Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 1

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————

#Episode 1

I’m currently operating an excavator to demolish a private residence. The reason is absurd. The author killed my favorite character.
“Twilight’s Repentance” is a fantasy ensemble novel written by author Park Myung. It’s been serialized online for a year now, uploading ten chapters daily at a manic pace that briefly made it a hot topic in the beginning. But there were far too many characters, far too many deaths, and as the narrative jumped from one person to another, the plot became disjointed. Most critically, the author simply couldn’t write.
Couldn’t write is an understatement. The inability to handle third-person omniscient perspective to this degree might actually be a talent. How bad was it? The grammatical errors were so severe that my concentration shattered once every three lines.
Do you understand how remarkable an ability that is? The author made no typos and the spelling was flawless. Yet they possessed the singular talent of scattering a reader’s focus through grammatical errors alone.
The readers who initially flocked to it dropped out before reaching episode 100. And yet, a small group of readers continued following this novel beyond 3,000 episodes because the characters felt like real human beings. The relationships between them felt authentic, and the worldbuilding felt as real as if we’d lived there ourselves. It was the misfortune that befalls a setting otaku with no writing ability.
But to us, “Twilight’s Repentance” was a shining one-of-a-kind novel. You can tell from the fact that it had 31 views as of episode 3,504. Thirty people stuck with this pathetically written novel, subsisting solely on the characters’ charm and the worldbuilding.
Perhaps that’s why. We, who were obsessed with the setting and characters, eventually began socializing. The author joined our circle, the fans offered tributes diligently, and I, as the fansite administrator, even received the author’s address to relay the fans’ offerings.
That ends today. We shouldn’t have sent him off like that. Seian the prince survived 3,503 episodes through all manner of despicable acts. And the author kills that poor boy with nothing more than a plague?
I could understand when they sent my second-favorite character, the duke’s heir, to the guillotine. That was unavoidable. He committed lèse-majesté and coerced the imperial family, and given that the woman had a stubborn pride that led her to sever ties with her family and choose to live as a commoner, only to reject that choice with her own feet—her end was comprehensible. That was exactly episode 121, if I recall.
In any case, I was furious, but I lived each day with the hope that my favorite character would at least survive. So when the author sent me a note saying they’d give me a gift, I was delighted for a moment. I thought my years of devotion had finally paid off and they were throwing me some additional detail about Seian’s character.
Like how Seian actually can’t eat mushrooms, or his favorite fruit is peaches. I thought they’d give me some cute character detail like that. I never imagined they’d gift me Seian’s death.
That author bastard was definitely Satan incarnate.
– Crackle, crackle. A massive tower suddenly appears in the middle of the city, crackle.
I told this guy not to watch TV while working, and here he’s gone and bought another one. When I report to the police station tomorrow morning, I’ll call the company and rat everything out to the director.
Come to think of it, I’ve done something terrible to the director. I borrowed this equipment saying I wanted to buy some farmland and till it, and now I’m charging straight at the author’s house to demolish it. Tomorrow this will be on the news, I’ll be arrested, and the entire company will be thrown into chaos.
But what can I do? Think of all the money I’ve earned for you up to now. Consider it as if you hired a full-time employee and are paying severance.
– I’m sorry.
I’m the one who should be sorry right now, so why are you apologizing?
– It’s already too late. Accept my blessing and go.
“Huh?”
Now that I think about it, there’s no one around. What’s with this ghostly voice? Thinking it might be an auditory hallucination, I slapped my ears repeatedly, and my vision flickered.

◇ ◆ ◇

I hadn’t been wandering around getting hit in the head on a cold day. A concussion? Cerebral hemorrhage? Either way, the fact that I was alive meant this had to be a hospital.
I felt relief wash over me at not having departed this world, and I pushed myself upright. Iron bars came into view.
“….”
Why a detention center already? I haven’t done anything yet.
“Huh?”
A strange memory surfaced. I was Mitchell Neftis.
“….”
What? Why am I Mitchell Neftis? This isn’t a joke. And I mean it’s really, truly not a joke.
For reasons unknown, I had become the villain in “Dawn’s Repentance”—the one who attempted to crush the Crowell Empire’s sole imperial prince, Seian Crowell, through power and seduce him, only to be rejected, humiliated, cast out from home, imprisoned for lèse-majesté, and executed in chapter 121.
I know what this is. Transmigration into a book, right? And if we’re categorizing it, I’ve become a villain who dies early on.
Amid the confusion, I grasped at the vivid memories of that day and turned them over carefully in my mind.
Mitchell, the eldest daughter of House of Neftis, the next Duke, a silver-haired blue-eyed absolute beauty, and notorious as a jack-of-all-trades troublemaker, had loved Seian. I had been so invested in supporting my older sister that I loved her enough to call her “sister.”
Do you know how bold this sister was? She yearned for the position and power of the future emperor, but lacked the ability to ever surpass the imperial princess. So she exploited Seian’s weaknesses and threatened him: marry me. That was the kind of woman she was.
Sitting down, she was a villain; standing up, she was the mastermind; walking, she was a terrorist. People praised her noble bearing and called her the mad dog of House of Neftis.
Yes, I remember now. Mitchell—no, I—that day in the imperial palace’s banquet hall, I lured the drunken Prince Seian into his bedchamber. Then I spouted something vulgar like, “Kekeke, you’d want a strong backer, wouldn’t you? Then become mine,” and sat on the bed, pulling Seian toward me.
“Oh my, oh my.”
How wonderful, so wonderful that I remember this—it’s the best. My goodness, Mitchell, you kept something this good to yourself? This is a national loss. The members should know about this too, for heaven’s sake.
A man with long black hair cascading to his waist and a slender 29-inch waistline, tears dripping from eyes as dark and fathomless as an abyss, speaking in a resigned voice that suggested I should do as I pleased—this was a moment when, no matter what, I had to open new horizons in the act of consummation.
“…Mm?”
I tilted my head. Wait. Didn’t Seian refuse this? Isn’t that why Mitchell gave up and went home, destroying the front door?
I found it strange and snapped my left fingers together. If this really was the world of “Dawn’s Repentance,” a status window should appear with this gesture.

Mitchell Neftis
Status: Terminal, Blessing of Ursh
Experience: 0
N) Freezing Lv.2 – 200 EXP to next level
N) Throwing Lv.3 – 300 EXP to next level
N) Robust Constitution Lv.5 – 122 EXP to next level
R) Noble’s Grace
UR) Fusion

Damn. It actually appeared. The status window really did appear.
Citizens of the Crowell Empire are registered at birth, receive a national ID, and have a biochip made of mana stone implanted in their bodies. This helps visualize and improve one’s talents and abilities. Most people acquire skills of Normal grade, and combat skills are practically nonexistent—yet Mitchell possessed two combat skills and even an Ultra Rare skill.
Fusion. Perhaps my memories merged with Mitchell’s because of this. And since Mitchell had the aptitude to become a frost mage… there was a high probability that the Freezing skill was the prerequisite for a higher-tier frost magic skill.
As for the status… the blessing is one thing, but why am I terminal?

Dawn has been updated. D-3 until execution.

“….”
Right, I was a death row inmate named Mitchell Neftis. It made sense that my condition would show abnormalities right before execution.
But I wasn’t panicked. Despite being a death row inmate, the method to escape execution was simple. Mitchell was the type who would break before bending, and I had simply died as atonement for the wound I inflicted upon Seian Crowell….
“….”
Wait. Was I atoning? No, no—was Mitchell apologizing? My memories were bleeding together with hers, and I couldn’t tell what was what anymore. So that Mitchell, who had no blood, no tears, no shame, actually harbored feelings of apology just because Seian shed a few tears?
Wow, life truly is full of surprises. And here it comes again, striking me out of nowhere. If you keep doing this, my favorite character ranking is going to wobble. Though in the end, that favorite was me anyway.
But right now, I needed to do what I could do at this age. The old me would have chosen death over abandoning the Neftis name, but the current me was entirely different. Even rolling in a dung heap would be better than the afterlife. I wanted to live. I screamed with every fiber of my being: “Please, save me!”
“Is anyone there! Save me!”
….
….
Wait, hold on. Let me try again. I was definitely trying to say “Please save me.” Deep breath in, breathe in, breathe out, clear my throat, and then—
Please save me!
“Save me!”
….
….
Surely I wasn’t going to have to speak in this archaic tone for the rest of my life.
Something felt off, so I snapped my fingers together and touched “R) Noble’s Grace” in the skill window, and a detailed description appeared.

R) Noble’s Grace: A noble bows to no one. A member of House of Neftis offers reverence only to the Imperial Family of the Crowell Empire.

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————