Chapter 36
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Countdown
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We left through the academy's main gate and headed to a tavern in the bustling commercial district nearby. With students and professors as the main clientele, the surrounding businesses were quite well-developed.
I dragged the duke's daughter, dressed in her baggy clothes, into a secluded booth in the corner. The staff member flinched in surprise, but when I flashed my imperial inspector's badge, they shut their mouth.
"The most out-of-the-way seat here. And two drinks plus whatever snacks you've got."
"Yes! Right away!"
I placed the order with practiced ease and sat down. Dane was still staring at me with a dazed expression.
"Stop staring already. My face is gonna wear out."
"Ah, sorry. It's just so amazing..."
Dane timidly took a seat across from me.
"So, um... Senior?"
"Who the hell's your senior? I'm from the Goryeo era... well, if we're splitting hairs, the Joseon era. Our family trees would be tangled for about 500 years."
"What?! 500 years? Then... ancestor?"
"Cut it out. That's creepy. Just call me senior. Easier on the ears. Anyway, you're not from this world, right? You scream 'possessed' at first glance."
"Ah, yes! That's right! Are you a possessor too, Senior?"
Dane's voice rose a pitch, her eyes lighting up with camaraderie.
"I was working a job in Korea... collapsed from overwork during overtime, and when I woke up, I was in this young lady's body. At first, I thought it was a dream."
"Ah, so you got possessed? I was just summoned. Same difference, though."
"S-summoned? Like an isekai summon?"
"Yeah, originally got forcibly summoned 500 years ago to take down the Demon King, suffered for 20 years straight, saw the ending, and went home."
"You went home... so why are you here?"
"Ate some chicken, fell asleep, and got dragged back."
"......Pardon?"
Dane blinked with a blank look, clearly not processing my words. Went home... and came back? After eating chicken and sleeping?
"Chicken? Like fried chicken?"
"Yeah, half seasoned, half fried, with some kimchi stew. Finished one meal and went to bed planning to re-enroll the next day."
I gritted my teeth and slammed the table.
"Woke up here again. 500 years later, they said. My half-and-half chicken's probably still sitting in the fridge."
"Ah....."
Dane's mouth hung open. As a fellow possessor, her own ordeals paled in comparison to this absurd injustice.
Rolled through hell for 20 years, reached the ending, returned—only to get resummoned. This wasn't just a labor law violation; it was a human rights atrocity.
"Don't ask for details. Makes me pissed just thinking about it."
I chugged the booze.
"So, um... what's your name, Senior? I mean, this body's name."
"Kasian. Kasian Revnant. Ring any bells?"
"Hmm...."
She didn't know it.
"If not, what about the hero party? You must know Kyle, your ancestor."
"Ah, they came up in the prologue world-building. You know, the usual. Demon King shows up, hero party defeats him, peace returns... that kind of backstory?"
"Backstory, huh...."
I rested my chin on my hand and stared at her intently. Something felt off. This world wasn't that simple.
The Demon King was defeated, sure, but something bizarre even Erendel can't decipher is creeping in from the north, and the Empire is rotting from the inside out.
"Hey. Seems like you're misunderstanding something."
"Huh?"
"Our scripts don't match up. You know what world this is?"
"What do you mean? It's obviously from a novel."
Dane fiddled with a crumpled wrapper from her pocket and answered brightly.
"[Shining Romance Academy]. The healing romance fantasy I was reading before I got possessed."
"Shining, what?"
My brow furrowed involuntarily. The title alone was so saccharine it felt like my pancreas was melting.
"Reverse harem academy story with four male leads and the heroine. I'm one of the extra noble ladies in it. So I've been trying my best not to get tangled with the protagonist..."
She shot me a resentful glare. The look screamed, You ruined my peaceful extra life.
"......"
I was speechless for a moment. Romance? Shining? Reverse harem? In this hellhole of a world? Did that even make sense?
Dane pouted aggrievedly.
"It was supposed to be a healing story where the handsome male leads and heroine flirt at the academy, the villainess noble lady gets jealous now and then, they dress up for the festival dance... and graduate happily!"
"You... never heard of [Crimson Chronicle of the Perishing World]?"
"Huh? What's that? Sounds brutal from the title... horror movie?"
"The world I got summoned to... I mean, 500 years ago. The original title of that game. Hardcore dark fantasy survival."
"You didn't get possessed into a romance novel?"
"Romance my ass. It was dark fantasy."
I let out an incredulous laugh.
"Does the shit happening outside look like it fits a romance novel? You don't know anything beyond the academy walls? Don't read the papers?"
"W-well... the academy's peaceful inside.... Does an extra need to know outside politics? Newspapers give me headaches."
"Fuck, you really wanna get left behind?"
I gripped my sword hilt in genuine anger. This was supposed to be the hero's descendant? Even for a peace-addled possessor, this was too much. Her survival instinct was completely neutered.
A houseplant in a greenhouse had more self-preservation.
"Rebels nearly stormed the capital and burned it down just recently. That part of the romance script too?"
Under my bark, Dane mumbled reluctantly.
"Th-that rebel episode? It's in the original too. They get crushed anyway..."
"Who crushes them? The imperial army I saw couldn't have stopped shit. If I hadn't stepped in, the Emperor's head would've been gone."
"Our family. Father's not in the capital to begin with."
"Huh...?"
"The novel describes it in one line: the duke's knights trample the rebels and rescue the captured royals."
"......"
Fair enough. A house founded by the hero would have the firepower to chew them up easily.
Just seeing her deflect Yuria's fireball barehanded gives an idea. If the daughter's this strong, the current duke and family head must be a monster.
A human blender, probably.
Yeah, a world like this needs an off-the-charts human weapon to masquerade as romance.
Like the Northern Grand Duke?
"Anyway, puzzle pieces are falling into place."
I spun my glass thoughtfully. The possessed world was different from the start.
Makes sense—500 years ago's bloody war era couldn't coexist with the peaceful one she describes.
My original game, [Crimson Chronicle], had no academy romance nonsense, and the era was the past.
A bit of the mystery cleared up. Why knights wield forks better than swords, why mages do fireworks instead of lethal spells.
But new questions arose.
If it's romance, stay romance. Why the subpar heteromorphs? And that winter up north, a calamity rivaling the Demon King?
Way beyond genre tolerances. Not academy material.
"So, what's the ending?"
"Huh?"
"As a possessor, you know the ending, right? How does your novel conclude? Giant dimensional gates again? Heteromorph war? How do they stop the northern disaster?"
"It's... normal. Protagonist and male leads take down the black mage group, graduate the academy..."
"Graduate?"
"I don't know after that...? Ends with kisses at the graduation ball and 'their love lasts forever.' No epilogue..."
"......What?"
I set my glass down hard. A chill ran down my spine.
"So... no clue past graduation? No apocalypse prep, no politics—just kiss and end? And the villains are just one black mage group?"
"Just? The protagonist struggled so much to beat them..."
"Struggle my ass. I could march in now and separate every bone from flesh."
"......"
"Anyway, nothing after graduation?"
"Yeah, probably? Academy romances usually end with confessions. Side stories for kids sometimes, but since it's complete, no side stories..."
"......"
I ran a hand through my hair. Situation was worst-case—no, more tangled than thought. Fragmented info in my head assembled into a hypothesis.
'Overlaid?'
Just a hypothesis, but it perfectly explained this freakish state.
500 years ago, I ended the war, saw the [Crimson Chronicle] ending.
World entered peaceful interregnum. That's when her world's prologue began.
Problem: not demolition and rebuild.
'Like slapping pink paint over moldy wallpaper.'
Surface looks bright and romantic. But inside? The rotting dark fantasy corpse still lurks.
Evidence? Piles of it.
First, northern threat mentioned earlier.
Romance rules: handsome male lead and tame beasts up north. But that winter I saw? Beyond romance fixes.
Second, Empire on collapse's edge. Romance empires: peaceful with minor plots.
But this one's rotten to the core. Nobles corrupt, imperial authority nil, heteromorphs rampant. Not romance backdrop—pre-collapse dystopia, fragile peace.
"Ha... what a mindfuck."
Truly fucked...
A blank slate. No fixed fate.
After that? Anything goes.
Stayed in romance novel frame so far—no big incidents, crises resolved neatly. Healing academy wouldn't feature heads rolling.
But post-ending credits? No more romance. Dark fantasy resurfaces.
Moment that Shining whatever ends, bloody prologue restarts.
For reference, [Crimson Chronicle]'s prologue: gates open, lives worthless, over half continent demon fodder.
Repeat that shit?
"Hey, when does that protagonist graduate?"
"Heroine Alice is second-year now. Male leads mixed second and third."
"How's the protagonist's power? Usable? Protagonist should be decent."
"Well... typical healing romance heroine."
Dane scratched her cheek awkwardly.
"Super kind... but frustrating. Got called 'sweet potato' in comments a lot."
"How bad?"
"Monster shows, she screams and collapses instead of fighting. Male leads swoop in and slaughter."
Dane sighed, adding,
"Biggest issue: her nosy healing. Nearly bit trying to heal an injured beast."
Hm... Strip martial prowess from that stubborn Kyle I traveled with, double the dumbass stat: that's her.
"Good. She's out."
I ruthlessly cut the romance protagonist.
"Non-combatant. Lock her in a greenhouse, tell her to breathe till graduation. Looks like the type to stab allies in the back. And confirmed? Ends when protagonist graduates?"
"Yes, original finale at heroine's graduation. I'm extra, graduating first."
Two years. Precisely, two years and three months.
Time till this world's ending, romance genre's expiration. After? My dark fantasy tsunami.
Empire rotting inside, northern winter stirring: genre-shift omens. Hell party prelude.
"Hey, what's this world called?"
"Uh... Shining Romance Academy?"
"Bullshit. Correction."
I gripped Dane's shoulder tight.
"Your genre changes today to [Deep Dark Military Survival Fantasy]."
"Pardon...?"
"With mandatory conscription."
"Hey! Wait a sec!"
Dane flailed in panic.
"I'm graduating! End of this semester!"
"Graduation? Perfect. Unemployed then? Enlist right away. Train hard here, commission as my adjutant the moment winter break hits."
"Sp... spare me."
Dane's face drained white.