Chapter 1: Gaon (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1: Gaon (1)
I couldn’t sleep a wink.
Sleep just wouldn’t come, so I greeted the day of the entrance ceremony wide awake.
The main story begins here, with this very ceremony.
This scene is the game’s introduction, the moment the protagonist first reveals himself to the world.
I took my seat in the magnificent auditorium and looked around. Beneath the ornate chandeliers, rows of brilliant talents sat in waiting. In an atmosphere thick with a mixture of tension and excitement, I gazed toward the other side of the hall.
“So he is here.”
My eyes settled on a corner on the opposite side.
Silvery hair shimmered faintly as it caught the light. His gaze was intense, yet somehow unstable.
His ranking and skills were nothing special at the moment, but his looks alone were so overwhelming that he stood out even from across the hall.
The protagonist of this game. He was there.
I had been worried the story might have changed, but thankfully, the protagonist existed. I breathed a sigh of relief.
But that relief didn't last long.
“Ah, seriously.”
My mind immediately snapped back to reality.
My ability, Death Regression, was gone.
After being transmigrated, I’d slaved away like a dog for the past ten years, meticulously planning how I would use regression to clear the story.
The basic framework was simple.
I would support the growth of the protagonist and the heroine, using all the knowledge I possessed to help them.
Fated encounters, training—I was going to use every tool in the book.
Better yet, since I couldn’t die, I’d planned to take the lead in the most dangerous parts of any battle, letting the others clean up. I had even tailored my combat style to fit that role.
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[Talent: Renaissance Man]
① Whole Person (全人)
—You possess outstanding talent in ‘all’ fields.
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This was the one talent I had left besides regression, the very thing that made it all possible.
Thanks to this talent, I had endured the last ten years and prepared myself for every conceivable situation.
But to stick to that plan now that regression was gone?
…I’ll die.
I’ll actually die.
With such an extreme approach, I’d be buried in the ground before the story even let me leave the academy.
I had to change the plan. I’d still support the growth of the protagonist and the main characters, but I’d have to be as passive as possible…
Ah, this is driving me crazy.
As I clutched my splitting head, a gentle tap on my shoulder was followed by an unfamiliar voice.
“Is something troubling you?”
I reflexively turned my head and my breath caught in my throat.
A female student was sitting right next to me. I hadn't even noticed when she’d arrived.
She’s too close.
Close enough to hear her breathe. Yet even at point-blank range, her beauty was flawless.
Her striking, well-defined features, her clear, bright eyes, and her gentle smile were all perfect.
For a moment, I considered pulling back, but I held my ground and simply looked at her.
She didn’t back away either.
We held each other’s gaze at close range for a long moment before she smiled softly and leaned back slightly.
Cheon Yeo-wool.
The thin cloth wrapped neatly around her head, a scarf that seemed to symbolize her faith, made her instantly recognizable.
Students admitted to the academy were treated like celebrities in their own right. If they had the looks or skills to match, their popularity soared. Naturally, a character like that was bound to be one of the main cast members in the story.
She, one of the protagonist’s heroines, was right in front of me, looking exactly as she did when she first appeared in the story.
However…
Why?
This was something that should never be happening, not with who she was right now.
Cheon Yeo-wool was a heroine who changed through her encounters with the protagonist.
Her character wasn't set up to be the type to show interest in someone first. Especially not if that someone was a random male student like me instead of the protagonist.
Cheon Yeo-wool tilted her head slightly and asked gently.
“Won’t you answer me? You look really troubled.”
“Yeah, a little.”
And you’re now part of the problem.
I remained silent for a moment, then shook my head.
“But it’s nothing. You don’t need to worry about it.”
“…Is that so?”
She raised an eyebrow slightly as she looked at me, then broke into a playful smile.
Just then, a voice echoed from the speakers above.
“This concludes the entrance ceremony. All new students, please follow the instructions and proceed to your assigned classrooms.”
A murmur went through the auditorium, and students began to rise from their seats one by one.
I quickly stood up as well, leaving Cheon Yeo-wool behind me. I wanted nothing to do with her at this point in time.
Suddenly, the watch issued by the academy on my wrist vibrated. I glanced down and saw my class assignment displayed on the screen.
Class B.
This information alone didn’t tell me much. In the game, classes were assigned by a random number generator each playthrough. Part of the game’s charm was that your classmates changed with every run.
The problem was, while that might be fun in a game, this was my actual life.
Being in the same class as certain troublesome individuals would not be a pleasant experience.
My heart pounding, I made my way to Class B.
When I opened the door, the classroom was already filled with the sound of students chatting.
Exceptional skill was a basic requirement for admission to ‘Gaon’ Academy. As such, the lore stated that most of the students here had gone through elite training programs at prestigious officer academies or similar institutions.
In other words, aside from me, who had gotten in through a sort of loophole, most of them already knew each other, or at least knew of each other.
It was lonely, but it couldn’t be helped.
I quietly looked for an empty seat and scanned my surroundings.
Thankfully, a seat in the corner by the window was free. Places like this should be legally reserved for people like me.
Let’s see who we’ve got.
It was a good spot, a perfect vantage point to see everyone.
There were ten classes in total, up to Class J. What mattered was how many of the key characters were in my class.
Huh?
A handsome man with silver hair—it was the protagonist. Not bad. Being in the same class would make it easier to look out for him.
He threw the front door open and strode in with a leisurely pace, as if the entire classroom was his stage.
His attitude made it clear he couldn’t care less about the stares directed at him.
He walked to the center of the classroom and plopped down in a seat in the very front row.
…Was he always like that?
It varied depending on the player’s style, but the default version of him didn’t usually exude that much confidence.
Well, it didn’t really matter. His personality wasn’t the important part.
Just as I was about to scan the rest of the room, I sensed a presence approaching the seat next to me and my gaze shifted.
What the hell?
It was Cheon Yeo-wool.
She quietly approached, sat down, and looked at me with a smile, asking in a low voice.
“It’s okay if I sit here, right?”
It was less a question and more a statement delivered after she had already claimed the spot.
Her voice was soft, but it was tinged with a strange, coercive air, as if refusal was not an option.
This… something is really strange. This makes no sense.
Without looking at her, I tapped my fingers on the table.
Then, feigning nonchalance, I spoke.
“Are you sure that’s okay?”
She tilted her head.
“Hm? What is?”
“You’re a Saintess Candidate, aren’t you? I heard you dislike men.”
I asked a little bluntly.
Cheon Yeo-wool paused for a moment at my words, then let out a small laugh.
Her tone was natural, yet it was brimming with a strange sort of confidence.
“Ah~ I suppose that was the case, wasn't it?”
Cheon Yeo-wool.
In the original story, she didn’t just dislike men.
She loathed them.
Before meeting the protagonist, she wouldn’t speak to any man whatsoever.
But here she was, talking to me. And smiling, no less. She had even initiated the conversation.
Her expression was playful as she tilted her head, drawing out the end of her sentence. The gesture might have seemed endearing, but to me, it was nerve-wracking.
“But I’m fine now. There was someone I’m very grateful to.”
She looked me straight in the eye and smiled.
“Thanks to him, I’m a little different now.”
Her words made my fingers freeze.
Who?
Had she already met the protagonist?
If so, it would make some sense… but the very idea that a development I didn't know about had occurred was giving me a headache.
“Then how about you go sit next to him?”
I gestured with my chin toward the front of the room. The protagonist, Seong Si-woo, was still sitting in the front and center seat with his arms crossed and his eyes closed.
“…Him?”
Cheon Yeo-wool’s gaze followed my chin forward.
In that fleeting moment, her expression twisted.
Son of a bitch.
A gaze as cold as ice. I definitely saw it.
The same frostiness that radiated from her whenever she looked at men in the early parts of the original story. For a brief instant, as her eyes swept over Seong Si-woo, it had returned.
And she said she was better…
My fingertips trembled slightly. She wore the mask of a saintess, and her personality was indeed gentle. But the sharpness hidden beneath it had always been the most difficult part of her character to handle in the story.
Kind and gentle on the outside, but paradoxically the hardest heroine to win over.
I swallowed a curse and rested my fingertips on the table.
Cheon Yeo-wool quickly regained her gentle smile as if nothing had happened, shaking her head slightly.
“Mm… no, thank you.”
Her voice was firm, yet flowed with a strange softness.
“I’m perfectly fine right here for now.”
She remained seated next to me, a serene smile on her face.
There was no trace of the ‘misandry’ from her character settings in her eyes.
Instead, they held an unreadable warmth and something akin to a slight thrill.
“Don’t you like it?”
Her clear voice tickled my ear.
It was a gentle question that should have been impossible to take offense to, yet it carried a subtle pressure. I couldn’t understand why.
Something, somewhere, was terribly wrong.