Chapter 1 - I’m Surrounded By The Devil

Chapter 1 – I’m Surrounded By The Devil

Bella sat on the devil’s throne and waited quietly for the novel to end.

“Is it a holy thing?”

Bella had practiced her lines several times, but these lines, more suited for middle schoolers, didn’t feel right in her mouth.

‘Eh, let’s skip the exclamation. It’s too awkward.’

“It’s a holy thing.”

While Bella was practicing her lines with her neck straightened, an injured devil rushed into the throne room.

“They’ve arrived at the entrance to the devil’s castle!”

“I volunteer to go!”

“I’ll go and cut it in pieces!”

The general beside Bella rushed to volunteer and said, “I will go.”

“Wait,” Bella said.

Since she had possessed this character, Bella had made a fair share of mistakes. But right now, making mistakes wasn’t an option for her. This was her only and last role.

“Let’s have Zanbar and Talam go to the first section of the entrance to Mawangseong, and Roxan and Beelzebub go in the second section.”

A moment later.

In District 3, the door to the throne room opened violently. At last, the main character of the novel, Kiel Herian Elysia, appeared.

Although he stood in the dark castle of the devil, where no light filtered in, he still shined.

Bella looked at the main character of the novel for a moment, stupefied.

“I found you.”

Bella missed her line.

She should’ve said, “That’s a shame, little man.”

Bella rushed to recite her next line. “I’ll deal with it myself.”

She made eye-contact with Kiel’s amber eyes.

Kiel glared at Bella like an eagle.

“I’ll take your heart,” he said.

The scene Bella had longed for was finally unfolding before her eyes.

In the love story between Kiel and Rosanna, this scene was so short you could hardly call it part of the story.

This was where Bella was supposed to die in the hands of her favorite male lead.

It all began when she first possessed Bella’s body.

* * *

After Hong-yeon died, she enjoyed her free time while waiting for her reincarnation. By now, civilization had developed, and the afterlife became digitized.

There was no time to be bored, especially when the Angel of Death gave her a smartphone to use while waiting for reincarnation.

What Hong-yeon desperately missed right now was a good web novel.

While Hong-yeon was alive, she had been so preoccupied with her life that she never had time to enjoy herself and read some books.

After her death, Bella experienced a period of denial, but before long, she found herself spending more than 80% of her time reading web novels.

She wasn’t even lonely. After all, she had some friends to keep her company.

[Oh, this artist’s work is so lovely. Why isn’t it more popular?]

[Looks like it’s only popular with dead people.]

[This shouldn’t happen year-round.]

After she died, Bella hadn’t been allowed to meet someone else waiting for their reincarnation. However, those who had similar tastes could become online friends and communicate over text.

With her thumbs, Hong-yeon hurriedly tapped away at her keyboard.

“If I reincarnate, I’ll collect all of this artist’s works,” she said to the chatgroup.

There were many similar underrated works. But because they were dead, the views on the chapter never went up.

Sadly, the work only seemed to be popular amongst Bella’s dead friends.

[When will our reincarnation take place? Judging by how many web novels we’ve read, it’s been at least ten years! ]

“I hope we reincarnate soon.” Bella spammed an assortment of hearts, books, and crying emoticons.

[Oh, come to think of it, I’ve heard a lot about a novel jumping system these days.]

When Hong-yeon read the message, she jumped up from her seat.

[Is it like a replacement for reincarnation?]

[I’ve heard that it’s similar to reincarnation. But the system hasn’t been finished yet, so only a few people have been chosen to test it.]

“Oh, I wish I could try it, too.” Hong-yeon spammed crying emojis to emphasize her desire.

[Do you know which novels you get to transmigrate into? What if you enter an apocalyptic novel? LOL]

[Maybe you possess a novel you recently read? I recently read a thriller book.]

“I’m all for it. I hope they choose me to test the system!”

A smile flitted across Bella’s lips.

[Hong-yeon, what if you become the villain of the novel?]

“I’ll twist the plotline.”

[Kya! You better be a good actor! I want to know how much you can change the original plot. It sounds so fun!]

Hong-yeon laughed so hard that she was afraid her mouth would become glued open.

After waiting for a long time, the Angel of Death appeared before Hong-yeon.

“Kim Hong-yeon, it’s been a long time,” he said. “I’ve created a new system. It’s trendy, and I recommend it to you.”

“No way…” Hong-yeon gasped.

“You can live your life in a web novel while waiting for your reincarnation.”

Hong-yeon’s eyes sparkled. It was finally here! She could finally enter a novel!

“Right now, the queue for reincarnation is nearly 800 years. People who wait a long time are bound to go crazy, so if possible…”

“I’ll do it!”

There was nothing to worry about.

“I want to enter the novel . Can I be the mistress?”

“Oh, that’s not how it works. Kim Hong-yeon, you’ll enter a novel you’ve recently read.”

How unfortunate.

“Then, will you still do it?” the Angel of Death asked.

“Yes!”

Hong-yeon’s mobile phone vibrated.

“Hold onto your phone. You will be able to use it in the novel. It will answer some of your questions.”

As it turned out, Hong-yeon would enter a story about Prince Kiel and the young Countess Rosanna.

It was a story about love that overcame the status boundaries.

In particular, Hong-yeon’s favorite character was the male lead, Kiel, who seemed to have everything going for him.

Her second favorite was the princess named Shria, a wicked woman.

“If I possess the heroine, Rosanna, I’d love to have a romance with Kiel,” Hong-yeon thought to herself.

In the novel, Hong-yeon wanted to enjoy all the luxuries she could get her hands on for as long as possible.

Hong-yeon was confident she’d do well, no matter which character she possessed.

* * *

“Princess, did you wake up?”

The lovely title made a sweet smile form at the corners of Hong-yeon’s mouth.

In her head, she imagined gorgeous dresses, accessories, amazing food, and a victorian-era room.

Hong-yeon opened her eyes.

“Kyaaaaa!”

“Why, Princess!”

A b-b-bear!

As soon as Hong-yeon opened her eyes, she was met with a bear.

And the bear was wearing an apron! It was also a really big bear!

‘Don’t tell me I’m the princess of Bear Kingdom…’

“Ahh, what’s this? Ahh!”

The bed Hong-yeon woke up in was made from flesh-covered leather. It was as if she was in the house of a nasty murderer.

‘I think I’ll throw up!’

Hong-yeon instinctively looked toward a mirror: red eyes with pitch-black hair. She looked pretty, but Hong-yeon wouldn’t have minded if she was ugly.

‘I’m a person… I’m a person…”

Hong-yeon was relieved to not be a bear and took her cell phone out of her pocket.

The cell phone contained the entirety of the novel .

Soon after, a name popped into Hong-yeon’s head.

‘Bellatrix.’

Every novel had important characters as well as insignificant ones. In a hurry to find out who she was, Hong-yeon searched for her name, ‘Bellatrix’. There were nearly zero results.

With trembling hands, Hong-yeon found where she was located in the novel. She played a rather pitiful part, and her name was only mentioned four times.

She was the Demon King’s daughter, one of the final villains that Kiel, the emperor, had to kill.

In the entire novel, she only had a mere three lines.

“That’s a shame, little man.”

“I’ll deal with it myself.”

“Ugh- Is it a holy thing?”

So much for her life as a brilliant and beautiful noble.

“No! Even the Demon King’s daughter can live well!”

In the novel, the demonic world frequently invaded and harassed those in the human world. Bella could stop that from happening.

‘Even a devil can be good.’

Bella had to live somehow.

The Demon King could live for 5,000 years, so although Bella’s previous life was short, she’d make sure her current one lasted nice and long.

She looked forward to her future, hoping that she’d be able to have lots of fun.

But Bella’s intuition told her that the future she wanted might not be the future she got.

If her chat group, full of people waiting for their reincarnation, saw this, they’d be sure to pass out.

“Princess, in the future, I’ll prepare raw intestines right away without pickling the food,” said the cook, who stood beside the bear…

“The cook is a mantis.”

Bella couldn’t believe it was cooking with the arm of an insect.

As Bella sighed out loud, the bear maid, Pur, grabbed the mantis’s neck.

“I’ll kill this guy and find a new cook!”

Tears poured out of one of the mantis’s orifice, but Bella couldn’t tell where his eyes were.

“Can warts be cooked? In the human world, mice are also cooked.”

That’s not a cartoon.

“I’ll find the rat chef,” Pur said confidently, thumping his big chest.

Bella couldn’t figure out how the hell they were going to find a rat chef.

‘No. Let’s think positively.’

“No. Find a human chef,” Bella said as if she were talking to a small animal.

“Okay! I’ll kidnap him!”

Bella covered her face with both of her hands to stifle her incredulity.

‘Please… these crazy guys.’

* * *

Bella doubted that the Demon World would transform into a glittery fantasy world full of fairies just because she wanted it to.

‘Let’s use power to change it.’

Bella was the highest authority here, with the exception of the Demon King, who was hibernating in preparation for the Demon King’s succession.

She hastily gathered all the members of the demon world and headed to the throne room.

As expected, the Devil’s Castle, which Bella saw on the way to the throne room, was dark, wet, and gloomy.

The Demon King’s throne was situated in the center of the throne room, but I didn’t want to sit down because it was all made of human skeletons.

“Make the castle a little brighter.”

“Yes!”

“Gather the items used by nobles.”

Even a gloomy castle would be luxurious if Bella decorated it with expensive furniture.

“Yes! I’ll steal everything!”

Bella took a deep breath and exhaled, “No, don’t steal it. You have to buy it.”

I’m not coming home, but I have to buy it.”

“What do you mean by ‘buy’.”

“Use money to get it.”

Everyone began to murmur.

“The humans have money!”

“Then, you can kill a human and take their money!”