The end of the sword who saved the world.
So the ending is like this after 2,598 chapters I spent over a decade following.
The notification that popped up on my phone was oddly anticlimactic.
> \[The Final Ruins of the World – Complete]
> Author's Note: "Thank you for reading."
I stared blankly at the screen. A hollow kind of silence echoed inside my studio apartment, broken only by the hum of my old refrigerator.
That was it?
A world burned, a hero stood, and then—nothing. No fanfare. No closure. Baek Seojoon raised the sword that tore the heavens, stood at the edge of the final ruin, and vanished into a rain of light.
No reunion with the Saint. No final confession. Not even an epilogue.
I scrolled back up through the final paragraph again.
> The blade shattered, the last Ruin collapsed, and in the silence of falling ash, the world was born anew.
Just like that.
No last words. No system notice. The last remaining survivor—Shin Hyunmi—stood quietly and watched the sky fade into gray. That was the end of a world I had clung to since high school.
"…Hah."
I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my eyes. My back ached from sitting through all 39 updated chapters this week. It felt like I had just witnessed a funeral.
Of fiction.
Of people who never lived, but I knew better than most of my classmates.
My name is Ru Ryujin. Just a plain college student in Korea who skipped sleep and assignments just to read web novels. Especially this one.
*The Final Ruins of the World.*
I wasn't anyone special. I didn't have perfect grades or great looks. I wasn't someone who stood out in a crowd. Just… the type to blend in, y'know? I went to class. Ate convenience store ramen. Came home. Opened my bookmarks.
And read.
It wasn't just a story. It was *my* escape. For over ten years, I followed Baek Seojoon and his party through countless battles. The betrayal in Ruin 5. The heartbreak in Ruin 7. The reveal of the Constellation Games. I knew it all.
So why did it feel like something was missing?
I closed the app.
"...Maybe I just didn't want it to end."
I got up to brush my teeth, but the weight in my chest remained. It wasn't dissatisfaction. It was something else.
Like the story wasn't truly over.
Like a door was still open.
---
That night, I dreamed of ash.
The sky was burning. Not red, but black. Like fire had forgotten how to glow. Towers collapsed in the distance, their shadows stretching like dying giants. Screams echoed from invisible mouths. Monsters I'd only read about—*Ash Howlers, Grievous Wyrms, Voidwalkers*—rampaged across the fractured ground.
I stood in the center of it all. Alone.
A glowing system message hovered in front of me.
> \[Initiating Ruin Scenario: 0 – Prologue]
I tried to move. I couldn't.
My body felt foreign. Heavy. Like it was filled with someone else's breath.
> \[Synchronizing Unknown Identity... 72%... 98%... 100%]
> \[Welcome, Ru Ryujin.]
The message vanished. Then, I heard it—the sound of chains uncoiling from above.
I looked up.
Something was falling.
No.
**Someone** was falling.
A person wrapped in light and shadow, wings ablaze with flame, feathers made of glass and fire. Horns curled back from their forehead like a crowned beast. And six wings spread across the sky.
Dragon.
Demon.
Angel.
They opened their eyes—and I saw myself.
---
I jolted awake, gasping.
My heart hammered against my ribs like it was trying to escape. Sweat drenched my shirt. I stared at the ceiling, light-headed.
A dream. Just a dream.
But the scent of ash was still in my nose.
"…No way."
I glanced at my phone. The time read 03:33 a.m.
And then it happened.
> \[You have been chosen.]
A glowing system window bloomed across my screen. My eyes widened.
> \[Transferring reader to Scenario World: *The Final Ruins of the World*]
> \[Initiating Forced Synchronization.]
"Wait, wha—"
The light engulfed me.
I screamed, but no sound escaped. The room twisted into paper. My skin felt like it was being rewritten. I tried to claw at the air—but my fingers were already lines of text.
My vision broke apart like shattering glass.
And then…
I opened my eyes.
The sky above me was gray. Not the soft kind. Not the gentle morning mist. But cold. Dead. Burned.
I lay on cracked earth. Around me were ruins. Familiar ones.
I sat up slowly, my head spinning.
And then I saw it.
A black steel gate with jagged spires.
Etched into the stone:
> **Ruin 1: The Scorching City of Beginnings**
And next to it, a party of seven.
I knew all their names.
Baek Seojoon, Han Yerim, Yoo Jiseok, Choi Areum, Kang Minhwan, Lee Seungha, Shin Hyunmi.
The *original cast.*
They hadn't seen me yet.
> \[You are now participating in the Ruin Scenarios. Survive. Rewrite. Escape.]
And just like that…
I became the **reader who was never written.**
---
**Chapter 2: The City of Beginnings Burns Again**
The wind here was different.
Hot, dry, filled with the scent of scorched stone and smog. My throat burned every time I inhaled. The ground beneath me was cracked red clay, stretching toward the skeletal remains of towers that used to be homes. Flames licked through the shattered windows.
I stumbled to my feet, heart pounding.
"Okay, okay... Calm down, Ru. You're inside a novel. A literal novel."
I checked my body. Everything looked normal—human, at least. I wasn't in my dragon form. No horns, no wings, no System Skill interface. But my clothes had changed: a black tunic, worn travel boots, a plain bag at my side.
> \[Equipment: Traveler's Rags – Defense +1]
> \[Inventory: 0 Items]
> \[Level: 1]
"...Level one?"
Of course. I was starting from scratch.
I looked back toward the main cast.
They were just outside the entrance gate to the first Ruin. Baek Seojoon's golden sword gleamed even in this ashen light. Han Yerim argued with Kang Minhwan while Yoo Jiseok adjusted his shield.
They didn't know me.
They shouldn't.
I crouched behind a crumbled pillar, just out of their sight. I couldn't interfere yet. If I changed things too early, the entire flow of the original story could collapse. I had to be careful.
"First goal: survive."
But how? The Scorching City was a tutorial Ruin—but only for the main cast. For anyone else, it was death. Monsters called *Burnhounds* and *Ash Fiends* hunted solo players. Hidden traps dotted the roads. And worst of all—
> \[Warning: You are not part of the chosen narrative.]
> \[Your existence is marked as an Irregular.]
> \[Error... Error... Synchronization Incomplete.]
My blood turned to ice.
That wasn't in the original story.
> \[Side Quest Triggered: Survive the First Ruin as an Irregular]
> Reward: Access to Hidden Class Tree
Well. At least there's that.
A sudden growl echoed nearby.
I turned.
A Burnhound. Charred black skin, ribs like cracked glass, eyes glowing like coals. It hadn't seen the others yet. Just me.
"…Damn it."
No weapons. No skills. Level one.
I grabbed a rusted pipe from the ground.
The beast lunged.
I swung.
A bone-jarring clang. My arms shook. It wasn't enough.
The Burnhound snarled, leaping again.
"\[Dragon Will]!"
Nothing happened.
Right. My skills hadn't awakened yet.
The pipe broke in half.
The Burnhound lunged—
—and something pierced it from the side.
A blade of flame.
Han Yerim stood behind it, eyes blazing.
"What are you doing, idiot?!" she yelled. "You'll die wandering off like that!"
Behind her, the other six arrived.
Baek Seojoon narrowed his eyes at me.
"…You're not one of us."
Shit.
This wasn't how it was supposed to go.
> \[Fate has shifted. Variables introduced. The timeline is no longer stable.]
And as the gates to the Ruin opened wide, I realized something terrifying:
**The story had already begun to change.**