I Found You

The first thing Seojin noticed was cold.

The kind of cold that pressed against his skin like the morning air of winter. But the autumn season is normally not this cold. No choice left, he groaned as he reached out for his warm, cozy, and dirty blanket that haven't been washed for years. But…

"It's not here…?"

The blanket was nowhere near his grasp. Instead, he felt a rough sensation as if his fingers were brushing against the stone.

"Stone…?"

He snapped his eyes open. As he did, he immediately squinted his eyes against the brightness of the unfamiliar sight.

"What the hell?"

He wasn't in his bedroom.

Instead, he was laying lazily across the ground in a stone courtyard. Looking around, he could see nothing but towering marble pillars with ornate carvings on its surface. Beside them, there are knight armors, swords, and banners.

He stood up, cold biting against his skin only to realize he was bare-footed. But that wasn't the one that bothered him.

"Where the hell am—?"

He paused before he could even finish his words. It wasn't his voice. He brought his hands to his face, and… it wasn't his hands either. They were slender and pale, as if this body hasn't been exposed to sunlight for years.

"…?!"

As he turned around to take in more of his surroundings, a large fountain in the center of the courtyard caught his attention. Without wasting any seconds, he sprinted towards it.

He leaned over, then gasped. It wasn't because of the perfectly clear water that shimmered under the sunlight, but because of himself.

Or more like the face staring back wasn't his.

It belonged to a boy who is no older than fifteen. His hair was dark-brown and wavy, and his eyes a striking shade of gray-blue. His overall appearance seemed to carry an aristocratic sharpness.

"No way…"

It belonged to a face he recognized.

"This… this is Seven Hart."

He stumbled back from the fountain. Seven Hart, the seventh child of the Archduke family, a minor extra who appeared briefly in the novel just for the flashback of his older sister, one among the seven prophesied figure that helped the protagonist unite the world, Eden Hart.

A character so irrelevant that the author had only mentioned his name twice, though he posted what he looked like in the comments.

"H-How…? Why?"

He craved answers. And as he did, his mind scrambled back to the final chapter of the novel.

"You've read enough. Now's your turn to live it."

Those words echoes on his mind. He pinched his cheeks, and it hurts. Only then he realized that this was not a dream. Only then he realized that this was…

The world of novel he had been reading for seven years.

He paced the courtyard.

"Okay. I am Seven. Seventh child of the Hart household. Dies early for his older sister's character development, if I remember right. Which means…"

His pacing slowed. He brought his fingers to his forehead and acted like as if he was pinching something.

"…I'm screwed."

He sighed. The world of sevenfold, the abbreviation title for 777, was not peaceful. It was filled with constant wars, political and territorial disputes, and monsters such as barbarians and orcs. And even worse, the body he possessed just happened to be an afterthought with no role to play but dying.

"Unless…"

His pacing came to a complete halt.

"…I could change the story."

He might be an extra character, but that didn't mean he needs to stay that way. He had an advantage, and that is none other than knowledge. After all, he did read over seven thousand chapters of the novel, up until the last and final chapter, memorized its twists, its arcs, and even some of the author's quirks.

The only thing he wasn't sure was… Eden's character development. If he won't die, then how would Eden progress? If he…

'Damn Eden...'

He thought. He could see a figure approaching him, so it would've been bad to curse using his older sister's name.

'If I want to live, then I should only care about myself as I always did.'

If he was going to survive in this world, he couldn't rely on the original plot. So he needs to carve his own path and rewrite the story in his favor. But…

"…Where should I start?"

"Pardon, young lord? Start what?"

A woman asked politely, hearing his words. From the way she was dressed, he deduced that it was one among the servants of the household.

"Nothing."

But there was a strange thing. He couldn't sense a hint of fear in the servant's voice, like shaking and such. Since normally, the youngest child of an aristocratic family has a rebelling attitude and gruesome personality.

The servant didn't reply. Instead, she smiled and guided the young lord towards the estate—a gothic mansion. The Archduke and his other children were nowhere to be seen, which was a relief. He didn't need to deal with them yet.

Instead, he just followed the servant silently.

The Hart estate wasn't mentioned in the novel with such detail except of a few vague descriptions, which meant it was largely unknown territory.

Looking above, he could tell that the sun was just a few hours away from setting. He then remembered the single line that the body he now possessed was mentioned for the first and last time.

[On the seventh day of the seventh season, Seven Hart's body lay sprawled on the stone ground, his heartbeat matching the sun's light. And as the sun finally set, so did he. Eden, holding the body of his dearest younger brother, cried and screamed his name repeatedly, telling him to wake up and smile like he always did. But Seven didn't wake up. Just like how the sun hid behind the clouds, he hid himself beyond Eden's tears.]

["I'm sorry…" Eden cried, piercing her sword against the pond formed by her tears. "If only I arrived a little earlier."]

This was the single line where Seven was mentioned. This was also one of the lines where the comment section went crazy, asking sarcastic questions, like "What did Seven Hart looked like for Eden to grieve this much?" and the author replied a quick sketch of his features, which helped Seojin recognize the body earlier.

But as he recalled this line now, his expression changed. He halted his steps, and the servant stopped as well.

"Young lord? What's—"

"What season is it today?"

"Pardon?"

He remained silent. The servant understood that the young lord was serious.

"Ah… the season? It's the seventh—"

"And the day?"

"Hmn... also the seventh day. May I ask why did—"

Before the servant could finish her words, the young lord sprinted toward the dense trees behind the mansion. Time was running out. He only had an hour left, or worse… less.

His eyes darted from trees to trees, as he sprinted in a zigzag pattern. After reaching a less denser spot, he paused and scanned the area.

"Not here…"

He rushed forward once again. As if in response by the universe, the sun seemed eager to hid himself behind the clouds. And so, he increased his pace. After reaching another less dense area, he scanned the place.

"Not here either…"

His heart pounded faster, as it seemed like it would burst out from his ribcage at any moment.

"Please be here. Please be here. Please…"

He said those words over and over as he ran straight, forcing his already tired and pale body. But after a while, he paused and looked up. The sun was about ten minutes away from setting.

"Please be here…"

He climb the nearby tree, hoping it would help him spot a less denser spot within the dense forest. But as he reached above, he realized that it may be a bad idea as the view of the ground was covered by thick leaves. He decided to come back down.

Rustle.

A rustling sound startled him and he lost his balance. His foot slipped, and he was falling. But instead of closing his eyes, he widened them even more as he looked around.

Gleam.

Just before he reached the ground, a gleam of light, a reflection of the setting sun's light, was reflected right to his face.

Looking ahead, there it was—a sword.

He remembered the line from the novel, written around the thousandth chapter.

[In the middle of the forest behind the Hart's mansion, a sword was stuck through an anvil and into a large stone and was rumored that no one could remove or pull it out.]

The following lines described the process and steps on how to pull the sword out, but he knew that he couldn't pull it now even if he knew the procedures. And the thing is, for now, it was not the sword he was after but the thing inside it.

He smiled, shifting his gaze from the sword to the sun and back to the sword.

"I found you."