’t a sensation, but it was a fairly popular novel and the greatest hit in my five years of writing.

But at the time I received the email, I had been on hiatus for three months.

The reason was simple. The words didn't come to me.

At first, I poured my passion into writing. My personal note on the world’s setting neared 50,000 characters[1], and I poured my heart out in writing each chapter.

But after a year of writing, I fell into an awful slump.

Even so, the novel continued for six months, reaching the mid-late stage of the story. But because I forcefully pushed myself to write, the story was full of plot holes, and the personalities of the characters had collapsed. Unsurprisingly, the number of readers dropped by the day. I was too scared to even read the comments.

In the end, I chose to go on hiatus.

But no matter how long I rested, I couldn’t continue with the story, not even a single sentence came out.

When I was wallowing in misery from realizing my lacking writing skills…

I received another email asking to remake my novel.

[[email protected]]

[Please. This is for personal satisfaction. I will not reveal the remake version of the novel anywhere. It will only stay between me and you. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be inspired by the remake and come up with a way to continue the story…]

It was a fairly long email consisting of six sentences, but what it was asking for was simple.

He wanted to remake my novel for self-satisfaction.

How much did he like my novel to send an email like this? Since I wasn’t particularly proud of my work, I agreed, feeling thankful and ashamed.

… In that case, was that the cause of this situation?

The chance of winning the lottery was said to be 1 in 8,145,060. Then what was happening to me at this moment had to be a 1 in 7 billion chance.

I was standing in an ordinary family home.

But the world I was in wasn’t my world, and I wasn’t ‘me.’ Though one might think I was being philosophical, I really wasn’t. It was just the best way to describe the situation I was in.

I had become an extra in my novel.

An extra I had no memory writing about.

Kim Chundong.

Chundong lived in an ordinary apartment room, but he didn’t have parents. As for why, I, of course, didn’t know.

At 9 years old, Chundong was admitted to 'Agent Military Academy,' a place to nurture elites to fight monsters and Djinns.

What ability did Chundong possess to pass its entrance exam?

I didn’t know.

I didn’t know anything about him. I didn’t even know his face. I wasn’t kidding. I really didn’t.

When I look in the mirror…

(?)

That’s what I saw. An oval with a question mark.

This crazy body possession(?) or transmigration(?) was completely unreasonable. I had gone to bed just like any other day, but when I woke up, i found myself on the last day of the semester at Agent Military Academy.

At first, I had two suspicions.

First was that I was being pranked.

But that idea was shot down in just five seconds. I couldn’t even be bothered to explain why.

Second was that I was dreaming.

But I naturally came to dismiss the idea. As everyone knew, the thought of being in a dream never occurred to dreaming people, and more importantly, no dream continued for two weeks with such a clear sense of reality.

As a result, I spent the past two weeks pondering whether the ‘world inside the novel’ should be treated as the ‘reality I was in.’

Ding Dong—

Tatatatatata\~

Just like I’ve been doing in the last two weeks, I was lying in bed and staring blankly at the ceiling when my smartphone alarm began to ring. Glancing over, I saw that it was ‘time to go to school.’

“Why the hell do I need to go to school.”

13 days ago, it was Agent Military Academy’s graduation. But the ones graduating were only non-combatant cadets, and non-combatant cadets couldn’t be called Heroes. Combat class cadets had to attend the academy for three more years.

These three years would be spent at [Cube], a Hero Academy.

Unfortunately, this damned Chundong guy was a combat type cadet. Again, I had no clue who he was.

“Ah… How frustrating.”

I had barely done anything for two weeks. I spent most of my time on the internet, ate food when I got hungry, went back online to search for a way out, laughed at the surprisingly funny variety shows airing on TV, ate food when I got hungry… Anyways, the only noteworthy event was going to Seoul two days ago for the three-hour long ‘Cube Entrance Ceremony’.

I didn’t want to go, but I had no other choice since I was told I would be expelled if I didn’t attend.

“I do think I need to go, but…”

I couldn’t figure out who dropped me here, for what reason and with what power.

But after living idly for two weeks, I reluctantly came to accept my fate.

It seemed I would live this way for a long time.

In that case, I at least needed to make a living for myself.

In my novel, being a 'Hero' was anyone’s dream job. Though things become serious midway through because of Villains, the hiatus was not long afterwards.

I just had to survive until then. When the time came, I was sure I’d figure something out.

[7:33 AM]

There was only 57 minutes until school.

I got up and trudged to the bathroom.

Standing in front of the mirror, mister question mark greeted me.

“… Screw this question mark. Is it ever going to go away?”

Without joking, my face was a question mark. I didn’t know why.

It wasn’t because I didn’t describe my face. If that were the case, it didn’t make sense for the other billions of people to have their own faces. So why was only Chundong’s face a question mark?

“I don’t get it.”

Murmuring begrudgingly, I washed my face. I could feel my skin. I had hair too. That made things all the more creepy.

After cleaning myself up a bit, I changed into Cube’s uniform, which I got at the entrance ceremony. Other than that, I had no other baggage.

People who saw me in this uniform would undoubtedly send looks of envy, But I didn’t know what I was doing.

My face was a freaking question mark, how was I supposed to figure anything out?

Turning the doorknob, I glanced back.

My home for the past two weeks. The apartment room I barely found thanks to the address written in my cadet card. It seemed I got attached to it in this short period of time. I felt like I would miss it.

Cube floated in the middle of the East Sea. Once I left, I probably wouldn’t come back.

“Ehew.”

Putting behind the big apartment room I was happy to have, I stepped into the dark and unfamiliar world.

50,000 Korean characters is about 10,000 English words

The world’s greatest training institute boasting state-of-the-art magic, science, and engineering.

[Cube]

Cube was the name of a huge island located in the East Sea. This artificial island was twice the size of Yeouido.[1]

In this huge area, there were only about 5000 Hero cadets, of which 1300 were first-years. While 2000 non-combatants graduated two weeks ago, elite cadets from all over the world gathered here, making it more competitive than before. In a way, the place was too harsh and dreary to be home for 17 to 19 year olds.

And starting from the second year, magicians who chose to become Heroes would come from the ‘National Magic University,’ so that was another 200\~300 cadets.

Furthermore, there were training instructors, cafeteria ladies, cleaners, recruiters visiting occasionally, government associates, engineers who did maintenance and operations, soldiers dispatched as securities, doctors and researchers for taking care of cadets, convenience store workers who worked under Cube, and more… With all these people, about 50,000 people resided in Cube.

Naturally, this place was a highly important hubbub where the attention of investors gathered. Given that my novel’s setting was faithfully followed, Korea was a world power rivaling the United States. I seemed to remember listing several reasons for it, but the more obvious reason was that I was Korean.

In any case, Chundong was a member of Cube so he could be said to be an elite. But I didn’t allocate any story for Chundong.

So Chundong’s destiny should’ve been to live in areas detached from the main storyline. While he would not have lived the important and burdening life of the main character, he probably would have lived a comfortable worry-free life.

… And that was the life I wanted too.

Staring at the door to the classroom, I sighed.

[Novice – Veritas]

Novice referred to first year cadets, while Veritas was the name of the class. Simply put, I was in year 1 class 1.

I knew what this class was.

Shin Jonghak and Kim Suho were in this class, and as cliques formed around them, many schemes, mostly started by Shin Jonghak and his followers, would make the class rowdy. As a member of the class, I would most likely be swept in regardless of my will.

“Huu.”

After collecting my breath, I slowly and carefully opened the door.

The interior was sleek; white with no sign of dust and three long desks cascading up.

Where should I sit? I looked around the classroom and found Shin Jonghak sitting on the farthest seat back. With his eyes closed and his hands in his pocket, he seemed imposing. Next to him was his childhood friend, Yoo Yeonha, chattering.

The two of them didn’t pay any attention to me.

Thank. God.

I sat down on the edge seat of the middle row.

Like a proper extra, I looked straight ahead in a daze. There was no chalkboard, but a projection screen for holograms to be shown.

Looking at it, I couldn’t help but sigh. After going through high school and even mandatory military service, I couldn’t believe I had to go back to school. There couldn’t be a worse calamity.

“… Huuaam.”

Cube’s semester began on February. The outside was cold and the inside being warm naturally made me sleepy.

Currently, it was 8 A.M. Class began at 8:30.

In truth, I didn’t expect to arrive this early. Going from Seoul to Cube was quick using the ‘Portal,’ but I expected to get lost once I got here. However, there was something called the Cube Bus, a bus that ran every 10 minutes around Cube that didn’t exist in my original setting.

Thinking about it now, it was a mistake on my part to have the main character walk around the huge campus all the time. Since the novel became a real world, it seemed it was fixing plot holes on its own.

… Anyways, let’s sleep a little. I don’t want to think anymore.

Closing my eyes, I dropped my head on the desk.

—Now!

A thunderous shout woke me up.

When I opened my eyes, the instructor was behind the podium.

“Today’s the first day, so there won’t be any special training, but I hope you all did your morning training. Training is never wrong, especially in the morning when mana density is high.”

Morning training?

…Oh, right. There was something like that. A training ground that opened up from 5 A.M. to 8 A.M. I had hurriedly stuffed it into the story to give the leading characters an opportunity to meet.

“Now, let’s start with self-introductions. I’m Kim Soohyuk, the instructor in charge of you all for the year.”

That name, I could vaguely recall it.

“My ranking point is 3850. World rank 9737. By the Association’s classification, I would be

high-intermediate rank grade 5.”

The students’ eyes lit up. It was understandable. There were around two million Heroes in the world. Rank 9737 meant he was very skilled.

“I think that’s enough for my introduction.”

Kim Soohyuk seemed to have liked the students’ reactions as the corners of his mouth curled up to a grin.

“The first day will feel special. You might not have slept due to excitement and worry, or maybe you’re feeling great about being able to improve yourselves. Heh, maybe you’re happy to see your crushes again.”

The cadets broke out into a small laughter. But the instructor froze his expression sternly.

“But Cube isn’t the same as it was before. I promise you, there will be no time for relationships. In Cube, you will experience several real combat situations. Look forward to experiencing how fearful the real world is.”

His roguish smile sent a chill down my back.

Combat training, I had to take part in that too.

“Next, Cube is objective. The only indicator of your success will be your grade. Guilds will only look at your grade. Thus, we will grade you accurately and strictly. If you underperform, you will be held back. Statistically, less than half of Cube’s cadets graduate without repeating a semester. Even then, you can only be held back up to two years. Any more than that, you will be expelled. If you can’t become a Hero, you will become an agent or a mercenary. I take it that that’s not what you want.”

After giving the students a scare, the instructor paused and scanned the students’ faces.

“I can already see a few faces I’m familiar with.”

It was the same for me.

Kim Suho, Shin Jonghak, Yoo Yeonha, Chae Nayun, Rachel, Yi Yeonghan.

These six were the important characters I could see at a first glance. Shin Jonghak sat with Yoo Yeonha. Since Kim Suho and Chae Nayun saw each other as rivals, they were distanced. Princess Rachel sat alone, and Yi Yeonghan sat behind Kim Suho.

“I repeat. At Cube, you will need to confirm the things you’ve learned until now and hone your skills to be used in battle. There will be no kind training here. Remember that.”

With that, Kim Soohyuk announced.

“Now get ready. What’s scheduled for today won’t take long. The first task is ‘main weapon selection.’”

*

“Any weapon you can think of should be here.”

A main weapon was exactly what it sounded like. High ranking Heroes called their weapons ‘treasured weapons,’ while weapons above [Unique] grade were given the title ‘armament.’

But I didn’t know what my main weapon was. I knew nothing about Chundong’s past.

“Stand in front of the weapon you want. We’ll supply you with the training weapons. But don’t look down on them just because they’re training weapon. Their market price is 5 million won.”

There were all sorts of weapons, more so than I could have ever imagined.

Sword, spear, saber, dagger, rapier, halberd, greatsword, zweihander, bow, gun, whip, gauntlet, etc… The 100 students of Veritas class stood in front of the weapon they wanted.

“Choose carefully. Once you pick your main weapon, you won’t be able to change it for at least 6 months.”

Sword and spear were obviously the most popular choice. Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak stood in front of a sword and a spear respectively. 70 out of 100 chose the sword, spear, or saber, the so-called Holy Trinity of weapons. On the other hand, Yoo Yeonha chose the whip, Chae Nayun chose the bow, and Rachel chose the rapier.

However, I simply stood in a daze.

“Kim Chundong, why are you standing still?” Kim Soohyuk asked.

I stared blankly at the one weapon no one gave a glance.

The weapon of choice in the modern world, one that didn’t require an instruction manual and one that anyone could use with a click. But in this world, this weapon was the weakest lump of metal, a weapon avoided by every Hero. Most likely, it was only here for the sake of having all kinds of weapons be here.

But this was the only choice I had.

I couldn’t use any close ranged weapons. Even if Chundong was talented in one, I didn’t want to participate in close ranged combat where blood splattered everywhere.

“Kim Chundong.”

The instructor’s voice fell low, and other students’ gazes fell on me. Shin Jonghak and Kim Suho were among them.

I didn’t like being at the center of attention.

I quickly walked up and grabbed the weapon.

I could feel the weight of the metal in my hand as the smell of rust tickled my nose.

More eyes fell on me.

The weapon in my hand was a handgun.

Yeouido is a large island in Seoul, 8.4 square kilometers in size and home to 31,000 people.