Chapter 3 : Chapter 3
Volume 1
Chapter 3 : Since I Can’t Resist It, I May as Well Enjoy It
“Could that have been some kind of prophetic dream?”
Muen tapped the cover of the black book and pondered carefully.
The more he thought about it, the more it seemed that for such an inexplicable yet terrifyingly vivid dream, the words “prophetic dream” were the best explanation.
Of course, that was only one possibility.
“If it really was a prophetic dream, then did I do something wrong to end up like that?”
Muen muttered with a pale face.
The agonizing sensation from that nightmare still seemed to crawl over his skin.
No one who learned that their future might involve being carved into pieces could possibly remain completely calm.
“But who hates me that much? To do something so cruel...”
Although the figure in the prophetic dream had called it love, Muen did not believe for a second that it was anything of the sort.
What kind of love involved slicing the person you loved into pieces?
Even a deranged murderer would not be this absurdly extreme!
No matter what twisted game you wanted to play, you should at least leave the corpse intact!
“The safest approach is to find that black shadow...”
Muen quickly settled on a plan.
As long as he could identify the killer before she acted, then with his status as the duke’s son, avoiding such a fate should be fairly simple.
But...
“That seems... impossible.”
Cold sweat trickled down Muen’s forehead.
If he wanted to identify that shadowy figure, he needed enough clues.
But the prophetic dream had revealed nothing useful.
The figure’s voice and appearance were completely impossible to discern, and the only thing he could barely determine was that she seemed to be a woman.
And there was no way that alone could lead him to the answer.
Muen Campbell had offended far too many people in the past.
Even one of the duke household’s maids might have been pushed beyond endurance by his long history of misdeeds and decided to take brutal revenge on him.
“In the end, it all comes down to the fact that you did too many terrible things.”
Muen let out a long sigh. He truly wanted to drag the original owner of this body out and beat him senseless himself.
But that was impossible now.
Because he was the original owner.
The sins Muen Campbell had committed were burdens that this Muen had no choice but to bear.
“No. I have to think of a solution. Even if there is only one possible explanation, I do not want to be carved into pieces.”
“Ah, right, that black book!”
Muen finally remembered the real culprit behind his firsthand experience of being cut to pieces.
“Hm?”
He had just started looking for the black book, which had vanished without a trace, when a thought crossed his mind, and the black book reappeared before him.
“This is... inside my body?”
Muen focused his thoughts again, and sure enough, the black book turned into a dim streak of light and swept back into his body.
He could clearly sense it resting silently somewhere within his consciousness.
“How miraculous.”
Muen’s eyes lit up. “Then I’m saved?”
Filled with excitement, Muen summoned the black book again, pressed his palms together, and said sincerely,
“Oh black book, black book, whether I can turn things around this time depends entirely on you, my lord.”
“Open!”
Muen shouted and flipped open the black book.
【Muen shouted and flipped open the black book.】
Muen: ?
After opening it, nothing happened.
The only change was that the line above had appeared on the pure white first page.
It was like a diary, recording his every movement at that very moment.
“What is this? That’s all?”
【Muen waved the black book back and forth, but nothing happened.】
“No way.”
Muen twitched at the corner of his mouth.
Staring at the words on the page, he cautiously reached out and picked up the mirror beside him.
【Muen picked up the mirror.】
He put it down.
【Muen put down the mirror.】
He looked into it.
【Muen looked at himself in the mirror and, as always, thought himself extraordinarily handsome.】
“What kind of ridiculous nonsense is this?!”
Muen hurled the black book to the floor.
It was completely useless.
It had gotten his hopes up for nothing.
【Muen began to rage in helpless frustration.】
“...”
Muen covered his face and nearly burst into tears, too speechless for words.
“What was I even expecting?”
A blond villain was still a blond villain.
A disposable extra was still a disposable extra.
And he had really thought that some mysterious broken book could help him turn things around and become the protagonist?
What a joke.
“So this world really is not very friendly to a blond villain like me, is it?”
The black book, which could at most show him a tiny glimpse of that miserable future, was probably the only mercy heaven had granted him.
“But can’t you be just a little more useful? Just a little? At the very least, tell me whether that dream really was prophetic or whether it was something else!”
Muen shook the mysterious black book, which felt strangely dear to him despite its unknown origin, and ground his teeth.
“If I’m going to die, then at least let me die knowing why!”
The black book still showed no reaction.
【Sigh.】
But just as Muen was about to give up, he heard a faint, drifting sigh.
Then, on the blank title page, words suddenly appeared.
Scarlet words.
【Do not change.】
“...”
Muen’s pupils contracted.
“Do not change... What does that mean?”
“Are you warning me not to change the plot, and that if I do, I’ll meet that kind of ending?”
“But why? If that happens, won’t my fate be utterly miserable?”
【For】
【Fate】
The words above emerged one after another, like an invisible hand clutching Muen’s heart.
But no matter how many more questions he asked after that, the black book gave no further response.
It simply returned to being a plain, unadorned machine that repeated written words.
“So in the end, everything I wanted was only wishful thinking?”
After standing there in a daze for a long while, Muen finally revealed a bitter smile.
“If I want to survive, then my only choice is to walk willingly toward ruin?”
Before transmigrating, he had only been an ordinary office worker.
He had never possessed the ambition to stand against fate.
Let alone under circumstances like these, where he could not see even the faintest chance of victory.
He had lost his nerve.
And there was nothing else he could do.
“If I think about it seriously, the ending in the original novel was not actually that terrible.”
At the very least, in the original story, Muen Campbell had not lost his life.
He had merely been stripped of his noble status and reduced to a commoner.
“Hm? Wait.”
At that thought, a flash of insight struck Muen’s mind, and he suddenly seized upon the crucial point.
“Come to think of it, why did I end up becoming a beggar in the original novel?”
It had never been explained.
But it was not hard to guess.
Muen Campbell, the dignified son of a duke, was suddenly stripped of his noble status, reduced to a commoner, and expelled from the ducal household and because the order had been personally given by the king, guards had even been assigned to supervise matters, leaving the Duke and Duchess unable to support him in secret.
A pampered noble young master like that—someone who had grown up arrogant, domineering, and accustomed to trampling over others—might have been protected by the Duke and Duchess pleading on his behalf, enough for the king to declare that no one was permitted to pursue revenge for his former crimes any longer, but once he suddenly became a commoner, what means did he have to survive?
None at all.
Could he support himself independently?
Hardly.
He simply did not have the ability.
Perhaps the very next day, unable to endure a life of poverty, he had gone to borrow money from underworld loan sharks.
And when he could not repay it, they had broken his limbs, leaving him no choice but to become a pitiful beggar.
“But I’m different!”
Muen slapped his knee and declared loudly.
Who was he, Muen?
He was not Muen Campbell, that useless aristocratic wastrel who only knew how to abuse the power of his family.
He was a battle-hardened office worker warrior, tempered by the brutal grind of modern working life!
Forget becoming a commoner.
Even if he were reduced to a rat in the gutter, he could still survive perfectly well!
He could even live well!
“And more importantly, I can use this chance to get away from the protagonist’s influence and truly live freely!”
Hope flared in Muen’s eyes once more.
He had already died once for no reason in his previous life.
In this life, he wanted to cherish his life properly.
If he thought about it carefully, there was really nothing about noble status worth clinging to in the first place.
“It is nothing more than a privileged class built on exploiting the hardworking common people. As a proud socialist proletarian fighter, all I can feel toward it is contempt!”