There was a saying that if youve committed a crime, youd absolutely get punished. Its a saying that almost never came to fruition.

There was another saying.

If you were to go to hell youd have to pay for all your wrongdoings, no matter how small. Of course, I didnt agree with that one either.

This wasnt really a saying and more of something I experienced myself.

If a situation was just too incomprehensible, a persons thought process would turn rather simple.

In a certain office, I was forced to make a certain choice by some sour-faced woman wearing a suit.

It was rather complicated, so lets put it simple.

Simply put.

This thing called Hell existed and I think I died.

The cause of my death was also rather simple.

It was Acute myocardial infarction due to high blood pressure, which caused a cardiac arrest.

My blood pressure suddenly went up like this, because of a malicious comment I was reading. Thats what Ive been told.

My blood pressure went up because of some bad comment? Just for that reason? Really?

My eyes grew a bit distant.

Thats supposed to be my last memory?

Please sign this quickly.

She threw a form in front of me. There was some stuff written on it, with a blank space presumably for my signature below.

So, Im dead? I, I just saw some malicious comments which made my blood pressure rise and then I just died? People can die like this?

Do people always have to die for great reasons? There are a lot of people who die just by slipping on an icy road. Alright, hurry up and make your choice now.

Even if I didnt want to believe it, I didnt have a choice in that matter.

Anyway, I was in hell now.

It was up to myself if I took the deal or just went right down.

I just had to sign.

I was forced to make a choice that I never thought Id ever have to make.

There were some lines written on this form that I was more than familiar with.

[The City of the Dead]

[Surviving in the Ruined World]

[The Hunter became a Manager]

[The Trash returned]

[Somehow, the Game became Reality, but Im just a Janitor]

[The Demon King is Dead]

These were all titles of novels I wrote.

My charges were Being a repeat offender and Having no prospects at all.

For that I was to be sent into the world of one of the novels I wrote.

So, Ill get sent into one my novels?

Yes. As to which character or novel youll inhabit is up to chance.

Shit.

I should have written more peaceful novels.

* * *

This was the explanation I got from this person I presumed to be a Grim Reaper or a Hells Employee.

Every single person sinned.

Except for very rare cases, no one immediately got sent to heaven. Thats why everyone goes through the process of atoning for the petty sins one had accumulated through their life.

Additionally, since there were a multitude of different sins, the method for atonement differed from person to person.

I was a novelist.

A web novel author who somehow managed to make ends meet with novels one could describe as second- or third-rate.

My biggest sin was leaving behind a lot of work throughout the years as a commercial writer.

I told the readers who were reading my stories well that it was a writers biggest sin to leave a story unfinished, before calmly digging up my sub-account to publish other works.

To be honest, sins committed by individuals are often only on the minor side, but if the number of these small sins accumulate, dont you think the scale of said sins would increase?

Ah, yes.

Was it decided by simple arithmetics? Was that really okay?

Honestly though, just listening to her voice sent a shiver down my spine.

The bitter voice coming out of the Grim Reapers mouth seemed to directly pierce through my heart. This was on a completely different scale than normal bitterness.

What if my blood pressure rose again? What would happen if I died again after I already died?

My sins were just small ones that accumulated throughout my life.

Anyway, the punishment I had to endure was being sent into a random character of a novel I wrote and surviving until the end.

If I manage to do that, Id get sent to heaven.

Apparently there were a lot of people that just got sent straight to hell, so I had it good, thats how the Grim Reaper tried to console me, though that didnt really work.

As it is a novel you wrote, wouldnt you know everything about it and what would happen in it? This cant even be called a punishment, now can it? In fact, wouldnt it be rather easy for you?

The Grim Reaper didnt even look at me as she nonchalantly said this to me.

No, see. That depends on the novel.

Why?

Well, I, uhI only wrote novels in which a lot of people die

Well congrats then. Think of it as a trivial punishment for your disregard of life then. It seems you dont understand the preciousness of life.

You bastard, its not like I killed anyone in reality, now did I?! Its just fiction!

No, if I actually knew Id one day have to live in one of the worlds I created, I certainly would have written something with a dreamland amusement park as the setting, wouldnt I?

How should I have known that Id get punished for writing things like that, but whod write a novel with that in mind in the first place? Whod write about a master gunsman in their novel and didnt give him a gun?!

This was all just in my head! Just because I wrote down I could punch as fast as lightning, didnt mean I actually could pull that off.

On top of that, I was afflicted with a minor case of pretentiousitis, so I wrote a lot of stories about disastrous situations in which a lot of people died. To add to that, I was addicted to writing bad endings to the point that people said that, if one of my stories had a happy ending, Id have gone crazy.

Maybe my real sin was that I messed with my readers feelings with my bad endings all year round.

No, wasnt that actually rather convincing?

So what actually were the novels I wrote?

What would happen to me if I were transported into one of them?

[City of the Dead]

A zombie novel.

I was quite sure Id die in a single day.

[Surviving in the Ruined World]

Post-Apocalypse.

I was here in hell because I couldnt even survive in our peaceful, normal world, you know? Didnt I just get killed by some malicious comments?

[The Demon King is Dead]

This novel got the worst ratings, but in my opinion it was the best.

Because this was a slice-of-life novel.

As I was criticized by my readers for always writing bad ends, I wrote this novel that didnt have any serious global crisis from beginning to end. I actually didnt finish it, but the beginning was rose-colored, very refreshing and peaceful.

This novel told the story of what happened after the heroes defeated the final boss in the prologue.

Thats why its title was The Demon King is Dead.

This story took place after the death of the Demon King after all.

At least its not like my other stuff, where one had to fight for ones survival from start to finish.

I must get this one. No matter what.

I just had to get this one!

Speaking of the results.

It worked out just the way I wanted.

As a result of a random lottery, I was to become the Demon Kings son of [The Demon King is Dead].

* * *

The Demon Kings son wasnt a character that even made an appearance in my novel in the first place.

She told me that Id get put into a random character, however I actually got something that couldnt even be called a character.

An unlucky person would break their nose even if they fell backwards, huh.

Thats what she told me.

Didnt I just die because I got too mad about some comments which led my blood pressure to rise?

Just as I was relieved that I drew the safest novel, I got put into a position in which Id die right at the start!

I wouldnt even be the Demon King, but just a prince.

It would have been much better if I were the Demon King. For example, if I were the Demon King Id also be the highest-level existence of the Demon realm, so I could have just stayed put, surrendered or ran away.

Even though the Demon King dies right at the start, hes not to be trifled with.

However, I was just a prince of the Demon Realm who just turned 17.

Valier Jr.

Age : 17

Status : [Force: 3.4(F)]

[Agility 4.3(F+)]

[Dexterity 5.2(D-)]

[Magic power 9.9(C-)]

[Strength 5.7(D-)]

Race : Arcdemon

Talent : None

Abilities

[Demon Domination D](Unique to Arcdemons)

Comprehensive Ability Assessment Lowest Rank Demon

Combat Level Assessment F

Despite getting deceived by this novel, fortunately I was still able to find out who I actually was. A game-like screen appeared before me.

I never put this setting into my novel, so was this something those guys who sent me here gave me out of pity?

So, in terms of tropes, I was in a fairly common situation, in which an author somehow ended up in his own novel with a game system.

However, no matter how common the trope was, it would never feel like a familiar situation if it suddenly happened to oneself in reality.

I didnt appreciate this convenient ability in the slightest.

Shouldnt the kin of the Demon King be of a different caliber?

Arcdemon was a rather simple species, but wasnt my current condition basically the worst of the worst?

This guy had no fighting capabilities.

I saw something that seemed like an ability to rule over all demons, but all around me were just dead demons.

What a hellish situation.

It was the start of the prologue.

[Event Quest: Downfall]

[Description : The defeat of the Demon Kings army is imminent, but youre powerless to do anything. Do your best to survive.]

[Goal : Escape the Demon Kings Castle]

[Reward : 100 achievement points]

All I could do was run.

I didnt even pay attention to that mysterious system window that appeared in front of me.

-Kabaang! Bababaaang!

Crazy!

Theres nothing I could do to stop the war.

It seemed like the Demon King and the heros party were already fiercely fighting inside the Demon Kings Castle.

The violent explosions and thunderous roars made me realize that this bloody war was really happening.

Outside, there were shouts, screams and cries of monsters as a siege was taking place. They seemed to have already broken through.

The hallways were already lined with dead or fallen demons.

I couldnt even imagine a person dying in front of me, but it was even worse seeing monsters that have only existed in my head previously dying right there.

Still, maybe because I felt like death was imminent, I kept running.

I thought Id die if I stopped to vomit.

Arent I such a good prince of the Demon Realm?

Only

Damn iiiiiiiit!

However, having this title while the Demon Realm was falling apart was much more dangerous!

Id rather replace it with Human Soldier 1!

Im really confident that I can switch sides and bow down to whoever!