I Became the Academy’s Kibitz Villain

In the comments section of the novel, you could often see these kinds of remarks:

-“Author, your novel should follow a no-romance path.”

-“There really doesn’t seem to be a need to keep increasing the number of heroines.”

-“Ugh… I really hate it when the heroines keep whining.”

-“Let’s just kill off all the heroines and any other women before they can even become heroines, right?”

Heroine Pre-Death.

This was a term that meant to exclude romance in the novel. No woman should become a heroine, no heroine should interfere with the protagonist’s narrative, and if there was even a hint that a woman might become a heroine, readers propose killing her off before it happens.

It was up to the author to accept or reject this.

And the nationalist light novel author didn’t kill off all the heroines—instead, they were all incorporated into the protagonist’s harem.

Even the heroine who tried to beat the protagonist in group practice and win herself.

Even the villainous heroine who murdered people recklessly.

-“Is the author a horny beast or something?”

-“Every female character with XX chromosomes automatically becomes a heroine, huh?”

Although the readers had harsh reactions, the author stubbornly dragged all the heroines along until the latter half of the story.

Well, I got it.

The more heroines there were, the easier it was to unfold stories involving them, and the more individual episodes you could tell for each heroine, driving the plot forward.

And I also understood that the author wanted to show how these heroines met the protagonist, fell for him, and then reformed themselves.

Even if “gap moe” wasn’t the right word here, maybe that was what the author was aiming for.

“But if that was the plan, they shouldn’t have ended it with a meteor ending.”

After portraying the heroines in such a terrible light, they didn’t even wrap up the foreshadowing properly and ended with the protagonist launching a meteor? Instead of the meteor destroying the Earth, it should have wiped out the final boss, followed by a neat, happy ending. They could have at least released side stories for the main heroines later on—would that have been too much to ask? Ŕ

As a former reader, I couldn’t contain my anger over that. And that anger had now been replaced by the fact that I’ve entered this world as Do Ji-hwan.

And presently…

I was somewhere on Hallasan Mountain in Jeju Island, in the middle of the mountain where I once visited when I was actively operating as the Goblin.

“Ugh, seriously, it feels like a ghost is going to pop out.”

“What do you expect when a ghost tells another ghost that there’s a ghost?”

“But it’s a woman I killed. What if she’s lingering as a vengeful spirit, holding a grudge?”

“There’s something called ‘expelling malicious spirits.’”

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Hyeon Se-rin, who had changed into her executive outfit and was now wearing a white coat, crossed her arms and shuddered.

She wasn’t particularly feeling cold, but she did seem a bit uneasy about facing the remains of the woman she killed.

“You don’t have to worry too much. If that woman does show up as a vengeful spirit, she’ll come after me before she comes after you.”

“Are you saying she has more of a grudge against you than the one who actually killed her?”

“Of course.”

Because she was the Goblin’s heroine.

She had been Do Chang-nam’s childhood friend, and before the original story began, she had been something more than just a potential romantic interest for Do Chang-nam.

“She probably thinks I abandoned her, and the betrayal would’ve stung deeply. That’s why she did what she did.”

Not an official relationship, but a heroine who had gotten close to the stage right before dating.

According to the original setting, and at the time of possession, that’s how it was. But as I decided to live as Do Ji-hwan, I slowly began to distance myself from that woman.

“If the man she thought of as a potential boyfriend dumped her and started hanging out with more beautiful and capable women, wouldn’t she naturally be furious? From her perspective, she might have felt like she had supported him all her life.”

“… It’s a little strange for me to be asking this now, but weren’t you two actually dating?”

“Who knows.”

If the original story was to be believed, we weren’t dating at all.

And even if we were, considering the things she said to the protagonist in the future, it’s clear the relationship wouldn’t have been normal.

“At least as an adult and as a villain, it’s true that she had certain… relations.”

“Did she?”

“That’s why I can say for sure.”

In the relationship with Do Chang-nam that led to this, from my perspective as Do Ji-hwan, I saw Seon Ga-eul both from a first-person and omniscient point of view, and I reached my conclusion.

“To her, I was like an insurance policy, someone she could always keep by her side. I wasn’t as valuable as a new car, but if she needed to, she could switch to someone better and still get a good price selling me off, so to speak.”

Seon Ga-eul was, to put it bluntly, a promiscuous woman.

Maybe the author thought they needed at least one character like that among the heroines, or maybe it was because she was part of a villain organization. Either way, the author turned Seon Ga-eul into someone born in Korea but with a mindset that was far too liberal for a so-called Confucian girl.

-“Oh my gosh! Protagonist-kun’s bat is amazing!”

-“I don’t even think about the Goblin’s bat anymore…!”

-“I’ll be Protagonist-kun’s woman! Ah, my belly is filled with Protagonist-kun’s magic power…!”

From a reader’s perspective…

That woman existed solely to demonstrate that the protagonist was far superior to the Goblin, to emotionally drag the Goblin down, and to turn him into a devil.

In other words, she was simply a heroine designed to give readers a taste of NTR.

Even though it hadn’t happened yet, even from this point in the past, considering her lines, personality, and actual conversations with Do Ji-hwan, there was no reason to feel any regret or guilt.

Above all…

“Se-rin, do you think a virgin ghost would be stronger, or just a vengeful spirit who was murdered?”

“Why are you asking me that… Wait a minute. Are you saying…?”

“I can say this with certainty. Seon Ga-eul is no virgin ghost.”

If she had become a vengeful spirit, she was just a murdered ghost, not a virgin ghost.

And that was not because of anything I did.

According to her background, her first wasn’t Do Chang-nam, but—

“Anyway, I made sure with my own eyes that she couldn’t become a virgin ghost. So, you’ll definitely be stronger as a virgin ghost. I confirmed it from two different angles—both spiritually and physically.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“One, I checked it firsthand. And the other, I confirmed it from a distance—physically.”

“Ugh.”

Hyeon Se-rin grimaced and waved her hand in disgust.

“That’s a bit of an uncomfortable story. That woman… I felt it when I killed her too, but what exactly was she?”

“A master manipulator. She kept throwing bait everywhere and figured that the biggest and easiest catch, with the plumpest flesh, was me.”

To some, this story might sound unpleasant, but that was exactly the kind of person she was.

“But Director Do? There’s something I don’t understand. That woman was A-rank, and you were only C-rank back then. Why was she so hung up on you?”

“I might have been C-rank in ability, but other things were Special EX-grade.”

“Ah, I see.”

Hyeon Se-rin quickly understood.

“Yeah, being A-rank gives you plenty of choices when it comes to men. So, is this the place?”

“Yeah.”

Deep in the mountains stood a dilapidated old house, the kind where survivalists might live. The type of house where, if people came up to film a vlog about exploring abandoned places while making ramen, one of them might go missing.

“Who’s there…?”

An old man in a shabby vest appeared, leaning on a cane, eyeing us warily.

He seemed to relax slightly when he saw Hyeon Se-rin, but he was still focused on figuring out who we were.

“Hello, sir. Is it alright if we do a bit of filming here? We’re from ‘DJ Journal’.”

“…Sure, filming is fine, but be careful. In about 30 minutes, the ability patrol will be passing through this area.”

The old man left, and I pointed toward the inside of the house for Hyeon Se-rin.

“You’re quite the negotiator. Can you handle this in under 30 minutes?”

“I can finish it in under 3 minutes.”

I entered the abandoned house and struck the living room floor with the Goblin Bat.

“It’s sealed with magic, after all.”

Rumble.

As the magically reinforced concrete bunker opened up, a large drum appeared inside.

The drum was filled with cement, and I pointed the Goblin Bat at the cement and lightly activated my magic.

Thunk, thunk.

“Ugh, this isn’t going to summon anything nasty, is it…?”

“No. Unless you want me to summon an exorcist or Baridegi?”

“I-I’m not that scared, okay?”

Hyeon Se-rin took a deep breath and steadied herself while I pulled out an object that clung to the tip of the Goblin Bat like a magnet, hidden deep inside the cement.

“This is a very special item that scavengers all over the country would kill to get their hands on.”

“It’s… just a thermos.”

“Doesn’t matter what it looks like. As long as it works well, that’s all that counts.”

I opened the stainless steel thermos, revealing a suspicious-looking plastic bag inside. The bag contained a small amount of white powder, about the size of a clenched fist.

“Fortunately, it seems there are no evil spirits.”

“And zombies…?”

“The body was burned; only the ashes remain. There’s no way it could become a zombie.”

“Do you have any regrets?”

“None.”

For world peace.

And for my own, the Goblin’s, peace of mind.

“Hah, so that’s it? Do you just prefer younger women? You think those women are really going to stick around? They’ll use you and toss you aside like some broken bat! You’re just a tool to them, you fool!”

Based on the interactions I’d had with her as Do Ji-hwan, I killed Seon Ga-eul without hesitation.

Because—

“The event that ultimately led the Goblin to fall as the final boss was NTR.”*

Before the Goblin became a demon.

As Seon Ga-eul moved on to the protagonist, a package had arrived in front of the Goblin’s door.

Inside it was a USB containing something that turned the Goblin into a demon—a horrifying piece of content.

“I wasn’t wrong.”