"You have disappointed me, Noirax."
The sky burned crimson. In the center of it hung the blood moon, tilting downward, staring at White Castle under siege.
Armies rushed inside, their roars echoing off the white marble walls, but a short distance away, the forest was eerily still.
"No, no, no." I ran desperately away from the castle, afraid that he would catch up. I had come to take his head, but somewhere in the chaos, I realized the battle had ended before it even began.
A sudden kick slammed into my back, sending me sprawling onto the ground. Dirt filled my mouth, but I ignored it and turned around to see him.
My vision was hazy and bloody, unable to discern the speaker of those words, but I knew it was the scarlet-haired man I had been chasing my whole life.
Dressed in black, he looked majestic and terrifying. He moved forward, placed one of his legs on my chest, and grabbed both of my hands firmly, wrenching them apart.
"I had expected more from you, since we knew each other when we had barely Awakened."
"Ahhh!" I screamed in pain as my muscles began to tear, but he didn't stop there. He pulled with even more strength, and soon my bones broke apart. Blood spattered across the earth as my hands detached from me.
"I do not enjoy torturing… but for some reason, I'm enjoying it with you… what a delight!" Saying so, the man ripped apart my legs.
It was extremely painful, but even more painful was losing to the man in front of me.
I had taken many of his opportunities and halted his growth, but even after all of that, I still ended up as nothing more than a toy for his enjoyment.
The air reeked of blood. The ground beneath me had become a pool of red, mirroring the sky.
"Not going to scream anymore? Then I should end your pitiful life, Noirax—or should I say… the Extra."
I was broken apart and barely alive, but hearing his words terrified me beyond reason. Before I could question him, his hand grabbed my skull and lifted me up.
He gripped with force enough to crumble mountains and crushed it. Brain matter fell all around him, yet nothing touched his body.
I died chasing this man, believing that hindering him, stealing his opportunities, and working harder than anyone would let me surpass him. But here I was, dying by those very hands.
That day, he came to know that fate was truly inevitable. No matter how much someone tried to defy it, fate would still carry out what had to be done. And even if it wasn't, no mortal could challenge it and come back unscathed.
[The End]
...
"What a surprising ending!" A man lounged in a comfortable swinging chair on the balcony of a luxurious beach house, muttering to himself. "I don't know whether to praise the author or curse them."
"Of course—curse them, idiot!" A woman sitting beside him shouted, her face twisted with frustration, sorrow, and anger.
The man, noticing her intense expression, offered a chocolate bar. "Calm down, calm down… you're not you when you're hungry. Here, eat this."
"Calm down? How'm I supposed to after the author did that! You're just saying it 'cause you didn't read the full thing and jumped straight to the ending," she grumbled as she accepted the chocolate.
The webnovel was called Advent of the Extra. Sounds like pure brainrot, but it wasn't.
It started with the familiar concept of a reader transmigrating into their favorite webnovel, but it was way more than that.
There were no golden fingers, no hidden master, no genius protagonist, and very little plot armor.
The story focused on how the Extra struggled, worked hard, and used his cunning to grow stronger, leveraging his knowledge of the webnovel world.
He had read it during his last year of college. It had become quite popular, reaching around 350 chapters back then.
Now, after three years, it had finally concluded at 2,334 chapters.
He had stopped reading webnovels when life got busy, but now, with free time, he wanted to embrace the hobby once more.
His wife, who was also quite a fan, told him it was about to end, with only three or four chapters left according to the author.
He couldn't resist and dove straight into the final chapters. And when the final chapter was released, the Extra ended up dying at the hands of the original MC.
"Hell! Why is this more frustrating than our business days." the woman said to the man.
The man answered carefully, "Don't think too much. We've already separated from business fully; now we're just gonna live peacefully for the rest of our lives."
In those three years, many things had happened—some good, some bad. He had started a small business with his girlfriend, who later became his wife [1]
The business became successful, and now they had enough wealth to live comfortably without worrying about money.
They decided to enjoy life, take things easy, and do whatever they wanted without stressing over responsibilities or anyone's expectations.
The woman rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm gonna cook, and for your knowledge, tonight you're sleeping in the guest room."
The man was baffled. "Why?"
The woman spoke as she walked away inside the mansion. "Because I don't like how you looked at me."
"..."
'Well, whatever. I'll just have to enter the bedroom and pretend to sleep before she comes,' the man thought as he looked at the falling sun.
An idea struck him. 'I should check the reviews. Many readers are definitely angry.'
The ending was realistic. No matter how hard the Extra worked, he couldn't escape fate. The philosophy was profound, but the way it was presented left much to be desired.
So it didn't matter how realistic it was. The adventure ended with the meaningless death of a character readers had followed for so long.
Making the ending unsatisfactory, and even he, who had been excited to read it from the start, hesitated once he realized how bleak it was.
The author was certainly going to get a lot of hate comments. Curiosity got the better of him, and he clicked on the review section.
"When a thousand boars died, the author was born, since he's nothing but a fat piece of meat dumped into this world. And how could the Extra lose like that? You piece of shit, calling yourself an author."
"Good one," he chuckled. Truly, webnovel readers had a talent for insulting people with words.
The next comment made him laugh even harder:
"Even zombies wouldn't eat the author's brain, since it's been rotten for a long time."
Another appeared:
"The author is a sadist because he's got nothing but dead meat down there."
Almost every comment seemed designed to insult the author. Unlike them, he hadn't read the whole thing and had lost connection with the story after not reading for so long, so he didn't feel too angry at the author.
'This is hilarious… but the author deserves it,' he muttered, laughing.
Eventually, he decided to leave a comment himself:
"I don't know what to say. But, well, the story was as realistic as possible, and you're right. The MC/fate can't be beaten. Well done, author."
The author replied: "Thanks, man. Only you understood my message."
The man rubbed his cheeks and smiled in confusion. 'I was being sarcastic… but it looks like the author genuinely thinks I was praising him.'
Other readers replied one after another, each rolling with similar comments:
"Nah, I'd win." ×13
The author replied again: "You all keep saying you'd win, right? Then go and try."
'Has this guy gone crazy?' the man thought, staring at the author's comment. The author was acting as if he were some sort of god-like entity that could transmigrate them into the world inside the webnovel.
And did this challenge apply to him or just the readers who said they would win?
And becoming the Extra?
As if. Like hell he believed that nonsense.
He wasn't some Extra with no social life living in depression. He had a life. Friends. Family. He was rich enough to live comfortably without worry.
He was the main character of his own life. Even if it wasn't full of battles and was pretty simple… so what?
He wasn't some Extra in his own story.
"I'm the MC," he said proudly.
Then he noticed something. A light emitted from his smartphone, blinding his vision.
His body fell down, and blue and white wisps came out of him, and as if something was grabbing them, they got pulled into the smartphone.
"Haa…" He opened his eyes, breathing unevenly. His surroundings had changed. The luxurious balcony was gone, replaced by a small wooden bedroom.
The room was narrow and simple.
A single bed sat beside the window, with a small table beneath it holding an old lamp.
A long mirror, broken, was mounted on the wall. On the right side of the room stood a wardrobe for clothes and other belongings.
Two doors were in the room: one led to the bathroom, the other opened to the outside world.
It felt both unfamiliar and strangely familiar.
Then he realized that it was… it was—
'My bedroom?'
He looked around frantically, and his eyes landed on the broken mirror.
The reflection in the mirror stared at him with a confused expression.
His face wasn't there anymore. In its place was a face known yet unknown to him, staring back at him.
He was a very handsome young man. Long, curly crimson hair flowed all the way to his waist, and his eyes sparkled like red diamonds.
His face was small and delicate, with a smooth, narrow forehead and a petite nose. His eyebrows curved gracefully upward, almost like a phoenix in flight.
It was none other than him.
Red Luciar Telamon. The main character of this world.
The MC of Advent of the Extra.
The one who had killed the Extra.
And then he screamed once more:
"I'M THE MC!"
[1] rather unfortunate event