PMEVBO 2

I was a heavy sleeper. However, for some reason, I woke that day to nothing more than the vibration of a smartphone.

Bzz

I fumbled for the phone in the darkness. My brow furrowed as the screen flared to life, nearly blinding me.

Hyung [Je-in, you know you shouldn’t leave the window open when it’s raining, right?]

The message was from my older brother, a man fifteen years my senior.

I rubbed my eyes and turned on the flashlight. Beyond the wide-open window, a fierce storm raged. The desk beneath the sill had already turned into something of a water park.

“…”

I stared at the window from my bed for a moment before sending a reply.

[Yeah.]

Did I know I shouldn’t leave the window open in the rain? I did. However, my body, currently suffering from a severe hangover, insisted that it could not move a single millimeter.

“Whatever. It’s already wet anyway.”

I pulled the blanket up to my neck and tucked myself in. A moment later, my cold shoulders began to warm. It felt as though I could drift back to sleep at any second.

Bzz

Hyung [Close the window and send me a photo to prove it, okay? ^^]

“He’s like a ghost.”

Only then did I stagger out of bed.

Thirty minutes later, I finally managed to snap a selfie in front of the shut window and the now-tidy desk. My grumpy expression was a free bonus.

[(Photo)]

[There. Happy? ㅡㅡ]

Hyung [^^b]

His reply came far too quickly for someone who was supposedly at work. He must really hate his job. Since I was already up and moving, I decided to check the windows in my brother’s room as well.

“Just as I thought.”

My brother, ever the perfectionist, had spared no exceptions for his own windows. They were closed, even the locks were engaged.

I looked around the pitch-black room one last time before leaving. That was when my eyes met a pale pink book peeking shyly from beneath the bed.

As if I were possessed, I picked the book up.

“The title is The Happy End? Is this… a children’s story or something?”

The title was one thing, but the lovely cover, drowning in hearts, felt exactly like a fairy tale. The kind of princess story a child might read while dreaming of royalty.

It was thick for a children’s book, though. Perhaps a collection of stories? Why would a man approaching forty be reading fairy tales he supposedly skipped as a toddler? I was laughing until I faced the shocking truth.

“Restricted to ages 19 and up…?”

The book I assumed was a collection of stories turned out to be a 19-rated romance fantasy novel.

A fairy tale would have been a blessing in comparison. Finding a storybook under a sibling’s bed is a lifelong joke, but finding a smutty novel is a lifelong landmine.

If I ever admitted to knowing about this, things would become incredibly awkward between us. For the sake of our brotherly bond, I decided to take this secret to my grave.

However, keeping a secret is one thing.

“…Can’t I just take a look?”

I was curious.

I was dying to know what kind of story could be so entertaining that a forty-year-old man would hide it under his bed to read.

I stared at the heart-patterned Pandora’s box, which looked like it was about to teach me how to become a princess at any moment, and wrestled with my thoughts before making up my mind.

“Sorry I couldn’t protect your secret, hyung.”

As he well knew, I was never very good at controlling my curiosity.

And so, I decided to enjoy a rare moment of reading.

“…”

To cut to the chase, this novel was the greatest piece of trash to ever exist.

And the ending was the problem. The ending.

“What is this? The ‘Gulp’ Ending?”

The Gulp Ending. Quite literally, the novel ended with a gulp.

Who? A demon. Whom? The heroine. To be clear, this did not mean the demon engaged in any mature acts with the heroine.

“No. Come to think of it, that’s right. Cannibalism is certainly a 19-rated act, isn’t it?”

The heroine, Isabelle, who had lost her parents and brother and lived only for revenge, finally succeeded in punishing her enemy.

Yet, she met a miserable end, eaten alive by a demon. And it happened at the very moment she was finally about to find happiness.

“And they titled this The Happy End? Are they joking?”

They should have called it The Gulp End. My head had not ached this much from a book since I read A Lucky Day.

“This won’t do.”

I had to punish this despicable book. I flicked the cover with my finger, trying to soothe my frustrated heart as best I could.

I might have struck the book three times. Suddenly, the object, which had taken its beating submissively, launched a counterattack. It began to struggle, emitting a blinding radiance.

“What the hell!? What is this?!”

That was the extent of my memories before the possession.

When I opened my eyes, I found myself standing in a room decorated in a medieval Western style.

I saw silver hair that sparkled like sunlight on water and skin as white and soft as a snowflake. My grey eyes looked teary, as if they might spill a drop at any moment. My features were as sweet as an angel decoration atop a cake.

Despite a tall and slender stature, the face in the antique full-length mirror still had a boyish charm. It glowed brilliantly.

“What is this?”

…Hm?

“What’s going on? Why does my voice sound like this?!”

The voice was unexpectedly soft and gentle.

Panicked, I grabbed my throat with both hands. The beautiful youth in the mirror mirrored my movements.

“Crazy. Is this actually…”

Could this be one of those mass-produced web novel plots where one wakes up in another person’s body?

Possession. The word was so absurd and ridiculous that I could hardly bring myself to say it. Unfortunately, no other term could explain my current situation.

“Then who is this guy…?”

Whose body did the book put me in?

Circumstances suggested that the book was the cause of this possession. I was thinking of the 19-rated romance fantasy novel The Happy End, the one that had reacted so violently after I flicked it.

If the suspicious book were in front of me, I would demand answers. However, the light pink book with the heart patterns was nowhere to be found in this unfamiliar space.

“At any rate, he is likely a character from that book.”

Fortunately, the beautiful youth possessed distinct physical traits beyond just silver hair and grey eyes.

A black butterfly pattern sat beneath his left eye.

Come to think of it, there was one character in the original story with that exact feature. He was a piece of human trash who returned to life even after being buried, eventually putting the world in peril.

A shiver ran down my spine.

I immediately tore off my shirt. The buttons, fastened all the way to my neck, popped and scattered.

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…”

Beneath the left eye, on the neck, the left collarbone, the right ribs, the right forearm, the left index finger, and the left instep. Black butterflies the size of a fingernail sat on each of these spots.

It was rare enough for someone to have a butterfly tattoo instead of a beauty mark under their eye. To have six more scattered across the body was unmistakable.

In the novel The Happy End, only one person possessed such a peculiar appearance.

“…Lucariel.”

Lucariel held the following role in the original story:

A mad killer who toyed with countless lives for his own amusement.

An unprincipled scoundrel who dared to covet Isabelle, the heroine, despite murdering her family.

A disgusting demon who committed suicide just to get a sliver of her attention, only to undergo a wretched resurrection and kill her in the end.

As you might have guessed by now, the demon who ate Isabelle alive in the “Gulp” ending was Lucariel. The man everyone thought was dead returned at the conclusion as the strongest demon in the world.

In short, Lucariel was the ultimate troll of this universe.

Perhaps, considering the genre, one could call him the villainous second male lead. Regardless of the title, he was a piece of nuclear waste.

“It is absurd enough to be trapped in a book, but why did it have to be this guy…?”

I might have flicked the book a few times, but wasn’t this punishment a bit much?

Ping!

At that moment, a square window emitting a pure white light appeared in the air.

────【 Character Stats 】────

Name: Lucariel Nebella Sarachephon (Kang Je-in)

Level: 0

HP: 100/100

Class: Priest

Title: The Scoundrel Who Assaulted a Cardinal Despite Being a Priest

Skills: None

Main Quest: Loading…

Sub Quest: Loading…

Clear all quests to reach the ending!

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