Became a Villain Heroine in a Harem Story

Cough.

I took out and put on the suit I always wore in the dormitory.

I felt strangely comfortable.

Going to kill someone now, yet feeling comfortable.

There’s certainly no one born evil from birth, but it feels quite strange how frighteningly quickly I’ve adapted to this.

Perhaps I was actually a messed-up person from the beginning.

I was reincarnated into a game. And unfortunately, an unfortunate situation occurred. …Am I acting without hesitation using those two reasons as an indulgence?

The choice has already been made, and I’ve come too far to turn back.

The path I’ve walked is too dirty to claim to be a good person.

If I’ve chosen a path, I’d like an ending where at least I alone can smile happily. It’s not my concern whether others laugh or cry.

There’s someone I want to save.

How far can a human fall for that one reason?

‘Status window.’

: Yes.

‘Why do we need to kill [Paper]?’

: Because it’s an opponent with poor compatibility in the future.

‘An ability that just moves paper?’

: An ability that just moves paper will become the biggest obstacle in the distant future.

To be honest, I couldn’t understand.

It wasn’t that significant in the game story, nor was the ability particularly strong.

It goes on about compatibility, but what aspect of my shadow-handling ability would be disadvantageous against an ability that deals with paper?

It was a goal I simply couldn’t comprehend.

But I had no particular reason to refuse the status window’s quest. Hadn’t I already decided? That I would do anything if it could make my mistakes as if they never happened.

With that, I opened the door of the dormitory and headed outside.

‘…On the academy entrance ceremony day, the teachers would still be busy organizing documents.’

Overtime work. It was one of the words deeply related to my previous life, but I didn’t particularly feel nostalgic.

Right after the paperwork for new academy students is complete, I’ll attack and kill a teacher on their way home.

Tension, guilt, hesitation. Feelings that humans should naturally have, but for some reason, I didn’t feel them at all.

A laugh inadvertently escaped.

Because what filled my head now was only about the reward I would get after killing an academy teacher.

The sweet bait the status window held out to me was [Proficiency]. An ability that replaces most imaginable tasks and movements with those of an expert, without even needing to practice.

It could be said to be the most necessary ability in a situation where I couldn’t properly wield the blade that could be considered my weapon now.

‘I wish I could get a gun.’

: It would be better to find a black market.

Black market… Certainly, that was an option. But the biggest problem is that I don’t have any money to buy weapons, right?

There’s also the method of stealing items, but honestly, I wasn’t confident I could steal without being caught, and if my reputation among them gets tarnished, it would be harder to get items later.

That teacher, does he have a lot of money in his wallet?

I can’t remember well.

Good if there is, not good if there isn’t. Well… something like that.

“Ah, I see him.”

After carefully checking the direction, I used the shadow under my feet to stealthily get ahead on the path.

♦♦♦

What’s most important in a battle between ability users?

The importance changes fluidly depending on the situation and the number of people.

For example, if there are many people, abilities that bind movement or heal allies would be quite effective.

In a situation with multiple enemies, extreme attack abilities and wide-area abilities that could involve allies would rampage properly.

But what about a “one-on-one” situation without other variables?

What’s most important in a one-on-one? What’s closest to the victory condition?

Countless strategies ultimately converged to one thing in the end.

‘First-strike advantage.’

Although abilities that can undo death absolutely do not… well, they do exist, but anyway, in a world where you die without even a chance to use your ability if your head is pierced, having the first strike is more important than anything else.

An unexpected ambush carried out from an invisible place, hiding both presence and breath.

An attack that guarantees instant death, driving the opponent without even giving them a chance to use their ability.

Indeed, the best method was a bullet aimed at the head, but since I didn’t have a gun now, the best method was to fire a shadow.

A shadow fired at a speed the opponent couldn’t react to.

Carefully identifying the teacher’s movement pattern, then predicting the alley he would walk through.

Melting into the darkness while completely hiding my presence.

Thud- Thud-

Footsteps began to be heard very close by.

To hide my nervousness, I took out a cigarette, put it in my mouth, and lit it.

I took out a match instead of a lighter to avoid making noise.

After peeking my head out from the shadow and roughly confirming his position, I immediately moved the shadow covering my body to my fingertips.

Since the total amount of shadow I could handle was still limited, uncomfortable movements were necessary.

If I developed it more, I could increase it, but is this the limit at my current age?

I compressed the shadow covering my entire body into a single point, then slowly extended it to form something similar to a drill. The black cone slowly begins to rotate.

Specifically imagining the image of it being fired forward, and implementing it in reality.

Bang—!

With a sound of tearing through the air, the shadow was fired, piercing the wall.

Although that attack just now was undoubtedly carried out at a speed no human could react to, for some reason, the message that usually appeared when a quest was completed wasn’t visible.

It was about 3 seconds later that I detected something was wrong.

A voice was heard.

“…Hmm.”

What should I do?

Regardless of the reason, since the preemptive attack was blocked, I had two options.

Either stubbornly try to kill the opponent from this position somehow, or escape without being noticed and wait for the next opportunity.

The next opportunity… probably wouldn’t come. An academy teacher was attempted to be assassinated, and it was attacked by a shadow, of all things.

The first subjects of investigation would be licensed ability users, including students enrolled in the academy.

In the end, the only option left for me was to kill the opponent right here and now by any means necessary, and destroy the evidence.

The footsteps are getting closer and closer.

The wall with a round hole in it in this narrow alley would immediately catch the eye.

I’ll face the opponent in the next 5 seconds, no, 3 seconds.

Think about the next action without stopping.

I immediately knelt down on both knees and placed both hands on the ground. I scraped together all the shadows I could currently manipulate to my fingertips.

The alley floor is painted black.

I move the remaining shadow behind my back. From behind my back, a blade pops out and sprawls carelessly on the floor.

‘The shadow I possess can store objects that I recognize as a single item.’

The opponent appeared in the alley.

Our eyes meet, and immediately, sharp paper aims at me.

“…You!”

“Hel, lo.”

After briefly greeting, I immediately started my next attack.

I store ‘one of the opponent’s shoes’ in the shadow.

Since the opponent’s foot was in a state of straddling space, the storage was canceled midway.

Along with the shoe, the opponent’s foot sank slightly into the shadow. His balance was disturbed. The paper aimed at me slightly missed over my head.

Blood flowed from my cheek.

Without my knowledge, my skin had been slightly cut.

He immediately took off his shoe and escaped, creating distance.

“You’re the student I saw this morning… right?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll give you time to explain your attack.”

“Do you want to play teacher even in this situation…?”

He frowned. Perhaps he realized I was a person beyond redemption and was trying to change his approach.

That aside, how did he block my attack? I became a bit curious. Isn’t it just an ability to handle paper? Where is the usefulness besides the ability to prevent paper straws from dissolving in drinks…?

Ah, is this alone a sufficiently great ability?

“…Is this fun?”

“Yes.”

“I’m asking if this situation is fun.”

“I wonder.”

“Fine. It should be okay to dig into your background after capturing you. Shadow? No, there’s no reason for a foreign ability organization to enter. Then where?”

“Just asking in case, but are you asking because you think I’ll answer?”

“No, I don’t expect it.”

“By the way… how did you block my attack?”

“I smelled cigarette smoke.”

“It shouldn’t have been a force that could be blocked by mere paper.”

After hearing my words, he pulled out a bundle of A4 papers from behind his back.

And among them, there were several that were blackened and had holes in them.

“Paper isn’t as weak as you think. I don’t know what confidence you had in targeting me, but if you were going to target an academy teacher, you should have targeted Uihyeon or Sayu first.”

“It’s alright. I’ll send your friends to join you soon.”

His reaction was quite good. Gritting his molars and frowning deeply, it was the expression of looking at something not human. The expression of looking at a person as a beast.

Why is it?

After giving up everything, after something got broken somewhere, in this situation, exhilaration comes before tension.

A head spinning faster than usual. An excited body. A pounding heart.

Even the instinct and reason that naturally began to search for my way to survive.

The battle begins.

Cough.