We Have to Prevent a Bad Ending!
I died.
That was the first thing I realized the moment my consciousness returned.
The last thing I remembered was the blinding headlights of a truck barreling toward me, the screech of tires, and then… nothing. Just darkness. And now, here I was, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling with a pounding headache that felt like someone had taken a hammer to my skull.
What the hell is going on?
I tried to sit up, but my body felt strangely heavy. No, not heavy. Different. The limbs were longer, the frame leaner yet somehow packed with a coiled strength I’d never possessed in my old life. My hands—someone else’s hands—trembled as I lifted them into view. Pale skin. Elegant fingers. Definitely not the chubby office-worker mitts I was used to.
A wave of memories that weren’t mine crashed into my mind like a tidal wave. Names, faces, places, grudges. A lifetime of arrogance, cruelty, and isolation. The face in the mirror across the room confirmed it: sharp jawline, cold gray eyes, silver hair that screamed “untouchable noble brat.”
Luke Colwen.
I had become the villain of Endless Fantasia, the dark fantasy game I’d poured hundreds of hours into before my untimely demise. The ultimate antagonist who stood in the protagonist’s way at every turn, only to be brutally crushed in the end. A walking bad ending generator.
“No… no way,” I muttered, my voice—Luke’s voice—coming out in a low, aristocratic drawl that sent chills down my spine. “This has to be a joke.”
But it wasn’t. The system window that popped up in front of my eyes proved it beyond doubt.
Welcome, Player. You have transmigrated into the body of Luke Colwen, the final boss of Endless Fantasia.
Main Quest: Prevent the Bad Ending.
Failure Condition: Death of the Protagonist or your own execution in the canonical route.
Good luck. You’ll need it.
I stared at the glowing blue box in stunned silence. Prevent the bad ending? Me? The guy whose entire purpose in the original story was to be a smug, overpowered obstacle that the hero eventually overcame in a blaze of glory?
In Endless Fantasia, the protagonist, Eres von Kairos, was a broken hero who rose from tragedy to save the world. His father murdered, his sister kidnapped, his friends sacrificed, his path blocked at every turn by corrupt nobles, sealed dungeons, and one particularly vicious silver-haired villain—me.
Every cruel act Luke Colwen committed wasn’t random evil. It was all part of a twisted plan to force Eres to become stronger. To turn the game’s dark fantasy setting into something closer to a romantic power fantasy where the hero could overcome anything.
But the ending was still a nightmare. Eres would lose everyone he cared about, watch the world burn, and ultimately kill Luke in a final, tragic confrontation before succumbing to his own inner demons. A true bad ending through and through.
And now I was Luke. The very architect of that misery.
“Why me?” I groaned, clutching my head. The memories kept flooding in—snippets of Luke’s life, his cold upbringing, the expectations placed on him as the heir to House Colwen. He wasn’t just a villain. He was a product of a rotten system, a pawn in a larger game played by even more powerful forces.
The system chimed again, as if reading my thoughts.
Avoid the Canonical Route
📍 Objective: Survive the Academy arc without becoming the final boss.
🎁 Reward: 500 System Points + Hidden Title
The Academy. Of course. That was where everything began in earnest. The prestigious institution where nobles, commoners with talent, and future heroes gathered to train. Where Luke would first clash with Eres, mock him publicly, and set the stage for all the future tragedies.
I had two choices: lean into the role and try to steer things from the shadows, or completely rewrite my character and hope the plot didn’t punish me for it. Knowing this world, the latter was probably suicidal. But the former… the former meant hurting people who didn’t deserve it.
“I’m not doing that,” I whispered fiercely. “I’m not going to be that guy. Not anymore.”
The memories of Luke’s victims flashed before my eyes—Eres’s broken expression, the way his friends slowly fell one by one, the sister who was never rescued. All because Luke thought “strength through suffering” was the only path forward.
Screw that.
If I had to become a villain to prevent an even worse ending, fine. But I wasn’t going to be the same kind of villain. I’d be the kind that pushed the hero forward without destroying him. The kind that controlled information, manipulated events from behind the scenes, and maybe—maybe—even became something like a rival who secretly rooted for the protagonist’s success.
A comedic villain. An action-packed obstacle. A misunderstood anti-hero who everyone thought was a monster but was actually trying to save them all from the true bad ending.
That was the only way.
I swung my legs off the bed and stood up. The full-length mirror showed a tall, handsome young man dressed in expensive black silk pajamas. The kind of face that made people instinctively wary. Perfect for a villain.
“Alright, Luke Colwen,” I said to my reflection, a crooked smile forming despite myself. “Let’s rewrite this damn story.”
The system responded with what I could have sworn was a hint of amusement.
Insanely overpowered from the start, just like in the game. Good. I’d need every advantage if I was going to flip the script on a tragedy that had already been written in stone.
Tomorrow was the entrance ceremony at the Academy. The place where Luke was supposed to publicly humiliate Eres in front of the entire student body, cementing his role as the ultimate antagonist.
Not this time.
This time, I’d make sure the hero got every advantage he needed—without anyone having to suffer for it. Even if it meant everyone misunderstood me as an even bigger villain than before.
Bring on the misunderstandings. Bring on the comedy. Bring on the action.
Because we have to prevent a bad ending.
And I’m the only one who knows how.