The man sitting at the table looked… strangely familiar.
Not identical, but close enough that it was eerie. Black hair, golden eyes, even the same sharp bone structure. Except this man's features were duller. Less refined. Like a knockoff Axel with a budget haircut. Not ugly, but far from someone who'd be described as attractive.
"So," the man said, setting down a teacup that hadn't been there a second ago. "You've got a lot of questions, I bet. We don't have much time, so make it quick." His voice was similar to Axel's too, just a few notes higher.
"Who are you?" Axel immediately asked.
"Ah, of course you would ask that. I'm the writer of this story also known as God. Get it, [Aura of a God] and I'm God. Pretty on the nose naming."
"But" He continued. "You can just call me Wěi Shén"
"Wěi Shén, as God, you should know that I'm not from this world. What happened?" Axel questioned.
"Right, Kai Ashton. The misfortunate soul who got placed into the demo version of my novel." Wěi Shén took a sip of tea.
"...Demo?" Axel repeated, his voice dropping.
"Yep. Out of the tens of thousands of alternate timelines, yours was the only one that accidentally trapped a conscious being in the pre-release script. I didn't even know it was possible." He explained.
All the pain. All the trauma. The isolation. The endless cycle of suffering.
And it was all because of a system bug?
"So, you're telling me," Axel said, his voice rising, "that everything I went through, everything, was caused by a mistake?!"
Wěi Shén didn't flinch. "Technically, yes."
"And let me guess," Axel continued bitterly, "you brought me back to fix the error. Out of pity."
The writer tapped a finger to his chin.
"...You're mostly right. It wasn't out of pity. If I didn't fix the bug, I was afraid it would corrupt and the OOC would flow over to my other worlds."
"OOC?" Axel raised an eyebrow.
"OOC is when you're out of character. In the demo world, the OOC reached 100 which resulted in the world being demolished. Speaking of" Wěi Shén brought a notepad.
"Your OOC is already at 10/100"
Then, he read off the book.
"Picking up Glowell's Guide your first day, beating Landon, joining Ravenveil, ignoring the leads" He kept reading on and on.
"Seriously, didn't you take any of my words seriously? Stay on the plotline." Wěi Shén shook his head with disappointment.
"So that was you. Lower romance difficulty and increased boss difficulty." Axel mumbled.
"That was me alright."
"What do you mean by increased boss difficulty?" Axel questioned.
"...Just certain major events won't go the way you expect. To keep balance, I had to lower one and increase another aspect to restore the world. Let's just say, you'll have to work a lot harder than the transmigrated Axel's in my other worlds." He explained.
"Why are you doing all of this to begin with?" Axel asked.
He glanced to the side, as if checking an invisible clock. "Ooh, time's up. We'll talk again later. Just remember, stay on the plotline. And since I'm generous, I'll give you a warning when you're about to go OOC again."
He raised a hand.
"See ya~"
"Wait—NO!"
…
Axel woke up with a jolt.
He was back in the classroom, head pounding. The time on his phone hadn't moved. So, time was frozen in that space.
He sighed, running a hand through his hair before pulling up his status screen.
Skills
[Aura of a God]
G Rank ???
Grants passive enhancement to presence, pressure, and perception
Mastery: 5% / 100%
His eyes stayed locked on the glowing letters.
He stood up, still shaky. He was supposed to be in class right now. Screw it, he didn't care.
Axel pulled out his phone to text Mico, about to ask her to sign him in.
But the screen flashed red.
Skipping class will result in OOC.
His brow twitched.
Piss off!
He shoved the phone into his pocket and headed to class, muttering curses under his breath.
…
He sat down in his usual seat, next to Mico. Or tried to.
He barely touched the chair when she shoved him away.
"Hey! What the hell?!" Axel glared up at her, but the expression he got back stopped him cold.
Mico's amber eyes were filled with… disgust.
"Who said you could sit next to me, dirty commoner?" she spat, dabbing her hands with a disinfectant wipe like he was contagious.
Axel blinked.
What…?
That voice. That tone. That look.
It dragged him back to the first life. The whispers. The bullying. The betrayal. All of it.
Laughter echoed from the surrounding students. Whispered words were anything but subtle. None of them were kind.
Axel inhaled slowly and moved without a word. One student tried to trip him. He stepped on their foot, hard, before dropping into a chair across the room.
He said nothing.
He didn't need to.
___________________________________
Unseen above it all, Wěi Shén hovered lazily in the white space, sipping his tea.
"Poor little bug. Let's hope you stay in character this time." he muttered.
After all, nothing convinced someone to stay in-character like a little traumatic flashback.
Just a gentle warning.
For now.