Downtown Druid - Chapter 20: A fool’s game

Birth rates are decreasing. Hope is vanishing. The world has gone gray.Humanity, drifting in quiet collapse, receives an email.Every person on Earth. Simultaneously.The Aegis Mandate.Disguised as a cosmic aptitude test, it triggers The Incident of Separation—a global psychic cataclysm that erases identities, wipes memories, and divides all survivors into three factions: Law, Neutral, and Chaos. Overnight, cities become battlegrounds. Apartments become dungeons. Ordinary people become monsters—or the ones who hunt them.Ragnar Vhagar was just a loner university student. Now, thanks to a system he didn’t ask for, he’s a newly minted Demon King, locked in a crumbling apartment with goblins under his sofa and a glowing soul crystal next to his frozen peas. His new job? Build a deadly domain, defend it from invading “Heroes,” and somehow level up fast enough to not die.Alongside him is Isabelle Thorne, a razor-sharp warrior of few words and one very sharp sword. Their reluctant alliance, born in blood and snark, evolves into trust—and maybe something dangerously close to affection—as they rise together through the layers of the game-like world they’re trapped in.With each conquered domain and defeated boss, Ragnar realizes the truth: the dungeons aren’t meant to crown a winner. They’re meant to break the players. The Law faction wants control. The Chaos faction craves destruction. But Ragnar? He wants something they’re all too afraid to say out loud:Freedom.In the ruins of Kanta’s ogre stronghold, Ragnar and his misfit warband take their biggest step yet—claiming a kingdom, unifying a fractured system, and preparing for what comes next. The Heroes are watching. The gods are stirring. The world is watching a war.And somewhere deep beneath it all... Ragnar is rewriting the rules.

There are times when you’ll still never be good enough no matter how hard you try.

Born with a frail twin sister, Li Caiyi gives most of her time to take care of Li Chunhua. Her parents and older brother trust her to take care of her sister, yet Li Caiyi can’t help but feel the disparity in treatment and affection given to both of them.

In her whole life, she has never become anyone’s first priority. Not in the heart of her family, and especially not in the heart of her childhood friend, the Young Master of Meng family, Meng Renshu.

When Li Caiyi became Meng Renshu’s wife, Li Caiyi thought she could finally become someone’s first priority, but everything fell apart in just three years.

She decides to let everything go. Then she meets Shen Qiang in the most unexpected place. No one wants to accompany her in her life, yet this stranger offers to accompany her in death.

“Do you want to jump together?”

When she opened her eyes, Li Caiyi had gone back to her high school times.

This time, she won’t make the wrong choice again.

But where can she find Shen Qiang?!

Maple was the strongest player in the game of new world online, however, Kaede Honjou was just your average Japanese lady who just wanted to spend some time with her girlfriend and the rest of her friends.She never imagined she would be summoned to another world so similar to her favourite game as a weapon for war.Join Maple as she fights through a dangerous world, while gaining the attention of the powers that be...Although...“How does a slime create a country? That seems a little ridiculous, even for me.”

Becoming the physician of the villainess who brought about the world’s destruction, I tried to escape to survive, but the reactions were strange. ______________________________________________ “The Doctor Cured the Villainess and Ran Away” is a Korean web novel authored by 긘가 (Geun-ga). The story follows a protagonist who becomes the personal physician to a villainess responsible for multiple world destructions. After curing her, he attempts to escape, leading to unexpected reactions. The novel was first serialized on October 5, 2023, on the platform Novelpia. It gained recognition by receiving an honorable mention in the 2023 Novelpia Universe's Strongest Web Novel Contest. Readers have praised the novel for its engaging narrative and well-developed characters. A review on Naver Blog highlights the protagonist's repeated attempts to prevent the world's destruction and his complex relationship with the villainess, emphasizing the story's depth and emotional resonance. The novel is available for reading on platforms like Novelpia and has been published as an eBook on Kyobo Book Centre. In summary, “The Doctor Cured the Villainess and Ran Away” offers a compelling blend of fantasy and romance, exploring themes of redemption and the complexities of human relationships.