Meet Dan, an unimportant extra who just wants a fresh start, true love, and a happy ending. Unfortunately, life is unpredictable---especially when the readers keep voting on his fate! Will Dan make it through his isekai fantasy BL unscathed? Or will...
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Dan is a man. He lived an extraordinarily normal life in an extraordinarily abnormal world, mostly in the background as an unacknowledged extra. He was lucky enough to have eyes and a mouth and even a cool hat, even if his fingers, nose, and ears were still missing.
Nobody cared about Dan because he technically didn't exist. In fact, Dan only learned his name five minutes ago when it popped into his head. It didn't seem to matter much before whether he had one or not.
Dan was his first name. His last was Mei, which sounded kind of girly, but Dan was flexible enough to embrace both monikers. After all, he'd never had something to call his own (besides his cool hat) in his entire life.
As he muttered to himself, Dan realized that he was standing in a vast white space. The floor was white and so was the sky, making him feel like he was floating. His mind, Dan mused, was similar to this blank slate—full of potential, but with no beginning or end.
What was he doing here?
PING!
Something blue and square popped up in front of Dan. It was a holographic screen with white text:
[HELLO, DAN.]
Dan blinked, then waved one of his nubby arms at the screen. "H...ello."
His voice came out a little strained. Come to think of it, Dan didn't think he used to speak much. But the screen evidently didn't mind, because a quick stream of text soon flowed across its surface:
[CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING SELECTED AS A MC CANDIDATE FOR THE AUTHOR'S LATEST BL STORY.]
I know MC, but what's BL? Dan wondered. Why can't they just spell out the words?
[TO SUCCESSFULLY QUALIFY, PLEASE IMPRESS THE READERS IN THE NEXT FIVE MINUTES. FAILURE TO DO SO MAY RESULT IN ELIMINATION.] After Dan finished reading the message, the screen automatically started a countdown timer at 300 seconds...
Impress the readers?
Dan turned towards the screen. Really, he was just a little guy. He was barely cognizant of the Laws of Fiction, to say nothing of having any hidden talents resting within his unremarkable frame.
"..." Dan scrunched his eyebrows. Or rather, the place where he would have eyebrows sort of tensed, to give him a forehead crease over his nose.
What could he do?
A little nervously, Dan poked his arm against the rim of his hat, which moved a little, and smiled.
"H-hi. Um...please support me?" he tried.
Silence greeted him. Actually, he couldn't see or hear anything beyond the screen at all. If there really was an audience reading about him right now, he sure didn't know what they thought.
This isn't good. I'll have to try harder.
Impressive...what was impressive...
Oh! He had an idea!
Dan bent forwards until his hat fell off, then caught it with the end of his arm and spun it in a circle. Whirl, whirl, whirl went the cowboy hat until Dan threw it straight up in the air!
And then...
...he caught it with his other arm and spun it again, only in the opposite direction! After building up speed, he threw the hat back into the sky and...
Finally jumped up to catch the hat with his head, making for a perfect landing!
Breathless, Dan posed with a smile. Then he went to check the strange prompt window for time.
Huh, that hadn't even taken a minute?
Seconds later, another quick message scrolled past the screen.
[THAT WAS...HONESTLY PATHETIC.]
Dan felt a throb of pain in his chest. It wasn't easy to do hat tricks when you didn't have any fingers, all right?! Even tasks like picking up stuff he dropped or trying to drink from a cup were almost insurmountable challenges in daily life!
[YOU HAVE 208 SECONDS.] the window replied before resuming its countdown.
"Do I have to be an MC? Can't I be an extra like I've always done?" Dan complained.
[WELL, THE AUTHOR'S SCRAPING THE BARREL FOR INSPIRATION THESE DAYS,] the window replied. [YOU'RE THE BEST BET SHE HAS SO FAR, EVEN IF YOU'RE MORE LIKE A JOKE.]
"But I..." Don't even know how to act MC-like!
[182 SECONDS.]
"If I get eliminated, can I just go back to my life as an extra?" Dan pressed on.
[WHO KNOWS? NOBODY CARES ABOUT THE LIFE OR DEATH OF EXTRA CHARACTERS.]
"I care!"
[YOU DON'T COUNT. NOT YET, ANYWAYS. 168 SECONDS.]
Dan's frown intensified. If he didn't do something soon, his time was going to run out. He turned towards the direction of the screen he knew was out there and fell on his knees.
"Please...please don't vote for me! But don't eliminate me, either. Can you all just...ask the Author to send me home?"
[NOBODY LIKES SPINELESS TYPES IN FICTION.]
"Shut up, I just want to get out of here!"
[THAT'S A LITTLE BETTER, I GUESS.]
In the end, the window prompt and Dan ended up arguing until time ran out, leaving the final decision—to none other than the readers. If you are reading this in the waning hours of August 27th, congratulations! You have the right to vote. Wattpad readers can comment on their choice below (but each comment will only count ONCE):
[CHOICE 1: LET DAN STAY.]
[CHOICE 2: KICK DAN OUT!]
THANK YOU, BUT THE POLL HAS CLOSED. You may still comment, but your votes will not count towards story progression. Please see Chapter 2 for results.
