The snow was falling softly over Seoul, like a white mantle that covered the city and gave it an almost unreal air. The noise of the cars on the icy pavement was barely a murmur, and the footsteps of people hurrying between scarves and coats were lost amid the frozen morning mist.
Among the tall glass buildings that reflected the grayish light of the sky, one stood out imposingly: the hospital where a 37-year-old man, pale and weakened, was looking at the world through a fogged-up window.
That man was Park Jinho, and although his body was on the verge of collapse, a sincere smile was drawn on his face. His trembling hands held a cellphone that seemed to give him the last reason to keep resisting.
His tired eyes, irritated and sunk in deep dark circles, seemed to light up only when he turned a page on the reading app.
On the screen shone the letters of a story that for him meant everything.
It was his younger sister's novel, Lee Seo-Yeon, titled [The Return of the Heroine of Light].
A monumental work, with more than 2,500 chapters, millions of reads, thousands of reviews and a very high rating on the Webnovel.com platform.
But for Jinho, beyond the fame, the work represented something much more intimate: it was the fruit of all the sacrifices he had made since he was just 17.
His life had not been easy.
The memories hit him like icy fragments as his lips murmured:
"My sister… is very creative. Thanks to her talent, she was able to write this masterpiece… and thanks to that we managed to get out of poverty."
The word poverty brought with it the shadow of a much darker memory. The plane crash that had taken their parents 20 years ago had marked a before and after. An incomprehensible tragedy, a hole he had never been able to close. He was 17 back then. His sister barely 2 years old.
Their parents' life insurance gave them a house and some money, but it didn't last long. Barely three years later, when Jinho turned twenty, the money was already gone.
He dropped out of school and began working tirelessly, carrying two, sometimes three jobs, to feed his little sister and pay for her school. Their relatives had tried to separate them, offering to adopt only little Seo-Yeon. But he didn't allow it.
Haneul had decided to carry everything.
Night jobs, humiliations from abusive bosses, constant exploitation. Years where fatigue and hopelessness were part of the daily routine. But every sacrifice was worth it: Seo-Yeon became a prodigy.
At just 12 years old she had already won literature awards, and years later she got a university scholarship thanks to her brilliant grades.
And when the wave of popularity of web novels arrived, she was one of the authors who shone the brightest.
The Return of the Heroine of Light was an unprecedented phenomenon: a semi-apocalyptic world plagued by dimensional fissures, terrifying creatures and cosmic mysteries.
A futuristic setting where the protagonist fought to save humanity from extinction after the great catastrophe.
Humans were at peace, but when the first dimensional fissure arrived, things began to change, they began to have powers, and dimensional creatures from other worlds arrived, and the emergence of many races.
At first it was hard, since it was difficult to survive, especially when the world powers and technology had been scarce at that time, but thanks to their ability to adapt in the next generation things changed, and thus among future generations the heroes were formed and people began to use a type of energy called Vibrating Aura, which was similar to mana, only it worked with the emotions and the soul of living beings.
Why living beings? Well, because there were also other races that appeared in that novel, the typical elves, demi-humans, lamias, and among others existed, but of course set in a semi-futuristic era.
The world-building was so detailed that it captivated from the first chapter. It wasn't just action, it was intrigue, it was suspense, it was that mix that reminded one of works like Lord of the Mysteries or Omniscient Reader. For millions of readers, it was a modern classic. For Haneul, it was living proof that his sister had achieved the impossible.
But now, amid the white hospital gown and the sickly pallor of his face, that pride mixed with relentless pain. The disease in his lungs, the result of so many years of overwork and toxic environments, was consuming him little by little. The dry cough often caught him off guard, and this time, when covering his mouth with his hand, a thread of blood made him frown.
"Although for me the best novels are, Shadow Slave and Reverend Insanity."
"Again… damn it." he murmured, with a bitter smile. "Every day I have less time… and I still want to finish the novel before I die."
The distant beeping of the medical machines seemed to remind him that every hour counted. The treatments had prolonged his life a little thanks to his sister's money, but he knew the battle was lost.
With a slight sigh, he slid his finger across the screen.
The title shone in black letters:
[Chapter 2508 – The Extermination of the Antagonist].
Haneul arched an eyebrow.
"Wow, they're finally going to defeat him… about time."
He leaned back against the pillow and began to read. The narration was full of action, of tension. The heroine cornered the main antagonist, the one who for thousands of pages had kept the entire world in check. The climax was approaching. And then, with a brutal move, she cut off his head.
The body of the antagonist fell to the ground, without words, without redemption, without glory.
Haneul clenched his teeth.
"What…?"
A strange burning rose in his chest. Pure indignation.
"Like this…? This is how it ends?" he whispered, hitting the mattress with his weak fist. "It can't be!"
The antagonist had been one of the most complex characters in the work, with real motivations, with deep construction. And just like that, the heroine eliminated him mercilessly? Without a moment of reflection, without a worthy closure? It was unacceptable.
The cellphone vibrated in his hand. An incoming message:
Park Seo-Yeon: "I'm on my way to the hospital, brother. The traffic because of the snow is terrible and Freddy had to make a stop. By the way… you may not like today's chapter, but it's not finished yet. There's still much to show. Anyway, I know you'll recover to see the end of my story."
Park Seo-Yeon: "I always wanted to get rid of the main antagonist, he was annoying to write. For the ending I'll introduce another more powerful villain. Maybe a Demon King or a cosmic being. What do you think?"
Jinho's gaze darkened.
"Such cruelty, Seo-Yeon…" he murmured, with a hoarse voice. "After all… the antagonist was the only one holding the story."
For him, the protagonist was a disaster. Immature, arrogant, egocentric. Her attitude went against the principles she preached. She was the embodiment of contradiction. A character who filled her mouth with heroic speeches but acted recklessly.
And it wasn't a problem of her being a woman: there were many memorable female protagonists he admired. But the Heroine of Light was simply unbearable.
"In 2508 chapters and the protagonist had no relevant development for the plot, in fact for me she's the worst protagonist of this story, even though it hurts to admit it because it's my sister's, but it's the truth"
Every word churned his stomach.
The hatred towards her had grown little by little, until it became visceral resentment.
"The true villain of this story… is you." he said softly, looking at the fogged-up window.
Even so, he recognized something: the design of the character was visually perfect, thanks to the professional illustrator who worked with his sister, and who was also her partner, Freddy Mendoza, a Dominican born in the United States who studied Architecture in Korea.
At first, Jinho had hated him, jealous of his closeness to Seo-Yeon. But over time he accepted it: Freddy was a good guy, and he treated him with respect.
Haneul turned off the cellphone screen and sighed.
"When she gets here… I'll ask Seo-Yeon why she did this. Why she destroyed her antagonist this way."
He slowly got up from the stretcher, but a sharp pain in his head knocked him down at once. He fell to the floor, coughing blood, while an irregular beep began to sound from the machines.
"It hurts, this can't be happening, I was supposed to have taken my medicine"
The world spun around him, and in the midst of the haze of pain, an idea burned in his mind: "I don't want to die now, I still haven't seen the end of the novel"
He collapses completely to the ground, still coughing blood and in fact, he felt as the pain was eating him away, not because he was dying, but because he regretted not having said goodbye to his sister.
Park Jinho always hoped that the best farewell for his sister was finishing her story as it was.
He spent his whole life working, without indulging himself, without getting a partner, saving all his needs for his sister's happiness, for the happiness of his only family.
"It's not that I say my life was crap, and it wasn't wasted either, on the contrary, everything I invested was for my only family, my sister"
Squinting his eyes weakly while darkness completely flooded everything, he was only thinking of one thing: "Thank you for everything little sister, when I reunite with mom and dad I'll tell everything you've done"
Or so thought the one who believed that's what would happen, basically it was something very different.
And suddenly, a strange sound began to seep into his consciousness.
Fwoosh… fwoosh…
It was like the steady whistle of blades spinning, moved by a constant wind. A windmill, perhaps. At the same time, a fresh breeze caressed his skin. It wasn't the stale air of the hospital, steeped in disinfectant and ethyl alcohol; no, it was a pure current, with the scent of grass and dry dust.
"And this breeze…?" he thought, confused. "Could it be… heaven?"
His heavy eyelids slowly began to open. At first everything was blurry, as if he were waking from a deep sleep. A golden, warm light blinded him for a few seconds, but soon his vision began to clear.
The first thing he distinguished were wooden beams above his head. It wasn't a hospital ceiling, but the rustic framework of a… barn. The creak of the wood blended with the rustling of dry straw around him.
Jinho—or whatever was left of him—was lying on an improvised mattress of hay. With an instinctive gesture, he brushed off the straw that had stuck to the gown… or at least that's what he thought, until he realized he was no longer wearing the hospital's white gown. His clothes were simple, humble, made of rough linen.
He sat up slowly, blinking several times. Around him, a couple of cows watched him with indifference, chewing dry grass.
"What…? Where… am I?" he murmured softly, alarmed.
His heart began to pound, not from illness, but from bewilderment. How had he gone from a hospital in Korea to a barn full of animals?
He staggered to his feet and, with an instinct to flee, hurried out toward the door. The creak of the hinges greeted him as he pushed the solid wood, and suddenly, a vision he could never have imagined unfolded before his eyes.
The landscape was vast, vibrant, and of a beauty that seemed painted. Cornfields stretched like golden waves under the wind, accompanied by wheat fields that shone like a sea of soft fire.
Tall, green trees guarded the horizon, and in the distance rose wooden windmills, turning calmly, surrounded by more scattered barns.
A crystalline blue sky opened endlessly above him, with white clouds that seemed painted with a brush. The air was imbued with life, with a purity he hadn't felt in years.
"A… farm?" he whispered, his voice breaking. "I don't understand… why am I in a farm? I was supposed to… I died."
The word died echoed in his chest. All he remembered was the hospital, the blood in his palm, the extreme weakness. There was no logical way to explain this.
A movement on the ground made him look down. There was a bucket full of fresh water, surely placed there for the cows to drink. The liquid surface reflected the sky, but when he leaned closer, his own face appeared in it.
And then, the entire world froze for him.
The reflection was not that of a 37-year-old man consumed by disease. What he saw was the face of a 16-year-old boy. Dark, straight hair, neatly combed, with a natural shine. Silver eyes radiating a strange magnetism, as if they contained the light of the moon. His skin was smooth, without a trace of fatigue or illness, and his features and contours were perfectly defined.
It was not just any face: there was attractiveness in it, though not with the imposing ruggedness of an actor like Henry Cavill, but with the youthful elegance of someone just reaching the peak of his vitality.
The boy brought a trembling hand to his face. The texture of the skin was different. His hands were smaller, firmer, full of youthful strength. His breathing was light, without the suffocating weight of his illness.
"What… the hell…?" he whispered, each word an echo of disbelief.
That was when it happened.
A blue flash lit up in front of his eyes. As if a hologram had emerged from nowhere, a floating screen appeared in the air. Bright letters, arranged with mechanical precision, began to unfold before him:
---
==Omniscient Narrator System==
[Omniscient Narrator – Level 1]
Status: Incomplete Awakening – 85% / 100%
Name: Darius Maximoud
Rank: G
Strength: G
Agility: G
Endurance: G-
Intelligence: G
Aura Control: E+
Luck: E-
Fortune: D+
Stars: 0+
[Class]: [Swordsman Level 1]
---
His breath caught in his lungs.
"Darius… Maximoud?" he repeated, his voice choked.
"But if I remember correctly, that's the name of the main antagonist of my sister's novel, why are they identifying me as him?"
For no apparent reason, what seemed to have died, had in reality ended up reincarnating as the Antagonist of his sister's novel, and for him that was something very misunderstood.