Just an Ordinary Guy, But I’m a Part-Time Manga Villain

Lin Yuan has a secret.

By day, he is a completely ordinary university freshman. By night, he is pulled into a deadly world of superpowers, monsters, and constant life-or-death crises.

The problem is, everything that happens to him there follows him back to reality.

The abilities.

The physical upgrades.

The ridiculous, inhuman strength.

All of it syncs directly to his real body.

For Lin Yuan, this is a disaster.

After all, he is just trying to live a normal college life.

When he accidentally snaps reinforced steel with his bare hands to save classmates trapped under a collapsed wall, Lin Yuan righteously declares, “Damn those corrupt developers! They actually used plastic instead of proper building materials!”

When he is taken hostage by a serial killer, only for his passive damage-reflection ability to bend the attacker’s knife out of shape, Lin Yuan picks up the ruined alloy blade and asks carefully, “Sorry, man… I don’t have to pay for this, right?”

When a monster suddenly appears in the real world and Lin Yuan tears it in half in front of his roommate, he calmly wipes the blood from his face and smiles.

“That was just acting. I didn’t scare you, did I?”

And so, through great effort, Lin Yuan barely manages to maintain his identity as an ordinary person.

So why are the people around him looking at him more and more strangely?

His disguise should be flawless.

Lin Yuan cannot understand it.

Until one day, he passes by the anime club and overhears its members discussing a supernatural manga that has recently gone viral.

A manga based on the very world Lin Yuan keeps crossing into.

In that manga, there is an immensely popular villain.

The villain is beautiful, cruel, and utterly unhinged. He treats human life as worthless and kills without blinking.

He is powerful, vicious, and loves pinning the protagonist to the ground just to mock and torment him.

And also...

The villain has Lin Yuan’s face.

Wait.

Isn’t that villain basically him?!

Lin Yuan feels wronged.

He has clearly been so careful. His disguise is obviously perfect. So how on earth did anyone figure it out?

Then disaster strikes the real world.

A manga titled Tarot begins invading reality. One by one, the monsters and superpowers from its pages start manifesting in the real world.

But what troubles the Ability Management Bureau most is not the monsters.

It is the villains.

The villains from the manga have begun appearing in reality as well—especially the most powerful and unpredictable mastermind behind the entire story: Ling Yuan.

[High-Risk Manifestation. Threat Level: S.]

The Bureau issues an emergency warning:

“Activate maximum-level protective measures. Be on high alert for any suspected manifestation of Ling Yuan.”

Meanwhile, in a rented apartment, Lin Yuan—who was dragged by the anime club president into cosplaying Ling Yuan because they happen to look alike—casually tears apart a contaminant that appeared out of nowhere and throws it into a corner his roommate cannot see.

Lin “High-Risk Entity, But Also Just a Broke College Freshman” Yuan hugs his roommate and sobs over his lost living expenses.

“Why? Why does a knockoff costume that looks like it came from a ten-yuan street stall still cost me half a month’s allowance?!”

“It doesn’t even offer installments!”

Without installments, is he supposed to live on instant noodles for the rest of the month?