I Became the Academy’s Heroine Stalker – Chapter 72

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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Currently, only Park Na-yeon and I were in the hospital room.

Fortunately, Park Na-yeon’s vital signs were stable, and she didn’t appear to have any external injuries.

I didn’t know the details, but…

Suddenly, I felt worried about Renia, but since all I could do at the moment was stare blankly at the ceiling, I decided to choose the Rune, Skill, and Trait to copy first.

I started with the Runes.

Out of the 20 Runes listed, I narrowed it down to the ones with the best effects.

As expected of someone who was once the protagonist, he possessed Runes with overwhelming abilities.

Among them, [Melissa’s Rune] caught my eye the most.

The biggest side effect of Overheat Max was ‘rampage’ due to loss of mental control, so I hoped this Rune might suppress that.

The Rune that increased all stats by 10% was tempting, even if I ignored the skill Runes.

Percentage increases, unlike fixed stat boosts like +10 or +20, could result in increases of 100 or 200 if the base stats were high enough.

However, skills and stats could be improved through effort, and the main effect of the [Level Up as a Harem!] hidden information I had just acquired was ‘stat increase.’

Therefore, it seemed [Melissa’s Rune] was what I needed most.

‘Choose Rune Number 3.’

‘Replace current Rune with [Melissa’s Rune].’

“….”

Even though the effect was applied, nothing seemed to change.

Well, maybe my mind felt a little clearer.

Next, I chose a skill.

After looking through nearly 20 skills, I chose one without much hesitation.

Choi Do-han would later become the strongest ‘Supporter’ and an all-rounder.

The rare Supporter class, as the name suggested, played a supporting role, aiding allies.

Skills like this one, which provided [buffs], were typical Supporter skills.

I already knew what Choi Do-han’s strongest buff skill was, so I chose it without hesitation.

It was a long description.

Even though I already knew its effects, seeing the skill window appear as a hologram in front of me felt new.

It was a truly broken buff skill.

There was probably no other buff like it.

Of course, its effect wasn’t that great right now because the skill level was only 1.

That’s why the buff and debuff percentages were only 1%.

In other words, the percentage effect increased with the skill level.

If the skill reached its max level of 40, the percentage effect would be a whopping 40%.

That applied to both stats and resistance effects.

Once you experienced it, you probably wouldn’t want to raid with any other Supporter.

Moreover, despite its overpowered ability, it had an incredibly short cooldown, making it a top-tier skill.

Anyway,

I had unintentionally acquired that skill.

After acquiring the [Golden Totem] skill, I started looking through the Trait list.

I picked out the useful ones.

‘What the… He has 18 Traits?’

This was… every man’s dream(?), so for now I kept it in mind.

‘…So this is why he had anger management issues.’

This Trait wasn’t in the original story.

It seemed he acquired it through a route that opened up after I transmigrated and the original story started to unravel.

I passed on this one.

‘Hmm, it’s a useful Trait when you’re out of potions, but I can only choose one, so pass.’

This was also a useful Trait.

‘Choi Do-han, you have more useful Traits than I thought.’

But I passed.

After countless passes, I finally stopped at the 16th Trait.

‘What? This existed?’

As you could see, Choi Do-han possessed a considerable number of Traits from the beginning and accumulated even more as the story progressed.

Therefore, only the core Traits and skills were explained or listed, so there was no way this Trait could have been omitted.

It was,

This was a Trait I had never seen before.

And as the name strongly suggested, it was a Trait that definitely should have been mentioned if Choi Do-han had possessed it in the original story.

But since it wasn’t mentioned, it must have been acquired after the original story began to unravel.

‘So that’s why he had more Runes than in the original… This Trait must be the reason.’

I checked the details of ‘Rune Master.’

‘….’

‘Ignoring everything else…’

‘Reaching MAX level allows for Rune stacking?’

As mentioned before, you could only equip one Rune and one Title at a time, and switching required replacing the currently equipped one.

Even if you had many Runes, you had to switch between them as needed, meaning you could only use one Rune’s effect at a time.

But with this Trait, I could become a ‘Rune monster’ by stacking multiple Runes.

‘This is amazing…’

Where did he get this Trait that wasn’t even mentioned in the original story?

I was curious, but since I couldn’t get an answer anymore, I put the question aside.

Instead,

‘Choose Rune Master.’

After checking the last Trait, I immediately chose [Rune Master].

With this, I had successfully copied one [Rune], one [Skill], and one [Trait].

For an unexpected reward, these were far better than anything I had received so far. My fatigue seemed to melt away.

Well…

After receiving such overwhelming rewards, I felt a little bad for Choi Do-han, but what could I do?

It was irreversible now, and failing to save the world after receiving these rewards would be like insulting him twice.

Although our first encounter was awkward, and our relationship remained strained until the end, it couldn’t be helped.

No, perhaps the one who transmigrated me into this world had orchestrated this situation.

In the end, Choi Do-han was just another ‘Hidden Piece’ for me.

Perhaps he was meant to be sacrificed for the sake of Earth’s salvation.

A tragic protagonist, perhaps.

I didn’t know what kind of setting existed in the original story, but I hoped that if I succeeded in the 52nd attempt at salvation, he could return to his original world before his transmigration.

-Sigh.

I was getting sentimental.

Anyway, I shook off the melancholic feeling and tried to open the directory for [Level Up as a Harem!].

It said I could register heroines with an Affection Level of 1 or higher, so I should be able to register at least two by now.

‘Harem…’

-BAM! Crash!

“M-Master-!! Waaaaah! You’re awake-!!”

However, Renia burst through the door, interrupting my thoughts.

Her face was smeared with tears and snot, but I couldn’t help but smile.

I was relieved.

That she was safe.

If Renia was safe, it meant Han-na, Mi-jin, and Su-ah were safe too.

“Waaaaah-! I’m sorry, I’m so sorryyy! I got drunk…!”

Renia rushed over and buried her face in my chest and sobbed.

‘…She was acting like I had come back from the brink of death.’

‘Well… was I?’

I didn’t know.

For now, all I could do was pat Renia’s back with my trembling hand.

“It’s… okay.”

“Waaaaah! Master, you almost died this time!”

“I’m… alive… aren’t I…?”

‘Please stop crushing my chest.’

‘I’m going to suffocate.’

“…Sigh.”

Just then, I heard an exasperated sigh from beside the bed.

I turned my head to see Master, who had woken up, looking at us with a disapproving expression.

“Are you two the only ones here? I’m already bummed I couldn’t get a private room. And the Dean insisted I be hospitalized even though I said I was fine.”

As always, my Master started with a complaint.

“It’s like they want me to babysit my student. Tsk.”

Grumbling, she pulled out the IV from the back of her hand.

It seemed I had worried for nothing.

She looked as healthy as ever.

No, she looked even more energetic than usual.

I chuckled and said,

“Sorry…”

“What is this, a family reunion? Let me sleep.”

“Yes, Master.”

Park Na-yeon, still grumbling, lay back down on the bed.

I continued to pat Renia’s back as she sobbed on my chest.

It was truly a relief.

That everyone was safe.

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-BOOM!

Two days ago, Su-ah stood in the gymnasium, now a chaotic scene rivaling the festival grounds.

Two massive forces of mana clashed.

Red and blue light intertwined, releasing a strange purple wave.

The purple wave then condensed, as if undergoing nuclear fusion, and exploded again.

“Ugh!”

“Gah!”

Na-yeon and Tae-jin were thrown in opposite directions.

While Na-yeon was blocking Tae-jin, Hye-seo and Su-ah circled around to the other side of the entrance.

“Senior…!!”

They headed towards the fallen villain, De Roque.

Su-ah followed, trying to make sense of the situation.

‘Han Chang-ho is her senior…?’

Su-ah knew De Roque’s true identity.

Or rather, she knew he was Tae-jin’s father.

As a 51-time regressor, she couldn’t not know.

Han Tae-jin, upon learning of his father Han Chang-ho’s death, would inherit his hidden power and awaken as a villain.

But she hadn’t told Tae-jin.

She didn’t want him to become stronger out of grief for his father’s death.

She simply hadn’t anticipated this situation.

Even a multi-time regressor couldn’t predict the newly rewritten future.

A large crack had appeared in the history that had repeated for 51 loops.

Choi Do-han couldn’t receive Park Na-yeon’s help, had become a recluse, and his growth had stagnated.

Nothing about Choi Do-han matched the previous loops.

So, she had been complacent.

She thought that as long as Tae-jin was safe, the Illusion terror incident would pass quietly.

She hadn’t expected Choi Do-han to confront De Roque in the slightest.

Even if he did, it seemed hopeless.

But when Tae-jin had been gone for over 20 minutes, Su-ah started to feel that something was amiss.

And that feeling turned into certainty with the appearance of Kim Hye-seo.

She hadn’t expected a Diamond-rank Holder from the Monster Management Bureau to be looking for Han Tae-jin either.

A series of unexpected events.

Her anxiety grew, and in the end, she started running after Hye-seo.

Breaking the promise she had made to the agent, Tae-jin, to “protect this place.”

And so, she arrived at the gymnasium.

Su-ah had to question if this was reality.

Han Chang-ho was…dead.

Choi Do-han was corrupted by Dark Mana.

And Han Tae-jin was seemingly consumed by darkness and his eyes were glowing red.

Nothing matched her expectations, and nothing made sense.

Her 51 loops of experience felt like a child’s play.

It was despairing.

Had she broken the 51-time regressor’s rule of not revealing the future too readily?

Should she have told him, “The Illusion terror incident will occur, and Han Chang-ho will appear there, so you must save him”?

But in the loops where she had revealed the entire future, they had been annihilated before even reaching God R’hell.

Every single time.

Although the agent had changed, the rules she had established were deeply ingrained in her mind.

Moreover, even she hadn’t known that Han Chang-ho was a member of the Monster Management Bureau.

Kim Hye-seo hadn’t appeared in the previous incidents.

So, when Hye-seo cried out “Senior,” Su-ah realized,

‘Ah…’

‘Even after 51 regressions, there was so much I didn’t know.’

What was Han Chang-ho’s true identity?

And because of that, what was Han Tae-jin’s true identity supposed to be?

Despair, like being thrown naked into a raging battlefield, washed over her.

Was everything she knew just the tip of the iceberg? Was that why she had failed 51 times?

Was she a foolish, incompetent, and idiotic planetary savior?

Self-deprecating despair weighed her down.

“Senior! Senior! Wake up—!!”

Hye-seo shook Han Chang-ho’s body, but he was already cold.

Su-ah frantically cast Heal, but there was no sign of revival.

Still, she continued casting Heal desperately.

She felt like she had to save him.

It seemed there was something more to Han Chang-ho than she knew.

It felt like she had missed a vital clue for [Salvation], despite repeating the loop 51 times.

An unknown urgency gripped her.

“Please…! Please…!”

Was this why Tae-jin had come here?

Had he, who had never set foot in this place in the previous 51 loops, finally come here to save his father, fighting Choi Do-han?

Had he realized in this 52nd loop that his father wasn’t just a villain, but a special being?

Amidst the swirling questions, Su-ah continued casting Heal.

With all her might.

To save Han Chang-ho, even now.

Then,

-BOOM!

A loud explosion erupted from the center of the gymnasium, drawing Hye-seo and Su-ah’s attention.

Tae-jin, smoke billowing from his body, collapsed where the explosion had occurred.

As he fell, Park Na-yeon became visible on the other side.

She didn’t look well, but she didn’t appear to be seriously injured.

“Huff… Huff…”

Na-yeon gasped for breath.

It was fortunate.

For some reason, he had caused a mana explosion and then collapsed unconscious.

It was as if he had deliberately caused the mana explosion to put a stop to his own rampage.

Even though he should have been in a bestial state, devoid of reason, driven only by instinct.

“Ah… Ah…”

But Su-ah, unaware of this, stared at the fallen Tae-jin.

Her eyes trembled, filled with despair and terror.

Tears welled up, reflecting her shock and fear.

What was happening?

What was going on in this 52nd loop?

Su-ah rushed towards Tae-jin.

She stumbled and fell, her legs unsteady.

Her palms scraped against the floor, but she felt nothing.

Only her agent, Tae-jin, filled her vision.

“Ah… Ah…”

Su-ah rolled Tae-jin onto his back.

She placed her palm on his dantian and hurriedly injected a small amount of mana.

“Please… Please…!”

‘Don’t die.’

‘Please don’t die.’

Unable to voice the words, she could only whisper her despair.

“He’s… Huff… He’s just unconscious, Yoo Su-ah.”

Na-yeon’s words couldn’t penetrate Su-ah’s ears, consumed by chaos.

A moment later,

Tae-jin’s chest rose slightly, and Su-ah slumped to the floor.

Beside Tae-jin, she saw Choi Do-han, lying in a pool of blood he hadn’t yet fully spilled.

“Sob…”

Tears streamed down her face.

Tears of relief, shock, and confusion, just like any other fragile human.

Even as a 52-time regressor, a member of the planetary salvation organization Eternity,

Ercia was still just a frail and foolish sentient being.

And so, she wept on the chaotic battlefield.

She couldn’t even comprehend what had happened.

She felt like an illiterate regressor.

Her complex emotions turned into tears, soaking the battlefield.

Tears she couldn’t understand herself.

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