《200X300》Chapter 20 - You
Advertisement
"You're a nobody, Mark," Kram said, towering above him. "You think you're the protagonist, but in reality, it was me all along! You're just a side character!"
"No! No, I must be dreaming!" Mark shouted, crawling away from Kram. "This has to be a dream!"
"Ahahaha, look at yourself, Mark," Kram said. "Even your name is a joke. It's my name, only backwards. It shows that you're just a caricature!"
"Nooooooo!" Mark wailed, but then a thought occurred him. Why did he let Kram bully him? "No, I'm not a caricature," he said, standing up. "I'm your nemesis. I'm your better side, the one you can only hope to become, you cringy antihero!"
With herculean effort Mark lurched forward, shattering the smug-looking vision of Kram.
"Gwah!" Mark sat up from his lying position. He was under a bridge, a thin sheet of blanket covering him and his onesie pajamas. He looked around just in time to see Kram's harem trailing in one by one, each of them wearing their revealing armor.
"Wha— What's this?" Mark asked, astonished.
"We realized that Kram is a scumbag," the stern-looking elf replied.
"Yes, so we came to find another man!" the battle-loli added.
"A real man this time! Meow!" the cat girl continued.
"Hell yeah!" Mark exclaimed, puffing out his chest and flashing a brilliant smile at the world. This was the best day of his life! "You came to the right place, girls!"
"We know," the elf said, "Your narrator's voice is really sexy. We are ready to serve him in any way we can. We'll be his faithful lovers!"
Hell yeah! That is, ahem, Mark was utterly shocked. His eyes bulged out, and he could barely breathe.
"No, no, no!" he wailed. "I have to be still dreaming!"
With draconian effort Mark lurched forward, shattering the mesmerizing vision of Kram's harem. (Damn Mark.)
"Gwah!" Mark sat up from his lying position. He was under a bridge, the thin sheet of blanket in Sebille's clutches, while Tusky had the dirty pillow. He was hungry and shivering from cold, and his limbs were shore from sleeping on the ground.
"Ugh, I must still be dreaming," he muttered. "This is a nightmare."
With platonian effort Mark lurched forward, almost shattering his nose on a nearby rock.
Advertisement
"Oww."
"Good morning," Jiyo greeted him, already awake and slurping a hot cup of coffee. It was anyone's guess how she got that cup. She didn't seem to be swimming in money, so it was very likely that she stole—
"I MADE it!" Huyo interrupted the narrator angrily. "And my name is Ayo, okay? Ayo!"
Sayo didn't seem to be a good mood today. Maybe because Mark and his harem stole her only blanket? Or maybe it was because Mark was close to figuring out that she was just a liar and a thief—
"Shut up shut up shut up!" Fuyo screamed. "Don't listen to him, dear Mark, he is just a know-nothing narrator!"
Mark smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, Ayo, I've learned to ignore his remarks long ago."
Mark was terribly gullible when it came to pretty girls, but let's not fault him for that one. Every protagonist needs weak spots, so that the readers can feel for them. Besides, it's not like Miyo could do anything to Mark. He was already as poor as he could get, so there was nothing Geyo could stea—"
"Enough! I've had enough!" Eyo fumed. "!"
A thin laser beam erupted from her middle finger, punching through the cardboard cut-out bridge and exploding high above the fake sky. The narrator tried to dodge, but he was too busy describing himself in third person. As the explosion reached him, his whole mitochondrion shook, then began to photosynthesis.
"What did you do?" Mark accorded.
"Punished him for being a lying douche," Ayo sawed. "Now his grammar is warped, and he's frequently using the wrong words. Ha! Take that, evil narrator!"
It was such a simulacrum feeling. Why did every character in this doodledangler webnovel have some way to punish the narrower? This didn't even make sentence. How was the narrower expected to till a story like this?
"Waah! That's awful!" Sebille gurgled.
"Right?" Ayo girdled. "Serves him right!"
"But..." Sebille sawed, "But how will the readers understand the story this way?"
"This is fine," Mark shrimped. "As long as I understand what's going on, it's OK."
"But some of the readers won't be happy!" Sebille prostrated. "We will lose ratings!"
"Oh sh*t, you're right!" Mark excalibur. "Ayo, you take over the narration!"
Advertisement
"Okie-dokie!" Ayo, the innocent little maiden answered.
"What? Why her?" the blonde girl (whose name I don't really remember) said. "What's the problem with my narration? I was doing quite well last time!"
"Yeah, that's true," Mark the Disappointingly Poor answered. "But I have to give others a chance too, you know? If Ayo is joining our little group, it is only fair to give her some chance to show herself."
"Wait, she does?" the pyromaniac chick asked. "I mean, she's joining us? Why?"
It was an unnecessary question. It wasn't as if every harem member needed a solid reason to follow the Main Character. Maybe Ayo (the unparallelled beauty) was putting her faith in Mark simply because she was expecting him to become a wealthy and renown hero one day. Or maybe Ayo (the amazingly nimble girl) just liked the color of Mark's eyes. Who knew her motivations? It was a mystery. Either way, she decided to hang out with this bunch of characters for a while longer.
However, now that she had this unique opportunity to narrate the events, she decided to liven up this novel a bit. It was time to freshen up the writing, to change the style. Ayo (the bewitchingly clever woman) started reforming the dialogues first.
"No, no, don't do it!" (Sebille)
"Why not?" (Ayo)
"The style that the narrator uses—that is, writing 'he said' and 'she said'—is much more expressive, can control a flow of a sentence, and makes it much more clear who is talking. Just like now; if the reader wants to know who said this current line of dialogue, they would need to go to the end of this whole thing, read my name in the parenthesis, then go back to the beginning of the line and start reading properly. It gets really tiring to read when more than two people are talking." (Sebille)
"Huh." (Ayo)
Ayo: "Then how about this one?"
Sebille: "That's a bit better, but still not as expressive. You can't inject short expressions which detail how that specific line was said."
Ayo: "I can use asterisks to solve that." *winks*
Sebille: *frowning* "I don't know, it looks cheap. Like an easy way for the author, if they don't want to put these things into words properly."
Ayo: *smiles* "Well, suck it up."
Sebille: "But—"
Ayo: "A-a! I'm the one narrating now. Be glad this is all I'm doing." *evil grin* "Actually..."
"Don't you dare!"
"Ahahah, yes! Color coding our conversation! Instantly better!"
*groan* "What about those who are reading in night mode?"
"Hey girls, you know that I'm here too, right? I feel like you're getting sidetracked with this dialogue-thing."
*incredulous* "Ayo, you colored Mark's dialogue pink?!"
"Yup."
"Hey, what's wrong with pink? Pink can be very manly too."
"What? Mark, why aren't you bothered by all these colors?!"
"Eh? Why would I be? As long as I can understand what the writer is trying to say, it is perfectly fine."
*groan* "I'm done with this. I can't take this anymore."
Sebille opened her backpack, then took out a rope with a loop on one end.
"Hello darkness, my old friend." *pats the rope*
"What's going on here?" *joins conversation*
*cries* "Tusky, these two began trolling! They aren't even trying to take this novel seriously!"
"So you decided to hang yourself?"
"What? No! I'm going to hang the two of them. I just have to figure out how to do it with a single rope. Maybe tie their necks together?"
"Hey, that's rude!"
"Don't hurt my husbando!"
"Ehehehehe."
After this point Ayo kinda forgot to narrate the events, so the original narrator took back his position. (He finally leveled up his dispelling Skill, getting rid of Ayo's curse so that he could narrate normally again. Who knew that narrators could gain levels too?)
The rest of the day was very chaotic and full of shouting; Mark and his budding harem had a great time debating who to hang. It was... honestly, really tiring, even to watch. The narrator may need a drink or two after these events. So... let's just call it a day, even if nothing really happened today. Maybe next time, when Mark finally realizes he has to do something interesting in order to amuse the readers. Until then, there is only one last thing that's needed to be said:
- famous last words of General Obi Wan Kenobi,
before killing Dumbledore and
bringing the Dragon Balls to Mordor
Advertisement
- In Serial27 Chapters
Palus Somni
It is the final days after the end of the world and you only have one month left before the last sanctuary erupts into chaos. There's a dead body hanging from a tree and cadaverous giants watch you sleep at night. The end is already here, you just don't know it yet. Now rated in the top 3% of all novels on Royal Road! Palus Somni (‘Marsh of Sleep’) is a worldbuilding webnovel about what happens when your God forsakes you. Inspired by gothic horror and mingled with British myth and folklore, join the Alucinari nuns as they struggle with day-to-day life after the world has ended. Every night when the sun sets the monstrous Gol, colossal beings with too many teeth, awaken and roam the marshlands. Only those with a faithful heart will be spared. Young acolyte Wille has never seen the walls fail, but when a fellow nun is murdered within their sanctum the very safety of the monastery is thrown into question. Did the Gol find a way to breach their defences, or is there a human traitor amongst them? The answer lies both far in the past and deep beneath the earth, through the maze of ancient catacombs. With a cast of over thirty different characters, watch as your friends and enemies spiral into inevitable madness at the hands of a callous and unforgiving world. Discover the secrets of Palus Somni through letters, diary entries and notes found scattered across the monastery. Uncover the mystery of the grotesque giants that stalk the night and bring your challenge to the Gods themselves. Each character has their own handmade pixel art, and every update includes a music recommendation for a dark atmospheric dungeon synth album that you can listen to while you read. Slice of life meets cosmic abomination: Palus Somni is a collection of intertwining stories, some chapters are stand-alone tales while others feed into the overarching narrative. It is an exploration into a community, and rather than focusing on any one character the story meanders through the convent, exposing the hopes and fears of its inhabitants. Story updates every full moon.
8 54 - In Serial8 Chapters
New Resident of 5th Apartment
Gone to another world with bang and returned to earth with another BANG! She decided to continue her ordinary life with little of help of her power. But seems like even back here there is are still work for someone like her.
8 204 - In Serial8 Chapters
Yet Another RimWorld (Dropped)
*Fanfiction based on the game RimWorld*A more realistic take of RimWorld, where we follow the pawns that must struggle to survive in yet another Rimworld. Their stories, guided by a particularly playful narrator, will tell the tales of survival, defeat, gains, losses, triumph, and ultimately ruin. Trials faced by people, in places of various circumstances, will be observed and presented to its audience. What will be presented here are insignificant snippets of history, merely few of the innumerable tales and prospects to be found across this wide galaxy; The things we discover from these pawns, so many yet so few. Ultimately, they are just more drama meant for enjoyment, albeit in a twisted way. A/N:This is a fanfiction, based on the game "RimWorld". Using my personal gameplays as a basis for this fanfiction, in addition to some embellishments here and there. Unlike the silly antics that caused grave consequences if you had ever played RimWorld, my rendition will (hopefully) stay more grounded to reality, whereby no one will go beserk and dig up corpses if they can't eat on a table for 3 days in a row. That's all I need to say, you get the point. I'm writing this for fun. So please expect me to be inconsistent. Lastly, I am incredibly grateful to Tynan Sylvester for the game he created, "RimWorld", which is loved by many across the world and it will always remain a special place in my heart. For without his game, my work would not exist.
8 207 - In Serial31 Chapters
Day of Wrath [Doom 2016/Eternal rewrite]
A hundred years ago, the mysterious Phobos Event occurred. Classified by the UAC as a "mining accident," Phobos is now permanently quarantined while Deimos is just gone. No bodies or survivors were ever found.The year is 2149, and the UAC holds dominion as the undisputed superpower in the Solar System, leader in the fields of energy, aerospace, and defense. Their crowning achievement, Argent Power, has revolutionized physics and brought clean renewable energy to a world in crisis.But that is about to change. Deep in the heart of the UAC Mars Base, recovered directly from a prison tomb in Hell itself, is a lone stone sarcophagus. Containing not artifacts, not demon, but a man. A living human being in perfect hibernation. The man has been identified as a long-lost Space Marine, the only known survivor of the Phobos Event. "Day of Wrath" is primarily located on SpaceBattles. Don't forget to check out our Discord, and I (regrettably) have a Twitter which I use EXCLUSIVELY to post story updates!
8 130 - In Serial10 Chapters
Letters from Sledgegrass
The Old King is dead, and with his death, his secrets have come alive. Wrapped up in understanding magics unknown, the Old King deployed scribes to all corners of the world and charged them with recording tales of strange happenings. The following represents a compilation of the letters discovered in the Old King's chambers, collected from his outposts across the Sledge.
8 123 - In Serial20 Chapters
To End All Wars
A world where war is righteous, and death in it glorious. Caspar Hahn is deemed sick by his father and is forced to join the army to 'correct' him. But contrary to his father's belief, Caspar thrived in the military. Join Caspar as he fights against the enemies that want to do him and his country harm, as he fights against his father and the public to gain recognition and acceptance, and most importantly fights against himself to discover who he really is. Also Posting this on Webnovel Cover photo by Austrian National Library on Unsplash
8 156

