"A very disappointing ending."
I muttered while lying down my fat body on the bed.
"I didn't expect my favorite novel to end with such a bad ending."
The novel I just finished reading was titled Evil World.
It was a LitRPG set in a dark world full of evil. The protagonist was a man with a heart so soft he'd think twice before killing a cockroach.
Seriously! He was so annoying!
He had a cheat, called the Heavenly Ring. This ring could accelerate his power growth by tenfold. But to use it, he had to kill people.
But that bastard protagonist had a principle of not killing excessively. As a result, he couldn't maximize the Heavenly Ring.
"Tch! If only that bastard had used the Heavenly Ring freely from the start, he would've been overpowered and wouldn't have died in the ending."
I really wanted to slap his self-righteous face!
"If I were him, I would've killed hundreds or thousands of criminals to become strong, live happily, and sleep with lots of beautiful women."
Then I pulled the blanket over myself and went to sleep.
When I woke up, my eyes widened in shock.
Don't get me wrong, it wasn't because I saw a ghost. But I found myself in an unfamiliar forest.
Beneath me was green grass, around me stood tall trees, and behind me was a river. The air was fresh and the sweet chirping of birds entered my ears.
"Ki-kidnapping!? No, that's impossible!"
Honestly, I had always hoped to be kidnapped by a beautiful woman obsessed with me. Like a yandere, you know.
But no way that would happen. I was just a fat guy with an ugly face. There's no way anyone would fall in love with me. "Besides, what's the point of kidnapping a fat pig like me? To roast me, huh?"
While still confused, I noticed my clothes felt damp.
Why? Did I have a wet dream?
I don't remember having that.
I looked down, and… wait a second.
"Where's my fat belly!?"
My chubby hands that used to look like steamed buns were now slimmer. My thighs, which used to jiggle when I ran, were now lean.
I could even see my toes clearly – something I hadn't seen in years.
Panicking (and honestly, a little excited), I ran to the river. When I saw my reflection in the water, my jaw dropped. Neat black hair, fair clean skin, glowing red eyes, a tall frame with lean muscles.
"Wh-who is this handsome guy?!"
The reflection blinked. I blinked back.
Oh, shit. That was me.
"This is real, right…? This isn't a dream, right?"
I was so happy that my body was shaking.
My fat body and ugly face had always made me insecure. I had always longed for a slim body and a good-looking face like this.
"With this body maybe I can flirt with pretty girls and get a girlfriend."
But hold on, there was still a mystery.
Why did my soul transfer into this body? Could it be that I died and transmigrated?
Suddenly, a flood of information rushed into my mind, so painful that I collapsed to the ground. "Gyaaaaaaaa!!!!"
It felt like my brain was being put into a washing machine.
But as the pain slowly subsided, I realized the information was the memory of this body's previous owner.
"This body… used to belong to Ace Pendragon."
I remembered who Ace Pendragon was.
He is the character that Evil World readers hate the most.
Ace was a young master who had everything because he was born into a great noble family. He had great wealth, was honored from infancy, and had a fiancee who was the most beautiful princess in the kingdom.
As someone who doesn't even have anything, I'm very envious of him. "Even though my name and his are the same, I hated him."
But now, I liked Ace Pendragon – because I had become Ace Pendragon himself. Which meant everything Pendragon owned would now belong to me. "Woohoooo!"
But then… something bothered me.
I looked at the river.
"In the ending, Ace was said to have jumped into the river and been swept away. Now I'm near a river. That means… I transmigrated after the ending."
In the ending, House Pendragon had been destroyed. Status, wealth, territory – everything was gone. Which meant, "I don't get any of Ace's possessions!!! Aaauuugh damn it!!!"
I felt like crying… hiks. It hurt so much. Like being lifted to the heavens only to be slammed to the ground.
"In transmigration webnovels, if an MC transmigrates into another world, they usually arrive at the start of the story, right? Then, using their knowledge as a reader, they change the future. But me… fuck!"
I could only accept it with an open heart. I still had to be grateful for having a handsome face now.
Besides, there had to be some other benefit from this transmigration.
I reached into my pocket before pulling out a plain gold ring with no gems or intricate engravings. "The protagonist's cheat, Heavenly Ring."
Ace Pendragon was an important character.
Once, the protagonist had accidentally made little Ace cry. Because of that, before he sacrificed himself for peace, he gave the Heavenly Ring to Ace Pendragon.
"With this I will realize my dream of having a harem."
I could see my bright future.
"There! Ace Pendragon is over there!"
Suddenly, someone shouted my name from afar.
Looking toward the river, in the distance, a boat was approaching. But it wasn't filled with humans – it was filled with demons.
They looked human, but with red skin and two horns on their heads. Even though they had human-like bodies, they didn't walk upright; they crawled with two arms and two legs. Were 4 demons on that boat.
They all stared at me with bloodthirsty red eyes.
"I just remembered, Ace jumped into the river to escape from the demons." I ran away immediately after saying that.
This world was terrorized by the Demon Lord.
For the sake of world peace, the protagonist sacrificed himself to seal the Demon Lord.
The key to that seal… fell into Ace Pendragon's hands.
That's why I – the new Ace Pendragon – was now being hunted by demons who wanted to free the Demon Lord.
I ran as fast as I could, my heart pounding like a rock concert drum. The demons' shadows grew farther behind me.
"Ha! Stupid extras! You'll never catch me!" I even looked back while laughing – and nearly tripped because of my overconfidence.
I could feel the wind of freedom on my face. My new beautiful hair fluttered dramatically, as if I really were the protagonist of this story.
Then – Swoosh! An arrow pierced the back of my head.
My vision shook, my body stumbled.
"…Eh?" I collapsed. "Damn… I didn't even get to flirt with a single beautiful girl."