The Extra Who Dies at the Entrance Ceremony

I woke up inside the game I'd been playing for years.

It was a cliché I'd seen a hundred times in novels.

But when it actually happened to me, the sheer absurdity left me too stunned even to force a hollow laugh.

"Haha... this can't be real..."

I tried denial first, insisting this was impossible.

"Fuck! Send me home!"

Then came the rage—why the hell did this have to happen to me?

"Aigoo, aigoo... Jesus, Buddha, Mother Mary, Allah—please, just once, spare me. I swear I'll live a good life from now on."

I even begged gods I'd never once prayed to in my life.

Of course nothing changed. I sat there frozen in shock until time itself slipped away.

Three full days vanished like that.

That was how long it took me to claw my way through the storm of emotions and calmly accept the situation.

"...Whether I end up as porridge or rice, I have to survive first. I have to stay alive."

The first thing I did once my head cleared was gather every scrap of information I currently had.

Figuring out why I'd been dragged here, or finding a way home—none of that mattered if I was already dead.

"This is definitely the world of Hero Con Brio."

I nodded to myself as the words left my mouth.

Outside the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠large east-facing window of the room, a building I knew all too well stood in plain sight.

"The real Hero Academy..."

The main stage of Hero Con Brio.

It was the cradle where the protagonist and the cast grew stronger—but it was no exaggeration to say that nearly every major incident in the game also happened right here on campus.

"Judging by how close the Academy looks, I can already guess where this room is."

If the Hero Academy was this near, the only place it could be was the student dormitory.

"So then... who am I?"

The moment ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the question formed, a familiar hologram bloomed in front of my eyes.

"Wow."

Seeing on a floating screen what I'd only ever looked at through a monitor felt strangely unreal.

Yet that very unreality set a gamer's blood boiling; my brain kicked into high gear.

If this world really was the game I'd played for fifteen years, then anything felt possible.

"So what the hell is this garbage status supposed to be?"

What stared back at me was a parade of pathetic numbers.

And those numbers, apparently, belonged to me.

William Grants—the game's protagonist and the default player character—started with every stat locked at 5.

Even a brand-new character began with a clean 5 across the board. Mine, aside from Strength, was below even that.

The one thing that had looked decent—an A-rank skill, Winchester Basic Swordsmanship—turned out to be Level 0 on closer inspection.

A skill at Level 0 meant you'd abandoned it halfway through learning; it was completely unusable in real combat.

"So the only salvageable thing is the talent, huh..."

D-rank talent: Fire Knight.

One of the ordinary knight classes. In the game I wouldn't have touched it with a ten-foot pole, but looking ahead to the late game it was a solid, well-balanced talent—almost hexagonal in its growth potential.

Talent, skills, stats—there were endless ways to raise all of them.

Dozens, hundreds of methods sprang to mind even now.

The problem was that the current "me" was so hopelessly weak I couldn't attempt a single one of them.

Most hidden elements sat in dangerous or completely unexpected places.

And Taylor Winchester's body was far too frail to reach any of those places.

Once I finished sorting my thoughts, something I'd overlooked while fixating on the miserable stats finally entered my field of vision.

"By the way, the surname Winchester means this body belongs to the Winchester ducal house... but was there ever a guy named Taylor?"

In the story of Hero Con, the Winchesters were a family you simply couldn't ignore.

They were a prestigious ducal house that had produced famous heroes for generations—and more importantly, in the late game they took the protagonist under their wing and became his solid backers.

As far as I knew, the Duke of Winchester had no children.

That was exactly why he adopted the talented commoner protagonist as his heir.

"This is bad."

If the current timeline was either the game's past or its future, there was a real chance that most of the knowledge I carried as a reincarnator would become useless.

Brrring-brrring-brrring—

While I was seriously contemplating the future, a phone that had fallen under the bed began to ring.

I picked it up and checked the caller ID. The name displayed was [Liz].

What do I do?

I still hadn't decided how to act.

More than that, I had no idea who "Liz" even was. Answering blindly was out of the question.

The noisy ringing eventually stopped, and only then did I let out a breath of relief.

But then the text messages started pouring in.

Same sender: [Liz].

"Elizabeth?!"

In the middle of this hopeless mess, a name I actually knew had appeared.

Elizabeth Spencer.

I remembered her name perfectly.

No—how could I possibly forget it?

The original setting rose clearly in my mind.

The young-lady-type heroine who joins early on.

Not the "Ohoho! If there's no bread, prepare cake!" kind of young lady—more like a knight in temperament: strict with herself and determined to set an example for others.

The community only labeled her a "young lady" type because of her appearance.

She was the character with beautiful long golden hair ending in those signature drill-shaped curls, wielding a highly versatile wind talent, and she had been reasonably popular among players.

Her nickname among users was "Drill."

In terms of performance she wasn't quite overpowered, but she was a high-value hero who stayed useful in parties all the way to the late game.

Still, for someone as thoroughly burned-out as me—who had long since maxed every growth path and abandoned the character—almost nothing about her remained in my memory.

Come to think of it, Elizabeth was one of the characters who had an After Story quest, the kind reserved only for popular cast members.

"I think in Elizabeth's After Story there was a fiancé who died in the disaster that hits on the day of the Academy entrance ceremony..."

And that name was definitely—

"Taylor."

Taylor Winchester.

No wonder the name had never stuck in my memory.

I had reincarnated as an extra who appeared for a few lines in Hero Con Brio and then died the moment the story began.

"I'm completely fucked..."

Human memory has its limits.

So before any of the information in my head could fade, I transferred every last scrap into a notebook. By the time I finished, the sun had set and night had already fallen.

To clear my head I walked to the small park behind the dormitory, sat on a bench, and began thinking about the future.

"Three days, huh."

Elizabeth's message said the freshman party was in three days.

And the freshman party was always held on the evening of the entrance ceremony.

"Well, if the story follows the original path the celebration never actually happens, so I don't need to worry about that side of things."

What I did need to worry about was the entrance ceremony itself—the part that came before the party.

The very first event every player experienced when starting the game.

"The Entrance Ceremony Disaster."

Also called the Entrance Ceremony Terror, it was an event designed to give new players their first taste of combat. The protagonist defeated the enemies, showed off his extraordinary talent, and left a strong first impression on the surrounding cast.

Naturally, as a starter event, most of the mobs were weak enough for beginners to handle. As long as you watched out for the boss, you were fine—but that wasn't my problem.

"Taylor Winchester dies in the Entrance Ceremony Disaster..."

And that guy was me.

The best solution would be to never enroll in the Hero Academy at all.

As I'd already said, nearly every incident happened right here on campus. If I simply returned to the family estate I wouldn't have to suffer, and the death flag would vanish cleanly.

The world would be fine—the protagonist would protect it.

The game's freedom was high, so the exact growth path varied, but the protagonist character was so overpowered you could call him a top-tier monster without shame. I had nothing to worry about on that front.

At the very least, a powerless, zero-importance extra like me had no business sticking his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠nose into anything.

Unfortunately, I was in no position to choose withdrawal.

It all came down to the social standing this body originally possessed.

The sole heir of a ducal house.

Someone of that rank, who actually possessed a talent—even if it was only D-rank—simply deciding not to attend the Academy?

First of all it was illegal under imperial law. And even if I tried to run, the Duke of Winchester I knew would chase me to the ends of the continent and drag me straight back to campus.

Grrrrooowl~

While I was deep in serious thought, my stomach let out a loud gurgle and a hollow laugh escaped me.

"Ha... I'm about to die and my stomach is still complaining."

Three days of holing up in the dorm without eating anything would do that.

"Fine. Let's eat something first and then think."

I stood up from the bench and looked around. A vending machine sat off to one side of the park.

This fantasy world had modern conveniences scattered everywhere under the name of magic engineering; I still couldn't get used to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it every time I saw them.

The phone in my pocket and this vending machine were perfect examples.

"Wonder what they're selling."

The moment I reached the machine I realized something crucial.

Come to think of it... do I even have money?

The heir of a ducal house couldn't possibly be short on cash.

But being rich and currently having money on hand were two different stories.

"So, uh... inventory?"

A sound like paper unrolling filled my ears—or maybe it was just my imagination—and a hologram far longer than the status window appeared.

The flood of text made my eyes spin.

"Haha..."

Right now.

In this very moment.

I thought I could hear the sound of my destiny shifting.

This... might actually be doable?