NOVEL WEB chapter 1
Screams echoed from all directions. As the castle walls collapsed, heavy stones slammed into the ground with a thud, embedding themselves into the earth. Yet, even in this desperate moment, Ayra couldn’t tear her eyes away from her opponent, not even for a second, let alone think of escaping.
It wasn’t because of the opponent's striking red, flame-like hair or their intense eyes. It wasn’t because of the calm smile, devoid of fear or anxiety, on the handsome face that grinned in the midst of this disaster. No, Ayra, hesitantly stepping back, found her arm caught in a vice-like grip, pulled painfully as if by a serpent. The gaze directed at her burned like a red flame, glowing fiercely.
"If you go that way, you'll die."
The voice was as casual as if there was nothing to worry about, cutting through the air. Despite the circumstances, Ayra found herself mesmerized, unable to stop herself from checking the stat screen for Janus Rehzedt. She noticed that stones had begun to circle nervously around her, drifting about restlessly.
Soon, the stat screen appeared next to Janus Rehzedt's head.
HP: ???
MP: ???
Physical Attack: ???
Magical Attack: ???
Favorability: 1♡
‘Favorability 1? Just 1?’
Ayra stared hard at the stat screen, her focus unyielding, and Janus Rehzedt's eyes followed the direction of her gaze. He glanced around as if searching for something in the distance, before his eyes locked on an exact point in the air, somewhere Ayra was staring at. His red pupils narrowed, flashing with a chilling light.
Before long, something appeared that bothered her even more than the earthquake-like tremor or the fact that the opponent’s favorability was only 1. It wasn’t the stat screen or the notification window.
Thanks for saving me earlier. (Bad Ending)
What do you mean by that? (Bad Ending)
I’m not sure what you mean. (Bad Ending)
Wait... was it not just showing stats? Why are there choices?
Hold on, what’s this about endings? ...Bad Ending?
As she recalled the joyful moments they had shared together, Ayra stared blankly at the man in front of her. Janus Rehzedt grinned, exposing his sharp white teeth, narrowing his red eyes. It was a gaze that gleamed like that of a reptile.
‘……What in the world is this?’
Ayra, who had been staring blankly, squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again. Her eyes felt so stiff that she wondered if she had imagined it. The aching and throbbing pain in her body, as though she had been beaten by multiple people, only added to her confusion. However, no matter how many times she blinked, the round something that had appeared on her chest didn’t disappear. It was about the size of two adult fists, round, smooth, and resembling a transparent pebble.
If that was all, Ayra might have thought someone had placed something on her, but this pebble had eyes, a nose, and a mouth. It had round eyes like dots and a mouth shaped like the Korean letter "시" (shi). When she closed her eyes again and opened them, the pebble blinked its eyes in sync with hers. Ayra slowly tried to think, her mind racing.
‘Monster? Magic golem? Hallucination? Illusion?’
She doubted her own eyes again. The pebble formed characters right under its mouth. If it wasn’t some meaningless pattern, it clearly spelled out the word “Hi” in English.
Hi? English?! Ayra rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was seeing things, but as soon as she raised her hand, she groaned in pain. Someone who had been standing at a distance immediately came closer and leaned in. When Ayra refocused her blurry vision, it was her fellow mage, Shinje.
“Ayra, are you feeling better? How’s your body?”
“Shinje….”
Does the weird creature show up in your eyes too? Ayra was about to ask, but her eyes widened. It was because of the stat screen that had appeared next to Shinje’s head, who was looking down at her with a concerned expression. No matter how many times she closed and opened her eyes, the screen didn’t disappear.
HP: ???
MP: ???
Physical Attack: ???
Magical Attack: ???
??: ???♡
It was exactly like the UI from a game she used to enjoy.
❄
Solar Sing Ayra is a reincarnate.
To be precise, in her previous life, she was the second son of the Solar family, who lived a normal twenty years on Earth before tragically dying in a car accident. In childhood, people often wondered, “Why is this kid so quiet?” and Ayra spent her time in deep thought.
‘Why was I born with memories of my past life? Was I perhaps given a special destiny? Am I… the protagonist?’
To get straight to the point, no, she was not. When she awakened as a mage at six years old and entered the mage city labyrinth, ‘Labyrinth,’ it was teeming with reincarnates and possessors.
In the labyrinth, just uttering the word "reincarnate" or "possessor" would lead to conversations like the following:
‘Actually, I’m a reincarnate…’
‘Oh, you too? I’m a possessor. Do you know a guy named Zerkmaha?’
‘Looking for a mage from Garganty. Join the Local Guild!’
‘Everyone calls me ‘Hyung’ (older brother). I’m forty.’
‘You little brats, I’ve seen grandkids already.’
‘Quiet down, all of you. I’ve lived for over three hundred years.’
‘This place is a mess. If you’re reincarnated, you age in the new order.’
‘You punks, don’t talk back to the elders!’
‘You wanna fight?’
Ayra, who had only lived twenty years before her death, kept silent among the bickering, childish old mages.
It wasn’t like they were given any special fate. The reason there were so many reincarnates and possessors was simply because a crazed dragon had torn a hole in the dimensional barrier. To be precise, many of the mages, including Ayra, had been souls that passed through that hole.
With so many reincarnates and possessors around, there were traces of other dimensions scattered across the world. For example, the mage city ‘Labyrinth’ was clearly named by a reincarnate or possessor from Earth.
In that sense, the stat screen in front of Ayra was not completely incomprehensible.
The transparent pebble shouting ‘Hi’ like a flashing billboard and the stat screen floating above Shinje’s head were both clearly cultural elements from Earth. But how these things had appeared, Ayra couldn’t fathom. She clutched her throbbing head, trying to piece together her confused memories.
Labyrinth.
The city of mages, a literal maze, was infamous for being a place where once you entered, you could never leave. However, for mages, it was a paradise on Earth. Ayra had lived there since she was six years old, and she had spent more than twenty years there without leaving.
If the sudden news hadn’t come that her family had died in a carriage accident, she would have continued living there until the end of her life.
After hearing the shocking news, Ayra urgently stopped her research and rushed to her estate with Shinje. She had considered that the grief wouldn’t be too great since they were her second family, and the time apart had lessened the sadness. However, subconsciously, the shock was deep. While she was attending the funeral, her condition worsened, and on the last day of the funeral, Ayra collapsed while watching the family tomb being constructed.
Now, she had awakened, and strange phenomena began to occur.
“You passed out right after the funeral, and then you were moaning like you were about to die.”
Shinje, with a worried expression, placed his hand on her forehead, relieved to see that her fever had gone down. Ayra groaned and tried to sit up. The strange thing on her chest seemed to roll off, floating up like a soap bubble. Shinje pointed at it and asked.
“So, what is this?”
Ayra was wondering if she was hallucinating, but since Shinje also saw it, it was clear she wasn’t imagining things. She looked at the characters floating above the strange object, ‘WoW,’ and Shinje showed interest, remarking, “I’ve never seen this kind of script before.” Ayra glanced at the stat screen floating next to her friend’s head. In that brief moment, Shinje made a quick decision and casually said:
“It’s an artificial spirit I made as a test.”
“Well, the way you made it, and how it’s round and smooth… it fits your style, both in design and magic flow.”
At Shinje’s words, Ayra inspected the spirit closely. Indeed, it looked exactly like something of her style. The design, the way the magic was woven, and even the use of English words like ‘Hi’ and ‘WoW’ were the same. Even the stat screen was identical to the UI of a game she used to play religiously in her past life, where she checked in daily without missing a day.
But no matter how she thought about it, she didn’t remember creating this. Ayra rubbed her throbbing temples. As she tried to search her memories, all she could grasp were vague, painful, exhausting, angry, despairing, nauseating, and unpleasantly negative feelings.
And then, a new window appeared before her.
Hello, Master! It’s so nice to meet you! ^o^
I am your cute spirit GM here to help you with your dreams of
Before we begin, could you please give me a name?
☞ Name input ______
What is this? This is something straight out of a game… a tutorial window?
___________________
TL Notes:
While translating this excerpt, I encountered several cultural and linguistic nuances that required careful attention. I aimed to preserve the original tone and meaning while making the text accessible to English-speaking readers. Here are a few key points:
Character Names:
The protagonist’s name, 솔라 싱 에이라 (Solar Sing Ayra), has been transliterated as Solar Sing Ayra to maintain phonetic accuracy. This adaptation ensures readability while staying true to the original Korean pronunciation.
Gaming Terminology:
The novel frequently references game mechanics, such as stat screens, UI elements, and system messages. I have kept these terms intact, as they closely align with common RPG and MMORPG interfaces familiar to Western gamers. Where necessary, I added slight clarifications to ensure smooth reading without disrupting immersion.
Cultural References:
The term 미궁 라비린스 (Migung Labyrinth) is a hybrid of the Korean word for labyrinth and the English "Labyrinth." I have translated this as "Mage City: Labyrinth" to retain its meaning while making it more intuitive for English readers.
I hope this translation helps English-speaking readers fully immerse themselves in the world created by the author, capturing both its humor and depth. Thank you for reading, and enjoy the adventure! 😊
— solee_79