A Background Character’s Path to Power

Can I really do it?

The question curled in my chest like smoke—thick, suffocating.

Can someone like me, who's barely surviving on his own, really do all of this?

I stared at nothing for a long moment.

The last scenario almost killed me for real.

I only survived because of the relics I'd scrounged together, and the safety of Virion's domain—nothing more. And even then, it had left me wrecked, sore, emptied down to the bone.

...

My mind turned inward, chasing doubts like they were running just ahead of me in circles.

Wasn't my plan to just survive?

To travel the world, stay out of flags, avoid the main plotlines? Not to play hero. Not to get involved. Certainly not to entangle myself in five storylines, each one heavier than the last.

That had been the whole point. The only plan I had.

To survive. Quietly.

Not… this.

Not stepping into every spiral the world was spinning into.

And strength?

Tch.

I barely made it through last time. I was still recovering now. I wasn't strong enough. Not yet.

And there are five storylines now.

Just five.

What if more comes?

What if every place I go, someone else is on the brink? What if I keep getting pulled in, again and again? Do I even have the capacity for that?

...Even more importantly—

Do I even want to?

That thought hit harder than I expected.

It echoed louder than the rest, like it had been waiting, patient and bitter, for me to finally look it in the eye.

Not can I...

Do I want to?

"..."

I... didn't have an answer.

The thought curled around my chest like smoke, bitter and burning.

What if I was only stepping in because I was afraid of guilt?

What if I wasn't doing it for them, but just to feel like I mattered?

What if this was just... a delusion?

A soft, grand illusion to dress up my fear?

My hands stayed still in my lap, but my thoughts didn't.

They twisted and pulled, clawing their way through every corner of my head, dragging out truths I hadn't been ready to see.

And slowly...

I fell into silence.

I sat there, breathing, thinking, not moving, all while searching for an answer.

Any answer.

A decision. A clarity. A sign.

But there was none.

Just the hollow weight of not knowing.

Eventually, I drew in another breath. Deep and slow.

And let it go.

"...Honestly?"

My voice felt small. Not weak—just tired.

"I don't know."

It was the truth.

I didn't know.

Maybe because I was overwhelmed.

Drowning in possibilities I hadn't asked for.

But there was a feeling.

A quiet one.

Not an answer. Not a decision.

Just... a truth I couldn't ignore anymore.

I wasn't stupid enough to think of the others as just "characters." That kind of thinking—that was delusion.

They were people. Real people.

People with wills. With choices. With emotions. With stories of their own.

And me?

Calling myself a "background character" was just a title.

A metaphor.

An armor I'd used to make myself smaller than I was—to convince myself I couldn't change anything, so I never had to try.

But... I still kept getting involved...

After spending time with them… Zephyr, Luna, Aeron, Cassandra, Emilia, Emory—

After seeing their stories up close…

After being pulled into them—

I started to care.

Even if I didn't mean to.

Even if it wasn't part of the plan.

And...

Somewhere along the way... they started to care too.

They saw me.

Not as a 'background character', or another passerby in their life.

Just... me.

Amaniel.

(No wonder my 'Background Character's Aura' kept failing against them.)

"..."

And maybe that's the real reason I'm sitting here now, asking myself questions I never thought I'd ask.

"..."

I don't know if I can do it.

I don't know if I should do it.

But I know one thing—

If I just walk away...

I'll probably survive.

But I know something inside me won't.

...

If I walk away...

I'll regret it.

Not because I could've saved everyone.

But because I didn't even try.

...

If I walk away...

I'll wonder.

For the rest of my life, I'll wonder who else I could've reached.

And that question might be heavier than any fight.

...

If I just walk away...

It won't be a tragedy.

No one will blame me.

But I will always remember who I left behind.

...

If I just walk away...

I'll become exactly what I used to be.

Background character.

Fading between the lines.

And this time, it really will be just a story someone else tells.

And...

"...And I don't think I want to live like that."

"..."

Silence settled again, heavier this time - not with uncertainty, but something resembling... acceptance.

Then, unexpectedly, my lips curled into a smile.

How strange.

The moment I admitted I might carry this mountain, its weight transformed. No longer crushing me, but shaping me. A whetstone against which I could sharpen myself. The thought should have terrified me. Instead, I felt...

Peaceful.

More myself than I'd been in a while.

"Should we continue?"

With a flick of my gaze, a new window materialized, its pale glow painting the darkened atmosphere.

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SCENARIO: "WHERE STARS SHOULD HAVE FALLEN"

STATUS: COMPLETED (HIDDEN SCENARIO)

"A girl was ready to burn her light to shield others. A boy was ready to break to save her. But the stars did not fall that night—because someone else caught them first. What was meant to fracture... did not."

▸ OBJECTIVES COMPLETED:

✓ Prevent Luna's injury

✓ Intercept Zephyr's sacrificial move

✓ Stabilize(Destroy) Spatial Anomaly (No Casualties)

▸ REWARDS:

- ["Affinity Resonance"]

- [Item Upgrade Token]

- 50 Scenario Points

- Title Evolved: [The One Who Took the Fall II] - "You didn't just intercept blows—you rewrite their trajectories."

- Achievement Leveled Up: [The Unwritten Epilogue II] - "Some stories deserve better endings."

━━━◇◆◇━━━

My eyes skipped past the poetic descriptions - I'd lived through that incident, didn't need the System's dramatic retelling - and locked onto the rewards.

Let's start with the item upgrade token, then.

━━━━━━━━◆━━━━━━━━

▸ Item Upgrade Token

- Permanently enhance one owned item

Note: Only applies to system-given items. Doesn't work on relics or other things.

━━━━━━━━◆━━━━━━━━

Oh, this is good too.

But what should I upgrade?

The Glasses?

Or the monocle?

Or just save it for later, like the other token?