Chapter Text
One thing about Minjeong is that she’s a dork who’s heavily into spending her days lazing around in bed, daydreaming with two eyes glued to a glowing rectangle. She’s in delusional land from the strict hours of 10 pm to 2 am, creating some messed up bullshit concoction of a scenario in her head through fictional works with hot red-eyed dukes from the north. Which of course she regrets later when she has to get up for her shift at the convenience store down the street, but that’s an issue for morning her. Manhwa, anime, web novels, whatever it is, as long as it’s dramatically and painfully unreal and a complete stray from modernity, she loves it.
Now, there’s an issue that Minjeong is facing right now on her seemingly ordinary walk to her part-time job. And that issue is that truck-kun appears to be hurdling directly towards her.
“FUCKKK!” Minjeong screams as her phone tumbles out of her hand. Her headstone flashes in front of her eyes as bright headlights blind her: Here lies Kim Minjeong (2001-20XX), who died after being distracted while thirsting over a hot princess from lala land in the middle of the street. Her last words were of profanity.
Goddamn. What a way to go. Minjeong freezes as she braces for impact, she should’ve focused more on the street instead of her phone. She should have stopped thirsting for fictional characters. She should have stopped scrolling through stan Twitter. Sorry mom, sorry dad, sorry my fat baby Meow Meow, sorry I spent all this time looking at-
Wait, something’s wrong.
“SHIT!!! NO WAY I'M GONNA BE EXPOSED FOR THIRSTING OVER DERANGED CHARACT-”
—
[System Booting Complete.]
[System Alert: Welcome, lucky user #3! You have been selected by the Higher Ones to be given a second chance at life! Would you like an overview of this system?]
“What the actual fuck?” Is all Minjeong can muster after getting hit by a megaton gorlock of a truck. Isn’t she supposed to be dead? She pats herself down as she stands up, no broken bones, no scratches, no bruising, all her fingers are still here, her clothes aren’t tattered. Minjeong furrows her brows almost comically. She feels oddly fine?
Wait. Huh. Why is there nothing around her? And simultaneously, why is there everything around her? And why is it all biblically white? Her eyes dart side to side to analyze her surroundings for a moment, and she can feel her blood pressure begin to skyrocket. She turns around to investigate this absolute unit of a lightbulb she has just found herself in, and that’s when something appears smack-dab in front of her face. A big ass blue holographic.
[System Alert: Would you like an overview of this system? 10 seconds remaining. “NO” will be selected automatically if the user fails to respond.]
“YES! YESSS!” Minjeong panics and screams in a way that’s almost some sort of blend between stupid and coo-coo crazy. She must be alive. “Am I alive? I’m alive, right? Is this VR? What a nice prank, haha, hahah... I gotta get to work, dude.”
[System Alert: System INFO loading.]
[System Alert: User #3, Kim Minjeong, born in 2001 in Busan, South Korea, has died after being hit by truck-kun while reading deranged novels in the middle of the street.]
“Oh my god,” Minjeong gasps. No way that was real? No way people know that she died because she was too distracted reading deranged shit??? NO WAY???
What Minjeong wants the most in this very specific moment isn’t even to go back in time, it’s for a sinkhole to emerge right under her very two feet to swallow her up. Her cheeks and ears are stained so deeply with red she may as well have invented a new foundation shade. Oh fuck, she can see it: New addition coming soon to James Charles’s make up line! All natural foundation, deep humiliation esque, consistent rich shade of red. Bonus: durable enough to last for the next 5 years upon application!
[System Alert: You have been transmigrated into the novel you were reading at the time of your death: I’m a Villainess Destined to Die! [R18+, Mature Themes, Gore]. Your soul will overtake the body of Kim Winter, whose body was selected due to a shared soul connection, identical appearance, and coincidental time of death due to hay fever. You have been given this opportunity as the Higher Ones found your death “funny as fuck”. They are curious as to how you will fare in the aforementioned novel. Does this user have any more questions?]
“Huh?” Minjeong almost faints. She can’t even begin to process the newfound knowledge of her very real death, let alone this completely foreign system and these supposed higher ones being absolute mofos about her unexpected date with truck-kun.
Truck-kunt now, Minjeong thinks. Bitch.
“Wait,” Minjeong slaps herself and the pain stings her cheek. Holy shit, she’s not dreaming. She’s lost in thought for about 0.3 seconds (because thoughts don’t last long in Minjeong’s brain), until she gasps like she was never allowed to gasp at home. Did she hear that right? Did the system mean like, the I’m a Villainess Destined to Die! that she knows? You mean like, the one where the villainess is engaged to the crown princess and is a complete psycho who attempts to poison the crown princess’s lover out of jealousy? Then gets beheaded at the guillotine? Then as it turns out the crown princess loves torturing and killing people and gives obsessive-stalker vibes and whatever the fuck else?
(Okay, OG villainess. Lowkey rocked the shit outta them honestly. Fuck all them cheaters.)
[System Alert: Yes, that is correct.]
Minjeong feels her face pale. She’s gonna die again. There’s no way she’s going to be able to survive in that novel. She doesn’t even remember it all down to a T because she’s read so many, AND she didn’t even get to read the ending! She got most of her information through fucked up tweets on her timeline and thirst trap edits. At this point she may as well take it as “Source: trust me bro. I may be hormonal but my neurons still connect, I think.”
“You can hear my thoughts.” Minjeong states, dryly and in a state of shock. “Do I have to do this? Or can I just go to the afterlife and chill?”
[System Alert: Yes, the system can hear your thoughts. You may leave if that is what you desire. However, there is no afterlife. You will cease to exist. Please indicate your choice now.]
Well, thanks for giving a dead person an existential crisis. Oh, screw it. She doesn’t have any other choice if she wants to live. And when she really thinks about it, isn’t this a blessing in disguise? Another chance at life, plus as a nobel, AND they’re giving her the extremely slim chance of Yu Jimin stepping on her. Better than zero. (Wait, who said that? Couldn't have been Minjeong. She's totally not hormonal.)
“No, no, I’ll stay. Uh, I’m guessing you guys have some things I have to do? Or rules I have to follow? That’s how it usually works in these kinds of-”
[System Alert: Opening protocol ‘Rules and Limitations’]
- User cannot tell anyone about the system. Only the user can see the system alerts.
- User cannot request direct help from the System.
- User is able to feel pain and die. Checkpoints have been implemented, which automatically activate before special events with a ‘ping’. These will allow for the redo of events upon death. This applies as long as it is before the expected time of death in the original storyline.
- User is able to change the original storyline, however, this will be extremely difficult.
- The goal is to survive for the villainess’s happy ending. User will be rewarded heavily if their fated death is successfully avoided - which includes the possibility of returning to their old life if the user wishes.
- If the user manages to survive an event on the first try, they will receive [undetermined] gold coins to buy items in the pop-up shop, depending on the difficulty of the event. If they fail to survive on the first try, the penalty will vary. The Higher Ones may sponsor the user as well.
[System Alert: Is there anything else this user has to say? Teleporting in 60 seconds…]
Minjeong just stares in disbelief for what feels like minutes. She can go back to her old life? And what the fuck does it mean “die” and “manage to survive on the first try.” She can die over and over again? And if she doesn’t succeed she’s just gonna disappear?
[System Alert: Yes, if you succeed, you may go back to your old life if that is what you wish. Yes, you may die over and over again. Yes, if you fail, you will cease to exist. Is there anything else this user has to say? Teleporting in 15 seconds…]
“No.” Minjeong sighs. Except maybe go fuck yourself.
[System Alert: Message from the Higher Ones incoming. Teleporting in 10 seconds…]
Minjeong glares at the alert. The last thing she’d want is to hear from these so-called higher ones, who are really just lowly freaks, right before getting teleported into a shitty dark novel.
[System Alert: Message Received | Higher Ones: “lol noob”]
These goddamn shitheads. Pissed is an understatement, there’s nothing short of red in Minjeong’s vision.
“FUCK YOUUUU!!!!”
[System Alert: Now teleporting user #3…]