The end of the sword who saved the world.
So the ending went like this—
After 2,598 chapters, after more than a decade, after bloodshot eyes and missed assignments, I reached the final line.
> [Yin Sheo-han lowered his sword, the sky behind him cracked and grey. The world had not been saved. But it had survived. And that was enough.]
I stared at the words until the screen blurred.
That was it.
No grand finale. No heroic last stand. No rewards, no resurrection. Just a broken sword buried in the ruins of a forgotten city.
And yet…
I smiled.
"…Seriously. That was your ending?" I whispered to no one in particular, letting my laptop screen dim before me.
The name of the novel burned in the corner of the tab.
> "The Sword of Ruins" – Complete
An obscure webnovel. No adaptations. No fandom. No merchandise. Just me… and maybe a few hundred lunatics who had stuck through its irregular updates, the author's emotional breakdowns, and the infamous missing Chapter 1873.
But it was mine.
My favorite story.
My only obsession in a world I otherwise had no place in.
My name is Ru Ryu-jin.
Just a normal Korean college student. Twenty-one years old. Majoring in Literature with no real goals. No girlfriend. No ambition. Just one thing keeping me alive every week — waiting for the next chapter.
And now that chapter would never come again.
I closed my laptop, still hearing the last words in my mind like a whisper in a dead wind.
> "And that was enough."
---
The next few minutes felt strangely heavy.
I grabbed my jacket, shoved my phone into my pocket, and headed out of my cramped one-room apartment. A convenience store run, maybe. Something to clear the weird ache in my chest.
But the streets felt… wrong.
The people weren't walking.
They were frozen.
Every single person on the sidewalk stood completely still — like statues in mid-step. A child holding his mother's hand. A delivery guy mid-sprint. The buzzing neon signs flickered without sound.
Then I looked up.
The sky had cracked.
No, not the sky. The ceiling.
Of the world.
A massive black fissure ran across it like broken glass, and through it poured a light I had never seen before — not sunlight, not moonlight. Something older. Something that watched.
And then it spoke.
> [Welcome, reader.]
A system window bloomed in the center of my vision. Not a hallucination. Not a prank.
A floating message in glowing runes and blocky Korean.
---
[You have completed the story "The Sword of Ruins."]
[You are the last remaining reader.]
[You are now qualified to enter the Scenario.]
---
"What the hell…"
Before I could move, the ground beneath me cracked open.
Not a metaphor.
Literally — the road shattered like glass, and a cyclone of wind, fire, and pure noise dragged me upward like a soul torn from flesh.
My body didn't break.
It simply unraveled.
Like ink dissolving in water, I felt myself being rewritten.
I screamed, or tried to — but there was no sound in that void.
Only one final message before the world turned black.
> [Your story begins now.]
---
⬛⬛⬛
I woke up lying on hard stone, my breath shallow and ragged.
The sky above me was no longer familiar.
Grey clouds loomed like ash, the sun veiled behind layers of ruin. Skyscrapers in the distance were torn in half. The wind carried the scent of rust, blood, and something old enough to rot time itself.
And across my vision…
---
[You have entered: Scenario 1 – Welcome to the Ruins]
Objective: Survive for 72 Hours.
Additional Conditions: ???
Reward: Basic System Access (Locked)
Penalty for Failure: Death
---
This was…
This was real.
This was "The Sword of Ruins".
I sat up slowly, my coat now different — longer, darker, and heavier. The one worn by scavengers in the early chapters. And on my hand, fingerless gloves made of kevlar and dragon hide.
It was exactly as the novel described.
And I knew this place.
Zone 3. Eastern Ruins. Chapter 2 – "The Scavenger's Start."
This is where the side characters die.
This is where the protagonist, Yin Sheo-han, makes his first appearance — not as a hero, but as a man cutting down helpless survivors to steal their rations.
Because in this world, kindness was suicide.
And I… I wasn't even part of the original cast.
I was an outsider. A variable.
A reader trapped in a story that no longer had a place for him.
But I knew things.
I knew when the first monster would spawn.
I knew where the hidden supply cache was buried.
I knew which side character would betray the others.
Because I had read every damn chapter.
> 2,598 chapters.
---
A screech tore through the sky.
The first Ruin Beast had appeared — just like the novel.
A twisted fusion of wolf, crow, and metallic tendrils.
It fell upon a group of confused survivors like a meteor, tearing through them with blades for wings. Blood sprayed. Screams filled the air.
They didn't stand a chance.
But I didn't move.
Not yet.
I watched. Counted seconds.
> 6… 5… 4…
There it is.
> SWIPE!
The beast slammed into a wrecked bus — and triggered the trap I remembered from Chapter 4.
An old security turret activated, shredding it with a burst of gunfire.
I smiled to myself.
"I still remember this garbage plot."
One survivor limped away from the carnage. A girl, maybe seventeen. She was crying, calling out for someone. I recognized her name immediately.
Lee Ga-eul.
The rogue who would become Yin Sheo-han's scout.
If she dies here, he never forms a party. And if that doesn't happen, the Ruin Sword remains lost for 300 more chapters.
But saving her would expose me.
My hands tightened into fists.
I had no sword.
No magic.
No stats.
No Constellation.
Just one small advantage — I was the only one here who knew the script.
And the script was already breaking.
---
Far away, across the ruined cityscape, a shadow moved with unnatural speed.
Yin Sheo-han had entered the Scenario.
> The Last Sword of Humanity.
The original protagonist.
And if he saw me now —
A stranger in his story, interfering with his timeline —
I wouldn't survive long enough to explain myself.
I had to choose.
Let Ga-eul die and stay hidden?
Or break the script from the very first hour?
> [You have 71:02:44 remaining.]
I exhaled.
"…Screw it."
I ran toward the ruins.