Displayed on the screen was the page of the web novel I made a few years back.

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Title: From A Zero Nobody to a Hero Everyman

Synopsis: No one thought that Max Hutton, a seemingly nobody who was raised in the countryside by his farmer parents, would discover his insane potential as a Maven. Join Max as he battles evil villains and demons as he slowly becomes a Hero everyman!

Ratings: 3.4 stars

Tags: [Action], [Adventure], [Fantasy], [Definitely Lighthearted], …

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There it is and honestly, it was made on a whim, since I had nothing else to do. 'From A Zero Nobody to a Hero Everyman' a real masterpiece of a title, don't you think? What's more is the synopsis, which is so beautifully done that Stephen King would have to change his name to Stephen Sink, because I rose to take his place.

The ratings though… we don't talk about that.

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.

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Actually, let's do talk about that.

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Comments:

BillLight (1 stars): What the absolute #### is this?! Light hearted my ###! Are you a ####### sadist???

NotASpam (5 stars): Love this! I love how the protagonist did this and did that in those chapters! Definitely worth a read, but only after you read '###############.'

Katern (3 stars): Tags WERE not misleading, but over time it did. Oh, yes, and… are you a ####### sadist author??! Why torture Max like this???! He deserves better!!!

Stilllookingforthatmilk (5 stars): expexpexpexpexpexpexpexpexpexpexpexpexpexpexpexp

Madehay (5 stars): I dunno about yow peeps but I ######################### lovin' this work!!!! All who says othawize r haterrz, yo! Haterzz gonna hatez!!!

DramaGnome (2 stars): Upstairs is probably a white knight or maybe even the author himself, as no one would love this sort of ####. Admittedly, it started nice, but it went to a gruesome dark turn since the war arc.

Wizas (2 stars): @DramaGnome is right!!! True True TruE

…

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The reviews were pretty much mixed, but they were mostly negative. But guess what? They're all true.

I have made worst web novel they have ever read and I'm pretty proud of it, I must say.

It's somewhat exhilarating, since all my life I was always praised as a genius. Even when I purposefully acted wrongly, they would unreasonably justify it.

However, make no mistake, I am no masochist, it's just a change of pace from what I usually experience.

However…

"Madehay, huh." I muttered. Honestly, the main reason why it went from incredible to not so incredible as some readers had said was because I got bored of writing.

I wasn't into writing in the first place anyway, however readers at the time wanted me to continue the story no matter what.

However, I wasn't motivated to continue writing in a way that only appeals to the readers, so I began writing things according to my mood. I used cliches and predictable tropes, but still many praised it. So, I wrote some depressing there, and it's what pushed pretty much 99.9% of readers off the edge.

And Madehay was one of the remaining 0.1 percent. He (or she) absolutely love it regardless of what I wrote. He would endlessly praise, as if I have laid a golden egg. It's honestly nerve-wracking, but it's not like I hate him or anything. I just think that it's too much for me to handle.

Though I said that, I still wrote hundreds of chapters until I truly got bored of writing altogether and stopped writing. Because of my indefinite 'hiatus,' Madehay has become aggressive and told, well it's really more like demand, me to continue my work and finish it.

It was entertaining at first seeing a reader desperately seek for my attention to finish the novel, like a fish on the land jumping, squirming around for water, but it soon became annoying.

However, I didn't do anything excessive or unreasonable, since not only does it not bother me much, I'm also the bigger person here. So, I simply blocked the user from accessing any porn sites, including the animated ones; 'hentai' as they call it.

Once again, although his antics doesn't bother me much, I do find them annoying to my routine. Me banning him from those sites is already lenient enough, considering the things that I can actually do if I so desired.

However, seeing him persistent for the end even after years of my hiatus reluctantly made me continue it, albeit I don't put much thought into it anymore and today I have decided to end the novel with its final chapter.

I quickly typed down the outline of the chapter and reviewed it a few times before creating the final draft.

Roughly an hour has passed and the chapter was finished. Although I do admit that the ending was rushed, I couldn't care less about it anymore, but I did give my best to make it somewhat satisfying.

After stretching my back, I went back to my web novel's page and published the final chapter. Not even a minute has passed before a comment from a familiar user has appeared.

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Comments:

Madehay: NO! NO! NO! NO! How can you do this??! It's not done yet!!! That definitely isn;t the ending. Author! FIX THIS!!!

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Who would've thought that the reader who would support the web novel through thick and thin would lose himself over the last chapter.

However, I do not care. What he thinks about it is now completely irrelevant to me.

And, boy, does it feel good.

I stood up from my desk, stretched, then looked at the clock, which read that it was a quarter to nine.

My stomach growled understandably. Rubbing my belly, I said, "FRIDAY, get me the usual for breakfast."

I was about to walk out my office until I realized that FRIDAY didn't answer, and because of that, I immediately knew that something was wrong. FRIDAY, though unreasonable and annoying at times, would always answer with the appropriate remarks. After all, it is in her code, and the fact that she didn't answer me back would mean that she can't answer because either she's busy being updated, which I haven't scheduled now or in the near future, or she's offline.

To confirm it, I went back to my computer and opened the status of FRIDAY, and sure enough, it stated that she's been offline for over an hour.

How can I be so stupid? She hasn't checked up on me or delivered news since her conversation with him, which means that my house has been—

-Shatter! Clank! Clank! Clank!

Before I could continue with my thoughts, a canister went through the window, shattering it to pieces, and bounced on the floor a few times before stopping a couple of feet away from me.

Focusing closely at it, I realized that… it was a grenade.

I quickly flipped over a disk, but before I could take cover behind it, it exploded.

-BOOOOM!

The blast of the explosion pushed me away a few of meters back. My vision blurred, my mind hazy, and ears ringing, yet all I could think of was...

"That was a weapon I manufactured…'

The designs of it were exactly the same as I had manufactured at that time and what's more is my business's trademark logo is there.

Shaking my head, I looked back at where the grenade used to be, which has destroyed and burned anything within four meters of its vicinity.

However, I knew that it wouldn't end with just that, so I hastily went to a wall and placed my hand against it. Gaps suddenly appeared as blue light shined through and swept over my hand, then the light disappeared as the wall opened, revealing a compartment with a few of my manufactured guns, ammunition, and… a yoyo.

I first grabbed the yoyo, then reached for a gun, but—

-Bang!

"Aargh!" I felt a painful, stinging sensation in my left arm, as blood slowly leak out and trickled down.

Looking behind me, there was a figure wholly covered in black clothes, except for the eyes.

The figure slowly removed the cloth covering his head, revealing a disfigured face of a man. He slowly said, "Arthur Bennett, we finally meet again!"

Panting heavily with my other arm pressed on the bleeding wound, I tried to recall who this person is for him to say that we've met again, but I don't remember meeting someone this hideous. No wonder why he covers his head…

Taking a deep breath, I started playing with the yoyo with my other hand. Without stopping, I looked at him in the eye and asked, "Who the hell are you?"

Regardless of who he is, it wouldn't change the fact that he's tried to kill me. With my wound, I'm at a disadvantage, so I need to find an opening.

He seemed bothered about me playing with the yoyo, not because he found it suspicious, but more likely because he thinks I'm taking him lightly, yet he opened his mouth nonetheless.

"…You may not remember me, but I remember you," he stated. Caressing his disfigured face, he continued, "All too well."

Him saying it like that made me twitch in disgust. However, I can't act rashly. Not yet. "Hoh? Is that so? Are you a fan?"

"You could say that. I was a huge fan of your previous works," he simply said.

Previous works? Was it… my weapons? I started swinging the yoyo even faster.

However, I knew I was missing something.

As I racked my brain for an answer, he looked at me with an amused expression and it was giving me an odd, disturbing feeling. "24th of December, 2026. Do you remember?"

My hand stopped, as I stared him dead in the eye.

Seeing my expression, he grinned heavily. "Hahaha! Of course you do! It was when you lost everything! HAHAHAHA!"

"I don't think I have to tell you who I am now, do I?"

That's right… it was the day I lost everything, because of my impudence.

It was disguised as an unfortunate accident, but only me, a few selected trusted officials, and the individuals involved know what truly transpired.

"HAHAHA! Because of that, you went for my brothers and killed them all! You may not remembered who you killed that day, but I could never forget the person who gave me this!" he bellowed as he held his face.

I said nothing, but continued looking at him. However, I started playing with the yoyo again, with a fast, skillfull movement.

He has obviously noticed it, and, just like before, he's annoyed at me playing it.

"Can you"—he stretched his necked, then aimed the gun at me—"stop that?"

"Eii!" The moment he aimed it, I proceeded to skillfully swing the yoyo towards his face in full force, smashing it.

The yoyo got detached from the string, but that was okay, since it was a…

—Bang!

Miniature yet powerful flashbang.

"Aargh! My eyes!" the man bellowed as he unsteadily took several steps back.

I immediately went to my computer and typed a few keywords to reboot FRIDAY. She's the only one who can help me.

—Bang!

Another piercing sensation went through my right abdomen. I looked back at him and saw that he aimed his gun towards me, but fortunately it was unsteady from the after-effects of the flashbang.

I then went to the gun compartment to grab a gun, but the pain was too much for me to deal with.

"Shit!" I groaned in pain. I should've went for the gun. I guess I relied on FRIDAY too much, huh?

However, I still pushed myself to reach to it!

I eventually got hold of it and load it with a magazine. I aimed it at the man who was starting to recover, but I couldn't keep a steady aim, yet I still pulled the trigger.

Shot after shot, bullet casings were popping out of the gun as I fired at him, but none of them hit him.

"God, I'm old!" I cursed underneath my breath, as the man has finally recovered and walked towards me menacingly.

He reached towards me and punched my stomach at full force.

I went down on my knees, clutching my stomach, but the man proceeded to kick me in the face.

I instinctively held up both my arms to cover my face, but then his kick changed direction to the wound on my abdomen.

"Aaaargh!!!" Damn! That was a low blow hit! It really hurts.

"Don't die just yet," he said as he forcefully pulled my hair upwards. "I'm not done with you yet. This is for my brothers."

******

***

*

I don't know how much time has passed. It may be a few minutes or it may even be a couple hours.

Regardless of which, I was done. As I laid on the floor, my strength was slowly seeping away from me. My body was filled with bruises, cuts, burns, holes. That guy really didn't hold back…

Is… this death?

It was cold. I could barely feel my limbs and my eyes were heavy like anvils, threatening to close at any given moment.

One would say in this situation that they don't want to die, but all I could think of was, "H-how… did you find me?"

"Don't underestimate me, I tracked you by myself." He coldly looked down at me, but I couldn't care less.

I snickered coldly. "Bullshit… you're all brawns but no brains.

"Thinking back, it doesn't make sense for a small group like yours to be able to intercept them with me keeping watch, yet would immediately be destroyed by someone like me. So… who the hell was it?"

"Hmph, even when you're almost dead, you're…" the man paused for a few seconds, before shaking his head. "Sigh, forget it, what good does it give me to argue with a dying man."

He then walked towards me and proceeded to step on my chest, making me groan in pain. He then said, "Since you want to know so badly, Major Dicinas sends his regards."

It was then my mind went blanked. Him? Seriously? Then I remembered that he's been trying to contact me for a few years now, but I realized that he was not doing that to seek forgiveness, no, he was doing that to find my location!

Ha… Haha… HAHAHAHA, of course it'll be him! That greedy son of a bitch!

When I came to, the man had his gun aimed towards my head.

"Any last words?" he said.

—Ding!

Hearing that, my mood explicitly became better.

"Yeah, FRIDAY, activate Operation: Stigma and Firework." I simply said.

"What?" the man was confused, understandably so.

[…Yes, boss.] the familiar voice of FRIDAY replied.

Luckily, I chose to reboot FRIDAY, instead of doing something reasonable like calling the authorities.

Hahaha, it's your own fault that you didn't heed my warning. Good bye, old friend!

Using every last ounce of my strength, I pushed back the man and used my remaining strength to punch his spleen.

"Khak!" the man coughed up blood, as he held his left abdomen in pain.

With my strength gone, I quickly dropped to the floor.

"Bastard!" he charged towards me and held me up in the air.

He was about to throw a punch, until, suddenly, the walls, doors, and windows were reinforced with hard steel.

"What's going on?" he said coldly as he cautiously look left to right.

Taking a deep breath, I said with a smile, "You don't need to what Stigma is, but I'll gladly tell you what Fireworks is."

Meeting his gaze head on, I simply said, "It's a simple countermeasure of mine that will turn this house into one huge firework."

Realizing what's about to happen, his eyes, which were filled with anger, were now filled with despair and fear, as he dropped me on the floor and desperately tried to escape, but it's too late.

"Tell it to stop!" he commanded, but rather it was with a shriek.

"Can't and definitely won't.

"We're both going to hell, yeah?" As I said that, I slowly closed my eyes as I await my impending death.

[… I'm sor… bos…]

This is goodbye, FRIDAY. Thank you for sticking with me to the end.

"Nooooooo—!"

—BOOOOOM!