Doomed to be Cannon Fodder (Web Novel) - Chapter 44: The Supporting Male Lead Invades

In 2173, the world’s first Full-World Virtual MMORPG game ‘Astral Online’ went on sale globally, forever changing the blue planet Asteria!

With its revolutionary Digital Capture System, astonishing graphics and ability to scan yourself into the game with up to 20% beautification, countless defenders rallied to play the game.

Fifty million players logged in on launch. There were no queues or lag on launch, leaving countless critics impressed and willing to try the game. Because the game used a 6-hour play limit a day, it allowed even working adults to keep up with young students and the unemployed.

A resounding success, as more people poured onto the game servers, families and friends alike. Astra Online became a household name overnight.

One month later, the game opened its first RMT system, which made earning a living from the game easier... Thus began the Astral rush!

Professional players formed guilds and factions to increase their profits, but nobody could know this prosperity was a mere joke.

One year later, players fused with their avatars, gaining powerful abilities in the real world, which tipped the power and caused chaos.

Two years later, demons and monsters from inside the game invaded the real world.

Three years later, over 90% of humanity perished, leaving the rest to hide like rats, unable to fight back in fear.

Four years later, this world is no longer ours. The demons march on our last bastions, one by one. They exterminated us.

Zell was an average player who liked to collect beasts in the game and evolve them into humanoids, as they were primarily females.

He spent most of his life working two jobs to make ends meet.

Thanks to the excellent healthcare of his country, there were no crippling debts. There was only emptiness.

When the end came, he was powerless and alone. His only companions were his cute pets and Rika, his cherished Flame Rabbit.

She was the only beast he evolved to a humanoid form after his late start to the game.

He died saving the life of a strange girl with white wings and his pet Rika, the sad eyes of Rika and the girl’s sorrow floating through the air as he slowly passed away.

However, instead of dying, he awoke inside an empty white room with a single computer and a strange, game-like screen that allowed him to edit his IRL avatar and persona.

Who offered him this second chance?

For what reason did they help him?

Can he meet Rika again?

Zell could never know; he only knew his second life’s goal.

Survive!

[Warning: This story contains extreme violence, philosophical depth, psychological breakdowns, self-improvement, self-realization, and themes of maturity.]“Even Gods need character development.”That was the belief Pratham lived by—struggling, always pushing forward. Until the day he died, starving in a world too cruel to care.But death was only the beginning.He transmigrates and awakens in a multiverse as Leon. In this multiverse, the greatest threat to humanity isn’t demons or beasts, but Entities. In response, civilizations across each universe forged a single hope: the Entity Hunters Organization, training warriors to stand against the impossible.He had no magic. Just his will, his fists—and a little sister he swore to protect at all costs.Enrolling in the Entity Hunters High School, Leon finds comrades, purpose, and war. He fights beside them across different planets and universes, grows with them, laughs with them—then loses them all.Leon rises not as a hero, but something else.

Leon Thorne was the disgrace of his house, overweight, softspoken, and dismissed as a failure before he ever picked up a sword. Mocked during the Awakening and branded an F-rank, he was expected to fade quietly from the halls of power.But he didn’t.Because this wasn’t his first life.In another timeline, Leon watched House Thorne fall, shamed, scattered and erased from history. Powerless to stop it then, he’s been given one chance to rewrite it now.Stripped of excuses and reshaped by hardship, Leon claws his way forward—through blood, sweat and silence. Now, leaner and sharper, he enters an academy where only strength speaks and legacy decides your worth.But Leon carries no crest. No backing. Just scars, a sword, and the will to shatter fate itself.He’s not looking to be acknowledged or praised.He’s going to rewrite everything.NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES.

Ha Si-heon is a brilliant but obsessive Wall Street financier who has built an immense fortune driven by a fear of financial insecurity. After enduring a tragic childhood, losing his mother, and navigating financial ruin with his father during South Korea’s 1997 financial crisis, Si-heon immigrates to the U.S. He fulfills his father’s wish by becoming a doctor but finds himself drawn to the lucrative world of Wall Street.At a top hedge fund, Si-heon leverages his medical expertise to dominate biotech investments, thanks to an unusual ability to predict successful FDA drug approvals. He amasses wealth quickly, yet struggles with a pathological fear of spending money. His relentless pursuit of profit takes a dark turn when he’s diagnosed with idiopathic multicentric Castleman’s disease (iMCD), a rare, life-threatening immune disorder with no cure. His condition worsens despite aggressive chemotherapy, as the lack of research funding for this “orphan disease” leaves him without options.Just as Si-heon faces death, he miraculously awakens to find himself transported 10 years back in time, to the beginning of his career on Wall Street. Realizing he has a second chance, Si-heon is determined to not only reclaim his wealth but also amass enough money to fund a cure for iMCD. The story explores themes of greed, ambition, mortality, and redemption, as Si-heon seeks not just to survive but to redefine the meaning of his life.