Chapter 1: Prologue

There were countless works of fiction that used possession or reincarnation as their central themes, and in so many of them, some bastard always pretended to be just a background character or extra.

They stole the opportunities that were meant for the main character,

rushed to prevent events that were supposed to happen,

and got involved with people they clearly shouldn’t have, even though it was obvious it would lead to trouble.

One by one, they committed every blatant mistake imaginable…and still had the nerve to claim innocence.

Of course, I didn’t think that was entirely wrong.

As long as they took responsibility for their actions, what was the problem?

If they had passion and worked hard to change something, then they deserved to be called main characters too.

But if there were main characters and supporting characters on the stage, then surely, someone like me had to exist as well. An audience member who was watching from beyond the curtain.

I had never once interfered in a way that could get in the main character’s way.

The Empire’s greatest academy, “Cradle”.

Well, technically, it was the only academy, but still…it was called the Empire’s greatest.

In any case, since noble children were required to receive an education in this place, I inevitably ended up in the same space as the main character.

But I never monopolized any miraculous opportunities.

I never snatched up anything for my own gain, and I never approached those minor characters who were destined to fade into the background out of some misplaced sympathy.

All those incidents and crises?

I never even went near them. The main character probably didn’t even know my name.

Those meant to die died, and those meant to live lived.

And that’s how I spent an entire year at Cradle, ignoring every single event.

Finally, the time had come. Starting tomorrow, the spotlight would shift from the inside of Cradle to the outside world.

Once that happened, the academy that had been a hotspot of chaos would quiet down, and I could graduate peacefully and return home to carry on the family line. That would be the end of it.

But I should have known better; it’s not over until it’s truly over.

“Just one question, Johan Damus. I hope you’ll answer honestly. What exactly are you plotting?”

“What did I even do…?”

In the dead of night.

A group had broken into my dorm room without permission and surrounded me with silent pressure.

Among them, a red-haired woman sat perched on my bed with her legs crossed. She stood out instantly. She was strangely familiar.

Lobelia Vicious von Miltonia.

One of the heirs to the imperial throne in this vast empire and the main character of the game I once played, “Promotion Tale”.

And now, that very embodiment of power was interrogating me.

“What you did? Just as you said, you did absolutely nothing.”

They said the main character always shows up when someone’s about to die.

“You weren’t involved in any of the 22 incidents that occurred at Cradle this year…..almost as if you knew about them beforehand. How is that possible?”

“What? That’s just unfair.”

I fu*king hated that saying.

***

“When the alchemists from ‘Ex Machina’ hacked into and seized control of all security systems in Cradle, where were you?”

“……”

“When the dark mages of ‘Under Chain’ invaded with their undead army?”

“……”

“When the fanatics from ‘Eden’ brainwashed the undergraduates?”

“……”

“And when the demon worshippers of ‘Lemegeton’ broke through the main gate?”

“……”

“You were the only one untouched by every single one of those incidents.”

To think I’d be suspected for doing absolutely nothing.

The worst part was….I could see where they were coming from.

There had been so many incidents, that it was almost statistically impossible for anyone to remain completely unaffected.

And this was supposed to be the Empire’s top academy?

Even the flowerbed in my backyard was safer than this place.

“How could you have avoided them all?”

“…I think there’s a misunderstanding here.”

“A misunderstanding? Nonsense. I’m just asking a question, and yet you speak as though I’ve already condemned you as the culprit.”

“……”

“Answer.”

“Th-There’s no way that could be true! I was just… caught off guard, that’s all.”

“You’re being very cooperative. I trust you’ll remain that way.”

“Of course, Your Highness.”

Let’s think about this rationally.

Was this a dangerous situation?

Judging by the group that had barged into my room and surrounded me, it definitely looked like one.

But I had nothing to be ashamed of.

I wasn’t a spy for any organization, and I had no reason to cower in fear.

There was only one thing I needed to do now. Keep my composure.

Judging by the current situation where I was suddenly surrounded by a large group, it would certainly seem that way.

But I have nothing to hide.

I’m not a spy for any organization, and there’s no reason for me to be blindly afraid of what’s happening.

There’s only one thing I need to do right now.

“How could you have known those incidents were going to happen?”

“I understand your suspicions, but I assure you I’m innocent. If I had been working with those people from the start, then—”

“I don’t think that’s the case either. It wouldn’t make sense. The attacks so far haven’t been the work of a single group, so the idea that you heard about all of them in advance is impossible, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Yes…”

Lobelia repeated exactly what I was about to say in my own defense.

As expected from someone in the line of succession to the throne, she’s no fool.

Of course, it was something anyone could have figured out with just a bit of thought…

“But it’s also hard to believe all of it was just a coincidence. So, I came up with two possibilities.”

“I’m listening.”

“First, you’re a broker who helped coordinate all those attacks. If that’s the case, even if you don’t belong to any one group, it would make sense that you knew about all the threats in advance.”

“…Are you serious?”

“Of course, that idea is completely absurd. If you really were that kind of broker, there’s no way the Empire wouldn’t have discovered it by now.”

That’s true.

If I had really contacted that many groups and helped plan those terrorist attacks, I would’ve been caught long ago. Even if they hadn’t managed to capture me, they would have at least realized someone like me existed.

They had arrested hundreds of terrorists. Surely at least one of them would’ve talked.

And since I didn’t belong to any single group and was just an ordinary broker, I would’ve been sold out right away.

“The second possibility: you have some means of knowing the future.”

“……”

That was the correct answer.

I had been prepared to counter every ridiculous accusation and groundless suspicion, but that one fact struck straight to the gut and left me speechless for a moment.

“There have been a few instances in Imperial history where prophets or Oracles have appeared.”

“You think I’m a prophet? Seriously?”

Still, she hadn’t quite reached the conclusion that I was a Transmigrator.

Well, it wasn’t easy to imagine that the world you lived in might actually be a work of fiction.

So, with the remaining puzzle pieces, she forced a theory together and concluded that I must be a prophet.

It was a reasonable assumption.

“Yes, are you not an Oracle?”

Well, in a way, this too was a cliché—

At least it was a somewhat grounded one.

Haah… I never really liked these mistaken identity plotlines.

Even watching them from afar was frustrating. Living through one myself felt suffocating.

“With all due respect, Your Highness. That’s a misunderstanding. I’m not an Oracle.”

“You’re not?”

“No.”

“Well, if that’s what you say, then I’ll take your word for it. I’ll believe you.”

Of course, that didn’t mean she’d actually take it at face value.

Now she’d probably go to all sorts of lengths and would be convinced I was an Oracle anyway.

“Sorry for disturbing you so late, Johan Damus. We’ll be taking our leave.”

“Please get home safely, Your Highness.”

See? Even though I said I wasn’t, she left so obediently.

If she had truly accepted that I wasn’t, she would’ve pressed me further right then and there.

The only reason she backed off was because she still believed I was an Oracle and didn’t want to damage our future relationship.

It was maddening.

I still had two more years left at the Academy. How was I supposed to keep her away?

***

After her meeting with Johan Damus,

Lobelia Vicious van Miltonia began a briefing with her subordinates. As expected, the topic of discussion was none other than the Johan Damus they had just met.

“Your Highness, do you think he’s really an Oracle? Honestly, I feel like he’s just a fake…..”

A female student with her hood pulled low over her head spoke to Lobelia.

To her subordinate’s question, Lobelia responded with a soft smile.

“He’s not an Oracle.”

“Huh?”

“At the very least, I trust my ability to read people. Johan Damus looked both relieved and disgusted by my question.”

However, before that—

When she had asked if he knew the future, he had shown a faint but definite reaction. That was why she had pressed him about being an Oracle.

But what came back was relief.

Relief meant her question had missed the mark.

He had looked slightly thoughtful for a moment, then immediately showed repulsion.

That probably means he really doesn’t want to be involved. He must hate the idea of me mistaking him for an Oracle and bothering him over it.

It was so obvious that she couldn’t have missed it.

Lobelia had the ability to read people’s true intentions even in the briefest of conversations.

That was her greatest weapon in her bid for the throne.

When she first heard about him through intelligence, she had thought he sounded suspicious in a shady sort of way. But seeing him in person, he turned out to be suspicious in a completely different sense.

For one thing, Johan Damus was not an enemy.

Even though he had knowledge, he hadn’t used it for gain.

If he had used that knowledge in any direction, he could have profited enormously from it.

But instead, Johan Damus chose to hide.

He stepped back, leaving behind everything he knew.

He’s someone who can see himself objectively, or someone who prioritizes his own safety above all else. For someone like that, the very idea of getting entangled in anything must be unbearable.

A classic small-town type, perhaps?

He knew how to be content with what he had and stayed away from danger.

He was the complete opposite of her, someone aiming for the throne.

So it was easy to understand why Johan had reacted with such disgust.

“But what does that matter?”

Johan Damus was not an Oracle.

He wasn’t someone who fit into Robellia’s ambitions.

But still…

“He didn’t deny knowing the future.”

If he knows the future, what does it matter whether he’s a prophet or someone who returned from the future?

Johan Damus was useful.

“First, dig into Johan Damus’s background and find out what’s behind him.”

What do those background characters who pretend to be extras but get caught by the main character usually do in fiction?

There was a clear pattern.

They stay optimistic at first, telling themselves everything’s fine, and gradually build up misunderstandings.

It’s still fine.

It’s still within acceptable limits.

It’s still something I can clean up.

All wrong.

People who think like that usually don’t realize they’ve already crossed the line long ago.

I understand just how dangerous it is to be noticed by the main character.

You think I need to be careful so I don’t get involved?

Wrong. I’m already involved.

The moment the main character recognized me, I lost the chance to live as a mere extra.

It was a bit unfair to be stripped of my extra status when I haven’t even done anything yet, but what could I do?

I had to choose one of two options.

The first was to charge straight ahead.

Since I was already tangled up in this, I might as well take Robellia’s side and run toward the game’s ending.

This was usually the default route.

But if there was a problem, it was the fact that while the main character and her companions had been growing stronger through blood, sweat, and hardship, I had spent the past year slacking off. And as a result, I had no real abilities.

My grades were already at rock bottom.

My written tests were passable, but whether it was magic or swordsmanship, I didn’t know how to do a single thing properly.

I didn’t particularly feel wronged by that. After all, I had lived like a complete loafer. It would’ve been absurd to despair over not having some special power just because I had reincarnated.

Meanwhile, the ones who remained in Cradle now were all battle-hardened veterans who had survived countless battlefields.

The weak ones? They were either dead or had dropped out.

For someone like me, who’d been living comfortably in the rear, to surpass those guys would’ve been shameless.

So, realistically speaking, the first option was on hold.

It wasn’t scrapped entirely—just postponed—because I needed to see how things developed.

Then what about the second option?

That was to do absolutely nothing with everything I had.

Knowing Robellia’s personality, she had probably set her sights on me.

Whatever I did—or didn’t do—she would likely be suspicious of me for now.

But what if that period of doing nothing dragged on endlessly?

What if her daily reports kept saying the same thing, over and over again?

This was a far more constructive plan than running away.

If I ran, it would only confirm her suspicions, “Ah! So that guy really was up to something!” and she’d chase after me instead of giving up.

So, I would become like air.

“I haven’t done anything so far.”

And I would put even more effort into continuing to do absolutely nothing.

I would show them what it looked like to be an ordinary student living an ordinary school life.

***

Correction. In reality, that ambition of showing what an ordinary student life looked like was going to be hard to achieve.

“Why is that guy eating alone?”

“Maybe his friend’s running late.”

I didn’t even have a friend, let alone an acquaintance.