The Broken System Chose the Antagonist
Chapter 2: Nervous Transmigrator

Chapter 2: Nervous Transmigrator

Inside a large plaza of a hotel, a young lady with messy orange bob-cut hair and turquoise eyes bit down on the nail of her thumb; her eyes shaking with fear and... immense stress.

’I’m screwed, I’m so screwed...!’ She shouted in her mind.

Six days ago, Emma had transmigrated into the world of Good of Humanity, taking on the identity of some middle-class extra named Seraphine Halloway.

At first, she had assumed that it was a dream and that she was just knocked unconscious from the fall. But after the first day and a few pinches, she was met with a cold splash of reality.

And because of that, she hadn’t been able to sleep well at all, causing dark rings to form around her eyes.

’How did I even get here, anyway?! Is transmigration really a thing!?’

Like some people her age, Emma had always been quite the reader, especially for webnovels. Obviously, she never thought that things like transmigration or reincarnation were real, like in those stories, but...

With her current situation, there was no possible way she could deny those concepts!

’I didn’t even get a System! Did the people who transmigrated me here plan for me to die early in this world!?’ Emma despaired, biting down on her nail more intensely—a poor habit from her old life to cope with stress.

Eventually, after a moment or two, she stopped biting.

She looked up from the ground and surveyed her surroundings. The hotel plaza was large, big enough to fit three humongous lanes of people roughly her age, which was 17 in this world. And currently, Emma was standing in the middle lane.

Emma continued to look around, feeling intimidated.

Some of the people here were tall, way taller than her. Most of them gave off the impression that they could crush her skull with a single hand! But that wasn’t what intimidated Emma the most.

It was rather that today was the registration for Orrey Cross’s Entrance Exam—a military school funded by the GOHG to train Vitalists!

In this world, Vitalists were basically superhumans capable of manipulating their Vitality (a person’s life-force) to do all sorts of things, like crushing stones, running faster than a sports car, or even surviving a 50-metre drop!

Simply, anything that the human body could physically do was something Vitalists had control over.

In Good of Humanity, it was stated that only around 17% of humanity managed to awaken as a Vitalist.

Emma had only found out three days after her transmigration that she was a Vitalist, and that was only because she got a post in the mail from the LRM! And because of the law that dictated Vitalists must serve military time, she couldn’t even ignore the call to come here!

’There are two exams that I can be registered for. Logistics and Infantry.’ Emma began to pray, ’I can only hope they measure me as talentless for combat and register me for the Logistics Exam!’

She wanted no part in fighting against the Predicaments!

As Emma continued to pray, the line only got shorter and shorter. And before she knew it, she was the second closest to the very front.

"Next."

The young man who stood in front of Emma gulped as he stepped forward to stand in front of a white-clothed desk where the Registration Officer sat behind.

He then awkwardly offered his hand towards the Registration Officer and stuttered:

"I-I’m Ethan Bendela, n-nice to meet you!"

Emma, who had leaned her body to get a good look at the Registration Officer, found herself perplexed.

She didn’t recognise them.

Although the Registration Officer was facing down, and had a black military cap that obscured their face, it should’ve been possible for her to recognise them.

’Who is this? I didn’t see anyone like this at the start of the story...’

"Ethan... Bendela... ah, here you are." The Registration Officer muttered as she checked off the man’s name from a list.

And in that brief moment, Emma was able to make out that the Registration Officer was a woman.

’She has quite the pretty accent...’ Emma thought before widening her eyes a second later in horror.

Looking up from the list, the Registration Officer locked eyes with the young man, who immediately broke eye contact a moment later.

The Registration Officer was a stunning woman with long brown hair, piercing red eyes, and a black military uniform that enhanced her charm even further—she also looked to be the same age as Emma.

’Hold on, isn’t she—!’

"A pleasure to meet you, too, Mister Bendela. My name’s Hilda Hertel, I’ll be in charge of registering you." Hilda smiled as she raised her black latex-gloved hand to meet his. "Hm... your hand is a bit cold... I’ll register you for the Logistics Exam. That fine with you, ja?"1

The young man watched as Hilda scribbled down next to his name and immediately became ecstatic.

"A-absolutely! Thank you so much!"

"Not an issue, Mister Bendela." Hilda then gestured towards a corridor to the left, "Please make your way down that corridor and enter the first room to the right. You’ll join others like you for an assembly regarding your exam."

Emma began to panic inside as she watched Hilda bid the man farewell with a small wave.

’What the hell is she doing here!? She shouldn’t even be helping out with the registrations!’

Was this still the same story she was thinking tirelessly about?!

Hilda, unaware of the emotional breakdown her presence gave to the girl, smiled gently at Emma. "It’s your turn, miss. Please step forward for your registration."

"H-huh? Oh, uh, y-yes, sorry..." Emma apologised, walking over to the table with hesitant steps.

She then pushed out her hand for Hilda to take.

"S-seraphine Halloway, M-miss Hilda."

"Seraphine... Halloway... ah, found you." After ticking off Seraphine’s name, Hilda noticed visible tension in the girl’s shoulders.

She then smiled gently.

"There’s no need to feel nervous, Miss Halloway. I’m not some terrifying monster that wants to eat YOU—!" Hilda said before lunging at Seraphine’s hand, grabbing it and causing the girl to jump at her spook.

Hilda chuckled when she saw this, entertained by the girl’s fright. "Haha, but I’m being serious, though, Miss Halloway. We’re all humans here, after all. Not brutal Predicaments that only want to bring you down. So, please don’t feel the need to feel afraid."

Seraphine widened her eyes, becoming swayed by the woman’s comforting words.

’She’s... a lot nicer in person...?’

She was baffled.

’She’s also a lot more eccentric in person.’

The game had made her out to be a lot more intimidating and antagonistic, so with the way Hilda was treating her, she was left speechless...

Could it be that, because it was from the Heroine’s perspective, Hilda was portrayed very differently?

Seraphine felt a little conflicted.

"Hmm, oh! Your hand is rather warm und1 I think I can even sense some potential for Spirituality in you!" Hilda beamed before pulling away, scribbling down next to Seraphine’s name, "I’ll be putting you down for the Infantry Exam."

Seraphine’s body froze; her face and mind went blank.

"Hah?"

"I’ll need you to put your signature on this." Hilda handed over a paper document and a pen.

Seraphine blankly stared at the two items before taking them from Hilda’s hand. She then repeated, still in shock:

"... Hah?"

"It’s a long document, I know. Even I was surprised by it at first." Hilda chuckled, "But it’s all for formalities. Anyway, after you get done signing that, please step aside for now. Since we’ll be using the hotel plaza for the Infantry Exam Assembly later, you won’t need to go anywhere like those doing Logistics, Miss Halloway."

After signing the document, Seraphine stepped to the side for the next person.

She had a dejected look on her face and a dim look in her eyes that made one think she had lost all hope in survival. And they wouldn’t be wrong to think that in the slightest.

’It’s over... It’s all over...’ Seraphine thought hopelessly.

As she was walking away, she caught a fleeting glimpse of a cascade of long, glossy blonde hair drifting past her; each strand as fine as silk and giving off the impression that they were spun from pure gold.

Seraphine immediately froze when she processed this.

’Wait, isn’t that...!’

Turning around, the girl’s eyes instantly widened to their extreme.

Ja? = Yes?und = and (Hilda prefers using the German translation over the English one, usually.)