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I Transmigrated, 5 years Before The Story Started

(Sohee’s POV)

I am very confused right now.

If you ask me why, I have no choice but to talk about the manhwa that I’m currently working on. As an assistant to the author of ‘Viana’s Play’, which at present is the most popular manhwa of the season. I myself was also a reader who supported the love of second male lead Allen and the female lead rather than the male lead.

Of course, as we approached the end of the story, we eventually knew that the female lead and the male lead would be together. I just wanted the two to be happy so that at least Allen had no choice but to acknowledge their love in the event that the heroine and Allen would not end up together.

However….

“What is this?”

“Well…it’s the final draft of the ending. So please wrap it up.”

Our main author, who was smiling slyly, shrugged as if he had already expected my reaction and looked elsewhere. I was astonished to see the content of the final draft that he gave me. The ending exceeded my expectations, and it shattered not only my hope but also the hopes of all the readers.

The content of the final draft was roughly as follows.

On the wedding day of Ian and Viana, whose love for each other is growing stronger despite Allen’s disturbances, Ronnie the villain secretly gave a poison toast(*) to Viana. Ronnie, who treated Allen like her own pet, did so when she saw how Allen was affected by this wedding.

(TN: (*) Drink to the health or in honor of (someone or something) by raising one’s glass together with others. “Happy families toasting each other’s health”.)

Viana wasn’t even aware that there was poison and unintentionally gave it to Ian, who of course drank the cup without any doubt and then died. Feeling guilty about what happened, Viana committed suicide in her room. When Allen later realized that all of this was part of Ronnie’s scheme, Allen decided to kill Ronnie. As he strangled her to death, he then decided to commit suicide afterwards. It was a chaotic and sad ending.

That’s why I held the draft with trembling hands and protested to the author.

“Does this even make sense?! I mean, why does everyone suddenly die at the wedding?”

“Well, no matter how much I think about it…happy ending is just too lukewarm(*). That is why I fixed the ending once again, according to my stream of consciousness, and I really like it. As Sohee knows, my specialty is bad endings. Haha!”

(TN: (*) A figurative meaning, that of “lacking in enthusiasm”.)

‘…This writer is definitely crazy.’

As I covered my face with trembling hands and then looked back at the author. Yes…I already knew it. This author was obsessed with bad endings. In their previous work, many readers were shocked because the villain managed to kill the female protagonist and the male lead, who was left alone, suddenly went crazy.

Since it was a well known manhwa, the aftermath of the ending gave a positive boost for the author. There was even a comment campaign to save the female protagonist. That’s why I didn’t say anything about it.

I was tricked back then by the same author. That’s why I thought that it wouldn’t be the case now, but this is such a tragic ending. It’s a dead end plot where all of the main characters just died! Just how on earth did this author’s mind come about to lead the wedding, which was supposed to be a happy ending to ruin?

“No. What I mean is, I feel bad for the characters in the story! Even if it’s only fiction it’s still…. I just think that this is way too much. This is shocking for me and definitely will be for the readers as well.”

“I know what Sohee is talking about. That’s why I had intended to set up the plot to have a happy ending this time. But strangely it kept wanting to have a tragic ending. Anyway…there is no better ending than this, so I’ll just ask you to color the last background.”

Anyway…the ending was written by the author himself, so I couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t make an ending based on the main plot. Then again, how could I understand the mind of an artist?

In addition, I was only an assistant. I don’t have any popular works nor any debut work. More than that, I have no right to argue with the development the author chose for his story.

Alone in the studio, I colored while thinking whether or not this ending was really the best decision. I have no choice but to accept the author’s story line, even though I thought this wouldn’t have happened like this if it were me.

Nevertheless, the thought that came to mind was that I could never agree to this kind of ending. No matter how much the author explained it or tried to convince me that it was only a manhwa.

It was at that time that I was thinking about whether it is right for the author to wield the lives of this many characters in this story. Not just one or two but all of them because the author had a mood swing.

Knock. Knock.

‘Huh? I didn’t think that anyone would be coming here to the studio at this hour. But what if it was the author who left something behind?’

I stopped whatever that I was doing at the sudden knock and approached the door.

“Is that you sir?”

There was no response from the outside. If it was the author, who usually came at this time, I would think he could just come in. Why is he knocking on the door? While thinking about it, I opened the front door without a doubt.

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚ🌸ɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

The sound of a clear stream trickling and the fragrant smell of the grass waft its way into my nose.

Huh? The smell of grass?

I might have been hallucinating since I’ve been working all night.

What is this place anyway? Am I dreaming right now?

What I thought was the sound of a stream was actually coming from a lake in a ridiculously large garden that was surrounded by fragrant flowers. Oddly enough, the place looked kind of familiar.

The most unusual thing was the boy who was in front of me. He looked to be about 13 years old.

He was looking at me as if he was begging for mercy. His silver hair shimmered in the sunlight and fluttered in the wind and half covered his deep purple eyes.

He was so handsome that I wondered if there was ever another person who was as charismatic as he was. However, it was a face that was very familiar to me. As if I’ve known him forever.

But there’s no way that I would forget such a handsome face. Although he’s younger right now, it was definitely the same face that I’ve been sketching countless times over the past few years!

But that can’t be true….

“…Allen?”

When I called his name, Allen trembled and immediately bowed his head. As if he was expecting to be hit by me. Like a puppy soaked in rain, Allen was definitely afraid of me.

No, please don’t be like that. Why are you scared of me? Then I noticed that Allen had small scars on the back of his hand. As I was about to reach out to him, he suddenly flinched and said in a quivering voice.

“Ahh…Ronnie, please don’t kill Sasha. Please Ronnie…I was wrong.”

I finally realized why Allen was so frightened of me the moment he uttered the name ‘Ronnie’. Allen, who was looking directly at me, called me Ronnie. I heard it right, right? I was called Ronnie….

What the hell is this?! He’s looking at me while he says Ronnie?!

I was surprised by Allen’s words so I had only noticed then that there was a black cat who kept moaning in my hand. My grip was so tight that it almost killed Sasha.

I was startled and quickly returned Sasha back to Allen’s arms. As he wiped away his tears as if to say it wasn’t too bad then, and wrapped Sasha tightly in his arms.

As far as I know, Sasha was a family cat that Allen cherished when he was still a child.

(TN: Oooh sounds familiar, hehe.)

This is too vivid to be a dream. All the senses were as distinct as if I was actually experiencing it myself. Did God play a prank on me for complaining that I didn’t like the ending?

I quickly checked my reflection on the surface of the lake.

The girl that appeared in the lake’s reflection was definitely not my face I know. With her long black hair hanging down and with cold, dark blue eyes that reminded me of the night sky.

This beautiful girl was the character whom I hated the most. Ronnie Chaliganne, Allen’s childhood friend and self-destructor.

Wait, this is so absurd. Not just because I’m not the heroine, but was the villainess herself!

I cried out while trying to pull my hair out or rather it was Ronnie’s hair. God…you can’t do this to me.

Ronnie was the one who harassed Allen by treating him like a doll. She groomed him to have an obsessive and sadistic temperament, and was the biggest perpetrator to torment my favorite character who later died at Allen’s hands.

What should I do now?

As I continued to cry, Allen, who is my favorite character in this manhwa, suddenly came up to me and kneeled down. He spoke in a slightly shaking voice, as if he was worried about my condition.

“Ronnie, are you going to forgive me…?”

(TN: Aww.. Allen is such an angel.)

Oh my gosh. God I have no regrets even if I die here now. This is what you would call fangirling, right?

I just thought that it would be okay for me to dream a little bit more. Even if I didn’t like my character here.

But at that moment, memories of Ronnie which could not be regarded as my memories, flashed through my head. As I was unconsciously stroking Allen’s hair, I felt some kind of euphoria.

Weird. These aren’t my own feelings.

If it was only a dream, I as Ronnie wouldn’t be feeling any sort of emotions or memories right now. In the memory, I saw how Ronnie harassed Allen with abusive language and torture his mental stability.

This was one of the scenes from the manhwa right now. It, however, was quite different since Sasha was still alive. But this was definitely one of Allen’s recollection scenes in the previously worked content.

On this day, Ronnie relentlessly killed Shasha. She then smiled coldly to Allen saying, “Well…it’s your fault that Shasha died.”

Allen shed tears and was angry at his own lack of power. A second ego was then formed from Ronnie’s harassment.

Her harassment continued for about five years. In that time, she tormented Allen over and over again.

I really can’t tell what’s happening, since the previous events were all vividly remembered. If all of this was only a dream, there is no way for  me to feel like it was originally mine. What if I was reincarnated as Ronnie? I was so confused about what’s happening.

I didn’t know how to deal with the current situation, but I think it had only been five years since Ronnie and Allen met. So this must be the half-way through Ronnie’s sadistic torture on Allen’s personality.

Why was it at this point? An indescribable anger crept up inside of me.

Allen burst into tears as my expression darkened. It was only then that I realized that Allen was afraid of me. He reminded me of when I was 13 years old. I was only about 5th or 6th grade in elementary school in Korea.

Allen had a poor family history and was constantly bullied by Ronnie for five years. He had no choice but to develop anxiety due to his experiences. Even though this was just a manhwa, Allen’s family and background were just too unfortunate.

I said, while I patted Allen’s back with my conscience prickling.

“No, it’s not your fault.”

TO BE CONTINUED…