The World After the Bad Ending - Chapter 1

Six academies built atop a vast labyrinth.

Which of them is considered the most prestigious?

No matter who you ask, the answer is unanimous.

The Zeryon Academy of the Hyserion Empire.

It was founded by Zeryon, the Sage of Transcendence.

Clip-clop, clip-clop—

A carriage made its way toward the Zeryon Academy.

To reach the academy, one must cross the longest bridge in the world, the Oblex.

Beneath the towering Oblex Bridge lies a vast forest and river.

Ordinarily, such a scene would be considered beautiful, but not this one.

The forest is tainted by the poisonous miasma that seeps from the underground labyrinth.

Watching the carriage cross the Oblex Bridge, a woman stood idly by the window.

Her long black hair, as dark as ink, cascaded over her snow-white forehead.

Her red eyes, reminiscent of rubies, combined with these features to create an impression akin to that of a graceful long-haired cat.

This woman had devoured princes and princesses, eventually rising to second in line for the imperial throne.

Third Princess Iris Hyserion.

People called her ‘the Final Villainess’.

And now, this villainess was watching the carriage outside the window.

The person in that carriage was a distant relative of hers.

Not a member of the royal family, though.

The boy inside the carriage had maternal blood from his mother, who had once been a duchess before becoming a concubine to the emperor.

In other words, he was the child of a troublesome aunt who had left her family of her own accord due to her restless nature.

To make matters worse, his father was a noble in name only, from a remote region.

The boy was neither royalty nor part of the duchy.

In fact, he had no direct connection to the imperial family.

But his hair and eye color were strikingly similar.

Though his appearance bore some resemblance, his status was entirely different.

“Must be nice.”

She frowned, clearly displeased.

Why had the boy suddenly transferred at this time?

“Did the Duke send him?”

Perhaps he was sent to investigate the recent events in the labyrinth.

“All for that wretched throne.”

Recalling her grandfather the Duke’s ambitions, she closed her eyes.

Dark circles appeared under them.

It seemed she wouldn’t be able to sleep again tonight.

* * *

Inside the carriage crossing the Oblex Bridge, the boy’s black hair swayed with the carriage’s jolts.

His long black lashes, and his red eyes, which somehow gave off a gloomy aura.

Despite his age, his face looked deceptively youthful.

Compared to others his age, he was noticeably small and thin.

His appearance was the very definition of a ‘boy’.

And that was no surprise.

He was a hidden character, transferred in under special conditions.

The boy’s name was Airei.

He was designed as a pretty-boy character meant to attract female players or certain male players of the game.

And the one acting this out right now is me.

‘Sighing comes naturally.’

Damn, I used to be 185 cm tall, but now I’m stuck as a 165 cm runt.

I feel like I’ve lost something valuable.

Still, I have to live in this form for the time being.

No, actually.

After all the trouble I went through, I have to make use of it.

‘How much effort did it take to get the Veil Bandages?’

Just thinking about those difficult days makes my head throb.

After scouring the black market and asking around everywhere, I finally found the Veil Bandages.

The problem was one of the mid-game bosses, the Mad Sorceress ‘Vinesha’, who came after it.

After a long series of tactical battles with her, I managed to pass the Dark Trial first.

I bought the Veil Bandages, all while hearing Vinesha’s curses as I made a quick escape.

I even grabbed a few of her possessions on the way out.

‘She’ll probably come to kill me later, no doubt about it.’

Just thinking about all that effort, I know the Veil Bandages have to be worth it.

‘I nearly missed the transfer deadline, too.’

I tugged at the collar of my high-necked shirt.

It was to hide the Veil Bandages I had wrapped underneath.

Now, I’m no longer Vikarmern Niflheim.

I’m Hanon Airei.

And from now on, I have to manage everything in place of the protagonist, Lucas.

‘I wonder how much of a mess the academy has become in the time the protagonist has been absent.’

Through the carriage window, I could see Zeryon Academy.

The academy was brimming with a sinister atmosphere.

I could only hope it wasn’t in worse shape than I imagined.

Suppressing my growing anxiety, I pressed on.

* * *

Zeryon Academy is the most prestigious of all six academies.

Its grounds are so vast, it practically forms its own island.

Starting with the world’s largest Oblex Bridge, beneath which lies the Forest of Magic, and beyond it, the endless blue southern sea, the Aron Sea.

There’s also the world’s first airstrip, the Grey Magic Tower, and to the north, the Great Dragon Mountain Range.

The sheer scale of Zeryon Academy leaves newcomers in awe.

In the center of these enormous grounds stands the main building of Zeryon Academy, and inside that building,

I was walking with a professor.

The professor, who walked like a zombie, had short bobbed hair swaying as she moved.

Her face wasn’t bad to begin with.

But her disheveled clothing, sagging shoulders, and her face, tired and worn down by exhaustion, ruined it all.

“Ugh, I need a drink. My blood alcohol level is way too low.”

Her name was Beganon Mercia, a severe alcoholic.

Surprisingly, she was the second-year professor of martial arts.

She often provided fan service, frequently revealing skin when drunk, making her quite popular among the players.

But now that I was facing her in person, I could understand why people didn’t speak well of Professor Beganon.

‘The smell of alcohol is overwhelming.’

The stench of alcohol was unbearable—something I never noticed in the game.

The smell kept stinging my nose until it was almost numb.

Is it really okay for a professor to be like this?

As I questioned that, I noticed the classroom nameplate that read ‘2nd Year Martial Arts Class’.

The classroom was massive, just as I remembered it from the game.

I had seen it countless times while playing the Blazing Butterfly arc.

Of course it felt familiar.

I stared blankly at the entrance.

It suddenly hit me.

The fact that I was really inside the Blazing Butterfly arc.

And with it, the thought of meeting so many supporting characters and heroines.

My heart started racing at the thought.

I was a hardcore veteran of the Blazing Butterfly arc.

So the idea of seeing the in-game characters in person made me unintentionally excited.

“Alrighty then.”

While I was caught between excitement and nervousness,

Professor Beganon pushed open the classroom door.

In an instant, the noisy classroom went silent.

She trudged inside, and I let out a quiet breath.

‘Don’t be nervous.’

I was Hannon Airei, a character who had just transferred in, only a few days after the start of the second semester of the second year.

‘Alright.’

I finished mentally preparing myself and stepped forward.

As soon as I entered the classroom, all eyes turned toward me.

“That’s the transfer student.”

“Yeah, they said he’d be coming today.”

“Black hair and red eyes—that color combination is definitely…”

“Shh, quiet.”

I overheard the murmurs of the students.

I recognized every one of them.

Some were just extras, filling out the background like in the game.

But among them, I saw the supporting characters connected to Lucas.

“Tsk.”

One supporting character clearly didn’t welcome me.

“Heh.”

Another smiled at me, letting out a nasal laugh.

“……”

Yet another simply stared at me in silence, offering no reaction.

But there was one person in particular.

My gaze stopped on her.

In a seat near the corner of the room, her short honey-blonde hair caught my attention.

She was supposed to be the heroine, the childhood friend who would endlessly encourage the protagonist.

Isabel Luna.

But now, there wasn’t a trace of light in her face.

There was only one thing that had fallen over her—

a shadow.

Her eyes, once bright and full of life, were now dull, empty, and devoid of will.

The very symbol of brightness, now sitting there utterly broken.

Without anyone noticing, my fist clenched tightly.

That sight made it painfully clear that we were in a bad ending.

She was a childhood friend who had grown up being cherished, always the closest companion.

Now, she had lost that friend and, along with it, her will to live.

That was the current Isabel Luna.

Isabel was one of the main heroines in the Blazing Butterfly arc.

Always bright and dependable, she stood by the protagonist’s side as a trusted ally.

If I had to describe her, she was like a sunflower.

A sunflower looking up at the sun that was Lucas.

But without the sun, a sunflower wilts, its head hanging low.

Isabel, who had lost her sun—Lucas—could no longer raise her head.

All that remained for her now was to slowly wither away.

I was sure of it.

In the game’s scenario, after Lucas dies during the 1st year dungeon challenge, leading to the bad ending, there’s a single line that follows.

‘One year later. Isabel Luna, unable to overcome her grief, decided to follow Lucas in death.’

After Lucas’s death, Isabel eventually commits suicide.

This was the only glimpse the game gave into the world after the bad ending.

Despite her naturally bright personality that drew people to her, and even though many friends remained by her side after Lucas’s death, she still chose to take her own life.

Without Lucas, her sun, there was no hope for her to keep living.

Seeing Isabel now, I was sure of it.

She would eventually end her life in the near future.

My fist quietly tightened again.

Isabel plays an even bigger role than the protagonist in the later parts of the Blazing Butterfly arc.

Without her, the arc cannot reach its conclusion.

And that means, the world can’t move forward from the bad ending.

So, what must I do?

“Introduce yourself.”

Professor Beganon, leaning against the desk, waved her hand lazily.

Finally breaking my gaze from Isabel, I took a small breath.

I could feel the weight of all the eyes on me.

I’ve never had stage fright or anything like that, but trying to fix this world after it plunged into a bad ending made me nervous.

Of course, Isabel didn’t even glance in my direction.

A sunflower wilts when there’s no sun.

What Isabel needs is definitely the sun.

But that doesn’t mean I can be Lucas, her sun.

I never intended to be the sun in the first place.

I was Hannon Airei, though in truth, I was actually Vikarmern Niflheim.

But that didn’t matter.

“I read an article about the Zerion Academy a little while ago.”

The fact that I brought up a newspaper article instead of introducing myself seemed to confuse and intrigue the students.

As I looked at them, I continued speaking slowly.

“The article said this: last year, all the 1st-year students were wiped out in the dungeon because of an Apostle.”

For the first time, Isabel’s shoulders flinched.

When I mentioned Lucas, she weakly looked at me.

As I said earlier, I couldn’t be her sun.

‘Pathetic.’

So instead, I decided to be the moon.

Isabel’s eyes began to widen slowly.

“Who was the team leader at the time again? It must’ve been that loser’s fault.”

The team leader had, of course, been Lucas Fernando.

The students’ expressions hardened.

Everyone knew who had suffered the most since that incident.

Glance—

The students looked nervously at Isabel.

Sure enough, a deep fury began to emerge in her eyes.

Isabel had struggled the most with Lucas’s death.

And now, she was hearing someone insult Lucas right to her face.

What did that mean?

It meant that, in this moment,

I had crossed an irreversible line with Isabel.

“I am here.”

Isabel, remember this well.

“To make sure that no further disgrace comes to the prestigious Zerion Academy.”

From now on, I would be your mortal enemy, the one who would force you to keep living by turning your anger into a driving force.

“I am Hannon Airei. Nice to meet you all.”

That’s who I am.