Like clockwork when I woke up, I immediately went to my laptop and type words that my audiences probably doesn't even understand, but I make it work with barely liveable salary a cup of instant ramen and a few litters of water everyday.
I barely even survive and if I had any spare money I couldn't even use it to spoil myself I just used it to pay off the massive dept my parents left me to pay after they died on their way home by a drunk truck driver going over the speed limit thankfully the guy was sentenced to life in prison after commiting a couple more crimes while trying to escape.
But that was enough of my current life situation, I was nearing the end of this novel I was currently making it's called How To Survive In A Broken World basically it's my entires life work it has been on the leaderboard top. 1 ever since the month of it's birth I cannot get anymore prouder than this.
And after this I'm even planning on making a sequel and that sequel might even be enough for me to repay that dept, and I'll be free I can finally get a better apartment or even a house with enough effort, but I have been getting a ton of backlash after killing off one of the fans favorite, but they should understand I did it for the plot.
Now let me just finish this chapter and I'll be done and after that I'll have a good rest for a full 8 hours thats actually quite rare for a person like me, that's not something to be proud about and I can maybe even buy better food just for this occasion as this is basically once in a lifetime.
I focused even harder on making this chapter as I only allowed the best and highest quality for my web novel I couldn't exactly make another trash chapter of else I'll get even more hate considering my recent chapters were straight garbage.
10 Minutes later
I was finally done writing the chapter all I had to do was submit for it to be released and I can finally do a close enough proper celebration, and after that I make a sequel or maybe a new series but I'll probably just do a sequel I'm way too lazy to think of a new idea to write not exactly the greatest mind to be born.
I stood up deciding to hit a number 2 as nature decided it was time for me to do so, but suddenly before I could even stretch a bit I received a notification from my mail.
Which I decided was going to be my first priority because it might be a congratulations mail which I couldn't just make wait for me that would just be rude of me.
I excitedly rushed over back to my barely working laptop and opened my mails app and searched for the mail which wasn't hard to find.
[ Subject: Congratulations on Your Achievement
Dear Author,
Congratulations. You've accomplished what few in history ever will. How To Survive In A Broken World has not only remained at the very top of the leaderboard since its release, but it has now surpassed 250,000,000 views, a record that will be spoken of for years to come. Five million words, five million steps on the path you carved alone, and every one of them has carried you to this moment.
Your readers see only your brilliance—the story, the characters, the world you built—but they do not see the reality. They do not know the cost you've paid. They don't see the days you don't eat or even if you do it's barely enough, the sleepless nights, the water rationed to stretch another day. They don't know the shadow of debt that was forced onto you, or the quiet weight you carry from your parents' tragedy. Not even your closest friends are aware. Only you… and the one to whom you owe everything.
And yet, despite all of it, you've kept writing. You've endured. You've triumphed.
But I must ask you a question now—one that could change everything:
Do you want to be free?
Yes
No
By: -- .- -. .- / ... --- ..- .-. -.-. . ]
I just stared at the screen for a good minute straight not even blinking, I couldn't even believe what I was reading it was like the air suddenly got heavier around me. How the hell did they know all of this? I never told anyone not even my closest friends, nobody should know this except me and the person I owe money to, yet here it was in plain words like somebody just read my diary.
I tried to calm myself down thinking maybe it was just a scam, or some kind of spam email trying to freak me out, but no scammer should know the exact amount of words I wrote, or the exact number of views the novel got, hell not even the site shows that much detail. That's when I started to get nervous, like actually nervous, because this wasn't just some prank.
I sat back down on my chair slowly, my legs were shaking way too much, like they weren't even mine anymore. I kept rereading that last line over and over again. Do you want to be free? Yes. No.
It felt less like a question and more like a trap, like I was being forced to play a game I didn't sign up for. I wanted to slam the laptop shut and forget I ever saw it, but at the same time something deep in me whispered, what if it's real? What if this is actually my way out?
My hands were sweating just hovering over the mouse, and for once I didn't even know if I should be happy or scared.
My hand was shaking so much I could barely keep the cursor straight, my brain screaming at me to just shut the laptop and forget this ever happened, but my chest felt like it was going to burst if I didn't press something.
I stared at the word Yes one last time, my whole body buzzing with this mix of fear and desperation, and before I could even second guess myself I clicked it.
For a second nothing happened, just silence, just me sitting there regretting my entire life, and then the screen flickered black like the laptop just died. My heart dropped straight to the floor.
I was about to curse myself for being stupid when suddenly the screen lit up again, brighter than before, but there was no desktop, no browser, nothing—just a single line of text floating in the middle of the screen:
Acknowledged.
That was it. No explanation, no sender, no logo. Just that one word glowing back at me.
I leaned back in my chair, my hands cold, my breathing heavy, wondering what the hell I just signed myself up for.
Suddenly the screen glowed brighter, and brighter it was physically impossible for that laptop of mine that thing was older than most kids you see on an walk.
I had to curl up into a ball on my chair just to cover my eyes because the light was getting way to intense not even me shutting my eyes worked suddenly I felt myself walk and once I landed I didn't feel my cold floor I felt the even colder concrete ground definitely not the floors of my apartment.
I uncurled myself and saw I was being stared at by a bunch of people I noticed I was definitely in a city maybe I stood up and ran away from the massive crowd that formed around me, I ran inside an alleyway hiding inside there to avoid the gazes of the people.
I looked at my clothes noticing those were definitely not mine and clearly way, way worse than the clothes I used to wear now I look like a homeless person which I don't discriminate against I just don't like the fact my clothes were changed and that they were down horrendously bad.
Aside from that nothing seemed to have changed, I slowly walked towards a nearby puddle I saw on the ground just to check if anything else had changed from my appearance.
I gazed down towards the puddle and saw something horrifying and terrific my face was too also replaced by a face I recognized the thing that me get scared was not the looks, if being generous on the highest levels the face was a solid 6.7/10 which was a good upgrade.
The thing that horrified me was because this guy I just became was a side character from my novel How To Survive In A Broken World which was already bad enough in of itself it's just this character "Ethan West" was to live through literal hell the worst character story it was not the worst because of the fact the writing was bad, it was even worse it was because this person had the worst life in the novel.
And in the end he died his efforts all in vain.
Also because his powers sucks ass.