"If someone asked about my hobby, I'd say it's reading webnovels.
It all started with webtoons.
I worked the night shift at a convenience store in a rural area where hardly anyone came in.
Unintentionally becoming a time billionaire, I was just watching YouTube when a friend recommended a webtoon.
"This one makes time disappear."
Apparently it was a popular webtoon that was so engaging time would vanish while reading it. My friend told me to trust them and give it a try.
"Is it really that good?"
So I checked it out and got hooked faster than expected.
Eventually, I caught up to the latest chapter.
"Wait for free updates."
It wasn't that there weren't more chapters available.
I just had to wait a week for the next free chapter, or pay to read ahead.
"I can just wait for it to come out anyway, right?"
I was only reading to kill time during my shifts, so why spend money unnecessarily?
"Damn."
But I was curious about what happened next. Looking at the pricing, it was only about 200 won to rent the chapter.
"I'll just read this one..."
So I spent the money and read the advance chapters.
After finishing all the available paid chapters, I'd have to wait another week.
"Should've just waited."
I was disappointed that I couldn't read more even if I paid, but then the comments on the latest chapter tempted me.
-This is chapter 78 of the novel! Chapter 83 is absolutely legendary!
"...I don't really like reading text."
I didn't particularly enjoy reading text.
But they said it was legendary.
Each webtoon episode covered about 1-3 chapters of the novel.
That meant waiting 2-4 weeks to see the next part in the webtoon.
So...
"I'll just read up to that part."
It's legendary, right? I'll just read up to there and then wait for the webtoon.
That's what I thought.
And that choice was a mistake.
"Ye-eun, good work today."
"Oh, yes."
When I came to my senses, morning had arrived.
After switching shifts with the manager, I arrived at my apartment in a daze and unconsciously let out a sigh of admiration.
"That was good..."
I thought I'd only read 4 chapters of the novel.
But before I knew it, I'd read straight through to the end.
I even went back and read chapters 1-78 that I'd already seen in the webtoon because I heard there were parts that had been skipped.
Frustratingly... it was just as good as the webtoon.
No, it was even better.
I guess I'm better at reading than I thought.
Once I got over that first hurdle, I started reading novels as much as webtoons whenever I had free time.
"This is good too."
So in the dead of night, I guarded the convenience store alone while reading webtoons and webnovels.
Male-oriented fantasy, martial arts, alternate history, and more. I didn't discriminate against genres except for a few niche ones, but maybe because I started with romance fantasy...
About half of every ten works I read were romance fantasy.
Reading one novel after another...
"Hah."
I finally encountered a love-hate relationship with a particular work.
The title was "Like a Flower Blooming in Barren Land."
"Fuck."
It started as an academy story with a lively beginning.
Then suddenly the plot took a depressing drift.
After graduation from the academy, maybe it was just my impression, but there were even more battle scenes than in male-oriented novels.
But I could tolerate it.
Because this damn writer was truly skilled.
Unlike typical romance fantasies that ended quickly, this work was becoming an epic.
It infuriated me every time I read it, but I couldn't drop it because it had a charm that made me want to read the next chapter.
"Author, you fucking bastard!"
But when Part 4, the Demon Realm Arc, began, I couldn't take it anymore.
"Ha, haha. Really. This is bullshit. Forced marriage? Are you out of your mind?"
I laughed hysterically, half-crazed over a mere novel.
After more than 100 chapters, the academy guys had barely managed to kiss the female lead.
Fuck, some of those losers couldn't even kiss her before leaving the academy!
But this so-called Demon King who appeared in Part 4 kidnapped the female lead and had sex with her just 30 chapters after his introduction.
Then he openly declared her his wife.
"Fuck!"
Maybe because it wasn't explicitly R-rated.
Or maybe because the author wanted to later claim, "No, I just implied it. They didn't actually do it yet."
The actual scene wasn't shown, but there was a morning-after conversation with that kind of implication.
"I had a bad feeling when the Part 4 cover showed that damn Demon King looking so good."
They had been pushing Prince Acid from the beginning, but I wouldn't have been this angry if she had ended up with one of the other male leads.
But, fuck, this is not okay.
It's not like they were just betraying all the readers who had been supporting couples for over 400 chapters.
It was absurd enough that the final boss who suddenly appeared in Part 4 was supposedly a male lead candidate.
While the other male leads were made to act like eunuchs for over 400 chapters, this guy has sex with the female lead after appearing for just one volume's worth of content?
Fuck, I can't tolerate this.
5,700 characters? Not even close. Even twice that—11,400 characters—wouldn't be enough to express my rage.
If you're going to send me into the novel, then do it.
Burning with anger, I started setting the comment section on fire.
"What's wrong with these people?"
Then I noticed people who had only seen the cover, happily commenting about how the handsome Demon King got together with the female lead.
Were these people reading the same novel as me?
After watching all that drama from the academy days, they're happy that a suddenly-appearing handsome final boss forced himself on her? They like this development?
They say we should respect others' preferences, but I can't respect this.
I immediately picked fights with all the pro-Demon King comments.
I had no regrets.
I needed to vent this terrible feeling somehow.
Until my shift ended.
No, until I got home and was about to fall asleep.
With the heart of a loyal minister offering sincere advice, I left a lengthy comment for the author.
With the spirit of a loyal subject punishing traitors, I argued with the Demon King faction readers.
And when I woke up after sleeping...
"Fuck, what is this?"
I had become a side character in a romance fantasy novel—the kind who leaves hate comments.
* * *
Since it was the typical beginning of an "extra in a novel" story,
I followed the typical route.
"Hello!"
I became childhood friends with the golden capybara who unknowingly seduced numerous men, including the Empire's prince, with her magical charm.
"In this dangerous world, you should learn some defensive magic just in case."
"Is that so?"
Since I couldn't bear to watch her become a saint only to be kidnapped by the Demon King because she couldn't protect herself, I worked hard from childhood to draw out Daisy's magical talent.
"These are fun."
"Oh, Mom said I shouldn't read things like this!"
Additionally, since the male and female leads' relationship progressed painfully slowly, I fed Daisy romance novels hoping to help.
I was convinced that rather than waiting for those worthless male leads to make progress, it would be faster to make Daisy more aware of romance.
"I got accepted to the academy!"
"Me too."
Thanks to improved specs compared to the original story, I was able to enter the academy without issues.
This is just the beginning.
While anxiously contemplating how to handle the terrible events that would unfold...
"I heard the Little Sword Emperor lost in a duel?"
On the first day of classes, as rumors spread quickly, I thought the original plot was finally starting!
"To someone named Adam Smith?"
"...What?"
I unconsciously grabbed the person spreading the rumor and asked again.
"W-who did you say?"
"Adam Smith, I think?"
They were startled by my sudden action, but I was even more confused.
Wait, why is the invisible hand suddenly appearing to defeat the Little Sword Emperor?
The one who defeats the Little Sword Emperor should be Ellen, the prince of Leon, who's also a secondary male lead!
The world's strongest swordsman who, in a pure sword fight, could slice even the Demon King from Part 4.
One of the important academy arc plots was Daisy comforting the Little Sword Emperor as he faced despair before this insurmountable wall.
That's why Prince Ellen initially seemed somewhat villainous, while the Little Sword Emperor Asran was pushed as a strong male lead candidate along with Prince Acid.
But that was shattered from the beginning.
"What's going on?"
I wondered if something had changed and Prince Ellen hadn't enrolled in the academy, but that wasn't the case.
The person who ultimately defeated this Adam Smith was Prince Ellen.
"What on earth is happening?"
I had my doubts.
But nothing was certain yet.
So I observed Daisy's surroundings to see if events would proceed according to the original story.
"Would you like to join the Flower Arrangement Club?"
She smiled and recommended club activities to the Empire's prince whom no one approached.
"What are you doing there?"
She enticed the Little Sword Emperor who was crumpled in a corner, nursing his defeat.
"Do you know a lot about flowers too?"
She went to buy flowers for club activities and reeled in another person.
Watching the male leads fall one by one, I thought the original plot was being maintained.
"I think this will work?"
"Oh, I see."
Or so I thought, but Prince Ellen was still a problem.
What the hell?
Why is only his storyline getting messed up?
Who is Prince Ellen?
Along with Gerard, the second son of the Rias family and guardian of the Demon Realm, he was one of those characters who filled the northern duke position in romance fantasy.
Cold, strong, yet warm only to his woman.
Of course, that only happens later.
At this early stage, he should be unable to open his heart while still hovering around the female lead because he's attracted to her.
Gerard was doing exactly that.
But Prince Ellen was different.
As if he'd abandoned the northern duke style coldness,
He was smiling beside Daisy, learning flower arrangement.
"..."
No, that's not your character.
Throughout the academy arc, you're supposed to orbit the periphery giving off secondary male lead vibes, and do absolutely nothing until graduation.
The part where Gerard and Ellen turn into cheetahs and start racing begins in Part 3, after academy graduation.
While Gerard was staying true to the original, Prince Ellen was already running.
"That guy must be the culprit."
Finding the culprit was easy.
A character who wasn't in the original story was beside the only changed character, Prince Ellen.
He might have been an extra not worth mentioning, but from the moment he defeated the Little Sword Emperor, he couldn't be just an extra.
The only problem was:
"What if he's a returnee?"
The essential webnovel elements: regression, transmigration, reincarnation.
Among them, transmigration like me might be fine, but if it's regression, I could be interfering unnecessarily.
"Considering how the story got butchered, regression makes sense."
While some deranged readers supported the Demon King as the male lead, any sane reader would have to admit the plot was completely ruined.
After dragging things out for so long, to have the female lead's first experience be forced through kidnapping and confinement by a suddenly appearing character?
To change such a ruined plot, regression would make sense.
Though it didn't make sense that it would be a new character rather than one of the male leads.
"...Was the Demon King's sudden intrusion any more logical?"
Considering the author's mindset, it wouldn't be strange if the world ended in Part 5 and a new male lead candidate regressed.
So I couldn't rule out the possibility of regression.
"Ah, I don't know."
But thinking about future events, I needed to quickly determine whether he was an ally or not.
So I asked the unusually lively Prince Ellen to deliver a letter, summoning Adam Smith to the rooftop of the old school building after club activities when no one would be around.
But what should I say?
Regression, transmigration, reincarnation?
No, I should be more indirect.
"D-do you know 'Like a Flower Blooming in Barren Land'?"
Fuck.
I was startled by my own abrupt question.
I had planned to subtly hint using the novel's title.
Why did "do you know" suddenly come out?
"D-do you know kimchi?"
Fuck.
Either because he recognized the original title, or because he was facing a crazy woman spouting nonsensical phrases,
He looked a bit confused as I blurted out a code that only people from my world would understand.
That "do you know" slipped out again, but this time there was clearly a reaction.
"Do you know Ko... ah shit. You're from South Korea, right?"
He canceled the "do you know" that was about to come out again and just asked directly.
"...Yes?"
I unexpectedly found someone from my previous life.