Chapter 2

My mission was to redeem Michael, the second male lead, keep him from all the disasters written for him, help him escape the original storyline, and make sure he survived.

If I could successfully redeem Michael, I'd earn ten points, enough to heal my mom.

This was already my fourth year trying to redeem Michael.

I showed up in Michael's life back when he was still a student.

Back then, everyone at school knew Michael was Lydia's simp, and I was Michael's simp.

If it weren't for this mission, being a simp was the worst idea ever.

It was nothing but heartbreak and a total drain on my health.

Every morning, I'd make two breakfasts, one for Michael and the other, pretending it was from him, for Lydia.

Word was that Lydia just handed that breakfast over to Tristan Tyler, the male lead.

Michael took Lydia on a trip, using the travel guide I'd pulled an all-nighter to write.

Michael and Lydia were out on the grass, stargazing, while I hung back, playing mosquito repellent for them.

Lydia got hurt, and Michael called me right away. I grabbed the first aid kit and rushed over.

Tristan got jealous, and in a split second, I pulled Michael, who was limping, out from under Tristan's swinging stick.

When the school found out, they made all three of them write reflection letters.

Tristan made Lydia do his, Lydia made Michael do hers, and in the end, I wrote all three.

At that moment, I didn't feel like I was redeeming Michael at all. I felt more like their babysitter.

Luckily, in the end, Lydia chose to be with Tristan.

On their wedding day, Lydia was bawling her eyes out. "Michael, I've found my happiness. You need to be happy, too, so I can stop worrying about you."

Hearing that, I mentally rolled my eyes. I didn't see that she really cared about Michael.

After living in this novel world for so long, I started to question the author's skills.

Lydia's character totally gave off that bitch vibe, pretending to be pure while playing everyone.

She was dating Tristan, but at the same time, she kept stringing Michael along.

In the original storyline, whenever she argued with Tristan, she'd use Michael to mess with Tristan and make him jealous.

Tristan would get jealous and take it out on Michael, beating him up so much that Michael was on edge.

But even after all that, Michael still loved Lydia with everything he had.

Honestly, Michael was being a total masochist.

Michael's eyes were a little red as he pulled me over to stand in front of Lydia, looking sincere. "Lydia, I hope you're happy. I've found my own happiness, too."

So, I was just another prop in their drama.

As I lay in that hospital bed, I couldn't help feeling a bit crushed inside.

Even someone as tough as me couldn't hold back the tears when it came to stuff like this.

I wiped my tears and blinked at the nurse with my puffy eyes. "Go easy on me, okay? I'm bad with pain."

That was a life, after all.

Before the surgery, I asked the system, "Why am I supposed to redeem Michael? A guy who toys with women's feelings and doesn't even care about his own unborn kid. He's not worth saving."

The system replied, [Oh, that's because he had some luck from before, or maybe his ancestors did. The reward you get for redeeming him is his luck cashing in.

[But since he ditched his wife and kid, that luck's gone. If he screws up again, he's on his own.]

Wow, even a fictional character got its lucky breaks.

Michael and I shared a genuinely loving relationship for a while.

Once Lydia got married, I took Michael and moved us to another city, so he could finally break free from her.

After we tied the knot, he was gentle and thoughtful, worked hard, and started making plans for us to have a child of our own.

We went shopping, traveled, and spent time doing things together.

The moment we found out I was pregnant, he picked me up and spun me around, grinning from ear to ear, already imagining our future as a family.

Both our baby and I were part of his plans.

But just when I thought everything was finally okay, he secretly reached out to Lydia behind my back.

They were constantly calling and video chatting, and even when I caught them, he acted like it was no big deal.

We fought, we argued, and every line out of his mouth was classic jerk talk.

He'd said, "So what if we're still talking? Let me spell it out for you. Lydia is the only one I'll ever love.

"You should be grateful to Lydia. She wanted me to be happy. That's the only reason I married you. If it weren't for her, I'd have spent my whole life by her side.

"Yeah, you saved me, but that was your own decision. I never told you I needed you."

I stared at him, my eyes swollen and red, my whole body shaking a little. A wave of sadness crashed over me.