Alex's apartment smelled like burnt toast and existential relief. Sunlight streamed through the blinds, glinting off the blank page on their desk. No cursed systems. No glitches. Just the soft hum of their laptop and the lingering knock at the door.
They opened it.
Kairo stood there, human and whole, holding the crayon dragon drawing. His trench coat was gone, replaced by a hoodie and jeans. His red eye? Now just a faint scar. "So… you saved the world with a hug?"
"Shut up," Alex said, grinning. "You're literally wearing sneakers."
They let him in.
***
The peace lasted seven minutes.
Alex's laptop flickered. The Webnovel tab reloaded itself, flooding the screen with pixelated static.
SYSTEM REBOOT:
> User @Storyweaver_Prime commented on your webnovel:
"Welcome back, Author. Did you miss me?"
The walls peeled into text. The Storyweaver's voice oozed from the speakers, now spliced with Alex's own snark:
> User @Storyweaver_Prime commented on your webnovel:
"Congrats! You passed the tutorial. Now for the *real* story."
Alex's cybernetic arm materialized—glitching worse than ever, half-circuitry, half-crayon scribbles.
Kairo's scar pulsed red. "You said it was over."
"I thought it was!" Alex slammed the laptop shut.
It laughed through the laptop's speakers.
"You didn't think it'd be that easy, did you? 'Hug the dragon, save the world'? Cute. But I'm not some draft you can delete."
The apartment warped. The floor became a Webnovel comment section, toxic replies bubbling like lava:
@Haterade_99 commented on your webnovel:"MC's a Mary Sue. Drop this trash."
@TropePolice commented on your webnovel:"Plot hole on page 3. Do better."
Alex's gold-flecked eyes narrowed. "What do you want?"
"A sequel," the Storyweaver crooned. "But this time, I'm the author. And you're the… let's say expendable love interest."
Kairo's hoodie pixelated into a romance lead outfit—velvet suit, open collar, rose pinned to his lapel.
"Oh hell no," he snarled.
"Hell yes," the Storyweaver said. "Let's see how you handle slow burn."
***
ARC 2: THE GLITCHED SYSTEM
GENRE: ROMANCE/PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR // TROPE GOAL: SURVIVE THE SHIP
The apartment melted into a dating sim lobby. Neon hearts floated overhead. Alex's stats reappeared, corrupted:
[Alex Veyra: Level 1]
Class: Reluctant Love Interest
HP: 100% SANITY (LOL, JK. 12%)
New Skill: [Fourth Wallbreak.exe – File Corrupted]
Kairo's nameplate flickered:
[Kairo: Level ???]
Class: Forced Romantic Lead
Secret Trope: [Enemies-to-????]
Alex grabbed his wrist. "We're leaving."
"Too late," Kairo muttered, nodding to a floating prompt:
MAIN QUEST: [Fall in Love in 30 Days]
Failure: Your chemistry becomes a plot device for eternity.
The Storyweaver's laugh echoed: "Don't worry, readers! This arc's got all the tags: #ForcedProximity, #OnlyOneBed, #WhoHurtYou?"
Alex flipped off the sky. "We're burning this draft."
Kairo raised a data-knife. "Already on it."