Is the fact that Kim Seung-woo, the protagonist of the original novel, has started to move a good thing or a bad thing for me?
Looking at the big picture, it could be considered a good thing.
Kim Seung-woo will probably act as a hero and protect the world as in the original story. That would be good for me too.
If the world is destroyed, wouldn’t my life be ruined as well?
It’s certainly very much appreciated that he’s taking the lead in preventing that. So it was a good thing.
…As long as we don’t meet.
What would happen if we met? Isn’t that obvious? To the point where there’s no need to even answer.
Of course, it would be a major crisis of life termination.
Why, you ask?
Well, because I’m the betraying heroine in a RDO novel.
As someone possessed into Brunhilde’s body, I had to avoid getting entangled with the characters from the original novel by any means necessary.
Like a soldier nearing discharge who has to be careful of even falling leaves.
Why do I need to be so careful, you ask?
Since I didn’t completely fall for Gunther like in the original, couldn’t I just explain the situation, be forgiven, and then laugh it off?
That’s nonsense.
That’s something you can say only if you don’t know the RDO genre well.
The heroine in a RDO novel is like a wallet full of cash in the back pocket.
In that putting it in the washing machine leads to disaster, and such incidents happen surprisingly often.
* * *
Laundering.
It referred to a development where characters who should be regretting their betrayal and becoming devastated, instead of meeting death or suffering a miserable downfall, atone and are forgiven.
There were reasons for it, and.
Usually, it was a situation that occurred because the author had affection for the characters they had set up as traitors…
To be honest, it was something that should be avoided if possible.
The moment a traitor receives tearful salvation instead of proper retribution, the work itself tends to fall into ruin or even explode.
The reason was simple.
Those who come to read such novels want to see justice served with the villains miserably falling, not ‘soft-hearted’ forgiveness and salvation.
Especially if the traitors’ karma includes not just persecution or contempt, but also erotic elements like ‘NTR’…
Laundering them was tantamount to suicide for the author.
The moment they put them in the washing machine, those harboring infinite hatred in the soapy spinning water would smash the washing machine with comment hammers, crying out loudly.
Saying that rags should be thrown away, not washed.
They had a belief.
The belief that stained clothes are disposable, not recyclable. The conviction that a rag is still a rag even after washing.
…Were they actually undercover agents for clothing companies?
No, that can’t be right.
Come to think of it, I too used to become the incarnation of a horned white horse and leave comments like ‘Don’t launder, just kill them.’
* * *
…Anyway, perhaps for such reasons, in the novel I was possessed into, the fate of the betraying heroines was utterly miserable.
Either dying, or meeting an end so wretched that death would have been preferable. Only those two options, no other endings.
Brunhilde was the former.
In the original novel, Brunhilde allows Gunther to have her body as a condition for transferring to his party, then falls to become his concubine, pickled in drugs and hypnosis.
She then blatantly showed off this completely fallen state in front of Friet when they met again.
Of course, by that point, Friet was already possessed by Kim Seung-woo, so it was meaningless anyway.
And, around the middle of the work, Brunhilde is abandoned even by Gunther and falls into crisis… and it was none other than Kim Seung-woo who saved her.
He didn’t just save her, he even accepted her back into his party.
Yes. That’s where the laundering controversy really flared up. I made a comment too.
…I wasn’t the one who started the fire. Really.
I just posted a legitimate criticism on the reader community site asking if this made any sense.
Anyway, there was no laundering development that I had worried about.
Whether it was because the comment section burned like a forest of criticism, or because there was never any intention to launder in the first place… there was no grace of laundering for Brunhilde.
Naturally, there was no salvation ending either.
In the novel, Brunhilde, moved by the mercy of ‘Friet’ who accepted her back into the party, regrets leaving him and vows to atone.
However, atonement or not, the real Friet had long since passed away. Moreover, Kim Seung-woo in the novel was the very embodiment of an ego-maniac catharsis psychopath.
Would such a man warmly treat a woman who had already once betrayed Friet and attached herself to another man?
Moreover, a woman who had blatantly shown herself becoming Gunther’s in front of him?
Of course not.
In the newly formed party of Kim Seung-woo, Brunhilde’s position was literally less than a dog. She was merely a useful battle slave and a pretty toy.
Brunhilde, whose heart had been broken by her time in Gunther’s party, silently swallowed her regrets even while receiving such treatment.
Because she believed Friet’s change in personality was her fault…?
I think there was a monologue scene like that. Even so, the comment section was full of nothing but mockery.
Anyway, Brunhilde, who was dedicating herself in various ways to atone to the changed Friet, did eventually clear her karma.
Because she met her death alongside Gunther in the end.
It was the appropriate end for someone who wasn’t laundered.
And our catharsis psychopath protagonist, Kim Seung-woo, ripped out her heart from her corpse and used it as material to enhance his armor.
…
…Come to think of it, isn’t this completely insane?
When I was immersed in the protagonist Kim Seung-woo, I didn’t realize, but looking objectively, Kim Seung-woo was no less terrible a person than Gunther.
Despite not having been directly wronged, to abuse and exploit others just because they were traitors. How can a person do such a thing?
You say I praised it as an excellent karma cleansing when reading the novel?
…Yes, I admit it. I certainly did back then.
I left a comment saying the rag did a good job cleaning up filth before leaving.
I didn’t know then.
I never imagined I would become that Brunhilde.
Would I have done that if I had known?
Looking back, it was something I deeply regret.
Because her appearance while in Gunther’s party was the very embodiment of female corruption, I thought it was cathartic rather than pitiful even if she died miserably…
Now that I think about it, that wasn’t catharsis, it was hydrochloric acid.
…And I had fallen plop into that tank of hydrochloric acid.
In place of the original Brunhilde who should have fallen and died instead of me.
* * *
Anyway, for such reasons, encountering Kim Seung-woo was dangerous.
Unlike the Brunhilde in the novel, I had escaped instead of allowing Gunther to have my body… but whether that alone would be enough for leniency was uncertain.
In the worst case, he might try to rip out my heart as soon as he saw me.
I had considered revealing the fact that I too was a possessed person, but after much deliberation, I had to give up on that idea as well.
Kim Seung-woo’s strength in the novel was the result of his own talent combined with the monopolization of the game’s ‘hidden pieces’.
In other words, if he couldn’t monopolize the hidden pieces, Kim Seung-woo wouldn’t be able to become as strong as he aimed to be.
And the existence of another possessed person was the greatest threat to his monopoly of the hidden pieces.
Would he let such an existence roam around freely?
Of course not. If I revealed the fact that I was possessed, the future awaiting me would be nothing but Kim Seung-woo’s greatsword or slave branding.
So, I had to live in thorough hiding like now.
Unless I found all the hidden pieces mentioned in the novel before him and took on the arduous task of subjugating the Demon King instead of Kim Seung-woo.
Even if I did that, there was no guarantee I would succeed in the subjugation.
Unlike Kim Seung-woo who possessed the holy sword and hero’s mark, I was just a slightly extraordinary female knight.
Well, for such reasons, I’m now living like this—
“…We’re here. Everyone get ready to disembark. We’ll arrive in about a minute.”
Not as Brunhilde of the hero party, but as Hilde, an iron token adventurer.
Hoping that Kim Seung-woo, possessed into Friet’s body, wouldn’t find me.
* * *
Amy’s statement that we had one minute left until arrival.
“Ah, have we arrived? I lost track of time while praying to Elianelle.”
Bolton, who had been muttering prayer verses for some time, answered while picking up the long spear he had set down on the carriage floor.
“Kachak! Kachak!”
Kikel, sitting next to him, also showed his fighting spirit, trembling with excitement.
“Cold, so cold. Fight must be quick!”
…Oh, he was just shivering from the cold? That’s ridiculous.
Seeing him shouting that we need to engage in battle quickly to warm up with that heat, I felt that if I ever had to form a party with this lizard again, I should definitely avoid outdoor subjugation missions.
It seemed highly likely that he would become a burden rather than a comrade if a bitterly cold wind were to blow.
And one minute later.
As Amy had said, we finally arrived in front of the ruins that were the target of this request.
“…Is this it?”
It was closer to a crumbling pile of bricks than ruins.
Moss and dust filled the cracks between the walls, and weeds had grown up to around knee height at our feet.
All the pillars had collapsed, leaving only ugly debris. The afternoon sun shone brightly over the ruins that didn’t even have a ceiling.
“These aren’t ruins, they’re rubble.”
“Of course. It’s been at least hundreds of years since they were abandoned. The ruins themselves have no value.”
Amy added to my impression, pointing her staff somewhere inside the ruins.
“The only place of value is there, the underground dungeon that suddenly appeared. So, let’s hurry down. I’m curious about what we’ll find.”
Slightly flushed cheeks, darker freckles, and brown eyes sparkling with anticipation. Amy didn’t even try to hide her excitement and expectation.
Well, considering her profession, it was understandable.
For magicians who wield magic with the power of grimoires, what could be more joyful than discovering a new grimoire?
“Alright, let’s do that. I’m looking forward to it too.”
I grinned, shrugged my shoulders slightly, and then moved towards the interior of the ruins that Amy had pointed to, with my hand on my sword hilt.
It was time to work.
Tl/note: Hi, it’s translator Kayi again! By the way, I lied a little in the notes in chapter 1, hehe. The novel’s synopsis was also about this kind of ‘laundering’ besides the RDO term/genres, and the text has to be:
‘Don’t run them through the washing machine, just kill them.’ I used to wholeheartedly agree with that statement… At least until I became the RDO heroine myself.
But I had decided to rephrase this part toooo, because readers may skip the novel without understanding the meaning, and it would be strange to write an explanation about the laundry and RDO after such a short description. So, since this concept was explained in this chapter, from now on I will leave it as it is.
No, there won’t be any ‘I lied again’ about those 4 pitiful sentences in the future, I promise _(:3 」∠)_