The last thing I remember was the blue light of my smartphone and the stinging in my eyes from reading the final side-story chapter of Solo Leveling for the fourth time. Then, a sudden drop, the sound of rushing water, and... darkness.
I didn't wake up in the afterlife. I woke up in a body that felt like it had never lifted a single weight, in a version of Seoul where the name Sung Jin-Woo wasn't a fictional character, but a God who had already saved the world once.
I'm Kang Han-Seol. A 19-year-old E-Rank recruit with a mana count so low it's basically a rounding error.
"Status Window," I muttered, my voice shaking.
A flickering, messy blue screen hissed into existence.
[System Note: Your previous cause of death was 'Highly Embarrassing'.] [Syncing soul with vessel... Success.] [Unique Skill: 'Reader's Interference' (Rank: EX) is active.]
I looked at the screen and started to laugh. It wasn't the "Author's" power. I didn't create this world, and I couldn't just write my way out of a heart attack. No, I was something much more dangerous in a world governed by a "Script."
I was a Reader.
I didn't just know the plot; I knew the footnotes. I knew the hidden item locations that the Author mentioned once in a Q&A five years ago. I knew the secret weaknesses of bosses that wouldn't even appear for another three arcs. In this entire world—from the highest S-Rank Hunter to the Shadow Monarch himself—I was the only one who had the "Full Map."
A notification pinged over a news report on my cracked TV screen. A "minor" gas leak at a construction site downtown.
[Narrative Event Detected: 'The First Crack'.] [Hidden Requirement: Be present at the site in 15 minutes.]
"A gas leak? Yeah, right," I said, grabbing my black hoodie and a cheap utility knife. "That's the entrance to the 'Hidden Vault of the Fallen Ruler.' It's supposed to stay sealed for another two years because nobody knows the sequence to the door."
I checked my reflection. One eye was normal, but the other pulsed with a dark purple aura, reflecting my new "Legacy System".
"I'm an E-Rank nobody who should die if a goblin sneezes on me," I whispered, heading for the door. "But I have the most knowledge in this universe. And I'm about to use every single spoiler to make sure I don't just survive—I thrive."
I smirked.
"Sorry, Jin-Woo. Sorry, Su-Ho. But I've already read the ending. And I think it needs a few more 'Multi' additions to the cast."