"Ah, a strange ceiling..."
Kim Seon-woo muttered in a calm voice.
No, he wasn't really that calm. He was so excited his hands were trembling.
How long had he waited for this moment? A strange ceiling, a strange world. Yes! Transmigration, reincarnation, whatever you want to call it!
In reality, he had been preparing for this moment for an extremely long time. The important part here is "had been preparing."
Every citizen of South Korea already knows the basic conditions for isekai reincarnation: [Submit a 5,700-character review of appreciation] and [Read diligently until the end].
Taking this a step further reveals Kim Seon-woo's "preparation process."
For every novel, webtoon, and game he read. Any work he liked. In other words, all the works he wanted to transmigrate into, he submitted [5,700-character reviews].
Every day, filled with gratitude, without rest, with different repertoires each time, meticulously and thoroughly.
Since he wanted to transmigrate into these works, he naturally memorized the stories, settings, possible hidden pieces or artifacts, and character relationship charts.
All 5,700 characters dedicated to breaking the creator's heart, until he heard the words, "Why don't you try it yourself?"
Of course, in most cases, it ended with authors lacking perseverance quitting, or with him being criticized and blocked from various communities, but in the end, he won.
He finally transmigrated to another world.
Now all that remained was figuring out which work this was. That was all!
"Status Window!"
No colorful augmented reality blue display appeared.
But that was fine. He wasn't disappointed. Many works on his troll list didn't have status windows anyway. Rather, he had gained a clue to narrow down the list.
Plus, he was in the body of a young child, probably three or four years old. Both time and ability were on his side.
The worn-out clothes and shabby ceiling were actually good signs.
-A genius like this in such a place?!
-Truly a remarkable hero!!
-I'll give you the throne and all my wealth! Just save me!!
The more unfortunate one's childhood, the more glorious their success appears—this has been proven by all forms of media on Earth.
Kim Seon-woo got up with a slight smile, dusting himself off.
First, well, let's start with something simple like "making soap."
Age 4. Week 1 after transmigration.
Kim Seon-woo realizes that his body has the name "Ivan Petrovich."
He is shocked to learn that his parents are tenant farmers who don't even know the name of their country, let alone how to read.
After failing to make soap, he gets scolded for playing with lye.
He discovers that soap already exists in this world.
Age 4. Week 6 after transmigration.
Finally, Kim Seon-woo is allowed to go around the village on egg errands. As soon as he sees newspapers lying on the ground, he begins to sense something strange.
"If society can print newspapers and distribute them even to this countryside, it's at least not medieval?"
Most of his "transmigration work list" was deleted that day.
Age 4. Week 15 after transmigration.
At last, Kim Seon-woo hears the name of the country he's living in. After hearing the name of the king, who had vaguely been called "His Majesty," he immediately returned home and threw his precious "transmigration work list" into the bonfire in the corner of the room.
The country, the monarch, and all the surrounding kingdoms had names he'd never heard before.
Now the important question wasn't "which work did I transmigrate into?"
But rather, "what genre is this?"
Please, anything but dark fantasy. The survival rate of a modern Korean as a tenant farmer with no status window or transmigration benefits typically converges to less than 5%.
Age 8. Year 4 after transmigration.
Surprisingly, a Demon King has appeared out of nowhere.
War was still a distant story, but the daily special editions of newspapers carried only grim news.
Winter at age 8.
Kim Seon-woo's—no, "Ivan's" father was taken away by the recruitment officer.
"Ivan's" mother began working as a day laborer to feed young "Ivan."
This is where Kim Seon-woo's sense of self began to slightly misalign.
Age 10. Year 6 after transmigration.
Kim Seon-woo can now skillfully handle day labor jobs alongside his mother.
Age 12. Year 8 after transmigration.
Kim Seon-woo finally learned to read. It was the reward for six years of sneaking eggs to the village chief's house.
Age 14. Year 10 after transmigration.
News of his father's death reached his village.
The funny thing was that the official document had been issued two years earlier.
Receiving a few coins in exchange for his father's life, he looked at his sobbing mother and thought of two things.
One, that this world's genre was likely a strategy simulation.
He had thought it was too detailed. If it were an RPG, there wouldn't usually be so many countries. After all, backgrounds that players can't experience aren't normally implemented.
It couldn't be a novel or webtoon either.
The evidence was this world's too-subtle setting for a typical isekai—simple gunpowder weapons and steam engines, knights and wizards, a Demon King and different races coexisting.
If someone wrote a novel with this worldview, they'd hear comments like "What the hell is this, you weeb?" or "Here we go again with stories only you understand," and inevitably end up discontinuing their free serialization.
So naturally, he had to go to the front lines. If he lived and died as a tenant farmer in this backward countryside, he would never set foot in the main story.
The ending of strategy simulations usually culminates in world conquest, and he needed to avoid an ending where they were conquered by the Demon King's army without knowing anything.
And the second thought was:
"Don't worry, Mother."
He stroked the hair of his mother who had fallen asleep after crying, and handed his enlistment application to the recruiter. The annual salary was 15 copper coins from the east. He contracted to send it all to his mother.
"Ivan Petrovich" hoped this woman's hands would no longer be calloused.
It wasn't so much a sudden filial piety, but rather compassion for this great woman who had devoted her entire body to living for a complete stranger like him, and
Guilt, because by taking over the body of the young boy "Ivan," he had essentially killed her only blood relative.
Age 18. Year 14 after transmigration. Military service year 4.
Thanks to small military achievements and minor luck, Ivan's status changed from "conscript" to "regular soldier."
He realized that Ivan's body had more talent for fighting than expected.
Age 22. Year 18 after transmigration. Military service year 8.
When the front lines were pushed back to a fatal level, and half of the allied nations were burning.
A hero appeared.
At this point, Ivan finally understood this world's genre.
This was a hero story, a traditional RPG.
However, the hero was just a distant tale, and the front where Ivan was deployed was still being pushed back terribly.
Age 28. Year 24 after transmigration. Military service year 14.
As the Hero Party began intercepting the Demon King's generals, the war situation reversed.
Ivan was now assigned to the "Reclaimed Territory Control and Enemy Force Elimination Unit."
To simplify this long name:
-Annihilation Squad
It was a special operations unit deployed when the Hero Party killed enemy generals and the confused enemy lines collapsed.
From this point on, for about a year, Ivan moved using the same military camp as the Hero Party.
Age 30. Year 26 after transmigration. Military service year 16.
The Hero Party killed the Demon King.
Ivan now decided to wait for the ending.
All he wanted was to escape this wearisome world.
Age 32. Year 28 after transmigration.
Two years after the Demon King's death, there was still no ending.
During that time, the Annihilation Squad's personnel had been reduced to one-fifth.
With no new recruits being provided, Ivan realized that the higher-ups were trying to disband them.
After completing one last mission that was practically a death sentence, Ivan requested discharge, believing this situation to be a long epilogue.
Since his mother in his hometown had died ten years ago, he was completely alone.
He established an orphanage near the capital and took in war orphans.
A small hypocrisy.
Age 34. Year 30 after transmigration.
Still, even now, yet.
The ending credits were nowhere to be seen.
The thought that maybe it wasn't an RPG after all
Turns into certainty thanks to a visitor to the orphanage.
"Shit."
"Pardon?"
"Shit. This was an academy genre?"
"Senior...?"
The visitor awkwardly smiled at the orphanage director (war hero, 18 years of military service, former Annihilation Squad member, acquainted with the Hero Party) who suddenly burst out with profanity.
The visitor, dispatched from the royal court, broke into a cold sweat as he recalled the many nicknames of this orphanage director.
The Great King's executioner, the Lumberjack, the man who slaughtered the Seven Dragon Generals, the Immortal, the Reserve Force. The living legend among conscripts.
Since such a fearsome man looked ready to chop him with an axe if he misspoke, the visitor smiled awkwardly and quietly held his breath until the orphanage director's anger subsided.