Chapter 1: Marked for Greatness, Born a One-Star

Most web novels classify their content using “tags.”

Rather than categorizing them under a single genre, they list the specific themes or elements featured in the novel.

This allows authors to more easily attract readers who are looking for certain tropes, and readers can more easily find stories that match their tastes.

Each tag can be considered a kind of “micro-genre.”

Take, for example, a novel tagged with the three words “regret,” “despair,” and “obsession.”

Someone seeing these three tags for the first time might find it hard to imagine what kind of story it is.

But after reading a few novels with overlapping tags, they’ll get the general idea.

“Ah, so this is the kind of story it is,” they’ll think.

“Regret,” “despair,” “obsession.”

These types of stories, often referred to in shorthand as “Hu-Pi-Jip” (from the Korean pronunciation of the three words), typically center around a protagonist who possesses incredible—but somehow completely unrecognized—abilities.

The protagonist is betrayed or abandoned by the heroines, but once he moves on and begins to thrive, the heroines realize their mistake and desperately try to win him back.

Literally, the heroines “regret,” fall into “despair,” and become “obsessed” with the protagonist.

Because the plot needs to follow this kind of progression, male characters are almost always excluded.

If a male character does appear, the story usually includes the NTR (Netorare) tag, and often involves revenge afterward. In such cases, the tag “revenge” is also added.

If the story doesn’t have an NTR tag, then the male character is likely a useless, cowardly hero.

He might appear briefly in the prologue just to stir up anger before being killed off, or he may be mentioned as already dead before the story even begins.

So, what happens if the only male character is the protagonist?

In that case, the protagonist usually takes on the role of the hero.

Of course, even if the protagonist is the hero, being abandoned is inevitable due to the nature of these tags.

Usually, due to misunderstandings or slander, the heroines—who, for some reason, turn on the comrade they once fought alongside with their lives—end up condemning the protagonist as a despicable villain and abandon him.

The protagonist, having fallen from the prestigious position of Hero to rock bottom in an instant, begins to gather strength again in preparation for revenge.

If the only male character is the protagonist, yet he doesn’t hold the title of Hero, then he’s usually cast in a role like “buffer,” “healer,” or “supporter.”

If not those, then maybe he’s in charge of managing the party’s finances or is some sort of specialist in another field.

He might not excel at any one thing, but he’s skilled in various ways and ends up being quietly helpful.

Basically, it’s one of those roles that don’t stand out but are still incredibly important—at least, that’s what the story claims.

And in those cases, the one who is the Hero is usually a beautiful girl.

And I… became that beautiful girl.

“For Hero Lila!”

“For the new hero of our village!”

What’s more, I was even a candidate to become the Hero.

“Congratulations, Lila!”

The one who said that and handed me a glass was a handsome young man with black hair.

Aside from being good-looking, his facial features were clearly different from the rest of the people in this world.

To put it simply, the people in the village all had “European” features, while this young man alone looked “Asian”—specifically, East Asian.

This guy—whom I’ve known as a friend for several years in this world—comes from South Korea.
And it wasn’t just some baseless guess on my part.

Not long after we first met, we compared memories.

As a result, we figured out that the two of us were from the same country in our past lives.

Of course, even within the same country, it seemed like we had lived quite far apart.

According to this guy from my hometown, this world looks exactly like the gacha game he used to play—and apparently, I’m one of the Heroes who appeared in that game.

For the record, he’s not a Hero.

Actually, more importantly, he’s never once revealed what his role or abilities are.

But ever since I started sticking around him, I’ve clearly felt my stamina increase dramatically.

So I’ve been suspecting he’s got some kind of support-type ability or something similar.

That’s right.

I’m the Hero, and he’s the Support.

No matter how I look at it, this is the setup where the ungrateful beautiful girl Hero kicks the Support out of the party without realizing his worth.

And at that point, I started to have another suspicion.

What if the Korea he came from and the Korea I lived in were actually parallel worlds?

I mean, I’d never even heard of this supposedly hit game Brave Knights.

A fully-voiced mobile game loaded with famous Japanese voice actors?

There’s no way an otaku like me wouldn’t know about it if it actually existed.

So I came to a conclusion in my head: Isn’t this world just the setting of one of those Hu-Pi-Jip-style web novels?

And once I realized that, it was impossible to feel good about it.

To make matters worse, I wasn’t even a real Hero yet.

I was still just a candidate.

In the game too, the story started with the character as a candidate who gradually grew into the role—so it made sense.

I’d probably need to spend a few more years studying just to barely qualify as a Hero.

Even the drink sitting in front of me wasn’t alcohol—it was milk.

Why were the two of us—both not even of age yet—in a tavern, you ask?

Well, it’s because this was the only place in this small village where people could gather.

There were other restaurants, sure, but none as spacious as this one.

Besides, this place also doubled as an inn, and a few staff from the Adventurers’ Guild were stationed here as well.

If you think in light novel or web novel terms, this would be the typical “adventurers’ hangout,” but since the village was such a backwater, there were only a handful of adventurers around.

Among them, we were definitely the youngest… no, the most childish, really.

I mean, they let us hunt slimes and goblins, but not drink?

That part still doesn’t make sense to me.

I chugged my milk and slammed the cup down with a grumble.

“What’s there to congratulate? I’m not even a real Hero yet.”

At my indifferent voice, the once-rowdy tavern fell silent, like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over it.

Smack!

The friend next to me, who’d been wearing an awkward expression, slapped me squarely on the back and said,

“You’re basically guaranteed to become one.

As long as you graduate from the academy safely, you’re going to be officially appointed as a Hero.”

What I meant was—I don’t want to be a Hero.

“…Is that so?”

Honestly, I didn’t feel like celebrating at all.

But since my friend had gone out of his way to play along with the mood, I couldn’t just shoot him down.

So I decided to go with it.

Yeah, screw it.

Once you’ve been marked as a Hero candidate, you can’t even quit until a certain amount of time has passed.

Unless you can clearly explain that your abilities are hopelessly inadequate, you’re stuck with the Hero candidate title for a while.

And I’ve got a Support right next to me, don’t I?

In most Hu-Pi-Jip webnovels, the Hero grows stronger thanks to the protagonist’s plot armor.

Unless I suddenly lose my mind and kick this guy out, I might not defeat the Demon Lord, but I could probably climb pretty high up the ladder.

And besides, this guy was the one who encouraged me to become a Hero candidate in the first place.

“Well then, let’s work hard and rake in a ton of cash, yeah?”

When I said that with a grin, his face finally lit up with a proper smile.

“Yeah, that’s the spirit. Much better way to look at things.”

He still looked a little dissatisfied, but I didn’t bother to agree with him.

I’m not the kind of person who would risk their life just to make someone else happy.

“To our future Hero, and to his faithful party member Siwoo! Cheers!”

“…Wait, this is your tavern.”

I shot back at the bartender who had boldly declared that toast, and downed the milk in the crudely carved wooden mug.

“Here’s to the Hero from our village! And to Siwoo, his party member!”

I thought I’d made it pretty clear I wasn’t in the mood for celebration, but apparently the guy took my sarcasm as sincerity.

Siwoo gave me a sheepish smile and raised his glass toward me.

Yeah.

That’s right.

Siwoo.

Lee Siwoo.

That’s my friend’s name.

Incidentally, that name was also one of the reasons I came to believe this world might be a web novel.

“Siwoo” was a name that popped up constantly as the protagonist in webnovels serialized on NoveLPay.

Why?

I honestly have no idea.

Anyway, So yeah.

I’m seriously, seriously torn right now.

What the hell am I supposed to do with that pushover?

I have absolutely no idea about the original game this world is based on, but according to Siwoo, it was a “card-collecting bishoujo game.”

Of course, “card-collecting” sounds a bit misleading—it’s not like a regular TCG where you pull multiple cards or build a deck and play them in order during a match or anything like that.

It’s more like the kind of mobile game that pops into any otaku’s head when they hear “bishoujo game.”

You know, the kind you’ve probably tried at least once if you’re even a little bit into that scene.

Equipment basically functions as character enhancement items—you can’t really swap them around or unequip them.

Whether it’s a 1-star or a 3-star character, if you grind hard enough and pour in enough time and money, you can eventually raise them to 5-stars.

It’s your classic “collect shards and upgrade” kind of game.

That’s right.

Every playable character in this game—except for the male protagonist—is a girl.

And of course, they’re all cute anime girls.

It just turned out that way—even though neither Siwoo nor I picked our roles based on appearance or anything.

They’re all cute girls.

And they all have tragic backstories too.

Granted, we haven’t actually met any of them yet since we haven’t entered the academy, but the truth is…

Siwoo and I have already made a list of characters we’d like to befriend in advance.

There’s no status window or system UI in this world.

So there’s no way to collect fragments or use awakening stones to power up characters like in the game.

Which means, in the end, the only thing we can do is try to recruit the naturally talented ones—those busted, born-3-star characters—into our party using Siwoo’s support abilities, and raise them up ourselves.

…Oh, and for the record?

Apparently, I’m a born 1-star character.

It took days of pestering Siwoo to get him to admit that.

Honestly, I still don’t know if people’s talents in this world follow the lore and setting… or if they reflect the actual in-game stats.

Sure, I’m a “Hero Candidate” by background, and supposedly if I get trained properly, I’ll be decent in the late game.

But who knows when that growth is supposed to kick in?

I don’t even know how it’s supposed to happen.

That’s why I’ve been feeling more anxious lately.

“Hey. Siwoo.”

I called his name as I slammed my empty milk cup down on the tavern table—yeah, a milk cup, not a beer mug.

That’s the kind of conversation this was.

“Hm?”

“When are you going to tell me?”

“Huh… tell you what?”

“Your ability.”

“My ability?”

“Yeah, your ability.

What, you think I wouldn’t notice?”

“Notice what?”

“Ever since I started hanging around you, my stamina, my reflexes, my strength—they’ve all shot up, like, noticeably.

Yeah, sure, there’s no status window or system HUD in this world.

But I know my own body.

“You really thought I wouldn’t figure out that you were the reason?”

“Uh… wait a second, Lila. Just calm down—”

Siwoo quickly tried to intervene, probably because my voice was getting sharper the more I talked.

“Calm down? Do I look calm to you?

The guy playing the most important role in my party won’t even tell me what his actual ability is, and we’re literally leaving for the academy tomorrow.

You’ve told me everything else, but not this? What, is this some kind of joke?”

He just blinked at me, wide-eyed, clearly taken aback.

We had just come back from a simple quest and sat down to rest.

He’d been sitting there, quietly sipping his milk without a word—and suddenly I dropped this on him.

Yeah, I probably startled him.

And honestly, I didn’t want to bring it up so suddenly either.

But if I kept waiting around, it felt like he’d never say anything at all.

“A-Alright, wait—fine. I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you, okay?”

He started stammering.

He never stammers.

So I knew right away—he was really flustered.

Come to think of it, this is the same guy who didn’t tell me I was a born 1-star character.

Said it was because he didn’t want to hurt my feelings.

I know how the story usually goes when you’ve got a party with a painfully kind male lead like this guy.

The rest of the party fails to realize how important he is, kicks him out, then regrets it too late.

They fall apart, get desperate, and spiral into obsession.

I know how that goes.

So yeah.

There’s no way I’m letting that happen.