“I know everything’s been so peaceful and quiet lately, but… don’t you feel a bit uneasy?” the young maid asked.
Recently, the atmosphere at the Yukline grand mansion had settled into an unusual peace, which was noteworthy since silence in such a grand residence was uncommon.
“Don’t say such things, you might jinx it. Just stay quiet and keep your head down,” the head maid admonished the young maid.
The unusual tranquility felt awkward for the maids and butlers, but they had gradually adapted to it after a week.
“Do you think everything is going well between Lady Freyden and Master Yukline?”
“I doubt it. In fact, I’d guess it’s the opposite,” the head maid replied, shaking her head.
“Really? It’s just weird, it’s the first time he’s secluded himself in his room for a week and he doesn’t even have us clean…” the young maid replied.
“Rest for now. You never know when he might demand more from us…”
The servants and maids gossiped about their master’s strange behavior recently.
“Has anything like this happened before?” the young maid asked curiously.
“Well, Master Deculein settled here about ten years ago…”
Given their master’s fame and prickly nature, there were many things to talk about and the flow of the conversation they had started did not easily stop.
At that moment, the distinct sound of sharp heels echoed through the hall as the front door creaked open dramatically.
Click-clack—
The hall echoed with a cold and ominous sound. The maids hurried, lining up in front of the unexpected visitor, and when they saw her, they lowered their heads.
“Where is he?” she sharply inquired.
The new arrival was a beautiful woman with short black hair—it was Yeriel, someone infamous for being as prickly as her older brother Deculein.
“Master Deculein is currently—”
“Take me to him,” Yeriel interrupted the maid.
The servants were too intimidated to make eye contact with her. They quickly led her up the grand central staircase to the highest floor of the mansion, where an entire level served as a suite for Deculein, and then stood in front of its door.
Knock—knock—
Yeriel knocked on the door that had always been feared by everyone in the house.
Knock—knock—
There was not a single response.
Knock—knock! Knock—knock!
Yeriel grew impatient and burst through the door.
“Hey!”
Inside the neatly organized room, a handsome fair-skinned man with chiseled features and blue-tinted hair lay on the bed with a weary expression. It was enough to stir any woman’s heart, but Yeriel was unmoved.
“What are you doing?!”
Her sharp tone and informal manner of speaking to her older brother made the servants tremble[1]; however, Deculein, the master of the house and the head of the family, merely murmured in a low voice, “I thought I would wake up after a few dreams. But it seems I am still dreaming.”
The maids concluded that something had gone terribly wrong between Lady Freyden and Master Yukline.
“Again…” Yeriel frowned. Just like the maids, she seemed to have misunderstood his words.
In fact, everyone in the room thought of Yulie von Deya-Freyden when they heard him. She was the second daughter of the Freyden family from the Northern Region and the fiancée of Deculein von Grahan-Yukline.
They were engaged to be married, but their feelings for each other were wildly different. Deculein appeared to sincerely love Yulie, while Yulie’s feelings toward him bordered on contempt—a fact well known to all people by now.
“Will you stop thinking about her? You’ve even canceled all your lectures.”
“Lectures?” Deculein asked.
“Yes!” Yeriel pulled out documents from her designer clutch and threw them on the bed. “You promised you’d handle this yourself. By staying here like some kind of an idiot, you’re bringing shame to our family!”
Deculein remained silent.
“Make sure you attend today unless you want to lose that prestigious professorship as well!” Yeriel shouted.
“You are indeed audacious.” Deculein chuckled, further infuriating Yeriel.
A vein popped on her forehead. “It’s not that I’m audacious, you’re just foolish, you idiot!”
The maids trembled with fear when Yeriel harshly criticized Deculein. But their master, who would have punished such behavior in the past, showed no reaction.
I wish he could always be like this, thought the maids.
“Understood. Now leave,” Deculein replied with very little energy.
“Hmph.” Yeriel snorted and left the room.
She refused to stay any longer and watch a man turn into a mess because he was rejected by a woman.
“W-would you like something to eat, Lady Yeriel?”
“No.”
“But you’ve come a long way! Give us a moment to—”
“I said no!” Yeriel yelled, venting her frustration as she walked away.
The servants hurriedly trailed behind Yeriel. They sensed their master’s foul mood and decided that it would be wisest to keep a low profile and stay out of his sight today.
***
“… Lectures, huh.”
I looked at the papers Yeriel had left on the bed. The title of the lecture was Professor Deculein of the Imperial University: Basic Understanding of Magic and Mindset Toward Mana.
The agenda included:
1. Categorization of magic by properties and categories.
2. General understanding of magical formulas for destruction, support, summoning, and elemental spells.
3. Proper use of mana…
“How can there be so many types of magic?”
In a world filled with magic, science was nowhere to be found. Some people said that “sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,[2]” yet here I was, talking nonsense in my own bed.
“Haah.”
A week had passed in a blink of an eye. During that time, I had tried and failed to figure out why I was trapped in this game. It wasn’t a dream or a lucid dream, nor virtual reality. The most plausible explanation I could think of was that I had been struck by lightning and this was the afterlife.
Anyway, I’d become the character Deculein von Grahan-Yukline, modeled after myself in this damn game. Deculein served as a sort of linchpin throughout the game, a named villain who was the nemesis of many named characters or a mid-boss for players.
He could be described as the enemy of my parents, my lover, my village, and the one who stole my achievements, among others.
Moreover, he was a character designed only to encounter death and adversity, and he made numerous enemies. Rain did hint that there was a small twist with this character, but who would have thought that the twist she mentioned would involve me possessing this guy?
“My fate is to die in almost every scenario of this game.”
True to the nature of a villain, he almost inevitably met his end. Whether players killed him directly or hired other named characters to do it, whether he fought recklessly against other named characters and died or he was assassinated, he died one way or another—much like the famous purple-skinned, bald-headed villain from a well-known superhero movie.
“Besides, going to the lecture…” I said, organizing the papers Yeriel had thrown. It was for the scheduled lecture today. “… Should be the right thing to do for now.”
Although it would be the first lecture of my life, I couldn’t just sit idle in this room. The only way to gather information and make further decisions was to leave this place and go outside, and above all…
[Primary Survival Goal: Become necessary to the game.]
[Side Quest: University Lecture]
◆ Store Currency +0.5
These strange sentences flickered in the corner of my vision. Because of these system messages and Yeriel, it was the time to get moving. Actually, Yeriel was included among the things that could cause my death[3].
Additionally, the store currency shown in the system message was crucial in this game as well. Fortunately, the knowledge, attitude, or experience that were needed for the lecture was not an issue for me.
───────
[Comprehension]
◆ Grade:
Unique
◆ Description:
The ability to understand anything. Can be activated by consuming mana.
───────
Before getting trapped in this world, I had mistakenly added the Comprehension attribute to Deculein thinking it was similar to Empathy. Indeed, it was Unique—a Unique grade attribute that would appear only in the latter part of the game, and it was an attribute that even the character I played couldn’t acquire.
“Let’s just take a shower…”
I got up from the bed and went to the bathroom. I took off my clothes and turned on the shower. A clean environment, warm water, and a showerhead with good water pressure—it was all completely to my liking. After the refreshing shower, I opened the door to the dressing room, which was larger than my former apartment. It was filled with valuables and suits.
I chose my clothes based solely on my feelings.
A white shirt and a dark blue suit that seemed very aristocratic, a blue tie, and intellectual glasses. I topped it with a coat and matched the overall look with a suitable cologne, neatly slicking my hair back.
Looking in the mirror, I mused about my appearance.
Frankly, this style could have seemed a bit cheesy, but it actually appeared to be dignified. The arrogance I exuded was overwhelming, yet it unmistakably coexisted with an elegant dignity. This was probably due to the attributes Intimidation and Dignity and Aesthetic Sense, and the personality trait Noble Etiquette.
Actually, I couldn’t act rudely or just say whatever came to mind; everything had to be done with the highest level of etiquette and manners. No matter how hungry I was, I couldn’t just dig into the food or blurt out whatever came to mind; I had to behave with utmost refinement and class.
From my perspective as Deculein, this was fully natural; my personality seemed to have entirely adapted to this inefficient etiquette, finding it more comfortable than sitting cross-legged. Moreover, witnessing crude and ignorant behavior often brought me subtle feelings of disdain and contempt.
“I won’t be devoured by this guy, right?”
This character had several distinctive personality traits. Based on the system logs, personality traits such as Noble Etiquette, Elitism, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Authoritative, and Cultural Obsession were almost certainly influencing me. Therefore, the duty to give a lecture felt utterly natural. Afterall, I was a distinguished and noble aristocrat—yeah, right.
“Woo-Jin,” I said to myself as I stared at the handsome man in the mirror. “Kim Woo-Jin.”
I won’t lose myself. I won’t be swallowed by this damn character from the game.
“Home Woo and Genuine Jin —Woo-Jin, that is your name.”[4]
A physically healthy Korean man that was objectively tall and good looking but, borrowing someone else’s words, a bit of a petty loser.
“A lazy and worthless guy.”
That’s me.
Slap—!
I slapped my cheeks and stepped out of the room.
***
Clack—clack—
The distinct and regular sound of shoes, the smooth movement of long legs, and an impeccably dignified stride—I couldn’t help but admire the elegance I displayed as I came to a stop in front of the car in the garden.
“Master Yukline,” a servant said.
An antique designed car that seemed from the modern-contemporary era[5], a symbol of wealth in this world.
“Let’s head out,” Deculein replied to the servant.
“Yes, sir!”
As the servant opened the back door for me, I saw a small, charming figure on the back seat.
Under the hood of a robe, I saw a charming yet stiff face.
“G-good afternoon, Professor! T-this is for you!” a nervous voice spoke as something was handed over—a bundle of documents.
“… Are you a mage?”
“Eh?Oh, yes. Yes… I, I have been under your guidance for… already three years—”
“It was a joke.”
I smiled gracefully and examined the documents. I expected them to be related to the lecture, but as it turned out, it was a detailed script from the beginning to the end of the lecture.
Of course, Deculein would not prepare a lecture himself. After all, this guy was all show with no real talent. Even his attribute wasn’t Genius or Prodigy but Average Mage, so this script had to be exactly what I needed.
“Good work.”
This single word of praise startled the young mage. Frankly, even saying the compliment to the young mage made my gut twist. It clearly demonstrated Deculein’s personality overpowering my own, but I had to overcome it. I braced myself and added one extra compliment to the young mage.
“You’ve done a good job. Rest until we arrive.”
“Ah, ah yes! Yes! Yes, sir!”
The young mage bowed his head and stayed almost as quiet as a corpse. The pleased curve of his mouth peeking out from under the robe suggested that the praise felt good.
I read the script in my hand. The texture of the paper was irritating, almost dirty, and made me think that I should wear gloves next time… No, let’s skip that. I knew the game settings to some extent, so Comprehension allowed me to quickly understand the content of the script.
About thirty minutes had passed while I was studying for the lecture, and an interesting scene appeared outside the car window. I naturally looked outside and found myself smiling unintentionally.
Under the noon sun, the outside scene shimmered like waves, topped by the towering statue of the founding Emperor at the entrance. The path was harmoniously lined with lively flowers and trees.
The sprawling grounds were filled with various buildings, and soft light descended from the high sky as if blessing everything. Known as the Imperial University, Deculein’s workplace had become more real than 3D, reflecting all these elements that were products of my own design.
1. In Korean, there is ?? (informal speech) used for people of the same or younger age, and ??? (formal speech) used for someone older. Saying “?” is like saying “Hey!” informally, which would be impolite to say to Deculein, the head of the family. ☜
2. This is known as Clarke’s Third Law, one of three adages formulated by British sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke. ☜
3. The term Death Variable was used here, which I will be adding in later chapters since there are things that could become a trigger for Deculein’s death ☜
4. The hanja (Chinese characters in Korean) used to write his name are 宇(house) and 眞(real, true, genuine). ☜
5. In between the Modern era and Contemporary era from 1500~1945, 1956~present ☜