There Is No Hidden Villain in This Novel Chapter 63

Whether the world became a sea of tears because of him or not, Cassis de Mill-ang, befitting his bankrupt personality, simply tilted his head. The logic of an immeasurably arrogant absolute being.

As if the sight of him sobbing sorrowfully last night was all just a shimmering haze.

As if the moments he collapsed endlessly and whimpered feebly were all just a dream.

He was the same as usual, arrogant and detestable.

“Hmm, Ryuseong, you… well, second place isn’t bad. Though you’re still beneath me.”

His smiling lips, which seemed to say ‘how pathetic,’ were so annoying I wanted to bite them off. Still, while Ryuseong thought it was a relief that you hadn’t lost your ill-tempered self, he also wondered if you shouldn’t have had a place to rest your heart sometimes. He wondered how suffocating your past must have been, never once being able to be like you were in front of me. He just thought like that, about the person you are.

“Even so, I won in the written exam.”

“…!”

I wanted to know, he thought.

I take back what I said about grades not being everything. Grades are everything. And mine are higher than Ryuseong’s!

To prove this perfect logic, I added supplementary explanations the entire walk from the hallway to the classroom, but I had no choice but to be defeated by the words that followed…

“You should be grateful to me for enduring the negative points to take the same class as you.”

…Fuck, I hate to admit it, but he’s right. Even though I didn’t ask for it, it is true that I got first place because he endured it…

‘Ah. This is pissing me off.’

Next semester, I’ll make sure he can’t pull this kind of stunt. I’m going to win fair and square!

Well, I am willing to change my mind if the coursework gets tough then.

Anyway, as I was fuming with frustration, Ryuseong laughed, and that must be him looking down on me, right?

Huh? He wouldn’t be trying to make a move on me to make my heart flutter, would he? So it must be him looking down on me.

Right?

“I assume everyone has checked their grades.”

Then, a short while later, the front door opened and the public health teacher, who was our homeroom teacher, strode in. The teacher was holding some kind of paper bag, and the students who saw it, as if sensing their fate, contorted their haggard faces and clasped their hands together.

I knew what was in that paper bag. Therefore, I understood the students’ reactions.

It must have been a struggle to suppress their own misery, and perhaps a final plea to wrench salvation from God. But what was certain was that everyone was desperate.

I know. In the lands where they lived, they all must have been one-of-a-kind geniuses. But here at Areia, where world-class talents are gathered, it’s different. They are extras, less than specks of dust, and by now they must have realized for themselves that they are insignificant individuals.

Therefore, these budding sprouts come face to face with such a cruel reality.

That is, the transfer of failing students to another class.

“From now on, I will announce the list of those who have failed out of Class 1. Each of you, please move to your assigned class immediately.”

Thinking about it again, Areia Academy is truly cruel. The public execution style of announcing grades, and also transferring failing students to other classes during the semester…

To announce it right in front of all the kids when they could have just given them a quiet heads-up in private.

‘This isn’t some idol survival show trying to farm views.’

If you were to ask if other academies weren’t like this, it would be half right and half wrong. Among the three great academies of Korea, Mirinae Academy is trying its damnedest to catch up to Areia, so I heard life is tough there too.

I heard that Guiding Star Academy is the only subjugator training academy that functions as an educational institution. They say they treat students ‘with human dignity’ there.

‘Amazing! I’m starting to admire it!’

Of course, maybe because of that, its performance is said to hit rock bottom among the three great academies.

“Kim Eun, move to Class 7. Georges Bontemps, go to Class 4. Yang Li, to Class 3…”

At that moment, as the sobs increased one by one each time the names of the failing students were called.

Creeak, with the sound of the door opening.

“Mmm! Is this the scent of Class 1?”

The promoted students who had moved up to Class 1 began to flock in.

By this point, the atmosphere in the class was really bad.

Some of the failing students burst into tears, and some even glared at the promoted students with bloodshot eyes. What’s more, one student, whose friends had all failed except for him, felt a strange sense of elation and pressure, had a panic attack, and ran out of the classroom.

Even amidst such churning chaos, the teacher just stoically called out the names of the failing students.

“…That is all. If your name was called, please stand up.”

However, just because I think it’s cruel doesn’t mean I have any intention of stepping up and giving Areia Academy a piece of my mind. The reason the teachers act so cruelly, for a school-themed story, is because the world outside the school is far more brutal. They’re weeding out the ones who can’t handle it beforehand.

You might think it’s just an excuse. But can one find a better way?

To find a better way, we first need to find a way to defeat the Black Fog…

‘If that were possible, it would have been done long ago.’

“Well, well, we meet again like this, huh? Hello!”

Anyway, as I was sorting out my future plans one by one, the repeat student who had stirred up the controversy about the exam paper sat down near us and started talking to me, so I decided to ignore him.

But my underlings, and Ryuseong’s friends, were different. They had expressions on their faces as if they were forcibly suppressing a strange curiosity and interest.

So I gently rested my head on Ryuseong’s shoulder and whispered like the wind in his ear.

“Your friends, be careful they don’t get sucked into a pyramid scheme or a cult…”

But before I could finish my sentence, smack. Our lips touched. I let out an involuntary gasp and drew back a little, and it seemed Ryuseong was also surprised by my reaction. No, I know what you did to me is a routine kiss for us, and I know we’ve done that kind of thing a lot until now.

‘…Did I just, get butterflies…?’

I can feel my face heating up without me realizing it. Is this, perhaps, my body reacting with an unusually strong intensity now that I’ve acknowledged my love… Damn it, the ticklish feeling rises up and then plummets in reverse. How should I put it? The sense that everything has gone wrong rushes up with the force to turn my stomach inside out.

‘…This feels bad.’

I stood up from my seat without realizing it. And before anyone could check my complexion, I smiled as if this had all been planned.

“…Cassis de Millang. I was about to start the orientation, are you sick?”

“Not that, but it seems I’ll have to leave early.”

“…Is it serious?”

Well… I was originally planning to go to my room and rest quietly, but seeing the homeroom teacher and Ryuseong ‘genuinely’ ‘worrying’ about me turned my stomach, so.

‘I really want to do something bad now.’

I’m good at that kind of thing. You know, right?

‘I just got butterflies for a son of a bitch who’s going to kill me…’

The laughter that bursts out is not a delusion. I am laughing. I walk out the door, laughing. I don’t care if I feel everyone watching my back, I just keep laughing, shove the early leave slip into my uniform pants, and walk. I didn’t even think about where I should go. I just thought that I shouldn’t be here.

The grounds of Areia Academy are vast. They are as large as a city.

I walked aimlessly within them. A moist breeze swept through my hair and stirred my lungs.

Is what naturally wells up a sense of liberation? Is what is extinguished like a waning moon a sense of nausea?

…I feel that there is nothing I can know.

‘Whatever, screw it. What could be more important than the fact that I’ve decided to become an X-bastard?’

You know, I decided to do good deeds. Just a little while ago, I said that from now on, I’d do good deeds as an attitude I should adopt in order to live. But I’m sorry. Actually, I’m not even sorry, but I’m canceling that.

How can I live as a good person?

‘When the person I love says he’s going to kill me…’

How can I pretend to be okay?

I won’t cause the destruction of the world. But, I don’t want to kill my personality and grovel just to be on your good side.

So let’s decide it like this.

‘You want to kill me? Then kill me.’

It’s not even funny. It’s a stupid thing to say. The desire to live doesn’t end, but I hate the option of giving up on you alone, so I’ve attached a tag to myself that might be self-destruction. But even if I die, I’m not going alone.

You’re a good person who tries not to kill people. A person who tries not to kill people…

But you made an exception for me. You decided you would go out of your way to kill just me.

‘So what I’m saying is that I will also genuinely acknowledge you as my rival.’

I’ve decided what I’ll do from now on.

I’m going to love you horribly.

I’ll love you so horribly that it would be fine if you killed me,

‘When I die, I’ll carve out your heart and take it with me.’

Because that alone is mine.

You won’t be able to refuse even that…

I’m saying that right now, I’ve ruined all the plans I devised to live peacefully and safely and have chosen only you.

‘Just a little thing like you.’

I tapped the pad and sent a message to the butler.

As I walked to the main gate, the butler, who had brought a different car than usual, was standing there silently.

He seemed to be trying to support me, so I pushed him away. My trust in the butler has been in tatters ever since the pharmacist swapped the medicine.

“…I have dared to be rude. My apologies.”

But, even though I was acting more like an X-bastard than usual, the butler looked strangely accustomed to this side of me. Right. Cassis de Millang was originally this kind of bastard.

‘So I’ve been doing useless things all this time.’

Trying to pretend to be a good person with a guy who has a rotten personality anyway, of course this mess would happen, right?

I slouched into the back seat. And I pulled the corners of my mouth up slightly.

“I’m going to see the pharmacist who bestowed upon me a ‘restorative medicine.’ I’ll give you 30 minutes.”

“…I will take you there.”

A deferential gesture with no resistance, no opposition. A natural obedience, as if limbs were moving, as if a tool were operating.

None of it felt awkward. No, it felt good.

So I.

‘While I’m at it, I might as well become the family head.’

—Came to think of it so easily.

It wasn’t as if I didn’t know what the position of the master of the de Millangs meant.

I just don’t want to be unable to do anything with you right in front of me, so I figured I should at least have proper power.

‘In other words, it’s a lovers’ quarrel, this is.’

Ryuseong, you don’t know, do you? That the reason I’ve decided to possess all the superior power in this world is simply because of our lovers’ quarrel.

That’s why you’re going to lose.

That’s how it is…