I Became the Academy’s Heroine Stalker – Chapter 1

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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[Hidden Piece Academy]

This is a novel that began serialization in 2032, and with its adaptation into a webtoon and anime, it became one of the biggest hits of the year.

As the straightforward title suggests, the story follows a protagonist attending a hunter academy who grows stronger as they acquire hidden pieces.

The plot, which could be considered cliché, became a mega-hit thanks to the author’s comedic talent and storytelling skills.

I, too, was an avid reader of Hidden Piece Academy, rereading it at least twenty times even before its completion.

I even camped out two days before the release date to buy a limited edition setting book, and triumphantly managed to snag one of the mere 500 copies printed.

It was one of the rare, proud achievements in my humble life.

“Wow, there was a setting like this? Amazing. The author is truly crazy, absolutely crazy.”

Although I skipped the lectures, I carefully read every word of the 200-page setting book, not wanting to miss a single detail.

It was truly a masterpiece of meticulous world-building, and it even included hidden pieces that weren’t present in the original novel.

The various hidden pieces concealed within the academy were particularly impressive, ranging from simple stat boosts to invisibility, berserk mode, hidden skills, weapons, summons, and many more things that hadn’t appeared in the original work.

The limited edition setting book made me feel like I was a god of the world itself.

After finishing it in just three hours, I closed my eyes, holding the setting book in my arms, caught somewhere between a sigh and admiration.

My imagination soared to the point where I felt like I had already become a cadet at the academy.

“Wow, if I were to get reincarnated, I’d totally crush the protagonist. Just how many hidden pieces are there?”

There’s an old saying that words turn into deeds.

And so, I was reincarnated into Hidden Piece Academy.

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“This is ridiculous, no matter how I think about it.”

The first thing that came out of my mouth once I realized I’d been possessed was an exasperated remark.

The word “ridiculous” held two meanings.

“First, that I had actually been reincarnated, and second, that I hadn’t been reincarnated as the protagonist—or even an extra—but as the villain who gets slaughtered by the protagonist.”

“Holy shit. If you’re going to reincarnate me, at least do it into someone sane—aagh!!”

I thrashed around on the bed like I was having a seizure, I screamed in frustration.

Why?

Because the character I was reincarnated into was, quite literally, insane. Just looking around the room gave me a clear picture.

The spacious room had walls filled with pictures and even strange handwritten notes were scattered here and there.

Moreover, the pictures weren’t of just one person, but four.

One on each wall – north, south, east, and west.

Pictures of four women, covering every inch of space like a colony of ants.

And on each picture:

[She looked at me three times today. Does she like me?]

[She’s eating her usual tiramisu again today.]

[Is it her time of the month? She has a pimple on her cheek.]

[She changed her perfume again. It smells nice.]

Creepy, disgusting captions like that. It made me want to vomit.

I wanted to march right down to the police station and confess, “This bastard is a perverted stalker!” But sadly, I couldn’t.

Han Tae-jin.

An 18-year-old, perverted stalker character. This was the character I would have to live as from now on.

The character who stalks the four main heroines and eventually gets slaughtered by the protagonist. That was me.

There’s no one to blame but myself.

This happened because of my own loose lips.

First things first, I needed to clean this room.

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*Clap clap,* I dusted off my hands.

I wasn’t going to wallow in despair forever just because I’d been reincarnated into a shitty character.

I spent five hours cleaning Han Tae-jin’s room for his new life, and now I was facing the final step.

I sealed everything in a box.

I wanted to burn it all, but there wasn’t a suitable place.

Who knows what would happen if someone saw me burning thousands of pictures.

Instead, I opted for the safer and faster box-sealing method.

If I tried to dispose of them in the recycling or trash bags, these creepy stalking photos would be exposed to the world.

There were well over a thousand pictures.

It would be wiser to buy a shredder, shred them at home, and then throw them away in portions, or burn them completely. Until then, boxing them up was the answer.

Furthermore, Hanna and Ella were celebrities who had even been in the news. If anyone saw these pictures of them, taken secretly, with creepy captions written by a pervert, I’d be starting my reincarnated life behind bars.

“Ugh, what a pervert. With this level of dedication, this guy could have accomplished anything.”

Muttering something that was both a compliment and an insult, I put all the photos and the cameras into the box and wrapped it dozens of times with packing tape.

“Phew, I think that’s enough.”

Then I shoved the sealed box deep under the bed.

I had already ordered a cross-cut shredder, so this should be enough until it arrived.

*Sigh.*

I took a deep breath and looked around the room.

The wallpaper was tattered from tearing off all the pictures that had been plastered everywhere, but my mind felt incredibly refreshed.

“Oh right.”

I had been so preoccupied with this crazy room that I had forgotten to check the most important thing.

The

.

Like other academy-themed stories, Hidden Piece Academy also had a status window.

Stats, traits, skills, hidden information, and more.

The neatly organized status window played a significant role in the novel and could be considered the root of Hidden Piece Academy.

I wondered.

What would this perverted stalker’s status window look like?

“Well, I don’t expect much.”

He was a creepy stalker who gets slaughtered by the protagonist. I shouldn’t have any expectations whatsoever.

But honestly, I couldn’t help but be a little curious.

Who knows?

Maybe there would be something unexpected.

The

.

With a mixture of vague expectation and worry, I opened the status window. A translucent holographic window appeared before my eyes.

“What the hell are these stats?”

That was my concise review after scanning the status window.

I knew Han Taejin’s occupation was an archer.

He used a bow when he fought the protagonist.

‘And he’s not even equipped with a single rune? This guy was seriously dedicated to stalking.’

Cheap runes cost 100,000 won at the store.

Expensive ones could go up to 100 million won, and some runes couldn’t be bought even with money.

[Mark of the Tycoon], which paved the way to riches just by wearing it, or [Gorgon’s Fortress], which provided invincible defense, were prime examples. Runes had an enormous range in their abilities.

That’s why most academy cadets wore at least an F-rank rune. If they were serious about their ‘grades,’ that is.

‘This guy was serious about stalking, though.’

Tomorrow, when I go to the academy, I should stop by the rune shop and buy a basic strength-boosting rune.

‘Pathetic bastard, tsk.’

Runes aside, the real problem was the stats.

The distribution was extreme, bordering on bizarre.

Even a game character would be criticized for having stats allocated like this. Strength and magic power were practically non-existent, while agility was a whopping 46.

The protagonist’s agility was 20, so this was significantly higher. Stamina and luck were also extreme.

The protagonist’s stamina was 30 and luck was 10, so excluding strength, magic power, and endurance, Han Tae-jin’s stats weren’t inferior to the protagonist’s.

Of course, strength, magic power, and endurance were the most important stats.

If I compared those, I was currently in a state where one punch from the protagonist would put me in the hospital for ten weeks.

That’s how much this guy had neglected his training. Well, if someone spent all their time stalking four girls except for sleeping, he’d be lucky to even eat properly, let alone train.

Still, one encouraging thing was that he had many passive traits to compensate for the inefficient stat distribution.

Moreover, they were all traits suitable for an archer. Except for Frail, that is.

Detection, Tracking, Stealth, See-Through.

These four traits were specialized for archers, and having even two of them would make you a ‘blessed character.’

But to have all four?

It seemed like his high luck stat had played a significant role.

And perhaps because he’d been spamming these traits while stalking, their levels were quite high.

Next was the main skill.

…which I could probably skip, and then there was the hidden information, which was still unavailable.

As mentioned in the original work, hidden information was automatically revealed at certain points, so it seemed the time hadn’t come yet.

‘It’s probably not even anything important, yet it’s so secretive.’

So, to summarize.

Han Tae-Jin was a crazy pervert who possessed amazing agility (mobility), stamina, and luck, along with four amazing S-rank traits, yet used them for stalking.

“Truly a crazy bastard, Han Tae-Jin.”

But well, the traits were indeed perfect for stalking and so were his stats.

To stalk four heroines, you’d need quick mobility, robust stamina, and the luck to avoid being caught.

It was as if he was born to stalk.

“Ah, that’s why the author created this character, right?”

Come to think of it, he was a well-designed character, true to his original purpose.

A character meant to stalk and then be slaughtered by the protagonist. The way his strength and magic power were allocated showed he was just there for a satisfying beatdown.

Anyway,

This body would no longer be stalker Han Tae-Jin, but Hidden Piece Monopolizer Han Tae-Jin.

Since I’ve been reincarnated, I might as well live stylishly, even if I couldn’t become the protagonist.

And if I stopped stalking the four main heroines from now on, I wouldn’t have any conflict with the protagonist.

This crazy bastard got caught by the protagonist in the middle of the story after using the stalking photos to blackmail the main heroines.

Therefore,

If I avoided the main heroines and quietly monopolized the hidden pieces, I could enjoy a happy academy life.

I planned to monopolize the hidden pieces that didn’t overlap with the protagonist’s.

If I stole the protagonist’s stuff and interfered with the story, I wouldn’t be able to guarantee that my head would stay attached to my body. I wouldn’t be crazy enough to do that.

I would avoid such misfortunes at all costs.

It would be a piece of cake for me, since I had thorough knowledge of the hidden pieces from the limited edition setting book.

[Do you want to delete?]

[Yes] [No]

Finally, I deleted the contact information of the main heroines saved in my phone.

‘Hanna, Sua, Mijin, Ella.’

You probably haven’t noticed that you were being stalked by Han Tae-Jin, but I’m sorry anyway.

I hope you will live happily ever after with the protagonist.

Please.

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