I Don’t Want to be a Villainess

Sua’s lips brushed against my cheek.

They were incredibly soft and warm. Maybe a little sticky, since Sua just applied some lip gloss.

Of course, normally I would have completely overlooked this, but after receiving a much stronger stimulus just moments ago, I could still maintain a level of reason.

Yeah, ‘a level’ of reason.

I had received kisses from two beautiful girls multiple times, but that didn’t mean I was used to it. In my previous life, I hadn’t even kissed a girl, let alone been in a relationship, so I had extremely low resistance in this area.

Turning my head, flushed, I saw Sua also blushing bright red.

“I like you.”

Her expression looked like she was about to spill tears, and I lost my words.

She leaned over, looking at me over my shoulder, while I turned to face her. We locked eyes.

In Sua’s clear, lake-like gaze, it felt like rain was about to pour down.

Maybe Sua was feeling extreme embarrassment, close to bursting into tears.

Of course, she was handling it well. It was painfully adorable.

“I don’t know what answer you gave to Ha Neul, but whatever it was, I like you. I think I liked you even before Ha Neul did.”

She spoke as if she knew exactly what Ha Neul had done first.

Or maybe it was just a natural assumption. Since Sua entered shortly after Ha Neul, and she saw the ‘friendship ring’ on my left hand, she could guess what was going on.

Yeah, that was the extent of my reasoning.

But even if Sua had some misunderstanding, I couldn’t clear it up easily.

Because my throat felt choked up, and my voice wouldn’t come out.

The kiss on the cheek from Sua was less intense than the lips that had overlapped with Ha Neul multiple times. That was only natural.

But the concept of ‘two girls confessing to me in one day’ was infinitely more stimulating. I had never been popular with girls in my past life.

Moreover…

Moreover, what had Sua said to me?

Right, she said ‘even before Ha Neul liked you.’

Of course, that might just be Sua’s perspective. I couldn’t know exactly when Ha Neul started liking me as a romantic prospect, and I suspected Sua couldn’t either.

Perhaps she felt something in sympathy as someone who likes someone else.

Ha Neul claimed she liked me before meeting Sara. Assuming she fell quickly—no, assuming it was love at first sight—

This could imply that Sua felt the same way.

…That means she liked not me, but Sara?

Sara was pretty. Many would feel a fondness just from her looks.

As I was trying to piece my thoughts together,

“I felt it for the first time when we talked. You treated me without any prejudice when I was the one who started the conversation. I admired how you accepted me casually, even knowing I was getting unfair treatment from others.”

“Uh, no, Sua, wait a minute.”

If we go by that, it should be Sara who initiated it before me.

Just as Sua should apologize to Sara, saying that my attitude and Sara’s were contradictory, Susu had made a misunderstanding.

But before I could finish my thought,

“I know.”

She quickly cut me off.

“I know. It was a misunderstanding. The feelings I first had for you were merely my delusion, and I now realize that the real ‘Sara’ is different.”

As she spoke, she seemed to calm down, and the tears that had been on the verge of spilling were no longer in sight.

Instead, behind her blue eyes, a resolve was settling in.

That resolve was likely an intention to confront her feelings head-on with me, as this was finally our moment.

“But I don’t regret it. I’ve seen how you’ve been since then. I’ve seen what the person I like has done. I know how kind you are…”

Sua swallowed hard.

“…And also how amazing you are.”

“……”

Now my mouth hung open, refusing to close. It felt like my jaw was malfunctioning.

As I stared blankly at Sua, she stood up straight. Slowly, she turned and stood in front of me. My gaze followed her face, naturally.

Now we faced each other.

Normally, Sua was a little shorter, but since I was sitting in a chair, I had to look quite a way up at her, while she looked down at me from above.

“So, I like you.”

Sua smiled brightly.

That expression earlier, looking like she was about to burst into tears, was now replaced with pure joy.

It was as if just thinking of me made her that happy.

She was beaming.

“I like you.”

And then, Sua leaned in closer to me.

This time, it was her lips, not her cheek.

chu

A very, very brief—shorter than Ha Neul or Sara—kiss, then Sua swiftly turned and dashed away.

Sitting there for a while, I buried my face in my hands.

I wanted to scream.

No, it wasn’t out of fear; rather, I wanted to scream from embarrassment. The girls around me liked me this much, and yet I had no clue.

No, more than that, this situation made no sense. Clearly, in the game that inspired this world, Yoo Ha-neul was the main character. The charm of the game was roaming around managing various beautiful girls and pretty boys as rewinding selections. Naturally, I thought the story would revolve around Yoo Ha-neul.

So if a harem formed, it should be centered around Yoo Ha-neul.

But Ha Neul’s choice was me.

So until Sua came in, I thought that I was following a sort of modified Sara route. I was seriously contemplating how to react, and yet…

Was it actually I who was on the harem route?

…No, wait a moment.

Suddenly, a thought sparked in my mind.

In typical harem stories, the moment the ‘harem’ begins to take shape is when the protagonist is usually the last to realize it. In fact, the harem would be essentially formed before that, and once the protagonist starts to receive confessions, chaos ensues. As a result, the protagonist faces a complete impasse where they end up with no one.

So maybe…

“…No way.”

The first person that came to mind was always Sohee, who followed me around. She showed me great affection and would do anything if it was what I wanted.

…Thinking back, she had been an outright scary bully in front of others, yet with me, she acted like a big puppy.

She got really jealous when Sua and I bathed…

…

Oh.

Bathing.

…

So lately, due to one ‘shower stall,’ I had been washing up alternately with Ha Neul, Sua, and Sohee.

If two of them liked me…

Have I been bathing with girls who liked me?

“Ah, ahhh…”

I didn’t scream out loud, but I felt a panic rising within.

Again, I want to emphasize, the party was still going on behind that door.

“……”

Just in case, I stared at the door closely. Who else might come in? Would someone come in again to confess, saying they brought me a gift?

…

But after peering in for almost five minutes, there were no signs of anyone coming in.

“Phew.”

I took a deep breath and placed my hand on my chest.

The frantic beating of my heart began to calm down slowly.

Alright, let’s deal with the confessions from those two later tonight. I decided to analyze rationally why they liked me in the first place.

…Even so, my head was still that of a 20-something male.

It felt great that such beautiful girls liked me, but that didn’t mean I could overstep my boundaries.

…I must settle this part, no matter what.

Taking a deep breath, I turned to head back to the party, only to realize I was still wearing Ha Neul’s friendship ring on my finger.

…I couldn’t just take it off. It was a gift that held her feelings.

So, I finally slid the ring over to my pinky.

It didn’t fit quite as perfectly as on my ring finger, but at least it wouldn’t fall off. I consciously clenched my fist.

I absolutely must not lose it.

I couldn’t ignore the precious feelings she gave me.

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