IBRIP l Part 2 CH 1

Part 2 – Chapter 1

“Hmm? Oh-ho… Did you two coordinate your outfits on purpose today?”

Even His Majesty Glass, Emperor of the Northern Empire, noticed.

The emperor always covers his face with a black cloth, so no one can see his expression—but his voice is filled with amusement. That means he’s not going to scold me (Loti).
Only Lady Izana is glaring at me like she wants to kill me.

“Loti, my dear Loti?”
“Yes, my lady. Did you call me?”
“Why don’t you go dance right there in the middle? You remember what I taught you last time, right?”

Uh-oh. This is bad.

I can’t disobey Lady Izana’s orders. I should have run away earlier!

Sometimes my lady teaches me the strangest things I’ve never heard of before. Last time, she taught me something called ‘break dance.’
And now she wants me to do it… at a banquet… while I’m all dressed up. Everything’s ruined!

“My lady, I hate you!”
“I hate you too!”
“Well, I hate you more!”

My body starts dancing on its own.

Now everyone’s eyes are on me. Since it’s come to this, I might as well dance well.
My lady’s face is glowing with laughter as she watches.

But suddenly… I feel a hot, piercing gaze.
In the crowd, a man is staring at me with a strangely familiar look.

Is he asking me to dance with him?

He smiles… and mouths some words silently.

And then—

… …

Suddenly, my world tilts sideways. The noisy banquet hall falls silent. The castle of snow and ice turns red.

Lady Izana… She’s hurt. Badly. She’s running toward me—but collapses before she can reach me.

I remember something she once told me:

“By staying by my side, you might suddenly die many times.”

It seems… I’ve already died many times without knowing it.

“But don’t worry. I’ll always save you. If you’re scared, just close your eyes once. When you open them again, you’ll be smiling in your everyday life.”

So this… is what she meant.

It hurts so much. I’m so scared.
Lady Izana is shouting something at me, but I can’t hear it.

Her lips move—
“Close your eyes!”

I can’t refuse her order.

But she’s still staring at me, as if this whole situation is so familiar to her.
If I close my eyes, I’ll forget everything that just happened. But she will remember it all.

…Is that really okay?
Am I allowed to forget, while she carries it alone?
How many times has she gone through this same pain, all by herself?

My eyelids grow heavy. They’re closing whether I want them to or not.
Maybe it’s lucky—or unlucky—that she closes her eyes at the same time.

I don’t doubt that we’ll open them again. Because she promised.

But next time…
I hope the Loti who opens her eyes is just a little more capable.
Capable enough… to save my lady.

* * *

Rustle.

The thin, fine paper sliding between my fingers doesn’t feel bad at all.

I always scold Loti to read more books—but honestly, I don’t enjoy reading that much either.

If one day you suddenly woke up inside the world of the book you were reading, wouldn’t you hate books too?

…What did I like reading before?
Well, yes—I read a ton of webnovels. So many, in fact, that I reincarnated into one. Webnovels are books too, so I guess that counts as liking them, right?

Thump.

Suddenly, a pale cold hand slams my book shut. The cover pinches my fingers, but it doesn’t hurt.

“Are you doing this on purpose?”

I glance at the title of the luxurious hardcover.

<Livia Chronicles, Part 5: Wings of the White Dragon>

When I look up, Winter is holding the book. He squeezes slightly, and the book crumbles into dust.

“It’s not me. Noe keeps pulling them out of my dreams.”

Yes, that cursed novel exists physically in front of me only because of one person—
Noe Rustin.

Seven years ago, he dug into my mind and dragged out my biggest secret.
Using his ability, which I call Dream Control (Hwanmong), he copied all six volumes of the original webnovel buried in my subconscious dreams and then brought them into the real world.

Then he tossed them to Winter and told him to read.

“I told you already. Everything is inside my head. If you forget something, you can just ask me.”

***

Seven years ago.

I once asked him:
“Have you ever thought that this world might just be inside a six-volume book?”

And without hesitation, he nodded.

“I’ve spent most of my life building such hypotheses. Maybe this is nothing but my endless dream. Or maybe this is hell, punishment for sins from a life I can’t remember. Or perhaps it’s all a staged play, a written story…”

If I carried any heavy guilt in this life, it was hiding from Winter the truth—that this world was a novel.

But he brushed it aside like it was nothing. Like flicking away a feather.

Noe, however, was nothing like Winter.
He had called Winter insane the very first time they met.

Winter replied coldly:
“If you waste time being shocked, you’ll end up insane too.”

Noe, already shaken, snapped completely. That’s why he pulled the book from my head.

“To see if he can stay calm even after reading it!”

Noe wanted to break Winter’s composure. He always hated Winter’s coolness in the original story too. He was the type to cross any line if it meant getting a reaction.

But of course—Winter opened the book.

Have you ever seen an infinite regressor read a book?

“…I’ve finished.”

“…You call that reading?”

He flipped through six thick volumes in under ten minutes. Like a student skimming pages just to say he “read” it.

And then, as soon as he closed the final book, they all turned to ashes.

“……”

Anyone would be upset.
It was like watching someone record your hardest life struggles on CCTV, then writing them down in a diary as if they were their own.

“I’ll need an explanation for this.”

“Finally, something sensible. Yes, I’ll explain. You know me—short and simple.”

So I had no choice but to confess everything.

“This was a popular novel in the world I came from. I died young, and when I woke up again, I was in this body.”

“That’s way too short!”

But Winter understood instantly.

“So that’s why you wanted to meet Fuehrion again. You said you wanted to ask why the Three Saviors had to be such sweet potatoes (frustrating). That’s what you meant.”

“Sweet potato? Wait—you were a sweet potato in your past life?”

Reincarnation. Possession. Regression.

I had to explain to them about the great webnovel keyword: “Return-Possession-Reincarnation (회빙환 / Hoebinghwan).”

And the two of them… found it strangely fascinating.

“So your soul enters a book character’s body? And then you fall in love with whoever that character was meant to be with? …Why is that popular?”

“Uh… well…”

“So the main character lives in someone else’s body, goes to the bathroom, dates their lover… with that body? And people like that? Isn’t it uncomfortable?”

“I—I don’t know! Don’t ask me!”

“You’re the one who possessed the body, aren’t you?”
“You’re the one living in it now!”

Their sharp questions stabbed me right in the heart.
Why did it feel so unbearably embarrassing?!