Terminating the original work.
The academy harem romcom Loveholic had garnered quite a bit of popularity, and in the end, the protagonist Brayden got together with Celine, one of the main heroines.
While Loveholic featured plenty of other heroines besides Celine, they all got shafted with bad ends.
Thanks to that, harem fans like me were absolutely furious, but the Celine stans who had been pushing her were mostly satisfied with the conclusion.
A few years later, the official sequel that bought up the Loveholic IP—and wasn't even a web novel this time, but some random game called Holy Warrior Brayden NX—came out.
Given Loveholic's popularity and the massive backlash over the heroines' bad ends, most people, including me, assumed it would address those issues and bought the game without a second thought...
"What the fuck is this game!?"
The reality was... it was the shitshow of the year. Hell, even looking back a decade, this thing would top the list of trash games hands down.
If the prequel was an academy harem romcom, what would fans expect from the sequel?
Something like Brayden and Celine's story, or follow-ups on the shafted heroines, right? Obviously.
Even up to launch, their big catchphrase was "Characters from Loveholic appear!" but the only previews were character designs. We found out why once the game started.
This game was just an action RPG featuring Loveholic characters—and nothing more.
How the hell does the official sequel to an academy harem romcom turn into an action RPG?
Did they even know what fans of the original wanted when they bought the IP?
And even if it was a game, it could've at least been fun—but nope.
It felt like they were deliberately trolling original fans: stripping out all the sweetness, a relentlessly grim atmosphere. Sure, it was nice seeing the old characters at first, but a ton of them died in the game.
Including the shafted heroines. Fans of those girls rage-quit left and right, posting pics of their smashed CDs all over the place.
And it wasn't like Brayden and Celine got a happy ending either—in almost every route, they ended up dead or miserable.
The internet exploded with dev-bashing posts, thousands a day not even covering it, and death threats against the developers kept pouring in.
What a clusterfuck.
Holy Warrior Brayden NX tanked hard thanks to word of mouth, with refunds flooding in.
The game's only merit? Hot female characters, period.
Almost no one played this garbage to the end, but out of loyalty to the original, I forced myself through every route—and there wasn't a single satisfying one.
The one route where Brayden and Celine got a happy ending? All the other shafted heroines died by Brayden's own hand. How is that a happy ending?
I couldn't hold back my rage and unleashed a profanity-laced wall of text on my SNS about why Holy Warrior Brayden NX was pure trash.
As my blood-curdling rant spread across communities, racking up tens of thousands of retweets, a DM popped up.
[Looks like you really played the game all the way through... Nobody else made it that far.]
The message was ordinary, but the sender wasn't.
Because the one who sent it was the author of the web novel Loveholic.
Fuming, I vented to the original author—who wasn't even a dev—about how much I loved Loveholic, how the ending pissed me off but was still a thousand times better than this trash game, why'd they sell the IP to such shitbags, etc...
After listening to my tirade, the author replied with just one thing.
[Thank you so much. You really seem to love Loveholic.]
[What good does that do? That trash game shat on the original and trolled the fans.]
[You're exactly the person I've been waiting for.]
[?]
At that moment, my monitor suddenly expanded.
Whoa—
#####
...That was my last memory from before.
When I opened my eyes, I was in a bed in some unfamiliar room.
Looking at the mirror near the bed, I was stunned.
"No way... Ah, it's Alvis."
The man in the mirror was a tall, somewhat roguish-looking young man with brown hair.
I definitely remembered him from the illustrations.
The villain of Loveholic... sort of?
He was always leering at the heroines around Brayden, but true to the romcom genre, he never got seriously dangerous—just a character for events and triggers.
If I was gonna get isekai'd, why not Brayden to build the harem the original couldn't? Instead, I'm some random extra nobody...
Before I could even process the sudden change, text popped up in front of me.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙You walk the path of the Resister of Fate. The Resister of Fate gains power enough to defy predetermined fate, but must discover the method themselves. Moreover, every choice faces fate's trial; if it fails to alter the fated outcome, a powerful backlash strikes. Backlash ranges from 1 to 5 levels.⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙Stepping out the door begins your journey. Fail to choose a fork in fate's path within 14 days, and suffer 5th-level backlash.
...What the actual fuck is this bullshit?
Before even parsing the content, seeing that text made my blood boil.
It was the exact same UI, layout, and font as that fan-insulting trash game Holy Warrior Brayden NX.
Reading it slowly, I realized shit was about to hit the fan big time.
Boiled down: I get power, but pick the wrong choices and eat backlash damage?
No idea how bad the backlash is, but it sure as hell ain't good—and I have to figure out the right choices myself?
What kind of asshole design is this? Every damn thing about this trash game grinds my gears.
'Resister of Fate' suggests bucking the shitty scenario from the trash game and forging something new...
'Shouldn't be too hard, luckily.'
I don't know the full extent of my power yet, but regardless, I know everything that happens in this academy.
Brayden and Celine's actions, the other shafted heroines' personalities, preferences, and how they end up in various future branches.
Checking the books on the desk and other items, this was definitely Alvis's academy dorm room.
In Loveholic, tons of events with Brayden and the heroines started because Alvis was hitting on them.
During normal academy life—classes, exams, training, meals—if I amp up Alvis's original sleaziness into full WWE territory, the heroines would interpret it as a threat and cling harder to Brayden, right?
The thing I hated most in the sequel Holy Warrior Brayden NX was Brayden & Celine splitting off from the other shafted heroines, knives to throats, ending in deaths.
Even thinking about it now, what the hell were they smoking with that plot?
I can't let my beloved heroines suffer that dogshit fate again as a true fan.
Once I leave this room, I need to sleaze on the heroines hardcore throughout academy life, play the ultimate villain to drive them straight into Brayden's arms.
If everyone's on the same side, we avoid the trash game's insanity where original protag and heroines kill each other.
That'd fit the 'Resister of Fate' title perfectly.
"Alright, time to get started."
I said, grabbing my bag.
I didn't know the schedule or classes—original knowledge only goes so far—so I packed every textbook in sight.
Stepping into the hall, I saw tons of academy students bustling in one direction.
A few spotted me and tilted their heads.
"Huh? Alvis, why the bag?"
Mimicking Alvis's speech from the original, I replied.
"Why the bag? Is that your question? Obviously prepping for class."
"What are you talking about? It's graduation day—no classes. Eat breakfast quick and head to the auditorium by 9. Hurry if you wanna eat."
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙The journey of the Resister of Fate begins! Fail to choose a fork in fate's path within 14 days, and suffer 5th-level backlash.
...Huh?