[5] A namesake of South Korean boy band BTS's 2016 song "Save Me",[6] it ran from January 17 to April 11, 2019, consisting of 15 episodes plus one prologue.

The webtoon tells the story of protagonist Kim Seok-jin[4] who is trapped in a time loop, repeatedly reliving his life starting from April 11, from which he can escape only when he accomplishes the task of saving his six best friends from their destined miseries.

Its plot parallels that of the images portrayed in the group's music videos and in other related content such as their book HYYH: The Notes 1.

[6][15] The title of the webtoon references to BTS' 2016 single "Save Me" from The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever.

The Smeraldo Books itself is part of the BTS Universe, its name alluding to the song "The Truth Untold" from Love Yourself: Tear.

[17] Filled with nostalgia, he reminisces the good memories he had with his six friends from school—Yoon-gi, Ho-seok, Nam-joon, Ji-min, Tae-hyung and Jung-kook—who have gone to their separate ways since two years ago.

[17] To his shock, Seok-jin also learns from Nam-joon the deaths of Jung-kook and Yoon-gi and that Ho-seok is in the hospital[18] while Tae-hyung and Ji-min's whereabouts remain unknown.

In time, Jung-kook falls from a building and lands dead on the street right behind Seok-jin, on the spot where the latter's car was supposed to be on (from the preceding iteration).

Sensing incoming danger, he runs after Jung-kook but he loses sight of the boy through the thick crowd of pedestrians.

The trio rushes to the hospital and witness the doctors trying to revive Yoon-gi, who was rescued from his burning hotel room.

On this next trial, Seok-jin brings Nam-joon, Jung-kook and Tae-hyung with him right after waking up, significantly earlier than the previous iterations, to help in his search for Yoon-gi.

In response to this sudden change of fates, the four men are caught in a vehicular accident; Nam-joon, Jung-kook and Tae-hyung are killed while Seok-jin is seriously injured.

Ji-min confides to Ho-seok that his "clock stopped clicking at some point": he cannot say how long had he been in the hospital and how much longer must he stay.

Meanwhile, Nam-joon and Tae-hyung decide to visit Ho-seok at his job, but learns later on that he had been brought to the hospital due to his narcolepsy.

Nam-joon and Tae-hyung, accompanied by Jung-kook and Yoon-gi, who was discharged a month ago, arrive at the hospital to pay Ho-seok a visit.

Just in time, hospital staffs rush by Seok-jin and Ji-min, transporting a dying Ho-seok who fell down the stairs.

Before he gets off the car, Ho-seok notices five sticky notes attached to the dashboard, written on which are his, Nam-joon, Jung-kook, Yoon-gi, and Ji-min's names and the places where each would supposedly meet their ill fate.

Days after the failed rescue, Ji-min is found in a locked bathroom, nearly drowning inside a bathtub overflowing with water.

The hospital staffs unlock the door to the bathroom; Seok-jin rushes into the room and saves Ji-min from drowning.

Exhausted over his successive failures, Seok-jin refuses to relive his life and save his friends, and he spends the time loop sulking inside his room.

Seok-jin proceeds to saving Nam-joon, Jung-kook, Ho-seok, Yoon-gi and Ji-min in the safest way possible.

Meanwhile, Tae-hyung remains secretive to his friends about his family issues: he and his older sister are being tormented since childhood by their abusive and alcoholic father.

Tae-hyung describes them in exact detail—Yoon-gi's arson, Jung-kook falling from a building, Ho-seok's accident, Ji-min locked up in the hospital, and Nam-joon's imprisonment—to which Seok-jin is inwardly surprised.

As Tae-hyung aims the broken bottle at his father to kill him, Seok-jin intervenes and takes the fatal stab.

[9] Official versions of the webtoon are available in Korean, English, Japanese, both Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Indonesian, and Thai.

On March 15, 2019, Save Me was featured in an exhibition by Naver's Line Friends Store in Times Square, New York City.

[31][30] On March 28–30, 2019, BTS members Jin, Jungkook, and J-Hope were featured reading and commenting on Save Me through short video clips uploaded by WEBTOON in their Twitter and YouTube accounts.