I opened my eyes.
The first thing I saw was a ceiling. One that wasn’t exactly familiar, but one I would have to get used to. In other words, what lay before me was not a horrific crime scene but the ceiling of the bedroom I had been staying in since my possession.
“Ah, thank god…”
I had a small worry, just a tiny nagging fear, but it had always lingered in the back of my mind. The thought that, one day, the serial killer might get so fed up with my relentless note-writing that he’d snap and go on a killing spree out of sheer frustration.
If I had woken up at another murder scene in the middle of the night, I might have actually developed insomnia. Fortunately, Mr. Nygor turned out to be a polite serial killer who was considerate enough to hold back even with an uninvited guest in his head.
I never imagined I’d be grateful to a serial killer, but here I was, bowing my head in appreciation.
But more importantly—
I quickly sat up in bed and checked my desk.
I was desperate to see Nygor’s response to the note I had left the night before. With hurried hands, I picked it up and read:
– I understand, so stop leaving these notes. As long as it’s not an unavoidable situation, I’ll do as you say. And I don’t know how you found out, but Beatty is a kind child with no connection to any of this. Do not involve her.
Ah.
Just when my efforts (which did not include giving up on the notes) were on the verge of crumbling to dust, a young savior had come to my rescue.
In the end, even though I had borrowed Beatty’s name, I had won a surrender from the serial killer I had been exchanging notes with. A surrender from a murderer who once seemed utterly untouchable. Wasn’t that a victory more valuable than anything?
I had spent an entire week holed up in my room, sleeping only an hour at a time, trying to persuade him. Considering I only had ten days of summer break left, I could hardly say I was in my right mind. But when my own survival was at stake, I found a way to push through.
And today, I was feeling oddly refreshed. Like I had just proven that, no matter how crazy someone was, there was always an even crazier person out there. After all, not just anyone could annoy a serial killer to the point of surrender.
Anyway, that was how I ended up striking a deal with a serial killer.
Now, let’s sum up exactly what kind of agreement we reached.
First, we agreed that he wouldn’t commit murder just anytime he pleased. Before killing anyone, he had to at least leave me a note in advance. If that wasn’t possible, he had to handle it as quietly as possible. I specifically stated that he couldn’t go on a rampage with a mace while smashing walls and floors like a lunatic.
Honestly, even if I tried to accept murder as an unavoidable part of the situation (not that such a thing made any sense), I was still being forced into this twisted cohabitation with a serial killer.
So, even if I had no choice but to turn a blind eye to that, I absolutely didn’t want to witness the gruesome sight of people being beaten into an unrecognizable mess with blood splattered everywhere.
Next, I agreed to pick out people Nygor was allowed to kill. The idea of deciding who would die with my own hands made me uneasy, but I figured this was the only way to at least prevent indiscriminate slaughter.
Looking back, there were plenty of villains in the novel who deserved to die.
Even though Nygor Caritas was the final boss and the mastermind behind it all, there were still plenty of crimes and events he hadn’t personally caused. And in this world, human trash was everywhere. Just stepping into a shady alley was enough to find them.
Besides, wasn’t I human trash myself? An inactive writer and a serial killer. The worst possible combination, one that made even my lower body tremble with unease.
Lastly, we agreed to fulfill our respective roles to the best of our abilities… though I had no choice but to comply.
Setting aside physical exhaustion, I needed sleep to deal with my mental fatigue. So, we split our activity hours—Nygor would move at night while I took over during the day.
Nygor had said, “If you’re planning to kill people, then I’ll go to the academy instead. If you’d like, we can switch.”
Hearing that crazy remark made me realize that I really had to do my best as a professor.
I mean, seriously, what the fu*k.
Was this really the right agreement? That I would do my best as a professor while the serial killer did his best at murder?
Besides, I was originally a college student, not someone destined to be a professor. And at the very least, shouldn’t you be the one putting together the curriculum, you damn serial killer?
Still, now that we had settled things and come to an agreement, I felt a little calmer. No matter how much I had written this novel, the fact remained that I was just a college student who had been thrown into another world with no useful skills. That was enough to make anyone feel a little scared.
I didn’t know what kind of messed-up brain I had to actually feel reassured after negotiating with a serial killer and getting on the same page with him, but honestly, if I had the kind of common sense to worry about that, I wouldn’t have cursed out my readers and ended up getting possessed in the first place.
And so, after a grueling week, I collapsed onto my bed, weighed down by overwhelming exhaustion. I had spent the entire week locked in a battle of wills with a serial killer while barely eating properly, so it finally felt like I was returning to reality.
I was tired enough to fall asleep right then and there, but I couldn’t afford to. It wasn’t because the serial killer would wake up when I slept or because I had managed to rest well over the past week. No, I had just realized something far more important.
That’s right.
At this point, it didn’t really matter what had already happened.
As much as I hated to admit it, time had kept moving, and now, there were only three days left until the semester began. That meant there were only three days left before the main story started, and I had to report for work as a professor at the academy.
Once the academy’s break ended, the new students would begin their first semester. That included the protagonist of the original story, the future Sword Saint Lutz, along with several heroines, major supporting characters, and even key villains. This was the beginning of the first major event.
Nothing particularly dramatic would happen on the first day of the entrance ceremony, but it was still an important event where students got to know each other and were assigned to their classes. And I was set to be the first-year theology professor as well as the homeroom teacher for the protagonist Lutz.
Wait, an academy should be a university, so why were there homerooms and class assignments?
Who cares? I probably just wrote it this way because I hated how college worked…. You had to register for classes and run all over campus like a damn fool.
I had said it countless times. I had simply written whatever came to mind back then. I had never once given deep thought to the novel, so even if someone asked why I had written it this way, I wouldn’t have been able to answer.
Had I known I would end up possessing a character, I would have taken the time to set things up properly. But imagining that someone would actually end up inside their own novel was crazy to begin with.
Besides, I was technically just a professor in name only.
Since I would only see the students during the morning and afternoon homeroom sessions and wouldn’t have to deal with them throughout the rest of the lecture hours, my position was practically irrelevant. Except when something went wrong with the students, at which point the responsibility would fall on me. It was a thankless job, and unfortunately, I had ended up in a situation where I had no choice but to fully embrace it.
Still, at the very least, I wouldn’t have to suffer on the day of the entrance ceremony. As long as I quietly stayed among the faculty until the class assignments were done, all I had to do was greet my students and be done with it.
Yeah, if pain was unavoidable, I might as well get it over with quickly. At the very least, with my eternal comrade Professor Nygor by my side, I wouldn’t have to worry about dying.
***
Three days passed quickly.
Fortunately, whether it was because Professor Nygor had remembered our agreement or because he had already finished his killings and gone to sleep while I was unconscious, I didn’t wake up at a murder scene during those three days.
That didn’t mean I had been able to rest, though. There had been far too many things to prepare as a professor.
Life, seriously.
And so, on the early morning of the entrance ceremony, I was dragged to the academy simply because I was a professor and had to listen to the words of the Headmaster and the department head.
“For that reason, starting from this year’s entrance ceremony… it has been decided that everyone…”
“Of course, Headmaster. If such a thing exists… well, I mean, it would certainly be helpful for the students.”
Wait, did I even hear that right? Honestly, I had just smiled and nodded my head, so I couldn’t remember a single word of what had been said. It was probably just something about taking good care of the students. It couldn’t have been anything too important.
And with that, the entrance ceremony began.
The current students sat on the second floor of the auditorium, looking down at the incoming freshmen. They were probably happy about getting an easy day with no classes. Just like me.
Ending up as a professor, something I had never even considered… well, sure, it wasn’t worse than being a student, but still. The fact that I, someone who knew absolutely nothing about theology, had become a theology professor? That had been a real struggle.
I had spent the past three days cramming like a madman just to prepare for work, so knowing I had one more day of grace before real classes started made it feel like I could finally breathe a little.
If I had to end up transmigrating anyway, why couldn’t it have been as an administrative staff member or even the Headmaster? I wasn’t saying their jobs were effortless or anything, but at least they didn’t need specialized knowledge to teach students.
As I sighed at these pointless thoughts, the Headmaster’s voice rang through the auditorium. Something about how honored they all should be to be admitted to the prestigious Aeternum Academy… blah, blah, blah. Honestly, I wasn’t paying attention.
To be fair, this speech was meant for the new students, so there was no reason for me, a professor, to listen. Besides, it felt like he had already been going on for ten minutes.
“Professor Nygor, you seem quite bored.”
Amidst it all, a quiet whisper reached my ears. A soft, clear voice. I turned my head to find a woman smiling at me.
Uh… wait. Who?
Come to think of it, I was a professor at this academy. And not just any professor. I had the backstory of being in my third year here. That meant I was supposed to know all the faculty members. But in my desperate attempts to prepare for classes, I had completely failed to memorize their names and faces.
Who was she? Who could she be?
Gray hair, pale skin, black eyes. She was shorter than me but tall for a woman. A white blouse and a black skirt, my kind of style. And… a large chest. Hmm. A large chest.
Ah, I remembered now.
The noble daughter of a count’s family and a professor at the academy Elia Claudius. She had certainly been an important character. It made sense; after all, she was the swordsmanship professor Lutz trusted and followed the most. If memory served correctly, she was also Lutz’s first love. Considering her exceptional swordsmanship and outstanding appearance, it was no wonder he had liked her.
And yet, why did she end up as nothing more than a “first love” in the past tense? Because she died later on. Not by Nygor’s hand, of course, but at the hands of another villain. Regardless, she was a character fated to die.
Ironically, her death served as protagonist Lutz’s awakening event. Though she had been portrayed as a fairly important heroine, in reality, she was nothing more than a throwaway character, sacrificed as a cliché plot device for the protagonist’s development.
Ah, right. That was also the reason I had been bombarded with curses in the comments. The very reason I became the target of 5,700 curses before I wrote a reply and transmigrated.
“Professor Nygor …? By any chance… do you also find my speech boring?”
“…Ah, of course not. Even moments like these are permitted by Elohim, so I can only be grateful.”
“For someone who says that, your response was a bit slow.”
Elia puffed out her cheeks in a way that didn’t quite match her age, as if she were sulking. Did she even realize how strange it was for someone who could tear people apart with a sword to act cute? Well, she was pretty, but since this was my first time meeting her, it still felt a bit…
“If that’s how it seemed, then I sincerely apologize. I was lost in thought for a moment.”
“What were you thinking about?”
“I was looking at the new students and reflecting on how deep Elohim’s grace is this year as well.”
Ah.
There was a reason I spoke this way.
On the surface, Nygor Caritas was supposed to be a devout priest of the Elohim Church and a professor of theology studies at the academy. That meant he had likely maintained this formal way of speaking for the past three years before I ended up in his body, so suddenly speaking normally wasn’t an option.
“Indeed, it must be a blessing. The headmaster too must be so pleased that he feels compelled to share many words….”
As I continued pretending to be the most faithful man in the room, the headmaster’s voice suddenly rang out, loud and excited.
“And so, starting this year, we will be hosting an entrance duel to showcase the outstanding skills of our new students! The results will be reflected alongside the practical and theoretical exams you took for admission, so I encourage you all to give it your very best!”
…What the hell.
An entrance duel? That event was never supposed to exist, headmaster.
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