–Adrian Hale's POV–
The world I wrote for my escape has truly become reality, and I'm living in it...
What I least expected was that there would be a version of myself who got a better life than my previous version.
This is like a parallel world.
Hmm, is this just a coincidence? Or is it intentional?
Wow, is my novel rewarding me by giving a better life to its lonely creator?
Maybe...
Alright, forget that. In this note, I just want to write about my life here so far...
And so far, it's quite good.
No, this is more than good, this is incredible!
I'm enjoying every moment here—college, experiencing things I should have had at my age.
But that's not the only thing that makes me happy; the fact that there's someone waiting for me at home does!
Yes, Alice, she's very attentive and caring toward me.
However, I sometimes feel guilty...
Isn't the person she's waiting for at home the Adrian of this world? Shouldn't he be the one who deserves her attention and love?
Granted, this is my body and my face, but it still feels different because I never had this before.
I'm a thief...
But whatever, it has already happened... As my responsibility, I will be a good older brother to her and protect her from the chaos in this world that I created myself.
I will protect everything I have gained in this world.
–Flip–
...
Several days have passed since I wrote that note in my diary, and now I've been in this world for a week.
This morning, I'm sitting in my room with the search results for the location of Lucas's city or its surroundings.
Anxiously, I check my notes and computer over and over to make sure this bad feeling is wrong.
But after checking repeatedly, the result remains the same as my bad premonition:
There is not a single city from my novel in this Safe Zone.
"Wait a minute... where am I, actually?" I whisper with my heart already pounding fast.
'If the cities from my novel aren't here... does that mean I'm in a different Safe Zone than Lucas? But which one?' I touch my chin with fingers already wet from cold sweat while recalling the plot of my novel:
'Someday maybe... around chapter 350-450, Lucas will discover a Safe Zone with a civilization... Am I in that Safe Zone?'
'No.' I dismiss that idea because there should be city names I know in the Safe Zone he discovered, since discovering a new Safe Zone is an important plot point where it turns out there's other life outside the walls all along.
Then after that discovery, the two Safe Zones form an alliance to explore together, searching for new civilizations beyond their scope.
Then at that time, they find a new Safe Zone...
And the condition of that Safe Zone is utterly destroyed without a single trace of human life.
"Hah! W-what is that?" I'm startled by my own thoughts, and now this bad feeling that's been gnawing at my heart finally has a clear reason!
"I'm in danger."
"I will die. No, everyone in this Safe Zone will die." That's the possibility. No, this is the answer.
'I'm in the Safe Zone I wrote to be utterly destroyed without a trace.'
Suddenly, I feel so small imagining what kind of being could be strong enough to destroy a Safe Zone this large with many Rank S Hunters?
But the horrifying part is, I don't know that.
I hadn't decided on it because I hadn't gotten an idea.
I let it become an unanswered plot hole.
And now this is the consequence!
"I wrote my own death..."
'I wrote the death of every innocent person living in this Safe Zone just to motivate the protagonist.'
"I wrote Alice's death..."
–Knock! –Knock! –Knock!
"Adrian, I've prepared bread downstairs. I'll be heading to school soon." Alice's voice comes from behind the door. Her gentle voice now feels like a knife stabbing my heart with guilt.
She knocks on the door again. "Adrian, you're in there, right?"
"Y-YES! I'll be leaving soon too," I answer quickly and spontaneously.
"Alright. Hey Debby, move aside, I want to leave," she says before her footsteps gradually fade away, and then I hear the front door close.
While Alice heads off calmly, I'm still in my place.
Frozen in my chair with eyes wide in disbelief.
'Why did it suddenly become like this...? I was given everything I wanted only to have it destroyed in a horrific way, and I can't blame anyone because it's my own doing.' I try to process how absurd my situation is.
"Pfft... Hahaha." Suddenly, laughter bursts from my mouth. "Hehe, I'm going to die because of my own writing? What could be funnier than this? This is truly the peak of comedy in my life so far!" I pat my own stomach as my body curls from the uncontrollable laughter. "Damn, I was too relaxed this past week. I forgot this world is very dangerous."
Then after a minute passes, my laughter finally subsides, replaced by my gasping breath. Then I wipe away my tears that came out along with my laughter.
"Phew..."
Suddenly, I feel an incredible relief that allows me to think clearly again.
I'm actually not afraid if it's only me who will die; after all, who would care about me? However, this concerns the lives of my new family, and I won't just stand by.
'I will fight.'
Unlike my previous life where I couldn't fight because what was fundamentally broken was the system. It oppresses the weak without giving them any power other than just strengthening their mentality and holding onto the principle 'Maybe someday it will get better.'
That is something that cannot be fought.
But now in this world, I have magic to fight with, I have time to prepare, and I have someone I must protect.
So there's no more reason to stay idle.
After winning over myself, I finally stand up and leave my room, carrying my college shoulder bag.
Then I take the bread Alice made from the table and bite into it with my mouth while tying my shoelaces.
After finishing, I pat Debby, who's been following me since I left my room, and say, "I'll be going now."
I step back and close my house door, leaving Debby at home.
In just two minutes of walking, I've already met many faces—a woman pushing her newborn baby's stroller, a father saying goodbye to his family before heading to work, and many more.
All of them aren't like novel characters.
They are complete human beings with their own lives, and I'm the one who killed millions of them just to motivate a protagonist?
Who could be crueler than me?
–Sigh!
Thinking about that continuously makes my head hurt, and rather than draining my energy just feeling guilty, I focus myself on trying to figure out or at least guess what being will carry out that destruction...
I bite into my bread and think.
'I wonder who it could be?' I ask my own writer's instinct: What being would I create to patch this Plot Hole?
But so far, it's truly empty; I have no idea at all to patch that Plot Hole. Besides, the scale is truly different and beyond my ability to think.
I only wrote that this Safe Zone would be destroyed on my laptop. That's very easy, right? But this world will surely fill in its own logic to materialize that destruction event, just like when this world created this living Safe Zone.
The only ones I can suspect are the powerful beings I've already written: Cassian and Celestial beings, but that's not certain; it's only a possibility.
'Impossible for it to be Cassian.' I bite into my bread again while dismissing that idea. 'At the time I arrived here, I'm in chapter 1, and Cassian's Invasion is in chapter 777, which means it's still about 4-5 years away.'
'Then is it a Celestial Being?' But that's impossible... They are the ones who hold and control the fate of the universe. However, they wouldn't descend to kill someone using their own hands because they consider that too 'dirty' for a holy being like them, unless there's a trigger that makes them come, like when Cassian experimented on Lucas to free him from the control of fate...
Hmm...
I finish my bread as I finally arrive at Ashford University. Right now, there's a large crowd gathered in the hall because today there will be a demonstration of student experiment results.
I join the crowd to watch, just to distract my head for a moment from thinking about the huge threat by seeing their experimental results or innovations.
So far, what I've seen is just ordinary stuff like: robots, science experiments creating cold smoke with mana crystals and similar substances, and many more.
–Sigh!
I'm about to walk away to head to my room because surely my professor, Nolan, is already waiting there.
But then my steps halt when I see a man carrying a strange object in his hand stepping onto the stage.
"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rival Ostern."