It was the truck-kun's fault.
No, the one responsible was the train.
Actually, it was the accident between the truck and the train, one of the worst crashes South Korea ever experienced. But like a miracle, all the passengers survived without serious injuries. There was just one victim, a woman standing on the crossing who witnessed the whole incident. She was killed by the falling debris.
Jae-Hwa was an orphaned child who was a bit luckier than everyone else. Since she could remember, she was always sponsored by the poor writer, who could hardly make ends meet on her side. But maybe powered by some self-interest, or maybe she was just a nice person, the author keeps on supporting the little girl till the end.
Turns out her sponsor was the real-life Cinderella as her husband was one of the most important and rich person in the country, who single-handedly owned the company responsible for developing a new virtual reality device.
The technology was so developed that it allowed the users to immerse themselves in fictional worlds and pretend to be "reincarnated" as one of the characters from their favourite books. And because the CEO was not only powerful but also a simp for his wife, all the released stories were created by the author who originally struggled to get readers.
However, the users are rotten to the bones, and the sweet love stories were not enough for them. A kind writer, who only wished for nice things to happen, couldn't fulfil the dark desires, and a special department was created. Its whole purpose was to develop stories full of toxic behaviours that can cater to players' horrible tastes.
And Jae-Hwa was working in the team before she died. They created several unnamed stories with dark characters and put them through hard trials again and again, some of them so bad she wouldn't wish to her greatest enemy.
Maybe it was her second chance in life, or maybe it was her punishment in the afterlife, but the moment she opened her eyes again, she was reborn as 15-year-old Violet Thalassa. She recognized her new world as the universe from the book with simple code name No. 7, something that she planned on abandoning soon.
The story's heroine was a girl named Ophelia Ellington, a lovely bright character with many suitors. Her main love interest was Cassiel Ashford who inherited the dukedom after his older brother died due to a mysterious illness.
The reason why Jae-Hwa wanted to throw the novel away, was the cruel male lead who turned darker each time users were demanding more torture. In the end, even his love for Ophelia couldn't save them and the story ended tragically, as the heroine suffered both mentally and physically because of him.
And Violet's role? She was the waitress at the restaurant where the young couple occasionally met.
"Violet, the table on the back needs cleaning!"
"Coming!"
A young girl tied her hair into a ponytail and swiftly took out the cloth to wipe the furniture.
The Thalassa family were commoners with difficulty feeding their children. As soon as they are old enough, they are kicked out of the house to fend for themselves. The same thing happened to Violet, too. Without knowing, where her other siblings ended up, she moved to the city and got a job at a local restaurant.
The owners were nice and even let her rent the small room above the establishment. It was more like a small storage room that could fit a single bed and a small table, but it came at a very cheap price. After the restaurant closed, she was free to use the kitchen and make her own meal.
Neither did Violet nor the original Jae-Hwa have any plan for the future. She was a programmer in her past life, but this world was not developed enough for her skills to come in handy. Other than that, she wasn't interested in anything except having a good meal after work every day.
"You are good at taking care of people," her friend once told her. But unless she wanted to open a nursery or care institution, it was just plain words said to her. If she had nothing to do, she could as well remain in the sideway observing the story.
"One soup, one stew and one salad are being served!"
She put the dishes down and quickly stepped away. While her employers were nice, the same couldn't be said about all the customers. Some of them were real sleazy bags and thought too little of the waitresses, touching without permission. She learned to avoid their wandering hands, to not cause drama at her workplace.
"Just how much longer do I need to endure this?"
Probably for at least five years, before she could save enough money to stand on her own.
Violet took a short break in the back of the store. Since the main street was on the opposite side, the courtyard was filled with garbage but hidden away from the people. She didn't need to be mindful of anyone watching her as only wild animals would occasionally come to look at their trash.
Her whole body hurt after carrying the heavy plates and filled ale mugs for a whole day, but the thoughts of night approaching made her feel better. Maybe she will spoil herself a little and pay for entrance to the public bathhouse to soak in warm water after work.
"Huh, did the raccoons get in again?" Violet was startled by the noise. She grabbed the broom and took small steps towards the sound. Wild animals were often attracted to the smell of food leftovers, so it was an everyday occurrence to chase them away from the backyard.
But instead of some strays, a puppy was lying among the boxes.
"Aren't you the beautiful one?" Violet almost melted.
That little cute thing was fluffy, and its hair had a low-tone golden shine. It looked healthy, but its dark eyes were dim. If it was a child, she would say it was depressed. It hardly reacted to her, like it didn't care about what could happen to him.
"Wait… But what is that?" Violet took a step back in shock. If she saw it clearly, there was a star-shaped mark under its eyes. Her back hit the pile of abandoned boxes and the old kitchenware rolled out with a loud sound. But with that much commotion, the puppy did not react and only lay dejected.
But that little dot was a problem.
It was the birthmark of a very dangerous person. The male lead of the story, Cassiel Ashford.