«Chapter 0 : Prologue»

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"Brilliant Shadow"

It was a story that he wrote alongside his diary. A story that manifested from his desire to be more outstanding than his brother.

The protagonist was based off of himself while the villain is based off of his brother.

The story was about how the protagonist gradually but surely outshone his genius brother and gained the admiration and love of others.

At the start of the story, the story depicted what the protagonist felt as he was overshadowed by his brother and ridiculed by others.

The start of the story basically just highlighted how badly the protagonist was treated as the 'lesser' twin and sowed the reader's hatred towards the protagonist's circle of acquaintance.

It was only after the protagonist had an encounter with a mysterious man that the story's plot evolves towards the typical zero to hero trope.

Gaining supernatural insight that allowed him to comprehend things 75% better than others, Attaining physique that defy logic, etc...

Each time, the 𝓰𝓲𝓯𝓽𝓼 he gained helped him in winning against his brother in various fields of expertise. He began to outshone his brother.

The final straw that pushed him onto the seat of brilliance was when he awakened right as his brother was declared unable to awaken.

That cued the final part of the plot, the blackening of the villain, the fallout between the brothers and the confrontation between the two.

The final part could be said to be the climax of the story as it revealed the most plot points that any other part of the plot.

At the same time though, Mikael was suffering in the real life. Having been declared as a rotten apple for being so ordinary.

The more miserable he was in real life, the more hateful he made the villain and the more capable he made the protagonist.

He channeled all of his negativity as well as hope into the book, using it as an outlet for his unsaid emotions.

But that couldn't have ever lasted.

After highschool ended, Mikael ended the book with a tragic ending where both the villain and protagonist died at each other's hands.

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Now, Mikael is already 32 years old. Managing his own cafe where the customers are so low he didn't have a need to hire any other workers.

As he lazily went through the collection of books displayed on the shelves for customer's idle entertainment, he picked out a thick bunch of books stapled together.

There were no titles in the front and it looked like a typical diary. Finding it familiar, Mikael furrowed his brows as he flipped through the pages.

Reading word for word as a messy, chaotic story full of plot holes emerged, Mikael massaged his forehead as he cringed in embarrassment.

It was Brilliant Shadow, a book he wrote when he was 15. He wrote at least one page everyday for 3 years and ended it when he graduated high school.

Each time he ran out of pages to write on, he'd staple another book towards the pre-existing one. That's why the books are bunched together.

1095 pages of manuscript, 8 books stapled together to make enough pages and a whole work of improved bullshit.

Mikael wanted to burn the book, the last trace he had of his past but somehow, he couldn't bring himself to do so.

He recalled the burst of emotions he had and his determination each time he opened the bundled books and continued the story.

He looked at the book in nostalgia as he stroked each page carefully, re-reading the story carefully as he burned every word into his memory.

The sun slowly set as Mikael relaxed inside the store, having tactfully turned the sign into closed as he comfortably re-read the book over and over again.

As he slowly drifted to sleep, he closed his eyes, unknowing of the events that would happen after that.