I Became the Terminally Ill Character in My Friend’s Academy Novel – Chapter 55

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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Slurp.

The cherryade in Yoo-na’s glass dwindled through the straw.

The fact that she had ordered another drink, and it wasn’t chamomile tea this time, meant that she was at least not in a very bad mood right now.

This lovely, pink-haired girl was so attractive that many readers mistook her for the main heroine. Her position as the protagonist’s childhood friend, almost a cheat in itself, further solidified this belief among most readers.

Especially since the other heroines were dying left and right, everyone thought that way even more.

Except for me, who had even seen the novel’s settings book. Damn it.

“I don’t like beating around the bush, so I’ll ask you straight up.”

Her smile was beautiful, but her eyes were cold, devoid of any warmth.

“Is there any chance that Kang Na-hyun, who came here as an inspector this time, will be interested in Lilac?”

“Why are you asking me that…?”

“Well, you’re her brother. You’d know more about her than the others. Her ideal type, or even just her trivial preferences.”

Here’s the thing though. I don’t know any of that because I’m not her real brother, you know?

Judging from her appearance in the original story, she was only shown fighting with Lilac, but that was because she had become a villain there. Rather, since she was Cheon Yoo-hak’s first love, wouldn’t she be Cheon Yoo-hak’s heroine instead…?

But I couldn’t say that out loud.

“Normally, normal younger brothers wouldn’t be interested in their older sister’s preferences in partners, right?”

“…Hmm, is that so?”

Ah, shit, did I give the wrong answer? Should I have bowed my head and said, ‘I will sternly warn my sister not to even touch your belongings’?

“Well, you’re right. It would be a bit weird for a younger brother to know all of his sister’s tastes.”

But fortunately, it seemed like she wasn’t planning on destroying me due to my unsatisfactory answer.

Slurp.

The cherryade, now a lighter color due to the melting ice, decreased a little more.

She was really pretty. How could she look so pretty even while drinking a beverage?

-Wake up.

‘Ah, thank you.’

-No, those who lack discipline can’t endure this like you. It’s a sinister energy.

I had let my guard down for just a moment, and I almost got caught by her talent.

If Sun Wukong hadn’t called out to me, Yoo-na would probably be looking at me with a very unpleasant expression right now.

I knew about her talent and I had planned to be careful around her, but I guess I wasn’t careful enough.

“…What’s wrong?”

“That looks like it has watered down.”

She stirred the cherryade, which had become slightly transparent from the melted ice, with the straw.

“Ah, so it has. Anyway, you don’t have any general information then? That would be fine for me.”

Charm. It was her innate talent, and although it was only rated as B-rank, its danger level was comparable to an A-rank talent.

It was a talent that was deeply connected to her lineage, but the problem was that she couldn’t control it herself.

She had unintentionally captivated others since her childhood, which led to her distrust of people.

Later on, she got a little better after meeting Lilac, but it was a common trope that her wounds never fully healed.

It was also a setting that made countless readers believe that she was the main heroine.

-Yoo-na, I think I’m starting to like someone…!

That was until that bastard Lilac made an abrupt shift, shattering the mental state of Yoo-na and the readers.

No, it wasn’t Lilac’s fault.

On the grander scale, it was the fault of my friend, and on the smaller scale, it was Yoo-na’s fault for gaslighting him since they were kids because she didn’t want to lose him.

Since childhood, Yoo-na had been wary of anyone who approached the handsome and kind Lilac, so she often said something to Lilac that was almost like a suggestion.

-The girls who are nice to you don’t like you, they’re just being friendly.

It was established in the original story that she greatly regretted this, but anyway, because of that, Lilac fell for a random character instead of the familiar Yoo-na, and as a result, Yoo-na turned dark.

And the scale of this darkness was so great that she became the main villain of that arc.

What a fucking messed up novel.

Who the hell wrote this?

Ah, it was my friend.

While thinking about this, my mouth moved on its own.

I briefly wondered why I had to clean up the mess that that bastard had made, but that was what being a transmigrator was all about, I guess.

“You’re more suited to be with Lilac than my sister. There’s an age gap between them, as well.”

No, that was a lie. Lilac liked older women.

“…Do you think so?”

“My sister probably isn’t into younger guys, either.”

Considering that she dumped Cheon Yoo-hak, it wasn’t a complete lie.

“That’s a relief.”

Yeah, I’ll help you, so please, before Lilac falls into a late first love, you should win him over already.

And if possible, don’t become a villain, okay?

Whether she knew my thoughts or not, Yoo-na smiled while looking pleased.

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Let’s pause here for a moment.

There’s something we need to address.

Perhaps some of you are thinking this right now.

‘Huh? This guy has Enhancement, a special trait, and the Ruyi Replica. He even took down a really strong villain and got a relic from the guy as his loot. Isn’t he stronger than Lilac or Cheon Yoo-hak now?’

No.

Even with all that, I was still weaker than Lilac or Cheon Yoo-hak.

What do you mean I took down a really strong villain single-handedly?

That was a matter of compatibility between talents, and I also thoroughly exploited that guy’s weaknesses.

To put it simply, that villain’s strongest time was from noon to around 4 PM. That was the time when the shadows were at their darkest, and when the light was at its strongest, which meant it was the time when his main attack method, Black Shadow, was at its strongest.

And similarly, the reason we fought indoors was also because that was where his relic, which controlled gusts of wind, was at its weakest.

I weakened his relics in plenty of ways, and above all, the biggest reason I was able to beat him was because he was weak.

Excluding his abilities and relics, his physical abilities were actually quite poor even among the elves, let alone among the superhuman humans.

He was the type of villain who relied solely on his innate abilities and didn’t train at all.

He was the type who built an impenetrable wall around his weak body, making it nearly impossible to target his main body.

Seriously, no matter how much I thought about it, that guy had absolutely no charm.

Anyway, the reason he took all of my blind attacks, which normal villains and heroes could avoid, was due to that reason.

Why was I suddenly talking about this?

“So-hyun, holding the knife like that will strain your wrist.”

“That’s right, blocking an opponent’s weapon with a knife is basically suicide, so you should deflect it or dodge instead.”

Because Lilac and Kang Ha-ni had dragged me out to exercise when I was trying to rest.

“I’ll swing slowly, so try to deflect it this time instead of blocking it.”

And these geniuses thought that just because they could do something, anyone could do it too, so they had been training me to deflect attacks since a while ago.

“Did I do something wrong to you guys? If so, can you let me apologize for it?”

“Haha, don’t joke around even when you’re tired. Let’s do it a little more. We’ll be having the ranking match soon, after all.”

“That’s right. If you train with us, you might get a better score than what you’d expect, you know?”

Ah, come to think of it, it was that season already, huh?

I completely forgot about it because it was an event that was barely mentioned in the original story due to all sorts of incidents.

Reilan Academy had a lot of events.

Most of them were delayed or cancelled in the original story, but now that the academy was back to normal, they would all proceed normally this time.

Among them, the ranking match, as the name suggested, and like in the other novels, was an event that took place once during the semester, and once at the end of the semester, where all students were ranked through sparring matches.

And it was also their first opportunity to earn points in an official event.

Well, it wasn’t a very meaningful event for me since my basic abilities were lacking, but it was true that I got a little excited when I thought about the fact that our rankings would soon be determined.

Kids around this age were especially fond of things like this, so they were probably even more excited.

“Okay, then I’ll swing now.”

Alright, then should I get a little serious?

As I focused my attention on my front, the sword really did come a little slower than before.

The slash, which had been like a flash of lightning before, was now slow enough to be visible in my eyes, but it was still difficult for my body to keep up with it.

“Agh…!”

And in the end, because I was a beat late, I had to scream as the weight pressed down on my knife.

“Ah, it was close this time.”

“Guys, wouldn’t it be better if you just trained with each other and ignored me? I don’t think I have any hope for the ranking match.”

“Well, not really. You’re actually doing pretty well, you know.”

…What? Was this bastard teasing me right now?

“Don’t glare at me like that. I’m being serious here.”

“That’s right. When it comes to one of the most important things in a fight, you’re already perfect at it~”

Even Ha-ni chimed in, but honestly, I had no idea what they were talking about.

“At least you don’t get scared and look away during a fight. Reacting while looking directly at an attack until the end is something that even active heroes have a hard time with.”

“Well, you were just too slow to react in time, though.”

Ah, um. Certainly, this was something that couldn’t be trained without a lot of experience in getting hit.

I got used to it at the orphanage, but other kids probably didn’t have as much experience.

“So let’s try a little harder, So-hyun.”

Lilac raised his sword mercilessly again.

…Huh? We’re continuing this?

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep helping you until you succeed.”

That was right. This bastard was like this.

A hot-blooded guy who believed in hard work and made those around him heated up too.

I told you, characters like this aren’t popular these days, you bastard.

“Here I go…!”

“Don’t come…!”

After about six more tries, I was finally able to deflect Lilac’s frontal attack.

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“Hahaha. Hey So-hyun, you even said, ‘Don’t come…!’ What was that? And Lilac, he’s really funny too. He said we should take a break with a smile, but he’s so strict.”

“Shut up. You should have helped me. I would have run away if I had known that he was going to keep going until I succeeded.”

“You could have run away?”

…That wasn’t true. Even if I ran away, he probably would have come after me.

Surprisingly, violence based on pure goodwill actually existed in this world.

“…Ugh, I really wanted to rest too, but it’ll soon be the ranking match. Anyway, Lilac will be first and Cheon Yoo-hak will be second.”

“…What?”

I said it like it was obvious, but for some reason, Kang Ha-ni reacted sensitively.

“Hey, you don’t know that. Have you ever seen me fight?”

Yes, I’ve seen you fight a lot. Although it was in text form, there weren’t many people who had seen you fight as much as I have.

“No?”

“Then how can you think that they’ll win?”

It seemed like our Ha-ni was in a bad mood.

Yeah, but this is a fact, Ha-ni. You can’t beat Lilac right now, let alone Cheon Yoo-hak.

In the first ranking match of the first year, you couldn’t choose your opponent, and you had to fight a total of five times.

Based on the information analyzed by the professors, you would be assigned one opponent weaker than you, three at a similar level to you, and one opponent stronger than you. However, since some of the top-ranked students didn’t have someone who was stronger than them, a professor would spar with them instead.

In the original story, Kang Ha-ni lost to both Lilac and Cheon Yoo-hak, who were at a similar level to her, that was, the top rank.

Of course, she had the penalty of not being able to use her secret sword technique, but in the original, she herself felt that she couldn’t guarantee her victory even if she went all out, so this was a solid fact.

Moreover, Lilac had gained a hint of a higher level through experiencing my Enhancement, and Cheon Yoo-hak had become stronger by obtaining the Lightning Dragon Spear.

It was hard to imagine Kang Ha-ni having a chance of winning against either of them.

“…So, you think I’m worse than the two of them?”

Ah, did I fail to control my expression just now?

“Hah, hey, what will you do if I win? Want to make a bet?”

“Why should I entrust my future to Mr. Lilac and Mr. Cheon…?”

“Then are you going to do it yourself?”

“That… Is there an option not to…?”

“I’m just kidding. You can’t even choose your opponent in the first ranking match, so how would I fight you? Anyway, look forward to it. I’ll show you that I can beat both of them and take first place.”

“That’ll be tough.”

“You really…”

As I was having a pleasant conversation with Ha-ni, my smartphone suddenly vibrated.

It wasn’t a call, but a text message, something I had sent and half-forgotten about.

[This is the environmental protection group, True Love Farm Products. We have confirmed the food waste through the photo you sent us. We promise to take action soon to prevent the wastage of our farmers’ sweat and the land’s energy, and we appreciate your thorough reporting spirit.]

Finally, I received a reply to the inquiry I made during the Kim Ga-eul incident a while back.

I said it before, right?

You shouldn’t waste food. Throwing it on the ground is outrageous.

Why? Because one of the top two or three craziest people in this world would come to punish you if you did. Originally, they would only come a little later, but would anything bad happen if this happened earlier?

“Hey, are you listening to me? I said I’ll beat them all.”

“Yeah, yeah, if you win, I’ll grant you one wish, so please just don’t get hurt.”

I answered half-heartedly, and Ha-ni started glaring at me while looking like she was getting angry.

“…You, just wait. I’m going to win and make you do something really embarrassing, so don’t change your mind later.”

“Yeah, you won’t win.”

“You really…!”

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T/N – That’s a flag right there MC. But it’s a good way to raise favorability with the best girl, so I approve.

Also, Yoo-na should really just confess directly to Lilac. Since she knows that she made Lilac so dense, she should also know that he would never get her indirect signals.

Lastly, I’m kinda curious who these crazy people are…

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