[I hope the author stubs their toe every morning! I hope their WIFI buffering symbol haunts them in their dream. I hope—no, I pray—that their favorite show gets cancelled mid-season with a cliffhanger so evil it makes Satan sweat.]
Raven sent the comment on the latest chapter of his favorite book, pouring all of his rage into the comment.
"Why did I even get so invested in this book?!" He growled, his voice dripping with the kind of regret usually reserved for people who order extra spicy ramen thinking they can handle it.
Raven was just your average guy—average height, average build, average face that made him blend into a crowd like an NPC in a video game.
The only remarkable thing about him at this moment was the sheer murderous intent radiating from his eyes as he furiously tapped away on his phone screen, his fingers slamming the poor glass panel like it owed him money.
If screen-tapping was a sport, he'd be breaking world records right now.
His rage for the author, however, was nowhere near done.
[The Author is absolute trash. Who taught you writing? A pigeon with a typewriter?! You don't build a character for 300 chapters just to kill them off like it's a black friday sale!]
He hit send. And then another.
[No one even reacts to their death?! Just "Oh no, they're dead" and move on?! WHERE ARE THE TEARS?! THE PAIN?! THE DRAMATIC MONOLOGUES?!]
More typing. More ranting. More veins popping on his forehead.
He couldn't take it anymore.
He had waited for 500 days, reading 500 chapters with hope and patience that the book would get better, but no! It just kept getting worse!
[Instead of torturing your readers, maybe try writing something that makes sense! Actually, don't bother. JUST RETIRE. Go raise chickens and dogs.]
As he sent his latest message into the void of the comment section, Raven leaned back and exhaled dramatically, staring at the cursed phone in his hand.
The stupid device was the whole reason he was suffering in the first place.
He had found it on the roadside, looking all fancy and expensive, just lying there like a gift from the universe.
But was it really a gift? No. It was a cursed artifact disguised as technology.
The only thing this phone had was one app—just one. And that app? A webnovel platform.
Of course, when he opened it, everything was locked. Every single book. There wasn't even a way to unlock them. Not like he would've used money to unlock them in the first place. He was broke.
But then, he found an offer. It had a beginner's bonus.
"Pick any newly released book to read for free!" it had promised. And he, in his infinite wisdom, had picked the latest novel from the most famous author on the platform.
At first, he thought he had struck gold. This book? It was everything.
Not because of its plot—he couldn't care less about that.
No, it was because of the MC. The protagonist's name was Ravian—practically his own name but with extra flair.
Ravian was the type of person that Raven always wanted to be.
Suave. Confident. A certified chick magnet.
Women didn't just fall for him; they dove into his arms like he was a life raft in the middle of the ocean.
He had suffered a lot, but he could make women laugh, he could make them cry (in a good way), and best of all—he never got rejected.
For a lonely virgin like Raven, Ravian wasn't just a character. He was a god.
But then... things changed all of a sudden.
At first, it was subtle. A side character here, a supporting friend there—people disappearing under mysterious circumstances.
But then it escalated. Suddenly, it was a massacre.
Every single likable character? Gone. Wiped out. It was as if they never even existed.
And the worst part? NO ONE IN THE STORY CARED. No outrage, no revenge arcs—just "Oh well, guess they're dead!" and moving on like NPCs programmed for minimal emotional depth.
Raven had waited. Surely, surely there was a reason for this? A grand plot twist? A revelation? A something?!
He waited for 500 days, but nothing changed.
Instead, Ravian—the god-tier MC he had idolized—started changing too.
He went from the ultimate lady killer to... just a killer. Brooding, cold, unrecognizable. He stopped flirting, stopped smiling, stopped being the character Raven loved.
In the latest chapter Ravian killed someone who was being treated as the next love interest for the past 300 chapters. He killed her without a change in his emotions.
Again, there was no explanation.
Raven sighed, his soul feeling as drained as his phone battery.
But as soon as his eyes fell on the phone again, his rage bubbled up again. Clenching it tightly in his palm, he threw the phone to the ground.
"Fuck this phone!"
Bash-Crack-Shatter!
The phone crashed into the wall, breaking apart, its parts flying around.
But as soon as that happened, an instant regret hit Raven.
'Fuck!' He rushed toward the broken parts of the phone, quickly gathering them in a spot, trying to fix them. He even bought out a glue stick, hoping to get it attached.
"Like hell that would work!" He slumped on the ground, clutching his hair in despair.
It was true that he was angry, but for him to just destroy the phone that introduced him to his god... it was a sin worse than murder.
Lying on the floor of his dimly lit room, he let out a long sigh.
Maybe he had overreacted. Maybe the author was just unique, and this was all part of a master plan.
After all, one doesn't become a top author without reason. None of the readers—except him—ever said anything against the author after all.
And truth be told, even in all his rage, he had never missed a chapter. That alone spoke volumes of the author's skill.
But just as he was sinking into his regret, a sharp ding rang out in the silence.
Raven frowned. His eyes darted to his basic smartphone, but there was nothing. No notification. Then another ding, louder this time.
His breath hitched as he turned around slowly—only to see the shattered pieces of the cursed phone blinking.
His skin crawled as the fragments vibrated, inching closer together like they had a mind of their own.
His body froze. Then, panic hit him like a truck.
"Nope. Nope. NOPE!" He scrambled to the farthest corner of his room, ducking his head between his knees, trembling like a man who had just seen a ghost. "I'M SORRY, OKAY?! I DIDN'T MEAN IT! PLEASE DON'T HAUNT ME!"
The ding grew louder. The pieces shook violently, skidding across the floor, moving closer and closer, as if assembling themselves back together.
Raven whimpered. "I TAKE IT BACK! YOU'RE THE BEST PHONE EVER! PLEASE, SPARE ME!"
The ringing reached a crescendo, his room now filled with the sound of endless notifications, as if the entire universe was sending him messages at once.
And then—silence.
After the long series of dings this silence felt too suffocating.
'I-Is it over?' Raven thought, peeking through his fingers.
The phone was whole again and the screen was glowing, brightening the room more than the dim light bulb.
Slowly, Raven crawled closer to it despite trembling with every inch he moved.
Raven's breath came out in short, panicked bursts as he inched closer to the phone, his entire body trembling.
"Please don't kill me, please don't kill me," he muttered like a desperate prayer. His quivering fingers hovered over the glowing screen, heart hammering in his chest.
And the second his skin made contact with the surface—
WHOOSH!
A blinding light erupted from the phone, flooding the room with an intensity that burned into his retinas.
"What the fuck is happening now?!" Raven yelled, instinctively covering his eyes.
His head spun as the light consumed everything, turning his world into an unbearable white void. For what felt like an eternity, there was nothing but the overwhelming brightness.
Then, as abruptly as it came, the light dimmed.
Blinking rapidly, Raven opened his eyes, only to find himself surrounded by floating holographic screens, each displaying replies to his earlier comment. His pulse spiked.
[You're just impatient, Anonymous! If you don't understand the depth of the story, just leave!]
[The author is a genius! You just don't have the brain to appreciate it.]
[Why are you even hiding behind 'Anonymous'? Too much of a coward to show your real name?]
[Trash readers like you should just stop reading and let the real fans enjoy the masterpiece!]
The comments kept coming, piling on the insults, each one sharper than the last.
Raven clenched his fists, gritting his teeth as he scanned the names of the users hurling abuse at him. 'Bald General.' 'Iron Man.' 'Your Dad's Lover.' What the hell were these usernames?!
The screens flickered. The comments began to shift rapidly, one by one replacing themselves.
Raven squinted. The text changed too fast to read—until finally, all that remained were identical comments filling every screen around him.
[Die.]
[Die.]
[Die.]
A chill crawled up Raven's spine. The air in the room grew heavy, suffocating. The shadows in the corners of his vision writhed, stretching unnaturally. He didn't see them, nor did he feel their presence.
Raven's anger flared. "Alright, I get it! I was harsh, maybe too harsh, but does that give every random reader the right to insult me like this?!"
His frustration boiled over, and he reached out to grab the phone—but the moment he did, a terrifying realization struck him.
He couldn't move his arms.
His heart dropped into his stomach. A wave of panic surged through him as he turned his head, eyes widening in horror.
His arms were turning black. The skin cracked like dry earth, fragments flaking off into nothingness.
His breathing turned ragged as he saw that. "W-What the hell?!"
His legs started to crumble next, his very existence disintegrating like burnt paper in the wind.
Terror seized his throat, choking him. He tried to move, to scream, but his body refused to listen. His fingers were gone. His feet had vanished. The nothingness was creeping up his torso.
No. No. NO!
Flashes of his life darted before his eyes—a lonely childhood in an orphanage, endless days spent staring at the ceiling, dreams of a better future that never came.
No school, no family, no achievements, just an existence that barely mattered.
'Am I really going to die like this?' A thought flashed past his head, making him close his eyes, but just then...
"No," a voice whispered.
The single word echoed through the void, piercing through the suffocating silence. Before Raven could fully process it, his world exploded into pure white.