* * *

Life has its share of absurdities and unexplainable events, but this?

This was beyond anything Remy could have imagined.

Being transmigrated into a web novel as a character?

Not just any character—a male villain destined to be shot and killed by the end?

“This is insane. Absolutely insane,” Remy muttered, frowning as he bounced along in a carriage.

The sights outside the thin curtains were both unfamiliar and mesmerizing, but he had no time to admire them.

His mind was a battlefield, racing to piece together how things had come to this.

His body still felt off from the manifestation, and the mental strain wasn’t helping.

Then, as the carriage veered onto a quiet forest path, a realization hit him.

‘Wait. Could it be…’

He immediately dismissed the thought.

No, it couldn’t be.

There was no way a comment he had made would have dragged him into this world, right?

‘Then again… This is a world where people get transmigrated into novels. Anything could happen.’

Resigned to the absurdity, he muttered under his breath, ‘That damned comment…’

“Damn those comments…”

It was clear that everything had started because of those hateful comments.

It was the tail end of spring, leading into summer.

Before transmigrating into Remy, Joo Aseong had been an ordinary college freshman in the real world.

Well, except for a couple of things: his face was absurdly pretty, to the point of being distracting, and he was an aspiring writer dreaming of becoming a web novel author.

That was about it.

Of course, his preferred genre of web novels was strictly male-oriented fantasy.

Yet, he had recently found himself forced to read ‘that’ BL novel everyone was raving about these days, for reasons beyond his control.

“The piece we’ll be discussing today is ‘‘I’m a Villainess, So I’ll Enjoy My Life.’ Everyone’s read it thoroughly at home, right?”

The Web Novel Research Club—shortened to “Web Novel Club”—was the only club Joo Aseong was a part of.

When he first joined, he’d thought it was a great decision.

They read one novel a week, had study sessions, and held discussions.

It sounded perfect.

But, oh boy, was he wrong.

He hadn’t anticipated one critical obstacle: every single member of the club was female.

“What are we going to do with our Aseong? Always reading romance novels like this.”

“Haha, i-it’s fine, noona. It’s not as bad as I thought…”

“Sure, sure. We’ll do a male-oriented novel next time, so just hang in there until then.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

---

‘So… when exactly is ‘next time’ supposed to be?’

Joo Aseong swallowed back the words rising to his throat.

Watching the club president ramble about the same thing for the hundredth time, he shoved away his pointless longing for a day that would never come.

For a moment, he seriously considered just quitting the club entirely.

While he debated his exit, the president and the other members launched into a heated discussion.

“Possession stories often have that trope where the protagonist has to see the ending to escape, right? That’s so cliché. Do we really need to explain it every time in the story?”

“But what if you get possessed into a villain who dies early on? You can’t see the ending then.”

“Ah, in that case, you escape when you die, just like in the original plot.”

Today’s topic appeared to be “Escape Methods for Possession Protagonists.”

Not having much to add, Aseong kept his mouth shut and quietly listened.

“Okay, let’s wrap up today’s discussion. I’ll announce the novel we need to read for next week.”

As the president prepared to unveil the next discussion’s reading assignment, Aseong couldn’t help but glance at her, clutching onto a sliver of hope.

Maybe this time, just once, it’ll be something for guys, right?

“The Scent of Alpha. You’ve heard of it, right? It’s a massive hit right now.”

‘The Scent of Alpha?’

What the heck was that?

Everyone else seemed to know it, but the title was completely foreign to Aseong.

“Oh, right. Aseong, can you… handle this one?”

The president gave him a look, as if her heart went out to him.

Her expression made it clear that she thought he was a pitiful soul, especially today.

Aseong sighed in resignation.

‘It’s not like I haven’t been drowning in women-oriented novels already. What difference does one more make?’

But then—

“Hey, Aseong… have you ever heard of BL?”

“…Excuse me? What? B… BL?”

“I’m serious. It’s all the rage these days! It’s still ongoing, not even finished yet, but every girl I know is obsessed with it. Don’t you think it’s worth analyzing for ourselves to see what’s so amazing about it?”

And just like that, the moment he had feared finally arrived.

‘Please, not that. Anything but that.’

Struggling through romance fantasy novels was bad enough… but BL?

Him, reading BL?

“Okay, so for one more week, let’s focus on women’s novels. Just hang in there a little longer, alright, Aseong?”

As the sole first-year member of this university club—and its lone new recruit—poor Joo Aseong could only nod weakly.

His compliance brought a triumphant smile to the president’s face.

“Great! Thanks, everyone! See you next week. Aseong, you got this!”

---

That evening, back home, Aseong booted up his computer, intending to unwind with a few rounds of gaming before bed.

But for some reason, he wasn’t the least bit sleepy.

His mind was oddly alert.

“Maybe I’ll check out some web novels for a change.”

He opened the familiar blue webpage and began scrolling out of habit.

That’s when he noticed a banner featuring an oddly familiar title.

‘The Scent of Alpha?’

Wait.

That’s the one the president mentioned earlier—the hit novel she was talking about.

Aseong clicked it, thinking he’d entered the fantasy category, only to realize he was in the BL section.

“Hmm…”

The idea of a romance between two men wasn’t just unappealing; it was downright off-putting.

Still, something tugged at his curiosity—just a little.

‘If I’m going to have to read it anyway… might as well check out the free chapters.’

And so, almost against his will, Aseong clicked on the banner and began reading.

---

Time passed in a blur.

Three hours later, he had finished all the available chapters.

Lying on his bed, bleary-eyed with dark circles creeping down his face, he muttered:

“What the hell did I just read…?”

It was nothing short of a revelation.

A world where two men could marry and even have children?

Completely absurd. It shouldn’t exist. It couldn’t exist.

But what truly shocked Aseong wasn’t the story’s setting—it was how insanely good it was.

“God… it was… so good…”

Despite the utterly unacceptable premise, the story was maddeningly addictive.

And now, as if cursed, the characters and scenes refused to leave his mind.

Had he secretly enjoyed this all along?

Was this who he truly was?

His inner turmoil didn’t stop there.

His heart ached for one particular villain who met a tragic end in the final chapter he read.

“Poor Count Wesley… dying just like that… Sniff.”

If only Count Wesley had been born an omega instead of a beta, maybe he could have had a happy ending.

Overwhelmed, Aseong decided to channel his feelings into a review.

---

[Why Count Wesley Should’ve Been an Omega (Feel Free to Disagree, You’re Still Right)]

Fingers flying over the keyboard, he poured his heart into a lengthy post.

After proofreading for typos, he hit the submit button.

The response was immediate.

Apparently, popular novels came with active communities, but the comments were… less than kind.

└ CozyTrashBin: What is this? A wide-area aggro bomb? (04:10)
└ YeohyeCheopRevenge: Someone here sympathizes with villains? LOL. (04:10)
└ TooDelicious: Officer, this one’s causing chaos. Arrest them! (04:10)

Among the countless replies, one particularly popular comment made his blood boil.

└ WriterLove99: God, please let this guy possess Remy and suffer for life. Amen. (04:37)

“What the hell?! What’s wrong with them?!”

Cursing under his breath, Aseong swore to fight back.

If they were going to sling insults, he wasn’t going to take it lying down.

And so, as the sun rose the next morning, Joo Aseong was still at his desk, furiously replying to comments. L

ittle did he know, the very fate they joked about was creeping closer by the minute.

“Yeah… I should have realized it back then.”

Returning to reality after a long train of thought, Remy let out a deep sigh.

It was true.

If he had known things would turn out as the comment had warned…

He wouldn’t have even considered posting that kind of review in the first place.

* * *