- The author wrote it while he was a little out of his mind.
- Even the author doesn't know what he's writing.
- The author doesn't even know why he wrote it.
- It's a bunch of clichés.
- Please read it lightly... It's a mess of a piece of writing with little to no plausibility...
- I intentionally left the part where the heroine's original name appears blank. Readers can just insert their own names and read on...
-TRIGGER WARNING! This story is based on an internet novel popular in the early 2010s, so it may contain scenes reminiscent of school violence.
How to Survive as an Extra
: One day, I became an extra in a novel.
W. Geuppeum
Time never stops. Even if this were a fictional world, not reality, that fact remained unchanged. In fact, time here was erratic, unlike reality. Sometimes two days would pass overnight, sometimes a week, and sometimes two months. The impossible happened: I, a freshman in class 3, became a second-year class 1 in a matter of days, and then a third-year class 6 in a matter of days. Kim Yeon-ju, a third-year class 6 student at Eunhabyeol High School, finally opened her mouth a month after beginning the horrific experience of being a senior for the second time.
“You know, I… I think Taehyung likes me…!”
My eyes, dim with sleep, suddenly opened. Grabbing the mechanical pencil I'd half-placed, I glared. "What?! Kim Yeo-ju, overwhelmed by the force, hesitated and backed away, but Kwon Yeon-hee, her eyes as bloodshot as mine, blocked her. "What, what, what? What did you just say?! The voices were so urgent that Kim Yeo-ju, with an expression that suggested she didn't understand why we were reacting this way, spoke again. "I…
"Taehyung… seems to like it…"
Oh my god, damn it, finally…! Kwon Yeon-hee quickly clutched her nose, feeling it tingle. Kwon Yeon-hee tilted her head back and sniffled. Only Kim Yeo-ju, caught in the middle, blinked, as if she couldn't quite grasp the situation. Lee Yu-jin, who had been quietly observing the whole situation from Kim Yeo-ju's side, intervened. "What the hell, what the hell?"
"Why are you guys overreacting like this? The heroine has someone she likes, and you don't like her?"
"What?! No?!"
"How could I dislike it?!"
“Oh… well, that’s fortunate….”
...Are you guys crying...? Lee Yu-jin asked with a look that said she couldn't understand for the time being. There must be circumstances that you wouldn't understand...! I looked at Kwon Yeon-hee with a tearful expression. I saw Kwon Yeon-hee's face, overcome with emotion. We held each other's hands tightly and shed a tear of joy. Shit, finally...!
So, there's a reason we overreact so much to Kim Yeo-joo's "I have a crush," a remark any high school girl would make at least once. It's not just the thrill of seeing Kim Tae-hyung's innocent love, which had continued since high school, or maybe even middle school, finally find a slight possibility of coming true in his senior year of high school. But there's also a much more complex, deeply personal reason. To delve into the reasons that brought Kwon Yeon-hee and I to tears, we'll have to go back in time to the day after Kim Yeo-joo's kidnapping, the day I woke up at Kwon Yeon-hee's house with a crushed pillow resting on my face.
📘 📗 📕
It wasn't that day was particularly special or anything.
"Is that it? Is there anything else?"
“…There isn’t any.”
"If that had been posted on a web novel site, I'd have been criticized for such absurd endings."
"……."
Kwon Yeon-hee's mouth seemed to be sticking out, but it wasn't my fault. She sipped the strawberry smoothie, the ice half melted. The bitter taste lingered unpleasantly in her mouth. Well, maybe it was even better... Kwon Yeon-hee nodded at my words. "Yes..."
“But it won’t take that long to finish, so….”
"So. If Kim Yeo-joo and Kim Tae-hyung date, have their first date, and kiss, that's it! It's over! Isn't that it?"
“…That’s true, but why do I feel bad?”
"People get upset even when they hear something that's too true."
Skipping school and spending almost half a day with Kwon Yeon-hee might make you go, "Wow," but that half day wasn't filled with things high school students would do, like being trapped in the mountains or kidnapped, so it was a pretty normal day. I'd sleep over at a friend's house, wake up, eat breakfast, lie around until lunch and chat, then when I said I wanted a hamburger, Kwon Yeon-hee said, "Do you want to go?" and we'd go to Burger King and eat a hamburger. After that, we'd perfectly enjoy shaved ice, tiramisu, and a smoothie, all while chatting away. That was the kind of day it was.
"Can't we just write something like, 'Kim Yeo-joo and Kim Tae-hyung decided to date. They had a perfect date.' and leave it at that?"
"Will it work? There needs to be some plausibility and plot for this world to flow as I wrote it."
“This is really annoying….”
Bringing up old stories wouldn't have made for a good atmosphere between us, so it was only natural that the conversation would naturally turn to novels. Moreover, last night's conversation had perhaps changed my desire to live in a novel, and thanks to Kwon Yeon-hee's proactive approach to escaping from it, I couldn't help but talk about novels even more. Well, I had absolutely no intention of falling into the hell of college entrance exams again, so I happily went along with Kwon Yeon-hee's rhythm. Truthfully, we didn't know how to escape this world, so the only thing we could do was finish the novel.
So, from our perspective, it was crucial to finish this novel as quickly as possible. To do so, it was crucial for Kwon Yeon-hee to speed up the novel's development even a little. This was done by revising the novel, as she had done so far. The problem was that revising the novel was quite cumbersome. Kim Seok-jin, Park Jimin, and Jeon Jung-kook were aware of this fanfic… no, the novel, which was popular among high school girls at the time, and it was already close to completion. Revising a story that was already established required certain conditions: the revised scenes needed to be plausible, the novel had to flow naturally, and it had to not deviate significantly from the original novel. This made revising the story quite challenging.
"You tried to kill me by fitting all those conditions into it? This is truly sincere. I can't help but applaud this."
"Oh, I'm sorry!! You're going to worry about me for the rest of your life!!"
"Of course~"
Kwon Yeon-hee's spicy palm struck my right forearm, forcing me to scream, "Ah!" Anyway, Kwon Yeon-hee said that since she had to revise the novel while considering all these conditions, it might take quite a while to reach the state of "completeness." "That can't be helped," I said. Kwon Yeon-hee nodded and said, "Right? So give me your opinion."
"What do you think?"
“I thought about a reason to connect Kim Yeo-joo and Kim Tae-hyung, but no particular scene came to mind…”
“Well… wouldn’t it be okay to just throw in some things I’ve done with my boyfriend?”
"……."
“…You’re not a single person?”
This time it was my left arm. My arm felt hot and burning.
"Aww, that hurts. Just write it down roughly! Throw in all the cliches, and you're worrying about stuff like that when you're not even going to publish it! I've only seen a few scenes since I came here, and even if I were to reread them, I'd be done in no time!"
"What! What did you see!"
"The one that was annoying at the store! The one that was annoying during the double-cross game! The one that was annoying during the sports day!! Those things were really useful! Because of that, my eyes were the only ones suffering!!"
Kwon Yeon-hee didn't seem particularly convinced by the words I spat out, slumped over the table and whining. Still whining and not offering any real ideas, she didn't seem to think I'd be of much help, so she told me to get lost and that she'd take her time figuring out the rest of the story before leaving. I grumbled as I returned the cup of smoothie. "It won't help," Kwon Yeon-hee countered, "even if I help, it'll be a mess." And yet, before we parted ways in front of the cafe, she handed me a packaged tiramisu, which was quite adorable. Such a tsundere.
Time flew by because Kwon Yeon-hee had stormed off, saying she wanted to scribble something down. Seeing that it was almost time to leave school, I began to think that maybe my time had vanished not because of Kwon Yeon-hee, but because of her. So, maybe it was some unspoken consideration, telling me to meet up with Kim Seok-jin and play around with dating… My steps, which had almost been wandering aimlessly, became determined. I arrived at the main gate just in time for school to end and grabbed Kim Seok-jin as he was trudging home. His ears perked up as if it were some kind of reflex, the way they looked at me was quite adorable. I laughed for a long time at how funny Kim Seok-jin was, acting like a high school student when he really wasn't, throughout our date, which was no less than any other innocent couple.
"When I was in high school, my dream was to wear my school uniform and go on a date to an amusement park."
"Haven't you tried it?"
“…You must have done a lot?”
"……."
"hey."
"Oh, just kidding, just kidding."
Kim Seokjin covered her fist with one hand, her hands clenched in a fit of rage. The sight of them interlocking, joking, joking, couldn't be more annoying. Kim Seokjin briefly kissed her hand and smiled.
"I'll only do it with you."
Whatever it was, the way he spoke with the corners of his lips slightly raised made me unable to get angry and instead grasp his hand tightly. "What the hell, there's no fox in here!"
I don't think I intended to say this, but I wanted to say that day was no different from any other day I'd lived in a state of revulsion. It was also the reason I didn't refuse Kim Seokjin's offer to drive me home, even though I'd just walked him all the way to my house. If I hadn't encountered Kwon Yeonhee, her face so pale, it probably would have remained a peaceful day.
"What is it, Kwon Yeon-hee?"
I couldn't help but worry when I saw a child who had returned home a long time ago, stamping his feet in front of someone else's house with a pale face. When I called his name with a hint of bewilderment in his voice, he turned his head away with eyes that were for some reason clouded over. Did he get kicked out of the house? Are you crying? Before I could even ask, Kwon Yeon-hee ran madly toward me and Kim Seok-jin, clutching a notebook and a pen in her hand. Then she spoke.
"Hey, I'm screwed."
"What? No, but you're okay, right…"
"I can't write."
"what?"
“I can’t write…”
You might be wondering what the heck this is, but at least for us trapped in this novel, the real world could be ending! I hope you understand that this is a serious matter. Damn it, what if you're the author and you can't write...! I saw Kwon Yeon-hee's face, as if she were about to burst into tears.
I had a sad premonition that escape might be a very distant future. Damn it…
📘 📗 📕
Autumn was a season with extreme daily temperature fluctuations. Even if it was hot enough to sweat profusely during the day, the moment the sun set, it was the kind of season that made you regret not bringing a coat. So, to prevent Kwon Yeon-hee, who was wearing short sleeves, from catching a cold, I had no choice but to invite her into my house. Kim Seok-jin, who couldn't even keep up with half of our conversation and just looked bewildered, was a bonus.
"Okay, water."
Only after I pulled Kwon Yeon-hee, who was in a state of panic, onto the sofa and gave her lukewarm water did I understand what she meant when she said, "I can't write."
"So, as I said earlier, in order to bring forward the ending, I wanted to bring forward the point at which Kim Yeo-ju falls in love with Kim Tae-hyung."
"huh."
"The original story took place over 2-3 years, but the events were changed to occur within six months."
"huh."
“…But Kim Yeo-ju doesn’t fall for Kim Tae-hyung?”
"huh…."
To be honest, I understood half of it and half of it I didn't. What do you mean, you made me fall in love, but I didn't? Can't you just write a sentence like, 'Kim Yeo-ju fell head over heels for Kim Tae-hyung' and that's it? Fortunately, even Kim Seok-jin, who heard a brief explanation of the situation, didn't seem to fully understand what Kwon Yeon-hee was saying. Thank goodness I'm not the only one who's stupid. Kwon Yeon-hee, unable to watch us just tilt our heads with puzzled expressions, sighed deeply and put down a notebook she had been holding dearly in her arms. It was a notebook with signs of wear and tear, as if it had been used for a long time.
“Yeah, it would be faster to see it in person….”
Kwon Yeon-hee, accustomed to opening her notebook, quickly flipped through a few pages. Her eyes took in various sentences, then stopped about two-thirds of the way through. She extended a finger and pointed inside the notebook. "Read from here," she said. I leaned my head against Kim Seok-jin's and read the words.
"Kim Taehyung grabbed Kim Yeojoo's wrist. "Wow!" Kim Yeojoo screamed…"
"Hey!! Who wants to read out loud?!"
This time it was my back. The burning sensation on my back, accompanied by the "crack!" sound, almost made me scream. Kwon Yeon-hee, who had been watching me groan with a cold expression, snatched my notebook away. Kwon Yeon-hee, accustomedly opening the notebook to a page, placed her pen on a still-empty spot and said, "Look! Now all I have to do is write the sentence about Kim Yeo-ju's crush on Kim Tae-hyung, and if I write that…
Kim Yeo-ju thought, "Maybe I like Kim Tae-hyung."
'… … I think… … . What should I do… I like Kim… H… … It's not like… … ,'
"…what?!"
The writing was erased. Kim Seok-jin and I stared at the notebook, eyes wide as the sentence vanished without a trace. Kwon Yeon-hee sighed at our reaction and said, "So…
“I told you I couldn’t write….”
No, I never imagined I would be talking about a physical situation like this.
According to Kwon Yeon-hee, this kind of self-erasing of letters occurs when the conditions for changing the plot of a novel are not met.
"For example, this is well written,"
Kwon Yeon-hee scribbled something in her notebook with a ballpoint pen. "Kim Yeon-ju kissed Kim Seok-jin on the cheek." The ink soaked into the paper, forming a sentence. The writing didn't fade. I buried the thought—"A kiss on the cheek, not even from kindergarten?"—for the sake of my precious back.
"I think the more natural part would be if Kim Yeo-joo fell in love with Kim Tae-hyung. It would be weirder if we suddenly kissed in the scene where Kim Tae-hyung was flirting with Kim Yeo-joo."
“That’s because each character has their own unique characteristics…”
Kwon Yeon-hee hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth.
"...It's like this. You know this is a novel world, and you've already experienced many plot changes. So you subconsciously think, 'Nothing can happen here, it's not strange.' Then, it becomes easier for me to change the scenes you appear in. You won't think anything is particularly strange, even in most situations. You'll just think, 'Oh, it's a novel, so things like this happen.'"
"But it's not Kim Yeo-ju?"
"Yeah. Kim Yeo-joo is a character, not a possessed person. To her, this is reality, and if she thinks something that wouldn't happen in reality, she thinks, 'That can't be true.' That's why I have to be more careful when describing scenes where Kim Yeo-joo appears or her feelings. The sentences can be easily erased. No matter how much I tell Kim Yeo-joo, 'You like Kim Tae-hyung,' if she thinks, 'That can't be true,' it's all useless."
"Wait a minute, in the original novel, Kim Yeo-ju and Kim Tae-hyung were supposed to be together anyway. But why do you think that's impossible?"
"The point is not whether it will continue or not, but when it will continue... Kim Yeo-joo already has feelings for Kim Tae-hyung. But she doesn't think she likes him. That's ridiculous. What makes it make sense is time, but if you bring that forward and tell Kim Yeo-joo to like Kim Tae-hyung, it won't work."
… At this point, I was starting to feel sorry for Kim Taehyung. No, even so, there were already several things that made me fall for Kim Taehyung, right? I flipped through Kwon Yeonhee's notebook. In the mere few hours she'd been dating Kim Seokjin, Kwon Yeonhee had already written down dozens of heart-fluttering episodes. There were quite a few things that would normally happen in a "Ah, this is a bit of a crush~" situation. "Okay, then all they have to do now is start dating!" Kim Yeojoo and Kim Taehyung's affection for each other was steadily building to the point where I'd say to myself, "Okay, then all they have to do now is start dating!" And as soon as that thought occurred to me, a hypothesis popped into my head.
Isn't the most common topic of girls' talk romance? And when girlfriends gather in groups of three or five to discuss "romance," there's always this type of person.
“…Hey, hey, I’m asking just in case…”
The worst-case scenario came to mind.
“…Kim Yeo-ju, you’re not a virgin, are you? You’ve been in a relationship before, right?”
"……."
"Oh please."
Children who are confused about their own feelings.
There's always at least one girl who isn't even sure if she likes someone, let alone dating them. Girls who don't even know what love is. I felt like tearing out my hair. Whose hair? Kim Yeo-ju's hair... That's right, our innocent heroine, Kim Yeo-ju, like any other romance novel heroine, has experienced things others wouldn't—kidnapping, bullying, getting hit on the head with a flower pot—but she's never experienced the one most important thing.
“…Our heroine is a natural….”
'Love', that's the only thing I've never been good at, and it's making me suffer like this. I feel like crying. Damn it.
📒