Kill the Author, Then to Hell - Chapter 1.2
I didn’t drink the poisoned tea because I don’t want to die painfully, not because I expect to survive this unscathed.
“Lady Edith, I’m so envious. I saw His Imperial Highness at a ball from afar. His face was so radiant, I couldn’t look directly at him.”
The other young ladies, who had been just watching, cautiously join in.
“Me too, me too!”
“Lady Edith, you seem to have it all. A great family, beauty, and now the best husband-to-be.”
“You’ll be the perfect Crown Princess.”
While Delia sits there with her lips tightly sealed and a sullen face, one of them bravely ventures a question,
“If it’s not too rude to ask, may I have the honor of seeing your engagement ring?”
Lola, looking pitifully concerned, quickly intervenes,
“Tha, that might be difficult, right? Lady Edith, y-you don’t need to go that far….”
Without a word, I take off my satin glove that perfectly encases my hand to show them.
‘What’s the fuss about.’
The ring on my left ring finger emits a brilliant light. Not metaphorically, but literally – it could replace a light in the dark. It’s made from processed magic stones, after all.
“My goodness…!”
“It’s truly beautiful!”
Admiration bursts out from all around.
In this field, everyone is an expert, so there’s no need for me to explain. Just holding up my hand with the ring is enough….
“They didn’t just fix a large magic stone in the center – they surrounded the entire ring with countless tiny ones. It’s genius!”
“Look closely, these weren’t originally small, but high-purity raw stones that could have been made into separate rings. I can’t believe this is possible!”
“And the craftsmanship of this cut! I heard that the head of the Chester family personally took up the hammer.”
“Indeed… no one in the empire can match the Chester family in magic stone processing.”
Indeed, it was Lola’s family that made my engagement ring on the imperial order.
Suddenly the center of attention, Lola’s face turns red, but her tone reveals pure pride.
“As it’s the nuptial of His Highness, the Crown Prince, who will ascend to the throne, it was naturally our duty as members of the empire.”
“Ahh, if the engagement ring is like that, I can’t even imagine the wedding ring; the mere thought makes my heart stop!”
“Me too! I wish the wedding ceremony would come sooner!”
I lean on my chin, thinking to myself as if it were someone else’s business,
‘Right, I too wish to see what my wedding ring looks like before I die.’
I never would have imagined such an indifferent reaction if I were still the person from before I came here.
Magic!
Isn’t that a word that thrills just by its mention?
Having devoured all sorts of fantasy novels, I used to secretly hope for an admission notice from a magic school addressed to me, rummaging through the mailbox every morning.
After growing too old for magic school, every time my smartphone alarm went off, I fantasized about a Gate opening.
In those dreams, I was the hero saving the world with a magic wand, and a hunter who had awakened all kinds of abilities.
And after I got a job…
‘Is there absolutely no possibility that I’ll get hit by a train and die?’
I look at my phone dejectedly in front of the crosswalk.
7:10 AM.
Mockingly, an express train zooms by on the railroad tracks above.
To arrive on time at work in the heart of Seoul from my family home in the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province, I must catch the 7:10 AM Line 1 express train. Missing this train, even by a whisker, means I’m inevitably late because the next one isn’t an express.
<Is this job a mere joke to you, Miss Jinseo? I let you go once, but you’re too carefree.>
I can already hear Department Head Kwak’s whining voice in my ears. Though, it would have been the same even if I wasn’t late.
<What do they teach at universities these days? I thought you’d be different, but can’t you even write a report properly?>
<Ah, is it because you’re part of the MZ generation [1]? You’re really creative with your work life.>
<This is why women who haven’t served in the military… Oh, I’ll be accused of sexism again. That’s not what I mean. You know that, right?>
I never thought working for a state-owned company, which I entered after passing several exams, would become so unbearable. No matter how much I tried to adapt, it was futile.
On weekends, just thinking about work made me cry like a broken faucet.
Yet come Monday, I willingly walk into this hell.
And to get there even a bit faster, I have to take the hell-bound express train.
‘If I get hit by a train, maybe I’ll be sent to another world.’
I climb the stairs to the platform, indulging in such absurd fantasies.
In another world, there’d be no Department Head Kwak, no submission of reports, only magic in its place.
Then I realize at the top of the stairs.
‘Ah, these days it’s all screen doors.’
A wry laugh escapes me. It seems to reflect my lot in life. Just a corporate worker, scrambling to make a living in this dull world, that’s all I am.
Among the throng of office workers filling the train, I barely manage to send a message of apology for being late to the company chat.
I thought life would always be like this.
Until that day, waiting for the signal to turn green across from the office building, I was hit and pinned down by a sports car that suddenly veered onto the sidewalk.
‘Am I going to die? Just like this, in such a ridiculous way?’
I didn’t have time for many thoughts.
The smell of burning rubber from the tires, the sound of the building’s large glass window shattering behind me, the pain of my body being crushed.
That was my last memory.
When I opened my eyes again, I was standing in the middle of a road.
[1] MZ Generation: Korean slang that combines Millennials with Gen Z ↩
