When Eren Vale opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was dirt.
Not the metaphorical kind — the real kind. Wet, grimy, clinging to his face like it owned him. The kind of filth that said, Congratulations, you've hit rock bottom and then tunneled through.
The second thing he noticed was that his teeth hurt.
Not the kind of hurt from a punch — no, this was different. A dull, throbbing pain that came from grinding teeth all night, as if he'd been dreaming of murder and couldn't quite get it out of his system.
And then came the third realization.
He wasn't in his bed. Or his apartment. Or even his world.
He was lying in a filthy alley, the sky a strange shade of blue, the smell of rotting fruit mixed with mana and smoke. A carriage rattled by, pulled by a creature that looked like a horse if someone had taken the liberty of redesigning evolution.
People in medieval garb walked past — some holding staves that glowed faintly, others with swords on their hips and expressions that said, peasants like you aren't even worth spitting on.
Eren sat up slowly.
"What the hell…" His voice came out hoarse. "Where am I?"
Then a memory hit him — sharp and clear, like a knife through fog.
He'd been reading a novel.
A trashy web fantasy about heroes, nobles, and chosen ones.
The kind of story where every other line was a cliché, and every extra existed only to make the protagonist look cooler by dying conveniently.
And in that very novel… there was an extra named Eren Vale.
A nameless slum rat who died in Chapter 3 when the hero first arrived in the capital.
A faceless NPC.
A body for the background.
"...Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
He stood up and patted himself down. Tattered shirt, worn boots, a single copper coin in his pocket. "I'm the damn extra?"
He laughed. It wasn't the sane kind of laugh.
More the kind that said, of course life would do this to me.
A group of boys nearby stopped playing dice to glare at him. One of them, bigger and nastier-looking, called out,
"Oi, Vale! You planning to skip work again, you rat bastard?"
Eren blinked.
The name confirmed it.
"Vale… right. That's me."
He forced a grin. "Just stretching. Gotta keep my bastardly figure in shape."
The boy sneered. "Boss said if you don't bring the coins by tonight, he'll take your hand instead."
Ah, yes. That was in the novel too. The slum boss who killed Eren for stealing.
The start of the hero's first pity arc.
According to the book, this was the day he died.
Tonight.
Well, that's just great.
Eren's thoughts raced.
If this was truly the novel, then fate had already decided his death.
Unless he did something… drastically unplanned.
He looked up at the sky again.
It shimmered faintly — threads of golden light running through it. Words. Sentences. Lines of narration flickering at the edge of his vision.
[Eren Vale dies tonight, stabbed in an alley for a pouch of stolen coins.]
Eren froze.
He could see the narration.
"What the…?"
And then, beneath the glowing words, another line appeared — red this time, jagged, glitching like a corrupted file:
[ERROR: Narrative Distortion Detected.]
[Would you like to Interfere?]
Eren's lips curled.
"Oh? You're giving me a choice now?"
He didn't hesitate.
"Hell yes."
[Confirmed. Initializing 'Narrative Corruption System'.]
A burning pain shot through his skull. His vision blurred, and when it cleared, a translucent screen hovered before him.
[Narrative Corruption System v0.1]
Status: Extra
Destiny: Death (Active)
Authority: 1%
Command Available: [Rewrite Minor Event]
"Rewrite… huh." He smirked, wiping the blood that trickled from his nose. "Guess I'm hacking fate."
He focused on the glowing sentence above him again.
[Eren Vale dies tonight, stabbed in an alley…]
He thought the word: Rewrite.
The line flickered.
[Eren Vale dies tonight, stabbed in an alley…]
Rewriting…
[A different man dies tonight, stabbed in an alley…]
A scream echoed from the next street.
Eren blinked.
For a moment, he felt sick — cold sweat beading on his neck.
Someone had just taken his place.
"…Oh."
He chuckled softly. "So that's how it works."
The System pulsed again.
[Corruption +1%. Destiny Altered.]
He leaned back against the wall, watching the golden threads above twist and shudder.
He should have felt horrified. Instead, he felt alive — like he'd just stolen the world's biggest secret and gotten away with it.
"If the world wants me dead…"
He grinned wide, eyes glinting with dark amusement.
"Then I'll kill the story instead."
A gust of wind swept through the alley, scattering dirt and whispers of broken fate.
Somewhere far away, the Hero of Light was probably preparing for his grand entrance.
Too bad the script had already changed.
Because this time —
the extra wasn't going to die quietly.
This time,
the extra was a bastard.