"No, no, no… Is this really how the protagonist is supposed to act?!"
"And why the hell do you always kill off the female characters around him? At least you could've spared the main heroine!"
"And—what the hell happened to Leo Taylor? Why did his character get so nerfed as the story progressed?! I mean—"
"Will you just shut up already?!"
A yell erupted inside the cramped apartment, loud enough that the neighbors might have heard it.
The guy who'd been ranting moments ago clamped his hands over his ears, startled by the outburst. He had average looks—black hair, black eyes, in his late twenties—but at that moment, his expression froze in disbelief.
After a few seconds of silence, he lowered his hands and glared at the man sitting across from him. Behind that man was a computer screen, the latest chapter of a web novel glowing on the monitor.
[Chapter 499: Awakening of the Hero]
[Ray Miller activated his Talent as he charged toward the horde of monsters—]
The black-haired man sighed, crossing his arms. "Look, I'm just trying to help."
"No, you're not!" the author snapped.
"You're just ripping apart my work! Do you even know how much time I spent on these chapters?"
The critic raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.
"It's called constructive feedback, you dumbass."
"Oh, please! I'm the author here! I decide where the story goes, not you! As a reader, your job is to give opinions, not trash my work like some arrogant editor!"
That was the final straw.
The black-haired man's patience snapped, and he narrowed his eyes.
"Wow. Okay. So you begged me to help, said it was urgent, and now that I'm giving you feedback, you're yelling at me?" He scoffed, standing up.
"You know what? I'm done. If you're going to throw a tantrum instead of listening, don't call me again. Sort your own damn story out."
With that, he turned to leave.
The author's friend threw the tablet he'd been holding onto the floor with a loud crash, the screen cracking on impact. Without another word, he stormed out of the apartment.
"You'll regret this, Rin! Even if you apologize, I won't forgive you!"
As Rin descended the stairs, his friend's voice echoed from inside the apartment, but it only soured his mood further.
"Tch. Who's going to apologize to a stubborn idiot like you? If he can't handle honest criticism, he should just stop writing," Rin muttered under his breath.
He walked out of the apartment complex, heading toward the main road, but his mind was a mess.
Today had been a disaster.
He'd just lost his only job, and now he was officially unemployed. And instead of searching for a new one, he'd wasted time arguing about his friend's cliché web novel.
'How idiotic of me… I should be job hunting instead of wasting my breath on nonsense.'
Rin was lost in thought—so lost he stepped into the street without checking the red light.
And that was his biggest mistake of the day.
The blare of a truck horn shattered his thoughts.
Rin froze, slowly turning toward the source of the sound.
Everything seemed to slow down.
A massive white cargo truck barreled toward him at full speed.
Its metal frame gleamed under the dim streetlights.
Its front grille, smudged with dirt, looked like the gaping maw of a beast ready to devour him.
The driver's wide-eyed panic was barely visible through the windshield as he desperately slammed the brakes—
Rin's legs wouldn't move. His body refused to react. His mind screamed at him to run, jump, do something!
His life flashed before his eyes.
—Being abandoned as a child, never knowing his parents' faces.
—Playing with the other orphans, trying to forget the loneliness.
—Sitting alone in the school cafeteria, watching others laugh while he remained unseen.
—The moment he met his first friend, the same one he'd just argued with.
—Working dead-end jobs just to afford a tiny, cramped apartment.
—Wasting time on pointless things—like arguing over a novel's plot.
That was the last thing he felt.
The impact was violent.
The truck collided with his frail body like a hammer smashing glass.
A burst of pain—unimaginable, unbearable—exploded through his torso as his bones shattered on impact.
Blood splattered the pavement as he was flung into the air like a broken ragdoll.
Neon signs blurred together in a mix of red and blue.
"Ahhh! Someone help! There's been an accident!"
Distant voices and panicked shouts.
Rin could barely hear them.
The pain was fading. He felt numb, weightless, as if his body no longer belonged to him.
Lying on the cold pavement, he stared at the night sky one last time.
The stars looked beautiful.
Then everything went black.