## Chapter 110 – Transmigration to a Constellation Novel Villain (1)
Back in reality, I stared at the book laid out before me.
It was the original work of the world I had just been in.
Looking at it now, the characters couldn’t help but seem different.
This short story might just become one of my favorite comics.
Who knows, if this work gains popularity beyond a short story, it might even get officially serialized.
The art and story are both good, after all.
At least, I was rooting for that to happen.
Looking at the protagonist, Ethan, I even felt a bit sorry.
Right before returning to reality, he caught Dana and me coming out of my room.
“I didn’t mean for that to happen…”
I, who had been taking and showing off in various worlds, still considered Ethan a disciple of sorts, so at that moment, I felt… something strange, a mix of guilt and pleasure.
Only Dana was smiling happily in that situation.
If I go back to that world again, I might be exploited by power.
“Come to think of it, did the quest board level up?”
I opened the quest board to see what had changed.
[You can now select works you have read or seen.]
I read the explanation and nodded.
This was a useful ability.
I was able to confirm it clearly through this experience.
Being aware of the characters and future events to some extent when entering a quest definitely had its advantages.
If not for that, I wouldn’t have been able to conquer the dungeon so quickly this time.
Nevertheless, it was a bit dangerous this time.
I awkwardly smiled, thinking of the giant axe in my inventory.
The quest board wasn’t the only thing I gained.
I also gained mana.
Mana was located inside my body, a little above the dantian where internal energy resided.
To be honest, I was worried that internal energy and mana might react negatively to each other, but it was an unnecessary worry.
Internal energy was gently enveloping the small amount of mana, as if protecting it.
Thanks to that, I could easily use mana with the help of internal energy.
Of course, even if I used mana now, it would only be to use healing with the ring’s power or to envelop my body like internal energy.
It’ll be useful someday.
“What are you doing?”
I felt a soft touch from behind.
It was Hanna, who had woken up.
I felt happy to see her face after so long.
For Hanna, it was only a few hours since we last met, but it was different for me.
And Hanna’s eyes were drawn to the ring.
“Pretty…”
Hanna murmured, looking at the ring.
Then, she shyly looked at my face.
“…Is it okay if we get matching rings with the same design?”
Did she want to get couple rings?
Her voice was tinged with aegyo, probably because she had just woken up.
“I’ll buy them for you.”
“…Yes.”
Hanna’s cheeks flushed, as if this answer was the right one.
I liked that reaction, so I gently pulled Hanna closer by her waist.
“Ah, right…”
“Hmm?”
“I need to start packing soon…”
Hanna said as if she had suddenly remembered something.
Packing?
Don’t tell me…
“Is today the day you go back home?”
“Yes, it is.”
Really?
All I did in Japan was do quests in a fantasy world and make memories on this hotel bed?
Well, I did go to the convenience store to buy this comic book, even if it was to force myself to make memories.
But to think that today was the day they were going back home.
“…”
I looked at Hanna and Jian, who were lying on the bed next to me, and made a decision.
Next time, I’ll have to come alone, because coming on a trip with women turns the trip into a sex-focused event.
It’s not that I want to complain about being spoiled.
But at least when it comes to overseas trips, I felt it was a waste to spend the days like this.
“…Haa, okay, I should pack…”
And so, my first overseas trip came to an end.
***
A week after returning home.
I was experimenting with the newly created quest board function.
The explanation said that I could go to the world of a work, but the criteria for what constituted a “work” was not clear.
If a short comic was possible, then novels, manga, and anime were definitely possible, as well as dramas, movies, and even slightly erotic videos.
Web novels and webtoons serialized online were also possible.
“But I can’t use things I write myself.”
Works that were too short or novels that I wrote myself didn’t seem to be recognized.
This much information was enough.
I thought about the information I had confirmed and opened the quest board.
I hadn’t just been checking those things for the past week.
I also took the opportunity to watch some works in advance, and some interesting works ended up being read to the end.
One of them was a webtoon.
The webtoon I watched this time was a constellation-themed one.
If you ask what a constellation-themed work is, it’s hard to give an exact answer as to what genre it is.
Because of the nature of the work, it easily merged with other genres.
If I were to mention only the general characteristics, recalling some of the constellation-themed works I know, it would be stories about transcendent beings called constellations appearing in the modern era and giving humans abilities or interfering with them.
Dungeons and monsters often appeared together, and elements of games or broadcasting were also incorporated.
The work I enjoyed reading was similar.
Dungeons and monsters appeared in the world, and the protagonist was chosen by a constellation and grew while struggling.
I read the contents of the quest.
[Become a villain and conquer the protagonist’s party.]
“A villain?”
The difficulty didn’t seem easy.
Depending on what kind of villain I become and what point in time it is, the difficulty would vary greatly.
However, it was definitely interesting.
After enjoying the work, I wanted to go directly into the work.
“…What kind of villain am I becoming?”
There was more than one villain in the work, so I hesitated for a moment, but with the thought that it would work out somehow, I selected the quest.
***
When I opened my eyes, I was inside a huge shopping mall.
“…Ah…”
I tried making a small voice to test it, and thankfully, it was my voice.
My hands, feet, and height were the same.
However, I was wearing a black suit that I would never wear, glasses without lenses, and uncomfortable shoes.
It wasn’t that I had possessed a villain, but it felt like I had only put on the elements of a villain.
“…Hmph, but this outfit looks familiar…”
It’s not like there’s only one character who wears a suit in the webtoon, but it felt like there was a villain in this work who made the readers frustrated in the beginning.
I stood still and fell into thought, feeling like I was about to remember.
If it was an important core villain, I would have remembered it right away, and if it wasn’t significant, I wouldn’t have felt this sense of déjà vu.
Why does this outfit keep bothering me?
“Mom, what’s that?”
“I don’t know? Is it like a mascot?”
A child and a mother passing by me said.
When I turned my gaze to where they were looking, I saw something that looked like a mascot costume standing in the middle of the first floor of the large shopping mall.
I was on the second floor, so if I leaned over and looked down, I could see the scene on the first floor at a glance.
It was a cute-looking mascot costume, but my expression slowly hardened as I looked at it.
The introduction of this webtoon was quite intense.
The author started the story in a slightly aggressive way to capture the reader’s attention.
That cute bear-like mascot costume was the protagonist of that.
[Tutorial Mission]
[Survive for 10 minutes, avoiding the mascot costume.]
This wasn’t my quest window.
It was a message window shown in this webtoon.
People were flustered by the message window that suddenly appeared in front of them, waving their hands in the air.
“What is this!”
“Kyaaaa!”
The shopping mall instantly became noisy.
When the message window disappeared from their sight after a while, everyone looked around with blank expressions.
They seemed to be checking if this was only happening to them.
“Did you see it…?”
“What was that just now?”
“Something about avoiding the mascot costume…”
Then, the mascot costume on the first floor slowly raised its head and arms.
Honestly, that mascot costume wasn’t a very threatening presence to me.
In fact, ordinary people could easily deal with it if they put their minds to it.
So, it must be a tutorial mission.
However, carelessness and fear were the problems.
“Mascot costume? This thing?”
“Isn’t someone inside?”
Some men were surrounding the mascot costume, talking.
They even chuckled and tapped it with their hands.
It was dangerous.
I opened my mouth to warn them, but I regretted it as soon as I spoke.
“Get out of the way! You idiots!”
Harsh swear words mixed in and came out of my mouth.
It wasn’t intentional at all.
And with these swear words, I remembered who I had possessed.
‘Of all people to possess…’
It was a purely unlikeable character who, from the beginning of the work, spewed swear words at men and sexual harassment at women whenever he opened his mouth.
Perhaps because many readers disliked him, he died quite early, so it was easy to forget him.
But why this character of all people?
“Who are you calling a—”
The man who was taken aback looked at me and got angry, but this wasn’t the time for that.
Thud.
“Huh?”
The mascot costume’s claws, which should have been soft, pierced through the man’s arm.
Then, the man looked at his arm and screamed at the sight of the flowing blood and the pain.
“Kuaaaaaah!!”
The loud scream echoed throughout the shopping mall.
And then, a moment of silence for 2 seconds.
“Kyaaaa!”
“What is it!”
“Report it!”
Numerous people who witnessed the scene screamed and started running around the shopping mall.
I felt sorry for the man in pain and uttered a word.
“That idiot…”
The words that came out were definitely not what I intended to say.
