If You're So Mad, Why Don't You Become a Villainess Yourself

"Sigh..."

Leon let out a heavy breath as he scrolled through the gallery posts. Even though the community had basically concluded she wasn't a smurf stomper, there were still people trying to stir up trouble. He wondered if Lora even knew she was getting this much aggro.

"...She probably has no idea."

Lora's number one priority had always been the game itself. In whatever spare time she had, she'd either browse the galleries a bit or look up strategy guides on community sites if she needed them.

'Besides, Lora-unnie is the type of person who doesn't care about other people's opinions...'

It went beyond having a strong mentality. If he had to compare it to a game, it was like she was permanently in an invincible state or immune status. An elephant doesn't concern itself with what a bunch of tiny ants think about it. That was exactly the kind of person she was—someone who took zero damage from other people's bad opinions.

In that sense, she was practically perfect for being a VTuber. After all, no matter what job you do, having a strong mentality is crucial in this industry.

But Leon didn't think having a strong mentality was always a good thing.

People normally live while considering how others see them. That's why they put on makeup, wear nice clothes, watch their tone, and mind their behavior. Of course Lora did those things to some extent, but fundamentally, she was the type who made others adjust to her rather than the other way around.

'...The way she acts, she's basically a chaebol heiress.'

Still, he couldn't deny that side of her was charming. Having served as her attendant for the longest time, Leon knew that better than anyone.

But now Lora was about to become a VTuber.

"There are three main things I need to take care of first."

The first was clearing up the stigma hanging over Lora—the whole smurf stomper issue. If they didn't resolve this beforehand, her image after debut could get seriously damaged. He already had a rough plan for how to handle it.

From now on, he would be acting as Lora's manager. So if it was to protect her, he was ready to draw his sword.

The second task was creating Lora's plate—in other words, finding an illustrator. He wasn't sure if there was anyone willing to take on the job even with the time acceleration system, but... as her manager, he'd have to figure something out.

And the third was...

"It's the simplest one, but..."

He wasn't sure if Lora-unnie would be able to handle it well. For some reason, Leon was starting to feel worried.

After signing the contract, nothing particularly surprising happened.

Her VTuber debut was scheduled for next month at the earliest anyway. If the plate wasn't finished by then, they'd simply push the date back. There wasn't much for me to do in the meantime.

'The streaming equipment is already all set up, though.'

The company had provided the broadcasting gear, and Leon had brought it all home and set everything up perfectly. He'd installed all the necessary streaming programs too, and we'd even done a quick test broadcast to make sure the setup was solid.

Now all that was left was waiting for the plate.

It all came down to whether we could actually find an illustrator. Because of that, Leon had been away from home more often than not lately. He seemed completely preoccupied with tracking one down.

While I left things in his capable hands, I spent my days gaming as usual.

"Ugh, fuck. I got matched with the smurf stomper. Don't you dare win this one."

The moment the game started, our allied dual-wielder swung his sword at me. I dodged the swordsman's strike, closed the distance in one smooth motion, and sliced his throat clean through.

"Looks like we've got a troll, everyone. Let's report him after the match."

That's what I told the rest of the party members.

I'd been running into a lot of trolls lately. The reason was obvious.

"Unnie, did you know you're being archived on the community sites?"

"They're calling you a smurf stomper."

Leon had told me that a few days ago. It was the first I'd heard of it. Me? A smurf stomper?

"There are always jealous people everywhere, whether here or back there."

As the jewel of the ducal house and an unparalleled beauty, I'd always been the object of envy. During the ten years I'd lived as Lora Iris, three of those had been spent at the academy. I'd met all sorts of people during that time. So many would flatter me to my face while badmouthing me behind my back.

Some were jealous of my excellent grades, others of my appearance, and still others of my status. People who couldn't stand to see others succeed. Such types were common even in the fantasy world, so it didn't really affect me anymore.

'So this isn't anything particularly special.'

Being trolled wasn't new to me either—I'd experienced it plenty in other games—so it didn't really bother me. The only real issue was that all the trolling was slowing down my rank climb.

That's what it usually looked like. If I killed the troll at the start, we'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have five players. But the enemy would have six. Starting a match down a player was basically a handicap from the beginning. You could cover for one missing person to some extent, but it was inevitable that our win rate would drop.

Until recently I'd been winning most matches 3-0, but lately the trolls had started causing more and more losses.

'Hmm... How should I solve this problem?'

I thought for a moment. A few ideas came to mind. Changing my nickname, for example.

"Unnie, there's a nickname change ticket in the in-game store. It does cost a bit of money, though."

"Why don't you change your nickname for a while?"

That was the solution Leon had suggested. But I'd shaken my head. It wasn't a fundamental fix.

'People can still find my match history anyway.'

Even if I changed my name, the search records would still show everything. It might even give the trolls more ammunition.

'She changed her name to avoid trolling? That means the trolling worked. Then we should troll her even more!'

Something like that.

'What if I just explain myself?'

Maybe I could post on the Labyrinth gallery. Something like: I'm not a smurf, I'm not using an alt account, I'm just a good-hearted villainess who happens to be skilled at games. If you don't like it, why don't you become a villainess yourself?

Yeah, that probably wouldn't work. People only hear what they want to hear and see what they want to see.

'Looks like the only real option for now is to just power through and climb.'

The trolls and the people viewing me through colored glasses—they just needed an excuse. In this harsh reality, they were simply looking for reasons to tear someone down. Even if I hadn't been the King of Firewood, I suspected they would've found some other reason to troll me.

It was probably because I was in the lower Diamond tier. If I made it to the upper Diamond tier, that would be where the real rank-obsessed maniacs gathered. After all, trolling usually happened because people valued their personal feelings over the team's victory.

But the upper Diamond ranks would be filled with people going crazy trying to reach Challenger, so I figured the chances of running into trolls would drop significantly.

'Still, I should prepare just in case.'

No matter how perfect a ducal lady I might be, the world didn't always move according to my wishes. Only by keeping the possibility of things going wrong in mind could I truly call myself the unparalleled lady of the house.

I opened my replay history for a moment.

Of course, Leon would take care of clearing my name. It seemed like he already had some ideas. Since he was diligent and thorough, I didn't think things would escalate to the point where I'd need to step in. But unlike me, Leon wasn't perfect, nor was he a villainess. So if necessary, the flawless human that I was would have to take action.

While I continued playing as usual, I also sharpened my blade—just in case. I wondered if the moment for retribution would ever come. Not having to draw the sword would be the best possible outcome, but my villainess intuition was telling me otherwise.

I'd probably end up cutting down quite a few people.

After all, I was the villainess. It was my destiny.

[Unnie, can you talk right now?]

I was in the middle of preparing broadcast content when Leon suddenly contacted me.

[I'll send you a Discord server invite. Come join.]

A hyperlink from Leon popped up.

"What is this?"

[You're debuting as a VTuber next month, right?]

"Does that mean you managed to find an illustrator?"

[...I'll find one somehow, so don't worry about it. Anyway.]

Leon continued.

[We're having a meeting this Saturday. I want you to get close to the people who'll be debuting alongside you, Unnie.]

Hmm? Debut mates?