I Don’t Want to be a Villainess

“……Our homeroom teacher couldn’t come to school due to personal matters. So today, I’ll be holding the meeting instead.”

At those words from the teacher, the classroom fell silent.

Well, actually, it would be more accurate to say it had been quiet even before that.

And it was only after I heard that that I began to piece together how the situation was unfolding.

Sara had been kidnapped at school.

And the one who cooperated in kidnapping her was none other than Choi Na-kyung, and the school itself.

Of course, it wasn’t that they genuinely helped in the kidnapping. But that didn’t mean they were innocent either.

If it were other people, maybe they wouldn’t have known. Meeting Sara or Choi Na-kyung for the first time, they’d just see two people who looked like a mother and daughter. If Choi Na-kyung showed up to look for Sara, the school would probably guide her to where Sara was without question.

The problem was that Choi Na-kyung had never treated Sara like a normal daughter.

Though it’s not uncommon to hear about adoptive parents failing to properly raise their children, Choi Na-kyung had long since crossed that line. Even when Sara was little, she had isolated her and prevented her from meeting others.

And the central location of that isolation was the school.

It made sense. To hide the fact that Sara was “being abused,” she had to be sent to school.

And at school, where she spent more than half of her waking hours, excluding vacations, Sara was thoroughly isolated.

Thanks to Choi Na-kyung’s money and bribery.

Due to rumors with no real evidence.

And the teachers who knew this and turned a blind eye weren’t innocent either. Even if it wasn’t outright kidnapping, how could they allow those two to be together, knowing what could happen when they were alone?

Regardless of whether they were investigated by the police or whether they ran away in fear of it, this situation was more than enough to cause trouble.

Thinking that way, I could also understand the actions of about half the students who hadn’t shown up for class.

Choi Na-kyung had gone missing for some reason after trying to kidnap Sara.

In other words, the top executive of Yujin Group had vacated her position. And not for lawful or commendable reasons.

Of course, that didn’t mean the management rights would immediately transfer to someone else…

If Choi Na-kyung was gone, naturally, I was the one with the most shares in Yujin Electronics.

I wasn’t sure if I’d bear any legal responsibilities, but I understood that they wanted to stay as far away from me as possible.

In fact, it was quite effective. I didn’t remember the faces and names of my classmates one by one. If someone vanished right in front of me, I wouldn’t immediately recall them.

Right, I wouldn’t be able to remember ‘right away.’

Not that I couldn’t ever remember.

A chuckle escaped me without me realizing it.

I wasn’t pleased that Choi Na-kyung had kidnapped Sara. Such things shouldn’t happen if it could be avoided.

But thanks to that, relationships could be resolved in an instant.

The teachers of this school, and the students who bullied Sara too.

If possible, I hoped they would ‘truly’ feel remorse.

Otherwise, I’d make them feel that way.

*

“……”

“……What are you staring at?”

Glancing up at Nam Da-un, who was staring at me intently, I said this, and he frowned.

“Uh…Is it okay?”

“Does it look like I’m okay?”

“……”

Was my tone too snappy?

The lines on Nam Da-un’s forehead deepened even further.

Actually, I could see why he reacted that way. Rather than a concerned expression, he looked like he was witnessing something incredibly fascinating.

Well, he probably wasn’t completely unconcerned. After all, Nam Da-un was a fundamentally kind character.

“Hmm.”

“If something’s off, you should talk about it. Don’t just stare at me like that.”

“No, um, I mean…”

Nam Da-un stared quietly at me with a look that said it was incredibly difficult to articulate, before finally speaking.

“You seem a bit different.”

A chill almost ran down my spine at that moment.

The reason it stopped at ‘almost’ was that I knew well Nam Da-un wasn’t the type to say something like that to hit on me.

Even if I was now living in a girl’s body, I didn’t want to discard my identity. Just the other day, I had shared a… kiss with Sara…

…Though I felt a bit guilty since there was quite an age gap.

Anyway, my sexual identity remained exactly the same as it had been in my previous life. If a guy showed sexual interest in me, it would just make me feel bad.

Seeing me frown, Nam Da-un waved his hands dismissively.

“No, what I mean is, you seem different from how you were before, and how you are now.”

“What do you—”

I was about to speak when I felt another shiver.

Huh?

“I thought your personality was gradually changing, but today it seems like you’re back to your original self. I was wondering if that was related to what happened last time.”

“……”

I didn’t know how to respond.

That was because what Nam Da-un said was very accurate.

When I first started taking running lessons from him, it was me controlling Sara’s body, and until recently, Sara had been moving on her own.

And now I was back to being me again.

…Could he perhaps have some sixth sense?

Usually, the only thing I’d see through Sara’s eyes was her radiant face, and even that had become so familiar to me that I didn’t pay much attention anymore.

I didn’t want to recall the fact that there were fantasy elements at play in this world now.

I turned to look at Ha Neul, Sohee, and Sua, who had followed me. The three of them seemed to be a little tense, trying to catch what Nam Da-un was saying.

The fact that Sara and I existed as separate identities was something that absolutely needed to be kept from the world… not that it was entirely necessary, but I still wanted to hide it from others as much as possible.

Neither Sara nor I had the tendency to lash out at others, and certainly wouldn’t brandish a knife or suddenly go mad to fight anyone—

But combined with the unstable side Sara had shown in her childhood and the crazy antics I displayed at the beginning of the semester, we would surely come off as a ‘stereotypical psychopath.’

And that would probably follow us like a tag, circulating through people’s mouths.

“Uh, maybe…?”

But it would be awkward to outright lie. If Nam Da-un really had the capacity to perceive those sorts of things, he would easily see through any falsehoods I tried to spin.

So I evasively responded.

“Hmm.”

Nam Da-un, who had been looking down at me quietly, shrugged his shoulders and said,

“Well, at least it doesn’t seem like you’ve suffered serious psychological trauma, so that’s a relief.”

With such a grand ability, wouldn’t it be wise to pursue a career as a counselor or psychiatrist? No, I already knew he was talented in soccer, but if he had to choose between ‘great talent’ and ‘supernatural powers,’ the latter would surely be the better moneymaker, right?

But then, judging one’s future by that metric didn’t really seem like something a male protagonist of a dating sim would do.

“Okay, okay.”

Attempting to break the slightly awkward atmosphere, Nam Da-un clapped his hands and said,

“Then, just like always, let’s go running—”

Just as I was about to say, “Let’s give it a try,” Nam Da-un suddenly clamped his mouth shut.

His gaze fixed to one side, and when I turned to follow his gaze, I saw someone walking this way.

…And that person’s face was quite unwelcome.

“……”

With hands stuffed into my pockets, about ten steps away from me, he said,

“Looks like you’re okay.”

With an extremely deadpan voice, he asked.

“……Why are you here?”

I asked Yoon Da-ho, who had come looking for me.

“Don’t worry. I didn’t come here because I wanted to.”

“Well, that’s a relief.”

At least he didn’t drop any creepy lines like Nam Da-un.

Instead, he had a talent for just ruining people’s moods outright.

Is this also a supernatural ability? In games, they often depict rich characters like him as having superpowers.

Though in reality, he was just a lesser version of my financial assets.

Yoon Da-ho took his left hand out of his pocket to check the time on his smartwatch. He shrugged his shoulders as he did so.

“I didn’t get you a gift since I figured you wouldn’t want one. But just in case someone from my side asks you, I hope you’ll say I asked about your well-being.”

“……Didn’t you want to break off the engagement? In that case, wouldn’t it be better not to do something like that?”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m doing my best in my own way.”

Yoon Da-ho frowned again as he stuffed his hand back into his pocket. Was talking to me really that bothersome?

“I definitely came. Remember that.”

…Should I just say later that it never happened when someone from his side approached me?

Honestly, saying that would probably be a level of innocence that could pass for not guilty.

“Hmm?”

Ha Neul, who had been looking at Yoon Da-ho, suddenly said something.

“What?”

I wondered if she had seen something I had missed, but Ha Neul shook her head.

“Um, no, I just thought I might have seen something wrong.”

“Really…?”

Well, if that’s the case, so be it.

I shrugged my shoulders slightly and began to stretch a bit before we started running.

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