Chapter 1

Thud. Thud. Thud.

A green, bipedal monster swung its massive club, closing in fast on Arin’s heels.

She stretched out her arms, pushing away the branches that blocked her view. One branch she couldn’t dodge slashed across her cheek, leaving a bright red wound.

Blood welled up from the deeper-than-expected cut. As a droplet fell to the ground, the troll licked its lips and let out a deafening roar.

“Graaaah!”

The thunderous cry sent birds flapping into the sky in a frenzy.

Arin had no time to worry about the cut on her face. One moment of distraction and she’d be troll chow, a gruesome ending for sure. Her body was covered in scrapes and bruises from running like this every day.

On her back was a large backpack. Oddly enough, even while fleeing for her life, she showed no intention of discarding it.

That was only natural—Arin had zero combat ability, and the only reason she’d survived this long on the island was thanks to her “System Backpack.” She knew that without it, she wouldn’t last a day.

‘Why me, of all people…!’

She would’ve preferred reincarnating as a villainess dodging death flags or a dethroned empress clawing her way back to power.

At least those options weren’t this messed up. Because right now, Arin was stranded alone on an island with not a single soul in sight.

Well—technically not alone. There was one other human on this island: Deneb Altair, the villain who had just completed his descent into darkness.

Deneb Altair was the tragic antagonist from a novel Arin had once loved. He was the youngest imperial prince, exiled by his scheming stepmother Asila. After being caught in a naval ambush, he washed ashore here. Consumed by vengeance, he eventually lost his humanity and nearly brought the world to ruin.

Arin had never once considered the possibility that she’d fallen into a book. She wasn’t inhabiting someone else’s body. When she saw that this world had three moons, she simply reasoned that she must’ve slipped into another dimension.

After surviving alone for a month, she had stumbled across him. And simply because he was another human being, she had clung to him. The fact that they could talk—that alone had made him precious to her.

Well—had.

It became past tense the moment she realized who he was. The moment she confirmed his identity, she ran like hell. After all, he was the kind of lunatic who diced people up just because he felt like it. Stick too close, and she’d end up in cubes too.

“Ahh!”

Lost in thought, she tripped, stumbling forward and falling face-first.

The troll’s slurping breaths were right behind her. If she were strong enough, she would’ve kicked that disgusting face in. Instead, she tasted the bitter despair of the powerless as her breath hitched in her throat.

She scrambled to her feet, desperate to live. But the troll’s club was already slicing through the air, heavy and fast.

So this is how I die, she thought. Turned into minced meat.

Facing death, a mad courage surged through her.

If I’m going to die anyway, screw it.

Arin didn’t want to be some troll’s snack. At that moment, she thought that maybe—just maybe—if she’d stayed with Altair, she wouldn’t have been in this mess. Sure, he stared too much sometimes, but at least he’d been kind to her.

“Altair!!”

Her voice echoed through the forest.

She bit her lip hard and clenched the straps of her backpack. Her hands, shaking with fear, still gripped with resolve.

“I know you’re watching! I won’t run anymore. Please—save me, please…!”

The troll’s club was right in front of her nose. Bracing for death, Arin squeezed her eyes shut and shouted.

“Deneb…!”

But the pain never came.

Instead, something hot and metallic splattered across her cheek. A heartbeat later, the troll let out an agonized scream that shook the island.

“GRAAAAH! RAAARGH!”

Arin cracked one eye open and saw the troll thrashing in agony, collapsing.

Thud.

Its hulking green body hit the ground, kicking up a thick cloud of dust that reached where Arin lay.

“Cough, cough.”

She hacked uncontrollably, leaning against a nearby tree for support. Her eyes stung with dust-induced tears, and through her blurry vision, she saw a pair of eyes staring only at her.

Pale gold irises over black pupils, like a panther’s—Altair.

He reached out a large, calloused hand toward her face. Arin flinched, squeezing her eyes shut again.

Instead of hurting her, he roughly wiped the troll’s blood off her cheek with his thumb, then let out a low chuckle.

“Hide-and-seek over?”

His calm voice didn’t match the moment. He sounded like someone out on a casual stroll.

The realization that her life-or-death struggle had been mere entertainment for him hit hard.

“…Sh*t.”

The curse slipped out before she could stop it.

“What was that?” he asked, amused.

Arin lowered her gaze in silence. A silent surrender. Her thoughts drifted back to the day she first arrived on the island.

“Emergency backpack? You actually packed one?”

Her college friend stared wide-eyed as Arin puffed her cheeks in mock annoyance.

“Don’t you know there was another earthquake recently? Korea isn’t safe anymore either.”

A few weeks ago, Arin had been vacationing in Busan when she felt the ground shake beneath her. It had been a terrifying experience. Her friend clearly thought she was overreacting, but Arin couldn’t shake that trembling sensation from her memory.

Now living alone for school, she felt it was only responsible to look out for herself.

As senior year students, their conversation soon shifted from survival kits to job hunting. Before long, they arrived in front of the apartment complex where Arin lived.

“Here already? I’m heading in. Take care.”

Arin waved goodbye.

She’d had three back-to-back lectures today, so she was exhausted. She was already planning to wash up and crash as she climbed to her third-floor apartment.

But then—

Beep. Beep. Beep.

That sound was familiar. Arin hurriedly checked her phone. Sure enough, the screen was glowing red. An emergency alert.

[KMA] June 1, 19:19 – Magnitude 6.2 earthquake. Residents in nearby areas, please exercise caution.

‘Wait. 7:19 PM? That’s now!’

Before she could even finish the thought, the ground beneath her began to tremble.

“Seriously? You guys couldn’t have warned us earlier?”

Snatching up her survival backpack from beside the shoe rack, Arin flipped all the circuit breakers and made a run for it. She could hear screams outside as the walls around her began to groan and sway.

Fear dulled her reasoning. The building was old. It might collapse. In her panic, she shoved her feet into her shoes and ran downstairs.

But the stairwell shook violently, swaying like a rope bridge. Worse, she hadn’t put her shoes on properly. It felt like she was on a carnival ride in slippers. Her ankles wobbled dangerously.

If I’d just put on my shoes properly…

She crouched down to fix them. Just as she stood back up, rubble started raining down from the ceiling.

Crack. Crack. Crumble.

Chunks of the ceiling, large and heavy, began to fall.

“Ahhh!”

Even as she was buried beneath the debris, her final thought was—

“All because of these damn shoes…”

When she came to, she was surrounded by pitch darkness. Her limbs felt heavy, like she was buried under something—but strangely, it didn’t hurt. Not as much as she’d expected.

It felt more like she was wrapped in earth than crushed.

Arin assumed she was lucky—maybe she’d ended up in a safe triangle pocket after all. She just had to wait for someone to dig her out.

One hour passed. Then two. Then six.

Grrrrrgle.

Her stomach rumbled loudly in the silence.

“Humans really are adaptable, huh? Even now, I’m just… hungry.”

Grrrg.

Her stomach replied to her commentary.

She shifted her right arm, which seemed to be pinned. Surprisingly, it slipped free as easily as pulling up a root.

Normally, Arin would’ve been more cautious. But fear, solitude, and the dark made her act quickly.

With some effort, she managed to unzip the side of her backpack. Her hand brushed against a foil wrapper—probably a chocolate bar—when suddenly:

Ding!

A clear chime echoed, and glowing green text appeared in the air before her.

[System: Survival Backpack]

Would you like to withdraw a High-Calorie Chocolate Bar?

Cooldown: 10 minutes

(Yes) / (No)

“Have I gone insane?”

She rubbed her eyes hard, but the green letters didn’t disappear.

“What the hell is this? Cooldown? This isn’t a video game.”

As she muttered, the text changed.

[System: Survival Backpack]

Cooldown: Time required for the chocolate bar to regenerate in the Survival Backpack.

“What the hell… This is terrifying.”

Instead of being helpful, the responsive system felt like something out of a horror film. The neon-green text looked like a will-o’-the-wisp.

Arin tried to mask her fear with bravado.

“Okay, whatever. What are you, talking back now? Spooky much?”

Ding. Ding.

The system’s soft chimes rang again, as if trying to reassure her.

But in the pitch-black silence, the sound felt more like a shaman’s ritual bells. Her face went pale.

In that eerie, horror-movie-like moment, scaredy-cat Arin fainted on the spot.

Thus began her first day in the book-world—with a dramatic blackout.