Chapter 404: Not Found
So after the events of the last chapter, the protagonist continues on with their journey. And by that I mean, they bumble blindly through the dark, going places they're not sure where they lead, kinda just Mr. Magoo-ing it really. Of course there's signposts along their trail, but they've been ignoring these headings for some time. Like, what the hell book has over four hundred chapters? I'd think that would be a clear giveaway, but maybe you just had to be there in the moment, I don't know.
Anyway, it's right around this time that our hero begins to suspect something is amiss. Just to be safe, they double back to check the last signpost. "Chapter 404", it says, clear as day. "Wow, I can't believe I missed that," they think, and concede that, yeah, a 400+ chapter book is a little preposterous in retrospect. But then they figure, hang on now, surely this isn't my fault. I could have sworn I knew which way I was going... so it must be the signposts that were wrong!
But then the narrator himself jumps in and says, listen here you little turd, I'm great, I've put a lot of thought into this stupid setup, and there's no way I made a mistake like that. As a matter of fact, I bet you were straying off the dang path that I lovingly set out for you, and that's how you got lost. So don't you try to pin this crap on me.
The two of them do some largely pointless bickering back and forth for a while, until the narrator gives up and admits that, fine, maybe he's fallible sometimes too, and they agree to concede that they're both dumb. After the narrator leaves, the protagonist decides to start from the beginning and try their luck a second time.