I Killed the Game’s Heroine

Chapter 2

Arc 1: Today, I killed one of the main characters in the game. Or maybe it was yesterday.

***

It’s been quite some time since I beheaded that damned woman.

To be precise, it has been 7 days—one week out of the four that make up a month.

Suddenly, a window popped up, telling me to enter some academy or something.

Aside from ignoring a person who claimed to have come from that academy and asked me to join him, nothing particularly special happened.

As usual, I hunted malevolent spirits.

I gathered the money they dropped and occasionally took requests from small business owners who wanted spirits dealt with in their buildings.

Usually, when small businesses make requests, they tend to underestimate you, offering a meager amount as if it were pocket money.

However, there are some who do things they can’t let the outside world know about, and they need an anonymous person like me.

Today, I was lucky enough to connect with one of those people, which allowed me to earn a decent amount.

After leaving an abandoned commercial building, I wiped away the still-visible blood of a malevolent spirit and waved my hand to open the status window my brother had kept shouting about.

> Name: Lee Jin-seok <

[ Strength: B ]

[ Spirit Power: C ]

[ Agility: A ]

[ Skills: Spirit Extermination [EX], Shop Function [EX], Combat Technique [B] ]

After a few months of hunting malevolent spirits in this world, I had barely managed to collect around 5 million won.

But with this request, I earned a million won.

In this world, typical E-D grade malevolent spirits yield about 100,000 won a day if you clean out a building, which is considered a decent amount. However, jobs like this have different units of payment.

The thought that all my hard work until now might have been pointless briefly crossed my mind.

But even if it’s just small change, showing wealthy people that I possess spirit power and can hunt malevolent spirits has its value.

Starting small but ending grandly is acceptable, don’t you think?

As I checked the money I received this time, I made a silent vow to work even harder to support the mother of my deceased friend.

As if to suggest a better way to hunt malevolent spirits than struggling through the day, a window appeared before me.

[ Special Quest ]

[ Will you accept? Y / N ]

“Ah, no thanks. I’m leaving.”

Previously, it urged me to achieve the best grades at the academy, and now it wants me to gain recognition?

I scoffed and dismissed the window.

The only academy I know of is that building where medics and exorcists are trained.

But I’ve already figured out that the academy they’re talking about is the legendary “Mijeongyu Academy” in the game’s background.

Since I’ve read some web novels, I knew the quest window was pressuring me to enroll in the exorcist training school “Mijeongyu,” which serves as the main stage of the game.

So, I asked my rational mind.

Is it really necessary to enter a tedious academy just to earn 5 million won after a few months of hardship when I have plenty of time?

And my rational mind’s answer was a clear no.

My goal is to gather money as I make my way back home. There’s no need to waste time at an academy.

I need to focus on earning money. Not only for myself but also to help my friend’s mother, so I need to work even harder—not study!

… I’m repeating words I used in the past.

Suddenly overwhelmed by self-loathing, I whispered the word “money” silently. Money. This damned thing drives me crazy in this world as well.

I licked my lips with my dry tongue and recalled my past.

Before possessing this body, I lived a rather miserable life. My parents died after accumulating a mountain of debt, leaving only my brother and me behind.

Together we overcame situations where we would rather have died than live, and eventually paid off all the debts.

My brother got a proper job, and I was happy that I could at least earn enough to eat.

While waiting at a bus stop, a car came out of nowhere and smashed into me, leaving me paralyzed from the waist down.

If I had been sick or if my legs had been ruined by my own will, I wouldn’t have complained.

But the reason I couldn’t use my legs was due to some damned drunk driving.

No, it wasn’t just simple drunk driving. A minor stole a car and hit me while under the influence of both drugs and alcohol.

“Shit, is this really what life is? I’ve tried to live decently, damn it.”

In a state of despair that made me wonder if it would be better to just hang myself, I suddenly saw a window appear before me.

It told me that if I survive until the game’s story ends in this world, the money I gather would be given to me at that point.

I didn’t know why it suddenly appeared or if I was just losing my mind, but frankly, I had no other options.

Should I extend my hand to my brother? I’d rather die instead.

Both my brother and I had worked our asses off, and it wasn’t until I was in my mid-thirties that I finally lived without drowning in debt.

I thought I could walk in this world with two legs—only for my legs to be physically destroyed.

Whatever happens, it’s all the same. I decided to close my eyes and trust the window.

If I really was losing my mind, then I could just smoke a cigarette and jump off the hospital roof.

If it’s real, then my only thought is to gather enough money so I could live without begging my brother even without legs.

Upon opening my eyes, I found myself in this world. A world I chose out of half-hearted desperation, yet I was quite impressed with the body I was in.

It looked better than my original one, and even though it was young, it was quite muscular.

No, it would be more accurate to say it was beyond muscular—it’s strong enough to be called superhuman.

With this body, I could effortlessly climb walls and take down monsters over 2 meters tall, and I could wield any weapon above average.

Wouldn’t going to school with this body be a loss for me?

Well, sure. Attending school might offer a lot of benefits. I could learn how to use the spirit power—what was it called again? Spirit Power.

However, the moment I met the protagonist of this world was the worst.

Knowing how significant it is to kill the Spirit Yeong Hyeong in this world, I resolved to remain as quiet as possible.

In every web novel I’ve read, when a possessor stirs up trouble, they usually end up entangled with the protagonist and suffer through it.

I can confidently say that I lack the energy to deal with such matters.

Killing Yeong Hyeong was more of a “Damn that bitch!” moment than an act of bravery, and I just wanted to avoid troublesome situations.

Though this body looks like that of a middle or high schooler, inside it is a man in his mid-thirties.

And now, this middle-aged man is being told to return to a school full of middle and high school students? I can’t do that. It’s too embarrassing.

That’s why I’ve decided to hunt malevolent spirits, dealing only with those I can handle with my current physical abilities, and earn money.

Considering this body’s strength, I should be able to earn money quickly through these requests.

If my original body had been this strong, my parents’ debts would have been paid off long ago.

With such random thoughts, I let out a yawn and began to ponder where I would stay tonight with my bleary eyes.

Since I’ve sweated a lot, would it be alright to spend the night in a sauna for the first time in a while? I rubbed my sticky cheeks as the weather grew warmer.

Just then, my instincts—or perhaps sixth sense—detected someone standing in the middle of the dark road.

A strange woman, entirely dressed in blue from head to toe, had her bangs neatly swept to the side.

Her long hair, mixed with green and blue strands, was tied back and draped over her shoulders.

Wearing a blue jacket with jeans, she had a red shirt underneath, which looked decent enough.

If not for the shirt, she could easily be mistaken for someone who traveled back in time from the late ’80s.

“There she is again. That person.”

“No way~ Still, I can’t just ignore a rough diamond like you as an exorcist~”

The woman, entirely clad in blue, leisurely expressed her delight with her round eyes and charming smile.

She appeared to have a severely twisted sense of fashion, but I knew what she was.

When my brother kept recommending this game to me while I was sleeping, he showed me one of the characters, saying, “You’ll find someone you’re into here!”

Her name is Nokra, the leader of a search team for children with spirit power at the Mijeongyu Academy, tasked with training exorcists.

In other words, she is someone looking for children who can become exorcists.

My brother spent a week reciting the character backgrounds of the female characters from this game, so I knew that this woman wasn’t human but a Spirit.

She suppressed her own spirit power to blend into society to help children discriminated against for having spirit power.

Additionally, I learned that she was someone who couldn’t perform the role of a star even when meeting someone directly in this world.

What’s important is that she possesses the values of a human while living among them, yet depending on her choices, she could devour the still-student protagonist.

The protagonist I’ve seen in person is just a kid who might barely be a high schooler.

Yet, that Spirit, despite being an adult who has learned everything working in society, is trying to meddle with a child.

If it were the old me, I would’ve clicked my tongue and reported her to the police, but now I look similar to that protagonist in age…

So when the woman smiles and approaches, I raised my hand to stop her and said with disdainful eyes:

“I’m heading to the sauna to sleep, so if you follow me, I’ll report you for sexual harassment against a minor.”

“Eh, why?”

The woman’s smiling face twisted as she halted her movements, but when I lifted the large phone I had obtained when I was hired to deal with a malevolent spirit in an abandoned house, she took a step back.

I tried to walk away from Nokra toward the nearby sauna, but she stood in the middle of the dark road under the streetlight, revealing her form and dropping the elongated tone she always used.

“… I don’t know what kind of life you’ve led, boy. But I think you can now receive help. Come to the academy. If you come to the academy, you’ll live a better life than you do now. I can promise that. I’ll take responsibility as an adult.”

“Ugh.”

She called me a boy.

Even though she was saying serious and good things, the mere fact that she treated me like a child sent chills down my spine.

Since the day she first chased me away, Nokra had been lingering around, following me.

In the process, she must have thought that something was wrong with my life because she kept saying such things and urging me to come to the academy.

But what does she want? Inside, I’m an older man, and I can manage myself in this body.

[ Special Quest ]

[ Will you accept? Y / N ]

Now, there’s a quest window saying that I’ll be given money just for enrolling.

It seems like it wants me to go to the academy no matter what. The more that happens, the more I want to avoid that academy.

I furiously dismissed the window and chuckled.

Looking at the completely full moon in the sky, I opened my mouth and yawned.

Though my body is strong, fatigue is still accumulating—let’s head to the sauna and spend the night there. Tonight seems like a good time to soak in some warm water and relax.

End of Chapter