Chapter 1
“Ughhh….”
Saturday morning, more precious than life itself to an office worker.
After sleeping in, I get up and scour web novels for a dopamine fix.
New releases, new bestsellers, recommendations….
I casually scroll past the fantasy and modern fantasy I usually read, then check out the romance fantasy category.
I’m Kim Siwoo, an ordinary male employee at a tiny, shitty company.
My hobbies are subculture games, cathartic web novels, watching esports, and tearing into chicken and beer.
I’m about as far from someone who likes female-oriented content as it gets.
The reason I’m looking for romance fantasy on a Saturday at all is that I’d joined a garbage female-dominated company.
Just because I’m a man, you make me do all the heavy lifting?
Fine, sure, I can accept that.
It stings that they don’t even bother to thank me afterward, but I can let that slide too.
But there was one thing I just couldn’t understand.
—You seem like you want to get close to Assistant Manager Ha, Mr. Kim.
—What?
Office politics.
And the kind of office politics that involved forming factions, unique to women.
I could at least understand the office politics my male friends told me about.
Fighting over who gets a limited share of the perks is unavoidable in any society.
But I couldn’t make heads or tails of women’s office politics.
Women fought over not only benefits, but also ‘feelings.’
—Mr. Kim, why did you help Assistant Manager Choi earlier?
—What?
—Didn’t you see Assistant Manager Choi talking to Team Leader Oh during the meeting?
—…Wasn’t she just dividing up the work?
—Oh… I guess you really don’t get it.
A pitying look.
—I’m sorry, so… should I have refused?
—No, Mr. Kim. Oh, right, I’m going to have to do Pilates over lunch from now on, so I don’t think I can eat with you anymore.
—Oh, okay.
—Sigh….
As I nodded, the other person shook their head as if utterly exasperated, then walked away.
That was how it went throughout my time at that female-dominated company.
They fought among themselves over ‘feelings.’
And the fallout reached me, too.
No matter how I tried to follow how this currency they traded in—‘feelings’—was being settled, I couldn’t understand a thing.
The value fluctuated when someone showed up with a nice bag.
It fluctuated when someone talked about moving.
It fluctuated when someone said their boyfriend had celebrated an anniversary.
Why?
How come?
‘Why are women like this, anyway?’
The stress of not understanding.
The work alone was killing me, and then all this incomprehensible politicking got piled on top until it drained me dry.
That was why I decided to read romance fantasy on this precious Saturday.
They say that if you want to understand someone, you should find out what they like, right?
I wanted to understand women, so I figured I’d try the kind of fiction women liked.
I scroll down and down.
The Crown Prince is obsessed with…
As a terminally ill young lady…
A secret romance with the Emperor…
The granddaughter of the Sichuan Tang Clan…
‘They have martial-arts romance fantasy these days, too.’
But can it really be called romance fantasy if it’s martial arts? Romance martial arts?
I almost got interested, but the one beside it caught my eye even more.
<I Became the Student Council President of an Academy in a Game>
‘It’s romance fantasy, but she gets possessed into a game?’
And an academy in a game, at that.
That was more than enough to catch the interest of someone like me who liked web novels and subculture games.
I flop onto the couch and start reading from beginning to end.
The romance fantasy’s setting was an honest-to-goodness open-world subculture game.
The story-within-the-story, <Astra Radius>.
Magic and weapons, skills and items.
Story quests and side quests.
Gathering, exploring, cooking, fishing, and so on.
Various regions, starting with the academy. Dungeons.
A wide range of distinctive characters and NPCs.
Interactive terrain and objects.
The heroine gets possessed into the body of a student at an academy in that fantasy game.
‘If this were real, it’d be a masterpiece of a game I’d want to add to my list of games to play.’
My heart raced.
What would I do if I got possessed into a game like that?
Learn all sorts of skills, weapons, and magic.
Set out on a journey, go adventuring, clear dungeons, and earn rewards.
I’d be friends with the guys, get close to the girls, heh heh, and look for an opening.
And there, the romance-fantasy heroine started romancing people and scheming.
“Hm…?”
I keep reading.
But it was more of the same.
The heroine, after possessing someone, was in the world of an open-world subculture masterpiece….
Adventure? She didn’t.
Travel? She didn’t do that either.
Then what about making friends at the academy? She didn’t even do that.
Forming factions.
Office politics.
Pretending to be nice.
Using men as shields.
Making men do all the hard, difficult, and dangerous work.
Driving a wedge between groups of women she didn’t like and breaking them apart.
Keeping several men around and stringing them along.
Making a woman she disliked into a villain so she’d drop out on her own.
All of it, while keeping her own good-girl image intact.
“….”
This wasn’t to my taste.
Still, I forced myself to finish it. At this point, I was curious how it would end.
And after reading through to the ending, I was disappointed.
The possessed heroine became student council president at the academy, disposed of everyone who’d crossed her, then kept pretending to be nice right to the end and married the Crown Prince, the male lead.
That was the ending.
She barely paid any attention to adventures or skills in the world of <Astra Radius>.
And though there was clearly talk of an evil threatening the world and hostile factions, those aspects were never explained at all and just ended up as MacGuffins.
“Sigh….”
All the strength drained from my body.
‘I shouldn’t have read it. What am I doing with my precious day off?’
Maybe because I felt so hollow, even my body seemed heavy.
‘In the end, I still can’t understand why women like that stuff.’
Do they really have to be like that?
Instead of all that twisted behavior, can’t they just say what they mean and be direct?
If you don’t like someone, fight it out and settle things.
If you like someone, just give them a straightforward compliment.
If they’re a total piece of shit you can’t deal with, hit them head-on.
Do they have to play politics even in fiction?
That was when it happened.
My phone lit up on its own.
‘?’
The web novel I’d read all the way to the final chapter moved on to the next episode by itself.
〈Special Episode〉
If you’re so great, why don’t you come in here and try it yourself?
Suddenly, my vision spun.
“Ugh…?”
The strength drained from my body.
I fell.
‘Wait, hold on, this is that thing.’
Getting possessed after trash-talking a web novel—
【Welcome to the world of <Astra Radius>】
**
“Liam.”
It was a woman’s voice. Soft and kind.
A nutty fragrance like roasted chestnuts.
The sunlight was warm.
The scent of books, wood, and ink. A wooden desk and chair that weren’t too comfortable.
“Liam, class is about to start. Are you going to keep sleeping…?”
I opened my eyes.
A blackboard covered the entire wall.
Long tables arranged in a circle.
Sunlight streamed into a large lecture hall big enough for around thirty people.
I turned my head.
The person who’d been talking to me was the woman sitting beside me, with plain brown hair and eyes of a very un-plain color.
“Liam…?”
The woman’s irises changed from yellow to orange.
Something that could never happen in modern-day Korea.
A character from the romance fantasy I’d just been reading.
Maron Clerias.
Seeing her, I was finally able to believe it.
Ah, I really had been possessed into that world.
‘Wait. I got possessed into a romance fantasy?’
Maybe I’d been possessed as the heroine… No. It was still there between my legs.
‘Phew… Then who did I become?’
I wasn’t the heroine of the romance fantasy either.
Nor had I brought my original body from my world.
Then was I some other character in the story?
Maron had definitely called me Liam. Liam. Liam. The character with that name was—
A chill ran down my spine.
I jumped to my feet.
“W-where are you going? Class is about to start.”
“The restroom.”
I needed a mirror.
And just as I’d expected, the person reflected in the mirror was someone who left me stunned.
Silver-gray hair combed back.
Yellow eyes that the novel described in romance-fantasy fashion as ‘honey-colored.’
Gilliam Everchess.
One of the villains in the story.
The academy’s playboy, who hit on every woman he passed, trying his luck with them all.
He was a villain who hit on the romance-fantasy heroine the same way, only to be brutally put in his place by the men moved by her tears.
‘Why did I have to get stuck with this guy?’
Still, he had a good face. The refined young noble type. And in the story, he was the son of a duke, wasn’t he?
‘Sigh… This is bewildering.’
Of all people, why did I have to get possessed as someone like him?
“….”
Wait.
The standard transmigration/possession/regression trope.
‘Status window.’
I called it out in my mind, and a window appeared before my eyes.
Name: Gilliam Everchess
Level: 1
【Soul Trait】
Power of Praise (Mythic)
【Skills】
None
【Praise Points】
0
I never thought I’d live to see the day I actually saw a status window.
But what did this mean?
‘Soul Trait? Power of Praise?’
As I focused my gaze on that section, an explanation appeared.
【Power of Praise (Mythic)】
Limitation: Cannot gain experience
Instead, praising others grants you 〈Praise Points〉.
You can use 〈Praise Points〉 to raise your stats or purchase skills and items.
‘I get points for complimenting people?’
Simple enough.
‘But how do I buy skills and items?’
As soon as I wondered, another window appeared.
【Shop】
‘Oh?’
It contained all sorts of skills and items from <Astra Radius>, as described in the story.
The points required varied wildly.
‘So the gist is, compliment people, build up points, and use them to buy this stuff?’
I’d better test it right away.
By the time I returned to my seat, class had already started.
“I’m sorry.”
I bowed to the sharp-looking professor, then spoke to Maron beside me again.
“Um, Miss Maron.”
“Yes?”
Maron’s eyes were purple now.
‘What can I compliment her on?’
It seemed insincere to just tell a woman she was pretty.
‘Compliments are better when they’re specific… So, something specific.’
Okay.
I’ve got it.
“I’ve been thinking this for a while, Miss Maron, but your eyes are really pretty.”
Good, I complimented her. Come on, Praise Points. Give me the power to buy skills and items.
“Pardon…?”
Miss Maron’s face turned pale.
“I-I’m sorry! What did I do wrong!?”
【The target has fallen into extreme fear】
<Praise Points: -100(
0→
0)>