TRPG 01

CHAPTER 01……………………………

My breath was coming up to my throat. My pounding heart felt like it was screaming. My ankle twisted sharply as I ran along the dirt path, and my body pitched forward.

Just before I hit the ground, a strong arm caught me. My body was lifted effortlessly, and my view flipped upside down.

“You thought I’d let you go after dying?”

Violet eyes gleamed ominously. Unlike the man who had always been gentle and considerate toward me, his breathing was rough. His expression was so different from what I remembered that I instinctively shrank my neck and shook my head.

No. I never tried to run away. Well, I did just now, but I wasn’t really trying to disappear.

I didn’t know what excuse would calm his anger, so I was choosing my words carefully in my mouth when another large hand reached out from the side and grabbed my left hand.

“You said you’d die with me. So why?”

Because I never intended to die with you! Do I look like some suicide enthusiast to you?

I wanted to shout that, but just looking at his arm thicker than my thigh made my heart shrink. I hadn’t realized it because he had never once been frightening to me before. I hadn’t understood how threatening a man this massive was—one who could cover my entire body just with his shadow.

Perhaps sensing my fear, his grip loosened slightly. I used the strength in my wrist to smack his hand away, and he obediently let go.

But before I could even escape his arms, my ankle was grabbed again.

Dragged by the ankle, I was laid flat on the ground, and elegant long fingers groped upward, lightly wrapping around my neck.

He wasn’t applying pressure or strangling me, but I couldn’t breathe. It felt like I had been caught by a giant snake.

As if begging for salvation, I lifted my head—and saw his face looking down at me with a sorrowful expression. I was the one in danger, but tears filled his eyes.

“Have you ever thought about how I would feel losing you right in front of me?”

Yes. I did think about it. A lot. I’m sorry.

I was about to beg and apologize, so couldn’t you just let me go? I’m scared now.

Before I could speak, his long fingers tightened around my neck and pressed down hard. I gasped, my chest heaving.

Looking down at me indifferently, he spoke.

“I belong to you, so if you intend to leave, take my life with you.”

How many times do I have to say it—I didn’t leave you willingly!

Between these men who looked like they might kill me and then take their own lives, I writhed in frustration.

I’m also a victim. This is all because of that damn system window.

Someone please stop these insane people!

* * *

Becoming a hero had been my lifelong dream since childhood.

A hero who saves people in danger and, without even looking back, leaves to save others again. That resolute back view looked so cool to me.

I was just an ordinary person, so I couldn’t become such a hero, but I thought—if I had some hidden special ability, maybe I could save people in crisis.

I held onto that possibly childish dream for twenty-six years.

But I didn’t mean I wanted to save someone and die in their place.

Screeeeeech!

I didn’t know I would save a child who had fallen onto train tracks and get hit myself.

I thought I had enough time to escape when I saw the train from afar, but by the time I came to my senses, it was right in front of me.

My entire body was torn apart—I didn’t even know how I died. Still, the child survived, so maybe I’d appear in the news as a brave citizen.

They say tigers leave their skins when they die, and people leave their names. If my name “Seong Joo-in” were to appear in a newspaper article, that wouldn’t be a bad end.

I couldn’t become the hero I dreamed of as a child, but as an ordinary human, I’d done fairly well. I smiled bitterly.

Everything around me was pitch black.

I wondered if a grim reaper would come to take me, like in movies, but I couldn’t see anything.

“So there really is no afterlife.”

Just as I thought that, a mechanical fanfare sounded, and a system window appeared before my eyes.

Pathetic Sacrifice Lv.1

Excellent! You are a righteous person who saved another’s life.

A new life is granted to those who died before their natural lifespan after performing a noble deed.

Do you accept the life reward?

Yes / No

…If I press “Yes” here, do I get reincarnated?

So there’s no afterlife, but there is a reincarnation truck.

Well, it wasn’t a truck that hit me—it was a subway.

I glared at the absurd system window, even more unrealistic than a grim reaper.

“Pathetic sacrifice,” huh. I’d have liked them to remove the “pathetic” part. If I were alive, I would’ve received a brave citizen award.

I reached out toward the window. My limbs moving normally was strange, considering my body had supposedly been torn apart.

[Yes]

Honestly, unless you were suicidal, who would press “No” here?

I clicked “Yes” without hesitation, and a small hourglass appeared with the message “Loading…”

So slow. Hurry up—Korean speed!

If you’re going to give me something, give it fast. A new life! New body, new life!

Preferably, I wanted to be reincarnated into a fantasy world as a wealthy villainess like in my friend’s romance fantasy novels, dodging death flags while accumulating wealth and manipulating the male lead.

I did save a person before dying, even if I was a “pathetic sacrifice”—shouldn’t there be at least that level of reward?

But when the loading ended, the new window shattered all my expectations.

[Beginner Bonus]

You will save one person and die 30 days from now.

Excuse me. Could someone explain what part of this is a “bonus”?

I saved someone and died, and you’re only giving me 30 more days—and even then, I have to die again after saving someone? Are you kidding me?

I didn’t usually swear much in life, but I couldn’t help it.

“What the f—”

But I couldn’t finish the sentence.

My vision blurred, and it felt like something was pulling my body in.

I didn’t know where I was going, but I had a bad feeling that the world this damn system was sending me to wouldn’t be a good one either.

* * *

That feeling turned out to be correct.

“Ugh!”

I dropped from the air and hit the ground hard on my back. The stone floor hurt quite a bit.

“Oww… ouch…”

I was still young—I couldn’t ruin my back already. I slowly rubbed my sore waist and sat up, seeing tall trees around me.

One tree, two trees, three trees… anyway, a lot of them.

“A forest? Or a mountain?”

Judging by the large rocks and steep slope, it was probably a mountain.

Was this Korea or another world? It was all just trees and rocks—how was I supposed to tell?

I checked my clothes. They were still my body, but not the outfit I had been wearing before getting hit by the subway.

But it wasn’t a flowing dress like in romance fantasy novels either.

It was travel gear suitable for hiking: a thick outer coat, gloves, pants with pockets, and tall boots. So it didn’t seem like ancient or medieval times.

“Where the hell is this…”

I needed to get out of here first to figure out my location.

I started climbing upward instead of going down. It seemed better to get a higher vantage point and assess the situation.

Luckily, once I left the dense trees behind, the view opened up.

“…Wow…”

Even from a ridgeline—not even a peak—it was breathtaking. A vast mountain range stretched endlessly.

Just by scale, this wasn’t Korea. So… was this really another world?

I tried to recall novels or games I’d read. I didn’t remember anything with a mountain setting like this. It was unlikely I had entered a known fictional world.

“So it really is dimensional travel? Another planet?”

If it were a book or game, I could at least use known information—but all I saw were mountains, which made things even more hopeless.

Could I even go down before sunset? But there wasn’t even a village in sight below. I couldn’t tell if anyone lived nearby.

A 30-day death sentence bonus was already ridiculous, and now the world itself was like this.

My peaceful second life was gone.

“Even if you’re going to reincarnate me, you could’ve at least sent me somewhere decent…”

As I cursed the system, another holographic window appeared.

Pathetic Sacrifice Lv.1

Remaining lifespan: 30 days [Beginner bonus active]

You will save one person and die 30 days from now.

Recruiting party members.

Current waiting list: (0/2)

So the system exists here too.

Below the completely ungrateful “bonus,” unfamiliar text appeared.

“Party members?”

Was I supposed to escape the mountain through party play?

“So this really is a game world?”

I’d never heard of a survival or stranded game like this. Please don’t tell me it’s a trash game.

“Wait. If I have to recruit party members…”

It wasn’t asking me to collect items or complete actions—it was telling me to recruit party members first.

No tutorial, no NPC guide, just party recruitment from the start.

That meant I had to face missions requiring multiple people.

Like hunting monsters I couldn’t defeat alone.

“…Is this a monster world?”

As soon as I realized that, I heard a beast-like cry in the distance.

No—it was more than a beast… something closer to a monster straight out of a horror film.

“First, I need a safe zone. Forget party members—if I get attacked alone, I’ll die without even trying.”

I immediately thought back to where I had fallen. If this was a game, the safest place would be fixed.

The starting point.

“Let’s go back and search there first. There might be beginner items.”

If there weren’t even tutorial items, that would be a violation of basic decency.

I quickly returned to the forest.

But at the place where I had first opened my eyes… someone was already there.