Countless freshmen sitting in the vast sports field.
Among them, I was able to pass the time quite comfortably.
"···Hey! Wake up!"
"Aaaak!"
"I know the principal’s speech is boring, but as a student of the Academy, you should set an example."
"Y-Yes, sorry."
Everyone else had fallen victim to the principal’s speech-induced mass sleep attack, but I was fine.
"···?"
[Oh no! The teacher’s coming, reader!]
"I’m not sleeping, teacher."
"Ah, right···. My bad···."
The teacher approaching me tilted their head in confusion before walking away.
A face that made it hard to tell if I was asleep or not.
This face really comes in handy at times like this.
My squinty eyes make it impossible to tell if I’m dozing off or not.
Hehe.
[···You do remember, right?]
"Of course, author-nim. I remember."
Of course I wasn’t asleep.
I was just goofing off.
The answer to what I was doing was simple.
I was looking for someone.
[Ugh, today’s update was so hard···. Reader, comfort me···!]
"There’s no one else like you, author-nim. Creating a world like this is amazing."
Yeah, no one else but you.
No one else would force people into a novel like this.
Why the hell are you wasting that kind of power writing webnovels?
If it were a completed or dropped novel, fine. There were plenty of those.
I could’ve forced myself to accept it.
But throwing someone into a story you haven’t even written yet? What the hell is that about?
And why did you shove a guy into a female character’s role?
[Hehe, such praise···.]
That wasn’t praise.
I sighed quietly, then refocused my scattered concentration on cursing the author in my mind.
Well, what could I do? It was already done.
The author had created this world and started serializing it.
In the end, webnovels revolve around the protagonist, so I had to stay near him.
To shape the story to the author’s tastes.
What if the author got tired of writing and abandoned it? Or what if Yu Siwoo suffered some major injury that made the story impossible to continue?
···I didn’t even want to imagine it. Who knew what would happen?
In the end, there was only one way for me to survive.
Drag along this webnovel author—who’s so weak people say he’s like a blowfish—and protect the still-undeveloped protagonist.
Then defeat some evil forces, whoever the hell they are, whose settings probably haven’t even been written yet.
This difficulty is fucking ridiculous.
"···Found him."
[Ah, really?! For real. There he is.]
After staring at the backs of the Academy students’ heads for a while, a familiar one entered my field of vision.
Yeah. That’s the one.
No way I’m mistaking it.
Why? Because even the back of his head looks handsome. Damn it.
Why does such a good-looking guy have to be the protagonist? …Well, I guess he’s the protagonist *because* he’s good-looking. Yeah.
The world is unfair.
Ah, he’s looking this way.
I casually averted my gaze toward the principal.
He just keeps saying his piece, completely indifferent to whether the freshmen are losing their minds or not. Some things never change, huh?
Are principals like this in every world?
[Reader, I think you should take another look. He’s staring straight ahead.]
"Thanks, Author-nim."
I looked back at Yu Siwoo.
Right. That boy is the protagonist.
No matter what happens, he *cannot* get hurt.
Even if he does, it has to be within a range I can clean up.
But if I approach him with this suspicious look on my face, he’ll obviously reject me.
[Hmm, what should I do…]
The thing is, I can’t act like the protagonists in other web novels.
Steal all the opportunities and power up?
I don’t even know if there *are* any opportunities here. The setting probably doesn’t even exist.
Major characters?
Ha, from what I’ve seen of Author-nim’s tendencies these past few days, I don’t think they’ve even considered that.
A grand, story-defining event for this novel?
…No major characters, no opportunities—what even is there?
This is literally a live serialization.
Author-nim said they’re writing the story based on this world.
Whether this is a world the author created or a world the author is observing—I don’t know. And honestly, it doesn’t matter.
[Hmm, maybe this one? Yeah, this one seems good too…]
In the end, there’s only one thing I need to do.
Guide this unpredictable world in the most stable direction possible.
Toward a happy ending, not a bad one.
And to do that, I need to observe the protagonist first.
I envied the protagonists of other web novels.
Those guys remembered the entire story, stole every opportunity they could, and knew all the characters’ secrets.
They’d solve those secrets and instantly become friends with everyone.
But me?
I ended up in the same situation—trapped in a novel—but why is my experience so different?
Now I’m a woman, staring at the back of some guy’s head like an idiot.
[Ugh, this is tough… Okay, I’ve decided!]
"What the hell did you decide, Author-nim?"
Annoyed, I snapped back at them.
They’d been muttering to themselves this whole time, and I’d been trying to ignore it, but they just kept going.
It was getting on my nerves.
[Here’s the thing! When you think of the early parts of an Academy novel, what comes to mind?]
"The early parts of an Academy novel? Why are you asking that all of a sudden?"
[Yes!]
Academy novel early on?
Was she thinking about the plot development? Was she asking for help?
I sifted through a few storylines that came to mind and spoke up.
"Hmm, weapon selection? Sparring?"
[Ehehe, those are good too! But incidents often happen right at the entrance ceremony. I was thinking of trying it out myself!]
"...Huh?"
Wait.
What the hell is this person talking about?
Either she didn’t notice my reaction, or the author just beamed and kept talking.
[You know, there are two types of entrance ceremony attacks: monster appearances and evil organization raids!]
"Wa-wait a second. Author-nim. Let’s have a deep conversation here."
[Now that I think about it, having an evil organization show up right at the first attack might be too soon, so I decided to go with a monster appearance!]
Cold sweat trickled down my back.
This is bad.
"Uh, by any chance, when exactly is the monster supposed to appear...?"
[For maximum impact, right after the principal’s speech ends and the applause dies down—the ceiling will shatter!]
Oh, come on.
Can’t we just have a normal day for once?
Our novel hasn’t even been running for a full day yet!
I couldn’t wrap my head around it, so I snapped at the author.
"You’re telling me a monster can just appear in the city? Say something that makes sense."
[Ah, right, it’s a city. ...Hmm, then how about this: a subcontractor under a subsidiary of an evil organization was illegally raising a monster, and it just happened to escape!]
"..."
This is hopeless.
What kind of evil organization has subcontractors like a conglomerate?
Subcontractor of a subcontractor of a subcontractor?
No matter what, the author seemed dead set on causing an incident at the entrance ceremony.
"So after the principal’s speech ends, the applause stops, and then the monster attacks from the ceiling..."
[Then the protagonist dramatically takes it down, making a grand entrance! What do you think?]
"I-I guess it’s not bad... You’re really going to do it?"
Yeah, it’s fine.
As a story, it’s flawless.
It’s a perfect device to subtly showcase the protagonist’s strength.
While the other students panic and flee, the protagonist steps up and handles the threat.
It naturally explains why the protagonist is stronger than his peers.
A perfect plot.
As long as *I* don’t get dragged into it!
"You *did* say the protagonist isn’t a regressor, possessor, or reincarnator, right?"
[Yes. Those are way too common these days, so I wanted to try a classic protagonist!]
Why does she have to flex her hipster taste in the worst possible moment...!
Just give him the Returning Ice Ring setting and coast on that!
It’s a great setup—you could just say he already knew about it without explaining!
What if the protagonist panics and runs away?!
"...With that, the principal’s speech concludes. Everyone, applause!"
It was already too late.
According to the author, this place would soon turn into chaos.
Even if I shouted that a Demon Beast was coming, no one would believe me.
I’d be lucky if they didn’t just call me a crazy bitch.
I had to somehow subtly let the protagonist know about this…
[It starts, it starts! Heart pounding!]
"Kyaaaaaaaaaah?!"
"D-Demon Beast! It’s Rank 3!"
"Why is a Rank 3 Demon Beast at the school…?!"
"Everyone, evacuate! Now!"
"…Rank 3?"
[Uh, I just thought it’d be good foreshadowing… Later, I can be like, “Wow, that thing was so strong!” and explain it then.]
That’s… an odd place to be meticulous.
I swallowed the urge to sarcastically retort.
The rank looked like it was made up on the spot. So I had no idea how strong a Rank 3 actually was.
Probably some classification hunters used in the field, or something like that.
But if this threat was meant to highlight the difference between an ordinary student and the protagonist, then it definitely wasn’t an easy opponent at this stage… Ouch.
A chunk of concrete, sent flying by the rampaging Demon Beast, was cleanly sliced in half by my thread.
That gave me a start.
[Gasp! Reader-nim! Are you okay?!]
"I’m fine… …These half-gloves are ruined now, though."
I tossed aside one of the half-gloves, already frayed from the thread unraveling.
I’d have to get a new pair later.
"More importantly, I need to find where the protagonist is and what he’s—"
KUWAAAAAAAAH!
A roar that sounded like something straight out of a monster movie made me jump. When I looked at the Demon Beast, it was writhing in agony.
What the—? When did the protagonist get over there?
I didn’t even notice. He must’ve moved incredibly fast.
Before I knew it, the Demon Beast’s mouth was bleeding, its howls echoing as it thrashed.
[Hii, hiing… I was so busy watching you, Reader-nim, that I missed the protagonist’s amazing feat…]
Nearby students had been evacuated, and the teachers who joined them took down the Demon Beast.
I’d been wondering where the teachers were. Turns out they were busy getting the students to safety.
Right, no matter what, it wouldn’t make sense for a first-year student to be stronger than the teachers.
Though in an Academy novel, they’d probably surpass them all within a year.
Still, when did he get all the way over there?
He was standing far from where he’d originally been.
Almost as if he’d known the Demon Beast was coming.
…Was it the protagonist’s signature intuition?
Well, whatever it was, it worked out.
"Don’t cry, Author-nim. I saw it. I’ll describe it to you in detail."
[…Really? As expected, there’s no one like you, Reader-nim!]
Sigh.
It felt like I was babysitting.