The Culprit Is Me
I opened my eyes to sunlight slipping through the blackout curtains.
After roughly straightening the bedding, I stepped into the living room where the staff were already preparing breakfast.
So this is what life with a diamond spoon feels like?
Everything gets taken care of without me lifting a finger… this is amazing!
‘Ah, crap. I’ve only been discharged for a short while and I’m already getting lazy.’
Shaking off the pointless thought, I walked across the hallway to the guest room and gave the door a light knock.
Knock knock.
The door opened almost immediately, revealing Rin’s brightly smiling face along with the room behind her.
For a moment, it felt like the entire living room had grown brighter.
Wow, it’s like an angel descending from heaven.
“Rin. Did you sleep well? Come eat breakfast.”
“Yeah! Did you sleep well too, Jun? Thanks to you, I slept deeply for the first time in ages! The bedding is so nice!”
The girl who had been deathly pale and barely able to breathe last night was now beaming as if nothing had happened.
Only then did the uneasy weight pressing on my chest ease a little.
We sat across from each other at the dining table, eating while I quietly observed her expression.
Before I knew it, my stupid mouth opened on its own.
“Um… Rin. If something happened—”
I snapped my mouth shut in a panic.
There was no need to force the issue first thing in the morning and ruin the start of her day.
“…Never mind. Tell me whenever you feel like it. Sorry.”
Her spoon, which had frozen mid-air, began moving again as a gentle smile spread across her face.
“Thank you for always being so considerate, Jun… I don’t want to burden you… I’ll think about it a little more.”
Rin looked at me with complicated eyes.
If she poured everything out right now, this man would solve it all without breaking a sweat.
She knew it would be the fastest and surest shortcut.
But at the same time, deep hesitation held her back.
‘Is this the right thing to do?’
Coming to Korea in the first place had been a fated coincidence disguised as chance.
Those dark days when she wanted to give up on everything in her hellish reality.
The shining face of Jun she had seen by chance on a Korean news broadcast.
‘If I happen to run into him… maybe I could be saved again, just like back then?’
Clinging to that slender thread of final hope, she had poured tremendous effort into coming to a foreign land with no connections.
But now that she was actually receiving such excessive kindness, guilt began to rear its head in a corner of her heart.
It felt like she had become the kind of person who was using pure-hearted Jun for her own gain…
“Yeah. Take your time. I don’t have morning lectures, so you can head to school first with the driver.”
“Okay. Thank you, Jun.”
“And stay here until we find you a proper place to live. I’ll look into it as quickly as I can.”
“Yeah……”
The wave of guilt made tears threaten to spill from Rin’s eyes.
She should have firmly refused. But… she was too scared.
That terror that visited her every night.
Even while feeling guilty, she simply couldn’t turn down this warm help.
“I’m really sorry… I have no shame, do I……”
“No, you don’t. We’re friends, aren’t we? It’s fine.”
Watching Rin look like she might cry from guilt any second, I gave her a casual grin as if it were no big deal.
In truth, with the power of my family, I could snap my fingers like Thanos and end it all.
I could solve any problem Rin had in an instant.
That’s the kind of power wealth holds in capitalism.
But rushing in blindly wasn’t always the best move.
Interfering when the other person hadn’t asked for it?
That could end up hurting the one receiving the help.
‘The team leader will contact me soon anyway. For now, I have to wait.’
Right now, the priority was quietly looking after this trembling, wounded fox named Rin.
I smiled brightly and saw her off as she left the house.
“No need to apologize. What kind of friend would I be if I couldn’t even do this much? You’ll be late. Hurry up and go. See you at school later.”
“Okay. See you later, Jun.”
After Rin left, I sank deep into the living room sofa.
Now it was time to put my brain to work and figure out how to handle this situation.
Hasegawa Rin had suddenly appeared before me.
Even if I hadn’t read many novels, I at least understood the concept of clichés.
This was the stage where the male lead heals the female lead’s deep trauma or solves her problems, building affection in the process.
So who was supposed to show up here originally?
The original novel’s protagonist, Minami Haruto. But there is no protagonist here.
Does that make me the protagonist? It could be, but it might not.
After all, I only know up to episode three. And I possessed this body.
Time to throw out the hupijip tag.
No, I should abandon the original novel’s plot entirely.
Instead of wasting time trying to deduce things I don’t know, I should only consider the scenarios currently possible.
So right now, solving Rin’s problem comes first.
“A woman is afraid of men at night.”
The answer came surprisingly easily. A stalker.
There was nothing else worth considering.
This wasn’t a fantasy world—it was reality, so that was the only possibility.
So who’s the idiot running around doing this crap…
When I narrowed down the candidates, there were exactly three possibilities.
Minami Haruto. Or one of Minami Haruto’s acquaintances. Or an unknown X.
The highest probability pointed to Minami Haruto.
If my departure from the original story had changed something, he was the most likely culprit.
Otakus are usually pretty shady, right?
Next, one of Minami Haruto’s acquaintances.
This wasn’t something I could investigate right now. Pass.
Then what about the unknown X?
If anyone shows up around Rin, I’ll catch them and beat the truth out. Done.
Back to the main point. What if Minami Haruto really is the culprit?
The reason things changed is me.
The cliché where the original protagonist changes because of a possessor is pretty common.
So what exactly did I, who was supposed to exit after episode three, do to Minami Haruto…
I dug through old memories. The school violence committee incident.
What the hell did I do back then…?
I just made him bow his head cleanly and apologize, and after that… I gave him settlement money and said something…
Forcing out a memory that had almost faded…
“……!? Wait. Could it be because of me?”
It came back to me. I had patted Haruto on the shoulder and definitely said this:
“Since you’re the protagonist of this world, I’m sure you’ll do well. Don’t do anything stupid—just get your act together, study hard, and become a good person.”
Was it really because of me? My mind went blank for a second.
It was just some advice, wasn’t it? Would he really go dark just from hearing that?
Let me try thinking like an otaku. If I were an otaku otaku otaku…
If I were an otaku and someone suddenly told me I was the protagonist of this world…
“Ah… It’s me, isn’t it? The culprit. Fuck.”
What if Haruto’s eyes had rolled back after hearing those words?
‘It’s only natural for me, the protagonist, to claim the heroine!’
What if he went on a rampage with that kind of thinking and started stalking Rin?
“……No. But seriously. He became a stalker just from hearing one sentence? What the fuck?!”
I could feel cold sweat running down my back.
That would mean I was the root cause of the terrible trauma and pain Rin was suffering right now.
One careless sentence from me had snowballed and ruined not just one life, but two?
Suddenly, Rin’s tearful expression flashed through my mind.
“I’ve committed a mortal sin… Rin… I’ll atone for the rest of my life…”
Just as my mentality was about to shatter, a perfectly timed message arrived from the team leader.
Young Master. Sending the first-stage report. I will prepare the second stage immediately.
I quickly opened the file on my tablet.
It might not be true, right? Right?
Hasegawa Rin
Family: No parents or relatives.
“Ah……”
The moment I saw the screen, it all made sense.
That ridiculous semi-basement room I saw yesterday.
I could take care of that, so no problem.
But the real issue was in the next line.
High School Year 3 Grades: 3rd in school → 132nd in school.
“Huh? A kid who studied so well suddenly tanks her grades?”
Wait. When did her grades start dropping… Ah… right after I left Japan…
“This is almost one hundred percent my fault.”
No. Don’t give up hope. It might not be.
Notable Details:
— Starting from the first semester of Year 3, unauthorized departures during night self-study increased sharply.
— Signs of severed relationships with classmates.
— Tendency to hurry home.
Hmm… Perfect. The culprit is me. Bingo! Nothing more to see here.
“Haa……… Fuck…”
It really was a stalker.
She must have been suffering from someone’s relentless stalking, unable to focus on studying, trembling in fear every night and rushing home like she was fleeing.
And the protagonist of that butterfly effect, the root of all evil, was none other than Yamamoto Jun. Me.
“No, what the hell! I just gave some encouraging words saying you’re the protagonist of this world so get your shit together! And you took that and changed careers to become a stalker?! You crazy bastard!”
I closed Rin’s file and immediately opened Minami Haruto’s.
Minami Haruto
Family: Both parents alive (ordinary middle-class household)
Well, with full parental support, it’s the perfect environment to stay in his room being an otaku.
A guy who has enough to live comfortably decides to stalk someone?
High School Year 3 Grades: 72nd in school → 2nd in school.
“……Huh?”
My finger froze while scrolling.
His grades didn’t just improve—they skyrocketed. Second in the entire school?
This changes the story completely.
This guy was stalking while also studying enough to rank second in school?
It doesn’t make sense, but… moving on.
Notable Details:
— Began focusing intensely on academics starting first semester of Year 3.
— Rapid improvement in relationships with classmates.
— Formed a study group with the class president, who is ranked first in school.
“Uh……?”
If that’s the case, then Minami Haruto isn’t the culprit?
Does that mean I’m not the culprit either?
Wait, can you even study while stalking someone?
I’d have to have stalked someone myself to know!
“Should I just wait for the second report?”
I was nervously tapping the screen when one piece of Haruto’s personal information caught my eye. It was…
His phone number.
He was definitely a guy I never wanted to see or speak to again, but sitting around doing nothing was driving me crazy.
Especially since it seemed like Rin had ended up like this because of me…
“…Should I just give him a casual call first?”
What if, by some chance.
What if this bastard really was living a double life?
What if he was pulling off both the model student and the stalker at the same time?
Fuck, my head already hurts just thinking about it.