In front of me, a glowing screen appeared, its light cutting through the endless white void around me. It took me a moment to process what was happening.

Ping! Welcome, host.

I stared at the screen with a blank expression. My name is Seo Yeon. It seems like I just died. I tried to save a cat from getting hit by a truck, and now… here I am, stuck in this white, featureless space with a glowing screen in front of me.

"What… who are you?" I asked, my voice tentative.

I am the System. (^-^)

I blinked at the cheerful response, struggling to wrap my head around what I was seeing. "The System? Okay… so where am I, exactly?"

You are in the afterlife.

My stomach dropped. "The afterlife? Wait… does that mean I'm going to heaven?"

Nope!

The System's blunt response left me momentarily speechless. "Then… am I going to hell?"

No, you're going into a novel.

I froze. "...What?"

The screen flickered, and suddenly a loading bar appeared in front of me.

Loading: 1%... 10%... 20%...

"Wait! What is going on?!" I shouted, my panic growing with every passing second.

Goodbye, host. May we meet again very soon!

"Wait—what?!" I barely had time to react before the light consumed me.

---

When I woke up, the first thing I saw was a beautiful woman standing before me. She had long, flowing black hair and piercing red eyes that seemed to look straight into my soul.