SMFC | Chapter 1

There are countless genres of novels in this world, and one of them is modern fantasy.

It’s hard to pin down a definitive characteristic since the settings vary by novel, but the last modern fantasy novel Lee Soo read had a rather common premise.

One day, gates suddenly appeared in the sky, serving as passages for monsters to enter the human world. These monsters were immune to weapons, utterly unbeatable by humans. Just as despair began to settle over humanity, people with extraordinary powers started appearing all over the world.

Those gifted with abilities that could be described as supernatural quickly brought order to the chaotic world. People began calling them “awakened,” individuals who had evolved to face the monsters.

As time passed, the Awakened Headquarters—also known as Gakbon—was established to regulate and manage these individuals. Among the awakened, those who directly confronted monsters were called hunters. They formed guilds or raiding parties to collaborate and tackle gates more effectively.

Although the gates initially caused civilization to falter, the byproducts of dungeons allowed society to not only recover but to soar to unprecedented heights.

Thus, this somewhat stabilized world became the backdrop for various protagonists who faced all kinds of crises.

The modern fantasy novel Lee Soo read wasn’t heavy on harem elements, and while it had a touch of romance, it was often ambiguous, blending the lines between love and friendship. Apart from the protagonist’s severe misanthropy, it was your standard modern fantasy story—except for one major issue: the protagonist dies at the end.

Now, Lee Soo has reincarnated into that very modern fantasy novel where the protagonist dies.

To make matters worse, he’s stuck in the body of a terminally ill side character, destined to die no matter what he does.

“Ha, no matter how many times I think about it, it’s ridiculous.”

Muttering to himself, Lee Soo furrowed his brows. After that last remark, he fell silent, his lips tightly sealed. Still, his face betrayed the turmoil inside him. His vacant stare, fixed on some point in the air, revealed a mixture of helplessness and frustration before he let out a brief sigh.

If he had simply woken up in a hospital, he might’ve thought he’d gone mad and denied the reincarnation outright. But Lee Soo had been transported here after experiencing a bizarre space—what the novels would typically describe as a dungeon. In there, he had struggled desperately to survive.

Having experienced firsthand that this world was unlike the one he had known, Lee Soo couldn’t deny that he’d reincarnated.

Narrowing his eyes, he glared at the innocent ceiling above him as he replayed recent events in his mind.

When he first opened his eyes, he found himself in an unfamiliar place. But given the circumstances, there was no time to panic. As grotesque monsters chased him relentlessly, Lee Soo ran for his life.

Just when he was on the brink of exhaustion, a system window appeared, as if waiting for the exact moment he was too worn out to resist.

Instead of offering an explanation or respite, the system made him an offer:

[Don’t worry too much. If you accept my help, ‘Ryu Leesoo’ can leave the dungeon. All I ask is one thing: your existing ‘memories.’ Except for information about this world, I want all of them.]

In exchange for helping him escape, the system demanded his past memories. At that moment, Lee Soo, driven by the desire to survive, agreed to the deal. That’s why he’s alive now.

What he didn’t know was that the original owner of this body was a terminally ill side character doomed to die regardless of his efforts.

Inside the dungeon, he’d been too focused on survival—chanting activation phrases, summoning Young, and dodging attacks—to think about the implications.

His last memory was exiting the dungeon through the gate that opened after the raid was cleared, then collapsing into a waiting ambulance. He passed out, and when he woke up, it was dawn.

Soon, others would likely visit the hospital room to check on him. To get a grasp of the situation and decide what to do next, Lee Soo had been trying to learn more about the body he now inhabited. However, the more he learned, the more overwhelmed he felt.

At least the protagonists in the novels he read would wake up in luxurious beds to mark the beginning of their reincarnation journeys.

But not him.

The moment he reincarnated, he found himself in a dungeon where everyone who entered with him had already died. Left alone, he had to endure a grueling survival scenario.

As if that weren’t enough, the original owner of this body was a side character described in the novel as suffering a rare, untreatable illness. He wasn’t murdered, didn’t commit suicide, and didn’t even die in an accident—he succumbed to a disease, an unusual fate for a hunter.

Lee Soo could still recall the passage vividly. It detailed how the character’s terminal condition brought on pain so intense it was impossible not to notice that his body was decaying with every passing moment.

When despair reaches such a level, all you can do is laugh.

While checking the system window inside the dungeon, Lee Soo had come across the name Ryu Leesoo. In hindsight, he shouldn’t have brushed it off.

The system, which had been oddly friendly to him, vanished the moment he exited the dungeon. If he had known that would happen, he should’ve asked if this Ryu Leesoo was the one he knew from the novel.

At the time, he’d been too distracted to think deeply about it. He rubbed his face with his hand, his brows twitching in frustration.

“Well, I guess the silver lining is that I get to live in the same world as Haeon.”

Yes, that was the only good thing about this situation.

If this world really was the one from the novel, it meant Yoo Haeon, the protagonist Lee Soo adored, existed here.

Even though Haeon’s story ended in death, Lee Soo, armed with knowledge of the plot, might be able to save him.

Unlike an ordinary civilian for whom meeting a hunter was as difficult as plucking stars from the sky, Lee Soo’s current body—Ryu Leesoo—was fairly skilled.

Considering how he’d performed in the dungeon, it seemed that even though his mind was different, his body still retained the muscle memory for using its skills.

If he worked hard, he might get the chance to meet Haeon, perhaps even through work. They could gradually grow closer, becoming part of each other’s daily lives. If that happened, there might come a moment where he could save Haeon from his fated death.

“Wouldn’t there be a chance to protect Haeon from danger?”

Deep in thought, Lee Soo lowered his gaze. He felt no sadness or regret for his own terminal condition.

Instead of searching for a way to save himself while trying to save Haeon, he seemed utterly uninterested in prolonging his own life.

Maybe it was because his previous life had likely ended in death. Or perhaps it was because he couldn’t imagine living as Ryu Leesoo in this drastically different world.

After all, unlike Haeon, whose death in the novel left open the possibility of survival if someone had been there to help him, Ryu Leesoo’s life was neatly concluded with death.

The novel didn’t shy away from cementing that death was Ryu Leesoo’s only path. And when Lee Soo activated a skill inside the dungeon, it hit him like a bolt of lightning:

“Ah, this body is destined to die no matter what.”

Though Lee Soo lacked medical knowledge, it seemed that becoming a hunter had sharpened his instincts. He knew without a doubt:

There’s no way to save myself.

And Ryu Leesoo himself must have known that better than anyone. A hunter as skilled as Ryu Leesoo couldn’t have been unaware of the condition, killing him from within.

Pondering this, Lee Soo chuckled dryly.

Though he briefly entertained the idea of saving both himself and Haeon, he quietly folded away any lingering hope.

Having abandoned the thought of his own survival, Lee Soo let out a deep breath. Along with that exhale, the faint remnants of regret left him, and his face looked noticeably lighter.

“Ha, whatever. If I’m going to die, I might as well save my favorite character first. What choice do I have?”

Unlike himself, whose fate was sealed, Haeon could live. With a plan to save the protagonist of this world, Lee Soo’s expression softened, as if he had never been despondent in the first place.

It was a bit disappointing that he couldn’t be purely thrilled about seeing his favorite character in real life.

But that was all.

Surprisingly, he was at peace with his current state as he curled his lips into a faint smile.