NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4
From the commoners to the middle class, the upper class, chaebols, and the political arena, all fifty million people in South Korea were looking solely at Kim Deok-Sung.
For an ordinary, or rather unfortunate fifteen-year-old boy, that’s a pressure too tough to bear.
Olivia knew this better than anyone else.
After all, she grew up under the national expectations herself.
As the heir to her deceased brother, of Five Crowns.
“But this is….”
Even so, Kim Deok-Sung and she were different.
She was a precious royal of France, but he was orphaned.
She could be protected by the Bonaparte dynasty, while he was cast helplessly into the public eye without any protection.
In the great nation of France, there were many other heroes besides her, but in the small nation of South Korea, he was the only one.
They were similar but different.
But one thing was certain.
He understood what a hero’s responsibility meant.
Clap.
Olivia closed the documents.
A seriousness settled on her face.
‘I was mistaken.’
She misjudged him.
‘He… could not accept defeat.’
Only now did Olivia understand Kim Deok-Sung.
He couldn’t afford to lose.
Like her, he bore the expectations of his home country, but he was crushed under responsibilities even greater than hers.
She remembered how desperately he clung to victory.
That demeanor might have been an expression of responsibility, or rather, pressure.
Olivia quietly placed her hand over her heart.
“I lost.”
Finally, she completely acknowledged her defeat.
Not just in responsibility, mindset, but in skill as well.
She couldn’t outdo him in any of those aspects.
Olivia begrudgingly accepted that fact.
She let out a hollow laugh.
“Somehow, it feels relieving. Bella.”
“You’re slow to acknowledge it, Your Highness.”
Bella replied impassively.
At her words, Olivia pouted her lips.
“That was my first defeat, you know.”
Her first loss.
But it wasn’t bad.
If her opponent understood what a hero’s responsibility was, losing was acceptable.
Especially since it was similar to her brother…
Olivia shook her head vigorously at that thought.
Either way, it didn’t matter.
A little frustration was unavoidable.
“I’ve heard you made a promise to him.”
“What promise?”
“To become his personal maid if you lost. Is that not so?”
“T-That…!!”
Olivia’s face flushed.
Her hands trembled slightly.
Indeed, she had made such a promise.
“It was my mistake, but that…”
“Don’t you have to pay the price for your bad judgment?”
“······Y-Yeah, I guess so?”
Olivia bites her lip.
Her hands are trembling.
“Alright! I can’t let down the promise made in the name of the royal family!”
Creak.
She gets up from her chair.
“Kim Deok-Sung is in room 301 of the Shuo Hero Academy’s hospital.”
Bella says to Olivia in a low voice.
“······I didn’t ask, Bella.”
Olivia pouts and leaves the dormitory.
*
“Ugh.”
My head feels like it’s going to split open.
My chest feels like a hot lump is sitting on it.
It’s all thanks to overdoing it with synchronization.
The Black Prince, Raul Napoleon Bonaparte.
His talent recorded on the regression route was food too tough for my C-rank body to digest.
“···This sucks.”
I groan as I open my eyes.
A strange white ceiling.
I struggle to sit up halfway and look around.
I see my body in a patient gown and a humidifier puffing out white steam.
“It’s a hospital room.”
Given how hard I pushed my body, being brought to a hospital is pretty much expected.
How much time has passed?
I manage to find my cellphone sitting on the nightstand next to the hospital bed and turn it on.
Bzzzz.
The smartphone powers up with a vibration.
“Has a day passed?”
Almost exactly 24 hours have gone by.
Looks like I really passed out big time.
“Let’s see.”
After checking the date, I connect to the internet.
I needed to check the aftermath of the major incident I caused yesterday.
The moment I connect to the internet, I see:
[SHOCK! Why the whole world is in shock after seeing the French royal princess kneel before K-hero’s might?!]
[No longer a weak nation of heroes! Why the world is paying attention to South Korean cadet Kim Deok-Sung, who caused a major incident right after entering!]
[Shock in France! Why did Princess Olivia shed tears? The story of the French princess who broke her pride after underestimating a Korean!]
[K-hero Kim Deok-Sung brought the mighty France to its knees. What’s the secret behind his transcendental weapon Durandal?!]
Colorful letters clutter the YouTube thumbnails.
So-called national pride YouTube.
“There’s a national pride YouTube here too.”
This is ridiculous.
I’m the one who got absolutely wrecked, but why are they the ones sucking up views?
“Unbelievable.”
I let out a hollow laugh.
The comments are even more outrageous.
– “Is this for real? Lol, give me a bowl of national pride, please! 
”
– “Today’s serving of national pride is overcooked! ”
– “Good job celebrating winning a handicap duel… tsk tsk.”
– “Lol, how can a C-rank win against an A-rank, even with a handicap? If there’s a two-rank difference, even a hero’s grandpa couldn’t win! Uninformed idiots! ”
– “God Korea! God Korea! God Korea!”
– (Taegukgi flapping)
– “The royal family getting wrecked by the Kimchi man level ㅋㅋㅋ”
– “This is the spicy taste of Korean Kimchi!”
“Damn it.”
I curse and close YouTube.
I enter the portal.
[Kim Deok-Sung! Complete victory against Olivia!]
[Will Korea finally escape the plight of being a weak nation of heroes? In-depth analysis of Kim Deok-Sung’s ability!]
[President Kang, “Kim Deok-Sung is the pride of South Korea… It’s an honor that a hero like him is a Korean.”]
But the portal news is just as bad as the national pride YouTube.
Even the President is getting into national pride?
This is insane. Seriously.
Thinking about the situation in Korea gives me a headache. I close the portal.
I turned off the portal.
‘Has the rumor spread this far already?’
Considering that the events from just yesterday have made their way onto the Korean web, I can assume that everyone in the academy is already aware.
I accessed the school community and the academy channel.
[The Korean cadet ww Quite unexpected, but that’s all ww]
[It was a restricted duel from the start, right? Just a meaningless victory.]
[It’s clear the Princess was overlooking things. ww]
[The opponent was A-rank, but given the limit, it’s understandable.]
//Well, it’s not a particularly friendly reaction, but I expected nothing less.
It doesn’t bother me much.
In Korea, I’m the only hero and Messiah, but here, I’m just one of many cadets.
Even worse, I’m a cadet from a small nation with a C-rank compatibility, so they’re likely struggling to accept my victory.
When the original protagonist, Yuji, first made his mark in the story, the cadets had a similar reaction, so this isn’t a surprise.
“Whatever will be, will be.”
I set my phone down and leaned back against the wall behind the bed.
The original story has already been twisted. Frankly, I couldn’t care less about the source material or its storyline.
My survival comes first.
Thanks to yesterday’s duel, the transcendent weapon Durandal has completely fallen into my possession.
As a result, I’ve managed to escape the fate of an extra and the malicious flow of the original story assigned to ‘Kim Deok-Sung.’
I’ve met the expectations of that damned country to some extent.
As for the butterfly effect that comes with breaking the original story?
I resolved to take that risk the moment I acquired Durandal.
‘Instead of sitting around and dying while munching on snacks, it’s better to live like this.’
Worrying about the butterfly effect doesn’t mean I can just sit back and be a stepping stone for the protagonist, only to get corrupted and die like in the original story, right?
From the moment I, an outsider, intervened, the original tale had already been distorted.
Moreover, I’m a top-level reader of the weakest hero from Korea.
‘If it comes to it, I’ll handle it myself.’
I know everything about this world, from the setting to the characters to the ending.
I could recite the original settings with my eyes closed.
If the flow changes due to the butterfly effect, I can simply respond immediately with the information from the original.
It’s definitely worth a shot.
Thinking about the original story suddenly makes me think of the protagonist.
‘From now on, the protagonist will handle things well, right?’
For the original protagonist to achieve his revenge, he will inevitably have to fight the black-hearted villains.
That’s practically a predetermined future.
After all, the final boss is the protagonist’s enemy.
Plus, the protagonist is a talent-rich powerhouse, so he can manage just fine on his own.
‘Let the enemies duke it out among themselves.’
In the meantime, I can just satisfy some nationalistic pride occasionally and graduate properly.
It’s also time to find out how to return to my original world.
Yeah, that works.
At that moment.
Thud.
The hospital room door suddenly swung open.
“Hello, Kim Deok-Sung.”
Entering through the open door was a platinum-haired beautiful girl in a striking white uniform jacket, Olivia Napoleon Bonaparte.
She pulled up a chair beside the bed and looked at me with her blue eyes, glancing over.
“So, how have you been?”
“Why are you here?”
I had anticipated the possibility of her coming to see me.
So, Olivia’s appearance isn’t particularly surprising.
The real question is, what’s her intention for visiting?
“Are you seriously here to ask for Durandal back?”
Her eyes narrowed.
That’s a plausible scenario.
It’s a scenario.
Olivia has a strong desire to win, feels bitter about defeat, and has quite a vindictive personality. On top of that, she believes that no one in the academy understands the responsibilities of a hero except for herself.
So, she’s basically a stereotypical heroine character from a Japanese academy battle light novel in the first volume.
At the beginning of the original volume, when she lost to the protagonist Yuji, who is an F-rank, she couldn’t accept the defeat and persisted in chasing him down, insisting they fight again multiple times.
Olivia acknowledged the protagonist only after he bravely defeated the otherworldly beings that appeared at the model gate.
In a light novel, that might be the charm of her tsundere character, but what if it were real?
“Ugh, no way.”
Me? Having to endure that stalking?
Not a chance.
Headache incoming.
Fiction is best left as fiction.
If I had to reincarnate, I would have preferred to jump into a web novel.
Since in web novels, a tsundere is instantly marked for a tragic ending.
Why did it have to be a crappy light novel, though?
“Uh, um…”
Olivia looks flustered.
I quietly turn on my phone and click on a nationalist YouTube video.
[Just checking, but you aren’t expecting me to win, right?]
[It’ll be a draw.]
[I don’t expect anything beyond that.]
[But what if I beat you?]
[That won’t happen.]
[What if such an event occurs?]
[If that ridiculous thing comes true… then I’ll become your exclusive maid.]
[You’re serious?]
[I’m not lying under the name of the royal family.]
Shocking! As the colorful thumbnail of a video about the K-Hero’s glory kneeling before the French royal family plays, her words echo throughout the hospital room.
“Ughhhh…”
Olivia’s face turns bright red.
Her cheeks tremble.
I mercilessly keep the video playing.
“Stop! Please stop!”
With her face flushed to her ears, Olivia grabs my hand holding the phone, her platinum hair flowing like a wave.
I can feel her soft touch.
Whatever, I keep talking while looking at her.
“With this video, the evidence is all there. Do you still think you can argue against it?”
“That’s not what I meant!”
Olivia looks aggrieved as she speaks.
“Then what? What was your intention?”
“…I admit it…”
She says in a voice that seems to crawl out.
“Admit what?”
“That, um, I don’t really like it, but I acknowledge that you are the master of Durandal!”
Where did that earlier dejected demeanor go? Olivia looks at me with newfound confidence.
“As the younger sister of Raul, I acknowledge you as Durandal’s master, so feel free to be happy.”
Olivia snickers lightly, removes her hand from mine, and places it on her chest in a triumphant manner.
A typical Japanese subculture girl character’s expression and attitude.
How does she pull that off in reality?
In animation, that was award-winning.
But now that it’s real, it’s actually disappointing.
Tsunderes are meant for display only.
“It was originally mine, and you were the one being unreasonable, remember the warranty?”
“Ughhhh…”
Olivia groans.
Well, what she did was obviously unreasonable.