They say routine is the first step toward madness.
Every morning, I wake up in the same bed. Same sunlight dripping through the stained-glass windows. Same chirping of enchanted crows outside. Same muffled shouting from students racing to avoid detention. And every time I open my eyes, I still can't believe it.
I'm not in my apartment.
I'm actually in another world.
And worse? I'm not the protagonist. I'm Kael Virell—a gloomy, third-rate side character who dies in Chapter 2 of the academy arc.
I toss off the covers and sit on the edge of the bed. Same sharp draft. Same black uniform with crimson lining folded perfectly on the chair. Whoever made this character really leaned into the whole "edgy loner" aesthetic. Even my twin axes—heavy, wicked things with black steel and crimson cores—are crossed on the wall like they're just waiting for carnage.
I dress quickly. The halls of Valorheart Academy are already buzzing with activity, polished boots clacking against enchanted marble floors. Students chatter. Mana crackles. A fire spirit crashes through someone's locker. Typical Tuesday.
And every time someone passes me, they nod. Smile. Greet me.
"Morning, Kael!"
"Yo, Virell!"
"You headed to Combat Theory?"
That's the part that gets me. In the game, Kael was a nobody. A background NPC with two lines of dialogue and a death that served as the protagonist's motivational trauma.
But here? People know me. Like I've always been part of this world.
It's terrifying.
—
I make it to my classroom. Lyria Seraphine sits by the window, her white gloves folded neatly over her lap. She's elegance incarnate—top of the class, highborn blood, perfect mana control. The textbook definition of unreachable.
She glances up from her grimoire. Her violet eyes narrow just slightly.
"You're late," she says.
"I'm exactly on time."
"Late by a Seraphine's standards," she mutters, flipping a page. Her cheeks tint pink, but she quickly looks away like she's disgusted by her own expression.
I take the seat behind her.
She doesn't say anything else, but I catch her glancing at me through the corner of her eyes. Again. And again.
.
.
.
Then there's Iris.
She bursts through the door two seconds before the bell, trailing a puff of pink smoke and a frog clinging to her sleeve.
"Yo, Kael!" she beams, sliding into the desk beside me. "Wanna test out a love potion after class?"
"No."
"It's safe this time. Probably."
"You said that last time and we ended up in the infirmary."
"Technically, we ended up in the girls' bath first, then the infirmary."
She leans closer, voice dropping to a teasing whisper. "You didn't complain then."
Iris Valehart. Genius alchemist. Chaos incarnate. One of the original love interests for the protagonist, but she talks to me like we've had a dozen misadventures already.
.
.
.
And then there's Sylvia.
She doesn't come to class.
Instead, she's waiting for me when I leave campus that evening. Leaning against the courtyard wall, dual daggers glinting at her hips, eyes like liquid silver staring at me like I'm prey.
"You're late."
"I didn't even know we were meeting."
"You always say that."
She pushes off the wall and falls into step beside me without asking. Doesn't speak. Just walks with me all the way back to the dorms. When I open the door, she follows me inside like it's normal.
She sits on the windowsill. Watches. Protects. Doesn't ask for permission.
Sylvia Nocturne. Once a side quest boss. Now my self-proclaimed shadow. When I asked her why she keeps following me, she said, "Because I live longer near you."
And I believe her.
—
They're all supposed to love the protagonist. But they orbit around me like I'm the center of some broken constellation.
And the worst part?
The actual protagonist—Eiden Rowenheart—is starting to lose.
He failed the midterm duel against Professor Gran. He got injured during the Shadowbeast encounter that should've awakened his hidden power. He hesitated in the Forest of Mirrors and almost lost Lyria.
That's when I knew.
Something's wrong.
The story's gone off-script.
And the only person who seems to remember the original plot… is me.
So I've been playing support. Quietly stepping in when things go sideways. Feeding Eiden hints. Helping him grow stronger, faster, smarter. Making sure he wins the fights that matter.
But the more I get involved, the more the world twists around me.
I wasn't supposed to be important. I was supposed to die in Chapter 2.
Now?
Now the heroines look at me like I'm the real threat. The real choice. The real—
No. That doesn't matter.
You want to know how this all happened?
How a shut-in gamer woke up in his favorite action-romance game, wearing the skin of a doomed side character, trying to keep the world from collapsing?
Well, then…
I guess we'll have to go back.
Like, way back.