What is an NPC?
An 'NPC' are what people call side characters. Blank faces, unimportant to the story as themselves— Instead, they are important to the story as supports to elevate the main characters.
You've heard all about it, right? In isekai, in the novels themselves, and in studies of literature and prose.
It's a dead horse, beaten again and again.
Unfortunately for you, I'm not here to bring anything new. I'm here to say my mundane experience of being an NPC— completely unoriginal, completely basic, and oh-so cliche.
My name is Haru. I came from another country that will not be named because I am here purely for Asian representation, so my 'American' name is Leo. No, my last name isn't Valdez. In fact, I'm not actually sure if I have a last name.
You know. Side character shit.
How am I this acute to 'side characters' and 'main characters'?
Well, you see, I remember my past life. It was nothing remarkable; just an exact replica of the world I was in right now, though perhaps this current world was the replica? Regardless, the only difference between these two worlds was awareness. In that world, the cringe 'romantic' stuff I saw daily was merely fictional. Pure fantasy.
Unfortunately, in this was very much real. I encountered the horrifying 'romances' that I used to read in books daily. It was all very despairing.
So, I formulated a plan. Become the most unfeeling, apathetic looking person. It helps that I am a man, and as such, I will not trigger any "She's not like other girls" flags.
I am, in fact, completely immune. Lovely.
This all brings us here. I am currently an employee at XY Company, an extremely successful company with vague details on what we exactly do. I'm in designing, which is a little difficult since I don't even know what we do, but you know, since the company is so successful, it doesn't matter. Everything we do just… Works.
The CEO of the company is one Alessandro Blackwood. He's cold, as most CEOs are in this world, rude, clearly has some trauma to justify his actions. If I had to bet on the trauma, I'd guess his mother died, and 'closed his heart to the world' and is just waiting for some spunky female lead to come along and melt it.
So, yes. Normal main character shit.
This is why I'm delighted to just use my shitty tablet and stylus, doodling away for designs that won't particularly matter in the long run anyway.
And for a while? It actually worked. Nothing was out yet to show our CEO the joys of love. It was irritating, what with his rotten attitude, but manageable.
But then she came along.
It was the worst type of female main character. Her name was Y/N L/N. You know her, I suppose? "Your/Name Last/Name?" She small, petite, but still has the most 'voluptuous' curves you've ever seen on a woman. A walking contradiction, and a walking nightmare.
In other words, she is not 'Your/Name.' She is, in fact, 'Your/Nightmare.'
Yes, your. Because WE are all going to experience the nightmare she brings. The pure torture.
She was an intern. I hadn't even known she was in the company until my friend told me by rudely knocking on my door.
I sighed. "What is it, Abby?" I said, barely lifting my head up from my tablet, the sound of the stylus along the screen sounding through my office room
.
"There's new interns!" She grinned, leaning further through my doorframe."Thought you'd might wanna know. One of the girls has a weird name. Y/N."
I froze, but quickly regained my composure. "Is that so?" I said, voice cool.
Well, that was on the outside. But inside? I was a total disaster of screaming and cursing whatever god had sent this woman to the door. WHAT THE HELL Y/N IS HERE ALREADY?!!?!??! COULDN'T SHE HAVE WAITED UNTIL I HAD ALREADY RESIGNED???? I CAN'T LEAVE NOW, THE PAY IS TOO DAMN GOOD!!!!!
Abby rolled her eyes. "Jeez, I thought I would shake you up this time. Guess not. But yeah, weird girl, huh? She showed up in goddamn galaxy leggings and sneakers. That's gotta be against dress code, right?"
Well, I have my hair dyed black and blonde, so I refrained from giving my opinion. But surely, that is crossing the line? "Galaxy leggings? Seriously? We're not in 2010, for God's sake."
Her answer doesn't come right away, leaning out of the doorway before popping back in. "She's coming this way, too! I'll go back to my office, but you can greet her if you like."
No, I don't think I want to. "Thanks. I'll keep that in mind." Abby leaves, then, and I slump back in my chair, groaning as I run a hand through my hair. This is bad. Really bad. I have no desire to be part of some wacky-ass voyeurism fantasy of some teenage girl.
Then I heard a soft gasp, and a stumble. Y/N. I knew it immediately. I silently pleaded to the world to swallow me whole.
Unfortunately, my wish was not granted. You know. Because the world hates me. "E-Excuse me?" A voice squeaked from the doorframe. A full body shudder ran through me.
My head snapped to the door, and there she was. Y/N. She was… How do I even describe her? She's pretty, sure, but not my type. Blonde hair, messy bun like those Facebook moms, a hoodie, galaxy leggings as Abby foretold, and sneakers.
She was an HR nightmare. The only thing saving her was the ID around her neck. That was it. The only professional thing that I could see on her. I stared.
"What do you want." I said flatly. I was not enthusiastic at all.
Y/N looked at me with wide eyes. Her lip was trembling already. I internally let out a long, old-man sigh. "I-I…" She bit her lip, "I was just wondering if you… Could show me around…?"
Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. I did NOT want to show this woman around. The LAST thing I wanted was to be dragged into her plot to seduce the CEO. The LAST thing I needed was to ignite the CEO's jealousy.
There had to be a way to avoid this. I looked away, praying she would give up. But she just stood there, quietly waiting. I could feel the pull of the plot— the whisper inside me, telling me, the unimportant side character, to just get up and help her.
She was the main character, after all. And more important than me by a mile. So, with another long-suffering sigh, I got up and strode towards her.
Y/N was extremely short. I had to crane my neck at an odd angle just to make eye contact, and I was average height. How, then, would the height difference between our CEO and Y/N play out? I shuddered thinking about it.
"Where do you want me to start?" I said simply, already dreading my insignificant death at the hands of my Mafia CEO.
Ah, did I forget to mention? Alessandro Blackwood is a Mafia leader, too. Don't ask.
"U-Uhm…" Y/N pressed a fist against her chest. "M-Maybe start… At the o-office rooms? L-Like yours, I mean."
I was already getting sick of her unnecessary pauses. "Sure." I stepped past her before motioning her to follow along. She does, much to my disappointment. Couldn't she read a room? Then again, she must be too 'innocently and adorably clueless' for that.
As we walked, I kept pointing out places in an attempt to bore her to death. Hell, I even pointed out the potted plants, just to look more like an unimportant NPC. Sadly, this did not deter her at all. She listened attentively, which was worse than if she just slapped me for being boring.
At least then I had an excuse to leave the company!!!
…Regardless, I kept these thoughts to myself, because I'm not an idiot. Soon, we finally arrived at Alessandro's office.
"This is the CEO's office," I informed her monotonously, "You know, the big boss of everything, I guess." I presume that actual work hierarchies, at least in my previous life, were more complicated than that, but for the sake of my sanity, I will refrain from speaking of those nuances.
Y/N starts trembling. Literally trembling. I can see soft tears pooling in her eyes (What do 'soft tears' even mean?), and she chokes out, "T-T-T-The CEO? How… W-What is he like? How do you survive him?"
Survive him? This woman is talking about him like he's a serial killer! But, since he is a Mafia boss, I suppose she can't be fully blamed for her reaction. "We just treat him like a normal boss, except he dabbles in mafia stuff."
Her eyes widened, and her trembling worsens. "M-M-M-M-M-Mafia?!" She looks terrified. I would have laughed, except this is completely reasonable; when I first came here, I reacted much the same.
But I have to keep up this air of nonchalance, as the self-aware side character in a story parodying tropes, so ignore the fact I was ever unfazed by this situation. "It's fine. As long as you keep to his good side, there's really no issues."
The tremors running through her body don't fade, but I can see her calm down. I sigh internally. Good. I hope she won't hold any of this interaction against me in the future. I sweep a hand through my hair, then wave at the door. "Go inside. Introduce yourself."
Honestly, I don't think this is a normal practice for a company, but it's a plot device, so who cares?
Y/N stands there, like she's paralyzed, arms wrapped around herself as she trembles, clearly scared. I can hardly bring myself to care, even as the ropes of dialogue wrap against my throat, trying to choke the words out of me.
>"Ah, don't be scared, Y/N! I'm here to help you."
>"Ha, you're scared of that? That's so stupid."
>"Y/N, you can do it! You're obviously amazing, I believe in you."
CHOOSE
I crossed my arms, staring at the screen that popped up in front of me. The options laid out on a silver platter held no meaning to me, but I could feel the weight of the invisible rope around my neck. It seems the System had grown impatient for me to be of any plot relevance, considering my position in the company.
From what I could decipher from these options, the System was offering me three branches: Love rival, or Second Male Lead, if I'm lucky, Bully, which will probably get me killed, and Yes man, which is what it says on the tin without any real consequences.
Unfortunately, this meant the 'Yes Man' route was the best option for me. Too bad, System. Fuck you, fuck Y/N, and fuck the CEO, too. I glared at the System screen, and its annoying stereotypical neon blue interface. The rope tightened further, but I was determined to hold out until Y/N finally got off her ass and stopped shaking like static.
I tried opening my mouth, just to see, trying to say, "Y/N, just get in." No words came out. My eyes narrowed further. This meant the System would only allow my words to be one of the choices.
How annoying. Surely, I could sue the System for this, right?
My fingers tapped against my sleeve. I'd have to decide quickly. My breath was coming in quicker puffs, the rope was making me choose or it would choose for me. I was just figuring out how to avoid the flags that would pop up with each option when—
"Why are you two standing in front of my office?"
We both froze. Y/N squealed, and stumbled back, landing conveniently in someone's arms. I knew who it was instantly. The CEO, Alessandro Blackwood.
My eyes flicked upwards to his face. He was like a tower, I thought to myself, a tower with brown hair. That is also a Mafia boss.
I bowed quickly and curtly. "Good day, Sir," I intoned, "Forgive us. I was offering Miss Y/N a tour around, and I suggested she head inside your office to find you."
His dark eyes pierced through me, and I fought the urge to run. "Oh, is that so?" He hummed. Are we just ignoring Y/N is in your arms? I stared, but tried not to, as well.
"...Yes," I said, very slowly. "But since it seems you have already arrived, Sir, I'll be off now." Alessandro blinks, then looks down, as if just realizing Y/N was in his arms, whimpering for God knows what reason. He pushed her away, unbothered, and took a step towards me.
"Actually," He said, and I groaned internally, "I was looking for you, Leo. About that recent design you talked about last meeting."
My mind blanked. I talked about that last meeting? We had a meeting? What the hell? Why didn't I remember it? "Oh, that?" I cocked my head to the side, trying to play it off, "Ah, about that…" Just see through me already.
Alessandro's gaze swept over me once, before glancing back at Y/N. His lips pressed into a thin line when he looked at her, but then his gaze returned to me.
"If you've forgotten," He said, voice cold but not unkind, "Meet me in the office after work. Understood?"
I bowed my head. "Yes," I replied, "Of course, sir."
He nodded, satisfied. "Good," He said, simply, "If that's all, you may leave. I will talk with the new employee." He gestured at Y/N, and I understood my cue.
"Thank you, sir." I stepped away from the pair, already turning around to leave. My shoes clicked against the tiled floors, my heart pounding in my ears despite my outwardly calm persona.
THAT WAS SO SCARY. OH MY GOD. I FELT LIKE I WAS GOING TO DIE. I sighed, the back of my head bumping against the safety of my office walls. I chewed my lip. Despite my earlier panic, there was something more curious to focus on. The feeling around my neck…
My fingers pressed against the hollow of my throat, the choking feeling of the System gone. Somewhere in the interaction with Alessandro, the System screen disappeared. Was I just saved by the Male Lead? The thought of being in his debt sent a shiver through me.
He doesn't even know he saved you, I told myself, So you're not in his debt. Just as I was about to consider becoming a Mexican man to get deported, Abby messaged me.
ABIBI:
Hey, you wanna get sushi? Heard you gave that rookie a tour. We can talk about it over dinner :D
Oh, Abby. How I love you. Maybe I'll save the Mexican plan for later.
LEO VALDEZ:
Is that even a question??????? HELL YES
Is the end of the world near? Yes. But that doesn't mean I can't eat some sushi. Fuck off, reader, this chapter is over.