Chapter 1: The tag for my life from now on is no-man’s-land

I am a yellow dog.

Of course, I’m a fake yellow dog who doesn’t touch tags like NTR, NTL, or NTS that make me want to cough up blood just hearing them, but still, I’m a yellow dog.

If you ask me what my favorite tag is, I can say without a moment’s hesitation that I love harem the most.

Why? It’s hard to pinpoint one reason, but maybe because it’s impossible in reality.

In real life, you can’t see multiple women competing for one man, so I love that I can see it in web novels.

Plus, since I was born frail, small-framed, and shorter than most girls, I’ve always been the one getting coddled by them, so maybe I like it more out of some rebellious streak.

Anyway, living as such a yellow dog, I’m getting ready to dive into a novel with high expectations.

[Academy’s Harem Hero].

This work blatantly has “harem” in the title. Thinking about how it’s been wildly popular for ages and how countless reviews hyped it up, I’m practically drooling.

Of course, I haven’t read those reviews.

The moment I read a review, I’d feel like I’m getting indirectly spoiled, so I’ve been holding off like a kid in that marshmallow test.

It had fewer chapters before, so I let it marinate for a while, but now it’s got enough chapters stacked up, and I’m ready to binge.

I turn on the electric blanket, wrap myself in a quilt to preheat the bed, grab a cold cola from the fridge, and slide into the covers, fully prepped.

“Heehee….”

All I can do is giggle.

Just how much fun will this novel be?

With a heart full of excitement and hope that it’s a masterpiece like everyone says, I click on the prologue.

And in that moment, a sudden wave of exhaustion hits, and I fall asleep.

*

The first thing I say after waking up from that sudden, intoxicating sleep is…

“An unfamiliar ceiling.”

Staring at a ceiling I’ve never seen before, I mutter a line straight out of a cliché.

“…?”

Soon after, something feels off.

‘Wasn’t my voice just now… too high?’

My voice is already pretty high-pitched for a guy, but the tone I just heard was different.

Not a high-pitched male voice, but one that sounded distinctly feminine.

In other words, it wasn’t my voice.

My brain immediately starts spinning like crazy.

An unfamiliar ceiling, a voice that’s completely changed.

“…No way.”

The moment that thought hits, I kick off the blanket and sprint toward the mirror by the dressing table.

A loud crash echoes as I stumble, but I don’t have time to worry about the noise.

Please, please don’t let it be what I’m thinking.

“…F*ck.”

But why do bad hunches always come true?

In the mirror, there’s a woman. Long black hair, bangs, red eyes—at a glance, she’s exactly my type.

But why is this woman staring back at me? Novels are supposed to be fiction, not reality!

I raise my left hand, and the woman in the mirror raises her right.

I raise my right hand, and she raises her left.

“Bleh—”

I stick out my tongue, and the woman in the mirror sticks out hers, mimicking me with a playful grimace.

No room for denial—this beautiful woman in the mirror… is me.

“F*CK!”

In other words, I’ve either been possessed or reincarnated.

No, more precisely, it’s not reincarnation—it’s probably possession.

If it were reincarnation, I’d either be a kid or have memories from the past, but I don’t have any of this woman’s memories, and I’m not a kid either.

It’s definitely possession.

‘Which character did I get possessed into?’

I start thinking again.

I don’t watch much anime or read webtoons, and since I’m a self-proclaimed yellow dog who only reads novels obsessively, it’s got to be a novel possession.

My next move is to think of female characters who look like this.

One, two… I start piecing together which novel I might be in.

And soon, I come to a conclusion.

“F*ck…”

It’s the novel I was about to read before bed—[Academy’s Harem Hero].

Since I haven’t read it yet, I don’t know this character’s name.

But I’ve seen her often because I had pre-saved Academy’s Harem Hero.

She’s a character who never left the cover.

Even though the cover changed multiple times, this black-haired, red-eyed character was always there.

If my guess is right, she’s probably the main heroine, maybe even the official love interest.

In my personal opinion, a black-haired heroine is always the main wife.

“What do I do with this?”

My head spins.

I love harems. No, to be precise, I love being the ‘subject’ of a harem.

I read harems because I admire the protagonist—the alpha male—and want to be like him, not because I want to be some sidepiece in the harem.

Why the hell would I want to cling to some guy and fawn over him? The thought alone makes me nauseous.

“But… what’s this character’s name?”

There’s a problem.

I don’t know this character’s name.

No, it’s not just the name—I don’t know anything. I’m not even sure if this is her house.

Where do I get information? Do I go around asking people, “Do you know my name?”

As one thought leads to another, I finally throw caution to the wind and shout.

“…Status window!”

A line that would make anyone laugh if they heard it.

“Huh? Why isn’t it showing up?”

But when nothing appears, my face starts to flush.

No way, is this a novel without a status window?

Why go through the trouble of not using a status window when it makes writing so much easier, you damn author—I’m grumbling when.

[Name: Han Jiyeon]

[Age: 20 Gender: Female]

[Trait: Blessing of the Water Spirit (Supreme)]

[Stamina: 6 Mana: 20]

[Agility: 10 Luck: 8]

It seems there was a slight lag, but thankfully, the status window appears.

“Han Jiyeon… sounds like a name… 20 years old… sounds like an age…”

Whether this is good or bad, at least I won’t get confused about my name, so I let out a sigh of relief.

I keep examining the status window.

My mana is significantly higher than other stats, and my stamina is pretty low.

And…

“Blessing of the Water Spirit? What’s that?”

I have a hunch, but just to be sure, I tap on [Blessing of the Water Spirit (Supreme)].

[Blessing of the Water Spirit (Supreme): A person favored by the Water Spirit King, Elaim. Possesses an overwhelmingly high aptitude for water-attribute magic.]

“Oh…”

The status window explains the trait in detail.

It feels a bit… game-like, which is kind of fun. Or maybe intriguing is the word.

I poke around the status window some more.

It pays off. The average academy student’s stats are 10, so my stamina and luck are below average… but my mana is nearly double the average.

That alone is a significant find.

“This feels like playing a mystery game…”

After confirming my name, age, and abilities, I finally accept the situation.

I’m definitely possessed as a heroine in this novel. If not, there’s no explaining this mana far above average.

But if you ask if I’m joining that harem…

“Are you insane?”

I want to be the protagonist, not some heroine fawning over the protagonist.

I’m a f*cking guy—not gay—so why would I do that? The thought alone makes me want to puke.

If anything, I’d rather turn the protagonist’s heroines into a yuri story…

No, wait, if the protagonist barges in, I might end up like those heroines. Better to cut ties with the protagonist entirely.

Alright. From now on, this character’s fate isn’t to be a harem trophy but a career woman in a no-romance story.

Since I can’t do anything about being a woman now, I’ll just live with it.

If I kill myself here, I might return to my original body, but pain sucks, so no thanks.

In the end, I’m starting life as a woman, and all I need to do is cut ties with the protagonist, avoid the harem, and live a no-romance life.

Yeah, that’s the plan.

“Alright. From now on, my life’s tag is no-romance.”

I’m not a fan of no-romance stories, but if I’m the one involved, it’s gotta be no-romance. Absolutely.

With that resolve, I immediately hit a roadblock.

“By the way… are there people outside?”

My inner hikikomori-antisocial-loser traits start kicking in.