VILLAIN 31

As the person continues speaking, the dots stretch out as if there is a continuous loading screen.

….

I had a bad feeling. This silence felt more ominous and uneasy than when I encountered the transfer student, making me frown. As I stared into empty space, Lee Rowoon glanced at my face to check my mood, then let out a deep sigh and gestured for me to look ahead. His eyes looked as if he were asking why I was even bothering to deal with that guy.

“Ah, hey. Tell me your name.”

Failed to add settings to the New Rowoon character.

What, again?

Failed to add settings to the New Rowoon character.

Failed to add settings to the New Rowoon character.

The ‘New Rowoon character’ is set to data learning and will be learned automatically.

Ah, fuck, nothing is working because of that.

Is “that” perhaps me?

He has remarkably little affection for a character he created himself. I wonder what kind of affection one could expect for a mere villain, but even so.

Looking at the main system window turning blood-red, my heart began to pound, perhaps out of foreboding. I looked back at the person speaking kindly while holding my shoulder. Looking at his name tag, it was still blank, as if his name hadn’t been set yet.

Ding!

Due to a fatal error, it is impossible to permanently delete ‘Seo Hosu’.

Ding!

Would you like to delete the ‘New Rowoon character’?

Huh?

The system is intervening forcibly.

System functions are being temporarily forced to shut down by the authority of the main system window.

Yes

“Uh…?”

Along with a questioning sound, the hand touching me slowly turns into data made of 0s and 1s. The transfer student, startled as he looks at his own hand, jumps in surprise.

“…What is this?”

Even though one of the transfer student’s arms was entirely turning into data and disappearing, the people around us just went about their business peacefully.

“…What… is this? Why is my body doing this….”

As I jumped up from my seat and grabbed the transfer student’s shoulder, Lee Rowoon, who was beside me, and Jang Dohoon, who was playing a mobile game in front of me, looked at me simultaneously. They tilted their heads while looking at my hand holding the transfer student. Their bewildered eyes made it seem as if they couldn’t see the transfer student at all.

“You guys… can’t see this?”

The transfer student, grabbing my hand with his remaining hand, stared at me with wide eyes.

Trembling hands, eyes filled with terror. Tears were beginning to well up in those eyes. From the arms to the body, and now the face. I stared blankly as everything turned into data and vanished, clenching my teeth.

‘Stem.’

Stem, please wake up.

…There is no answer.

Even the shoulder I was holding turned into data and could no longer be grasped. I don’t know any way to hold onto a body that is disappearing. My heart, beating fast enough to be alarming, felt like it was about to sink.

There was something I wanted to say, but was it because what was happening before my eyes was so shocking? My lips wouldn’t move. It wasn’t just my lips. My body, which had stood up from the seat, froze and began to shake.

“…I, don’t want to die….”

As every part of his body turned into data, the transfer student who had been behind me finally disappeared. When the strength left my legs and I slumped down into my seat, Lee Rowoon, startled, caught my body.

“Hey!”

I felt like I was going to throw up.

Because my stomach was churning, I lowered my head and covered my mouth, and Lee Rowoon supported me while shouting something. I felt Jang Dohoon cursing and grabbing my body with him, but my vision was gradually blurring.

What is this? They might be game characters, but he was still just a kid. These guys are still middle schoolers….

‘Stem…, please….’

Wake up.

The system is turning on.

Loading….

“Hey, are you in a lot of pain? Why are you crying…!”

I was covering my mouth, but then my body collapsed, and I was eventually hoisted up by Lee Rowoon. That was my last memory.

۶ৎ

Perhaps it wasn’t serious enough to be taken to the hospital, because when I opened my eyes, I was in the infirmary. Lee Rowoon and Seo Kangsan were naturally by my side, but it wasn’t surprising.

Because my eyes felt swollen and painful, I touched the area around them, and Seo Kangsan quickly grabbed my hand.

I cannot revive the character that was just deleted. If there had been even a little bit of a name and setting, I would have gathered the data….

And that person is creating a New Rowoon character again.

‘And if it’s not to his satisfaction again, he’ll just delete it?’

It wasn’t just deletion. It might be deletion to a game creator, but that was… that was killing a person.

Thinking of the body disappearing again made my head ache, so I frowned and lowered my head. Realizing my condition was bad, Seo Kangsan pulled out his phone and called somewhere. It seemed he intended to take me to the hospital. While watching Seo Kangsan, who didn’t go anywhere and held my hand tightly even while on the phone, I stared blankly at the ceiling.

Lee Rowoon, who had been silently watching me from the side, reached out and touched my forehead.

“Hey.”

“…What.”

“Should I look for a fortune teller’s house for you?”

Looking at Lee Rowoon, who spoke to me in a low voice with a serious face, I let out a short laugh.

“Lee Rowoon. Do you remember the transfer student who came today?”

“Transfer student? Did a transfer student come to our place?”

Isn’t this too cruel…? Killing them and then even making sure they aren’t remembered. As if they never existed in this world from the beginning.

“No…, I must have been mistaken.”

And the main system had tried to delete me and Lee Sera in that same cruel way. Not just killing us, but trying to erase our entire existence.

A new character is finished.

Will he come out with all the settings done this time? Unless he’s an idiot, he won’t repeat the same mistake. It felt like whoever came out, it was going to be a headache.

It seems he’s appearing as a teacher this time instead of a student. let’s see… a school nurse….

He’s even the school nurse? I frowned and pushed myself up.

A man wearing a white doctor’s coat opened the infirmary door and walked inside. The ones who had been looking at me simultaneously turned their heads toward the person approaching me.

He had the same face as the transfer student who had disappeared, to an unpleasant degree, but his appearance was a bit more mature and his eyes looked somewhat cold. Without a hint of kindness, he had a chilling, snake-like gaze….

‘It’s exactly like Lee Sera.’

He had crazed eyes like Lee Sera when she was being controlled by the main system.

‘Ah, this is a real headache.’

The name has been set. ‘Choi Ijun’.

A person who knows that Lee Sera killed Seo Kangsan’s mother….

‘Stem.’

Yes.

‘The one who killed Seo Kangsan’s mother… is it Lee Sera, or the main system?’

That person.

Lee Sera’s true nature wanted to save Seo Kangsan’s mother.

Because Lee Sera never hated her for a single moment.

Right….

I’m now too tired to even express that I feel like crap.

I wish all those game creator bastards’ computers would blow up while they’re working. Doesn’t it feel like this character wasn’t made to be connected with Lee Rowoon anymore, but solely to kill us? The kid who called me pretty and asked for my name was much better; what the hell is this?

Set as: The one who planned everything for revenge. From the same orphanage as Lee Rowoon, and once received a favor from Seo Kangsan’s mother there. Ah… the story goes like this.

Stem, don’t you think the setting is bullshit even from your perspective?

If it were me, even if this game were officially released, I’d give it a 1-star rating and throw it away. I’d pour out a bucket of curses asking what kind of crazy “makjang” story this is. Glancing at Choi Ijun, his name is engraved on his doctor’s coat.

Ah…, if it was going to be like this, he should have at least given him a different face than that kid from earlier.

Seo Kangsan, standing in front of me and guarding me instinctively, looked up at Choi Ijun.

“I think the sick kid needs to be looked after. Move aside.”

It was completely different from that kind voice that had spoken to me earlier. A chilly and cold atmosphere. I naturally let out a sigh at that way of speaking, which was entirely devoid of any softness.

Is this how it’s going to be?

“And isn’t it class time right now?”

Letting out a small sigh, I grabbed the arm of Seo Kangsan, who was standing his ground firmly, and shook my head slightly. I also signaled Lee Rowoon with my eyes to hurry up and leave.