How to Survive as the Academy’s Villain

Chapter 23

“……”

I felt a sudden flash, and it seemed I lost consciousness for a moment.

‘What is this…’

When I opened my eyes again, I saw my bag lying on the floor behind me, with all its contents scattered and broken.

“Ah, fuck.”

At the same time,

Zooooom, crackle!

“Huff!”

From a distance, I saw the culprit behind this mess and Chelsea aiming a sharp sword at him.

“Virgas.”

A boss monster with dozens of tentacles, a giant purple body, and a large round green eye occupying more than half of its body—an enormous tentacle monster named ‘Virgas.’

‘Why is that bastard here…?’

He was supposed to be the final boss of the Dungeon Studies exam, the last obstacle to overcome.

But.

‘Why did it come out as soon as the door opened?’

In the original story, it was supposed to be summoned after entering the door.

At that moment,

Wham, thud.

Chelsea, who was swinging her sword at it, frowned.

Then,

Thunk!

“Gah!”

She was struck by a hard tentacle and flung into the air, flying away.

Thud!

“Ugh.”

Seeing Chelsea lying far away on the ground, I dragged my heavy body towards her and shouted.

“Hey, Chelsea. Are you okay…”

But.

“Don’t touch me.”

“What?”

“Shut up and get lost!”

Chelsea’s face contorted with pain as she shouted.

Then soon,

“…Shit.”

What?

Wait a minute, did I just hear that right?

‘Did Chelsea just swear?’

I was momentarily stunned by the shock of the unbelievable situation.

Slap!

She slapped her cheeks with both hands and muttered again.

“Everything’s so fucked.”

…Fucked?

No, what the hell.

Why are you suddenly swearing?

You’re not originally this kind of character, Chelsea.

* * *

At first, I was filled with nothing but annoyance and doubt.

‘Why? Why did I have to team up with him…?’

But soon, shaking her head, Chelsea composed herself again.

‘No, focus on the current situation. I just need to do what I have to. The most important thing is my grade.’

Then, when we entered the dungeon,

‘What?’

Contrary to her expectations, he showed remarkable performance.

He prepared torches in advance to defend against the monster wave.

He took down a giant slime in one blow.

“……”

At that time, only one thought dominated her mind.

‘Thank goodness.’

Unlike her initial fears, he did not interfere with the Dungeon Studies exam.

No, he actually helped a lot.

Without him, we wouldn’t have been able to progress through the dungeon so quickly.

Therefore,

‘…It was wise to swear an oath.’

She judged and thought optimistically like a fool.

But.

When he overcame the threats of Beoig, the Cave Snake, and the Werewolf using his abilities each time our team was in danger,

She felt something well up deep inside her.

“……”

And as he continued his remarkable performance, they started to navigate the dungeon faster than anyone else.

He found the path through the Seven Towers and successfully defeated the powerful monster, the Volcano Queen.

‘We’re fast. At this rate, we’ll definitely get the highest score…’

Thump.

What is this? Why?

Fast is good.

If we conquer the dungeon this quickly, we’ll surely score higher than Kyle’s team.

We were rapidly approaching the highest score I wanted.

Even though we were getting closer to our goal…

‘I don’t understand, why?’

With emotions surging, her brief doubt began to grow stronger.

‘Why doesn’t he use magic?’

At that moment.

– Birgetta, Aperi Portaum.

Chelsea saw him recite an incantation in Ancient Rune, a language she herself didn’t know, to open the sealed door. At that moment, memories flashed through her mind.

– Chelsea, you’re always the best, strong, and outstanding. You know how much your parents believe in you, right?

It was a letter from her mother before the exam. In a split second, amidst thousands, tens of thousands, and hundreds of millions of emotions striking her like lightning, Chelsea finally nodded.

She had come to terms with the true feelings she had been ignoring.

‘I hate Kamon Vade.’

No, more accurately.

‘I hate you because you’re better than me!’

It was jealousy, anger, and inferiority toward someone with exceptional talents she didn’t possess.

Sure.

She could accept the magic. There were inherent differences in natural talent that couldn’t be changed. But.

‘Dungeon strategies, items, solving problems, and even Ancient Rune.’

While she had struggled to the point of bleeding from her nose to barely achieve anything, he effortlessly attained far greater and more amazing feats. When Chelsea saw this, she realized something profound.

“…I hate you.”

The truth she had been avoiding all this time, the feelings she never wanted to acknowledge.

‘Kamon Vade.’

He was the embodiment of all the ‘geniuses’ she had loathed, envied, and resented her entire life. Yet despite that,

Gritting her teeth, Chelsea suppressed and hid her ugly true feelings.

‘…If we keep going like this, we’ll get the highest score.’

Faced with the tangible benefits of reality, she could tolerate her dirty inferiority complex.

Grades and being the top of her year.

The support and tuition for her underprivileged family.

‘If I can just endure a little longer, I can keep all of that.’

But then.

“Kyaaaa!”

“Gaaaaa!”

Her teammates, except for her and Kamon, were all wiped out in front of the final boss.

“What?”

Chelsea, who had barely managed to maintain her composure and mind, could only stand dumbfounded at the horrific sight before her.

‘This can’t be happening.’

Wham, thud! Clatter!

Seeing Kamon sprawled on the ground, Chelsea realized.

‘…It’s all over.’

With that thought,

Swish!

Chelsea drew her sword without hesitation and charged at the final boss.

“Aaaaah!”

She swung her sword, pouring everything she had held back until now into her attack.

But.

Thunk!

“Gah!”

She was thrown away without even putting up a proper fight. Yet Chelsea didn’t feel the pain from the physical impact.

Instead,

‘Damn it, fucking hell!’

The pain in her heart tormented her even more.

‘It’s over. Everything is over now.’

She hated everything.

This situation, herself, her family and external circumstances that pushed her this far.

Her lack of talent, the geniuses, and herself struggling and yet feeling an insurmountable wall…

‘I want to destroy everything.’

Filled with such thoughts, the last voice she wanted to hear pierced her ears.

“Chelsea, are you okay…”

At that moment, Chelsea lost her composure, no, her reason for the first time.

“Don’t touch me.”

“What?”

“Shut up and get lost!”

“Fuck.”

“Everything’s so fucked.”

She couldn’t stand the sight of his eyes, his expression, everything!

* * *

After confirming Chelsea’s condition, I clicked my tongue and shook my head.

‘Damn. Of all times…’

Zooooom!

‘Virgas’ made a bizarre noise, asserting its presence.

The creature inherently had an aura that gnawed at its opponent’s mental strength.

Moreover,

‘As soon as you meet its enormous eye, your body gets paralyzed.’

In other words, to fight it, you had to attack without making eye contact. Easier said than done.

Of course, I had brought items prepared for such a situation.

Crack.

But they were all shattered in the first surprise attack, the contents of my bag destroyed.

Thud!

“Move.”

I heard Chelsea’s familiar voice from behind.

Zooooom!

At the same time, the tentacles of the monster ‘Virgas’ were writhing, poised to strike us.

“Chelsea, first…”

“I said, move.”

Chelsea, gripping her sword again, shouted sharply.

I sighed and responded immediately.

“Why? Are you going to charge in again and get knocked away?”

“What’s it to you?”

Seeing her unusually rough and irritated attitude towards me, I let out a dry laugh.

“Ha, really… Hey, don’t you remember the oath we took before entering? Who exactly is getting in whose way now?”

I shouted back and asked Chelsea firmly.

“Chelsea, are you going to give up on this exam? Are you not going to conquer it?”

“…”

After my pointed remark, Chelsea glared at me silently for a moment, then her lips twisted slightly.

“Why? Can’t I give up?”

“What?”

“You always…”

She continued, looking at me with a contemptuous glare.

“…acted like it was all a joke.”

Chelsea continued without stopping, shouting at me.

“You’ve lived your whole life treating it like a joke. What do you know to be lecturing me?”

“Hey, what are you talking about…”

“This, that, always doing things your way. You always looked down on the world. Kamon, have you ever done anything sincerely in your life?”

“……”

Her continuous verbal attack left me momentarily speechless.

“Oh, you haven’t. If you had, you couldn’t have lived like that.”

She let out a sneer and muttered under her breath.

“You worthless piece of shit.”

“……”

I stayed silent.

‘Have I ever done anything sincerely in my life?’

Always, every time.

It was hard to explain, but I had always done my best. And yet.

‘Living your whole life like a joke?’

I knew.

All her words were aimed not at Kang Hyunsoo, but at Kamon Vade, the previous owner of this body. But still.

“What do you know?”

“What?”

“What do you know to act so high and mighty?”

For some reason, I couldn’t let Chelsea’s words slide this time. Because.

‘I’m not Kamon Vade!’

At least in this dungeon raid, I had put in more effort than anyone else and done my best.

Do you know how many nights I stayed up preparing for this dungeon raid?

I squeezed my brain to not miss any detail, even the ones briefly mentioned in the original story, and stayed up all night in the library planning the strategies… Damn it.

Zooooom!

Dodging the tentacle of ‘Virgas’ flying towards us, I shouted.

“You always pretend to know, pretend to be great, pretend to be something. Pretending and doing nothing right. How much do you think you contributed to conquering this dungeon?”

“……”

“If I hadn’t brought the items, could we have raided the dungeon this fast? No, never. We’d still be shivering in front of Beoig or would’ve been wiped out by the Werewolf.”

Everything I had been holding back began to spill out.

“And what? Have you ever done anything sincerely?”

It felt like a massive dam had broken, words pouring out endlessly.

“No, if you can’t do it, just admit you’re not capable. Say it’s too hard, you want to give up. Why whine and blame others?”

“What? Blame others?”

Thud!

Zooooom!

As we argued, the monster ‘Virgas’ let out a screech, reminding us of its presence.

Bang!

Dodging its attack again, I shouted sharply.

“Yes, blame others. What you’re doing now is exactly what losers do.”

At my harsh words, Chelsea bit her lower lip hard.

“Blame others? Loser? I’m stating facts, Kamon Vade. You…”

“Ha, facts? Don’t make me laugh.”

Who asked to be reincarnated into Kamon Vade’s body?

Who doesn’t want to give up?

Who can endure the absurd challenges of this world without complaint?

Nothing in my life ever went my way.

And now what?

A joke? Fun?

“Drop those excuses used by the incompetent. So, the great person who’s better than a piece of trash is now giving up on this exam? Why, did a tentacle slap wake you up?”

“I never said I was giving up!”

Her face turned red as she shouted, and I nodded mockingly.

“You asked if you could give up, but you never said you would?”

“……”

Clatter!

I retreated as far as I could and continued sarcastically.

“Okay, let’s say that nonsense is true. Then why is the person who always does everything sincerely and with their best effort suddenly acting like this? Why?”

“No matter what I do with someone like you…”

“Again, blaming others. I failed because of you. I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Enough. Kamon Vade, I have nothing more to say to you…”

“Oh, sure? Now you’ll just ignore me? Wonderful, Chelsea, really great. Clap, clap, clap!”

“Hey, stop it!”

Chelsea’s eyes were bloodshot as she shouted at me coldly. I shook my head and shouted back.

“Shouldn’t you be the one stopping, Chelsea? How are you going to conquer a dungeon with that mindset?”

“I’m telling you again, I will never give up…”

“Then shut up and listen to me!”

“No.”

“Damn it. You don’t want to give up, you want to conquer the dungeon, but you won’t cooperate? What kind of bullshit is that?”

“I have no reason to listen to you.”

“Oh, really? Then why did you follow my words and act up to now?”

“……!”

Chelsea was momentarily at a loss for words and glared at me with cold eyes. Then suddenly…

Thud!

Chelsea, who had been dodging Virgas’ attacks, stood in front of me.

“Then I’ll ask you, Kamon Vade.”

She muttered in a deeply sunken voice and continued.

“You’re saying this isn’t a joke?”

“What nonsense is that! If it was a joke, would I have struggled this much? It’s been so hard to get here…”

I finally exploded with the frustration I had been holding back.

Then.

“Then why haven’t you used magic all this time?”

“What?”