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Episode 1
Prologue
“Shunen.”
An awkward-looking bouquet was suddenly thrust toward me.
It looked as if someone had yanked it straight out of the ground.
Oh dear. I let out a short sigh and looked at the hand holding it.
Everyone in the room turned their gaze toward him.
“There were flowers blooming in the garden. So I thought I’d bring some.”
“Oh, uh… Thanks. Wait—flowers bloomed in the garden?”
“Yeah.”
The man, Novel, who had black hair tied back loosely and was otherwise completely dressed in black, nodded. The only exceptions were his pale skin and red eyes.
‘Flowers in this garden…?’
Just looking out the window revealed soil so dead and black it was shocking. In this garden, even weeds growing would have been a miracle.
I ended up taking the flowers without thinking.
“Well… thanks. You tried.”
“No, thank you.”
Novel gave a small smile. His pale cheeks flushed faintly. He was clearly happy.
For some reason, guilt pricked at me as I brushed the dirt off my hands.
Still, shouldn’t a lie at least be plausible?
Even a one-year-old would know that none of the people in this room were the type to casually pick flowers from a garden and make a bouquet. Never mind that the garden outside was basically a graveyard of death energy.
“If you’re going to lie, idiot, at least do it properly.”
Novel’s face twisted angrily as he glanced toward the fireplace. The voice belonged to Isaac, who lifted his head from a velvet chair where he’d been reading. His pale blue hair shifted to reveal dark eyes beneath.
“Seriously, do you really expect anyone to believe flowers are growing in this mansion’s garden? The fact that Shunen is letting that slide is a miracle in itself.”
“Isaac, butt out and get lost.”
“I’m just giving some advice out of pity for a brother who has to carry that heavy decoration on his neck. What, am I wrong?”
His tone dripped with condescension, though his face clearly showed he was enjoying himself.
Novel’s face grew darker at the obvious mockery, but Isaac—famously nicknamed “The Mouth of Terror”—just kept going.
“I bet you plucked that bouquet from the Burckrodel estate, didn’t you?”
“Shut up. Shunen, don’t believe a word this bastard says.”
“You half-assed the eavesdropping, wanted to give flowers, but since there’s not a single blade of grass in this place and you didn’t bother buying anything pretty… Seriously, brother, you do have a brain, right?”
“You say one more word—!”
“Shunen. Next time, you don’t need to trouble yourself with this kind of over-the-top gesture. Just toss it.”
Isaac’s black eyes gleamed as he smiled sweetly.
“But still, how can I just throw it away? I mean, he made… uh, made it for me.”
“You hear that? Shut up and scram.”
“So what, were you expecting Shunen to throw it in your face? Wow, your useless brain even forgot how Shunen usually treats you, huh, Novel?”
The mockery was on another level now.
Sensing the dangerous tension between the two, Letilia—who had been sitting on a nearby desk—shook her head. Her dark blue hair, tied high, swayed.
“Here we go again.”
“Wow, our dear brothers… you guys really get along so well, huh? Right, Shunen…?”
Hazen, who had been resting his head on my lap, murmured sleepily. His silver-gray eyes, half-closed and drowsy, peeked out from behind his messy red bangs.
And then, at that moment—
“This is gonna turn into—”
“You damned brat—!”
Novel’s shout exploded through the room.
BOOM!
Isaac’s chair blew up.
Holy crap.
I ducked instinctively, and at the same time, Isaac appeared in front of me in a flash of blue light, shielding me.
“How about thinking before you blow stuff up? What if Shunen got hurt?”
“If you’d just weld your mouth shut, that would never happen.”
“Raise the ignition point.”
“Can you two just… stop it?”
I raised my hands in weary resignation.
Not that I expected anything. The two of them immediately started going at it again—almost as if to spite me.
“Wanna go?”
“Oh, sure. At least I can give Shunen something better than a flower you ripped out by the roots!”
BANG BANG BANG
The bookshelves started exploding.
‘What a waste of terrifying talent…’
I sighed. Seriously, could they not use their powers for this nonsense?
Blue light flared all over the place as Isaac’s dolls appeared and vanished repeatedly. Everywhere he’d been was left in ruins.
KWAANG!
By the time one wall finally blew apart, their fight had moved outside.
Through the gaping hole, flashes of light illuminated the sky.
I muttered blankly to myself,
‘Well, look at that. A new door.’
Another poor wall lost its life today.
Letilia sighed.
“Okay, so it’s those two today since Ethan’s being quiet.”
She waved her hand, and the debris floating in the air slowly began to settle.
Hazen chuckled.
“Oh boy, should we get going too…? Guys.”
“Just call it an expansion project. Shunen, don’t mind them. Try this macaron. I bought it from that place you said you liked last time.”
Ethan, who had been silent all along, calmly offered me a macaron. His green eyes shone quietly beneath his black hair. I sighed again.
“Guys, shouldn’t we at least try to stop them…?”
“They won’t die, Shunen.”
“If someone does die, I hope it’s Novel. And quietly, preferably.”
“If they die, I’ll just bring them back. If Shunen wants to watch, I’ll do it for you.”
Ordinary question, insane answers. Seriously, what the hell.
I gave up on trying to bring order to this circus and let out a hollow laugh.
‘Wow. This is a fight between the strongest beings in the world.’
And it really was.
Because the five people before me were the key figures who destroyed the world in the original story.
Five protagonists with the power to decide the world’s fate.
And me—the one who, in the original story, caused the death of their “savior” heroine—was supposed to be killed miserably by them.
“Quit hiding and get out here!”
“Didn’t you say you wanted to play tag?”
“Should I just crush them all into the ground?”
“Shunen, wanna go get a drink…?”
“Shunen, there’s grapefruit tart here. How about an éclair?”
…Yeah. That’s exactly the kind of people they are.
The Five Harbingers of Destruction.
Shuneria Colhart was the illegitimate daughter of the Colhart Ducal House, and the younger sister of Saren Colhart—the heroine who saves the protagonists in the novel Before the End of the World.
The original story followed five protagonists who all had tragic childhoods. Each possessed terrifying abilities, but because of those powers, their childhoods were miserable, and even after growing up, their hearts remained dry.
True to its title, the novel ended with a catastrophic finale: the world’s destruction after their final battle.
But perhaps due to the massive panic from readers, the author completed the story and quietly took it down.
‘At least let us reread it, author…!’
With even rereading impossible, one desperate reader took matters into their own hands and began rewriting the story—a self-indulgent fanfic.
They created a new heroine who would heal the five protagonists with plenty of love and be loved in return.
That heroine was Saren Colhart—their savior.
And here’s where the problem began.
The fanfic author made one fatal mistake:
‘Every story needs a bit of suffering for your favorite character.’
People just can’t resist putting their favorite through some tragic twists.
They added a new character, Shuneria, and wrote an ending where Saren sacrifices herself for her. All for that one heart-wrenching scene of the five crying over their only source of love.
And the reason I’m explaining all this is simple:
“This… goddamn past me!!”
Because I was that original reader and the fanfic author.
“And of course I ended up possessing Shuneria?!”
Yes. I possessed the body of Shuneria—the very girl destined to be killed by the five after Saren’s death.
Goddammit.
❖ ❖ ❖
“What are you?”
An irritable voice rang sharply in my ears.
A pair of violet eyes, beautiful in color but filled with venom, glared at me.
“What are you doing in the dining hall? I told you I never want to see your disgusting face again, didn’t I?”
“I just came to eat—”
“Ha! You? With me?”
The black-haired girl sneered.
I shut my mouth. Seriously, over food?
She muttered contemptuously as our eyes met.
“How dare a lowborn like you make eye contact with me?”
‘And just how noble are you to talk like that?’
I swallowed my inner thoughts and looked away.
The girl looking down on me with scorn was, surprisingly—
“Saren?”
“Father!”
—Saren Colhart herself.
A man with the same black hair and violet eyes entered the dining hall. Saren’s expression instantly shifted to one of aggrieved innocence.
The man, Duke Colhart, asked gently, as if consoling her.
“What’s wrong, dear? What’s upset you so?”
“That lowly thing dared to come down to the dining hall! Right in front of me!”
Oh wow. I clicked my tongue at the absurd sight.
I still clearly remember the shock when I first opened my eyes in Shuneria’s body.
—How dare you look at me with those filthy eyes. Didn’t I tell you to keep them down?
—Huh?
—What are you asking me for?
—I mean, why can’t I look—
Before I could finish, Saren grabbed my hair and threw me to the floor.
And my first thought was simple: What the hell. Give me back my angelic heroine.
The Saren who sacrificed herself for her sibling in the original story now despised me—Shuneria. And that insane man she calls father was no better.
‘If I possessed this body, shouldn’t everyone else be the same as the original?!’
Why was there suddenly a domestic abuse subplot I never wrote? I was the author—there was no one to complain to but myself.
“—You.”
Lost in despair, I barely noticed the Duke calling me.
“I told you to eat in your room only. How dare you disobey me and upset my daughter?”
“Aren’t I your daughter too…?”
“What did you just say?”
“Nothing, sir.”
I muttered dryly.
At first, when I’d just possessed her, I tolerated it because I didn’t understand the situation. But now, I was just done. Not reckless, but definitely done.
I looked at him with cold eyes.
‘If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t even exist, you bastard. You wouldn’t even have been born.’
I was the one who created the Colhart Ducal family in the first place.
I sighed, muttering inaudibly.
He must have sensed the hint of disdain, because he suddenly roared,
“How dare you—!”
SLAP
My cheek stung, and my vision spun.
What…?
I blinked, trying to process what just happened. My cheek was burning, and my head had snapped to the side.
There was only one answer.
‘He just hit me?’
The Duke had slapped me.
