I Became the Mastermind Who Betrays the Heroines
Chapter 138

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]

Chapter 138 – Drunkard (2)

The death of her younger sister.

A woman submerged in grief, she ultimately crossed a line from which there was no return.

All without ever realizing she’d been toyed with by evil.

Without ever realizing that all the tragedy that had befallen her… was nothing more than a pre-written script.

The conclusion of the traitor’s tale was the completion of a world where no one could be happy.

The story hit rock bottom in its bleakness.

All that remained after the horror was regret and despair.

And for that reason, many couldn't help but feel pity.

---

[Board: General Discussion]

[Title: But seriously, isn’t Selena kinda pitiful too?]

If you look at it properly, she’s a victim too.

From start to finish, she was used and discarded by those Baob bastards.

And the little sister she longed for so desperately?

Turns out the cult she was working with were the ones who orchestrated her death.

They had a whole long-term plan to corrupt Selena from the very beginning.

Probably picked her as a target because she was the Headmaster’s prized disciple.

Honestly, she just got caught up in something way bigger than her.

[She’s pitiful, yeah, but she’s still a bitch.]

→ You can't whitewash what she did. People died because of her.

→ I get the tragedy, but that doesn’t excuse her crimes.

→ She crossed the line. That’s on her.

[Still made me sad. She was my favorite staff character.]

→ Selena's actually pretty popular.

→ I mean... "big sister" types are rare in this game.

→ The buns lool

→ The bunbun cult degenerates strike again.

[Fact: The one who brought Selena to the Academy was the Headmaster.]

→ Oh, it’s you again…

→ Man, even the copium’s getting repetitive.

→ The Headmaster is the root of all evil.

---

Selena had built herself quite the fanbase.

Her signature cold demeanor, her proper conduct with students, and the mature allure of her figure that exuded a hint of danger—

It all made her betrayal hit that much harder.

---

[Board: General Discussion]

[Title: NO FKING WAY MY ONEE-SANNNNN!!!!!!]

This can’t be real… It’s a lie, right? Please tell me it’s a lie.

How could you do this to me…? After all the times I admired you…

Betrayal? Please, if this is a dream, let me wake up… Let me open my eyes and see you smiling at me like always, Professor...

[This one’s off the deep end]

[He’s gonna pass out lmao]

→ Based on how he’s typing, he already has.

→ But yeah, she really was one of a kind.

→ The buns lool

[Why do people simp for the coop’s traitor?]

→ Well-cooked goods are best, my friend.

→ You think someone who came 2nd in the staff popularity poll is a joke?

→ If we redid the poll now she’d probably be outside the top 10.

→ Facts. Ban him.

[You guys like expired goods, huh]

→ Please don’t call 13-year-olds “women.”

→ ?

→ ??

→ Get out.

→ The farm cult degenerates strike again.

---

Opinions were divided down the middle.

Of course, no one outright excused Selena’s betrayal.

The outcome she brought about was too devastating.

There were only those who felt pity for her tragic backstory—and those who rejected that pity entirely.

In my case, I leaned more toward the former.

Of course…

What she did could never be forgiven.

Too many had died.

No matter how deeply one had been wounded by life, that never gives them the right to hurt others in return.

No wound justifies stabbing the innocent.

Selena had crossed a line.

And even knowing that—

The reason I felt sympathy for the drunkard…

Was simple.

—“Onii-chan!”

Because she reminded me of myself.

In her brokenness, I saw my own reflection.

And something deep inside me twisted.

That one person who had meant everything.

The everyday happiness they had shared because they had each other.

And then, the sudden, incomprehensible death of a younger sister.

Despair. Collapse. Grief. Loss…

I hadn’t been able to endure those things either.

Or maybe—

Selena couldn’t.

Perhaps…

All this time, I’d been projecting myself onto her.

Because we had suffered a similar kind of pain.

I understood the depth of her despair—her unraveling.

The blind, consuming void that hollowed her out.

I knew it all too well.

Because I had walked that path myself.

Overlaying her yesterdays atop my own.

“……”

I stared at the woman before me.

At the trembling red in her eyes.

As if questioning the truth reflected in their surface, I slowly parted my lips to speak.

A conversation we’d once shared—

“Do you remember what you said once?”

Just a passing bit of small talk.

“You said the reason people drink… is to forget their shame.”

Was this the shame you wanted to forget?

Torn between longing and guilt.

The weight in your gut so unbearable you couldn’t stop drinking even for a single moment.

For all that time—

—Because we can’t stop, we become adults.

—Even when we know we’re wrong… we’re too old to change.

You were afraid.

Afraid of what would come after the buzz wore off.

Afraid of the turmoil and remorse that would come crashing in.

Her voice, low and subdued, finally spoke.

“…This will be a long story.”

She began quietly, as if easing into it.

The drunkard began to confess the sin she had carried for so long.

I listened intently to the hushed echo of her words.

“It started like this.”

The cult had extended their hand.

And Selena had, for a long time, worked with them—feeding them information.

She had felt no guilt over it.

Only the grief of losing Lianne.

“Back then, none of it mattered to me. If I could see her again… I was prepared to bear any sin.”

She was ready to sell off everything.

Her gold, her house, her lifespan, her sorrow, her love, her guilt—every last piece.

She was resolved to use whatever she could.

Grief had sharpened her resolve into a deadly blade.

But—

At some point, that blade began to dull.

“I suppose I became weaker.”

She started to feel it—the erosion of her bitterness.

Children who smiled as they approached her.

Fellow teachers who set examples to be admired.

Selena began to fear the kindness around her.

Afraid that growing close would ruin everything.

So she built walls around herself.

“I always kept my distance.”

That was probably why she never took on a personal teaching assistant.

She didn’t want anyone getting too close.

She stayed drunk, was curt with other teachers, and polite yet distant with her students.

Someone who existed at the Academy—but never truly belonged.

She treated daily life with detachment.

But time has a way of seeping into you, whether you want it to or not.

The days at the Academy grew more and more familiar.

And that made her heart ache.

Maybe the reason she kept drinking… was because of the shame of enjoying that familiarity.

Of wanting to escape, if only briefly.

She never managed to shake that inner turmoil.

“Maybe that’s why.”

In truth—

She could’ve done a far better job betraying them.

As the leading candidate for head professor, Selena practically held authority equal to the Headmaster.

She could’ve arranged to send the Academy’s top forces away.

If the cult’s goal was to weaken the Academy, that would’ve been the perfect play.

If she’d done that, the place might have already been in ruins.

Even if I’d intervened, it would’ve cost me years of my life.

But the fact that she didn’t—

“…You hesitated, didn’t you, Professor?”

“Something like that. Though I don’t know if that makes it any better.”

She still missed her sister.

But now, the people and scenes of the Academy clung to her mind.

Her longing and her guilt toward the students tangled together.

Her split self waged war within her.

A mind so twisted it couldn’t decide anything.

In the end, she’d collapsed into indecision.

Selena had hesitated.

Over what to choose.

Of course, now that everything’s over, it hardly matters.

The drunkard turned her gaze away from mine.

“Truth is, the only reason I accepted you as my assistant… was for an experiment.”

“An experiment?”

“I needed it. A specimen—one not quite a Star yet, but one with the potential to become one. A still-growing star, so to speak.”

“So it was related to resurrection.”

“Stars are rare, conceptually. Especially young ones. That’s why I pushed to be homeroom teacher of Class A. To get close to you.”

“Originally, that position would’ve gone to Professor Cadel. So it was you who pushed him out.”

“Yes.”

Now it made sense.

Why I’d been made top scorer in the entrance exams.

Why the homeroom teacher had changed from the original story.

Why the usually aloof Selena had made me her top assistant.

It was all so she could get close to me.

I gave a complex smile.

Then added a question at the corner of my lips.

“This experiment you mentioned… what exactly did it involve?”

[Translator - Peptobismol]

[Proofreader - Demon God]