The Protagonist Is the Centre of Your World

So, it's been three years.

Yep. Three years literally passed away.

For these three years the situation with me and Muyun has almost reversed. Previously it was always me who was doing stuff, now it's Muyun doing all the stuff. He's pretty busy with destroying the world every day and so on and so forth, and then the plot just chugged along. I don't want to comment on it in any case, but Muyun seemed to be very happy. He hugs his mirror talking to me every day, and the only thing I could only do is have conversations with him.

Zhu Jue did always try to look for me, but he can only find Muyun. The whole plot has basically turned into a Naruto-like 'you chase me I chase you away, you come back I don't come back' plot. I, who can do nothing right now, can only live decadently like this for the whole time.

So now, after three years have gone by, we're finally at the finale.

The finale I've been waiting for.

Zhu Jue, who's finally standing before me again after three years' time, has grown much taller. Even taller than me. He just looked at me and said, "Mufeng?"

'I' shook my head and said, "Muyun."

Zhu Jue looks dejected, saying, "when will you give him back to me?"

"He's not yours."

"In the end he will be."

Muyun looks at him as he says, "did you know that I've always been with him since Mufeng was young, so young? Mufeng had no other friends back then, and he was always playing alone by himself. When no one would talk to him he would talk with the mirror. I was always with him back then. For the longest time Mufeng has been lonely. Since you arrived, however, I'm no longer the only important person to him, when it should remain the case. When it should have remained the case forever."

Zhu Jue does not speak.

"This is the last chance. The protagonist's death is only possible at the finale." Muyun says, as if murmuring to himself, "the author has not yet decided what end awaits this world. This means that it's fine for me to kill you."

"What are you talking about?"

"Huh? Don't you know what kind of world this is?"

"What do you mean?" Zhu Jue shows a confused expression.

"What. So you didn't know…" Muyun takes a deep breath, "then I'll tell you. This is the world inside a novel."

… How was he able to say it out loud like that; is it because the finale is approaching?

Zhu Jue also shows a shocked expression.

"Everyone in this world is suffering because of you. Everyone has to pretend to be someone they are not, and do things they don't want to." Muyun seems to have become infuriated as he continues, "you mean to tell me you know nothing about this?!"

Zhu Jue has an expression that says he doesn't know what to say.

"I don't know… Nobody told me…"

Muyun shows a sarcastic expression, "since you came here from the world on that side, this world has taken a turn for the worse!"

"What do you mean the world on that side?" Zhu Jue looks at Muyun, "I've always been living on this side of the world… Maybe there has been some soul of unknown origin that has tried to squeeze me away, but he did not succeed. Nobody told me anything about the world."

Muyun and I suddenly understand the biggest thing that has been off about the whole plot. Perhaps the protagonist that should have arrived has not occupied the body as the plot said it will. Right now it is probably the kid who is supposed to have died a long time ago living inside the body. It's probably because he will have died so early according to the plot that people around him never talked to him about anything relating to the plot (TL's extra explanation: And given he was supposed to be an extra who does not appear in the plot at all, at best he might have only a scant few amount of plot guidance in his head. Since he was a young child, he might not have realised this was a 'plot' as no one talked to him about it). If we think about it this way everything makes sense.

Though clearly Muyun is not interested in pursuing the matter further. He raises his sword.

"Then it will end now. As long as you're dead, all the plot points will be over," Muyun points it at him, saying, "if you're dead, everything will be over. Nobody will have to pretend to be who they are not and do things they do not want to. So…"

He smiles at Zhu Jue, "so please go and die."

The last fight between the protagonist and the boss is officially commencing.

Living up to it being the last fight, it is certainly shaking both the Heavens and Hell, making all the mountains and hills quaver, darkening the skies and the lands, making spirits cry in terror and deities wail in exasperation. The author described the fight in about 4000 words. Since this was supposed to be a harem novel, I won't describe it in that amount of detail. All you need to know is that the fight lasted really long, until the sun has moved all the way across the sky, until even the sun and the moon has lost their lustre, and the skies and the lands are all shrouded in darkness. In the end, the protagonist… is finally smacked onto the ground.

Zhu Jue is lying on the ground, completely soaked in blood. Normally it would have been time for the monologue.

While I want to continue dissing like that, but I don't want to say anything more. Certainly, I did say I would never hurt Zhu Jue. Now while Muyun is the one doing that, it's basically no different than me doing it. While we might say Muyun Muyun and so on, he is essentially me. Having done something like this, I'm pretty sorry towards him.

Because Zhu Jue is very important to me.

Is it because he's the protagonist?

No, it's because he's Zhu Jue.

He is Zhu Jue.

That's why he is an important person.

And so what?

So this will be my last appearance.

The moment Muyun raised his sword is my last chance. I use all my remaining effort to suppress Muyun, which would be temporary. In the final plot, I wanted to protect Zhu Jue, as I'm a side character and this is the meaning of my existence. Of course, I will also have decided to do so myself. I look Zhu Jue in the eye, "kill me."

Zhu Jue, whose face is all bloodied, looked up at me in surprise, "shixiong?"

"Quickly!"

Zhu Jue pauses before shaking his head forcefully.

"Kill me, so the story can meet its end."

"No, I don't want to kill you…"

Yet I can feel that I'm almost unable to suppress Muyun anymore. He screams in my consciousness, "Mufeng, have you gone mad?! Is he more important than me?!"

I did consider the question carefully.

I don't know why myself either. Perhaps, the male deuteragonist and the protagonist have been true lovers since the very beginning?

Then I grab onto the hand of Zhu Jue which is holding the sword, and plunge it into my heart.

It hurts, but I still give my best smile to Zhu Jue.

___________

Then this character, Xuanyuan Mufeng, I, met my end.

The novel has ended. Everyone's final state has been decided, and I have met my own end. It's just that I'm no longer present in the final page of this novel. The world does not disappear. After the plot's end, 77 and 38 went on to get married. They were there during the fight, the typical 'keep going, protagonist, we'd be here blocking the minor boss for you' part. Some plot unrelated to me also happened. Second young master Hua closed down his brothel, but still kept his taverns and other business open, and also started a new cosmetics shop. My master continued his tour of the world, god knows where he went. Qiu Yu has been married off, not to some prominent family, but to someone who is very good to her. By the way, my older brother is continuing his romantic pursuit of second young master Hua. Of course, he hasn't succeeded yet, getting beaten to a pulp every day. The story goes on like that.

And then, I learned about my misunderstanding as well. This was not a harem novel, and is a BL novel. If I knew that from the start, I probably wouldn't have done so many plot points so poorly.

Thank you for having read this story up to this point. It's my honour to have had readers like you. Perhaps I didn't tell the story very well, but this is basically how our world is.

In our world, everyone has found their happy ending.

Mm? Where has Zhu Jue gone in the end, you say?

That… I'm not so sure. After the plot's finale, nobody would care where the protagonist goes, no?

Right. Thank you for having read this book, having read this story.

This is really the end.

___________

Is it the end?

I open my eyes.

I sit back up, then take a good look around me.

This is my room?

Why am I here?

Then I see someone sitting on the floor besides the bed, his arms and head lying on the bed. Seemingly having noticed my movement, he is shocked awake himself. He raises his head to look at me, saying, "you're awake?"

I'm suddenly reminded of the time many years ago when I picked this guy up, the bear of the child stomping on me right after waking up, but nothing of the sort happened when I wake up this time. Bathing in the sunlight, Zhu Jue smiles at me, saying, "welcome back."

I wanted to ask about a lot of things, such as why I'm still alive, such as what happened… such as… Yet I can't say anything. I can only look at Zhu Jue with a dumb expression. He stands up, hugging me, saying, "I've finally found you."

He then says, "this is the world beyond the novel. I exchanged for you using my protagonist halo as the price."

I can barely put a smile up at Zhu Jue, saying, "it's possible to do something like that?"

"Why not?" He makes it sound like the natural thing to do.

I don't manage to say anything more. For some reason, though, my tears start flowing just like that.

From now on, I can start doing what I want to do, because I'm no longer a character in the novel. Because this is no longer a story framed within a book.

You don't really have to say anything at times like this, and just smiling is fine, right?

I hug Zhu Jue, and tell him, "I'm home."

-[END]-

___________

The young lady types 'END' at the end of her text file, then stretches herself as she stands up. Her best friend next to her looks her way, saying, "finished?"

"Mm. Finished."

"Was this alright?"

The young lady says, "was it not alright?"

"You're the author, so it's up to you, of course."

"Telling them that their final good ending is also an ending written inside a book, and they'll end up living inside the book forever is too cruel, isn't it?"

"True."

"Maybe we're also people being described in a book."

"Who can tell, right?"

-[TRUE END]-