The World After the Bad Ending

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Prologue

Clunk!

A man gracefully fell down.

Beneath his snow-white hair,
was a face that could only be described as handsome.

“Oh my, Bickamon!”

A woman following beside him hurriedly tried to lift him up.

Exquisitely dressed and beautiful,
her accessories creating an image reminiscent of a courtesan.

But the man called Bickamon didn’t budge.

No, to be precise, he couldn’t move at all.

With a stiff face, he mumbled.

“……Bickamon Niflheim.”

Dot RPG game, Magung Academy Slayer.

The third installment and the final series.
The Flaming Butterfly Arc.

In the scenario, during Act 2, Scene 3, he failed to take revenge on the protagonist
and was ultimately expelled from the academy and even cast out from his family—a third-rate villain.

After that, Bickamon used his good looks and former noble status to become a host in the underworld,
leading a parasitic life by sucking money from courtesans.

And now.

In the body of such a Bickamon.

‘I have possessed him.’

Possession in a game.
A common tale.

However, he now faced another problem.
Bickamon slowly opened the newspaper he was holding again.

[Breaking News! The Tragic Incident at Jerion Academy]

A student team challenging the Magung was slaughtered by a demon.

Elite Academy Jerion’s education is being doubted by the royal family, the church, and the public, and the list of deceased is as follows.

1. Jenia Piern

2. Ford Neumann

3. Saya Hasentain

4. Lucas Fernando

…

Lucas Fernando.

He is the protagonist of the Flaming Butterfly arc.

And now, no longer,
He no longer exists in this world.

Act 2, Scene 8.

In ‘The Childhood Friends and the Magung Breakthrough’, the protagonist died.

We are currently in winter break, just before entering Act 3, Scene 1.

In other words, the game is currently.

‘Heading into a bad ending.’

Bickamon let out a hollow laugh.

In the world after the bad ending,
he was expelled from the academy and his family,
as well as being kicked out from the storyline—a third-rate villain.

He had possessed Bickamon Niflheim.

Unfortunate.

“……unfortunate.”

The man emphasized twice.

＊ ＊ ＊

Twenty-nine.

That’s how many times I’ve cleared the Flaming Butterfly arc.

The Flaming Butterfly arc has a total of 12 canon endings and hidden endings.

And behind those.

Exist 38 bad endings.

The protagonist, Lucas, possesses the unyielding ‘Flame of Will.’

No matter what trials come, he is the steadfast protagonist moving forward.

A fitting mindset for the protagonist.

However, the path ahead of such a protagonist is lined with 38 bad endings.

Depending on how to navigate through these bad endings,
the game’s clearance status varies.

Act 2, Scene 8.

The Childhood Friends and the Magung Breakthrough.

This is also a scenario where beginners die the most.

If one is well-versed in the strategy, it’s not particularly difficult,
but if you charge in like a headbutting dinosaur without knowing the strategy, 9 out of 10 will die.

And Lucas was a headbutting dinosaur.

“Damn…….”

Profanity rolled out naturally. I grabbed at my white hair as if to rip it out.

In a world where the protagonist died and headed towards a bad ending,
this world cannot move in the right direction without Lucas.

Lucas’ unique ability,
the Flame of Will.

True to its name, the Flaming Butterfly arc’s storyline is linked from start to finish with the Flame of Will.

At the point where there’s no Flame of Will,
‘the canon is out of the question.’

A long sigh escaped.

On the day of the possession,
I shook off the courtesans that were fascinated by me and returned to the inn where I was staying.

Then, I constantly pondered what to do about this situation.

‘I don’t know how I got possessed, so obviously I don’t know how to return.’

This isn’t a possession I wanted.

Suddenly waking up as a possession.

‘Can I return to reality if I clear the game?’

That’s also extremely uncertain.
Even if the game flows according to the canon and is cleared,
there’s no guarantee I’ll return to the real world.

If so, the probability of having to live in this world is high.

‘Bickamon has nothing but his good looks and a sense of inferiority towards his sister.’

It seems he’s surviving in the underworld using that appearance,
but ultimately good looks fade with time.

You can’t live like this for a lifetime.

And most importantly.

‘The direction of the scenario’s clearance is the world’s salvation.’

In other words, if the scenario cannot move towards its end,
it means producing the opposite of salvation.

‘Destruction.’

I see the snow falling outside the window.

It’s terribly cold winter now.
But an even colder world will come to this land.

I know the result that will befall this world.
I’ve seen the phrases written on the screen countless times when hitting a bad ending.

[ Thus, the world met its destruction. ]

A short phrase.
That single phrase dizzying my mind.

Originally, it would have been enough to just restart the game.
But now I am a resident living in this world.

If the world is destroyed, I die too.

If the Flaming Butterfly arc cannot progress canonically, it will likely end in destruction.

Not knowing how to return,
I had no desire to die.

My fists clenched tightly.

If there’s no teeth, you use gums.

“……if there’s no protagonist.”

I should lead the world to the canon, even if it’s me.

But how exactly?

I feel a sense of hopelessness.

Bickamon Niflheim has already been expelled from the academy.

The main stage of the Flaming Butterfly arc’s story is Jerion Academy.

If you don’t belong to Jerion Academy, no scenario can proceed.

Even so, this kind of unfairness doesn’t exist.
Whether it’s an extra or a third-rate villain,
at the very least I should have been attached to the academy.

There’s a limit to misfortune.
I momentarily covered my face with my hands in silence.
Then one thought abruptly sparked in my mind.

“……Isn’t it impossible?”

At that moment, one thing popped into my head.

‘Hidden Character.’

Hanon Irey.

She is a character transferring to Jerion Academy in the first semester of her second year in Act 3, Scene 1.

However, this character has one blind spot.
While the transfer procedures have already been completed,
unless certain conditions are met, Hanon does not come to transfer.

If she doesn’t transfer, Hanon falls into a wandering fixation and roams the world aimlessly.

In other words, she becomes a completely out-of-scenario character.

“If I pretend to be Hanon.”

It becomes possible to enter Jerion Academy.

The problem is how to pretend to be Hanon.

The answer comes from game strategies.

Originally, it’s an item that the protagonist uses in a later infiltration operation.

‘Veil Bandage.’

It perfectly changes your appearance to someone else, but
if used for a long time, one of the emotions randomly defects.

‘The types of defective emotions are three.’

Sorrow, anger, love.

The protagonist loses ‘love’ due to the abuse of the Veil Bandage.
But later, through the help of the chosen main heroine, he regains love.

Emotional defects have a solution.

The downside is that this is only possible at the very end of the scenario.

Additionally, unlike the protagonist Lucas, I don’t know which emotion will defect.
“Oh, it’s fine.”

Even if one of the three emotions disappears,
guiding it to a clearance isn’t a problem.

Fortunately, Bickamon was a guy who loved to accumulate money.
I could use this money to get the Veil Bandage.

“Hang in there. I…….”

I will definitely lead the world after the bad ending.

To canon!