Prologue

"Academy of Magic," - I muttered in an indistinct voice, looking at the screen with the name of the game.

The TV, to which the game console is connected, was large enough to accommodate bright letters.

Sitting in a room where toys in the form of magicians filled the entire space, leaving only the bed and table clean, I held a joystick in my hands.

The game I'm going to play is a fantasy genre in the form of magic training at the academy. The plot is to learn magic at the academy, where real players became students after spending all their time studying. It took up almost half of the game, which was uninteresting.

Although I got a chance to beta test the game as one of the developers, I had no desire at all.

But that's the job.

I pressed the start button and the screen moved from the name of the game to a welcome message.

[Welcome to the Magic Academy!]

[Dear Beta Tester, Kim Ah Jin...]

"Wow, you. I didn't even know that they inserted my name."

When creating the game, the company I worked for should have warned me about this, but it seems they wanted to make a surprise.

But as much as I was glad, I decided to skip the greeting.

[Please create a character!]

Now I could see the screen with the figure of the character, which was empty and clean, like white paper.

To be honest, I was too lazy to create a character, so I chose purely randomly.

And after a few minutes, I was in the game itself.

The character I was controlling moved the same way as my joystick. If I moved to the left, he walked in the same direction. If you press the sit button, he was sitting on the ground. Fortunately, the controls worked perfectly, which pleased me.

But not the point, the main task is to spend playing time in the academy itself.

With a joyful look, I started playing for my character in the hope that I would become a magician at least in the game. Looking back in the past, I always wanted to become a wizard, but the cruel reality ruined my dreams.

Perhaps by playing this game, I will be able to regain my former self, which I lost in my early childhood.

5 hours later...

Looking at the black screen, I felt sad at the same time joyful.

I was glad that I had successfully reached the end, but the problem was that we hadn't thought about the end of the game yet, so I could only see blackness, like black cumin oil.

After spending about five hours in the game, I experienced a lot of emotions; from excitement to longing.

It can be said that my childhood dream was fulfilled. But unfortunately for me, I couldn't see the ending, leaving my character at some unknown point.

And while I was in dark thoughts, I heard a sound as my phone started ringing with a notification.

Pulling the phone out of my pocket, I swiped my thumb up to unlock the device.

The reason why I received the notification is because of a message I received from the main boss of the company.

Maybe she wanted to ask me how the game was going.

[Boss: Good evening, Ah Jin. Sorry for the late time, but I would like to know your impression of the game]

As expected, I was right.

Looking at the clock next to the TV, which showed 10 p.m., a thought flashed through my head.

'Why is she still online at this time?'

It was weird.

Although she always works hard, even more than the developers, she was the type of person who gave all of herself to her work, like me, including. She should have a day off today.

"Well, I guess I should answer her after all.." - starting to scribble quickly with my fingers, like a woodpecker, digital letters began to fill the screen.

[Ah Jin: Hi Boss! I want to start by saying that there are no bugs when controlling the character, although there is one....]

After having a conversation with her on the phone, where we corresponded via messages, I looked at the time.

22:15.

For 15 whole minutes, I told her my impression of the game. Obviously, I omitted small details, explaining only the most important ones, which is quite acceptable in my opinion.

[Boss: Okay, And Jin. It was nice to hear your opinion. Regarding the last part, I hope you will find the answer and create your end of the game!]

"Hmm?" - after reading the answer she gave me a few minutes later, I looked puzzled.

No matter how much I reread, I couldn't catch her train of thought.

Create your own end game?

"What is she talking about....!"

Just before I had time to ask myself the second question, darkness engulfed my mind, as if a whole tsunami covered me, I also felt the crunch of sand in my brain.

And as if a high-speed train crashed into my lungs, I stopped breathing, and then, my eyes began to get cloudy, as if they put a hood on my head, I stopped seeing anything.

In the end, I lost consciousness.

And finally, death knocked on my door.

At the last moment, I thought. Something I couldn't complete.

End of the game.

***

I raced through the forest as if I was possessed by madness. Gasping for air, I tried to somehow regain my breath. My lungs almost stopped working, but I restrained myself.

At the same time, I felt pain.

In the abdominal area, as if someone had stuck a knife.

'Damn monsters!', - I shouted in my thoughts.

Behind me ran a crowd of monsters that were much taller than me. With a massive build like a gorilla, they spotted me as their prey.

I could feel the aura of rage from them and by looking into their eyes that were red as blood. I felt fear.

The fear that appeared for the second time, being in this world.

And feeling a shiver run through my body, I also felt a bony figure with a scythe in his hand. The back of my neck felt the icy breath of death, on a par with the pesky horror.

But even so, the thought of stopping did not occur to me.

Gritting my teeth, I only began to move my legs faster. To get out of this situation, I have to squeeze as much dexterity out of myself as possible.

Right in front of me, I saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Not the one that a person sees after death.

I finally saw the end of the forest.

This damned forest did not end, no matter how much I ran.

Focusing all my attention on how to get to the end as soon as possible. At the same time, I tried to avoid the trees along the way in the hope that I would not crash into them.

Branches and leaves crunched underfoot after spring.

'To hell with it'

The faster I ran, the louder the screams of the monsters became.

Like casino players who sensed the excitement, it was also with them.

"Ah Jin, I've cooked your favorite food,"

A sweet, warm voice caressed my ears.

For some reason, right now, I thought about the fate of those who remained in that world. Bitter thoughts crept into my head like poison, which I could not get rid of at the moment.

Family, friends, and homeless people I met every day.

As if at the snap of their fingers, their faces flashed before their eyes, leaving behind fragments of the past.

Perhaps it was the devil or god, watching from a high point that I couldn't reach, doing all these things on purpose. Calling me to stop, and like a dove flying freely in the sky, to give myself up to fate.

I would gladly leave the world myself. A cruel and full of the endless suffering world.

That's just it.

'I don't feel attached to that world anymore'

Without realizing it, I began to reject the past of myself, eventually severing the connection between me and the past.

But I didn't stop, and I didn't fall. I ran even faster, igniting the blood in my body.

Damn the game! What the hell did I get all this for!

I still had quite a bit left, and all the horror would be left behind.

'Just to get to the end of the forest!' - it was pounding in my head.

"!"

Boom!

A flash of pain swept over my face like a storm in the middle of the sea.

A shock wave hit my body, released from the side of the monsters. As if I was pushed, but ten times harder, I flew 7 meters, and then I felt a pain that spread throughout my body, tearing my outer clothes to shreds.

Like dead hay in the desert, turning over several times, I rolled to someplace.

My limbs were shaking, and every time I breathed with my lungs, my breathing was not even.

Barely lifting my body, holding the wound on the right side of my stomach, my gaze turned to the landscape that spread out behind me.

A beautiful, green forest filled my view along with the sun, whose bright rays passed through the gap in the trees.

Looking at the spectacle of mother nature, I was finally able to calm my mind, indulging in a peaceful state that would be needed at the moment.

It was the perfect place for couples to spend a date night.

But the view I could see below drove that thought away.

I was standing on the edge of a cliff. One step and I would already be down, turned into a dead mess of blood as if I had been smashed with a meat hammer.

From the very beginning, the bony hand on my neck, with the scythe of death, did not leave me a step.

There were two reasons.

The first reason for this was a cliff break.

Secondly, it is those who forced me to find myself in such a situation.

Turning my eyes to the scene where hordes of monsters filled the entrance to the forest, I saw a figure.

The man with the crow mask standing in front of these creatures appeared as quickly as a bolt from the blue.

The cloak he was wearing fluttered in the wind. And the eyes that were glowing red were looking right at me. Piercing with a sharp gaze, as if he wanted me dead, I felt his thirst for blood.

"As I said before, you can't escape," the man said with some satisfaction, drawing a blissful smile on his face.

Looking at him, anyone would think he was a villain. But no, he was just a minor character from the game.

Academy of Magic.

That's right, it was a character from a game I was playing.

Even if playing time was focused on studying at school, I recognized him. Being one of the developers, I had another responsibility. I had to be responsible for the characters in the game so that their appearance matched the character.

And now that I was in this world, roughly speaking, I had a whole book in my hands with the stories of all the characters.

Although I don't remember all of them, but the most important ones, I tried to remember.

While I was thinking about the game, I was distracted by his voice again.

"Since he wants me to bring you to him, I have to do it."

For some reason, listening to his voice, I felt strange.

"But if no one finds out about what happened to you..."

The tone in which he spoke was slightly sad as if he was pining for his toy.

"Then I can enjoy you completely! Ha-ha-ha!" - laughter filled the place where I was standing, and nasty saliva flowed from his mouth.

Sick bastard.

His perverted laughter and hidden intent completely matched each other.

The way he wanted to have fun with my body, exploring all parts of the nerves, said that he was a perverted character. As one of the assistants of "this" person, he always wanted a toy with which his perverted desire could be filled to the brim.

"You! You! I finally found a special toy for myself!"

He began to shout out his desire over and over again, letting out his true nature.

And it already infuriated me.

"Hey, you sick bastard!"

When the swear words came out of my mouth, his crazy eyes turned to me, and the saliva that flowed from his noob finally stopped flowing.

"If you want me so much, then you'll have to follow me!"

With every word I said, he got lost in his thoughts. Thinking about what I was going to do, even if I was cornered at the goal, I could think of only one way out.

'Get the item,' - scrolling these words in my head, I imagined the item.

And in a second, she was in my hands.

A mechanism with wires, inside of which a crystal is placed, designed for special situations, it was damn dynamite!

"How are you..!"

Now, I could see how his expression behind the mask was changing into fury, along with anxiety, he was trapped in my trap.

I did it!

I felt like I was reborn and screamed, no longer able to contain the happiness bursting out.

Finally, I can survive!

But I was wrong about one thing.

The bony paw of death did not let go. She just swung to grab me tighter.

A flash of pain pierced my stomach, cutting off my inner cry.

I stumbled and fell heavily to the ground.

There were a lot of deep scratches on my hands and face, blood from them flowed down my cheeks to my chin, falling on juicy blades of grass.

I froze.

'Am I going to die..?'

For several long seconds, I couldn't figure out what had happened. Why did I feel victory a second ago, and now I'm lying down and can't get up?

Why does the skin burn from scratches? Why is there something pricking in my chest? Very faintly, as if some kind of lump had settled there...

Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes. The bloody end of a metal spike protruded from his chest. I started crying. Staining my hands with my blood, I held onto the bomb and shook my head, not wanting to believe what was happening.

I no longer felt the prickly grass digging into my skin, not discerning the color of the heavenly surface and catching a breath of wind. I couldn't even move. The whole world around me turned gray, faded, and every beat of my exhausted heart forced this fading picture to shudder slightly

A face appeared before my eyes. More precisely, a window with letters resembling a robot's face.

And just now, the blue screen answered my call.

As if I didn't have enough problems in my life, not only was I superfluous in the family.

The scene that happened in front of my eyes. An unknown feeling settled in my heart when I saw a stunning event.

Thinking about how I became a character in the game when the main character was fighting against the villain, I had to choose two sides.

Two options, double consequences.

[By becoming a simple character, you don't play any role in the plot. In a world where there is a struggle for black and white.]

[You only have one choice. The main character or the villain? What kind of help will you provide in this story? The answer lies in your choice]

[Select one option.]

[A. The second main character.]

[B. The villain's lover.]

After reading the message in front of my eyes, which was reflected in a transparent window, I found myself in a difficult position. No matter how much I thought about it, I would choose option B, the villain's lover.

But at the very bottom, with black and red text, as if it warned me of danger, I saw an opportunity.

The thing that attracted me the most.

[X. Extra]

[Note: This option will entail a lot of difficulties, including in life!]

Even without paying attention to the complexity. Or else, the role that I will get.

From that moment on, I started my story as an extra character.