NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1
In a small, cold room, two girls with golden hair and red eyes face each other.
The girls look so identical that it’s hard to tell them apart.
What could their identity be? Are they twins?
The answer is, “me.”
They’re both me!
In the bleak, white room, I lamented while holding onto myself.
“…So boring!”
There was no one to complain to except for the clones I created in this annoying, suffocating space.
“Ugh…”
With an involuntary cute whimper escaping from my mouth, I once again faced the harsh reality.
I had become a beautiful girl.
The life I led as a man for over twenty years came to an abrupt end one day due to an air conditioning unit that fell while I was walking down the street.
I thought everything had ended there, but when I came to my senses, I had become a little girl.
When I accidentally looked in the mirror, I was shocked.
Within it was a lovely girl with golden hair and rabbit-like red eyes, wearing a fluttering hospital dress.
She was a beautiful porcelain doll, perfectly combining youthful innocence and an incomplete maturity that hadn’t yet fully bloomed. A bridge between a child and an adult existed there.
“Is this me? Amazing!”
When I first realized I had become a girl, I was truly in awe. ‘I’ was so pretty that I couldn’t help but admire myself.
My face was soft, free of blemishes, and my figure was slim but possessed a maturity that naturally belonged.
It was a cute and lovable appearance that lightly covered the sudden confusion of my gender identity.
I felt like my ability to think had slightly diminished since becoming a girl, but I couldn’t quite tell. But really, who cares as long as I look pretty?
Goodbye to my boring life! I was going to become a happy internet idol star!… such dreams I briefly entertained.
“…So what, I’m trapped.”
However, I couldn’t feel happy.
Firstly, I had been possessed into a game. And I was in the body of a villain who dies to the protagonist.
『Crimson Scholar』, a globally serviced game known as 『Crimson Scholar』.
A notorious copycat gacha game created by a wealthy second-generation otaku from China.
Set in a world on the brink of collapse due to a dimensional invasion, it’s a dystopian open-world action game where students in an academy city fight alongside their companions.
As an additional note, for reasons typical of China, this game ended early service after only completing the first story.
“Out of all the characters, I ended up becoming Witch Violet!”
Witch Violet, a limitless and sadistic killer, an executive of a certain terror organization. She accumulated all her sins only to be killed by the enraged protagonist.
“This is troublesome.”
Of all things, to end up as an evil villain—this got a bit tricky.
But I still had one opportunity left.
“Right now, it’s before the main story!”
Witch Violet, who committed numerous evil deeds in the main story, was a depraved and mature woman. However, the girl standing before me, though looking somewhat similar to that wicked woman, was much younger and smaller.
In other words, I had fallen into the past of the villain—a time in her childhood. If I live without doing bad things, I won’t become the villain and won’t have to die either.
But there was still a second problem.
Currently, I was trapped in the secret laboratory of the evil corporate organization, Laplacian.
This company referred to me and others as test subjects and conducted strange experiments under constant surveillance 24/7. They even hit us if we didn’t comply.
To make matters worse, they had placed a stiff, thick collar around my slender neck.
“Such suffocation.”
Unfortunately, it couldn’t be removed. The collar had a shocking feature—having experienced it once, I could tell it hurt a lot.
So, making resolutions like “I won’t become a villain” was meaningless. There was a danger that this laboratory and corporation could treat me like a slave.
Just thinking about the possibility of being brainwashed or having a chip implanted in my head, becoming a slave or a bioweapon sent shivers down my spine.
Having become a beautiful girl at the cost of my lower body, I wanted to live comfortably for myself. To achieve this humble dream, I was determined to escape this place somehow.
If I were an ordinary girl, I might have given up, but I had one trump card.
To check my status, I shouted the all-powerful phrase.
“Status screen.”
A shimmering translucent screen appeared before my eyes.
————————————————-
Name: Violet Dunhind Rugilinn
Alias: Test Subject 10-6-8
Status: Laboratory Test Subject
Health: 1000
Magical Power: 1500
Unique Ability:
■■■■:???
Lv1 Clone Technique
…
————————————————-
“Just as I thought, I really am that Violet!”
In the world of 『Crimson Scholar』, there exist superhumans known as ‘Awakened Ones.’ They wield great physical strength and magic, each possessing unique special abilities.
The ability of this body I possessed was quite unique.
It was, in fact, the Clone Technique.
Witch Violet could create multiple clones that looked just like her and control them. And I could use the Clone Technique as well.
For now, I could only create one, but as I grow accustomed to the ability, I’d be able to create hundreds, if not thousands.
I plan to hone this ability and exploit any gaps in the laboratory’s security to escape, no matter what.
“What should I do afterward?”
I didn’t know.
I might quietly live in the outskirts, avoiding the corporation’s gaze, or if I’m lucky, I might be able to go to the academy.
As I thought about it for a long time, my head began to ache.
“Come here!”
I brought my clone, the girl who looked just like me, onto the bed and hugged her tightly.
Lying on the bed and embracing my soft self, I began to feel at ease. There was also a subtly pleasant smell. The clone embraced me as if mirroring my movements.
Touching her made me realize that I was truly soft. I decided I would continue to do this while sleeping.
Being hugged made me feel a bit more at ease. In this suffocating world, I could only trust myself.
As I maintained this inner peace, I heard loud footsteps coming from beyond the corridor outside my accommodation’s door.
“Test Subject 10-6-8!”
Someone shouted from outside the door. They began banging on the door insistently. I figured I should pretend to be asleep.
“Test Subject 10-6-8! I know you’re awake! Get up now!”
“Ugh!”
I shot up in surprise.
I had forgotten that there were surveillance cameras in every sleeping room for the test subjects!
-Clank!
The door burst open and armed guards stormed in. The guards aimed their guns at me and my clone.
“Hey! Stay still!”
“Don’t move!”
Behind the guards, a research scientist with slicked-back white hair and a lab coat entered. I immediately lowered my head with a frightened expression. These researchers treat test subjects like animals, so I must not provoke them carelessly.
That way, I could get hurt less.
“10-6-8! Are you going to dismiss your clone? Who permitted you to use your unique ability in your room without permission?”
“I’m sorry…”
“Since you disobeyed orders, you must be punished.”
The slick-haired researcher pulled out a small switch the size of a car key and pressed the button.
-Zap!
With a jolt of electricity coursing through our bodies, my clone and I collapsed to the floor in shock. It hurt so much we rolled around on the ground.
“Ugh…”
Tears welled up in our eyes. I noticed that since becoming a girl, I found it much harder to endure pain than before.
“We are always watching over test subjects like you. If you disobey again, you will be punished again. Do you understand?”
The cruel researcher threatened me, holding the electric shock switch in front of my face. I sniffled and nodded.
With a snap of his fingers, my clone, whom I had just been hugging, vanished.
After the guards and researchers left my room, I sobbed for a while. Once I had calmed down, I wiped my tears and lay down again.
“Escape is one thing, but I can’t stand it anymore!”
As I lay still, swallowing my anger, a murderous intent began to rise within me.
“If I get the chance, I won’t let them off easily.”
In this inhumane and unhuman place, I tried to remember those who had wronged me, even a little.
I don’t know if I could, but if a chance arose, I wanted to smash all of them to pieces.
I briefly imagined myself commanding hundreds of clones to take them down. While I chuckled at the thought of dragging survivors out and roasting the entire lab, I suddenly felt empty.
“Ugh… for now, I need to cultivate my abilities.”
Since I hadn’t properly trained my abilities yet, those were all fruitless thoughts. Above all, this laboratory had too many watchers. There were cameras everywhere.
First, I needed to understand the internal structure.
“And I need to find a tool.”
It would be best if I could find a hammer. That way, I could smash the heads of those damned researchers and guards!
As I tossed and turned, lost in thought, sleep evaded me.
My excited heart felt uncomfortable, and I rolled over several times. It felt nice when touched, but lying down made me shift around, causing discomfort.
I briefly reflected on how I ended up in this world.