Zian was the protagonist of this world. His name should have been called. He should have been the one walking toward the stage, bearing the weight of countless judging gazes.
But he wasn't.
And that was when Ruvian realised he couldn't find him. His head snapped toward the sea of scholars inside the hall.
'Where is that bastard?'
His eyes darted from face to face, scanning the rows of uniforms, but there was no sign of Zian Herga anywhere.
'Where is that damn protagonist!?'
A chill spread down his spine.
'Shit. Don't screw with me…'
The worst possible outcome, the one possibility he had never considered, slammed into him like a physical force.
'Don't tell me that he doesn't exist…?'
The thought sent a surge of panic through him, cold and suffocating.
This was a familiar scenario, something he had once read in another novel, a world where the protagonist was missing, erased, or had never been born at all.
