What would you think if you discovered that the life you had been living all this time was actually inside a romance world?
What would you do?
Would you take over the role of the Protagonist?
Steal all the Heroines?
Destroy the plot entirely?
Become a villain?
Oh, if you chose any of the options I just mentioned, then honestly, that would be a perfectly reasonable choice.
After all, who wouldn't want to become the Protagonist who is adored and praised by everyone?
Especially the pleasure of stealing all the Heroines who were supposedly already destined to end up with the original Protagonist.
Those choices are, in fact, the majority decision of almost everyone who becomes aware that they are living inside a romance world or a novel world.
Oh? You're wondering why I'm rambling incoherently instead of just starting the story already?
Well… just like the rambling I mentioned earlier, I realized that I might actually be living in a romance world.
I lowered my gaze, looking at the letter I was holding with trembling hands. A bright blue blanket—the kind you always find in hospitals—covered my body, while my head was wrapped in bandages.
To be honest, if I knew that I was in a romance world, I would definitely choose everything I mentioned earlier.
Shifting the role of the Protagonist.
Stealing all the Heroines.
And ruining the plot that had already been arranged so it would bend according to my own desires.
But after seeing the letter beneath my hands… all of the fantasies I had built up instantly collapsed into nothing.
Written on the letter I was reading, using a red pen—
No, not a pen.
More accurately, it was written in blood.
"Do not make the Protagonist unhappy, or the world will end."
I found myself wondering who could have sent this letter.
A normal person would probably think that the contents of this letter were nothing more than nonsense, or perhaps someone playing a sick prank on me.
However, after remembering the bandages on my head, and recalling my own behavior before that incident occurred, it felt reasonable for me to believe this letter, at least a little.
Because at that time…
I had slightly mocked the Protagonist.
You're probably wondering what I did that was so bad that I ended up being terrorized by a letter written in blood.
Well, you see…
I punched that dense, stone-headed Protagonist.
Let me tell you a little about what happened back then.
***
Ding-dong.
Ding-dong.
The lunch break bell rang. I closed my book, and so did the Professor standing at the front of the classroom.
The Professor left shortly after, leaving the blackboard filled with explanations about the origins of the strange powers that had appeared 151 years ago.
Back then, in the year 1883, one of the largest mountains in Indonesia—Mount Krakatoa—erupted, producing a catastrophic explosion.
The eruption caused countless disasters: massive tsunamis, the deaths of tens of thousands, volcanic ash raining down from the sky, and even global climate changes.
Observers believed that those were the only consequences of the Krakatoa eruption.
They were wrong.
Within that eruption, something else was carried along—monsters, creatures whose origins remain unknown to this day.
These monsters possessed a distinct characteristic: they could release flames or magma from their bodies. Their forms were composed of stone that continuously melted and reformed.
In an instant, the death toll surged from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. The monsters roamed freely everywhere. Governments fell into chaos. Military assistance was deployed.
But all of that meant nothing in the face of those insane monsters.
A tank melted instantly from a single blast of fire.
The government quickly descended into despair and even considered launching nuclear weapons to fight back.
However, before that decision could be carried out…
Someone suddenly appeared.
That person single-handedly defeated hundreds of those monsters.
He flew through the sky with white wings, and in his hand, the Spear of Longinus shone with blinding brilliance.
That individual came to be known as humanity's first Hero, the savior of mankind.
The first Hamartia.
All of the magma monsters were defeated, and humanity once again survived a massive catastrophe.
Peace returned.
Or so they thought.
What few people knew was that from every disaster produced by the Earth, hundreds or even thousands of new monsters would emerge.
A tsunami? Say hello to water monsters.
An earthquake? Prepare yourself to be crushed by stone golems.
And with each of these disasters, dozens—sometimes hundreds—of new Hamartia would also appear.
Each of them possessed power, and each of them also carried a weakness tied to that power.
That was precisely why they were called:
Hamartia.
Anyway, that was what our Professor had just finished explaining in front of the blackboard.
I spun my pen between my fingers while reading the novel I had brought with me, occasionally glancing at the status window floating in front of me.
[Name: Nico Augustus]
[Hamartia: None]
[Strength: B]
[Agility: B–]
[Durability: B–]
[Luck: F–]
I found myself wondering when my Hamartia would finally awaken.
Everyone else in my year had already awakened theirs. Why was I the only one who hadn't?
I came to a simple conclusion.
It had to be because my Luck stat was absolute trash.
I let out a heavy sigh.
"Gabriel~ Have you eaten yet? Would you like to try my cooking? There's a secret ingredient, you know~"
"Gabriel! Don't listen to that shameless fox!"
"G-Gabriel… I still have some food I made yesterday. W-Would you like to try it…?"
Beautiful, irritatingly sweet voices suddenly descended from above my head.
I glanced toward the upper corner seats.
There, a black-haired boy with spiky hair—looking exactly like some generic isekai-slop Protagonist—was sitting while being surrounded by three girls whose beauty was completely mismatched with him.
One leaned seductively against his desk.
Another shouted angrily, yet somehow cutely.
And the last one spoke softly, shyly trying to offer him her homemade food.
I immediately looked away.
Below them, a new girl wearing glasses, with long bangs covering part of her face, kept glancing in his direction.
A new Heroine, most likely.
Yes, this bullshit happened every single day, and frankly, I was sick of it.
Dammit, I really wished I had brought my earphones today.
"Gabriel! Try my food!"
"Gabriel~ Try mine instead~"
"G-Gabriel… this is for you…"
Just eat their fucking food and make them shut the fuck up already.
Seriously.
I looked around the classroom.
One person scratched his head in irritation.
Another put on his earphones and cranked the volume to the maximum.
Yet another student left the classroom entirely, already fed up with their antics.
Congratulations. You're a public nuisance.
The boy at the center of it all raised his hand, smiling awkwardly.
"Ah… sorry, everyone… I already ate some bread earlier when I was on my way here…"
The expressions on the three girls' faces instantly fell, and the atmosphere shifted.
BANG!
"Are you fucking kidding me!"
The Protagonist—no, that dense Protagonist—flinched as he watched me slam my desk.
I stood up and walked toward their table with rough, deliberate steps.
"Hey, what the hell—!" the girl sitting on his desk shouted.
"Shut up."
I stood directly in front of the so-called Protagonist, my tall body casting a shadow that completely covered him.
I grabbed his tie roughly.
The three Heroines around him gasped and tried to stop me, but their small bodies were meaningless against my trained physique.
"Hey. Listen to my words properly with those useless ears of yours," I said, my voice slipping out through clenched teeth.
The Protagonist widened his eyes as I roughly grabbed his tie.
"I don't know how you managed to be born without a shred of common sense," I continued, "but at the very least, if you want to flirt around with your bargain-bin Heroines, do it somewhere private, you idiot."
"Hey! What's your problem?!" the girl with twin-tails, who looked like she belonged in the loli category, snapped at me.
"My problem?" I turned my gaze toward her.
"You." I pointed at her, all while still gripping the Protagonist's tie.
The four of them fell silent.
Even the Protagonist himself stayed quiet. What, was he so scared that he couldn't even protect his precious girls now?
I went on.
"You—and your cheap soap-opera drama—are making everyone in this classroom suffer! Hell, I've even thought about transferring to another institute because of you guys!"
Someone let out a small snicker at that.
"That's your reason?" The flirtatious Heroine opened her mouth again. "You're just jealous. Let me guess, you don't have a single girl who's interested in you."
I looked at her with a stare full of disbelief.
Did their IQ get forcibly lowered whenever they were within a certain radius of this guy?
"Hey." I tapped my temple. "Is that thing still functioning?"
"You—!" Her eyes sharpened.
"Oh, I see," I continued calmly. "Looks like all the nutrients from your meals went straight to your chest instead."
My eyes briefly drifted toward her noticeably large breasts.
She stood up immediately, her fists clenched, her face red with rage.
"You ass—!"
Bam!
A sharp pain exploded across my cheek. I turned my head toward the source.
It wasn't the girl who had hit me.
It was the Protagonist himself.
The Protagonist punched me, his face filled with anger.
"I can accept it if you insult me," he said, his voice trembling. "I don't even mind if you hit me or torture me. But the moment you insult Rachel and Vivi, you've crossed the line."
I went silent for a moment, feeling the aftermath of his punch.
…This was strange.
He was incredibly weak.
It felt less like being punched and more like being lightly hit with a thrown stone.
After receiving that punch, I didn't bother thinking any further.
All the anger I had been suppressing because of their daily behavior exploded at once.
I dragged the Protagonist with me. Chairs toppled over, desks scattered, and before anyone could stop me, I slammed him against the wall.
Thud!
"Someone! Call the Professor or the discipline committee!" the large-chested Heroine shouted.
I leaned my head closer to the Protagonist.
He struggled desperately, trying to break free from my grip on his collar.
His eyes burned with a fierce flame, one intense enough to make me pause for just a second.
"What?" I sneered. "Just because you tried to play the hero and protect those girls, you think you're being noble? You think that makes me the villain and you the hero?"
The Protagonist grinned, blood forming at the corner of his mouth.
"Haha… you say we're disturbing the class, but right now, you're the one causing all the trouble."
I frowned deeply, my brows knitting together.
How could a main character be this stupid?
I genuinely couldn't understand the kind of logic protagonists like him operated on. For a moment, I was completely speechless.
Maybe this guy didn't know how I had managed to survive for so long in this Hamartia training institute without possessing a Hamartia of my own.
I had a naturally strong physique, something I trained day and night without missing a single session.
I clenched my fist, preparing to give this Protagonist a proper beating.
But before I could do anything—
"Entangle…"
A soft voice echoed from behind me.
Instantly, plants with sharp wooden vines wrapped around my entire body. It felt like if I moved even slightly, my skin would be torn apart.
I shifted my gaze backward.
There stood a girl forming hand signs I couldn't understand.
The same girl who had been constantly glancing at the Protagonist earlier.
The girl I had assumed was a new Heroine candidate.
Haha, so this world really was a Romance world, blessed with a favored Protagonist.
That girl hadn't even interacted with the Protagonist before, and yet she still chose to help him without hesitation.
Being a Protagonist really must feel amazing, huh.
I shot a sharp glare toward the girl, rage boiling in my chest.
But that glare slowly turned into confusion.
Why was her expression…
As if she were holding back sadness while looking at me?
Before I could ask anything, members of the discipline committee arrived and forcefully separated us.
I couldn't do anything. The discipline committee possessed Hamartia abilities that could defeat me in an instant.
The three Heroines immediately rushed toward the Protagonist, their expressions filled with worry, and sharp hostility directed at me.
"What the hell did you do?! Nico!"
Someone called out my name.
I turned my head toward the voice.
A tall man stood there, his physique well-built, his face—though I was somewhat reluctant to admit it—quite handsome.
He ran a hand through his hair, brushing it back in frustration.
"This is insane. I never thought that Nico—the one who always acted calm and cold—would explode like this."
Myriel glanced around the classroom, taking in the sight of overturned desks and scattered chairs.
"Do you have a reason to explain all of this, Nico?"
I fell silent.
"I…"
My gaze drifted, almost against my will, toward the girl who had used her Hamartia on me earlier.
Her expression—one that felt like it was suppressing far too many emotions—refused to leave my mind.
As if sensing my gaze, the girl briefly looked in my direction.
For just a moment, she flashed a smile at me.
Then, without saying a word, she quickly turned around and left the classroom.
I stood there, stunned.
…Who was she?.