Chapter 1: Transmigrated into a Villain, Hell Mode from the Start

“Victor, you’ve really made a name for yourself!”

From the study came the sound of an angry woman’s scolding.

A beautiful woman with short black hair held a newspaper in her hand, pointing angrily at the magically imprinted image on it.

“Are you trying to disgrace the name of ‘Clavenna’ completely?”

Smack!

The newspaper was flung directly at the man’s face.

He remained expressionless as he took the newspaper down.

His obsidian-like bright eyes quietly scanned the contents of the paper.

The man in the picture had well-defined features. Even though it was merely a black-and-white print, his excessively handsome face still stood out.

It was a face capable of making countless young women swoon.

But this did not include the girl in front of him.

His gesture in the picture seemed to be an invitation to the girl, yet the girl in the image was smiling as she rejected him.

That smile even seemed to carry a hint of disdain.

Bang!

A loud sound pulled his thoughts back to reality.

The woman in front of him—Lia Clavenna—slammed the table hard.

“The family sent you to attend the banquet, and you actually confessed to the Duke’s daughter in public!?”

“She’s still a minor! Are you insane?”

Indeed, the newspaper’s content read:

Shocking! Viscount Clavenna’s Outrageous Act at the Duke’s Daughter’s Banquet!

One had to admit, this newspaper really knew how to grab attention.

Even if he had seen such a headline himself, he might have spent a few coins to buy a copy and use it as entertainment for afternoon tea.

Unfortunately, the subject of today’s headline was none other than himself.

Victor Clavenna.

He looked at the mirror on the desk. The reflection staring back at him was identical to the handsome man in the newspaper.

As someone who had just transmigrated this morning—without even a shred of original memory—Victor didn’t want to take the blame for this.

However, when faced with the woman’s furious shouting, he had no choice but to remain silent.

If a mentally ill person kills someone and claims insanity as the reason, can they escape the death penalty?

Actually, yes.

But only if they have the necessary certification.

Victor had none.

So he could only listen to the scolding with his head down, not saying a word.

Yet his silent demeanor, as if everything was going in one ear and out the other, seemed to fuel her rage even more.

In the end, she ended her long-winded tirade with: “I must be crazy to think you would actually listen!”

With that, the one-sided scolding session finally came to an end.

This gave Victor a chance to gather as much information as he could from the past few minutes.

Judging from the layout of the study and the appearance of the short-haired beauty before him, everything perfectly matched a game he had played before.

An MMORPG adventure game—a massively multiplayer online role-playing game.

In this world of swords and magic, players could customize their appearances, choose different races, experience various professions, follow intricate storylines, and take on challenges.

As for his previous profession…

He had been a booster.

This game required level grinding. If players weren’t willing to spend money, they had to grind for materials themselves.

For those who didn’t want to pay but also had no time to level up or farm materials, that’s where boosters came in.

Similarly, in PvP (Player vs. Player) ranking matches, players who wanted to reach levels beyond their actual skill often needed boosters as well.

Victor had worked in this industry for a while and even made a name for himself in the boosting community.

And just yesterday, after seven sleepless days, he had finally completed his seventeenth order for the month.

Just as he was about to receive payment—

Smack. He died suddenly.

That was how simple and unremarkable his transmigration was.

Back to the matter at hand—

His current identity in this world was Victor Clavenna.

A viscount.

In the Kingdom of Karensia, a nation where power was distributed according to noble titles, a viscount was more of a symbolic identity.

Aside from owning a small territory, he had no real privileges.

Yet in the eyes of commoners, a viscount was still a high-status noble.

And now… he had provoked the Duke’s daughter?

A viscount was no match for a duke.

“As expected of a villain boss, starting straight at hell difficulty.”

Victor muttered under his breath.

“What did you say?”

Lia’s voice instantly rose a few notches, sounding both confused and annoyed by his indifferent attitude.

Victor naturally shifted his gaze to his so-called younger sister.

Lia Clavenna.

In the game, she was Victor Clavenna’s younger sister.

Because of her incredibly high beauty, she was one of the few female characters in the game whom players would chase after, calling her their “waifu.”

Lia’s popularity was undoubtedly linked to her “villainous older brother.”

Victor Clavenna was a major boss that players had to defeat in the mid-to-late game.

Due to his actions, the Kingdom of Karensia’s government was thrown into turmoil.

The reigning Empress issued a quest for players to eliminate Victor Clavenna.

As a villain, Victor became infamous for his high attack speed, nearly unbeatable difficulty, and irresistible charm as a scumbag mage, all of which contributed to his unexpected popularity.

In summary, transmigrating into a game he was familiar with should have been a joyful experience.

But his mood was far from happy.

Because…

Victor had too many enemies.

Maybe it was because of his notorious reputation, or maybe the game developers simply had a personal grudge against handsome men.

In the game, almost every NPC harbored a grudge against Victor.

It could be a professor from the magic academy, an old man from a small village—

Or even a random dog on the street that Victor might have kicked.

Even worse, every major storyline character wanted him dead.

Among them were Victor’s fiancée, Victor’s sister, and the duke’s daughter.

This was also the origin of Victor’s title, “The Scumbag Mage.”

There were only a handful of well-known female characters with high attractiveness, and Victor had managed to entangle himself with most of them.

The fact that he had survived until now was a testament to his exceptional skill.

Looking at him now, having replaced the original Victor to become the current Victor…

Just the accumulated resentment from the original body was enough to make his life difficult.

‘I wonder what time it is now.’

After Lilia’s previous questioning, this time he refrained from muttering aloud.

He merely pondered briefly in his heart.

However, seeing Victor lost in thought, Lilia once again felt that he was deliberately refusing to speak, as if to humiliate her.

Her anger instantly surged to the maximum.

“Enough! Victor, do you have any idea what kind of situation you’re in?!”

She angrily pulled out a document from her designer handbag and slammed it onto the desk.

“If I hadn’t pulled some strings to contact the academy and immediately secured a professorship title for you, the duke’s private soldiers would already be at your doorstep!”

“Yet here you are, leisurely sitting in your study, drinking coffee and reading books! And now, you don’t even have the decency to say thank you?!”

“Thank you.”

“I hate you like… Eh?”

Lilia’s words came to an abrupt halt. She blinked in surprise, momentarily forgetting how to vent her anger.

Victor remained seated, taking the document and flipping through it as he spoke, “Thank you for handling this for me. Next time, I’ll be more mindful of my words in public.”

“……”

Seemingly unprepared for her infamously disgraceful brother to suddenly offer a word of thanks, Lilia twirled a strand of her hair with her finger, feeling somewhat conflicted.

“In any case, I only did this to prevent our family from being disgraced. Besides, I can only buy you time. You’ll have to personally apologize to the duke.”

“Also, don’t just thank me. You should first think about how to deal with Miss Gwen.”

“Gwen De Lin?”

“Yes. My recommendation alone wasn’t enough to convince the academy, so I had to ask Miss Gwen for help.”

At this point, Lilia’s gaze grew colder as she looked at Victor as if he were a disgusting insect.

“You already have a fiancée, yet you still want to fool around with other women.”

“As expected of you, Mr. Victor.”

Victor selectively ignored the latter part of her statement.

“Although I don’t know what misunderstanding you might have, I will be sure to thank her.”

A name surfaced in his mind.

Gwen De Lin.

The second daughter of the knightly family that guarded the northern borders, and in the game’s storyline, Victor’s fiancée.

She was a true knight of justice, and a knight of justice was destined to stand opposed to an antagonist mage.

In the game, despite being Victor’s fiancée, she never once stood on his side.

Even in the final battle where Victor was hunted down, it was Gwen who arrived in time and ended his life with a single thrust of her lance.

Their relationship was more akin to a forced political marriage with no real affection involved.

That Gwen personally slew Victor seemed to confirm the players’ speculation.

Unfortunately, the game developers never provided any backstory between the characters, and up until the very end, their relationship remained an unsolved mystery.

‘Another dangerous character added to the list.’

Sighing inwardly, Victor felt that life was incredibly difficult.

Gwen De Lin was no minor character.

As the strongest knight in the Kingdom of Kalencia, her combat prowess remained formidable even in the later stages of the game, when gods and demons were clashing.

In the endgame, she even became a boss that players had to fight against. Her overwhelming strength was deeply etched into every player’s memory.

Victor had a very clear understanding of her combat ability.

This woman must never be provoked.

Otherwise, he would truly die.

Even though he had transmigrated, it didn’t seem like he had any cheat abilities to rely on.

Noticing Victor’s somewhat deflated expression, Lilia inexplicably felt a bit pleased.

She had assumed it was his arrogance preventing him from accepting help, but in reality, Victor was simply trying to figure out how to survive in this seemingly inevitable death scenario.

“Hmph, I still have matters to attend to in my territory. I’m leaving.”

Lilia let out a cold snort, picked up her handbag, and prepared to leave.

“Oh, right.”

Just before stepping out, she turned back, casting Victor a glance filled with pity.

“Keeping a raven as a pet, and not just any raven, but one with only one eye.”

“Your taste is just as terrible as ever.”

Bang!

The study door slammed shut.

Outside, the voice of a maid could be heard.

‘Miss Lilia, shall I prepare a carriage for you?’

But at that moment, Victor’s thoughts were no longer on Lilia’s departure.

He turned his head and looked at the inky-black creature in the corner of the desk.

It resembled a raven, but slightly larger.

And just as Lilia had said—

It had only one eye.

That single eye, brimming with an eerie intelligence, darted around nimbly.

Finally, it locked gazes with Victor.

Then, it curved into a distinctly human-like smile.

“Hello, I am the Evil God—Habika.”