Some days later, back at headquarters, Miina tried giving Halvied the psychology test.
“Wh-What nonsense…!? That I’m the heavy type when it comes to love…!?”
“I’m more surprised you didn’t realize it, nya.”
The result was 4 As. It became clear that he too is a rather heavy man.
That night, a message also arrives from Sayuki.
Sayuki: Um, Haruhiko-san. Do you think I’m a heavy woman?
Haruhiko: I don’t think so. I’m happy for you to depend on me. But what about me?
Sayuki: No, I’ve never thought you were heavy. Sometimes you do make me blush, though.
Haruhiko: Then I’m relieved. These psychology tests can’t be trusted after all.
Sayuki: You’re right.
Since they’re both heavy types, they mesh well together, avoiding any problems.
The two of them actually seem to be doing quite well, despite being enemies.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
[Afterword]
Thank you for picking up and reading this book.
This book takes the form of a message board-style light novel. Some may feel this doesn’t qualify as a novel. While it’s an electronic message board, it’s written vertically, and punctuation marks are included due to publishing conventions, which may feel odd.
Even so, the fact that I was able to publish this is thanks to it being categorized as a light novel, as well as the existence of the Kakuyomu website.
Since this story was originally posted for reader submissions, I’ve included some playful elements that could only be done in a web novel format.
For example, some of the posts in the story include comments left by readers during the original Kakuyomu serialization, which I obtained permission to use. I’d like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the readers who participated as anonymous posters.
The reason I wrote in this format is simply because I’m an old-school otaku who used to frequent online message boards back before social media was this widespread.
I remember reading outrageous threads that had to be lies and still falling for them hook, line and sinker. There were also legendary threads where the posters’ comments would unexpectedly steer the conversation in wild directions towards insane conclusions. While it may seem dated now, there was a certain feel that could only be enjoyed on message boards.
One classic piece of message board slang was “rom for six months.”
Meaning something like, “Stop making lame posts that don’t understand the vibe here. Don’t post again until you get it.” In the 1990s, when internet culture itself was still immature, board regulars tried to maintain their own unique atmosphere.
Of course, there were always users who ignored that and went off the rails, leading to the rise of self-appointed moderator types – for better or worse. Still, the idea that if someone’s posting something problematic online, others should call them out on it is an important one even today.
Follow the rules, be considerate of others, don’t cause trouble, but feel free to be ridiculous together.
I wanted to recreate that nostalgic atmosphere, if only a little bit. In other words, I just wrote what I liked, how I liked it. I’m grateful to the Kadokawa staff for giving me a place where that’s allowed.
The specified character count is not enough for just rambling and words of gratitude, so I’ll touch on the content of [I’m Evil] here as well.
This is a story about a man who posted a thread online, complaining and rambling, while borrowing the power of the message board users to convey his feelings to his crush.
While the “train guy” is probably the most well-known example, threads like “guys, lend me your power” related to romantic interests regularly appear on message boards. The users rack their brains to come up with message content to send to the poster’s crush, giving him a push for his confession, waiting for the results to be posted. I took that premise and added elements of my favorite special effects shows and evil organizations to create [I’m Evil].
tlnote : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Densha_Otoko
Some may have felt the thread title didn’t match the content, but the title was intentionally written strangely following the tradition of attracting people’s attention.
About the main character, Halvied-Calm-Sein:
He’s a genius scientist with silver hair, heterochromia, and a cold expression who exhibits the behavior of a cheesy villain from an older generation or two ago. However, he’s only a genius in the field of invention, with poor communication skills and many shortcomings elsewhere—quite the disaster area.
He also holds the rather outdated belief of “it’s an adult’s responsibility not to make children do children’s work.” Fundamentally, he finds it easier to take on troubles himself rather than pass them onto others, so having various tasks foisted on him in the story is his just deserts as a workaholic type.
Creating monsters and magic items is his job, but since research itself is his hobby and entertainment, he made many things useless to the organization. Nowadays he only focuses on management, but deep down he just wants to shut himself in and only do research.
He’s really into Japanese culture, especially frozen foods and beer. Posting on message boards is his daily stress relief, typically in just his underwear slurping up instant noodles.
His way of talking differs greatly between usual and on the threads, but they’re both facets of the Hakase. Basically, he’s a good-natured older brother type who adjusts his behavior to the situation.
The concept is that he’s a nice guy who can’t fully commit to being evil—just a pretty boy acting tough. His views on romance are stunted at the middle school level, but he gave it his best effort in the story.
About Sayuki Kannazuki, his first love:
She’s fifteen, the age of adulthood in Hakase original world, so there’s no issue there.
At first she was just an idol he was a fan of, but through the discussions on the thread, the Hakase became aware of his romantic feelings for her.
He fell for her because he was moved by how she kept fighting despite being weaker than them. He was also greatly impressed by how she recklessly put herself out there for others.
While not explored much in the story, the Hakase’s mother left after an affair. However, he doesn’t particularly resent the affair itself. During the period until she left, it was his mother supporting the household finances, so he’s grateful for that part.
Still, since he loved his father dearly, while he doesn’t hate his mother for being attracted to other men, the feeling of his father being abandoned prevents him from making a clean break.
That childhood experience cultivated his difficulties with romance and relating to women.
So on a fundamental level, he tends to shy away from overly feminine women, which is part of why the understated Sayuki appealed to him.
For her part, seeing the Hakase’s poor communication skills made Sayuki feel “this person won’t lie to me,” allowing her to let her guard down before developing feelings through their interactions.
Rather than being shy, she has an unassuming, wallflower type of personality. However, her refined looks attract many male admirers at school.
But being a loner by nature, she gets wary of anyone hitting on her too smoothly. So if the Hakase had approached her like a mature adult from the start instead of the message board users’ antics, it may not have worked out. The message board anarchists were unexpectedly their cupids.
Sayuki’s hobbies are solo karaoke, piano, and road biking—all things she can enjoy alone for the sad reason of having no friends.
In the end, since they’re such kindred spirits, they likely have good chemistry in an sense.
About Vilaverit Dios Creccia:
While Sayuki was the only one the Hakase developed romantic feelings for, the Leader Vilaverit was also a special existence to him.
After failing to save his own father, Vilaverit was the first person the Hakase managed to save. Just being able to save someone was a huge relief for him. Which is why he couldn’t refuse when Vilaverit kept piling unreasonable tasks on him.
In reality, the Hakase is the kind of deplorable adult who is “grateful to the previous company president, the current one is incompetent at work but a good person, so he has no intention of quitting, working overtime and on holidays, but the burden is heavy so he vents on message boards.” Yet he’s capable enough at his job to keep the organization running smoothly.
Vilaverit looks up to the Hakase like a second older brother. However, the ultra-capable yes-man Hakase makes the organization run exactly as the leader wishes on the surface. Due to this, the naturally inept leader came to think “as long as I leave it to the Hakase, it’ll be fine.” And the Hakase, for his part, is glad to be relied on by the leader despite his grumbling.
This mutually reinforcing dynamic led to a labor environment akin to a black company, despite them caring for each other. The core issue is the Hakase’s inability to quit since he dotes on the leader.
At their core, they’re simply a meddlesome younger sibling running rings around an older brother who finds her endearing no matter what. With different timing, it could’ve been a more subdued organization.
The reason romantic feelings never developed on the Hakase’s side, beyond the age gap, was that Vilaverit was neither a boy nor girl at that point.
So this is just conjecture, but if the story’s start was offset a few years and Vilaverit had chosen a female gender identity, it may have become a schmaltzy rom-com about falling for the older brother who doted on her since childhood—which I’d love.
As a side note, Vilaverit is considered the most beautiful in appearance, being of the angelic Amsoral race that lacks a defined gender, giving an ethereal quality.
Those three are likely the main focus. While it’s not a love triangle since the romantic plot centers on the Hakase and Sayuki.
Personally, I have a strong attachment to the side character who doesn’t appear much—Master Zero Suke, the master of the cafe. Him being in full armor is my dream of evil-side heroes embodied.
Additionally, I rewrote this story before posting it on Kakuyomu, so the initial draft was quite different from the current version. It also wasn’t in a message board format originally.
While still being about an evil organization, the initial plan had Zero Suke as the main character.
Zeros Creccia, a senior executive, had left the organization and was running a cafe in Japan. However, the evil organization and the transforming heroines continued fighting, with both sides visiting his cafe…so it was set up as a slice-of-life story.
Most of the characters were the same, but with Zero Suke as the lead, the relationships naturally changed. The main heroine was Lrticia Norn Floram, who left the organization to be with him. I changed it to do the message board premise.
Originally, the Hakase’s partner was supposed to be Yuki Akane, the Eres persona occasionally barging in is a remnant of that. I like pondering these “what-if” worlds, so I’d write about it somewhere if I can.
In any case, it’s ultimately a light-hearted comedy, so I hope skimming through gives you at least a few laughs.
Thank you for indulging my rambling up to this point.
If any readers think “yeah, this goofy premise reminds me of the dumb stuff we used to do online back then” after reading this, despite the dated, cliche premise, it would make me so happy.
西 基央
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
TLNOTE : Honestly, the story is actually good if you can get past the questionable age gap romance. I know that’s a pretty big “if.”
And just to be clear, I’m not defending that choice, it is what it is, and it’s definitely questionable. But it helps to remember the story is basically a love letter to the whole magical girl genre. And when you think about it, that genre surprisingly has A LOT of this kind of thing baked into its classics. I mean, look at the middle school girl and the college boy in Sailor Moon, or the fourth grader and the high schooler in Shugo Chara or fourth grader and a teacher in Cardcaptor Sakura, or a middle schooler and her school principal in Utena (they had seggs on screen btw), just to name a few.
So in a way, the story is just… reflecting that weird, uncomfortable tradition it grew up from. Once you see it that way, you can kind of separate the awkward romance trope from the rest of the plot, which is genuinely solid.
One more thing, since high chance that LN volume 2 won’t ever come out, if you want to know how the story ends, read the complete WN version starting at Chapter 30
Visit the request page If there’s a Japanese Light Novel (LN) or Web Novel (WN) you’d like me to translate
When the donation goal progress bar above hit 100% one novel will be chosen for translation
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