A Princess' Guide to Surviving An Apocalyptic World

Prologue

Lee Ji-Hye was minutes away from dying.

With a long sharp spear pierced through her abdomen, her entire body trembled by the intense pain endured. She always joked to her comrades about how she would die a dramatic death, her murderer standing right in front of her. Who would have thought it would happen to her this soon?

"S-Sh*t." She cursed out when she shakily raised her hand to grab onto the bloodied spear, wondering if she was hallucinating that she was about to die at any moment now. That was impossible. She was Lee Ji-Hye, for goodness sake! One of the best incarnations of South Korea. She couldn't die like this. Not with a d*mned spear in her abdomen.

Help. She should get some help.

"O-Open... stats," she croaked out, feeling the metallic taste of blood in her mouth.

Ji-Hye struggled to open her stats. She had to think about that hard until a bright holographic blue screen appeared right in front of her.

『Incarnation Lee Ji-Hye is at the end of their line.』

『Time left until death: 4 minutes』

How blunt was that message? Was this what other people would see if they were dying a slow death? How cruel.

"Noona?" someone cried out from afar.

She still remembered how the executioner looked at her through its helmet, bright red eyes glowing through the helmet's eye slit. Why did she and the other incarnations in that area had to play a couple of rounds of a twisted version of Mafia in order to pass the mission? And just because she had to run into the spear first before it could hit ---

"Noona!" the cry became louder.

Feeling more exhausted than ever, Ji-Hye closed her profile before she could read anything else, before she could open her message log. However, she tried to look up, only to see a familiar figure running towards her.

"... Park... Ji-Won," she tried to call out his name. Damn. Her throat hurt so much. She reached her hand out towards him and smiled through the pain. "Glad... you're alright."

"N-Noona," stuttered the young boy who had just turned fourteen a few days ago. He crouched on the dirty ground made of cobblestone. "No. No. No. You can't die. Not like this..."

His overgrown black bangs covered his grey eyes but even through her blurry vision, she could see the tears falling from his cheeks. "Ji... Won."

"D-Don't say anything, noona," he choked out, grabbing onto her hand even tighter. Strange. Her hands were starting to feel numb on her. The boy put her hand on his forehead, praying to the gods that were kind enough to help his dying caretaker, the main reason he was still alive in this hellish world. However, they were also the ones who wanted to see everyone on Earth to suffer. "... If only I weren't so careless. I should have run away when you told me to, but I froze. G-God, why did I not listen to you, noona? It should've been me who got killed," he spluttered.

"It's... not your fault." Ji-Hye struggled to form simple sentences at this point. She coughed harshly, blood dripping down her jaw. How much time did she have left? Three? Two and a half minutes? This spear... was seriously annoying. Her hand that was slowly losing its grip on her trustful weapon ever since the scenarios began, 『The Blade of Unbroken Justice』, which leaned on her thigh. "N-Not much time..."

"I'm going to get help, noona. Don't worry. I-I'll message Dr. Yoo Han and...," the young boy's words trailed off when she shook her head slowly, a small smile on her face. That face alone caused him to break down. "N-Noona, I'm so sorry for making you sacrifice your own life for someone llike me," he sobbed, his entire body shaking terribly and the tears continued to fall. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."