NOVEL WEB Chapter 1: My name is Eugene Von What?
TL/Editor: Raei
Schedule: N/A
Illustrations: Posted in discord.
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He was a foolish male lead.
Not just a fool in the metaphorical sense, but literally foolish.
A prodigy in swordsmanship, martial arts, and magic, the male lead turned into a fool the moment he laid eyes on the three female leads.
He showered them with boundless kindness, even at the cost of his own growth.
His kind actions, simply driven by his wish to be closer to them, often seemed desperate.
However, they always pushed him away.
Despite the hurt, the foolish male lead continued to express his affection.
This went on until one day.
I ended up possessing that male lead.
So, I put a stop to all the foolish sacrifices.
Then, I started focusing on my life.
I cultivated the extraordinary talent that the male lead had been wasting.
Excelling in swordsmanship and magic, I transformed the dismal reality of the protagonist and his fallen family.
After that, the female leads started acting strange.
Episode 1. My name is Eugene Von What?
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Tina Von Elia Florence
She's the sole daughter of the Earl of Florence.
Apart from the royal family, the Earl of Florence is the wealthiest in the entire continent.
With her long golden hair and red eyes, Tina's striking beauty makes her popular at the Royal Academy.
She is extraordinarily skilled in fire and earth magic.
Due to her family's vast wealth, she gets the highest level of private tutoring available on the continent.
She's doing well at the Royal Academy.
Celine Von Riel Luberuta
She's the second daughter of the Duke of Luberuta, a house renowned for producing many swordsmanship heroes.
Her stunning silver hair and green eyes make her as popular as Tina.
She's a prodigy in swordsmanship and hates to lose to anyone in that field.
Her father and teacher is none other than the greatest sword hero, Drayn Von Bennet Luberuta.
Yerina Von Bliss Beruz
She's the oldest daughter of the Duke of Beruz, whose territory borders that of the Duke of Luberuta.
With her pink hair and blue eyes, her radiant beauty matches that of Tina and Celine.
As the eldest daughter of the Duke of Beruz, a house known for producing numerous archmages, she's a magic prodigy specializing in water and wind magic.
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These three girls are the female leads at the center of the game's storyline.
The female leads are characters from the game 'Lucia', released in 2025, and have become incredibly popular due to their unparalleled in-game design and meticulous planning.
Equipped with an AI based on ChatGPT, they possess unique intelligence, showing different behaviors in real-time based on the user's actions.
This realistic feeling immersed many players into seeing the game's ending with them.
Woo-jin also had a taste of the early stages of dating with them.
Just the early stages.
Why?
Well, dating the female leads was nice, but the other content in the game was just as fun.
He was drawn more toward the other content and wanted to take his time with the dating part later.
"Wow, this is really something."
Even now, he's focused on combining magic and swordsmanship, completely losing track of time.
Guruk.
He couldn't recall when he started the game, but it was his stomach that reminded him first.
"Maybe I should take a break."
And get something to eat.
Woo-jin made some instant noodles and returned to his seat.
Eating while playing the game was a bit awkward, so he decided to check out the community pages instead.
At the top of the community page, there was a post that was pinned.
"Sharing the results of trying to conquer the three female leads at the same time?"
No spoilers?
While enjoying his ramen, Woo-jin nonchalantly clicked on the post upon seeing the mention of no spoilers.
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Sharing the results of trying to conquer the three female leads at the same time (No spoilers)
Tina, Celine, Yerina
The three female leads are all my favorites.
I would be happy with just one, but I wanted to have all three.
So, I tried.
Is it truly possible to capture all three female leads, who exhibit unique, human-like intelligence, at the same time?
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"He tried to win all three at once?"
Wow, he's crazy.
A sigh of admiration slipped from Woo-jin's lips involuntarily.
The dating system in this game was so complex that if you got caught trying to win the favor of multiple characters simultaneously, it would spell disaster.
Trying to court two characters at the same time was already considered a monumental task, let alone three?
He's really crazy.
Woo-jin chuckled and continued scrolling through the post.
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I was doubtful myself, but a small voice in my heart pushed me to take on the challenge.
To get straight to the point, I failed miserably.
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"Yeah......"
Of course, he failed.
The game was designed to make such an attempt realistically impossible.
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First, here are the starting specs for the main character.
Talents: Sword Soul (5 stars), Martial Arts Genius (4 stars), Magic Genius (4 stars), Enlightenment Sharing (2 stars)
Appearance: Brown hair and brown eyes, average face
Family: The fallen Barony of Grace
I allocated all points into talents, thinking that if I could help the leads grow as much as possible, things would go well.
So I couldn't do anything about my appearance or family background.
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"He really went all in on talents."
The poster made the protagonist all about talents, aiming to maximize the leads' growth as much as possible.
The three female leads weren't poor, so it seemed he thought he needed to help them advance in their abilities.
He even chose the 2-star talent 'Enlightenment Sharing', which didn't contribute much to his personal growth.
This talent lets you share your insights in various fields with others, but since it doesn't contribute to one's own growth, most people see it as a waste of starting points and avoid it.
Winning their hearts by helping them grow.
"That's not a bad strategy, but."
It's not necessarily the best either.
To capture the hearts of the three leads, whose beauty could stir the entire nation, it might have been better to focus his talent in one specific field, have a decent appearance, and start from a powerful Earl's family.
Then, if he diligently built up their favorability, he might at least 'start' dating one of the three leads.
"What's next?"
I wouldn't know since I haven't tried it.
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I managed to get through to the middle of the second semester at the Royal Academy.
Because my family was poor, I stayed at an inn nearby.
On my days off, I'd earn money by taking on guild requests.
With that money, I'd buy snacks and meal tickets,
In an attempt to become friendly with them.
After all, to become a boyfriend, you first need to become a familiar face.
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He bought them snacks and meal tickets?
Isn't that just being a shuttle boy?
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But their response wasn't very good.
So, excluding the time spent at the Royal Academy and on guild requests, I used every free moment to train and improve my magic and swordsmanship skills.
Since my swordsmanship talent was 5 stars and my magic talent was 4 stars, it wasn't hard to be more proficient than the leads with just a bit of effort.
I used Enlightenment Sharing to help Tina, Celine, and Yerina.
I gave them continuous advice whenever they were puzzling over theory and practical classes.
But their favorability didn't increase.
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"Of course, it didn't."
It might have worked if he was just focusing on one, but he was trying to do it with all three simultaneously.
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So, I lived like that until the middle of the second semester.
No matter what I tried, I didn't make any progress, and in a moment of existential crisis, I threw myself in front of a carriage and quit the game.
I wanted to build a harem, but this game is a failure.
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He hit a rock with an egg and called the game a failure.
"That's understandable."
A commercial game should prioritize user satisfaction.
From that perspective, his claim that the game was a failure wasn't entirely baseless.
The game did pose an insanely high difficulty level for simultaneously dating multiple heroines.
"But there has to be a better way than this foolish approach."
There's no denying that the author of the post had played the game rather foolishly.
The people commenting beneath the post felt similarly.
-I could've done better than this lol.
While it was funny, most responses suggested there was probably a better way.
The comment with the most likes was along the same lines.
"But it was funny."
Woo-jin liked the post and also liked the comment with the most likes.
It was a thoughtless, habitual click of the like button.
Sigh──
He had no idea that the simple act of liking a post would transport him into the game world.
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Raei Translations
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Hehehehe
Why am I-
Hehehehe
Woo-jin was cackling within the body of a man known as 'Eugene von Lennon Grace'.
He had been in this state for three days already.
'No matter how much I think about it, why am I- hehehehe.'
Even after three days, Woo-jin is still struggling to come to terms with his new reality.
He looked at his new world through Eugene's eyes.
Although he 'possessed' Eugene's body, he had no 'control'.
He was forced to witness everything that Eugene did - attending the Royal Academy, eating, sleeping, breathing,
And getting ignored by the female leads.
'Is this some kind of new torture, hehehe.'
He was living the life of 'Eugene', controlled by that one foolish user.
Also, in a corner of his vision,
[Time remaining until carriage collision: 3 days 14 hours 21 minutes]
There was a message window like this, presumably counting down the time left until the foolish user collided with a carriage and quit the game.
It seemed that he would then gain control of the body.
So, he had 3 days and 14 hours left to watch this clueless protagonist fruitlessly attempt to win the hearts of the three leads.
'I'd rather die.'
The embarrassing history was being created by 'Eugene', but soon Woo-jin, who would inherit that body, would have to bear the consequences.
Every day would be torture.
'I don't know. Hehehe.'
He gave in.
Woo-jin laughed manically and let his sanity slip away.
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Raei Translations
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He managed to regain a semblance of his sanity on the fifth day of possession, two days later.
"Let's do our best today!"
'Eugene von Lennon Grace', with a resolve matching that of a third-rate novel's protagonist, skipped breakfast and headed to 'Lucia Royal Academy'.
Why on earth does someone attending the top royal school on the continent, directly operated by the Holy Lucia Empire's royal family, commute from an inn!?
In the early days of his possession, Woo-jin was dumbfounded.
When he learned it was due to his dire financial situation, he nearly developed a rage disorder.
It was unimaginable for a noble.
"What kind of noble can't even afford boarding fees for a dormitory!"
He would have had enough money if he just didn't waste it all on gifts for the leads!
Woo-jin repeatedly beat his nonexistent chest.
Looking at Eugene's life, he couldn't help but do so.
Who would've thought that the actions of a foolish user would look so absurd in the real world?
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Raei Translations
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Eugene arrived at the academy with steps full of enthusiasm.
At this early hour, no other students had arrived yet.
Eugene acted as he usually did.
He left snacks and meal tickets under the desks of Tina and Celine from his class, and Yerina from another class, then took his seat as if nothing had happened.
Time passed and most of the students arrived in the classroom.
It was a noisy atmosphere as usual.
The classroom door slowly opened and two female students entered.
Every gaze momentarily rested on the two girls before quickly flitting away.
This subtle shift was enough to indicate the identity of the girls.
The blonde 'Tina' and silver-haired 'Celine'.
"Why is it so hot these days?"
"I don't know. Why are you asking me?"
"I'm not asking you~"
The two girls had a casual conversation as they took their seats.
A breeze from the window gently rustled their hair.
The classroom's atmosphere seemed to lighten just by their presence.
The two girls radiated an elegance that uplifted the surroundings.
"Hehehe...."
This guy is out of it again.
Just looking at Eugene's face, laughing dumbly while sporting a silly grin, made one feel like giving up
'I wish I could be as simple as you.'
Woo-jin sighed deeply.
Meanwhile, the classroom door opened again and another female student entered.
One of the leads, Yerina with pink hair, was heading towards Eugene, her brow furrowed.
'I don't know what's going on.'
Wait, is she coming this way?
As Woo-jin startled and shifted his attention towards Yerina, Eugene, the current host of his body, also wore a surprised expression.
"Ye, Yerina, what's up?"
"Eugene von Lennon."
Her voice was cold, cutting through the air.
"I think I've told you before, why don't you listen?"
"Huh...? I'm sorry, but what are you talking about?"
"Haa..."
Yerina sighed, trying to cool her temper.
"I'm talking about the meal tickets and snacks you leave under my desk. It's laughable that the daughter of one of the two great ducal families in the Lucia Empire is receiving food from the fallen son of a baron. Apart from that, I'd appreciate it if you didn't touch my desk."
"I, I'm sorry, I didn't realize you felt that way."
"We've had this conversation before. And yet, nothing has changed, which is why I came to talk to you in person."
They've already had this conversation?
If he had wanted to win her over, he shouldn't have repeated the same mistake.
Did that foolish user skip the conversation because he was tired?
Could it be?
"The insights you provided on water attribute magic before was truly helpful, so I won't make a big deal out of it. But, if this happens again, I will get really angry, so please restrain yourself."
"I'm sorry. I won't do it again."
Eugene's face was teetering on the brink of tears.
"I'm glad you understand...."
Yerina pursed her lips, turned around, and exited the classroom.
Woo-jin felt his vision blur and raised his hand to his head.
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