Chapter 1
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: The Extra's Change
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This is the world inside a novel.
Even I thought it was a pretty cliché realization.
And it made perfect sense. Just moments ago, I'd been lounging crookedly on my bed, swiping through the final scenes of a novel on my phone screen.
The ceiling light, the feel of the blanket, the cool touch of the screen against my fingertips—it was all crystal clear.
But the second I opened my eyes, my field of vision had dropped lower, and my body felt strangely light.
Small, delicate fingers. An unfamiliar scent filled my lungs as I drew in a breath.
I'd suddenly come to in the body of a young boy.
There was no scientific explanation for this bizarre change.
And I realized just as quickly that this world was from that novel—specifically, that one.
"Lee Seol."
"Yes, Teacher."
A neat, mature-sounding woman's voice... probably the kindergarten teacher.
Looking at the little girl who answered her, how could I not realize?
This was that high school romance comedy novel.
Lee Seol.
A common enough name.
But her appearance matched it perfectly in a distinctive way.
Short, scarlet-red hair. A small head hidden within it, and cute, compact features that promised massive popularity later on.
That scarlet hair especially.
...Am I the only one who finds this weird?
No one batted an eye at that strange color.
They accepted it as naturally as black hair on a spring day... and more than anything, it suited her face uncannily well.
There wasn't a hint of dissonance.
If not for my memories of my past life, I wouldn't have sensed anything off either.
She's always had that effortlessly pretty look, even as a kid.
I fell into that thought like I was hypnotized.
With all the memories of living as a man in my late twenties intact, here I stood in the body of a seven-year-old boy. And right in front of me was Lee Seol.
Was I accepting this situation too easily? I asked myself.
Have I been too obsessed with that novel lately...?
Yeah, I definitely had been hooked.
Not only had I reread it multiple times, but I'd devoured the webtoon adaptation too.
I must've replayed it countless times, picking apart the differences.
It might be embarrassing to admit to anyone else, but...
I'd even immersed myself in the characters, memorizing lines and acting them out.
That was my way of savoring the afterglow of a good story.
Hmm, that might make me sound like a total nutjob, so I should probably mention what I did for a living in my past life.
I was an actor.
Of course, it wasn't a career I could boast about. My shining moment? A brief supporting role in one movie.
No-name actor. That was the most accurate label.
I wasn't particularly handsome either. If anything, I was on the uglier side.
Still, I'd believed passion alone would carry me. That even if talent and looks fell short, pure desperation would open doors. Foolish times.
Reality's walls were far higher and thicker than I'd imagined.
Anyway, practicing lines with novel characters wasn't that crazy.
And soon after grasping the truth of this world, I figured out who I was.
Lee Minwoo.
It took a while to dig through my memories.
As I mentioned, the novel's main setting was high school. One boy in the protagonist's class.
Classmate No. 1.
An extra, basically.
I vaguely remembered him popping up once or twice with bland descriptions.
In the webtoon, he was unmistakably average-looking.
If I hadn't binged the novel and webtoon so many times, I might not have remembered him at all.
Yet his existence felt oddly familiar.
A true extra, through and through.
Not the story's driver, not a conflict catalyst—just background filler.
If I summed up my past life in one word... it'd be extra too.
Hence the sense of kinship.
Yeah, kinda depressing.
But being in a new body made it easier to view my past self objectively, from a distance.
Who'd have thought this new body was an extra too?
Fate? Or mockery?
Maybe it sparked some defiance.
Do I really have to live as an extra here, where I know the entire future?
And anyone who's enjoyed novels has probably fantasized about it at least once.
What if I possessed a character? What if it was back in childhood, before the story proper begins?
Before bonds solidify, before people mature—couldn't I reach out in those gaps and become special to the protagonists?
Like approaching them in a tough moment as a kid, or shielding them from some minor wound mentioned later.
I fell into those daydreams hard at first, after realizing I'd possessed someone.
And the heroine, Lee Seol, was right there, super close to me.
The girl I'd adored so much, standing in front of me.
No longer a vague mental image or 2D webtoon panel, but a breathing, moving, three-dimensional person bathed in light.
The more vivid she became, the more her beauty felt unreal.
But ironically, that made it crystal clear.
Lee Seol was too perfect.
Meaning, there was no room for a nobody like me to wedge in.
No hardships, great friends, stable family from childhood, doting parents, naturally at the center of her peers.
Liked by everyone.
No problems for me to swoop in and fix.
No space for a stray gear in those perfectly meshed wheels.
Still, I didn't give up.
I'm not gonna dress it up now as some "hit a tree ten times and it'll fall" self-justification.
Maybe my mind had regressed with my body, but back then, I was simpler, more brash—full of that fearless kid energy.
Or perhaps I just wanted to grasp something here that I'd failed at before.
No need for grand explanations: I tailed her around like a puppy.
She moved, I moved. She laughed, I laughed louder. She'd talk to other kids, and I'd subtly insert myself.
But I quit that pathetic routine soon enough.
The trigger? An amusement park.
A kindergarten field trip.
I was still shadowing her there.
She was clearly annoyed, though she didn't push me away outright—just that subtle distancing in her eyes.
Still, I stuck to her out of greed. Greed for "childhood memories" I could reminisce about later.
After riding one ride together and feeling satisfied.
As the trip wrapped up and we gathered at the entrance to head home.
I happened to glance back and spotted him—a boy beaming happily far off.
Parents flanking him, grinning innocently between them.
The male lead. Seo Jaehyun.
And memories of the original story I'd half-forgotten rewound through my mind like film.
Lee Seol lost in the park crowds, trembling anxiously. Seo Jaehyun, out having fun with his parents, spots her wandering and helps.
That day's chance encounter becomes a profound bond later.
But that episode was gone.
Because of me.
Because I'd glued myself to her side.
Lee Seol never got lost.
The realization hit like a sledgehammer to the skull.
A thick iron rod smashing into my head.
My greed erased an episode that matters big-time later...
The original ends happily.
They fight, cry, misunderstand, hurt each other—but love endures.
In this messy, cruel world, one gaze that sees you as you are.
That noble, pure value: love.
Love lets them endure hardship, face reality without fleeing, choose each other in the end.
Has my mental age regressed with my body or something...?
Leave things be, and they'll grow into great adults, share an epic romance, get that perfect ending.
Could an extra like me really barge into their shining path?
This wasn't some novel I could dismiss lightly anymore.
The characters I'd loved were no longer ink on paper—they were real people.
So.
Shouldn't I just wait for them to reach their happy, destined end?
In the midst of all the laughter, I stood frozen alone for a long while.
After that, I kept my distance from Lee Seol. Deliberately.
Averted my eyes first if they met, shifted away if we shared space. Like we'd never crossed paths.
A true extra.
I happily faded behind the curtain.
Extras live extra lives. Not hard. I've done it before.
So I ghosted through kindergarten, and time flew—I hit elementary school.
Turned out Lee Seol and I were at the same school, but different classes, so ignoring her was easy.
Elementary flew by without incident.
Change hit in middle school.
Precisely, midway through first year.
"Heard you like someone?"
"Huh?"
"She asked me to pass this."
A boy casually handed me a sticky note. A phone number scribbled on it.
This was... the third time already?
I hadn't noticed in elementary. That my looks were veering off from what I'd expected.
The changes crept in over six years—too gradual for others to notice much, and I wasn't paying attention.
Or rather, I knew how this face would end up.
Average.
The kind where "The Average" could be a game title, no cap.
Stick it in a crowd; good luck picking it out. Zero standout features.
That was the original Lee Minwoo from the novel.
But something was off.
Finally, I checked myself objectively.
Handsome... ish?
Not a massive glow-up from canon, but clearer skin, baby fat gone from my cheeks, jawline sharpening...
What's that saying? A seven out of ten woman.
Not a stunner, but pretty enough that most would nod along.
The male equivalent, I guess.
Guys rate themselves way higher, but that didn't apply—I could compare to my past-life mug and the webtoon's Minwoo.
"...Something's really wrong here."
This wasn't the Lee Minwoo I knew.
And the changes didn't stop there.
Middle school third year.
After winter break, I'd shot up in height big-time.
The moment I stepped into school, eyes locked on. Blatantly.
Walking the halls brought whispers trailing me.
- Who's that?
- Lee Minwoo.
- Whoa... he grew so tall.
- He's hot. Didn't realize he was this level.
- Where's Minwoo going to high school?
- Seojeong High.
- Aw... bummer.
Pretending not to hear those whispers worming perfectly into my ears was torture.