I Became the Terminally Ill Character in My Friend’s Academy Novel – Chapter 50

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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Seo In-young.

Well, that wasn’t his real name. It was merely one of the fake identities he created to infiltrate the academy, where he served as the student council vice-president.

With his amiable demeanor and gentle appearance, he became a character who befriended even the protagonist, and he even offered him a fair amount of help in the original story.

However, his true identity was the mastermind who infiltrated the academy to cause chaos, and the final boss of the academy arc who completely broke the protagonist.

The worst villain, whom even Lilac and Cheon Yoo-hak couldn’t defeat until the very end. They only managed to deal with him thanks to outside help.

That was his true identity.

“Hmm.”

A flying black shadow sharpened into a blade and grazed my neck, but I managed to dodge it, having seen the red sparks that served as a warning sign. It was ‘Black Shadow,’ the artifact he truly wielded as his main weapon. Similar to Ruyi in that it manipulated a freely-changing shadow as a weapon, it was an artifact with a clear tell, and it also had the weakness of not being able to attack consecutively.

“Strange. You’re clearly a slow, unresponsive piece of trash, yet how are you dodging and blocking everything?”

That was right.

I was already enduring, dodging, or blocking his attacks somehow.

…I looked a bit pathetic for someone who said that he’d die here today. But I couldn’t defeat him until I stripped him of all his recovery artifacts.

I already got the most annoying one, the ‘Lucky Double Coin,’ so maybe two or three more to go?

“If you’re curious, just die quietly. I might tell you about it as a parting gift on your way to the afterlife.”

“No, I’ll catch you and torture you slowly until I hear it. Isn’t it more meaningful if I find out about these things on my own? Besides, I’ve grown curious about what your screams sound like.”

“Wow, fuck, your lines are so outdated.”

I was talking back and bantering with him, but honestly, I wasn’t that relaxed.

If I focused solely on the attacks he made with Black Shadow, another artifact would immediately fly at me.

I was only holding on because the artifacts he used all had clear tells. Otherwise, I would’ve been knocked out long ago.

One of the rings on his finger glowed green.

Instinctive, embedded magic that consumed the caster’s magical power poured out. A fierce gust of wind followed after that, but thanks to the wall I created with Ruyi in advance, I was able to withstand it this time as well.

“Again? You’re not just reacting quickly. It’s as if you know all of my artifacts. You’re acting before the attack even begins just by seeing the warning signs. How is that possible?”

Good, he finally stopped attacking for a moment.

It must be intriguing. He must be curious.

“That’s right. I know all of your artifacts. Ah, actually, I know most artifacts, even if they’re not yours.”

“If you’re going to bluff, you should choose your opponent wisely.”

“Oh, why do you think it’s a bluff?”

“…Just how much of the world’s history do you think is contained within artifacts? How could a mere cadet possibly know most of them?”

“Really? Then think what you want. But what I know isn’t limited to artifacts.”

I had to get under his skin slowly.

He was a clever beast, so if I laid the trap too obviously, he might be able to avoid it.

I needed to slowly irritate him, gnaw at his reason, and make him panic.

I had to make him so anxious that he would lose his composure and become agitated, and only then would I have a chance to win.

Fortunately, this was something I was rather good at.

“Nonsense.”

Black Shadow’s cooldown must have finished because he spun the black shadow like a drill and shot it out.

It would be dangerous if he awakened it, and it regained its original form, but at its current strength, Black Shadow couldn’t even scratch Ruyi.

-Of course. If something like that could scratch Ruyi, I wouldn’t have chosen it as my weapon.

Yes, I know you and Ruyi are both amazing, so please just hold on a little longer.

“…That’s quite an artifact. Not even a scratch from my attacks.”

“Right? I told you, I know most artifacts. That’s how I was able to get such a good one.”

“Indeed, it doesn’t seem entirely like nonsense. It makes me slightly inclined to capture you alive.”

“Haha, this bastard’s outdated speech isn’t the only problem. Didn’t I tell you? You have quite a bad memory. You’re dying here today.”

The corner of his eye twitched.

No matter how much you try to act indifferently, you’re not the type who can pull it off.

You’re acting cool now, but you, more than anyone else, are steeped in elitism and see humans as inferior beings. Could you really endure my insults?

“First, I’ll have to correct your manners. I’ll take one of your arms.”

“Try it if you can, you little…!”

The bracelet on his arm glowed, and his form melted into the air.

“Urgh!”

I retracted Ruyi, which I had formed into a wall, and swung it with all my might behind me.

Pattern A: When he teleports using the bracelet with the built-in teleportation, he always aims for the back.

“…Ugh!?”

For the first time since this fight began, he let out a startled cry and backed away.

There was a faint red stain on the tip of the knife-shaped Ruyi.

The moment he saw the blood dripping from the wound on his face, he lost his composure and yelled.

“I was going to let you off with just an arm, but you’re rushing to your death… How dare a mere insect like you wound me twice…!?”

Honestly, I was scared.

The fact that a villain who was actively trying to kill me stood before me was far more terrifying than I’d imagined.

But despite that, thanks to the Saint’s Will, my mouth didn’t stop, and I could continue to play my part.

“I told you, I know all of your artifacts. Did my words sound like bullshit to you?”

“You vulgar wretch…!”

“Oh, and by the way, I wasn’t even aiming for that, dumbass. Notice anything strange?”

“…What?”

Following my gaze, he hesitantly touched his ear.

That was right.

The jewel on his earring had shattered, unable to withstand the impact.

“Can’t heal yourself now, can you?”

‘Elf’s Tears,’ another one of his recovery artifacts, was broken. He had already used the other artifact to heal the small wound I had inflicted on him, so it was safe to assume he had no artifacts left for rapid healing.

“I see. If you’re so eager to die, then it’s my duty to bury you.”

“Bullshit.”

“You…”

Yes, get angry.

“You…”

I took a gamble and broke it on purpose.

“I will absolutely not let you live…! How dare a mere inferior being…!”

His hair began to billow as he released his magical power in his rage.

“Why?”

And I had been waiting for this moment. This moment when I could make him panic the most.

“Because it was an earring you got from your first love?”

His expression crumbled as he was manipulating his magic power.

“What…?”

“Cut the pathetic act. I know your real reason for infiltrating the academy, and why you live as a villain among the filthy humans you treat like dirt.”

“What are you talking about…? The real reason?”

“Oh, right. You don’t even know what I know, do you? Not satisfied with a fake personality, you even hypnotized yourself as a double safety measure. You truly are a persistent bastard.”

I had to do it now.

This moment when I could dominate the atmosphere probably wouldn’t come again after this.

“You don’t even know why you’re furious right now, do you? That’s right. There’s a dissonance in your memories.”

“Kuh…! Stop it…!”

“Nope, I don’t want to. Your real goal isn’t some terrorist attack, is it? The fate of the villain organization, the Twelve Zodiacs? You don’t give a damn about any of that. It’s all fake. But not only that, you’re such an idiot that you even falsified your own memories in case your true objective is discovered.”

I looked down at him as he clutched his head, and sneered.

“A psychopath who killed so many people just because he wanted to monopolize one woman. That’s who you really are, isn’t it?”

“What are you talking about…!?”

It seemed like the hypnosis he had placed on himself was almost broken.

I had one chance.

“Latis Erbashun.”

I called his name.

“A son of a bitch who, despite being chosen as a servant to serve a great High Elf, lusted after his own master.”

Finally, all expression vanished from his face.

He probably set his deepest shame as the code to break the hypnosis because he thought no one would know.

It actually wasn’t a bad judgment.

But I was the second most knowledgeable person about this world.

Most of the secrets of this world were meaningless when your opponent was me.

“A lowly elf who crawled into the human world to take Reilan Claudia. That’s your disgusting true nature.”

That was right.

He was the villain who eventually took the Chairman in the original story. The pervert who turned the dead Chairman into a puppet and kept her for himself.

The reason he was armed with so many artifacts was simply because he was searching for artifacts to completely control her.

The scene where he defeated the enraged Lilac, trampled on the charging Cheon Yoo-hak, and stole a kiss from the dead Chairman was enough to enrage the readers.

And one of those infuriated readers was none other than me.

He became close with Lilac as a reliable senior, earned the trust of the Chairman, and then betrayed them, causing the deaths of many.

Even if I conceded that much, that such events could happen in a novel…

But his ending, his demise, shouldn’t have ended that way.

In the end, he was portrayed as an absolute being whom neither Lilac nor Cheon Yoo-hak could defeat.

The protagonists never triumphed over him and almost met their end at his hands.

Thanks to outside help, they barely managed to defeat him, but it left the protagonists eternally defeated by him.

He wasn’t a charismatic villain, nor did he show remorse. He was a mediocre villain, yet he was depicted as some lofty being.

Well, I understand.

My friend hated the idea of cool villains in the first place.

He always insisted that villains should just be ugly and vicious lunatics.

But there should be a limit, right?

“So, you can exit the stage here.”

Reinforcement.

The all-purpose ability to break the limits of everything that dwelled within Ruyi.

It was the moment the Ruyi replica temporarily caught up to the original’s performance.

“Split. Sharpen.”

Ruyi, which had returned to its spherical form, split into countless strands, each transforming into a sharp spear or blade.

The villain, having regained his senses, pulled out numerous defensive artifacts, but they were all useless against Ruyi, which possessed the power of a myth.

From the beginning, these countless spears and blades were a bluff. It was to induce him to choose defense rather than evasion.

‘It hurts.’

The remaining innate qi within me began to deplete as the price for momentarily drawing out the power of a myth.

But he must be more desperate than I was right now.

I smashed all his defensive artifacts, and, in an instant, Ruyi returned to its original staff form, which I threw above him.

“Grow.”

“…Ugh!?”

Most of his defensive artifacts were broken, but he wasn’t crushed just yet.

“Become heavier.”

So I increased the load.

“Become even heavier.”

“…Uwaaagh…!?”

A villain who killed many characters and remained an insurmountable nightmare for the protagonists.

He, too, was a character created by my friend, but I felt no sympathy for him.

“I…!”

“Heavier! Heavier! Heavier…!”

“I can’t die here…!”

Just as he had lost all of his defensive artifacts and was about to be crushed by the overwhelming mass…

-Confirmed that the character plays a significant role in the main story.-

Yeah, I knew you’d show up.

It would be disappointing if you didn’t, right?

“I’ve finally finished my preparations! She’s about to be mine! I can’t die like this…!”

Admiration for a beautiful and noble being.

It transformed into a vile obsession after she showed an interest in humans.

If she could give affection to such fleeting and ugly things, he thought, why not towards him? That was why he did all this.

What did it matter if countless humans died?

It was a trivial matter as long as he could obtain her.

In the end, realizing he couldn’t fully possess her as she was far too strong, he chose to kill her and turn her into a puppet.

-Strengthening the character’s talent. Escaping the situation.-

“Ha, there are things you don’t know…! If you knew my talent, you should have hidden yours…!”

His gaze was fixed on me, and his talent manifested.

That was right.

The reason Cheon Yoo-hak and Lilac couldn’t defeat him wasn’t because of his numerous artifacts.

The artifacts were merely supplementary. It was because of his talent, the one that earned him the infamous title of “cheat.”

S-rank talent: Copy. The ability to perfectly copy another’s talent. He could even copy up to three abilities simultaneously, and the only penalty was that he had to stay within a certain distance of the person whose ability he was copying.

Having copied Lilac’s Most Righteous Holy Sword and Cheon Yoo-hak’s Peerless Warrior simultaneously, he swiftly subdued the protagonists.

That was right.

“Haha, is this your talent? Amazing. Power overflows within me endlessly…!”

The reason I was the only one who could defeat him without any sacrifices… It was because of my talent.

He let out a hearty laugh as he managed to withstand Ruyi using Reinforcement.

Reinforcement strong enough to lift a mythical artifact with its weight pushed to the limit.

Amazing.

It was something impossible for me.

But it seemed like he hadn’t noticed what fueled the power he was wielding.

How bothersome.

“With such a talent, this is the limit of your Reinforcement? Just how weak are you!?”

“Hey.”

“Are you begging for your life now, inferior being! Throwing away your weapon was your downfall!”

“Why do you act like such a cheap, third-rate villain?”

“What are you talking about? If you’re begging for your life, you should do it better…”

“If you had been just a little more serious, if you had at least shown some care for your comrades, if you hadn’t been so careless and had shown a more complete villainous side, if your love was at least genuine and you had tried to obtain her properly…”

“What nonsense.”

“If you had fulfilled even one of those, I wouldn’t have killed you like this.”

“Stop your nonsense. I’ll kill you with your own talent…!”

Cough.

“…Huh?”

He coughed up blood.

“What is this…?”

Seeing me acting recklessly, he must have thought I wasn’t concerned about the penalties of my talent, but he was mistaken.

I was probably the only counter to him in this world.

“Uh… Wh…!”

“Dizzy, in pain, and nauseous, right? I’ve tried it, so I know.”

Reinforcing his strength to the point of throwing away Ruyi would have been impossible for an ordinary human.

A temporary power-up obtained by using up the entire lifespan of an elf.

Now, the mastermind of the academy was dying, having lost his innate qi.

“…I told you, didn’t I? You’ll die here today.”

He looked at me while trembling in fear.

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T/N – Damn, that was actually pretty smart and well-thought-out. Smashing all of his healing artifacts, destroying all of his defensive artifacts while MC shows his talent, making him copy MC’s talent, and forcing him to use the talent so much that it would drain all the innate qi (life force) of an elf. It just goes to show just how much the MC planned for this.

Also, I laughed at MC’s author friend yet again. I actually prefer it if villains in the story were mostly lunatics. That way, I won’t feel too bad when the MC beats them up and/or kills them. But making such lunatics win in the end… Even now, we’re getting more clues as to why his novel was so unpopular (as if we needed even more proof).

If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.