I Became an Extra Without Growth at the Academy – Chapter 50

The darkness that had filled my vision cleared, and a familiar landscape came into view.

Rubetia. It was the empire I lived in.

But the perspective from which I viewed this landscape wasn’t familiar. I was floating in midair, with nothing beneath me.

And not just that—I was without a body, just my consciousness remained.

‘What on earth is going on?’

Though bewildered, I quickly tried to make sense of the situation.

The last thing I saw before losing consciousness was the words, “Confirm the future.”

The scenery was familiar, but there was a somewhat chaotic atmosphere.

And most of all… the slightly more mature version of myself visible in the distance.

‘…So that’s it.’

I understood. I was now seeing the future version of Rubetia.

Life sure is full of surprises. Who knew I’d get to see the future one day?

Of course, it was an absurd situation, but I wasn’t going to deny what was right in front of my eyes just to rationalize it.

‘Speaking of which… it said, “Confirm the future of the target you know,” right?’

The target the favorability meter was referring to was undoubtedly Rudion.

It’s a bit embarrassing to say this, but… there’s only one person I’ve ever had feelings for.

The future… Thinking about his actions, it was easy to tell that he knew something.

But he himself didn’t seem to care much about it, and since he didn’t bring it up, I just pretended not to notice.

But to think what he knew was the future…

I’ve never been particularly curious about the future, but I was quite interested in what kind of future he knew.

It probably wasn’t anything too serious. From what I could see, Rudion didn’t seem like the type to move with some grand mission in mind.

Not that I’m putting him down. It’s just a conclusion I reached because I know him so well.

Despite his outstanding abilities, he hardly seemed to want anything, and he didn’t act with any particular purpose either.

He simply focused on and enjoyed the ‘present.’ As if there was no need to think about the future.

That’s why I didn’t have high expectations about the future he knew.

At most, I was just curious about what kind of relationship he and I would have in the future.

‘Hmm… maybe I should get closer.’

What was I doing in the future he knew?

To satisfy my curiosity, I moved toward where my future self was.

The sensation of moving my vision without any physical form was bizarre beyond words… but if I had to compare it, it wasn’t much different from surveillance magic, so I could handle it somewhat familiarly.

As I reached where my future self was, I found myself at a place just before leaving the empire.

For some reason, there were countless knights gathered there, all of them…

From the looks of the intense focus, it seemed like they were about to head into battle.

And… familiar faces appeared by their side.

Lilith and Alkiné. Both looked just as I remembered, only a bit more mature.

There was something oddly different about their vibe or the distance between them… but from the outside, it was definitely them.

There was also Harold, a fellow upperclassman, and someone from the lower class—no, wait, they had been promoted to the intermediate class during the midterms. Anyway, Rudion, the guy who helped with the not-really-training training, was there too. And Artes as well.

…But no matter how much I looked, I couldn’t find him.

“Where could Rudion be?”

The situation seemed pretty urgent, but there was no sign of Rudion anywhere.

Not even anyone looking for him. In a situation like this, Rudion’s presence would’ve been indispensable.

Honestly, it was hard to imagine him being absent when he was clearly needed.

But to say he went off to do something else alone… his expression was way too calm.

It was as if he didn’t even know who Rudion was.

“…Huh?”

Could it be that in the future he knew, we never met?

Then that strange vibe and distance between us…

Just as that thought crossed my mind, the sky suddenly turned red.

It happened so fast, I couldn’t even tell when it changed.

“Hey, look over there!!”

“The sky…!”

Everyone there looked up at the sky, their faces filled with confusion, as if this was completely unexpected. And that was the last reaction I could see.

Sccccrrrrrrr-

The reddened sky opened its mouth.

There was no other way to describe the scene unfolding.

Inside the sky’s mouth was pure emptiness. A pitch-black darkness that seemed like it would vanish the moment you touched it.

“…Huh?”

An overwhelming sense of terror, unlike anything I’d ever felt before, engulfed me.

Even though I didn’t have a physical body here, it felt like my entire being had frozen, unable to move.

Before I could even think anything else, the sky swallowed the world.

That was the end.

“What is this…?”

Everything disappeared, drowned in darkness.

The vibrant colors of Rubetia were gone, replaced by a world of pure black.

In that darkness, words began to float before my eyes.

They were familiar, like the kind I often saw about affection levels, but the content was anything but familiar.

[The end has come.]

A sentence that bluntly described the current situation.

It was easy to understand, but hard to accept.

‘This…’

‘What kind of future is that?’

Suddenly, the end comes, and everyone just dies without being able to do anything?

Judging by the last image I saw of myself, it wasn’t even that far into the future.

Looking at Lilith and Alkiné, who still had traces of their youthful appearances, it couldn’t have been more than around the time of graduating from Akadeumi, at best.

How could this happen? I still have so much I want to do.

Is it just me? Probably not. Everyone living in this world must feel the same way.

But such a meaningless ending? I could never accept that.

As I was thinking that, new words began to appear.

[Starting a new story. Wishing you the best of luck.]

As those words appeared, the darkness around me began to turn white…

“Gasp!”

Thud!

In an instant, my consciousness returned to reality.

I almost fell over from the shock while sitting in my chair, but that wasn’t important right now.

[Target’s known future has been confirmed.]

“What on earth was that just now…?”

The end? A new beginning?

My head was spinning from facing such absurdities.

But one thing was certain.

What I just saw was definitely not a lie.

The sensation was too vivid to doubt.

Then, more words appeared before my eyes.

[The target is changing the future.]

[Calculating current progress rate.]

Progress… rate? Changing the future?

My head was already a mess, and these words didn’t seem to care about my state at all.

[…]

[…]

[…]

From the start, it wasn’t something I could resist. Having seen the moment the world disappeared and what came after, I could say that with certainty.

Facing that, it wouldn’t be strange to go insane. Honestly, I felt like giving up on everything right then and there.

‘But what about Rudion…?’

How could he live so carelessly, knowing such a future?

[Calculation complete.]

[Current progress rate: 21%]

.

.

.

[Current progress rate: 34%]

[Current progress rate: 35%]

And what exactly is he doing right now to be changing that future in real time?

The way he was focusing on and enjoying the ‘present’ suddenly started to look different.

He wasn’t ignoring the future.

For him, who knew of the sudden end, the present was actually the most shining moment of all.

I didn’t know where he was or what he was doing right now, but one thing was certain.

He was…

Fighting alone for the future.

…I thought I knew him well, but suddenly, it feels like he’s distant.

‘How did I appear to Rudion?’

My heart became complicated.

Later, as I sat in a chair, agonizing for a while, Rudion suddenly appeared before me.

Seeing Rudion appear out of thin air, I felt a different kind of joy than usual.

“Where did you just come from?”

But wanting to hide the fact that I had learned something, I spoke curtly for no reason.

Somehow… I felt like I had come to understand a bit about why he was hiding what he knew.

Rudion just made an awkward expression and couldn’t continue speaking, when suddenly, one of his arms caught my eye.

Whether he noticed my gaze or not, he quickly hid it, but the delayed reaction only made it more suspicious.

Immediately pointing it out to check, surprisingly, a torn wound was revealed.

‘….’

For a moment, my mind went blank.

It was the first time I had seen him injured.

Unconsciously, I had thought he wouldn’t get hurt.

Watching him strangely dodge every attack, such a belief naturally formed.

But that wasn’t the case. He was just an ordinary person who could be hit by attacks.

Of course, it was just a simple injury now, but the fact that he was wounded was enough to shatter what I had vaguely believed until now.

Realizing that, my complicated feelings were instantly resolved.

I wanted to be someone who could help him.

Although I couldn’t even guess how much it would take to stand by his side, stopping the apocalypse in real-time, at least I wanted to be someone who could protect him.

He might not know, but now that I share the same future with him.

Wouldn’t he need at least one person by his side who fully trusts him?

So, I stopped him from saying something.

Of course, I was curious about how he would explain… but I thought it would hurt if I saw him lying.

[As a favorability reward, you gain the ‘Concept Manifestation’ bonus.]

[The exclusive stat ‘Time’ increases.]

[Current Time stat: 1]

Now, I decided to think about how to use what I had gained to be with him.

…Really. If only I hadn’t slipped up and mentioned that I had cast a tracking spell.

My mind was so complicated that my mouth moved first, and that was the problem.

The exclusive stat is Time, but is there no way to reverse this?

I tried hard, but there was no sign of anything happening.

In the end, unable to take back what I had said, I left the room as if running away.