WHTVT C2

Chapter 2

Huh? What is this……?

A blue flash suddenly burst inside his skull, and bizarre, alien memories surged in like a flood. They were not the life of “Noel Winslow.”

A wretchedly cramped, damp studio. A hard life of working two jobs, getting by on triangle kimbap and cup ramen. The self of his previous life, scraping through each day under the abuse and contempt of terrible customers that never stopped coming.

And one rainy commute home, when the downpour came in sheets. Overwhelmed by a fatigue that crushed his whole body, he was hit by violent dizziness and collapsed, striking his head on the asphalt with a dull impact. His vision slowly blacked out with the streetlamp light bleeding into the rain as the last thing he saw.

Th-this is—what is this supposed to be……!

It wasn’t a simple flash before dying. Noel plunged into extreme confusion. Had he drunk so much he’d gone insane? Or had he actually died and been born again?

His thinking circuit felt like it had stopped. Startled, he couldn’t collect himself between the unreal visions and the terrible headache.

In that moment his gaze fell on the wine bottle in his hand. Without hesitation he lifted it and dumped it straight over his face.

If he doused himself in cold liquid, he thought he might wake from this insane dream.

Splash—!

Wine soaked his face, giving off a sticky sweetness. In that same instant his vision flickered red. Crackling noise covered his eyes, and a mechanical sound bored into his ears.

[Warning: Deviation from the original route has been detected.]

“Or-origi…… what?”

[Penalty: Hematemesis]

Before he could even register the alien letters floating in midair, new text popped into existence right in front of him.

“Khack!”

Before he could grasp the situation, a pain that wrung his chest crashed over him. His breath caught and he crumpled to the floor in an ugly heap.

“Keugh, ukh……!”

With no time to endure it, what burst from his mouth was vivid red blood. Dark liquid mixed with sticky wine ran down his chin.

The entire situation was suffocating terror to Noel.

Strange afterimages—previous-life memories or whatever they were—had already stabbed through his mind. On top of that came the mad hallucination floating in empty air, and realistic pain as if his insides were tearing.

Every breath filled his mouth with the stench of blood. He couldn’t even tell whether he had truly gone mad or was dying on the spot.

Chase, who had been watching the whole sequence while holding his breath, rolled his eyes.

Unable to decide whether to run outside and call someone or leave him like that, he carefully took one step toward Noel.

“Um, ……are you okay?”

The moment Chase’s cautious voice touched his ear, Noel forced his pain-twisted eyes open. Seeing that unimpressive face in front of him, the anger he’d been holding erupted like a volcano.

“Does this—kh, look—okay to you?”

He roughly wiped the blood at his mouth and shouted with veins standing out. A metallic rasp mixed into his voice from the blood still rising, but the force of it was vicious.

At Noel’s snarl Chase sucked in a breath and hunched his shoulders.

That was when it happened.

The horrific pain in his chest that had made it impossible even to breathe vanished as if it had been a lie. His blocked airway opened and fresh air poured in.

Hah, hah. Gasping roughly, clutching his chest, Noel blinked with a vacant face. In his bewildered eyes, sentences rose again.

[You have entered the original route normally. Welcome to system synchronization!]

[Main Quest: Blacken Chase %^@#!]

[Failure = Death]

[On success, your wish will be granted.]

What the hell is that original work supposed to be! What’s a quest, and what’s this sudden death bullshit!

His mind tangled into a mess. Every letter in front of him was unhinged.

[I will tell you about the original work you’re curious about! This is inside a story called The Imperial Palace’s Cage. It’s the tale of the kind crown prince Leon falling in love when he meets the archmage Adrian!]

Reading the kindly added explanation, Noel muttered in horror, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“…Adrian?”

Are you saying Adrian is the protagonist now?

[Correct! The great and beautiful Adrian Winslow plays a very important protagonist in The Imperial Palace’s Cage!]

As if it were reading his thoughts in real time, new letters fluttered open in front of him.

Noel let out a hollow laugh. Ha, ha. Had he really gotten that drunk. Someone had definitely slipped a hallucinogen into the wine he’d drunk today. Or he’d smashed his head into the wall so hard he’d done fatal damage to his brain.

He would rather it be drunken delusion. Adrian being the protagonist of this world—he’d rather be struck by lightning.

If that damned brother was the protagonist, then what was he supposed to be!

[Naturally, a minor villain!]

“A mi—what?”

Noel’s mouth fell open. His face, smeared with wine and blood, went stiff. It was so absurd he couldn’t even get angry.

[Young Master Noel will later serve as a splendid trigger who blackens Chase %^@#, the main villain who will drive this world to ruin!]

Noel pressed his temple.

The explanation went on without end, but not even half of it entered his head.

There was plenty he wanted to argue at those shamelessly blinking letters, but his mind was already overloaded and buzzing. He didn’t want to stay here a single second more.

Chase was still holding his breath, looking at him. That scrawny beanpole was a villain?

A passing dog would laugh. That bony thing that looked ready to fall over if the wind blew was the main villain who would destroy the world? The claim that Noel himself would awaken as an archmage would be more credible.

He didn’t want to face any more of that incomprehensible noise.

“…Ha. Fine. I—I need to sleep.”

The urge to escape this ridiculous situation ruled his whole body.

Right. This is all a stupid dream. His brain had gone mad from stress after the worst day. If he slept—if he slept properly—everything would be back in place.

Staggering, he left the hideout and headed for the main house.

“Y-Young Master Noel! What happened? This is all…!”

Servants saw his state and came running, scared out of their wits. They couldn’t tell whether the red soaking his collar was wine or blood; every face had gone ashen.

Ignoring their horrified stares calling after him, Noel rushed into his bedroom inside the estate.

He slammed the door, locked it, and without even cleaning his ruined appearance dove straight onto the soft bed.

“It’s all a dream. A shitty dream……”

Muttering, he squeezed his eyes shut and yanked the thick silk blanket over his head. In the dark he forced himself toward sleep, praying again and again for this nightmare of a night to end quickly.

Chirp, chirp.

Birdsong outside the window. And a fierce stimulus pouring over his eyelids made Noel frown hard and toss.

“Nn……”

His head hurt as if it would split. A vicious hangover from the wine he’d poured down last night rolled in, and the forehead he’d smashed into the stone wall burned as if branded.

On top of that, a metallic taste lingered unpleasantly in his mouth. And because he’d slept without changing, his whole body felt filthy.

Blinking in a daze, yesterday’s memories rose like thin mist.

The letters……. They’re gone now.

“Right. It was a dream. I definitely drank too much yesterday.”

But what do you know.

The moment he let his guard down, letters floated up in midair again.

[Good morning, minor villain Young Master Noel!]

For a while Noel didn’t move.

He just stared blankly at the letters hanging in the air. One second. Two. Three. They didn’t disappear. They didn’t waver or blur. They sat there, as clear and shameless as yesterday.

It hadn’t been a dream.

He rubbed his eyes and opened them again. He blinked two times, three times in a row. Same thing.

“Ha……. What even are you that I keep seeing letters.”

[I am the system that helps you enter the original route safely.]

“Damn……”

Now he wanted to cry. Noel dry-washed his face and let out a deep sigh.

He’d clearly been badly hurt when he hit his head. On top of the delusion of previous-life memories, was he now going to live the rest of his life with hallucinations attached.

As if it had read the anxiety wrapping around him, the system window quickly changed the text.

[Aigoo! Illness? You are perfectly normal, Noel.]

“Ha……. Let’s say I am normal. System or whatever. Why do you keep showing up.”

When he spoke toward empty air in something like resignation, the system answered at once.

[Naturally, to monitor you, guide you, and reward you so the story can finish safely! If you don’t faithfully carry out the villain role you were given, this world’s plausibility collapses!]

The system kept throwing up letters without rest. Summarized, it came to this.

He was a minor villain, nothing more than a side branch of his brilliant brother Adrian, the protagonist of the BL novel The Imperial Palace’s Cage, and if he didn’t faithfully do villain things according to the set story, he would die without exception.

It was unfair. In his previous life he’d shuffled through convenience-store part-time jobs, bowed his head to awful customers, and died wretchedly in the street. And even this newly born life was destined to stand as an extra in someone else’s love story.

This is too unfair. Is there even a point to living like this……?