Prologue: Restart

Fifth grade. First day of the new school year.

A girl stood up to introduce herself—someone who, without even trying, drew everyone’s eyes.

“Hello, my name is Yeon-ha-neul.”

Her hair, an impossibly pale shade of blue—almost white.

Eyes like scarlet gemstones, vivid and arresting.

Long rabbit ears stood upright on her head, twitching now and then.

And a small, round, fluffy tail peeking out from behind her.

She was an Ain.

“….”

The moment I laid eyes on her.

Memories from my past life came flooding back.

This world…
was from a game I used to play religiously in my previous life.

“A… ah….”

An action RPG where the protagonist, Kang Han-byeol, sets out to become a Hunter in a sprawling academy city.

The title?
Brave Hearts.

In that game, there was a certain side character. A cowardly swordsman so timid, so gentle, that he could never bring out his full potential.

The disgrace of the Shin Sword Clan.

The joke of the player base.

Rabbit, Do-gyeon-woo.

“…Are you freaking kidding me?”

He couldn’t even bring himself to hate others.

Always the one to take the fall if someone had to.

The kind of guy who got bullied and never once pushed back.

A sniffling, weepy doormat of a side character.

And that’s who I was?

As the memories solidified, I couldn’t help but feel a surge of shame.

If I hadn’t regained my past life’s memories, I probably would’ve continued down that same miserable path—dragging down the protagonist’s party as the most useless, frustrating dead weight imaginable.

Why did I live like that?

But it’s fine now.

It’s not too late to change.

I’m not going to live like an idiot anymore.

The problem is, for all its “youthful academy” aesthetics, Brave Hearts wasn’t a happy game.

It had 44 endings, but the vast majority were bad endings—and many of them involved the end of the world.

Even worse?
The girl who triggered my memories—Yeon-ha-neul—was a major problem in her own right.

“My hobbies are reading and listening to music. I also enjoy watching dramas. I hope we all get along this year. Thank you.”

A heroine?

Not even close.

She was a villain.

Not your average school bully or mean girl, either.

She was someone who, after a life filled with suffering, descended into despair and tried to destroy the world.

A mid-boss.

One of the key flags for the game’s worst outcomes.

They called her: The Witch of Calamity.

And now… she was in my class.

You’ve got to be kidding me…

It’s clear—I need a plan.

For her sake.

And mine.