The mirror is made of gold. Pure, unadulterated gold.
I stared into it, watching the crimson eyes of a monster stare back. My hand—pale, slender, and shaking slightly—reached up to touch the cold glass.
"Kevius Von Svoboda," I whispered.
The name tasted like ash and expensive wine.
I was no longer in my cramped Tokyo apartment. The smell of instant ramen and stale sweat was gone, replaced by the scent of lavender and ozone. I wasn't Khon, the thirty-five-year-old virgin, the part-timer, the failure who cried over an Honorable Mention ribbon.
I was rich. I was beautiful. I was powerful.
And I was utterly, completely screwed.
[Analyzing World Data...]
Let me explain exactly why my situation is both a blessing and a death sentence.
I am inside LADS, or Love and Death Special.
To the casual gamer, it might look like just another pretty dating simulator. But to the hardcore fans, to the industry, and to obsessed maniacs like me, LADS is a masterpiece. It is the Dark Souls of romance games.
It's unique because of its Dual Protagonist System.
If you play as a Male Protagonist, the genre becomes a harem battle fantasy. The female characters become your adorable Heroines, and the other handsome male characters become your rivals—the Villains you must defeat to protect your harem.
If you play as a Female Protagonist, the genre shifts to a classic Otome game. The male characters become your dashing Love Interests, and the female characters transform into jealous Villainesses who try to bully or kill you.
It's a brilliant, complex web of relationships where morality changes depending on who you play as.
Except for one person.
There is one variable that never changes. One constant point of darkness in this world of light.
Kevius Von Svoboda.
Whether you are a boy or a girl, whether you choose the Route of Light or the Route of Shadows, Kevius is always the Villain.
He is the Universal Antagonist. The chaotic evil. The man who tortures, manipulates, rapes, and kills without discrimination.
In the game's code, there is no "Happy Ending" where Kevius survives. His death is the trigger for the credits to roll. If Kevius lives, the world ends. If Kevius lives, the lovers remain apart. He is the lock on the gate to happiness, and the only key is his severed head.
To prepare for the cosplay competition, I didn't just play the game. I vivisected it. I played as the Male MC. I played as the Female MC. I unlocked every CG, every hidden dialogue, every tragic backstory.
I know exactly why Kevius is the way he is. And standing here, in his silk pajamas, feeling a burning sensation crawling under my skin, I know exactly what I'm up against.
"Ugh..."
A sharp pang of pain shot through my chest, radiating outward to my fingertips. It felt like someone was pumping boiling water into my veins.
I gripped the edge of the dresser, my knuckles turning white.
This is it. The setting.
In this world, the World of Arcana, magic isn't learned—it's a birthright.
Everyone is born with a specific magical affinity.
Commoners usually have basic Elemental Magic: Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Light, or Dark. Occasionally, a commoner is born with a Unique Magic, but that's as rare as winning the lottery.
Nobles, like the Svoboda family, are usually born with one or two types of Unique Magic.
Royalty are built differently; they possess three types of Unique Magic.
Take the founder of this very setting, for example. Sage Zeus Olympus. The most powerful mage in history and the founder of Luminous Academy (LA). He wielded Thunder, Gravity, and Spirit Summoning. A true monster.
And then, there's Kevius.
I looked down at my chest. Under the thin silk of the nightshirt, I could see faint, glowing purple veins pulsing rhythmically.
Kevius was born with a Unique Magic. Later in the story, he acquires a second one through dark rituals, but the one he has from birth...
It's not a gift. It's a curse.
[Unique Magic: Mana Absorption (Defective)]
Kevius is a human black hole. His body naturally pulls mana from the environment and, more painfully, from living people nearby. He is a walking Mana Powerbank.
The problem? The "output" port was sealed when he was a child due to a suspicious incident that the game writers left delightfully vague until the endgame DLC.
So, he absorbs energy constantly. He charges up, and charges up, and charges up.
If he doesn't release it, the mana pressure inside his body builds until it crushes his internal organs. It causes chronic, agonizing pain. It makes his skin sensitive to the touch. It makes him irritable, angry, and violent.
Imagine having a migraine that covers your entire body, 24/7, and it gets worse every time another person stands next to you.
That is why Kevius hates people. That is why he isolates himself.
"Hah... hah..."
I breathed through the pain, employing the breathing techniques I used during intense cosplay crafting sessions when I'd glue my fingers together.
In the game, Kevius found a solution.
It was a cruel, horrific solution.
He discovered that while he couldn't cast spells normally to release the excess mana, he could transfer it. By making direct contact—specifically, a kiss—he could force his excess mana into another person's body.
He would grab a maid or a commoner. He would kiss them. And he would dump all that volatile, high-pressure magic directly into their heart.
The result? The victim's heart would overload and explode.
Pop.
In the game lore, Kevius killed a maid almost every day. He treated human lives like disposable batteries. He murdered innocent women just to relieve his own headache.
Knock, knock.
The sound of the heavy oak door being tapped made me jump.
"L-Lord Kevius?" a trembling voice came from the hallway. "I... I have brought your morning tea."
I froze.
This was the tutorial event. I remembered this scene from the game's prologue.
In the original story, the maid enters. Kevius is in pain from a night of mana buildup. He loses his temper, grabs the maid, forces the mana into her, and kills her before breakfast. It's the scene that establishes him as the villain immediately.
My heart—no, Kevius's heart—hammered against my ribs. The pain was blinding. I needed to release this energy. My body was screaming at me to open the door, grab the girl, and dump this agony into her.
It would be so easy. It would feel so good.
No.
I gritted my teeth, biting my lip until I tasted iron.
"Come in," I said.
My voice came out deeper than I expected. Commanding. Cold.
The door creaked open. A young maid, no older than sixteen, stepped inside. She was shaking so hard the teacup on her tray rattled like a maraca. Her face was pale. She looked like she was walking into a lion's den.
She knew. Everyone in the mansion knew. If you go into Lord Kevius's room in the morning, you might not come out.
"Y-your tea, My Lord," she squeaked, keeping her eyes glued to the floor.
I looked at her.
The mana inside me surged. It wanted to leap out. It wanted to consume her.
I am Khon, I told myself firmly. I am a cosplayer. I am not a murderer.
I walked toward her. She flinched, closing her eyes, bracing for death.
I stopped two feet away. The proximity made my skin burn, but I held my posture. I kept my back straight, my chin high. The perfect posture of a Duke's son.
I reached out. She whimpered.
I took the teacup from the tray.
"Leave it," I said, my voice tight with suppressed pain.
The maid opened one eye, confused. "M-My Lord?"
"I said leave it," I snapped, turning my back to her so she wouldn't see the sweat beading on my forehead. "And get out. Your presence is... noisy."
It was a classic Kevius line. Arrogant. Dismissive.
"Y-yes! Thank you, My Lord! Thank you!"
She didn't question it. She turned and practically sprinted out of the room, closing the door with a soft click.
As soon as she was gone, I collapsed against the wall, sliding down until I hit the floor.
"Damn it," I gasped, clutching my chest. "This... is going to be harder than I thought."
I hadn't killed her. I had passed the first test.
But the mana was still there. Bubbling. Burning.
I needed to find a way to release this magic without killing people. I needed to find the protagonist's hidden items later in the Academy arc. There was an artifact—the Ring of Nullification—that could store excess mana.
But that was months away.
"I have to endure it," I whispered to the empty room. "I endured poverty. I endured rejection. I endured thirty-five years of loneliness. I can endure a little heartburn."
[The Motivation of a Monster]
I dragged myself up and walked back to the mirror.
I needed to fix my face. The pain was making me wince, and Kevius Von Svoboda does not wince. He sneers.
Why did Kevius become such a monster? Was it just the pain?
No. There was something else. A trigger that turned him from a grumpy noble into a genocidal maniac.
His Fiancée.
In the game lore, Kevius actually had someone he loved. A fiancée arranged by his parents, but one he genuinely cared for. She was the only person who didn't fear him, the only one who tried to understand his curse.
But the game is cruel.
Midway through the Academy arc, his fiancée gets murdered.
And who kills her?
If you play the Male Route, she is collateral damage in a fight between the Hero and a rival.
If you play the Female Route, she is framed and executed.
When Kevius finds out the truth—that his beloved was killed by the so-called "Heroes" of this world—he snaps.
He decides that if the world is going to take away his only light, he will extinguish the sun. He targets the Main Character. He targets the Heroines. He targets the Love Interests.
He doesn't just want to kill them.
Kevius's famous quote echoed in my mind:
"Dying is easy. It's living that scares people to death."
He wanted them to suffer. He wanted them to feel the isolation and pain he felt every day.
And that path... that path leads to his death. Every. Single. Time.
I looked at my reflection. The white hair. The red eyes. The face that launched a thousand fanfictions.
"I won't let it happen," I vowed.
I'm not the original Kevius. I don't have his attachment to this fiancée—at least, not yet. But I have the memories of the game. I know who kills her. I know when. I know how.
If I save her, I stop Kevius's descent into madness.
If I save her, I might just avoid the death flags triggered by his revenge plots.
[The New Objective]
I stood up straighter. The pain was still there, a dull roar in the background, but the adrenaline of planning was overriding it.
Some people, if they got reincarnated as a villain, would panic. They would cry. They would try to run away and live in a cave.
But me?
I looked around the room.
The furniture was mahogany. The curtains were silk. My wardrobe was filled with clothes that cost more than my entire life's earnings back in Japan.
I was fifteen years old.
I was the son of a Duke.
I was rich.
I was magically powerful.
I was handsome.
Compare that to my old life:
Thirty-five.
Broke.
Virgin.
Introverted failure.
Mocked by society.
"Go back?" I let out a low, dry chuckle. "Who in their right mind would want to go back?"
This wasn't a punishment. This was a reward.
I had spent my life pretending to be other people. I had spent my life crafting armor out of foam and dreams, trying to be someone special.
Now, I was someone special.
I grabbed the hairbrush from the vanity table. I brushed my long, white hair until it shone like starlight. I practiced the expression—chin up, eyes half-lidded, a look of utter boredom mixed with dangerous intent.
"I will fix Kevius's fate," I said to the mirror. The reflection seemed to nod back.
"I will master this cursed body. I will save the fiancée. I will dodge every death flag the developers planted."
And then?
"Then I will take my family's fortune, retire to a nice countryside estate, and live a slow life of luxury until I die of old age in a warm bed."
I won't let anyone kill Kevius.
As long as I am inside this body, the Walking Death Flag is going to be the hardest boss this world has ever seen.
I walked over to the wardrobe and pulled out the uniform of Luminous Academy. It was black and gold, sharp and military-esque.
I pulled it on. It fit perfectly. Better than any cosplay I had ever made.
I buttoned the collar, hiding the pulsing veins on my neck. I pulled on the white gloves to hide my trembling hands.
I took a deep breath, centering myself.
It was time.
The Luminous Academy Entrance Ceremony was today.
The Heroines would be there. The Heroes would be there. The plot was about to begin.
I opened the door to my room, stepping out into the grand hallway of the Svoboda estate.
The villain was awake. And he was going off-script.
To be continued.