Kim Hajin was on his way to his dorm room when a strange guy halted him at the door of the classroom.

It was none other than the infamous cringe lord, troublemaker, and unfortunately—his friend—Hyon Hyung.

"Man, I’ve been looking for you…" Hyon greeted him with his usual friendly smile, following it up with the par-for-the-course chummy tap on the shoulder. "Hey, how’s your luck? No, scratch that. Do you want to try hitting the lotto with me?" he added, his tone light and casual.

Kim Hajin sighed internally. He knew these types. He had dealt with enough of them in his past life. Hyon Hyung was the kind of friend who invaded personal space under the guise of being overly friendly, trying to force conversations at his own pace. The chummy extrovert—always the hardest to deal with.

Lately, though, Hajin noticed something else. Something more. Suspicious—if he had to put it into one word. But considering Hyon’s general behavior, Hajin couldn’t shake the thought that maybe this was just Hyon on a regular Tuesday.

As usual, Hyon launched into one of his tirades, giving Hajin no opportunity to interject.

"I’ve been thinking, let’s play this new MMO. Hosup’s in. It’ll be a blast. I already have a strategy—max out luck. If you’re gonna pick one stat, go big or go home. I’m just saying... Luck is the most OP attribute. And you can’t even train it…"

Hyon went on and on with his theories about luck, and while Hajin didn’t disagree—heroes who thrived on luck were definitely broken—he couldn't help but think, if this were a novel, wouldn’t that just make things too easy? Too boring? His thoughts drifted while Hyon continued, his words blurring into background noise.

Finally, Hyon let him go, scratching the back of his head with a sigh. "I don’t think we’ll play the game, though… Turns out it’s clickbait, nothing worth our time. I’m reading reviews while walking, and damn... these games are trash."

Hajin barely listened. He had already tuned out since Hyon’s arrival, but Hyon continued anyway, lowkey complaining while fiddling with his smartwatch. "Games should be honest, don’t you think? I guess I won’t even bother talking to Hosup about this…"

As Hyon Hyung walked off, waving casually, he called out, "See you tomorrow, pal... Good luck to you!" His voice carried the same carefree tone it always did, fading as he disappeared down the hallway.

Kim Hajin stood there for a moment before making steady steps toward his room. Once inside, his eyes immediately landed on a package sitting neatly by the door—a collection of items from his apartment, sent over from the days when he was still attending the Agent Military Academy. He sighed and began tending to them. There was so much to do.

In this world, Hajin knew he could lay low. Survival wasn’t difficult if that was all he wanted. But there was a reason he had, against every instinct, decided to enter Cube. The main story was his only ticket home.

"The Returnee Hero"—his unfinished novel, left hanging on hiatus—had drawn him into this mess. He had been shocked when, after all that time, he received a request for a remake from an overeager fan. Now, after connecting the dots, Hajin was sure that fan had something to do with why he was here. And to return to his world, to find his own happy ending, he needed to stick to the story.

“It’s not so bad," he muttered to himself, thoughts swirling. "I can work behind the scenes. Maybe become an informant…"

But that wasn’t enough. If he wanted to survive and make it home, he needed more than just his knowledge. He needed strength. His gun wasn’t going to cut it. There had to be something else—a weapon, a skill, something to give him an edge.

As he mulled over his options, his gaze fell on a familiar object sitting on the desk. His breath hitched in his throat.

It was his laptop. The same one he’d used as a humble author, typing out his ideas late into the night. His heart pounded faster as he approached it, his fingers shaking slightly as he opened the lid.

What he saw on the screen made his mind freeze.

"...What is this?" The words fell out of his mouth, breaking the silence that had settled like a weight on his chest.

=== [Synchronizing… 70% Complete] ===

Kim Chundong

[Current SP: 54]

Variable Stats

[Strength: 4]

[Stamina: 4.3]

[Speed: 4]

[Perception: 5]

[Vitality: 4]

[Magic Power: 3.5]

Invariable Stats

[Intelligence: 4/10]

[Perseverance: 4/10]

[Luck: 4/10]

[Charm: 4/10]

Gift ???

Arts ???

…???

…???

…Supplement… Setting Chart…

=== [Synchronizing… 70% Complete] ===

Hajin stared at the screen, his hands trembling. His heart pounded violently in his chest as sweat beaded on his forehead. He couldn’t make sense of what he was seeing. His brain refused to register it.

"...What is this?" he repeated, his voice shaking as doubt gnawed at him.

The window on the monitor, the format—it was something he recognized. It was exactly like the settings book he used when writing his novel, a tool to help him keep track of stats, abilities, and world-building details. But this wasn’t his doing. This was something else entirely.

Alien. Incomprehensible.

His breath quickened as the dissonance in his mind grew. His sweat ran cold, and his entire body began to tremble. How could this be possible?

“This strange object... just who sent it to me, for what purpose, and for what reason?” Kim Hajin muttered. Nothing about this made sense. Who could have possibly known enough to manipulate the system of his novel? And why him?

At that exact moment, the laptop screen flickered and went black. His own face reflected back at him from the dark surface. He stared at it, breathing hard, but what struck him wasn’t the usual distortion—the blur of Question Marks that always obscured his view of Kim Chundong’s true appearance. This time, it was different. He saw his own face, Kim Hajin’s face, clear and undeniable.

His heart skipped a beat. Not Kim Chundong. It was him.

Before he had time to process the shock, the screen came back to life. A series of lines flashed across it, the words sharp and clear, filling the silence that had wrapped itself around him.

[Kim Chundong, synchronization with Kim Hajin complete.]

[All Status reset]

[Unique Authority, ‘Setting Intervention’, acquired.]

Kim Hajin blinked, his mind blank for a moment as the words sunk in. His synchronization was complete. He was now fully in control, not just some passenger in Kim Chundong’s body. And what was this… ‘Setting Intervention’? Unique Authority?

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His fingers trembled as they hovered over the keyboard. He had no idea what any of this truly meant, but one thing was clear: things had just gotten a lot more dangerous—and potentially, a lot more in his favor.

His arrival into this world was no longer just a fluke or some twisted accident. It was deliberate.

A declaration of his True Arrival.

This was real. And now, so was he.

***

Meanwhile, on the other side of the dorm, I—the great nobody—was conducting an experiment of my own.

Enlightenment was a phenomenon, an awakening that only happened when someone surpassed their limits. Right then, at that exact moment, Hajin must have been experiencing it. It was transcendental. That was the only word I could use to describe it.

A shift in perspective, from mortal to something more, something godlike. After receiving that laptop, Hajin’s potential had become incalculable. He now wielded the power of the original author of this world. Could you even imagine that? It was the kind of authority that didn’t just change a person—it reshaped reality itself.

And all of this? It was happening just a few walls away from me. How could I not be agitated? I was only human, after all. It was natural to feel fear when you were standing this close to something so... cosmic.

I glanced around my room, where a mess of pictures of Kim Chundong littered the floor. They were fresh off the printer, still warm. There were documents, too—data I had painstakingly gathered about Chundong, and then there was the digital info on my smartwatch. Several windows and tabs were open, all involving Kim Chundong.

Why? Because I had to stay on guard. The nature of Kim Hajin’s true arrival in this world was something far more terrifying than anyone realized. It wasn’t just about some plot device or narrative quirk. It was far worse than that.

Hajin’s arrival came at the cost of Kim Chundong’s deletion. It wasn’t a simple death. It was a complete erasure of someone’s existence. Usurpation. Kim Chundong didn’t just die—he ceased to exist.

And that, my friend, was far scarier than anything else.

I waited. I watched.

Then it happened.

It happened in the blink of an eye.

Kim Chundong was gone. Completely, utterly deleted from this world, like he had never been here. In his place, Hajin emerged fully. And as I looked around at the pictures of Kim Chundong, I saw it happening—those photos, those images I had printed, started to shift. Chundong’s features blurred, morphing ever so slightly until they resembled more of Hajin’s face.

I froze.

This was crazy. Beyond crazy.

And yet, even as this mind-bending change unfolded before my eyes, there was one thing that was clear—I remembered. I remembered them both. Kim Chundong. Kim Hajin. I remembered what was and what is. That made me a witness to something greater than either of us could fully understand.

This world had changed forever. And I was one of the few who knew the truth.

There would be some use in my knowing these names, but I knew it would be a long time before I could do anything with that knowledge. My nerves finally began to relax, the tension slowly draining from my body. Only now did I realize my back was drenched in cold sweat. It was time for me to sleep. I just hoped Hajin would remember my advice—to max out his luck.

In the original novel, Hajin had only managed to raise his luck to 9.1, but what a waste that was when he could push it to a full 10. To be fair, Hajin had planned to max his luck in the original storyline, but the system corrected it, keeping him from reaching that final point.

But now? Things were different.

This was no longer The Novel’s Extra. The script had changed, and I was certain that Chae Nayun’s regression would elevate Hajin’s existence even further. The past could very well overwrite the present, making maxed luck for Kim Hajin in this timeline more than just a possibility—it was highly likely.

I drifted off to sleep, my thoughts swirling around the potential changes to come and what tomorrow might bring. For me, this was a not-so-bad good night.

At the very least, I knew something about what was happening—more than most people, anyway. That was enough for now.

***

Kim Hajin could hardly calm himself. He knew something fundamental had changed in his existence. As if to confirm this, he inspected his attributes—numbers that now seemed far inferior to those of Kim Chundong.

"Is that it?" he muttered, half-expecting something more, half-disappointed.

His stats were divided into two categories: Variable Stats—the physical attributes that could change over time—and Invariable Stats—the more definite, intangible qualities.

His Variable Stats were nothing short of abysmal:

[Strength 1.2], [Stamina 1.3], [Speed 1.5], [Perception 2], [Vitality 1.3], [Magic Power 1]

"Utter trash," he thought to himself, lips tightening in frustration.

At least, the Invariable Stats looked somewhat more promising:

[Intelligence— 4.105/10], [Perseverance— 5.010/10], [Luck— 6.330/10], [Charm— 4.135/10]

His eyes lingered on the Luck stat for a second longer than the others. Luck was vital, especially in a world where randomness could dictate life or death. He had to maximize his potential, and now more than ever, that meant optimizing every choice. There would be no room for regrets.

Then there was his Gift, a critical element in surviving this world:

[Observation and Reading] [Null Attribute]

* Observation

"You can observe the characters in your vision."

* Reading

"Any time you want, you can read the laptop’s settings book without a medium."

It was decent, if somewhat limited. But when it came to Arts (0/3) and Physique (0/3), he had nothing to show. He was starting from zero. Yet, it was his Authority that really stood out—especially the power of [Setting Intervention]. It was menacing, with the potential to be an absolute game-changer.

[Setting Intervention]

* Using SP, you can modify or add settings to a non-living target.

* Using SP, and relating to target ‘Kim Hajin,’ you can modify or add settings to stats, Gift, Art, and Physique.

The more Hajin read, the more he realized just how dangerous this ability was. It could make him stronger, smarter, more prepared. And all of it depended on SP—Story Points—the currency he could accumulate by increasing his importance within the novel's narrative. The more integral he became to the story, the more SP he would gain.

He scrolled through the rest of the information furiously, careful not to miss a single detail. It all made sense now. He needed to survive, to grow, and he needed to be more than just a passive participant in this world. He had to become essential.

As his eyes hovered over his luck stat one last time, he knew he'd be pulling an all-nighter. There were choices to be made, strategies to plan. Regret wasn’t something he could afford.

Not anymore.

A lot of options opened up to Kim Hajin all at once. He could use his SP to strengthen his gun, but he knew better than to waste resources on the training gun he currently had. Strengthening it wouldn’t be a worthy investment. If he wanted a real edge, he needed a better gun—something stronger, something worth the SP. For now, he had to hold off until he got his hands on one.

Then there were his Stats. Hajin had 10 free Stat Points at his disposal, and his gaze inevitably lingered on Luck. It was tempting to max it out—luck had already shown its potential to influence events and gather resources. But there were other stats he needed too. Intelligence and Perseverance stood out as crucial. Intelligence would give him a sharper mind, but he couldn’t rely solely on it. After all, intelligence suited a mage more than a long-range shooter like him. Perseverance, though—well, that was survival in a nutshell.

He tapped his finger thoughtfully against the desk. Then there was the idea of creating his own Gift.

A Gift held special significance for Heroes. Just by its dictionary definition, a Gift was a power or natural talent that could take many forms. Weapons, physical enhancements, elemental abilities, magic, nature—Gifts covered a wide range. Cultivating one could make a Hero exponentially stronger.

He needed a Gift that suited his strengths, and if there was one thing he knew about himself, it was that his greatest asset wasn’t just a weapon. It was knowledge. The deadliest weapon in his arsenal wasn’t a gun—it was his laptop.

That laptop gave him power beyond what anyone in this world could imagine. It wasn’t just a tool; it was a gateway. With enough SP, Hajin could arm himself with anything and everything, creating a customized path to victory. But he needed to be smart about it—careful with every choice.

"It’s going to be a long night," Hajin muttered, eyes scanning the screen one more time. There was no rushing this. He needed to come up with a Gift that aligned with his abilities, one that wouldn’t betray his long-range fighting style. Something versatile and lethal, but still subtle enough to go unnoticed until the moment he needed it.

The clock ticked in the background as his mind ran through scenarios, possibilities, and strategies. Time was a luxury he couldn’t afford to waste, but neither could he afford to make a reckless decision. Every SP counted, and if he played his cards right, he could emerge from this stronger than ever.

Hajin leaned forward, fingers hovering over the laptop. The first move was critical, and tonight, he would make sure it was the right one.