I Became a Scoundrel Who Fell into the Abyss of the Academy
The past I had buried as a scoundrel was finally exposed.
The hidden truth of your previous life has been revealed.
Your reputation within the academy has plummeted into the abyss.
“Aren, I’m putting you up for disciplinary review.”
The voice that reached me was as cold as ice.
It belonged to a girl I had once considered closer than anyone else. Now, her eyes held nothing but contempt as she looked at me.
“Th… this is a lie, right? You were always so kind to me… why…”
My voice trembled pathetically. Even as the words left my mouth, I knew how ridiculous they sounded. But I couldn’t stop them. The shock had short-circuited my brain.
She let out a small, bitter laugh.
“Did you really think I knew you? Get lost.”
Her final words cut deeper than any blade. She turned away without hesitation, her long silver hair swaying like a curtain drawn shut between us. The faint scent of her perfume lingered in the air, a cruel reminder of everything I had lost in an instant.
I stood there frozen, unable to move. The hallway of the Royal Academy, usually filled with the chatter of students, had gone deathly silent. Dozens of eyes bored into me from every direction. Whispers spread like poison.
So this is how it ends.
The thought echoed hollowly in my mind. I had known this day might come. No—I had feared it every single waking moment since I had woken up in this body. But knowing and experiencing it were two entirely different things.
Because the sins staining this body weren’t mine.
They belonged to the original Aren. The real scoundrel who had tormented, harassed, and ruined countless lives before I took over his shell.
I had done everything I could to atone. I had changed my behavior, distanced myself from the trash he used to associate with, and tried to build something resembling a decent reputation. For three long years, I had walked on a tightrope, desperately hoping no one would ever discover the truth.
But in the end, it was all meaningless.
The past had caught up to me, and it had no interest in my efforts or my regrets.
“Hey, did you hear? They say the real Aren has finally been exposed.”
“No way… that guy who always acted so polite lately? He was actually that much of a monster?”
The voices around me grew louder. Each word stabbed into my chest like a dagger. I wanted to scream that it wasn’t me. That I wasn’t the one who had done those horrible things.
But who would believe me?
In this world, I was Aren. The villain who had fallen into the abyss of the academy. The trash who had used his family’s power to commit every imaginable sin.
My legs finally gave out. I collapsed to my knees right there in the middle of the corridor. The cold marble floor pressed against my skin, but I barely felt it. All I could feel was the crushing weight of despair settling over me.
I just wanted to live a quiet life…
That had been my only wish after possessing this body. To avoid the horrible routes I knew from the game, to stay far away from the heroines who would eventually bring about the scoundrel’s ruin, and to somehow graduate and disappear into obscurity.
But the world wouldn’t let me.
The original Aren’s sins were too great. The grudges he had created ran too deep. And the heroines who had once been his victims… they had grown far stronger and more obsessive than I ever anticipated.
Especially her.
The girl with silver hair who had just walked away from me without looking back. The one who had smiled at me so warmly until yesterday. The one whose yandere tendencies I had feared more than anyone else’s.
She had been the first to discover the truth. And she had ended our relationship with merciless finality.
I laughed bitterly. The sound that escaped my throat was ugly and broken.
“…It wasn’t even me.”
The words came out as a whisper, too quiet for anyone else to hear. But they were the only truth I had left.
The original Aren was dead. I had taken his place three years ago. Everything I had done since then was an attempt to atone for his crimes. Yet in the end, I was the one who had to bear the consequences.
The disciplinary committee.
Just hearing those words made my blood run cold. In this academy, once you were brought before them, there was almost no way to escape unscathed. Especially not for someone with a record as stained as mine—or rather, as stained as the original Aren’s.
Expulsion was the best I could hope for. At worst…
I didn’t even want to think about it.
Students began to walk past me. Some sneered. Others looked at me with open disgust. A few even spat on the ground near my feet. I remained kneeling, staring at the floor until their footsteps faded away.
Only when the hallway had grown completely empty did I finally lift my head.
The afternoon sun streamed through the tall windows, casting long shadows across the marble. Dust motes danced in the golden light. It was a beautiful scene—one that felt completely at odds with the darkness swallowing me whole.
I slowly rose to my feet. My body felt heavy, as if I were carrying the weight of all the sins I hadn’t even committed.
“What am I supposed to do now…?”
My voice echoed weakly in the empty corridor. There was no answer. Of course there wasn’t. This wasn’t a game with convenient save points or second chances. This was reality. My new, cursed reality.
I had fallen into the abyss.
And from here, there seemed to be no way out.
Your reputation has reached its lowest point.
Hidden Route: Abyss of Regret has been forcibly activated.
All yandere heroines now view you with extreme hostility and obsession.
I stared at the glowing blue window that only I could see, and a hollow laugh escaped me once more.
So even the system had abandoned me.
This was truly the beginning of my fall into hell.