episode_0005

The subplot of misfortune arrived with the ear-splitting sound of a dragon’s roar.

“Kiyaaaah! I got accepted into the Taekwondo Department at Daehan University!”

In the chilly December wind, I couldn’t contain my joy upon receiving the acceptance notice from the university of my dreams. And not just any university, but one boasting the best input and output in the country.

“Shwoosh. Shwoosh. Shwoosh. Who am I?”

I take cheerful steps, sparring with an imaginary opponent, then effortlessly executing a sidekick that closely resembled a straight line in front of my laptop. The self-questioning came afterward.

“Daehan University Taekwondo Department, Class of ’23, Han Se-rin.”

“Hey, keep it down, you! What’s with the lackluster reaction for a re-enrollee? It’s like you’re not even a regular student.”

Crack!

From behind, my mom, with the agility of a lightning bolt, delivered a swift smash! Truly the smashing technique of a former volleyball player. No matter how hard I trained in Taekwondo, I couldn’t match my mom’s finesse.

Perhaps volleyball is the ultimate martial art?

“Ah, geez…”

“What? Geez? Are you talking to your mom like that? Your grades in college are ‘geez’ now?”

Crack! Crack! Crack!

“Ow! Why are you being so harsh just because I made a mistake, seriously!”

“Your way of speaking at home is the same as how you’d talk to your senior athletes in the sports world. Do you want to be ostracized the moment you enter school?”

“Hmph, I don’t care at all.”

“Goodness, where does your confidence come from?”

“I’m pretty, you know!!!”

With that, I screamed in frustration and dashed out the front door. As I turned my head, I could hear my mom muttering under her breath,

“You crazy girl…”

mixing deep sighs with intense resentment.

◇

Making plans for a drinking session with friends was easy. I was the only re-enrollee among my high school friends, as the rest were busy enjoying campus life.

I opened the messenger app and typed cheerfully.

[Hey guys, feel free to praise me at the drinking session today]

But the response was underwhelming.

“Huh?”

[Do you guys know? It’s xx’s military enlistment in a week]

“So today is his pre-enlistment drinking day?”

“Farewell party, let’s go!”

“These days, the ’44 rule’ is trending in our club, and everyone’s failing it”

“What’s that?”

“From 4 p.m. to 4 p.m., no one can leave the east room ㅋ”

“Crazy ㅋㅋ”

“What’s this? Am I being ostracized?”

Was my university acceptance just a minor news overshadowed by someone’s military enlistment?

“Well, at least the military is respectable.”

I couldn’t drink until 4 p.m. due to curfew, but it was a rare opportunity to drown my sorrows in alcohol. Today was a let’s-party time.

“On campus, just great~ In the club, just great~ CC, just great~”

As I sang this newly composed tune, my phone buzzed. When I checked the screen, it screamed for my attention with a glimpse of everyday happiness.

It was a notification for a web novel.

The genre was romance fantasy. The title was “Taming the Abandoned Child of the Empress.” It felt like a deliberately sensational title.

Nickname – The Abandoned Child was a sequel to another work, and I couldn’t help but feel bitter about the tightly closed happy ending of the previous one.

The female lead, defeated in a political battle and executed, somehow reincarnated to seduce the Northern Duke and successfully turn her life around.

Thus, the story ended with the Duke becoming the Emperor and the author-turned-Empress. Unlike most romance novels, they didn’t immediately execute the villains.

Instead, they stripped the Empress and the government of everything they had and imposed a disgraceful punishment by abandoning them in the slums.

“It felt a bit unsettling compared to execution…”

Even the last sentence of the epilogue was enough to earn my sympathy.

“She’s beautiful.”

Gazing from afar at the princess of the same age, who was illuminated at the National Foundation Day ceremony, the words uttered by the abandoned child struck a chord in my heart. It was just that one sentence that stung my heart.

“The child born is not at fault…”

It was unfair. The abandoned child, who seemed to embrace unhappiness simply by being born in a stark contrast of light and darkness, evoked pity.

Thus, the title of the work “Taming the Abandoned Child” provided a glimmer of hope in the midst of despair.

“But why tame a child who has already suffered so much?”

It didn’t sit well with me. Nevertheless, I followed along each chapter, curious about the fate that awaited the abandoned child who strangely captured my attention. However, most comments criticized the author for overdoing it with this work…

“No… after wrapping up the previous work happily… why…”

This was unacceptable.

“Why is the daughter of the previous protagonists the villainess?!”

No matter what, shouldn’t the honor of the previous protagonists be respected? They were characters I adored so much!

“I can’t just ignore this.”

While others might have overlooked it, the abandoned child was somewhat of a hostage to me. Because I wanted the character I sympathized with to reach a bright ending.

As the chapters piled up, the abandoned child gradually became my favorite character. If only I could witness his happy days, it would be a wish fulfilled.

But it seemed like the author was not willing to grant even that. This time, the female lead had strayed far from my preferences.

“Why is the male lead suffering so much and still clinging on? Does low self-esteem really drive people to this extent?”

“If the male lead is a chicken, so what. He’s a convenience store clerk living as a female lead’s footstool!”

“There’s no male lead’s perspective! The female lead is obsessed with the male lead, fearing that the princess will steal her place.”

“If you’re going to focus so much on describing the male lead’s face, you might as well draw an illustration!”

The last comment was purely out of personal bias, but there were more than a few things that didn’t sit well with me.

“Well, the male lead who only clings to the female lead is the best. Isn’t it great to have a romantic fantasy? But did it have to be the abandoned child…”

Frustration rose at the actions of the female lead and the princess, who seemed to use the male lead’s unfortunate childhood as a leash. In the romance fantasy genre, where the female lead usually outshines everyone, it was a rare case.

“I caught him because I wanted to see him happy, but why does he only show signs of yearning?”

The female lead was truly something. With just one handsome male lead in the world, she should be content. Why did she get entangled with the subcharacters and follow a strange trend?

As for the princess… well, since the male lead has taken a liking to the female lead, it was inevitable that she would try to kill her. After all, she was a descendant of the hostile royal family.

“I’d rather have him cling to me for life… Ugh!”

As I let out a sigh that felt like the ground was caving in, the traffic light turned green. I put on my wireless earphones while pondering my unfortunate feelings. The noise-canceling feature of the latest model was truly a godsend.

As I walked, I was engulfed in a sense of urgency as if someone was urgently calling out to me from behind.

…!

… Vicky…!

… Help…!

… Help me!

At first, the clear pronunciation of the cry pierced through the noise-canceling and reached me.

Only then did I turn my head to scan the surroundings, but unfortunately, it was too late.

“A truck…?”

A truck, loaded with cargo, was charging straight towards me.

The truck was too fast for me to react, and my legs had long lost control.

Screeeech! Crash!

“Ah…”

My eardrums were ringing loudly. My body felt weightless, and strangely, I didn’t feel any pain. Everything slowed down infinitely, and every detail came into view.

The woman screamed horrifically. The man’s eyes were frozen, staring blankly. Even the driver’s cheeks were flushed as if he were drunk.

I could sense it.

‘The farewell party for these kids will be held at my funeral home.’

The appetizer was beef soup.

“Ha… I should have apologized to my mom…”

More than the regret of not passing the university entrance exam, that bothered me the most. And also,

“Dear author, please let our Namju be happy…”

This was the flow of consciousness right before I closed my first life.

◇

I spent a long time in a warm darkness, where my consciousness faded.

After death, I realized that I had to live in this suffocating world. The more regrets lingered, the deeper the desires of my past life grew.

Did my wish reach the heavens? After a long wait, a light that I thought I would never see again suddenly poured down.

“It’s a girl. A healthy princess has been born!”

‘What? A girl? A princess?’

“But why isn’t the child crying? What’s wrong?”

“It’s hard to say for sure… but at least there doesn’t seem to be any health issues.”

“Thank goodness.”

A relieved man’s words. I turned my head slightly to look in the man’s direction, and at that moment, my heart that had been beating fast seemed to stop in an instant.

‘Huh? Huh? Is this… a dream?’

What on earth…

Was the male and female lead from the previous work suddenly appearing in front of my eyes?

‘This can’t be…!!!’

“Aaaaah!”

“Oh! The princess is finally crying now.”

“I can finally hear your voice.”

“Why is she so adorable?”

The reactions were all full of praise, but I found it difficult to find it amusing.

‘It must be a dream. It has to be…!’

I… I…!

To be reincarnated as the villainess Yeongae from “Taming the Abandoned Empress”!

‘If there is a god in this world, I want to kick them 1080 degrees…’

◇

At five years old, I suddenly realized a profound truth.

“Yumo.”

“What’s the matter, our princess.”

“I have realized a profound truth.”

“What did our princess learn?”

I confidently placed my hand on my hip and declared,

“If I don’t want to become someone I hate, then I just have to not become someone I hate.”

Firm, cool, and sexy.

“Oh my, what a truly remarkable realization.”

“Yep.”

I used to curse the female leads of the original works, but I was actually preoccupied with my own worries as a true fan.

If I don’t like the female lead, I can just replace her. If I don’t like the villain, I just won’t do it. I’ll find a way somehow.

‘But since the male lead is the abandoned child of the empress, as the current princess, I have no way to help…’

If that’s the case, I should have possessed the female lead. Why reincarnate as a difficult-to-entangle princess!

I’ll have to be satisfied here. It’s much better than being an extra A who is difficult to make contact with. But human hearts are fickle, and I couldn’t help but feel unsatisfied and change my mind.

‘There’s nothing I can do. I just have to wait quietly for now.’

The clock in my heart ticked away, fueling my sense of helplessness.

…

……

I thought that the role of the cider female lead suited me. But the wall of reality far exceeded my expectations. The strict life of a princess intertwined with political stances did not allow me even a speck of a chance to meet the male lead.

And when I heard the report that the male lead had fled the institution, I cried really hard. I wailed uncontrollably.

To be reincarnated without even seeing the face of my beloved’s childhood. Where is the justice in this!

“Namju… my lost Namju who left without a trace… the unbearable void of my missing Namju is too big, so from now on, I will stand above the female lead…”

But where can I stand.

As the days passed, the nonsensical ramblings increased. The male and female leads from the previous work… in other words, to the extent that my current parents would be greatly concerned.

“Ugh…”

As if mocking my feelings, news of the abandoned child was completely cut off as time went by.

Living a seemingly pointless life, I unknowingly grew into a young lady of nineteen, similar to my past age.

At this point, I had adapted well enough to the present life, as my confidence was excessive. I even managed to evade my escorts and wander the streets in disguise.

But there was one thing I overlooked.

That this place was not the safest country in the world, South Korea!

I naively accepted the drink offered by the smiling men, and soon after, succumbed to a deep sleep.

From then on, it was a whirlwind of kidnappers.

Thoroughly captured, I was carried away in a van, plagued by a myriad of thoughts.

“I’m scared and cold… my hands are numb and my body feels sticky… I need to use the bathroom… I want to eat kimchi stew…”

But alas, the place I arrived at was a chaotic tent. The sound of hushed whispers both comforted and unsettled me, as there was no guarantee they wouldn’t harm me.

“Um… excuse me…?”

That’s when it happened.

Approaching me in my fearful state, he untied my blindfold.

“Nice to meet you, unknown lady. The kidnappers have been taken care of, so you can relax.”

The masked man. Despite his suspicious appearance, he saved me. The feeling of realizing I could relax was like gaining a new life.

And so, the situation comes to the present.

A moment of serious contemplation.

“I can’t be sure yet, as it’s still before the original timeline…”

Based on years of experience in the genre.

I, too, am falling into the reasonable suspicion that Lian might not be the male lead in “Taming the Abandoned Child.”

The reason is simple.

“Well, in a romance novel, it’s natural for the male lead to save the reincarnated female lead, right…?”

It’s just a matter of the name being an alias!

It was truly a brilliant deduction of the century.

Even the fact that he covered his face with a mask and matched the appearance of the blond-haired man behind the wall.

“I must remove the mask before I go back!”

I swear to do so with all my might!

Our investigation was raised to a new level through this process.