*Beep*
*Beep*
*Beep*
Her hand slipped upon the nightstand, blindly trying to reach for anything it was searching for until it made contact onto the smooth surface of her alarm.
*Tap*
The alarm went silent as the morning ray of light flickering onto her eyes behind the half opened curtains. Papers scattered everywhere around her, origami lotus flowers, cranes, filled with roughly written scribes and sketches.
"Morning already?"
She rubbed her eyes as she trailed off the glittering flash emanating on her window, before positioning herself upwards, where after she sat on her bed.
'Another day,'
'Another work.'
Woke up within another one of the endless loops of the nuanced life she lived on, without any spark of variation. Nothing to accommodate within the entirely monochrome spectrum she lived in.
She let out a yawn before burrowing her eyes off from her absence, before instinctively reaching for her phone on the nightstand. A bright display begin greeting her lens before her eyes lay onto the notification popups on her lock screen. She checked her mail like usual, expecting someone to check her on her workflow progression, like usual.
'Ah there it is,' she thought almost expectantly, rolling her eyes just as soon as it laid onto the new mail. Her thumb hovered just for a moment as another thought went to her mind.
'And another deadline. Of course.'
A prompt delay cut out before she pressed onto the mail icon just within her thumb. Then a similar unpleasantly stern tone of text presented before her.
'You haven't finished your script yet, I want you ready up some progress in your drafts. We can't have you waiting.'
Her fingers fiddled onto the edges of her phone as she pressed her thumb slightly harder towards the phone screen.
"Right, progress..."
She averted her eyes from her phone as she gazed at the origami papers, stranded all over her bed and nightstand. The origami papers, the scripts she was assessing, the sketches of story designs, character designs, all of it recycled into origami papers.
There weren't any progression, like the other day.
Finally setting the phone aside, she slipped out of the bed, her feet touching the cold concrete without much of a flinch.
'This is gonna be another long day.'
...
That message carried these words unpleasantly as she would've thought, but she brushed it off as she begins carrying her handbag out.
Railway buzzed as the train takes its next station brake. The crowd filed in, and a crowd filed out, it was always the sightseeing outside that felt routine, it's almost predictable. Ray of morning light traces its way that stretched on the train balcony.
She just sat there, her long, purple-blue hair, slightly saturated to the snow, rummaging through her favorite novel. Repetitive Rerun.
"...Did it really have to end with a cliffhanger again?" she bluffed with a mutter, scrolling down to the end of the chapter with notable dissatisfaction as the protagonist's yet to face another adversary.
'Chapter 142,856... And that's my favorite novel gone to another hiatus.'
A sigh finally came from her. The webnovel she enjoyed reading, the novel of her childhood, finally came to yet another long pause.
Despite her irritation, the author always had that brilliance to make plots that keeps reader's... well, at least herself... coming back. Over 100,000 chapters went to pass, the plot twist and mysteries managed to somehow keep her engaged... perhaps staunchly.
No.
It was more than that. This story has been a companion in her life for as long as she remembered. But these pauses of cliffhangers just seems unbearably annoying sometimes, it reminds her of her cyclical life, mirroring the story in a sense.
She curiously glanced onto the reader count, with the classic number appearing yet again.
'3 views huh. At least I'm not the only lunatic,' she chuckled, 'I guess there's some crazy fanatics like me still killing to pay to read this far.'
A brief chuckle emanated from her lone silence, before briefly silencing either way. Her mind wandered elsewhere. Her eyes stared towards the ceiling as she pauses her contemplation mid thought.
The novel and her life.
It was absurd how she still clung to this story, which had become less a narrative and more a cycle of repetition. Yet, somehow, it was like a reflection of her life. It's always been the same.
Work, commute, write, revise, rewrite, nothing ever really changed.
Repetitive loop mingling on her. It's endlessly a never-ending plot that never changed, never developed. Each day felt like the last. No variation, no spark.
...
She was clinging on for a fantasy to happen perhaps.
People pass and go, events repeat. Some go and never come back for perpetual return, yet most stayed, continuing their habitual life. It's monotone.
Her thoughts tranced for a moment, slowly blurring out, before her eyes diverted away from the ceiling before she glances towards the window behind her seat, 'It's always been like this.'
She was waiting for something.
What was she waiting for? Something, anything, to disrupt this cycle. But here she just... lived on her life, the casual stride on the next loop.
Shaking off the unnecessary illusion in her mind, she decided to find anything else better to collect her thoughts. Skimming through her novel bookmarks, there were nothing interesting much to her prospect.
'Reincarnation... no, too cliche. Romance... not in mood. Overpowered protagonist genre... Okay, How many chosen ones could there be?'
Her eyes blankly stared at the nuances of exaggerated description of the protagonist, and how appraised he is, 'Ehh..? why do I have this in my bookmark.'
A stupid idea suddenly brushed into her mind. Why not give it a quick skim?
That was the stupidest decision ever.
The story was as predictable as ever. The protagonist, blessed with every overpowered ability imaginable, demolishing his enemies with minimal effort, spouting cringeworthy lines as he did. 'How does anyone like this?' she thought, her irritation growing as she urged herself not to continue.
The cliche plots that gave so much simplicity were never really up to her reckoning. It's cringe. It's not that she hated it, it's the way these authors narrate their stories that just... aches her mind to so much extent that it's infuriating sometimes. If only she could write it for them, she can think of dozens of renovations to improvise the plot.
She piqued onto the story comments, second doubting her nitpick just to confirm whether the audiences also have the same distaste, much to her own hypocritical judgment, before smirking upon seeing how many criticisms and 1-3 star rating were held towards the author, 'Guess I'm not the only one who thinks that way huh?'
Then again, she was no better. Feeding off on a webnovel that overuse plot devices such as cliffhangers that seemed to have no end to it. She's basically calling out a terrible author when she's stuck out reading a webnovel that does outright no better performance.
That makes her a hypocrite herself to her own perfectionism.
Her eyes trailed off from the criticisms as something caught her attention, words and contents of other commentators having to caught up her interest.
'A plagiarism?' she thought. Taking another quick skim, she came to realization that some of the contents were consisting of fabrication of popular novels she has read before. The fact that it gained this vast amount of popularity disgust her. 'Nevermind,' she muttered, 'I was so wrong to uplift my judgment when this novel itself's a plagiarized garbage.'
She wasn't any stranger to popular novels recycling old ideas, but regurgitating contents and claiming other's rendition as their own after few bits of changes? It disgusted her.
Her gaze drifted to see the hundreds of 5 star ratings defending the author's choices, 'Then there's these bots... or loyal dumbasses.'
Her eyes drifted onto the author's replies on these 5 star "comments", sycophantically appreciating and thanking their praises, "Ugh... the audacity of these authors..."
The train neared its stop. She sighed, and stood. Continuous taps of footsteps echoed the passageway, including hers as well as she made her way to the turnstiles, paying for the transport fares. Rays of light flickered on the station as she approached her exxit. She continued to scroll through her webnovels, trying to find anything that intrigues her... only to find nothing much that piques her interest.
Refreshing her mind before finally darted away from the ridiculing themes, she let out a tired sigh. All she needed now is to head her way to her office building.
...
Teomachy softwares, a building filled with the crowded working atmosphere. The place buzzed with the usual activity, keyboards clattering, conversations ramming, and the tap-tap of footsteps heard on every area of the concrete floors. Her footsteps blended in as she walked in, dismissing the hectic of the crowd. Yet that doesn't erase the fact that some of her co-workers recognized her... mostly males, and gave her glances.
Yet...
"Viera Wyntriss!" a jarring voice skewed through her ears, immediately causing her to flinch. Viera Wyntriss, gave a sided glance, seeing a stout man approaching her with his rapid footsteps. Her movements hung onto the air as the atmosphere changed.
"Just the person I wanted to see. The lead narrative designer of Theomachy Softwares. Any progress with your writings so far? We're urging you to complete the storyline for this game's succession. It's finally getting the best recognition from recognizable beta testers thanks to its mechanics, but we can't even release it YET because you're ridiculously slow at narrating a story for this," the man, known as Renzai Yukishiro, one of the senior managers at Theomachy Softwares, grunted.
Viera Wyntriss puffed her cheeks, realizing that she's gonna go through another barrage of criticism for her slow narration. But every time she sat down to work on the script, her mind wandered back on the same problem. The same tropes, the same uninspired plot... it all blurred together.
She quickly shook her head, there are no time for trivial thoughts in a middle of facing her manager.
"I... I know," she bit her lips, tensing as not wanting to glance back at the man who's been criticizing her flawed progression. The script of this conversation had become as predictable as her webnovels. She was slow, she knew that. She wanted to do better. She was trying to do better. She just wanted the story to be-
"And how long are you going to delay this game's progression?" Renzai retorted back in a sharp edge, interrupting her thoughts midway, "you've been working on this for months. We don't have forever."
"I just... wanted the story to be perfect, or at least... close to one," she finally muttered her words out.
"Perfect?" Renzai scoffed, "There's no such things! I need done, not perfect!"
"I'll give you few more weeks, no, 3 more weeks. If you're not by any means finishing this story narration, then I'll just find a complementary replacement to take your place," Renzai's sharp voice echoed the workspace. Viera's colleagues glanced at her from their work-desks, one even letting out a low whistle, entertained by the dressing down she just received.
"I'll have it ready," she said, not fully convinced by her own words.
He left her standing there, the weight of ultimatum settling over her, constraining her. "...Just give me a little more time," she managed to murmur, a voice that went unheard as the senior manager's already off ears.
...
Later that day, Viera sat on her desk, surrounded by crumpled papers and half finished drafts. She found herself folding scraps of papers into lotus flowers and cranes. The pile of origamis overflow by the passing hours, flowers and cranes made out of rejected ideas. It was a bad habit she subconsciously clung to whenever she garnered at nothing to attain.
She continuously folded her papers, while half staring at the same half written draft, the cursor blinking like an hourglass to the rhythm of her doubts.
Perfection. She hated that word.
Nothing's perfect. Not life. Not stories. And so was her. Yet, in the endless repetition of her days, she still searched for something close to it.
The world wanted something new, something fresh, and she couldn't deliver. Not yet. Not while she was trapped in the loop of her own making. Hours passed, and still, the draft she was scrutinizing remained the same.
Then her phone buzzed.
'Another chapter...'
Yes, another chapter update. Repetitive Rerun.
She probed around, seeing some of her colleagues already taking their leave. The last shift's almost over anyway, so why don't she sneak into the chapter anyway before heading hom-
"You're still here?" a voice interrupted her moment of distraction. Viera flinched. She nearly dropped her phone, caught like a child sneaking sweets before dinner, just before she could even lay her thumb onto the next chapter's button. She muster her courage to look up, met with Kaizuro Toketsu, one of her more easy-going colleagues in game's art department.
An awkward silence peaked between the two, his easygoing smile a contrast to her stiff, embarrassed posture.
"Ah! Um, right," her previous stiffening faded into a more relaxed posture, the absurdity clearly pushed her into the edge of embarrassment.
Kaizuro's eyes drifted from her onto her overflowing desk, "That's... a lot of papers you've been fiddling on, Viera-san. You sure you're not trying yourself too hard?"
"What's up, Toketsu-san?" Viera finally spoke, trying a bit too hard to sound casual. Kaizuro's eyes moved towards the screen of Viera's phone, catching the glimpse of the infamous webnovel on her phone.
"Repetitive rerun, huh... Still taking you fancy to that novel after all these years?" he looked her in an almost a stoically blank expression, before leaning onto the desk wallframe, "I mean, I'm not to judge, but a pretty face like you? Still buried in novels and origami after work? You'd think the lead writer of a major game would have better taste."
His mind began to wander towards the novel settings as he pressed his finger on his chin, "I guess I was stuffed up after reaching 1,000 chapters after few years. It's not that it's badly written, even some readers made it out to chapter 1,000, but it's just the constant use of cliffhangers that's-"
"I like what I like," she stared blankly at him without bothering to listen to his next word.
"Oookay," Kaizuro raised his arms with a shrug, "look. Wyntriss-san, I know you're under a lot of pressure trying to achieve the ideal narrative you want, but... you gotta stop chasing for perfection, you know? We all want this game to be perfect, sure, but... sometimes, done is better than perfect."
His words struck a nerve, the same nerve Renzai already trampled down earlier.
Viera clenched her jaw as her fist grip tightened, 'Done is better than perfect. Everyone keeps saying that.'
"Hey hey," Kaizuro's eyes widened upon recognizing Viera's unease, as he shook his hands, "don't get the wrong idea. I'm not saying we don't want it to be good, but you're killing yourself over it."
"You don't need to concern yourself."
An immediate response, but a tone that honestly implied she doesn't... or refuse to give a damn perhaps. She was too grudged from the earlier remarks, she just don't want to hear any of it.
"Hey, come on-"
"No."
"But-"
"No."
"You're a bit of a hardhead sometimes."
"..."
Kaizuro sighed, not trying to pry any further than he already did, "Maybe just take a step back, clear your head a little and take a breather, yeah?"
"I'll think about it," Viera muttered almost immediately. What Kaizuro said wasn't wrong, but the fact that everyone understood her flaw is nerve wracking her confidence in reaching the ideal goal she wanted to achieve.
She just wants to go home already.
Viera's eyes glanced onto the clock, realizing her shift's finally over. Her eyes widened, more leaning to how relieved she was that her shift is finally over. She needed to get out of there, away from the judgments and the barraging advices that only seemed to worsen her anxiety.
"Riiight, I'll get going," she finally packed her things, her voice a little too cheerful, before rushing her way out of the office, "byeee~!"
As soon as she was outside the office, Viera felt the weight of the work slightly off her shoulders. The cool evening air breezed against her face, a welcoming contrast to the humidity of her workplace.
"Good riddance, that was suffocating," she managed to mutter before shaking her head, her attention entirely absorbed onto something else. She grabbed out her phone from her pocket, in an exciting anticipation of her favorite webnovel, the least thing she could do right now is to reprieve her worries away.
'... Chapter 142,857, Last Stand.'
She paused. Her thoughts are reclining to how the previous chapter consists of the protagonist, Hiroki, fighting against the final enemy. Just like the previous thousands of chapters she had read.
'Surely this thing won't lead to another reset, right?' Viera stare at the webnovel, with another expectant anticipation. Every time Hiroki killed the antagonist to avert the disaster, the antagonist always finds yet a way to reset the course upon his death. And so was Hiroki. His death often leads to another reset. Everything, it all often leads to the same beginning premise.
'How many more... ugh,' Viera huffed before staring back at the webnovel, 'I mean, it didn't take that long for me to beat that darned skeleton...'
'At least that thing was a beatable pushover even though I had to retry fighting him for 3... 4 times was it?' Viera thought before she shook her head. She ignored her trivial thoughts as she continues to read the webnovel.
———
It was another devastating fight between two opposing power.
Hiroki stood. He wasn't struggling. He wasn't desperate. There was no determination. Just a perpetual exhaustion. Above him the monstrous form loomed the sky. It was invading, descending itself onto the ground, as earth awaited for its doom.
Other planets... worlds, have already fallen. Hiroki knew that. He had seen their destruction countless of times, and this planet, his planet, was next. The sky fractured, chaos swirling as the apocalypse descends.
Hiroki's eyes loomed through the impending doom, his tired eyes glancing at the divine being, floating amidst the ethereal chaos.
Kurai, the antagonist that kept relooping time continuously until now, stood infront of Hiroki as the Monstrous form descends from the sky, one of the many more times this happened.
"You realize it, don't you?" Kurai finally speaks, their voice echoing through the violent air, "there were never any resolutions to this. This is fate. Your lament will lead to nothing as I will just keep thriving to destroy this world."
Hiroki stayed silent. His eyes lingered on his fallen allies as his expression was... apathetic. This was one of the billionth time he saw his allies turned into a pile of corpse. He was never able to find a way to completely eliminate Kurai. Either he dies and the world reverts back to the premise, or Kurai dies and the world reverts back instead.
Hiroki resigned into a small sigh. "I'm tired of this," he muttered.
"I'm waiting for something to change."
The ground beneath him began to tremble, the sky tearing apart as the celestial entities moved closer, its massive form wrapping the horizon. Time slowed, the madness, the chaos shifting into something almost... tranquil.
Another countless cycles, the world fell into madness.
Maybe this time...
———
Viera blinked at the screen, her heart beating a little faster than before. Something felt different about this chapter, a strange deja vu she couldn't place. Hiroki's acceptance, his acknowledgment of the endless cycles—
It hit closer to home than she expected. It almost felt like it happened before, no, PRESENTLY happening, wait. She can't even tell. Why was there a sudden indescribable feeling moving her edge just as she saw this?
Or was it just her paranoia?
She scratched her head, her eyes more ruminative than her initial thrill. Of course she was probably paranoid, the repetition of all the chapters she previously read. It repeats over the same conclusion point, again.
'Why... am I suddenly getting worked up?' Viera bit her lip.
'In the end, it's just another endless reset,' she thought, 'Just like me. Just like this stupid job... this stupid script.'
Her thumb twitched, ready to scroll to the next part, but she paused. The words on the screen seemed to blur.
"Hahh..." she muttered under her breath, frowning as she stared at the webnovel's loading screen display. If that thing doesn't annoy you
Viera frowned at the sudden loading screen, "Is it lagging again?"
It wasn't uncommon for the webnovel app to freeze. Is her phone lacking signal again?
But her irritation turned to confusion by the next sentence appearing on her webnovel.
———
The world once again went into reset.
...
The breeze on the tranquil afternoon relaxed. Sun rays by the distance as the afternoon sky loomed.
A young lady continued her steps as she walked, her footsteps making a lone tap staring at her webnovel continuously loading in monotone. She was frowning by a sudden loading block.
"Hahh..." she muttered under her breath, seeing the webnovel's loading icon spun within the center of her screen, "Is it lagging again?"
———
Her breath caught in her throat. She continued walking, yet she couldn't pinpoint that there was a strange sense of unease.
'What?'
She glanced around, her eyes scanning the street, but there was no one there. Was this a prank? Some kind of bizarre coincidence? Viera walked slowed down her steps, as if trying to shrug off the unease. Her untouched thumb once again made contact with the screen as she scrolls down.
Then the sentences appeared once again.
———
As the novel loaded in, she begins looking at her eyes anticipating for the new panel.
Yet, her breath hitched.
The lady's steps decelerated, her emotions grew frantic as she witness the novel replicating her exact action.
'What?'
Her eyes scanned around, as if trying to check for anything odd looming around out of the oddities. Yet, there was nothing unusual.
———
'What the hell...'
Viera's heart raced. She staggered back as she felt unease creeping at the back of her mind.
It doesn't make sense. Each words provided, every ounce were describing the exact area, her thoughts, her exact movements.
———
Her mind went into mild contemplation as the webnovel replicated exactly what happened. Everything she did, it was all written in the novel right as she thought, moved, or actioned.
'What the hell...' she shook, her thoughts less than a quiet whimper as her mind rushed, all jumbled with mixed emotions as her anxiety rapidly rushed.
It was none other than Viera Wyntriss. One of the Teomachy Software's designer went frenzy over some narration copy over her movements.
———
Her track stopped once she traced her name in the novel. Inexplicable feeling gnawed her, before she quickly shut her phone, hurriedly returning it into her bag.
Her bewilderment grew, as if she was struggling to grasp the situation. She scanned her eyes around for one last time, expectantly seeing something out of place, but there was none.
She wanted to go home.
Viera instinctively walked faster, she had to. It's what felt natural to her. Her feet's pacing the speed on instinct trying to outrun whatever terror gnawed her mind. 'This is creeping me out,' she blubbered. Her walk was steady, pacing faster for whatever was coming for her. But then flashes of foreign images rushed into her mind, coming at intervals.
Yet... it tugged something familiar in her. Too familiar. As if... they were real. Too real. It felt out of place. It reminded her of that dream she had last morning... what was it? She can't recall.
It didn't take long for Viera to arrive at the train station on her way home. She glanced around, worried about people's view on her, after all, her thoughts are at disarray, constantly conflicted on what she just immersed herself into.
The next train finally arrived and she immediately stepped on the board almost immediately. She entered and found a lone bench, thoroughly collecting her thoughts as the afternoon sun rays loom over the horizon.
'What was that?' she wondered as she glanced towards her bag. It wasn't normal for a novel to replicate her movements... no, even her thoughts. Or was she going crazy?
She caught something unusual in the corner of her eyes, something inconceivable. Her eyes dragged onto the window, her breath caught on a hitch. Planets. She was seeing planets. Their colossal form floating on the sky, orbiting around the sun as if they've always been there. They shouldn't be there.
"W-what on earth," she whimpered.
She was mortified. Just minutes ago, the webnovel were copying exactly what she did. Now this?
A notification rang on her phone as it vibrates in her bag. Her blood rushed, but her body's voluntary steady. It couldn't compare to her mind revolting around the recent happenings and chaos though. Against the better judgment, her interest piqued.
'Should I..?'
Her hands lingered on her bag, as if urging her to take her phone out.
And she did, because there simply was a reason to. Her hands pressed onto the notification popups, before she unlocked her phone. There the narration appeared infront of her eyes, like a flickering text recently presented itself on the screen.
———
"You're now apart of the story, Viera Wyntriss."
...
"Welcome to Infinity Retries."