The Runaway Warrior from Extra

Chapter 4: The Truth of the Extra

He was strong.

The fight between Baldurheim, Joseph, and Leopold was like watching a child fight an adult.

It wasn’t just that he was a Dark Knight who wielded an evil power.

He had both the strength of deception and the experience to see through his opponents completely.

What exactly were Extras, for one of them to defeat Joseph so easily and shatter Leopold’s magic?

"I’ve dealt with the obstacles."

He had taken down both Joseph and Leopold in mere moments, yet he remained wary of something.

"Are you still not going to show yourself, witch?"

Perhaps he feared the scenario boss, the Crimson Tear Witch, who might be even stronger than him.

But instead of a terrifying witch, someone else emerged from the mansion’s entrance.

"Y-You… You’re insane!"

"Emily…?"

"Do you really think that just taking his body will make you the protagonist?!"

There was no fearsome witch standing there.

Only a trembling red-haired maid gripping a shovel instead of a weapon.

"Hah…"

Seeing her like this, Emily looked like an ordinary girl—helpless and powerless, just like me.

"I see… So you haven’t even received a witch’s blessing yet? And yet you managed to fool me, a Knight of Deception? Hah… Hahaha!"

The Dark Knight laughed loudly, as if he found the situation incredibly amusing.

"How… How can you use that power so easily?!"

"That power?"

"You’re using the power of deception right now! And you know exactly what it is!"

"Ah… this?"

The air around us distorted as the power of deception rippled outward once more.

The waves of illusion reached toward Emily, surrounding her like an invisible veil.

"Even if you were possessed, for you to wield deception so effortlessly…"

Deception was a power granted in exchange for committing acts of vice.

How many people had he deceived, mocked, and tormented to gain such power?

That was what she was asking—no, condemning him for.

"If you’re in the same situation as me, then you must have been an ordinary person who was suddenly thrown into this world! So how… How could you do this?!"

There was no point in questioning his past now.

Clench.

But maybe because she was also an Extra, Emily’s words struck a nerve.

"…I did it to survive."

His response was filled with a pain that hadn’t been there before.

"Do you really think this is just a game? That the people here are just NPCs who can be killed without consequence?!"

Emily tightened her grip on her shovel, yelling desperately.

"They have their own stories, their own emotions, their own thoughts! What kind of game is that?! If this world is a game, then was our world just a game too?!"

Tears threatened to spill from her eyes, yet Baldurheim remained silent for a long time.

"Then what was I supposed to do…?"

Something felt off.

He was the same person, yet the man answering her now felt different from the ruthless Dark Knight he had been moments ago.

Earlier, he had seemed like a typical villain from a story.

Now, he sounded like an ordinary person.

"If I followed the scenario, I was doomed to die fighting the protagonist. I woke up in this world as a Dark Knight, already branded a fugitive, already facing death. In this cursed, unwanted existence—how dare you judge my struggles?!"

It was as if a floodgate had burst, revealing the man hidden within.

He was just as desperate as he had been when he first spoke to me.

"You could have not done it! You could have run away!"

Emily’s voice trembled.

"If you were doomed to die as a villain, then just don’t become one! You should have fought against it! You must have had a choice!"

The unsettling, suspicious red-haired maid was gone.

"Even if you had to starve, sleep in the dirt, chew on roots, or beg— Even if you had to steal to survive— You shouldn’t have thrown away your humanity!"

Now, only a desperate girl remained, struggling against a cruel fate.

"Because I didn’t…!"

I finally understood.

Extras were people like them.

"…Yeah. That’s the difference between you and me."

They knew everything, yet they didn’t know what to do with themselves.

"And because of that difference… you’ll just have to stand there and watch what happens next."

"No. Stop!"

They were the ones I had to face as the protagonist.

***

I couldn’t see anything, but I could feel his presence beside me.

"I have a question."

With the so-called witch revealed as harmless, he no longer needed to stall for time.

"If you take over my body, what happens to me? Do I get to live in your body instead?"

"…No. You’ll just die. Deception is not a kind master."

"Ah. Of course."

He was about to steal my body, and Emily had no power to stop him.

Neither did I.

If even the adults were falling one by one, what could a mere child do?

Yet, somehow…

He no longer seemed terrifying.

It wasn’t that I had suddenly found courage, nor that I had given up.

It was because I finally understood.

He wasn’t a monster from a story.

He was just a person.

And my role was to uncover the truth.

The truth of the Extras—something no one else had realized yet.

I lifted my head and faced the figure standing behind me.

"Wait… you can see me?"

"Because I found the hidden ‘truth.’"

"The ‘Eye of Truth’… The natural enemy of deception. Even though you’re just a child, you really are the protagonist."

His expression was complicated as he stared at me.

"One more question?"

"If it’s your last one."

He wasn’t going to stop, no matter what I said.

His hands reached for my throat.

Soon, they would tighten.

"What’s your name?"

"…My name?"

"It doesn’t seem like it’s actually Baldurheim."

His hands, which had been closing in, suddenly froze.

"My… name…?"

Baldurheim, the Dark Knight, could kill me at any moment. But the Extra inside him was a different story.

So this time, I asked him a question.

"Will I die by Baldurheim’s hands? Or will someone else be the one to kill me?"

Emily was wrong.

He wasn’t powerful because he had deceived countless people.

He was powerful because he had deceived himself more than anyone else.

If deceiving others was a vice, a sin—

Then how great a crime was it to deceive oneself?

If Baldurheim’s existence, all his actions, were built on a lie—

Then all I needed to do was confront him with the truth.

"You… You’re really not a possessed player?"

His face twisted in fear as he looked at me.

Even though he held my life in his hands, he now seemed like a child caught doing something terrible.

"You’re really just a ten-year-old?"

His grip trembled.

His eyes darted wildly, unable to focus on me.

"I… I’m trying to kill a ten-year-old…?"

It wasn’t a question—it was more like he was talking to himself.

And this time, I wasn’t the one who answered.

"Yeah! You’re about to murder a normal ten-year-old boy! Curious, mischievous, scared enough to faint when frightened, and someone who just wants to play and have fun!"

"E-Emily…!"

A barrage of accusations, filled with unfair exaggerations, rained down from across the courtyard.

"You child-murdering piece of trash! Even if you could go back, you shouldn’t!"

"S-Shut up…!"

"Even if you could return to the real world, would you just pretend nothing happened?! Live like you never killed anyone?! How can you be so shameless?!"

"I… I…"

The grip around my neck had completely loosened.

He was more confused than ever.

This was my chance—to pull out his real self.

"You still haven’t told me."

"…What?"

"Your name."

And finally—

The thick armor of lies he had worn shattered completely.

"…My name is Park Hyuntae."

"Park Hyuntae."

He wasn’t the sinister Dark Knight Baldurheim.

He was just Park Hyuntae—a normal person caught up in something beyond his control.

"That’s a weird name."

"It sounds weird in this world."

He had a choice.

Just like Emily, who refused to become a witch and instead became a maid.

"What… What do I do now?"

Now that he had come to his senses, the illusions created by deception faded, as if he had woken from a dream.

He had believed he was deceiving others.

But in truth, he had only been deceiving himself.

And unlike Baldurheim, Park Hyuntae was not someone who could kill a child.

"I don’t know."

I was only ten years old. If even adults didn’t know the answer, how could I?

But as a child, there was one privilege I still had.

"But we can ask someone who does know."

If you don’t know something, you ask someone who does.

"Hahh… Hah… I’m Emily. My real name isn’t Helena—it’s just Emily!"

As soon as the illusions disappeared, Emily ran to us, panting as she declared her name.

Then, after quickly checking on me and our surroundings, she asked the most important question.

"Is anyone dead?"

"…No. I needed him alive to use him as a hostage."

"Then how much of our conversation did they hear?"

"They should have been caught in the illusion. They won’t remember anything."

"Good. Then…"

She paused, thinking carefully. Then, deciding on the next course of action, she spoke firmly.

"We’re burying this whole incident. Got it, Young Master?"

She still held her ominous red shovel.

"You’re not saying no, right?"

All I could do was nod.

***

The Night Before

At House Sword’s estate, a Dark Knight vanished from existence.

"Emily…?"

"Yes, Young Master?"

"How… How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Everything! How did something like that happen, and everyone just accepted it like it was normal?!"

Baldurheim—no, Park Hyuntae—had worked with Emily to quickly manage Joseph and Leopold, who had been left unconscious.

She told them this had been a secret test to see if they could protect me properly.

And that they had failed miserably.

Logically, it made no sense. But the moment Emily produced some kind of ‘proof,’ everyone accepted her explanation as if by magic.

Then, Hyuntae visited Mother’s chambers with Emily.

The next day, he returned to me as my new bodyguard—Walter.

I never expected us to reconcile, but everything that followed was utterly baffling.

"That’s because it has to do with your family’s secret."

"Our family’s secret…?"

Why did Emily—a maid who had just arrived—and Hyuntae—who had joined today—know it, but I, the eldest son, did not?

"…Is it something bad?"

If my family was willing to overlook an agent of deception, then it had to be something just as dangerous.

"Not bad. Just dangerous. Hmm…"

Emily seemed to know but found it difficult to explain.

Eventually, Hyuntae spoke up.

"To put it simply, Emily helped me fake my identity as a knight from the secret order of Valor Kingdom, which fell ten years ago. I offered my loyalty and earned their trust."

"Wait, what?"

"Valor Kingdom collapsed in a sudden military coup, but its remnants are still around."

"I-I don’t understand. Valor…?"

Valor.

A name that symbolized the virtue of Courage.

And those who bore the name Valor were always…

"No way…"

"Yes, Sid."

Hyuntae nodded.

"You are destined to become this world’s last Hero."