requested by:

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Y/N's POV

Keyboard clicks echoed through the wide room. I stayed after school, finishing up my codes.

After the last save, I connected the cable from the computer to the robot. I compiled the codes and input them. I plugged out the cable and tested the movements.

At last, it worked. I heaved a sigh of relief.

As soon as the program ended, I placed back all the things and went on my way.

In a blink of an eye, I found myself sitting on my seat once again, as if I teleported. The equipment scattered, and my program restarted.

I looked around to check any suspicious things change. I noticed a boy sitting at the corner, probably doing the same thing as I was.

He looked so busy from typing he didn't notice my presence.

Am I hallucinating? I think I'm just sick.

I thought as I put my hand over my forehead. I stood up and left, about to arrive at the clinic.

I was about to open the door when suddenly I found myself in the classroom in between classes.

I knew there was something wrong with me, I just couldn't piece it out.

---

"I frequently had these experiences. I even asked a psychiatrist and he couldn't figure it out either." I explained to my friend, Jiyeon.

"I think you're going crazy," she says twirling her fingers around as an expression.

"I think I am," I wondered, still out of it.

Seungsik's POV

I eavesdropped Y/N and Jiyeon's conversation, and I knew she was already aware of herself.

But I don't think she even knows about my existence, I'm just a mere extra anyway.

No, are just mere extras.

Soon enough, I have to tell her about this whole comic world. It will be hard to explain, but I have to.

And I had to find a way no matter what.

---

As soon as class ended, so did the Stage did. I immediately went to the robotics lab, and as I expected, she was already there. She probably came from Stage that's why she got here so fast.

I wanted to use this chance to talk to her, or much better, get close to her before I explain the things going on.

I tapped lightly on her shoulder and asked: "Uh, excuse me. Could I ask for a little help?"

"Uh, sure. What is it?" She questions.

I asked an almost simple answer so I would get her attention. And I was relieved that she's glad to help me out.

"So, do you get it now?" She asks. I nodded in response.

"Uh, wait," I halted her and she stopped on her tracks.

"Hm? What is it?" She asked with a slight smile.

"You know me right?" I asked.

"I'm not quite sure," she replied.

"We're in the same class, how do you not know?" I questioned, making her think more.

"Really? I didn't know there was a handsome guy in class." She stated, making me flustered.

My expression was blank, I didn't know how to internalize the words she just spoke. She just chuckles at my expression and goes back to what she was doing.

What in her right mind made her say that to me? I don't know her much, but I felt tense even before she said that. I'm not quite sure why.

And suddenly, I disappeared from the lab and got to the library, which was probably Stage.

I tried moving my limbs, but it didn't work. I had to look around to see what was happening in the scene.

"Sejun!" I hear a female voice from behind me that made me look immediately.

Song Jeong Mi.

As an extra, I've always been tired of being in the background, watching their lovey-dovey scenes.

The author won't even draw me properly.

If they were just aware of themselves, they probably would've been cringing at their scenes.

The scene flowed, and in my mind, I just wanted to end this suffering.

And finally, it went back to Shadow. I quickly stood up, leaving the library

As I walked through the hallway, I found Y/N focused on a book. She looks so serious about it like her life depends on it.

"What are you reading?" She suddenly closed the book, putting it down.

"Seriously? A psychology book? I thought you were a programmer or something." I said, looking at her uneasy face.

"Are you sick? Mentally?" I piled up more questions.

Her eyes widened at the last question.

"Oh! I'm right, right?" I asked pointing at her as she just slowly nodded in reply.

"I think I can help you with that," She tilts her head, clearly questioning what I meant.

[♡]

We sat beside each other

"I'm just going to ask you a few questions, okay?" I asked and she nodded.

I wanted to make it as normal as possible. So she would believe me, at most.

"Does your head hurt often?"

"Uh, Yes,"

"Do you see things that are out of the ordinary?"

"Yes,"

"Do you hear things at unnecessary places?"

"Yes,"

"Do you suddenly notice time skipping in a blink of an eye?"

"Y-yeah,"

At this point, I could tell she knew about her state.

"How do you know all of this? And what sickness do I have?" Her curiosity rises.

"Don't worry, you're not sick," I said.

"Are you sure? If I'm not, then what is it?" She asks once again.

"We're in a comic," I said in a serious tone.

"A c-comic? I think you're crazier than I am." She says following a series of laughter.

I knew she'd think that. I sighed deeply waiting for her to stop.

"Come on, be realistic," She says as I just laid my head on the palm of my hand.

"I'll give you a few days to think about it. Tell me if I'm not being realistic."

Y/N's POV

I found myself waking up from my desk. I was the only one in the room, making the ambiance silent.

Scanning through the room, I notice the teacher's desk and a seat across me floating in thin air. I was too scared that I ran out of the room, finding Seungsik holding a whole pile of books in his arms.

"Ugh, I hate this character-" He gets cut off as he trips, causing the books to fall.

Thankfully, I wasn't that near. Although I still helped him pick the books up.

"Don't," I hear him from above me. "Don't what?" I ask, still picking it up.

"Don't pick it up," He says, reaching his hand out to help me stand. I just shrugged, slowly putting down the books I already picked up and held his hand to help myself up.

"Why'd you leave it?" I asked. "It will go back, eventually," He replied, his eyes still locked in front of him.

"What does that even mean?" I question.

"It's the Shadow, it will just go back when the scene changes back to Stage." He said, still confusing me.

"I know, you won't understand," He speaks up again before I could reply.

Without a word, he pulls me into the room we were passing by, which was the art room.

He pulls a chair beside another one in front of a canvas. He signals me to sit beside one of the chairs.

He sat down as well, picking up a brush and started painting on the canvas.

I tapped my fingers on my lap out of awkwardness as I waited for him to finish. He abruptly stopped at times, noticing my gestures.

"Don't worry, I'm almost done," He says, making me stop tapping my fingers.

Soon enough he finished. Honestly speaking, he wasn't too bad of an artist if you'd ask me.

"So, what is that?" I asked, staring at the canvas.

"Remember when I mentioned Shadow and Stage?" He asks. I nodded in reply.

The painting is divided into two. He points the end of the brush to the left side, where you could see Jeong Mi and Sejun together, supposedly under a spotlight and shadowed figures behind them.

"That's the Stage. Where the main characters, Jeong Mi and Sejun are in the frame. Which leads us, Extras not even drawn properly, and are just there to enhance their scene. And because of that, we can't move or react in any way we want either." He explains.

"Wait, Extras?" I asked, emphasizing the word 'us'.

"Yes. You may have thought we could be the main characters. But it just so happened, the author would leave us in the shadows of being Extras." He sighs, putting down the brush.

"Uh, just continue. I still don't seem to believe any of this." I said.

"Anyway, this one is the Shadow. Where we can freely do whatever we want. Things float from here and there and such. And whenever things switch from Shadow to Stage, things that happened in Shadow just goes back to normal." He points to the right side, with chairs floating, and figures from the Shadow is now seen.

I nodded, continuing to stare at the canvas whilst trying to process the context of whatever was happening.

"I still don't believe you," As soon as I replied, he started to lose it.

"Okay, if you say so," He says as he stood up.

He started trashing the place. Breaking the canvases displayed on the wall, the vases sitting at the corner of the room, and spilling paint all around.

"What are you doing?!" I screamed trying to make him stop, and soon, he did.

"After the next Stage, come back here and let's see," He says, leaving the room quietly, leaving me confused and freaked out at the same time.

I hear that same sound again, as I appeared at the library. I tried moving, but it was no use.

This was probably the Stage he was talking about.

I sat there for a while, and thank god it didn't take too long.

I quickly stood up and ran to the Art Room before anything happens.

My jaw dropped as I saw everything was in place as if nothing actually happened.

"Believe me now?" I hear a voice from behind me, knowing who it is.

I looked into Seungsik's eyes for a while and sighed. "I guess,"

"I'll take that as a yes. Now, follow me," He says pulling me out once again.

"Can you stop pulling and dragging me everywhere?" I say in annoyance as he stopped and looked down.

"Sorry," He says, stopping in his tracks.

I just nodded and advanced my way. He catches up and leads the way again.

"Are we leaving school?" I ask and he just nodded. I was curious so I just anticipated what he was going to show me.

We arrived at an antique shop, not so far from the school. No one was there beside us.

Seungsik's POV

At the entrance, there were not so interesting items, so we moved further into the shop. And that's where things got interesting.

"Isn't this-" I hear her from behind as I was checking out other things, so I turned around.

"It's my old laptop! How did it wind up here?" She pulls it down as it was just recently floating.

"This isn't just an antique shop, this is where our old things, or even new things end up in," I explained making her nod whilst checking out the laptop.

"That's cool!" She says as she walked around more, and so did I.

"Let's leave, I Feel like there's an upcoming Stage-" I got cut off as my expectations became reality.

Wait, I'm in the scene?

"Hey, Seungsik. I saw you with Jeongmi yesterday. Why were you guys together?" Sejun questions with anger in his tone.

"I just asked her something," My character said plainly.

"Then why were you so close to her that time? I don't see any reason why." He gets angrier every word.

I was speechless, making him punch me right in the face, leaving me on the floor leaned back at the lockers.

As he left, it went back to Shadow.

I touched the lower right part of my lip, which was now bleeding. I hissed at the pain and slowly got up.

"I've been looking everywhere for y- What the hell happened to you?!" I spot Y/N from the distance as I was standing up.

"I'm okay, it's just the Stage," I said, limping to her direction. I don't even know why I'm limping after just getting one blow.

"How is a limping person with blood on their face okay?" She asks, starting to hold me up as I walked.

"T-thanks," I felt uneasy as I felt her touch around my shoulders. She led me to the clinic to treat my wounds.

"You know how this isn't necessary," I said as I sat down.

"Why?" "Whatever is in the Shadow will not reflect on the Stage." I expounded, which she didn't pay attention to.

"I'm still doing it," She insisted and grabbed a nearby chair to reach the kit on top of the shelf.

"I'll help you-" "No, you're hurt. I should do it." She said, pushing me back slightly. So I just sat back.

She finally reaches the kit, but I noticed the chair wiggling as she got down from a tiptoe position.

I immediately catch her as she lands on my arms. She looks at me, wide-eyed. And I could her heart beating from the silence in the room.

"I-I'm okay," She says, immediately standing up and brushing down her clothes.

She sits me back down to the bed as she cures the scar on my lip and staring at it afterward. Which made me uneasy.

"Thanks," I thanked her and smiled. "No problem," She smiles back.

There were a few moments of silence until she spoke up.

"What do we do with Sejun?" She asks.

"What do you mean?"

"By the looks of it, now that he holds a grudge against you. He'd continue hurting you." She explains.

"Yeah, you're right. But how do we stop him?" I asked.

"Since we don't have control over ourselves during Stage, we can change things beforehand, which is Shadow." She cites her plan.

I nodded aggressively and got her idea.

"So we need to guess when and where the next Stage is?" I ask, making her nod.

"And I feel like it's about to start," She says pulling me out to the lobby.

"Now that he hates you, he wants you to be humiliated in front of all these people." She says pointing her finger around the room.

"And that's what we need to stop," She explains.

"But how?" I ask, making her think.

Her eyes sparkle as she thought of something. She takes the stack of books from a student.

"I'll take this," She says, startling the person. But he just ignored it.

She handed me the books and almost lost my balance by the sudden force by the weight.

Just then, the Stage did happen there.

I couldn't believe what I was witnessing. That student was now in my place.

How did that happen?

I just wanted to run to Y/N and ask her how'd it happened.

When the gruesome scene ended, I did run to her across the room.

"How did you do that?!" I asked almost screaming.

"When I switch the things the both of you are doing, the author would draw that guy's face instead of yours. Either accidentally, or something else." She explains whilst I understood how it works.

"Will it always work, though?" I ask. She just shakes her head in disagreement.

"You can't always make accidents in the first place," She says, folding her arms.

"And if we keep meddling with our characters here, we might disappear. Too early." She says, sighing.

[♡]

There's been a series of ups and downs. And neither of us could tell what the author has in mind.

After a few fate-changed scenes, we managed to make Y/N a supporting character.

How about me?

A/N:

you guys must've been waiting for a while so i thought of cutting this for now. a lot of stuff has been happening in school. and i had to publish this first because the other request needed collaboration with someone, so the other one's gonna take a while.

please be patient with me, love you guys 💕

edit 2:

tell me if y'all want a part 2 cause i see how this is a flop :)).