Chapter 125

People will surely recall this phrase whenever the topic of revenge arises: that revenge is a futile endeavor. And thus, for your own sake, you must forgive those who have wronged you.

But naturally, the words of common folk are ones that I, a genius, never fail to adhere to. I might even say that I have already forgiven all those who have wronged me, treating them with sheer indifference.

However, what if someone who has been forgiven goes on to commit the same offenses again? And what if, as a result, harm befalls others once more?

Ultimately, forgiveness may be seen as beginning with a trust in the other person.

That trust hinges on a belief that they will never repeat their mistakes.

Alternatively, it requires the confidence that their actions have been corrected to such an extent that they cannot possibly err again.

But if trust is extended without such confidence—only to be betrayed, just like in my current predicament—what then?

“Something felt off, and I had this feeling. I should’ve just asked the Student Council President to handle it. Then again, is that too much to ask?”

“Should I help or shouldn’t I?”

It was the morning of the second day of exams.

Recently, Inna had been feeling distant from her friends and decided to walk to school with them this morning, leaving Kang Yu-ri and me alone as we made our way to school. That was when this incident happened.

While I had veered off the usual route and found myself surrounded by what looked like about 20 women, Kang Yu-ri chose to keep her distance, as if this entire affair had nothing to do with her.

The reason she could do that was simple: while I was dragged down a dim alley like some kind of kidnapping victim, she had retaliated fiercely, launching a few of the girls into the air with a slap. That made them think twice about confronting her, allowing her to easily stroll towards me.

Even if she were to escape and somehow summon reinforcements, that would still be better than waiting idly for me to get into trouble. Yet, it was not in her nature to get involved first. Still, I didn’t have much to complain about since I had prepared for any possible situation.

“Even if you don’t help, it’s fine. I’ll handle this as much as possible with words.”

While carefully choosing my words, I thought about the phone I had hidden in my pocket. Normally, they should have taken my phone first before doing anything else. Were these women oblivious to the idea that I might call the police? Or were they counting on the fact that I was in the middle of an exam period, making a police report somewhat impractical?

Either way, it didn’t matter. Thanks to their negligence, I had managed to send a quick message to one of my secret weapons. And even if this secret reinforcement fails to arrive and the problem persists, I am confident that I can resolve it with force alone.

Although I couldn’t see their faces, my eyes could confirm whether any of them possessed abilities. Not one of them had any listed abilities above their heads.

In other words, either I would need to use the abilities on my list, or I could fully open my protection system. Either way, I could handle this situation without overtaxing myself for the upcoming exam.

“You’re going to talk? What if we decide not to talk? Are you planning to resolve this by force?”

“Only if it comes to that.”

Thus, it didn’t matter how many adversaries I currently faced.

In my original world, handling a group of more than twenty would have been impossible alone, but in this world of supernatural abilities, it was entirely feasible.

The one issue was the fact that my status as a supernatural ability user was widely known among those who should know. There had to be a reason why these opponents had boldly come to confront someone with my abilities.

Perhaps, as before, they intended to h*rass me without causing excessive damage? But looking back, that was a foolish move. After all, the body’s original owner already knew how to harness its powers for minimal usage to protect itself—a technique that only worked on me when I had taken possession of the body but wouldn’t work on me now, after I’d learned that method from the original owner.

If the Student Council Vice President hadn’t intervened back then, I could have escaped by either invoking the power of the ending list or resorting to self-harm to activate my protective system. At the time, the latter felt too costly, so I hesitated.

If they still plan to use the same old trick, I might just let them attempt it and then take pleasure in their failure. But these girls are human, and now they know one of the people from Busan who prevailed in an ambush was me. Naturally, they would have devised something.

I don’t know if their plan is to prevent me from seeking help from others or if it involves neutralizing my powers somehow.

“Kooook, you’ll do that if you must? Hahaha, check out what this girl said. Kooookoo~ that she’ll do it if she must.”

“Girls like Inna pamper her, calling her pretty, so she has no self-awareness and no fear.”

“Exactly. That’s why delinquents need a good beating once a day. Inna was too kind.”

Their giggles and laughs were both familiar and strange to me. In my previous life, it was mostly men who bullied me.

Women did occasionally h*rass others, but perhaps they feared a wild dog-like reaction from me, or maybe it was due to the handsome appearance I had back when I was male. Either way, they bullied me far less than the men.

Even so, women bullying other women is such a specialized field, even someone like me, who is familiar with being bullied, was new to this experience.

During the school trip, I almost got to see it firsthand, but I was saved by the Student Council Vice President. The incident at the desk on the first day was clearly a prank.

“Hey, aren’t you mad that we’re mocking you? Sir, with all those supernatural powers, you should give us a good spanking~. Why aren’t you using them?”

“Who would be dumb enough to诱导 someone to use their powers? Aren’t they going to seal your powers for a while with some machine if you use them?”

In a world of pure supernatural battles, it’s rare for such a device to be invented.

Usually, the more powerful the supernatural user, the more significant their role as a heroine in this world. A device like that left open the unsettling possibility that the heroines could be forced into indecent acts by others who weren’t the protagonist, thus upsetting players of the game.

Because all storytelling revolves around immersion in the protagonist, it’s probable that players would find the existence of such a device highly inconvenient. The potential for misuse was also pretty high.

If the game in question were a romantic visual novel, it would naturally be rated 19+.

There are cases where the protagonist might uniquely possess such a device, but since machines are rarely created by one individual, they are usually produced by groups or nations.

That naturally increased the likelihood that others besides the main character could use it.

Such as in my current predicament.

‘No matter how I think about it, it’s unlikely that amateurs like these could possess a fully functional device.’

Even if a machine that restricts abilities has been developed or not, this situation shows that it may not be perfect. Nevertheless, for me, encountering such a scenario would be inconvenient.

While there’s a possibility that my assumptions might be incorrect — and I hope they’re wrong —

[A person always prepares against powers that threaten them. Congratulations. You have discovered a crucial artifact linked to a main bad ending: an anti-supernatural power device.]

When the person I was conversing with withdrew a square-shaped device from their pocket, the system, which had shown no reaction to yesterday’s events, sprang to life, confirming my suspicions.

And the supernatural powers I had prepared in anticipation of a fight had become “impossible” to use the moment this thing was brought out.

“Yeah, you’re right. But, this thing kind of doesn’t work so well, so what are you going to do? Hey, you all. Just like before, try acting all high and mighty. We only listened to your requests and just restrained you when you were relying solely on your abilities, but we can’t have that now. Why? Because you have a device that can seal powers, so are you scared now?”

“I’m out of this.”

A pink-haired girl lifted her hands lightly and quietly moved to one side, away from our group.

She had already proven her strength during the recent events, so her participation would be unlikely now.

To my rational observation, one individual whose face looked swollen approached the Former Queen without fear, grabbing her collar.

“Hey, we’re talking to you? Even if you want to back out now, you can’t…”

Slap!

“Is anyone else here to beat me up along with her? If not, I’ll just stay aside until she asks for help. Apparently, not?”

Home run.

If you slap someone on the left cheek, shouldn’t you give them the right cheek as well? The slapping sound echoed through the alley, sending the woman who had been provoking the Former Queen flying somewhere far away.

As they remained silent after the Former Queen’s stern warning, I tried to activate my protective system, consulting the system window, but there was no response.

[Developed by non-ability users to counter supernatural abilities, this device is not particularly effective against ordinary supernaturals who possess enhanced physical capabilities. However, for someone like yourself who would struggle to beat even a normal teenager without abilities, this could prove disastrous. Please take care. The device does have other side effects, but they are trivial for your current situation.]

Even “bl**d Erosion” was ineffective, and since I had not fully mastered the revolutionary ability I gained the last time, I tried using it without much hope, but it too failed to activate.

With all my three supernatural powers rendered useless, my only options were to wait for reinforcements or pull out one of the powers from my list.

First, though, there was something I needed to do. After shifting my focus towards Kang Yu-ri, who was casually leaning against the wall observing the situation, I opened my mouth.

“Really not going to help?”

“Didn’t I say before? What do you need to do to ask for my help?”

“Ah, fine.”

Expecting voluntary help from her is futile. I’ll manage this myself.

“The conversation seems to be over… What should we do with this? Now we won’t touch that woman, we’ll just target you.”

A girl who had been talking nonstop from the center since earlier.

Judging from her words, this girl appeared to be the leader of the group, but I didn’t feel the need to respond to her. Just stalling like this would make me late for the exam.

“Too slow.”

“What?”

While observing the overly confident delinquents walking towards me,

And hearing the leader question their strategy,

And confirming that no reinforcements were running towards us from the distance,

I mentally prepared to activate one of the powers from my list, just like last time.

Doing so in a way that wouldn’t be neutralized like my other powers,

And picking an ending that maximized physical strength,

“Perfect Doll.”

To end it quickly,

I need to go take my exam.