Lv.99 Princess of Dark Flames (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 1
Have you ever heard of the Black Flame Princess?
She’s a humanoid monster that emerges from the deep darkness beyond the Gate.
They say she’s as swift as a cat and has skin as pale as a vampire’s.
I’ve heard she possesses such an uncanny charm that once seen, she’s unforgettable. One hunter, utterly captivated by her appearance, stood there like a fool—only to have his eyeball plucked out by the tip of her parasol.
If you ever meet her, run for your life.
—That is, if you can outrun her black flames.
It was late summer, just after an unbearably long monsoon season had finally ended.
Unable to contain herself any longer, Eun Ha glanced once more at the paper in her hand.
Exam Number: 9782136
Name: Cha Eun Ha
Remarks: Accepted into the Pet Grooming Department
She had already checked the acceptance letter and tucked it back into her bag twenty-six times. Even after repeating the process twenty-six times, it remained undeniably an acceptance letter.
At last, she would study pet grooming—the dream she’d cherished for so long—at a prestigious university in the United States.
Beyond the road, still damp with the lingering scent of rain, stood an empty bus stop. She was halfway home now. She looked up at the sky. Though the rain had ceased, heavy clouds still hung low—but Eun Ha’s heart felt lighter than air.
She glanced once more at her acceptance letter and quickened her pace. It was only about a twenty-minute walk from school to home, yet the familiar route felt unbearably long today.
Not far ahead, she spotted a public telephone booth. She wanted to tell her mother the news as quickly as possible—every second counted. Her mother would surely be overjoyed.
Truuur—
Her heart pounded wildly as the ringing tone continued.
Finally, the ringing stopped, and a familiar, gentle voice came through the receiver.
“Hello?”
“Mom, it’s Eun Ha.”
Eun Ha spoke as calmly as she could manage, even remembering to swallow once.
“I don’t have many one-hundred-won coins, so I’ll be quick. Mom—”
But Eun Ha couldn’t finish her sentence.
Thud. The telephone receiver slipped limply from her hand.
Ku-gu-gu-gong.
Suddenly, the sky roared loudly, and dozens of crimson lightning bolts struck all across Seoul.
The asphalt cracked open, and the air vibrated. As buildings around her collapsed like dominoes, people began fleeing en masse, as if escaping a shattered anthill.
“Hello? Eun… ya…”
Rain, which had started falling again at some point, pounded mercilessly on the telephone booth, leaving streaks like black tears.
‘What on earth is this?’
What was happening? It was too vivid to be a dream, yet too horrifying to believe it was real.
Between the jagged cracks in the asphalt, a sedan plummeted downward, and lampposts tangled with power lines swayed madly.
A person crushed beneath a flying storefront sign was helplessly flattened like a boiled potato.
As Eun Ha stared blankly at the scene, bang! Something heavy seemed to crash onto the roof of the telephone booth.
“Aaahh…!”
Her mother’s scream came through the receiver. Snapping back to her senses, Eun Ha reached for the phone again.
“Mom? Mom!”
No matter how loudly she called, there was no reply.
A terrible premonition gripped her.
And bad premonitions always came true.
Eun Ha immediately began running toward home, still clutching the acceptance letter tightly in her hand.
She couldn’t clearly recall how she got home that day. All she remembered was running—running in the opposite direction of the panicked crowds.
When she finally turned the corner and reached the familiar front gate, Eun Ha dropped the acceptance letter from her hand.
Amid the collapsed concrete, a familiar white piano lay shattered. A distorted left arm protruded from beneath the piano keys.
It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t. Slowly, Eun Ha approached.
There, on that arm, was the wish bracelet she’d handmade and given to her mother years ago.
As if entranced, Eun Ha grabbed the piano. No matter how hard she strained, it wouldn’t budge—it was firmly wedged in place.
Finally letting go of the piano, Eun Ha pulled her mother’s arm with all her might.
Thud.
The arm, which had seemed immovable, slid out smoothly like a sweet potato vine. Her mother’s hand was cold.
“…Mom.”
Eun Ha collapsed onto the spot like a marionette with its strings cut.
The hand that used to stroke Eun Ha’s hair, the arm that served as a pillow on sleepless nights—now ownerless—bled crimson tears.
A wind carrying someone’s distant scream lifted the acceptance letter rolling on the ground and carried it away.
September 1997.
The world changed.
The crimson lightning that fell from the sky left massive scars across the nation. The multicolored fissures in the earth emitted an eerie, ominous aura, yet provoked no immediate reaction.
These crimson lightning strikes, which had fallen across the globe, and the fissures left behind like scars, would later come to be known as ‘Gates.’
Then, one day, an incident occurred: researchers investigating a fissure in the capital region were wiped out.
Of the dozens who had gone, only one returned alive.
“There was a cicada there—bigger than a car, no, bigger than a bus! That thing took my arm!”
The world dismissed him as a madman. But soon enough, his words were proven true.
October 1997.
Horrific monsters emerged from the Gates and revealed themselves to the world.
It was nothing short of a catastrophe.
Starving for ages, the monsters devoured pedestrians indiscriminately—men, women, children, the elderly—anyone they came across.
The government deployed thousands, even tens of thousands of soldiers to Gates nationwide, but no weapon developed by modern humanity had any effect on them.
—But none of that mattered now.
At her mother’s funeral.
Given the circumstances, it took a long time after her mother’s death before they could even secure a small funeral hall.
“What did you say? Not at our house. We have three kids, three!”
“Then what? Should I take care of her? Once you’re beyond the eighth cousin, you’re a stranger, you know.”
Eun Ha stood motionless before her mother’s portrait. There was no place for her here—or anywhere in this world.
For an hour already, distant relatives—people who only knew her face—had been arguing heatedly around her, using her blank expression as a backdrop.
“I don’t know, I don’t know. Where’s the kid’s father? Just leave her with him.”
“Ugh, figure it out yourself! I don’t care!”
“Shh! The kid can hear you!”
…She could hear everything.
Now with tears completely dried up, Eun Ha gently stroked the bracelet in her hand.
Since the entire villa they’d lived in had collapsed into dust, this wish bracelet was all that remained of her mother’s belongings.
“Eun Ha, you’re almost an adult now—you’re certainly old enough to take care of yourself.”
“Yes.”
“It pains me to leave you alone like this, but as you know, we have three children already… You understand what I mean, right?”
“Yes, I understand.”
“The government will provide a temporary home and disaster relief funds, so you’ll be fine. But if things get really tough, just contact us.”
“Yes.”
In the end, Eun Ha was left alone.
The house provided by the government was barely more than a shack made of planks and tarp—but even that, she knew she should be grateful for.
Afterward, she barely scraped by day to day with disaster relief funds and free meals.
“Did you hear? Ma Dong Shik—he’s awakened, apparently.”
“What? Seriously?”
“He hasn’t been seen since yesterday. He must’ve been taken to the training camp.”
“Ugh, please let it not be me… If I get conscripted, I’ll have to live a life where I could die at any moment. I absolutely refuse.”
“Same. Fighting those monsters? This rotten shack is far more comfortable.”
The atmosphere inside the free meal center was especially chaotic that day.
Quite some time had already passed since extraordinary psychics began appearing across the nation—and indeed, the world.
She’d thought it had nothing to do with her.
Until that day.
[Initiating identification.]
‘…What on earth is this?’
Still half-asleep, she blankly extended her finger—and it felt as if electric current crackled from its tip.
No, it wasn’t electricity.
“Fire…?”
Flames erupted from her fingertip as if a spark had ignited, blazing brightly.
The flames filled the dark, old shack with light. Even though Eun Ha didn’t will it, the fire wouldn’t extinguish until dawn.
And a few days later.
Somehow, the government found out. A man who introduced himself as from the National Security Bureau came to her and immediately told her to pack her things.
She had no right to refuse.
Obediently following his instructions, Eun Ha boarded a large bus. About forty people were already seated inside.
It was only hours later that she learned they, like her, had ‘awakened’ as psychics.
Their destination was a training camp.
“Faced with the worst national disaster in history, you have been granted the opportunity to serve your country.”
His voice, amplified through the microphone, pierced the ears of everyone gathered at the camp.
“Remember: the lives of thousands—no, tens of thousands—depend on each and every one of you here.”
The training camp fell silent as if doused with cold water. Occasionally, someone’s quiet sobbing could be heard.
They said terrifying, ferocious monsters were rampaging through the fissures—Gates—that had opened nationwide. Eun Ha had read about it in the news and newspapers.
‘So they want us to fight them?’
Eun Ha looked down at her trembling hands. Though she had awakened, she had no idea how to use her ability to fight monsters.
But there was one thing she knew for certain.
They were the ones who killed her mother.
They stole Eun Ha’s home, her dreams, her life.
The cruel monsters wouldn’t wait for unprepared Awakened. Even at this very moment, monsters were rampaging, and someone’s family was dying.
With every second counting, the hunters’ training was shortened to just three months.
For Eun Ha, it felt like a long time. After all, she had neither reason nor means left to attend university.
Those who had lost everything were braver than those who had everything.
Cha Eun Ha’s unique ability, ‘Flame,’ was perfectly optimized for combat. Her flames were fierce, aggressive, and relentless.
April 1998.
Having completed the bare minimum three-month training, the hunters were immediately thrown into the Gates.
They carried no weapons, no armor.
All they had were dog tags around their necks and the crushing burden of being humanity’s last hope.
Cha Eun Ha.
It was the year she had just turned twenty.
When male lead is the homewrecker
“I know she doesn’t love him.”
I’ve read the novel below twice already. Girls, I’m highly recommending it to you!
The female lead? Not a good person.
The second male lead? Not a good person.
The male lead? Willingly plays the third party, breaking up the female and second male lead’s relationship despite all the warnings from his friends—so yeah, he’s definitely not a good person either.
Basically, nobody in this novel is simple-minded or without scheming.
The female lead starts off as the male lead’s secretary, but don’t worry—later on, she takes over the company while the male lead steps back to support her. He won’t steal her spotlight, overshadow her, or dull her shine.
I love novels where men are out here snatching wigs, tearing each other down, and going to war just to win the female lead’s affection. And this is exactly that kind of novel. Most of Hai Dai Ran’s works have this dynamic. You’ll see the male characters’ emotions being pushed to the absolute extreme.
There’s even a scene where the second male lead exposes the male lead online for being a homewrecker. The brotherhood immediately gangs up on him, dragging him through the mud. I find it compelling —it completely flips reality on its head, where usually, women are the ones fighting over a man and getting torn apart by the sisterhood.
For me, female leads in the novels I read should only struggle in their careers, not in love. But if the brainless romantics in the story are all men? I have zero complaints.
I’ve pretty much read all of Hai Dai Ran’s novels and even translated all of them—her works are just my thing. I’ll slowly upload everything here. One day, when my website is official, I hope I can invite her to join as one of the star authors.
Here’s the story synopsis:
One-line summary: She is his lifelong obsession, to the point where he was willing to be a third wheel, scorned by society, just to wedge his way into her relationship with her fiancé.
Cold-hearted and indifferent female lead + Scheming and subservient CEO male lead
Intro 1:
“I know she doesn’t love him.”
With blood trickling from his clenched fist, Rong Xiu gazed at the woman before him, his eyes clouded with anguish. Hidden in the wardrobe, he had witnessed Fan Xia – the woman he desperately loved – in an intimate embrace with her fiancé. Yet his heart still yearned for her, defying all reason.
Fan Xia, the elegant and composed assistant, carried something mysterious in her eyes whenever she looked at her fiancé, Wen Lan Sheng. Strange occurrences began to surface – secret meetings with the young Gu Jin Yi, an unexplained withdrawal of 5,000 yuan… Then suddenly, her fiancé’s sister, Wen Jing, violently attacked her.
In this matriarchal society, Rong Xiu had risen to become the chairman of a powerful healthcare conglomerate, breaking through gender prejudices. But for the first time, he willingly stepped into the shadows as the other man, disregarding his friends’ warnings to become her secret lover.
Because he had discovered the truth – Fan Xia wasn’t the pure angel everyone believed her to be. And perhaps, he was the only one capable of helping her execute her mysterious plan…
Intro 2:
Rong Xiu’s biggest regret in life was missing out on Fan Xia.
He secretly loved Fan Xia for 7 years.
Watched her go public with her boyfriend.
Watched her kiss her boyfriend at their wedding.
Until that man blissfully nestled in Fan Xia’s arms, obtaining everything he could only dream of.
The crazy jealousy stripped away his hidden secret love, layer by layer, burning like wildfire.
Fan Xia, how can I have you!
【Reading and Trigger Warning Guide】
1. Female dominant, male submissive, male pregnancy
2. Male lead schemes his way to the top, male competition
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Please help me, I want to bring you the best possible things.
If you find any chapter or novel with poor translation and editing quality, let me know by commenting directly under that novel or chapter. I will retranslate it as soon as possible.
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gulsoom
this story is really good coming from someone whos read later chapters, and the manhwa it has too
if your just starting dont be skeptical and just continue trust me it gets rlly good