"My obsession with webnovels is probably the root of all my problems."
Jung Seo-joon stared blankly at the situation he had gotten himself into, wondering if this was the point in his life where he should finally reevaluate his choices.
It all started after the announcement.
At this moment in time, Heavenly Hero was, without a doubt, the biggest thing in the world— at least for those who religiously consumed light novels.
It wasn't just a hit. It was the hit.
The kind of story that got fan translations within hours of release, the kind that trended on forums, had its own dedicated wikis, fan fics, and inspired heated debates over which of the Heroines was the best girl (there was no wrong answer, but FYI, it was Astensia).
The story revolved around the fantastical realm of Cinriten, a beautiful world created by gods who had long forgotten about it. A future event was approaching Cinriten called the Rupturing Abyss. Of course, only one person could stop it.
The protagonist.
His name was Asleroc Leogardt, the Heavenly Hero.
Ordained by fate, blessed with overwhelming abilities, and burdened with a destiny only he could fulfill, Asleroc traveled across Cinriten, gathering Heroines — legendary women fated to defend the realm and fight by his side.
These Heroines were not just basic allies. They were his soulbound companions, meant to stand beside him in battle… and, well, develop deep romantic relationships with him along the way.
A harem.
To be straightforward, Seo-joon was definitely not one of those readers who avoided harem stories.
He understood why a lot of readers rejected the trope. To be fair, harems were so absurdly unrealistic that they made suspension of disbelief a goddamn acrobatic stunt.
That said… he had long since learned to embrace them.
Not because of the spicy scenes or the lemons — definitely not!
But mostly because there was something so fundamentally unhinged about how authors managed to spin the "Every woman loves the MC unconditionally" trope into something semi-believable.
It was always interesting to see how the MC communicated with each of these women in relation to the kind of world he found himself in. That was what made harems so interesting.
And yeah… also for the lemons.
What could he say? He was a man of culture.
However, when Heavenly Hero was announced to be getting a game adaptation, it was safe to say the fandom went insane. No one had expected that to happen. A Heavenly Hero game?
And not even a video game but a mobile one.
Discord servers went crazy. Reddit accounts argued constantly, the wiki page was visited more than a million times a day.
This excessive buzz was because Heavenly Hero was skipping the normal adaptation cycle.
Usually, a popular light novel would get a webtoon adaptation first, then, if the gods were feeling generous, an anime. A game came last, if ever. Yet here was Heavenly Hero, bypassing all the usual steps and heading straight for the App Market.
Some people were skeptical. Others were hyped beyond reason. Seo-joon? He was among those hyped beyond reason.
His favorite light novel was getting a mobile game adaptation!
So when the game finally launched, he, like every other dedicated fan, immediately rushed to download it.
And that was when everything went to hell.
Just seconds after it was launched, the game was suddenly unavailable.
No one could download it.
People were confused. Questions were asked. Everyone frantically refreshed the app page, hoping it would show them the download button, but all they kept getting was the red warning sign on the screen:
"This game is no longer available."
What?! No longer available?
The game had literally just released. How? Why? What happened?!
Theories exploded across social media:
"They must've found a game-breaking bug!"
"Maybe there was a licensing issue?"
"Bruh, it's a scam. They took our hype and ran."
"Okay, moron. What are they going to do with our hype? Sell it?!"
"Y'all don't get it. The government shut it down. The game was too powerful."
"They couldn't handle Asleroc Leogardt's aura!"
"LMAOOO!!"
"No way. The developers messed up and put the harem scenes on full display. Censorship came for them."
"I don't believe that. Send proof while I get my lotion."
However, they all generally seemed to believe that it was a minor, temporary thing and the game would be available soon.
They were all wrong.
Soon, the update pages were all gone. The official website was deleted, and every single information about the game was erased from existence.
It was like the game had never even been real.
"More proof that we're living in a simulation!" someone posted. "Heavenly Hero Mobile must have been a universal glitch!"
Everyone was confused. More social media posts and videos were made. Comments talked about it, spreading rumors and their takes on what could have happened
It was all gone. There was literally no proof that the game ever existed. Except... for one.
In the App Market, under the now unavailable game, there was a download counter.
It showed one download.
One.
Someone had managed to install the game before it disappeared from the world.
Who was this legendary being?
What kind of god-tier WiFi did they have?
And most importantly… could they play it?
The answer?
Yes.
Because that one download belonged to Jung Seo-joon.
—
At first, he didn't think much of it. He had been lucky, that was all.
While the internet was in a frenzy, he was just staring at the game's icon sitting there on his home screen, untouched, waiting.
And after some hesitation, he decided, screw it. He was going to play it. It was a single player RPG right? So he didn't need people to be online to play.
He tapped the icon.
With anticipation, he watched as the game booted up. A soft climatic music played and then the logo of the franchise appeared in his screen: HEAVENLY HERO MOBILE.
A simple prompt appeared over it:
"Please log in with your Google account."
Well, nothing unusual about that. He entered his details. However, the next pop up was a bit odd.
「 ✦ Congratulations on Winning the Competition ✦ 」
"Eh?" he frowned. "Competition? What competition?"
Before he could react, his location appeared on the screen. "Is that my f_cking house?!"
Then a voice said:
「 ✦ Target found. Beginning transmigration ✦ 」
His phone suddenly began to light up, and it became so hot on his palm that he flung it on his bed, wincing in pain.
"What the hell is happening?"
Promptly, an energy blast shot down from the ceiling above, wrapping around him like a lasso of pure light.
Seo-joon didn't even have the chance to react, or to scream. He was instantly sucked into the phone by the energy, and after the sensation of speeding through time and space, he suddenly couldn't feel anything anymore.
But then he felt air. Cold, chilling air like he was inside a refrigerator.
Jung Seo-joon looked left and looked right. He was trapped in some kind of tight, enclosed space. No natural air. No light.
His chest tightened.
"My obsession with webnovels is probably the root of all my problems."
That was what he thought in that moment, because what the hell just happened to him?
How did he get here?
Did he die? Was this his coffin and had he somehow resurrected inside of it!
The thought of that terrified him and just as he was about to panic, SLINNKKK— CRASH!
Something sliced through the roof of his prison, causing shards of a material he could not identify to fall on his face.
Jung Seo-joon saw that it was a massive, gleaming blade— a fantasy axe? It was hard to tell exactly what it was in the darkness.
The weapon stopped just inches from his face before pulling away. Then, the ceiling of the structure completely shattered into glowing, magical shards. A brilliant light exploded inside because of this, nearly blinding him.
Seo-joon raised an arm to shield his eyes. He felt two shadows cover the blinding light allow his eyes to adjust. So, he moved his hand away and looked.
Seo-joon almost gasped. Standing before him were two extremely beautiful women, dressed in scanty fantasy warrior gear, looking like they had walked straight out of a character illustration page.
The one with golden blonde hair, wielding a massive sword, extended her hand towards him. Her eyes shimmered with admiration, love, respect, and relief.
Then, in a voice filled with emotion, she spoke:
"Heavenly Hero… we have found you at last!"
Seo-joon's mind went blank.
HUH?!