Beta: Jeannette
Inside a classroom with no windows, Jun was hiding. He chose this classroom knowing that there'd be no class during the start of the apocalypse. There was only one door, and it was already locked from the inside and barricaded with several tables and chairs. Jun had on hand a week's worth of supplies, and it should be more than enough because he knew that in three days, the military would come to rescue people.
That was good because he didn't want to think about having to answer nature's calls for too long. Slapping his forehead, he lamented that he hadn't thought things through and chose a location without a bathroom.
Outside the room, the sounds of screams, wailing, people running, odd scraping along the floor and walls could be heard, accompanied by some inhuman groans and roars. Several times, the door was tried or banged against, and it had only been an hour since the apocalypse began. Although Jun felt terrible for abandoning others for his own survival, he really wanted to make it through the first day of the apocalypse.
The last 6 months had been rewarding but having to always be on the alert of impending death even before the apocalypse, his heart had grown a bit weary and cold over time. Wasn't this already like losing himself even before facing punishment for failing his mission? Jun made a promise then and there that after being rescued he'd focus less on his survival but on others as well.
|Host...|
|It's ok, I'm ok.|
Someone desperately slammed on the door, begging to be let inside, and Jun clenched his eyes shut, his hands covering his ears. He was, after all, just a normal person. His existence wasn't extraordinary nor did he wish for it to be. He just wanted to live a peaceful life.
Three days later the military arrived, and Jun was amongst those rescued along with Dahlye. They were placed in the same military truck and both looked equally haggard, though Jun was a little better off.
"Dahlye, thank goodness you're safe." Jun gave her a long hug. Towards this sister, he had no hard feelings nor did he have deep feelings, but she was the female protagonist, who would survive, so he had to respect her. That and Dahlye had a good heart, with no intention of killing him. His storyline death had nothing to do with her.
"You... Why didn't you die?"
"Eh?"
|D-d-dearest Host! I'm sensing some deep animosity from the female protagonist! Please be careful!|
"What are you talking about, Dahlye?" Jun asked.
"You were supposed to die for me," Dahlye responded very vehemently.
|System, this is a reborn female protagonist right?|
Before the female protagonist was reborn, Jun Taylor didn't have any run-ins with her and was presumed missing, dead, or a zombie. Other than her experiences before rebirth, she shouldn't know anything about the original's self-sacrifice.
|Yes, yes, yes.|
|Are you 100% certain?|
|... Uh, let me double-check.|
In the meantime, Jun smiled at Dahlye and released her from his hug. "You must be in shock from what happened—"
"No! You were supposed to die for me!" Dahlye insisted with narrowed eyebrows and clenched fists. "How? This isn't right..."
As she continued to mutter to herself, Jun backed up out of reflex and sat far away from her.
|Dearest Host, it's terrible! The female protagonist has changed!|
|That's possible?|
|In very rare cases, the world will change the protagonist to try and rectify the plot.|
|In what way has she changed?|
|The female protagonist is now a transmigrator who read the original story!|
|... What the actual fuck.|
|Technically you're a transmigrator too so it's not that far fetched...|
|That's not the point.|
A reborn protagonist would know the plot up to the point of when they died and were reborn, but a knowledgeable transmigrator was different. They often knew the entire plot. As someone also privy to the entire plot, Jun had felt relatively comfortable but not anymore, especially since the current Dahlye seemed to be preoccupied on the matter that he should have died!
|At what point did she become a transmigrator?|
|It was actually when you were supposed to sacrifice yourself for her. Since you didn't, she died and the transmigrator took over.|
|So I caused this? Wait, how did she die?|
|She was trampled to death.|
|Oh.|
|More importantly, dearest Host, this transmigrator has a healing ability on top of the spatial ability. When you have time, please review the changed plot.|
|I'll review it now.|
After skimming through the updated plot, Jun looked at Dahlye with a thoughtful expression while giving himself a mental face slap. His actions had made his own survival chances worse. From now on, he was going to avoid the female protagonist as much as possible. This was still a "reborn" R-18 harem apocalypse story, but now the transmigrator female protagonist was fixated on his death. She was one of the rare types that believed the story had to run its exact original course.
Jun thought: 'Stupid world plot correcting bullshit.'
A few hours later, the truck stopped, and they had arrived at what would become the future Silver Base, one of the strongest bases during the apocalypse. Outside the truck, there was a clamor before the sliding door lifted, allowing light to filter in. A tall and muscular man in standard military uniform stepped inside. Though he was handsome with soft blonde hair and light blue eyes, he was not Jun's type.
Wasn't this male lead #1, Charles Erwin? Not to mention Dahlye's fiancé? The Taylor and Erwin families had been friends for several generations, and Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. Erwin were particularly close, so it was no surprise for there to be an engagement between the two families. Had Jun been born female he might have ended up paired with Charles. Luckily he was male.
As one of Dahlye's harem members, Charles could only be a death flag to Jun. Avoid, avoid, avoid.
"Dahlye, Jun, it's good to see you both are safe," Charles said with a charming smile before wrinkling his eyebrows. "Why are you two sitting so far away from each other?" He asked Jun, who was closest.
"I think Dahlye might have been traumatized by what happened, so I'm giving her some space."
Charles shot Jun a look of disapproval. Just from that alone, he could clearly see the man was a super death flag. Dahlye, seizing her moment, went up to Charles with teary eyes and asked: "M-my parents?"
"I'm sorry, Dahlye, they became zombies so I had to..."
"No00000~!"
Then the female protagonist clung to male lead #1's uniform and sobbed miserably from despair.
|System, isn't her crying more wild than miserable?|
|Well, she is a transmigrator. She doesn't actually have feelings for Mr. and Mrs. Taylor.|
Charles saw Jun's lack of reactions to the news and his frown deepened, a line creasing where his brows met. Jun just stared right back at him. He wasn't an actor and he wasn't going to try like the transmigrator female protagonist and do a bad job. At this rate, she'd eventually be caught. Or was everyone blind to the terrible acting?
Thankfully, he didn't have to think further as Charles escorted Dahlye out. "You'll be staying with me," He said, causing a pretty blush to cover Dahlye's cheeks.
"B-But it's not proper..." She argued, half-heartedly, an eager look shining in her eyes.
|Who are you trying to fool, lady? What a fake! Isn't that right, dearest Host?|
|...|
Jun's mind was already elsewhere, specifically with his storage units. Having had the intention to end up at Silver Base, which was located on the eastern end of S City, he had set up his storage units in the northeast part of S City. Now he just needed to find a way to visit them. Soon he'd be able to have some milk tea. Three days was pushing his limit, and the past three days had been so torturous without his lifeblood.
Seeing the dazed look on Jun's face, Charles sneered. For an elder brother, he hadn't fulfilled his purpose of protecting Dahlye, his younger sister, so Charles was quite dissatisfied with him. "You'll be staying in the barracks with everyone else. If you gather enough merit points, maybe you can get a single room later."
With a scoff, Charles led Dahlye away, his arms around her shoulders in a protective manner.
'Why so hostile male lead #1? Sure, I intentionally didn't protect the female protagonist, but as far as you know, we weren't in the same area. Alas...'
|Host...|
|Pfft. How stupid. The female protagonist isn't going to die. It's been proven already so why should I care about her? If anyone is going to die, it'll be me.|
|Oh, ok. So your feelings weren't hurt just now?|
|Why would it? I'm not interested in male lead #1. He's that stereotypical overprotective type who thinks the love of his life is never wrong. No growth, no development, just blah. Yuck, how boring.|
His mind clear and calm, Jun stepped down from the truck and joined the others in line to be processed. Everyone had to go through tests and a waiting period to make sure they weren't riddled with the zombie affliction. After the waiting period, most were assigned a bed in the barracks. Only the lucky few, like Dahlye, or military personnel, political figures, and so on were assigned rooms.
When he was done being processed and entered the base, there was a loud commotion from behind. From where he stood, he saw a tall dark haired man with an arrogant demeanor stand out among the crowd. Many people were talking amongst themselves as this man was rather infamous.
"It's him, Gerard Narukami..."
"Gerard Narukami!? That Gerard Narukami, the leader of the gang, Strikes!?"
"Yeah, that's him. Don't you see that scar on his face?"
It turned out to be male lead #2. Jun turned away with disinterest. Worse than male lead #1, he was the playboy type, playing with countless men and women, only to hopelessly and devotedly fall in love with the female protagonist, regretting his old ways.
|Do people really like those types?|
|Yes, dearest Host! They're classic types! Who wouldn't want to win over a man like that, instantly defeating all those who once had his body but never his heart?|
|Sounds like a load of baggage with potential STDs that'll take years to overcome. No thanks.|
If System 00 could produce saliva, he would have choked on it.
Though he said what he did, he knew for a fact that all of Gerard's past lovers had conveniently died or become zombies at the start of the apocalypse. Jun continued his thoughts with an expression full of cringe.
|Let's hope he used condoms. Oh well, none of my business.|
Not wanting to stay any longer near a death flag, Jun turned around to leave, and bumped into a hard body, stumbling backward to land on his butt. He could only curse his luck when he caught sight of a tall man with glasses in a neat military uniform. The man held out a hand and Jun unconsciously took it.
"Dahlye..." Shit, was this another male lead?
"Nope, wrong person. I'm her older twin brother." That said, Jun promptly left.
|System, who was that?|
|Male lead #3, Azel Barton.|
|How many more male leads are there?|
|Just two more. I thought you reviewed the plot, dearest Host?|
|... I skimmed it... And skipped over the romance and R-18 parts...|
|Dearest Host, that's 65% of the plot!|
|But I wasn't interested in the heterosexual romance and sex! If it were about two men getting it on, I would have gladly read it.|
|Host...|
|Time to sleep. Female protagonist or male lead or whatnot, I'll deal with it tomorrow. I haven't had a good sleep in days... Need to gather energy to gather my milk tea later.|
|Er, ok. Good night, dearest Host.|
|I'm not going to be killed in my sleep, am I?|
|Don't worry dearest Host, I'm always watching over you.|
|Thank you, that's nice of you.|
|And you still have a Rewind! You can always use that!| What's the use of that if he couldn't use it after death?
|... Good night.|
—
A/N: Can you guess which of the men that appeared are the MLs!?
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