The following days passed quickly. Glimpse Water warmed up to Frozen Milk, apart from the constant cold, insulting and dishonest remarks he threw around.
Frozen Milk's fever finally went down but this proved to be a nightmare as Prota and Glimpse Water played cat and dog around him to see who Frozen Milk loved more. They fought for his attention in various different ways.
At the end of every day, Frozen Milk really thought of himself as their father. Once they were too exhausted to fight anymore, they collapsed on the ground and fell asleep.
"Mhm, Frozen Milk belongs to me. I know him longer than you..."
"Shut up! Father loves me more than you..."
Frozen Milk felt the urge to kick both of them, and don't call me father!
Yet a little smile graced his face as he looked at them. He still couldn't believe he transmigrated and lived with his characters. This felt surreal and somehow after everything that has happened, Frozen Milk started to enjoy his life here.
He pulled the blanket over them when he heard the all-familiar 'Bing' again in his mind. Of course, the system would never let him enjoy his peaceful life. He had to suffer, be punished for his twisted past actions.
"Yes, the plot! What about the plot! We have to follow the plot!" Frozen Milk shouted in his mind.
There was no escaping from having to follow the plot.
"System is already lenient with allowing host to choose the original storyline to keep both the protagonist and villain alive. Host should be grateful, system allows this many changes."
The system was obviously referring to both his characters' slow personality changes.
"Yes! Yes! Great system! Thank you for your pure, magnanimous generosity!" Frozen Milk wanted to spit on everything that existed at the moment! How long did he have to kiss up to that mechanical cold ass?
"2."
Yes, Frozen Milk had to sell his soul, donate his blood, present his organs as gifts to the system in order to move on from the eye stabbing zero that actually turned into a pleasing two.
He sacrificed his regressing dignity, smeared his ego on bread to let the system eat. Feed, feed, feed!
But the system was right, they had to continue with the plot.
The next day, the protagonist had a rare free day off. Frozen Milk assembled them in his room because that was where his two characters loved to be out of all places, to discuss their plan to meet the major.
Frozen Milk was already exhausted when he finally was able to get those two bickering hags to shut up and listen to him.
"Why were you talking about me if I'm right in front of you?" he scolded and felt unbelievably ignored.
"Ok back to topic, how are we going to get an invitation?"
"It's not necessary!" Prota gave Glimpse Water a smug and then looked with puppy eyes at Frozen Milk.
"Yesterday after work I saw someone being extorted so I helped them and surprisingly it turned out to be the major and when he asked me what I wanted as a compensation, I asked him for the invitation. I wanted to tell you yesterday but this... this was all over you, this Glimpse Water!"
Frozen Milk and Glimpse Water calmly listened. They facepalmed and said nothing but in their minds, they furiously screamed,
OF COURSE! It's the protagonist! What did I fucking expect? Literally everything's going to fall into his lap!
Prota looked very proud of himself and waited for his praise while Glimpse Water visibly sulked and his jealousy rapidly grew.
"Good, good," Frozen Milk patted Prota's head and Glimpse Water's eyes shot lasers, so Frozen Milk quickly retracted his hand but Prota wouldn't allow him and kept his hand on his head. Glimpse Water just ate the vinegar out of Prota's hands. Frozen Milk couldn't even say anything.
"There's one more thing," Prota continued to smirk at Glimpse Water, "there are only two invitations. So, sorry Glimpse Water but Frozen Milk and I will be going alone. You can stay at home and do some chores to pay for your freeloading here."
No matter how pure Prota seemed, he took any opportunity to stab at Glimpse Water.
"No, no, you already did your part, you should rest at home after working so hard. Fa- Frozen Milk and I should go."
Then the bickering and fighting started again until both turned very aggrieved to Frozen Milk,
"Choose one of us!"
"Impossible!" Frozen Milk outrightly refused and left the room.
***
At the very end of this world, between the water and nature side, behind the neutral island was a very small island overrun by darkness and overflown by a burning hatred.
On this island, every foreboding of evil took place and there was a single person who lived there and this person started the gears of fate to work.
This person spun a black thread that laced everything yet nothing together. And if this black thread disappeared, it would all perish.
***
"Host, warning! Danger signs detected. Host?... Host?"
It was pitch black in Frozen Milk's mind. The system, for the very first time, sensed real danger, a variable, it had not anticipated would exist.
"Host! Host! Please respond!"
The feeling grew and grew.
"Host!"