A world of anger, hate, scorn, and bitterness.
This was the life Lee Beom-seok had always known. To others, he was nothing but trash—dead weight, something to be avoided, like rot no one dared touch.
Yet not once did he think of suicide. He pressed forward, clutching desperately to that fragile sliver of hope that maybe—just maybe—things could get better.
His mother was gone, and his father, quick to remarry, had brought home a stepmother who made his torment her daily ritual.
She mocked his weight, insulted his late mother, sneered at his appearance, just to make sure he knew he was unwanted.
After years of misery, he thought he had found someone who cared.
A girlfriend who smiled at him despite the jeers. But it was all a cruel joke.
She had only dated him on a dare. And when she revealed it—laughing before the entire class—it was as if the earth itself should open and swallow him whole.
Emotions.
He knew that word far too well.
Happiness, sorrow, regret, love, anguish—the list never ended.
That evening, when he returned home, his stepmother locked the door again, spitting that she didn't want "a fat leech eating her real children's food."
And his father? He only sat there, silent.
A coward.
Beom-seok stumbled into the streets, the rain soaking him to the bone, carrying nothing but a crumpled plastic bag of instant noodles.
He thought of his girlfriend's mocking laughter. His stepmother's sneer. His classmates' jeers. His father's silence.
"Why was I even born?" he whispered, staring up at the storm-filled sky.
For a moment the world went still.
The approaching headlights came too fast. A horn blared. Then came the brutal impact of flesh against metal.
Darkness devoured him.
Until—suddenly—light. Ragged breaths tore from his throat. His chest rose and fell in frantic waves, refusing to steady.
"Am I… alive?" he croaked.
But when his eyes opened, he wasn't in a hospital. Not heaven, not hell.
He was in a vast forest—scorched, blackened, stripped of life.
Charred corpses lay scattered across the ground like brittle autumn leaves. The acrid stench of burnt wood and flesh stung his nose.
"What the hell…?"
He was sure he had been in the street only moments ago.
Then a stabbing pain split through his skull, sharp and throbbing.
'I was hit by something… right?'
The memory flickered for an instant—it had lasted for less than a second, but it was like something had slammed into him.
His gaze darted around, and his trembling hands ran over his body.
It was still him. Still the same fat, short, awkward body he had always hated.
Then where had he ended up?
Kidnapping? Sleepwalking? Or… reincarnation?
Scrunch!
The soft crunch of boots against brittle leaves and burnt wood snapped his attention to the side. He turned, and his eyes locked with a girl.
She looked about his age, maybe sixteen or seventeen. A foreigner.
Blonde hair framed her face, and sharp blue eyes that pierced through the haze of the smoke.
Even with dirt smudging her skin and her military uniform, she was striking.
She didn't flinch, didn't avert her gaze. She only stared.
'What should I do?'
Panic surged in his chest.
Why was there a foreigner in Korea? Had a war broken out?
No… this place didn't feel like Korea. And the girl—he was certain he had seen her before.
Biting down on his lip to steady himself, he forced out words.
"Hello."
Beom-seok had picked up a bit of English since people said it made you popular. Never had he imagined he'd need it here.
Placing a shaky hand against his chest, he continued, "I am Lee Beom-seok. Who are you? And… where am I?"
The girl's eyes softened. After a long pause, her tense posture eased as she gave a small bow, her hands glinting metallic.
"I am an Auto Memory Doll. My name is Violet Evergarden."
Huh?
What did she say…?
Violet—?
The name unlocked a flood of memories—an anime he had once watched.
Somehow… impossibly… he had awakened inside the world of an anime he once knew.
He was inside Violet Evergarden.