The Novel's Extra Pr

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[Kim Suho]
17 – 27 years old in the story
A righteous, honest man and a hard-worker . Though he comes from a common background, he is of extraordinary character and talent . As a genius who made his name known in the military academy, he possesses a sense of justice and other upright characteristics befitting a hero . He carries a special secret that he hasn’t revealed to anyone .

[Shin Jonghak]
17 – 27 years old in the story
The fourth generation descendant of the Jinsung Corp, one of the greatest chaebol in Korea, which contends for the number one spot . As a child of a chaebol family, he is a narcissist and an elitist . Because of his personality and the sense of inferiority he feels against Kim Suho, he later becomes a villain .
'I have to be the best . I cannot tolerate anyone being above me . ' With such obstinacy, he confronts Kim Suho .
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The above two were the two main characters of my novel .
Though the novel had many more characters, write them all down was impossible . Within my novel were billions of characters . Unless the characters have ‘important roles’ like the heroine or the helper, giving a character a name wasn’t necessary .
… Why was I saying all this?

—Hero Association’s Agent Military Academy Seoul Branch Graduation, Class of 2024, Rank 1 Cadet, Kim Suho .

It was because the story in my novel was happening in front of my eyes .
Called up to the stage, Kim Suho walked up with a stiffened face as though he was nervous .

We were in a huge auditorium suggestive of a temple . In it were 3000 cadets and thousands of spectators . Their gazes all turned to one person, Kim Suho .

“He’s Kim Suho? Wow . ”

“He’s so handsome~”

Several women watched with admiration and adoration .

“…This is why people say Gift is all that matters . Who cares if you try hard? People like him end up taking first place anyways . ”

“That guy completely lucked out with his Gift . ”

And naturally, he received the jealousy and envy of young teenagers .

“His grades are said to be the greatest in the past 10 years . ”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of him . His Gift was announced too, right? What was it again… Sword Saint?”

Guild associates, who came to watch the best cadet in recent history, flashed their eyes .
They were looking down from the highest seats of the auditorium . However, I could hear their voices . They had to be at least a kilometer away, but as long as I looked their way, I could hear their words clearly .
Not only their words, but I could also see their faces, almost as though I was right in front of them .
Perhaps, this was my ‘Gift . ’

“Yes, in regards to swords, he is said to receive the world’s protection . ”

“Hm… That’s a pretty vague description, but I guess the information from the academy is all like that . ”

“We called dibs on that kid so don’t touch him . ”

I recognized one of the whispering faces .
Yun Seung-Ah . An important assistant of the main character and one of the heroines who almost became the main character’s lover . Just when the two of them were hitting it off – in reality, when the main character was hitting off with many of the heroines – I suspended my novel . Thus, the two never became lovers .

“Dibs? What dibs . When it comes to cadets, there is no such thing . ”

At another guild associate’s callous words, Yun Seung-Ah smiled sweetly and rebutted .

“Is that why 'Essence of the Strait' can’t escape second place?”

I knew Yun Seung-Ah’s face . Surprisingly, she looked like my first love from college . That was probably because I thought of her when I was describing Yun Seung-Ah’s character . Though, she was my crush to be exact .

“…Can I take that as a challenge?”

“I’m kidding, of course . Plus, we still have three years to go before we can scout any of them . ”

“It’s two years . ”

“…You know contacting them before they graduate is illegal, right?”

“That’s only if you’re found out . ”

Yun Seung-Ah and the man glared at each other . With their staring contest as the starting point, the VIP seats’ atmosphere began to heat up .
And thus, the fight for Kim Suho had already begun .

—Class of 2024, Rank 2 Cadet, Shin Jonghak .

Meanwhile, the other main character stood up .
He was the descendant of the Jinsung clan . His appearance rivaled Kim Suho as well .
The audience stirred just like when Kim Suho walked up . But unlike with Kim Suho, envy and jealousy didn’t exist . There was only admiration and adoration . With Kim Suho, they thought, ‘Why is he better than me?’ but with Shin Jonghak, it was, ‘He was better than me from birth . ’
As if to show off his noble blood, Shin Jonghak walked up to the stage completely composed .

Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak .
Standing side by side, the two glared at each other .
Electricity seemed to crackle from their eyes .

Without a shadow of the doubt, these two were characters from my novel .

Then where was I?

I wasn’t on the stage but in the farthest back seat of the auditorium . I wasn’t ‘one out of three thousand’, but a member of the ‘three thousand . ’ No guild associate looked my way .

“Chundong, what rank are you? I’m rank 2900 . ”

Next, to me, a boy resembling a piglet asked . On his nametag were the characters ‘Kim Ho Sup’ . This meant that he had an eventual role . Though he couldn’t be a Hero because of his nonexistent physical abilities, his Gift was outstanding for information gathering .

“Chundong-chan★?”

“… I don’t know . ”

I didn’t know who I was . I didn’t even know why my name was Chundong .
If something like this had to happen, shouldn’t I be one of the two on stage?

“Hey, c'mon, if you don’t know that…”

“I don’t know . ”

Once again, I didn’t know . This world was the novel I wrote, but I was in the body of a character I had never written before . Other than being a cadet in the Agent Military Academy, I was the most ordinary and the most connectionless character, the type whose name wouldn’t exist anywhere in the novel . In other words… I was an extra . [1]

…No, I was a speck of dust .

1 . In English, an extra is usually referred to as “background actor/performer/cast/etc”, but I will be sticking with ‘extra’ .

Chapter end