Chapter 2

#002 Human Crash Landing (2)

I muttered my name, 'Jeong Yeseo,' to myself.

"Your Highness?"

The gazes of the valet and the attendants turned to me. I stood there, at a loss for words.

A fictional character with the same name as mine, someone I should know.

It could only be 'Yeseo Penethian.'

"Ah......"

Suddenly, my vision turned white, and dizziness overcame me.

It felt as if all the blood had drained from my head.

"Your Highness!"

"Are you alright?"

The valet's alarmed voice was followed by the attendants' panic.

I leaned on the armrest of the sofa, struggling to keep my balance.

When I slowly sat down and lifted my head, the dizziness subsided, and my vision became clearer than before.

I needed time to sort out the situation.

Looking at the worried and anxious faces, I smiled as if nothing was wrong.

"It seems my condition is taking a while to recover. Could you please give me a moment alone?"

*

"Hmm."

Sitting quietly, I found myself muttering to myself. It felt strangely familiar.

I wasn't meeting Yeseo Penethian for the first time. There had been countless fan arts of her that Eunseo had shown me.

"Excuse me?"

The young attendant, who had brought my bag at my request, looked at me with large eyes.

This bag belonged to Yeseo Penethian, brought from the New Kingdom.

Feeling bad for startling the child, I told him as gently as possible that it was nothing and to go rest.

After watching the boy close the door, I sat on the floor and unpacked the bag.

"Really, could I have come here with nothing at all?"

I had become a hostage, and bringing gifts would have been strange. Since the royal family managed all the clothing, there was no need to bring many items, but still, coming this lightly was odd.

I shook out the small pocket inside the bag, but the only things I found from the prince's luggage were a small notebook and a few simple outfits that seemed to have been worn during the journey.

No weapons, treasures, or money—nothing at all.

Or perhaps the royal family had already taken everything.

"Oh dear."

I got up from my cross-legged position and opened the notebook.

I had hoped he had left a short diary entry, but there wasn't a single drop of ink on the pages. What a lazy brat.

I wondered if there might be some magic I didn't know about, so I brought it close to the fireplace and shone a light on it.

There was nothing.

"What a carefree guy, really."

After briefly evaluating the prince, I returned to the first page of the notebook.

Since I needed paper to write down what I knew, I decided to keep it here.

I sat at the table and awkwardly picked up the quill pen provided.

When I pressed the tip of the pen to the notebook, black ink seeped out in a circle.

At the top, I wrote the title of the work I had entered.

<After Quitting My Job, I Became a Noble in Another World>.

My hand trembled, so I took a deep breath.

"Jeong Eunseo, what have you done...?"

I muttered my sister's name and began to wring out everything I remembered.

<After Quitting My Job, I Became a Noble in Another World>, abbreviated as 'AKN'. A best-selling romance fantasy novel that made waves in South Korea.

Romance fantasy, often abbreviated as 'RPF', and AKN was a megahit that was rewriting the history of RPF and setting new sales records every day.

On any platform where web novels could be read, AKN was always at the top of the RPF category, and it consistently ranked in the real-time, daily, weekly, and monthly bestsellers, as well as the steady sellers.

Even those who didn't read RPF knew the title and cover of AKN.

As a groundbreaking RPF million-seller, it had also expanded into other media.

The webtoon was the beginning, and the first episode's release caused the server of Korea's largest webtoon platform to crash due to its immense popularity.

There was news of a large-scale investment in an animation production.

The AKN drama CD, featuring a cast of famous voice actors, sold out within two minutes of the pre-order opening, and due to the fans' support and criticism, the production had to increase the quantity by 300%.

Recently, top actors were brought in to record an audiobook, which included the official AKN OST.

The theme song, performed by a popular idol, naturally topped the music charts.

How do I know all this?

"This is either a blessing or a curse."

My younger sister, Jeong Eunseo (20, college student), is a fervent fan of this work.

The adjective 'fervent' seems inadequate, but that's how it was.

AKN started serialization in January of the year Eunseo turned 19, which was last year.

With the thought that she would really be a senior in high school in March, AKN became a wonderful escape for Eunseo.

When she failed the June mock exam, AKN was a great comfort, and when she did well on the September mock exam, she was happy, saying it was thanks to AKN.

When she aced the college entrance exam, well, there was no need to say.

"This is my life novel, seriously. I don't know how I'll live after it ends."

Eunseo is 9 years younger than me and 12 years younger than my brother.

My brother and I raised our youngest sister like a daughter, pampering her, and soon we were swept up in Eunseo's typhoon-like love for AKN.

After my college course registration, I even opened the server time page and waited for the pre-order of the drama CD, and my brother, who works from home, listened to the AKN OST.

This was due to Eunseo's persistent claim that it needed to be streamed.

When our family gathered around the dinner table, AKN was always the topic of conversation.

Eunseo would analyze the latest chapter and passionately argue why the secondary male lead, 'Yeseo Penethian,' should be the main protagonist.

"Serugi is really no good. He's sinned against our Cristel again. Yeseo is the answer."

At first, it felt very awkward to hear a character with the same name as mine mentioned by Eunseo.

But as with everything, I eventually got used to it. After all, she was a character in a novel.

"Is the main protagonist's name Serugi?"

"Ah, brother. You asked that last time, too."

"Because he acts like a jerk, fans call him Serugi."

Eunseo asked my brother and me to read AKN several times.

However, my brother, who had read it diligently until the middle, declared he was out, saying it wasn't his taste, and Eunseo, though disappointed, didn't push further.

As for me, I was busy with my job and preparing for a career change at the beginning of last year.

After starting a new job, I was busy adapting to it.

I had a few web novels I was reading, but I hadn't even touched them.

Knowing this, Eunseo didn't push me further, and by the time she got into college, the promotion of AKN had naturally slowed down.

My brother often said he found Eunseo's rants about AKN more interesting than AKN itself.

I had never read AKN but always secretly agreed with him.

That's right.

I was not a reader of AKN. Damn it.

"Can you even possess a character you haven't read?"

I laughed in disbelief.

Still, now that I knew I was Yeseo Penethian, I could roughly guess why I was possessed.

Eunseo cried last night after reading the latest chapter.

She complained about the author's backhandedness and declared she would "think about it after a good night's sleep" before going to bed before 10 PM.

Yeseo Penethian died in the latest chapter.

"Did I possess and regress?"

Seeing that the dead character was alive, someone must have sent me back in time to save him.

Since I'm not a reader, it seems I was possessed because of my sister, Eunseo.

But wouldn't it be better if Eunseo, who has read the original multiple times and knows even the minor details, possessed the character? Why was I sent?

Eunseo is a proactive and independent person.

If something like this happened, she would take the initiative to solve it, not leave it to me or my brother.

So, while Eunseo's sadness might be the cause of the possession and regression, the person who sent me here must be someone else.

"Really, there's no answer."

The more I thought, the more complicated it became.

I decided to start with what I could do now and gradually figure out what I could understand.

I wrote my name, the name I would be called here, in the notebook.

I briefly recorded the facts I knew.

- Yeseo Penethian

The character I possessed. The secondary male lead in AKN. A prince of the New Kingdom.

For unknown reasons, he was taken as a hostage and imprisoned in the Juliette Palace.

He later died in a war while protecting the crown prince.

And I wrote the protagonist's name below. 'Cristel'......

"What was her last name? Sarcosy?"

No, that doesn't seem right.

Eunseo usually called her 'our girl' or 'our Cristel,' so it was hard to remember her last name.

- Cristel

The protagonist of AKN. Long, wavy pink hair, blue eyes. Ambitious personality.

The setting is that a person who quit their job was possessed by a character in another world.

Judging by the title 'noble,' she seems to be from a high-ranking family.

I remembered her hair and eye color because I had seen the cover of AKN many times.

I also remembered the face of the man who held her waist and stood beside her in the illustration.

"What was Serugi's real name?"

What was the main protagonist's name?

It was a cool and impressive name, but because my sister always called him Serugi, I couldn't remember it.

It definitely starts with 'S'.

- Serugi

The main male lead in AKN. The crown prince of the Empire. Black hair, red eyes.

He has a significant height difference with Cristel.

I heard he is a Swordmaster.

His personality is said to be terrible.

Thanks to my sister's frequent rants starting with "A crown prince like him......," I remembered that the main protagonist is the crown prince.

It's a shame I haven't read the original, but it's fortunate that I listened to my sister's rants.

I hope the things I've picked up over time will come to mind more often.

I continued to write down the facts that came to mind.

The things my sister complained about last night, the things she said last week, the things I heard during our dinner last month.

It's wise to take notes when I remember them, as I might forget or get confused over time.

Writing them down also helps me review and memorize them.

By the time I filled the pages, the sun was high in the sky.

I wrote the last item.

- My Goal

If my guess is correct, I was possessed to save this body, which will die in a war someday.

The only way to ensure the one who will die in battle lives is to not participate in the war at all.

The only way for the one who will sacrifice himself for the crown prince to live is to not get involved with the crown prince.

There are several ways to avoid getting involved with the crown prince, but in this story, the key point is that the crown prince and I are rivals for the same woman.

Eunseo said Yeseo Penethian saved the crown prince for Cristel's happiness and sacrificed himself.

So, not getting involved with the protagonist Cristel will increase my chances of survival.

Without further ado, I wrote the final sentence.

- My Goal

Do not get involved with the protagonists and survive until the end of the war, returning home healthy!

Do not stand out, do not cause trouble, and quietly take care of my meals and health.

Act with integrity, but do not meddle in matters others can solve.

Deal with both superiors and subordinates with the utmost tact and effort.

"Well, it's nothing for a loner."

If I had to interfere in their love, it would be different, but becoming a complete outsider was something I was confident in.

The belief that only a lifelong singleton can have filled me with pride.