The Academy's Terminally Ill Side Character

This body… wasn't supposed to exist past this moment.

Because in the original novel—

He was the first student to die.

'Ah, f*ck. This is exactly why I hated this clichéd novel of his.'

How many readers would actually enjoy a story where people started dropping dead in the prologue of an academy novel? No exciting school life, no gradual character growth—just a bloodbath right out of the gate. It was no wonder his novel never took off. Even I, as his friend, had roasted him over it.

And now?

I was inside it.

I exhaled shakily, my mind racing through the description of the first deaths in this scene.

"…Among those gathered in the auditorium, those close to the left wall met their end without even knowing what had happened to them."

I turned my head slightly, and sure enough, the left wall of the auditorium came into view.

Way too close.

With no exaggeration, I could reach out and touch it. No, I didn't even have to reach—I was practically leaning on it.

My stomach twisted into knots. My heartbeat pounded in my ears. So this is it, huh? My grand new life, ending before it even begins.

I clenched my fists, trying to steady my breathing.

Why me?

It wasn't fair.

I didn't even get to be some badass protagonist with plot armor. No golden finger, no overpowered cheat. I was stuck inside a cannon fodder whose only purpose was to set the tone of the novel's cruel worldbuilding.

I don't want to die.

"Everyone."

The irritatingly handsome guy at the podium smiled brightly. His voice rang clear, confident—mocking.

He didn't know it, but his introduction was my countdown to death.

"I'm happy to be a representative on such a fine day. I'm Ryen Miller, one of the freshman representatives. I'm a classmate who'll learn alongside you until graduation, and also a rival you'll be competing with."

-10 minutes until the main quest begins.-

My breath hitched.

An ominous voice echoed in my head, sealing my fate.

Ryen kept talking, radiating charisma like some hero in a shounen manga. His easy confidence, his expectation of four whole years at this academy—it was almost insulting. I wouldn't even last another ten minutes.

"I hope we can become good stimulus for each other through healthy competition until graduation. I look forward to the next four years!"

-8 minutes 47 seconds until the main quest begins.-

I wanted to scream.

What the hell was I supposed to do? Just sit here and wait for the explosion? How could I escape? Could I escape? Was there even a way?

A bitter laugh threatened to bubble up.

No. That's not how this worked.

If the author had written me to die, then the world itself would work against me trying to survive. Every choice I made, every action—there was no guarantee it wouldn't just lead me back to the same ending.

A senseless, meaningless death.

I had always mocked characters like this. Called them unlucky extras, laughed at how quickly they were forgotten.

But now…

Now I was the one who had to die for the story to move forward.

No.

No, no, no.

F*ck that.

F*ck this novel.

I refused to die here.

I would live—no matter what it took.

***

[World's Greatest Hero]

The latest novel published by my friend—after dropping so many unfinished ones.

Honestly, it started off decent. A solid premise, an interesting academy setting, and even some well-written characters. But as time went on, it turned into another cliché-ridden mess like every other web novel out there.

The plot felt forced.

Heroines were dying left and right—for no good reason. Just meaningless deaths thrown in for cheap drama. The protagonist barely had any motivation—one moment, he was avenging a fallen comrade, and the next, he was flirting with another love interest like nothing had happened.

Character arcs were abandoned, world-building was all over the place, and don't even get me started on the pacing.

I had torn this story apart, mocked it, ridiculed it.

And yet, somehow, I was now inside it.

Inside a trash novel.

And I was about to die.

My mind raced, trying to process everything at once.

-7 minutes 30 seconds until the main quest begins.-

I had to think. Fast.

Dying wasn't an option. If this world followed the novel's logic, then this explosion—yeah, the one that was about to go off—wasn't random. It was scripted. A way to establish the dangers lurking within the academy.

In the novel, this event was seen from the protagonist's perspective. He had been standing near the center of the auditorium—far from the left wall, where I was now.

In other words, he had never been in any real danger.

But I was.

I had to move.

But how?

The entire student body was here. Standing up out of nowhere would make me stand out. The academy was strict about discipline—if I suddenly bolted, I'd get dragged back before I could take three steps.

-6 minutes 15 seconds until the main quest begins.-

Cold sweat trickled down my back.

"This is some crazy fucking shit I'm in right now…" I muttered under my breath, my pulse hammering in my ears.

-5 minutes 15 seconds until the main quest begins.-

Then, something clicked.

A sentence from the novel surfaced in my mind.

"Some envied the two boys on the podium while others blessed them. But none of them anticipated the tragedy that was about to unfold."

Tragedy.

A simple word—but the sheer horror behind it sent a shiver down my spine.

I knew exactly what was about to happen.

Twenty percent of the new students—dead. Right at the start. A terrorist attack.

Back when I had read the novel, this scene had just been another moment of forced tension, something that made me roll my eyes.

But now?

Now, I wanted to strangle my friend for writing it.

There wasn't enough time to panic.

If I waited for the protagonist to finish his speech, I was dead.

If I had possessed a main character's body, maybe I could have escaped using their abilities. But as far as I could tell, I wasn't a protagonist.

I was just some side character—someone whose death wouldn't even matter in the grand scheme of the story.