Change 9

It was a dark night when the cold air pierced the lungs.

The man was wandering in the back alley.

“…Fuck.”

Profanities kept flowing from the man’s, Lee Yong-hyun’s mouth.

“Fuck, fuck! Fuuuuck!”

Lee Yong-hyun’s curses echoed in the narrow alley.

“Fuck! How did this suddenly happen!”

There was no answer coming back.

He just kicked a trash can to vent his anger.

“Status window! Status! Stat window!”

Nothing.

“Fuck! Why! Why!”

There was no reaction at all.

“Why isn’t anything showing up!”

In fact, this might be natural.

It’s only natural that nothing comes out when you shout nonsense into thin air, isn’t it?

“…Fuck.”

It’s just that everything up until now had been strange.

Originally, constellations and status windows don’t exist in people’s daily lives.

“Fuck. Why…”

The man eventually grew tired.

Tired, he stopped shouting.

In an instant, the status window disappeared.

This wasn’t the only misfortune the man experienced.

He was stabbed by a student with anger management issues and mental illness.

He even heard a unilateral declaration of breaking off the engagement.

Misfortune without any plausibility.

It was an utterly unreasonable thing.

‘…Wait a minute.’

Suddenly, a thought flashed.

‘Could this be a regret story…?’

The reason for misfortune befalling the protagonist of the world is obvious.

Regret. Depravity. Obsession.

There could be nothing else.

Yes, that must be it.

There’s no other reason for this to happen.

A forced development to elevate the protagonist.

That’s right.

What’s there to hide?

Lee Yong-hyun was the protagonist of a story of regret, depravity, and obsession!

“Oh.”

And in a story of regret and depravity, there’s always a first love that the protagonist reaches out to when they’ve lost everything.

“So you were here?”

Seo Nanhwa.

The woman with ash-gray hair stood before him.

Snicker.

Lee Yong-hyun couldn’t help but laugh.

Indeed, his thoughts weren’t wrong.

“…You’re laughing?”

He would take revenge.

No, they would come to regret it.

“Have you gone mad? Well, I guess it’s understandable.”

His former fiancée who pushed him away carelessly.

The self-proclaimed hero who hurt him carelessly.

“Neither I nor the chief have seen a case like this before.”

He would never forgive them all.

Until they kneel naked and apologize─.

“─A case where a Player becomes a non-Player while still alive.”

“…!”

For a moment, silence fell.

Lee Yong-hyun’s body stiffened.

“It’s fascinating. In many ways.”

Lee Yong-hyun’s brilliant mind calmly analyzed the situation.

The opponent not only knew information about Players but also knew that his status window had disappeared.

“…I see.”

In other words, this series of events must be related to the person this woman calls ‘chief’!

“So that’s how it is!”

“What are you talking about?”

Seo Nanhwa’s reaction was bland.

Even as dark red flames rose.

Even if the status window disappears, abilities don’t vanish.

Moreover, that ability is S-class, and a named Player like Lee Yong-hyun surpasses professional hunters with just basic combat power.

“Sorry, but I can’t hold back!”

Dark red flames gather and radiate from Lee Yong-hyun’s right arm.

The powerful S-class ability exerted its power without reservation.

“Bullshit.”

Lee Yong-hyun charges.

Somehow, a spear had appeared in Seo Nanhwa’s hand.

“…Huh?”

And he was thrown back.

Cutting through the flames.

Lee Yong-hyun’s right arm.

“Ah…”

He couldn’t even process the situation at first,

“Uh, ah, uwaaaaah─!”

Then, with the pain that followed, he rolled on the ground unsightly.

“Uwah, ah, ah! My, my arm…!”

Tears and snot flowed.

He felt a warm sensation in his pants.

“You see, this is a special product made by our chief. It’s a cheat item that can’t be blocked by ordinary abilities.”

As if looking down on him.

Seo Nanhwa didn’t even look at the man.

“Kuh, uh, uwah…!”

“There used to be Players like you quite often back in the day. The type who deluded themselves into thinking they were the protagonist of the world just because of some power they accidentally received from others, committing all sorts of stupid acts.”

She just told a story from the past to pass the time.

“And you know, Players of that type all had short average lifespans.”

A story from 10 years ago.

A part of the great hero’s tale.

“They were so easy to hunt. They didn’t put in effort but had big egos, and their skills were mediocre.”

The constellations in the night sky were truly vast.

The hero chipped away at them one by one, holding a single spear.

“Ah, you were kind of an exception. Despite being a typical trash Player, you were lucky enough to be born with an S-class ability. We thought we might be able to lure in other Players if we used you well.”

Everything was according to the hero’s plan.

“Well, you ended up being useless for that purpose in the end…”

If not for that, how could this worthless man be employed as an Academy professor while talking about hunter rankings?

“It’s really fortunate. You still have some use left.”

Evil must always atone.

We won’t forgive them dying comfortably.

“From now on, serve the country that our chief created as an awesome experimental subject with selfless devotion.”

That was Seo Nanhwa’s, and by extension, the hero’s will.

Han Seoyeon has two worries.

Of course, they weren’t about blasting away Han Joon-hyuk.

[Skill: You have acquired ‘Harem Aura’.]

The first was about the skill she obtained after defeating Lee Yong-hyun.

[‘Harem Aura’ is being modified to suit the user.]

The Falling Star Sword is a sword that eats and cuts mana.

A Falling Star Sword that has surpassed a certain level is given functions beyond just cutting.

One of those abilities is absorption.

When victorious against a Player, it randomly absorbs the loser’s skill.

It even devours the mana cut from the opponent.

[Skill: You have acquired ‘Yuri Aura’.]

And thus, this nonsensical skill was born.

“What is this.”

It was a skill she had never seen even in the original story.

Han Seoyeon checked the information.

[Yuri Aura]

[Details: An aura that sexually charms the same sex. However, intelligence is partially reduced during skinship with the same sex.]

[Tip: It doesn’t work on same-sex individuals with 100% likability.]

No matter how many times she looked at it, it was truly an incomprehensible skill.

“What is this…”

Harem Aura.

The same-sex version of it.

“…”

It was an unbeatable skill for seducing the same sex, but.

“Somehow, I don’t like it.”

Han Seoyeon glared at this skill with a somewhat pouty face.

“I’m for pure love. Pure love!”

Han Seoyeon likes munchkin stories.

Among the munchkin stories she liked, there were hypnosis stories and harem stories.

But undoubtedly, the best were pure love stories.

A devoted love for just one person.

“This is clearly a hypnosis app no matter how you look at it!”

Harem pure love was heresy.

Hypnosis training pure love even more so!

That wasn’t pure love.

That wasn’t yuri, she says!

“…But I can’t get rid of the skill either.”

If it were a one-sided robbery, that would be different.

There were no cases in the original story of deliberately discarding skills.

Of course, since the original story had already been twisted beyond recognition, if she searched, a method might eventually appear.

“Hmm…”

It was just a possibility.

Even if she invested time and resources, the success probability would converge infinitely close to 0.

“Well, I don’t think there’s anyone around me who would fall for this skill…”

Michaela is level 100.

Baek Da-eun remained calm even when faced with a similar skill, the Harem Aura.

Her own sister was out of the question.

“It should be fine…?”

It was just other cases that were problematic.

You never know, right?

What if she ends up seducing that Lee Ha-yul with this?

‘…No. That might be going too far.’

It’s the Lee Ha-yul we’re talking about.

There’s no way she’d fall for a skill like this.

“Han Seoyeon.”

A voice calls her.

“Come to the student council room for a moment.”

This was Han Seoyeon’s second worry.

“That’s twice. The number of times you’ve violated the dormitory curfew recently.”

Lee Ha-yul.

She was attacking Han Seoyeon fiercely, leaving no room for logical rebuttal.

“…The strongest disciplinary action for this is expulsion.”

A heavy fact missile nailed into her chest.

“What do you think?”

“I’m sorry! Please let me off just this once!”

There was no hesitation.

Han Seoyeon immediately bowed her head.

It wasn’t shameful for the one who did wrong to bow their head.

Expulsion was not an option.

There was still the original story’s development left.

She hadn’t even properly enjoyed campus life with her senior yet…!

“…You don’t need to worry that much. I’m just talking about the highest level of disciplinary action.”

Don’t try to fool me, you heroine who makes me want to hit you!

You tried to expel the protagonist with that highest disciplinary action in the original story too!

…Well, since Han Seoyeon was the one at fault, she couldn’t really protest loudly.

She wasn’t regretting it at all, either.

“Certainly, violating curfew twice is a serious offense. Especially since you’re not willing to disclose a proper reason, even more so.”

“…”

Of course, there was no way she could tell.

That she and one other person defeated a Wave to help the children in the slums.

That she single-handedly invaded the Firefly Group, fought and defeated Han Joon-hyuk.

Either way, it was extraordinary.

Even if she told them, they wouldn’t believe it.

“However.”

The following verdict.

“You have also saved an Academy student from terrorists before.”

Han Seoyeon swallowed dry saliva.

“Taking that into account, for now, the disciplinary action has been decided as community service. Depending on the content and results of the volunteer activities, I’m not sure how the punishment might change further.”

In a sense, the same development as the original story.

At least she could avoid expulsion.

“I’ll also accompany you as a witness, so keep that in mind.”

But she couldn’t smile.

Community service with the Forbes-selected (※not really) No. 1 heroine who makes you want to hit her.

“…Yes.”

It was the preview of the world’s most awkward volunteer activity.

Even as the night grows late, the girl doesn’t return.

So, in the dormitory all alone, Michaela couldn’t sleep.

Could something have happened?

Without her knowing.

Is she trying to shoulder something alone again?

She was worried.

She was afraid the girl might get hurt.

With a hopeful heart, she searched various places in the Academy, but couldn’t find any traces.

She was nowhere to be seen.

She spent the night like that.

“Ah…”

Just as dawn was breaking, the girl returned.

“I’ve been looking for you.”

Michaela was about to head straight to her side,

“Where have you been until─.”

Her toes stop.

The words couldn’t form on her lips.

“Welcome home…!”

“Yeah.”

They were hugging.

Han Seoyeon.

Another girl.

“I’m back.”

As if incredibly precious.

In a gentle voice.

“Suho.”

She calls the name.

Michaela knew that name.

“…”

Michaela blankly.

Just watched that scene.

It was like a single painting.

It felt like no third party could intervene.

She recalls recent events.

Han Seoyeon had been concerned about Han Suho.

There must have been some circumstances.

There must have been an event that created such a situation.

Look at the dust and bloodstains on the uniform.

‘Why.’

So she doesn’t misunderstand.

Han Seoyeon’s feelings.

Didn’t she say it with her own mouth?

That she was devoted to pure love.

‘Why…’

And yet.

“Why…?”

That was the only word that lingered on her lips, lost for direction.

She would have said.

That she would always help when in trouble.

So please tell her everything without hiding anything.

It was strange.

It was odd.

The reason her heart was throbbing unusually.

Michaela Ernst von Wittelsbach is ignorant of the emotion called jealousy.

For now.