Chapter One
Leon slowly opened his eyes and stared at the stars for a few moments.
Then he thought to himself:
Why is life so boring?
Every day, I do almost the exact same things.
Study, eat, sleep, use my phone, train...
Then I start all over again.
The same streets.
The same people.
The same life.
The world is ridiculously boring.
No dragons, no kingdoms fighting for hundreds of years, no transformed humans, no families ruling entire continents, not even legendary swords appearing out of nowhere.
Just seven continents, countries, cities, schools, jobs, and people who live their lives and eventually die.
Even interesting things never last long.
A piece of news appears on everyone's phone. Everyone talks about it for two days, then everyone forgets about it as if it had never happened.
Leon straightened up and stood.
He walked toward the edge of the rooftop and looked down at the street.
The night was quiet.
Cars passed every now and then, the lights of the buildings reflected off the road, and a few people walked through the streets without paying much attention to anything around them.
On the other side of the street, a man of average height caught his attention.
He had a mustache, short hair, and wore unusually flashy clothes.
As Leon watched him, the man suddenly raised his head.
Their eyes met.
The man's expression changed slightly.
"Oh... Why are you still here?"
Leon answered indifferently:
"I'm not going with you. You can go."
The man stared at him for a few seconds before sighing.
"As you wish."
He turned around and walked away.
Two people who had been waiting at the other end of the street followed him.
Leon remained where he was for a few moments, watching them until they disappeared from sight.
Then he took out his phone.
He opened one of his apps and scrolled through it without much interest.
Then he closed it.
A few moments later, he opened it again.
He stared silently at the screen.
After several minutes, he realized he had been doing nothing except scrolling upward.
He sighed.
"Even my phone is boring now..."
He put it back in his pocket and left the rooftop.
---
A short while later, Leon was walking outside without any particular destination.
There was nowhere he actually wanted to go.
He simply wanted to walk.
He passed a group of young people laughing loudly, then continued on his way.
He saw a man speaking angrily on the phone.
A woman carrying shopping bags.
A child running after his father.
An old man sitting alone outside a café.
A car stopping at a traffic light.
People entering stores and leaving them.
Ordinary life.
Far too ordinary.
Leon kept walking, his eyes moving from one person to another.
Then an idea occurred to him.
Maybe the problem wasn't the world.
He stopped for a moment.
He looked around.
Maybe the world isn't boring at all...
Maybe we're just side characters.
He laughed internally at the thought.
But the idea didn't disappear.
He looked at the people around him again.
The president was known by everyone.
Celebrities were known by millions.
Even the person who owned a successful store in the neighborhood probably knew dozens of people.
And him?
Family.
A few friends.
Classmates.
Various acquaintances.
Nothing more.
He smiled bitterly.
Even an NPC has more connections than I do.
He continued walking.
Then he thought:
But maybe this is normal.
Not everyone is supposed to have an important role.
Maybe most people in the world are like this.
They live their lives, do small things, meet people, part ways with others...
And then everything ends.
He raised his head toward the sky.
And yet...
If I'm a side character...
Then who is the protagonist?