Synchronization

The moment I realized I had possessed a novel I wrote, thanks to the cliché-ridden unfamiliar ceiling and the name “Ross” written on a book on the desk, a sharp pain struck, and a strange message appeared before my eyes.

「Synchronizing… 60% complete」

The reason a status window appears in this novel isn’t to give the protagonist something special, but rather to eat up page count. It was a setting I belatedly added, saying you could see the status window if you used a specific artifact.

Sometimes, when I was short on the minimum word count, it was a trick to naturally increase the word count by having the protagonist say, ‘I wonder how much I’ve grown? Let’s check.’

While blankly staring at the rising synchronization percentage, I briefly wondered why I possessed my own novel.

Book possession is usually a cliché where an angry reader, unable to bear the author’s bullshit, leaves a comment and then gets possessed. But I didn’t put my novel on hiatus, and I had plenty of heroine illustrations drawn. There’s no cause and effect to be tied to a cliché.

[The Hero’s Harem is Bound to Win], shortened to ‘HeroHare,’ became so popular that I put the novel I was serializing before it on hiatus, only promising to finish it later… .

In that case, wouldn’t it be right to possess the traditional fantasy or martial arts novel I put on hiatus? I was puzzled because I couldn’t understand why I was possessed into a novel I had finished.

Even when I retraced my last memories, all I did was talk to the illustrator and fall asleep while getting the HeroHare completion commemorative illustration drawn. I even paid the deposit in advance.

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out why I possessed the novel. And as a consumable character named ‘Ross,’ no less.

「Synchronization… 100% complete」

=====

「Ross Synchronization Complete」

[ Ross ]

Age: 20

[Stats]

Strength 1.4

Endurance 1.3

Agility 2.1

Stamina 1.7

Mana 1.2

Innate Ability

Luck 1

Charm 2

Intelligence 8.3

[Talent – X]

[Personality]

◇Nervous Breakdown

◇Inferiority Complex

[Authority]

◆ Check ‘HeroHare’ Setting

– Activation Phrase: HeroHare

=====

After carefully checking the status window, I fell into despair and couldn’t help but sigh naturally. Stats that couldn’t escape mediocrity and Luck 1, Charm 2 seemed to prove with numbers how ordinary Ross’s talents were, and that he was a lump of inferiority complex without even luck.

He doesn’t even have innate talent, and his personality has two penalties: nervous breakdown and inferiority complex. In game terms, it’s no different from a trash character.

Still, his intelligence is high. It’s a number that might come out if you rolled the dice extremely in the character selection window.

Anyway, I roughly grasped the situation.

Ross’s nervous breakdown and inferiority complex are probably related to his high intelligence. Thanks to his high intelligence, he realized that no matter what he did, he couldn’t beat his brother, who was destined to be a hero.

If his intelligence was low like the others, he might have just accepted the innate unfairness… Realizing early on that the gap between him and his brother was the kind that couldn’t be overcome with effort is what caused his inferiority complex.

Ross was always being compared and overshadowed by his brother’s halo, so even his shadow couldn’t be seen. From the start, even his name was taken from Loss, meaning a sense of loss and failure. It’s not a suitable name to give to a child.

More than anything else, the biggest problem right now is that I don’t have any of Ross’s memories in my head at all.

The memories of me, Jin-shian, the author, are still in my head, but not a single one of Ross’s memories remains.

Should I pretend to have lost my memory? Sighing, I looked around Ross’s room and found a diary hidden among the books on the bookshelf.

Judging by the size, it didn’t seem to be a diary he wrote every day, but rather one he wrote to remember special events.

Out of curiosity, I opened the diary, but before long, I let out a deep sigh and read the contents written in the diary to the end with a heavy heart.

The diary contained his parents’ discrimination, his childhood friend confessing that she liked his brother, and his anger at the villagers who naturally compared him to his brother, belittling him and praising his brother.

At this point, it’s closer to a revenge note written to get revenge later than a diary. But his brother’s name wasn’t written in this revenge note. I was able to find the reason on the last page. It was written like this:

‘If only my brother had a bad personality or bullied me, I would have dreamed of revenge… .’

The bottom was filled with all sorts of curses and swear words.

It seems he felt extreme stress from being admitted to the academy through special admission just because he was family. Since he couldn’t get angry at his brother, who was good to him, Ross had no choice but to suppress his anger in his heart.

I felt a stuffiness as if something was pressing down on my chest for no reason. Was it a placebo? As I blankly stared at the diary, someone opened the door.

“Ross, if you’re awake, come eat.”

The person who came in without knocking was a middle-aged man with a beard. Judging by his age, he might be Ross’s father. Considering his blond hair and blue eyes, the possibility was high.

“How old are you? Do I have to tell you to eat?”

Speaking in a cold voice, Ross’s father, who looked around the room with a fierce gaze as if looking for something to scold, left the room. From that appearance, I could get a glimpse of how Ross was treated by his family.

I put Ross’s diary back in its place and left the room, and a savory smell stimulated my nose. I glanced around and sat down in an empty chair. Ross’s mother, a middle-aged woman who appeared to be, put a large pot on the table and ladled stew into my father’s bowl.

Ross’s mother, who filled her bowl and my bowl with stew, put the ladle in the pot and turned to me, asking with a cold gaze.

“Don’t forget that you’re entering Transcendence Academy in three days, right?”

As if she didn’t want an answer, Ross’s mother continued to speak.

“You’re getting in through special admission thanks to your brother. Don’t cause any trouble, and don’t fight with the other academy students. Most of them are nobles.”

As if agreeing with her, Ross’s father, who was scooping up stew, added.

“Yes, your brother went to great lengths for you, so tell him thank you when you see him. You’re lacking in many ways, so don’t show it and stay quiet.”

As if acting, Ross’s mother said the next line right away. It was such a smooth continuation that I wondered if that’s what couples are like.

“As you know, your brother is being praised as outstanding even in the capital. If your brother does well, we can escape our commoner status and become nobles, and get a good house. So when you get to the academy, you have to do whatever your brother tells you to do, no matter what. Got it?”

Somehow, the more Ross’s parents continued to speak, the more the pressure that seemed to be pressing down on my chest intensified.

Was it the influence of the nervous breakdown? The hand holding the spoon trembled against my will, spitting the contents back into the bowl.

Fortunately, Ross wasn’t a talkative person, so Ross’s parents didn’t suspect at all that I was looking down at the bowl filled with stew without saying a word, and they were engrossed in their meal.

While eating the stew, I put down the spoon and returned to Ross’s room because I felt like I was going to choke on the nagging that broke the silence from time to time.

“Hoo….”

A rough sigh escaped. The influence of his personality is greater than I thought. Feeling the pressure pressing down on my chest, I sat on the edge of the bed and organized my thoughts.

The authority that I hadn’t had time to check because of my father suddenly entering the room came to mind. I’ll be able to check it without interruption now.

“HeroHare.”

As I said that, letters floated in the air. The settings I had written while writing the novel and the things that the readers had organized were densely written. It feels like looking at a wiki.

Ross enters the academy one year after the events of the original story. Since Ross didn’t have the skills to enter the academy legitimately, he had to get one lucky encounter in the story one year after the original story to live a slightly better life.

Originally, it’s a cliché to monopolize other people’s things when you possess an extra. Looking through the setting, I found something that Ross could get without any risk.

Originally, it was an ancient magic book related to ‘space’ that one of the hero party’s heroines would get for a quick development, but even without it, there wouldn’t be a big problem with the story’s progress.

What can I do even if there’s a problem? It’s a cliché to preempt other people’s lucky encounters when you possess an extra. I was the one who was in a hurry right now, so I decided to preempt the magic book.

I left the room with the bag that Ross had packed in advance to enter the academy. Ross’s mother, who was cleaning the table, looked at me with a puzzled expression and then frowned with a sigh.

“Are you out of your mind? I just said the entrance ceremony is in three days!”

Suppressing the rising emotions at Ross’s mother’s expression as if she thought I was pathetic, I replied.

“I might be late for the entrance ceremony, so I’m leaving now.”

At those words, Ross’s mother looked at me with suspicious eyes, but she nodded as if she thought it was a good idea and took out a gold coin from her pocket.

“This is money your brother sent. It’ll be enough while you’re going to the academy. Save it. It’s also your living expenses.”

Is she still taking care of me because I’m her child? Feeling bitter, I took the gold coin and left the house as it was.

I didn’t say goodbye to Ross’s father, but I didn’t feel the need to do so. Even if they were Ross’s parents, they were strangers to me who I didn’t even remember. The fact that we didn’t get along well was also a big factor.

Checking the map in my bag that showed the way to the academy, I walked towards the village of Destin, which was slightly off the route.

I could have used a horse or carriage, but I had to save money if it included living expenses. It wasn’t a long distance anyway. I slept at an inn in a passing village and arrived at Destin Village the next day.

My body was tired as if I had marched because my bag was heavy, and I was hungry, so I went straight to an inn in Destin Village.

I ate a simple dish of eggs, ham, and an unknown sauce, and then lay down on the stained and smelly bed as if collapsing. I lost consciousness in an instant. That’s how tired I was.

I fell into a deep sleep to the point where the sheets were soaked with saliva and woke up. Time had passed so much that I didn’t know how long I had slept. When I looked out the window, it was already late at night. I hurriedly packed my things and went outside. I had already used up two of the remaining three days.

I secretly took a torch installed at the entrance of the village and climbed up the mountain. I climbed the eerie mountain path as if something was about to pop out without hesitation. Because I was sure that the magic book I was looking for was on this mountain.

The magic book created by the ancient great magician ‘Patulga’ by pouring out his essence is revealed to the world when a villager who was collecting herbs by chance discovers a cave. Patulga’s magic book, discovered in Destin Village, was set to be obtained by the protagonist’s heroine through an auction.

When the meal came out, I paid the innkeeper some silver coins to find out which mountain the nearby herbalists frequented.

Waving the torch around, I found the mountain path created by the herbalists. Now all I have to do is find the cave where the magic book is hidden.

I searched mainly for places where there might be a cave, but I couldn’t find it until morning. My neck area was sticky because I was covered in sweat from climbing the mountain.

I even made check marks on the trees with a small knife as I followed the path, but the cave was nowhere to be seen even after reaching the summit several times.

Should I give up like this and participate in the academy entrance ceremony? Just when I was about to give up… I saw a place that I couldn’t see from below.

I wondered if I had mistaken the place I had passed, so I hurriedly went down and checked the surrounding trees, but there were no marks left. It was a place that I hadn’t been able to check because it was hidden by trees when I followed the path.

With a pounding heart, I looked around and soon found a hole the size of my head. It was a burrow that looked like a small animal would live in, but I was sure that this was the entrance to the cave. There were no animal footprints nearby.

I kicked the hole with my foot. The soil collapsed, the hole grew larger, and finally the entrance to the cave was revealed.

I threw the luggage I was carrying at the entrance and carefully entered inside, touching the dark cave walls with both arms outstretched.

After going inside for a while, a space came out where the tree roots that densely covered the walls of the cave had not been able to approach.

There, the brown leather magic book was beautifully placed on a rock, as if someone had deliberately left it there.

Even though a long time had passed, the magic book was not rotten or moldy, and it was emitting magical power, preventing the tree roots from approaching.

Fortunately, it only prevented the tree roots from approaching, so I didn’t feel any resistance even when I reached out my hand. With a trembling heart, I picked up the magic book. Along with the tingling sensation felt at my fingertips, the HeroHare setting appeared before my eyes.

―[Patulga’s Magic Book]―

◆Relic

– This is a magic book created by the ancient great magician Patulga based on his enlightenment and experience.

◇Space Magic

◇You have obtained a space warehouse.

I put an inventory that can only be seen in games with teleportation under the name of a space warehouse to increase the proportion of the baggage carrier heroine.

Thanks to this, the hero party was able to enjoy delicious meals and comfortable sleep even on their journey to the Demon King’s castle.

Well, it’s impossible now because of me… but that’s not my problem.

While walking towards Destin Village to get Patulga’s magic book, I thought endlessly. What is the way for an inferiority complex consumable extra to survive in an academy where the continent’s talents gather?

As soon as I admitted that I had possessed an inferiority complex consumable, a plausible plan came to mind. A possible method if I use the setting, which knows the information of the future and even the trivial foreshadowing that I don’t remember, as information.

With the space magic in hand, Ross’s happy academy plan was almost successful.

Before I could feel the joy of obtaining Patulga’s magic book, I remembered that the entrance ceremony was not far away, so I hurriedly left the cave.

I comfortably put the luggage and magic book that I had thrown on the floor into the space warehouse and hurriedly went down the mountain.