Kang Ji-won slowly looked down at the knife buried in her stomach, gasping for breath.
With a loud groan, she collapsed to the ground.
For a moment, time seemed to freeze as she looked up at the only person she had trusted in her entire life.
With her last breath, she vowed that if she were ever given a second chance, she would change her fate.
The End.
Ji-won’s eyes darted across the page.
That’s it?
She honestly didn’t know how to react to such an ending.
She had expected something much more…
dramatic—a secret revelation, a shocking plot twist, anything would have been better than this.
Still, she waited.
A few seconds passed, but nothing happened.
The page remained completely blank.
“Err… What’s going on now?”
Ji-won frowned at the book and waited a little longer.
Nothing happened.
“Seriously?”
She sighed and leaned back against the headboard.
Maybe there was something written further ahead.
She flipped toward the middle of the book again.
Still blank.
She turned a few more pages.
Still empty.
Not even a single word.
“This book is seriously beyond cursed.”
She was about to close it when something on the first page caught her eye.
Ji-won slowly opened the book again.
The moment she saw what was written there, her expression changed.
Everything that had happened earlier was already recorded.
Not just the strange events, either.
Her exact movements were written down as though someone had been sitting beside her the entire time, recording everything she did.
Ji-won’s face paled.
“Why are all my actions being recorded in this book?”
Almost immediately, new words appeared on the page.
Ji-won froze.
She leaned closer.
The sentence she had just spoken was now written there in black ink.
“No way.”
She quickly looked around the room.
Nobody.
Her gaze returned to the book.
She raised an eyebrow.
“Wait… Am I in this novel, or is this novel in me?”
She thought about it for a moment before shaking her head.
“Okay. The first one sounds way more reasonable.”
She looked around the room again.
“So… I’m actually in a novel?”
The realization slowly sank in.
Ji-won placed the book on her lap and rested her chin on one hand, looking genuinely confused.
“How is that even possible?”
She glanced out the window.
Everything looked real—the old room, the road outside, even the quiet air.
So how could she possibly be inside a novel?
“Where are the main characters? What am I even supposed to do?”
She looked around as though someone might suddenly appear and hand her a set of instructions.
Nothing.
No helpful narrator.
Not even a simple welcome message.
“Great.” She sighed.
“Looks like I have to figure everything out myself.”
She picked up the book again and flipped through it, but there wasn’t a single hint about what she was supposed to do next.
Ji-won frowned.
“This is definitely not how these web novels usually go.”
Then another thought crossed her mind.
Maybe I should check the ending again.
Her eyes moved down the final paragraph until they stopped at the last sentence.
With her last breath, she vowed that if she were ever given a second chance, she would change her fate.
A second chance.
Ji-won rested her fingers against her jaw, deep in thought.
Wasn’t the original female lead supposed to be the one who got a second chance?
Why was she the one who had ended up here instead?
And where was the original female lead?
“I don’t even know what’s happening,” she muttered.
Then an idea struck her.
“If this is a normal novel, then it should follow the usual trends, right?”
She sat up straighter and began counting on her fingers.
“From the novels I’ve read, there’s rebirth, werewolves, billionaires, mafia, CEO romance…”
She paused at her last finger.
“…and systems.”
The moment the word left her mouth, a sudden flash of light appeared.
Ji-won froze.
“What was that?”
She quickly looked around the room.
Nothing.
She blinked.
“Did I imagine that?”
Another flash appeared.
This time, she noticed where it came from.
Below her chest.
Ji-won slowly looked down.
A faint glow was coming from her left wrist.
“What…?”
She raised her arm.
A simple yet beautiful coral bracelet had appeared around her wrist.
It definitely hadn’t been there a minute ago, yet now it rested around her wrist as naturally as if it had always belonged there.
After everything that had happened so far, Ji-won wasn’t as shocked as she thought she should be.
Instead, something else caught her attention.
The bracelet looked familiar.
Very familiar.
Her expression changed as she slowly turned her wrist from side to side.
She couldn’t explain why, but she was certain she had seen this exact design before.
“Hmm…”
She pulled her wrist closer, studying the bracelet carefully.
Before she could think any further, a strange vibration passed through the room.
Ji-won went completely still.
Then a clear mechanical voice sounded inside her mind.
{ SYSTEM UNLOCKED.
}
What do you guys think about the mysterious bracelet?.