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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: Part Two of a Failed Novel
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To think a failed novel would have a Part Two.
“Wow… the author’s got some serious nerve.”
Does this mean I have to stay here until Part Two ends? How am I supposed to know when that’ll be? What if Part Three starts after Part Two? What am I supposed to do then?
If the author were right in front of me, I’d wring their neck.
‘Why won’t you let me go? Why!’
Rage boiled up inside me. Undine, sensitive to her contractor's emotional shifts, clung to me.
- A-Adel? Are you upset? Why are you suddenly so angry? Did I do something wrong?
“No, it’s not like that…”
I was so furious I could barely speak. I squeezed my eyes shut.
Then, as if someone were typing them into my darkened vision, letters began to appear one by one.
[Chapter 1: Three Men and One Woman, All Dreaming Different Dreams.]
[Step 3: After completing her usual, perfect preparations, Adrian went down to the dining room for breakfast.]
A Step 3 directive. One I had to follow.
I twisted my lips.
‘I’m not playing puppet anymore. Just kill me instead.’
“*Cough!*”
The moment I defied the directive, blood surged up from my throat. Undine shrieked, clinging to my shoulder.
- Aah! Adel! You're bleeding from your mouth!
“Hngh, kh-khk—”
I laughed, my teeth stained crimson with blood.
Seeing me, Undine recoiled, her face pale with fright. I must have looked like a demon.
- A-Adel… Why-why are you laughing? I-it's scary.
[Step 3: After completing her usual, perfect preparations, Adrian went down to the dining room for breakfast.]
The Step 3 directive flashed again.
My eyes flew open, and I bit out the words.
“I said… I won’t do it!”
- Who are you even talking to! Stop it! You're scaring me…
Undine's crying faded. Again, a wave of pain washed over me.
“Y-you think… *pant, pant*… you can m-make me submit… with this pathetic pain? D-don't make me laugh… T-this is nowhere near enou—”
Huh?
Against my will, my body tilted backward.
*Thud!*
- Kyaaaah! Adel!!!
My consciousness faded to the sound of Undine's scream.
***
A familiar ceiling, a familiar bed.
“I've seen this somewhere before… *Gasp!*”
The moment I opened my eyes, I shot up.
“*Ugh!*”
A dull ache spread through my chest. The aftereffects of the penalty still lingered.
“It hurts…”
I rubbed my chest as I slowly got up.
Back when I was the hero, I could easily withstand two or three penalties a day.
Even if I coughed up a bowlful of blood and my heart felt like it was being torn apart, I could power through it with sheer grit and be fine in no time.
But to pass out after just one penalty…
‘This body is ridiculously weak, isn't it?’
I even seem to feel pain more acutely than I did as the hero. If I try to just grit my teeth and bear it like in Part One, I might just die from shock.
But who am I? I'm the tenacious bulldog who survived four whole years in the notoriously demanding architecture department.
When it comes to grit, I'm second to none. Since it's come to this, I'll endure out of sheer spite.
[*Ting—*]
[ Serialization Event!
A special reward for all your hard work in Part One!
First, you have become the most beautiful woman in the world!
Second, you can still use the Part One protagonist's ability, Spirit Arts!
Third, a hidden ability has been added to you!]
“Shove it! How many times do I have to tell you I don't need any of it! The only thing I want is to go back to how things were! I begged and pleaded with you, please just send me back!”
My small studio apartment, the desk covered in architectural models, the quiet music, the single bed, the table stained with drops of glue, and on it, a half-empty can of beer and a bag of potato chips…
And my parents, who run an orchard back in the countryside.
My mom and dad, who pack fruit until their fingerprints wear away, all to raise the daughter they had late in life.
I just want to return to my ordinary life. Is that really so much to ask?
“Did you think I'd just keep moving to your tune? At least make a promise. Promise me for certain that you'll send me back when Part Two is over!”
[Step 3: After completing her usual, perfect preparations, Adrian went down to the dining room for breakfast.]
This is you telling me to shut up and follow orders, right? Fine, let's see who wins.
“Fuck off.”
*Throb!*
The pain, which had just subsided, flared up again. I forced a smile onto my trembling lips.
“Stop clinging… to someone who doesn't want you… and get lost.”
My consciousness faded quickly. My body was pushing past its limits.
Just then, the text that had been facing off against me without budging was slowly erased, and a new sentence appeared.
[Complete Part Two!
Whatever you desire, your dream★ will surely come true!
※Warning: This offer becomes void the moment your identity is discovered. Exception: non-human beings.]
So, you're saying you'll send me back if I complete Part Two while hiding the fact that I'm Adela from everyone except non-humans?
“How can I trust that?”
[
Now, shall we get started for real? Let's get it!!!]
You're going to bake it right into the subtitle?
“Fine… In that case, I'll let myself be fooled just one more time.”
That's settled. I won't be tricked like last time.
Satisfied, I closed my eyes.
It was the second time I had fainted.
***
I was an ordinary university student.
One of the many students who moved to the city from the countryside, barely getting by on the money my parents sent me.
There were no omens on that fateful day.
I finished my classes like usual, went home, and did my assignments. Then I think I finished a can of beer and fell asleep?
But when I opened my eyes, I was inside a book.
At first, I didn't even realize I was in a book.
Of course not. Who wakes up and immediately thinks, 'Oh my! Is this the so-called 'transmigration into a novel' phenomenon?'
I naturally assumed I was drunk.
'Getting drunk off a single can of beer. I must've gotten weak...' I thought, and tried to go back to sleep.
If only, at that very moment, a long sentence hadn't appeared before my eyes.
[*Ting—*]
[Welcome to !
You are the protagonist and hero, Adela Helsington!
Feel free to act as you wish normally, but please follow the directives at important crossroads!
Directives are marked by steps according to their importance. Step 1 has 100% freedom, Step 2 has 50% freedom, and Step 3 has 5% freedom.
The range of choices widens depending on the degree of freedom, and defying a directive with low freedom will result in a penalty.
Now then, until the day is complete, fighting!!!]
was a fantasy novel I'd been reading until recently.
It was a typical adventure and growth fantasy about gathering companions to defeat the Demon King, but it was so damn boring that it failed.
The being who summoned me into the novel was the 'author,' whom I call the 'crappy author.'
He'd usually leave me be, but would issue directives whenever I seemed about to deviate from the original story.
Depending on the importance, I had to either ignore it, adapt it, or follow it like a parrot.
And so, as the hero, I spent a year working like a dog, saved the world from the Demon King, and met my end.
Awaiting the moment I would open my eyes in my original world.
“But now there's a Part Two…”
I at least managed to force my way through Part One. But I can't even begin to guess what Part Two is about.
Coming to my senses for the third time today, I sighed and held out my hand.
“Undine. I won't be angry, so come on out.”
Undine peeked her face out from within my hair.
- …Really? You're not going to talk to yourself, and laugh all creepily, and be super scary like before?
“Yeah. I'm sorry.”
I patted her comfortingly while I organized my questions.
“How long has it been since I died?”
- Hmm, I went straight to the Spirit Realm after you died, so I'm not sure exactly… but I think about five years have passed in human time?
That's not too long.
In that case, I might be able to meet my old companions.
