So far, it's a difficult story to judge... To begin with, I still don't see where the title comes from. For now, there is no "previous life", and the hero is not dead, either...

Basically, the MC is a scholar and the greatest wizard in the kingdom, but he got betrayed by a lot of people and his life became miserable: his fiancée never loved him and became the mistress of the hero, his family sold his research, and his magic masters felt threatened and pushed him into the hero's party.... more>> Then he had to infiltrate the demon world for three years with the hero and his mistresses: a daughter of a Duke, who only knows how to 'supervise' the fight, a saintess (the only useful one), whose hatred for demons makes it hard for them to hide their identity, and his ex-fiancée, a forced and completely useless addition. But after the hero killed the demon king, they found out that all of this was a scheme by the evil goddess ruling this world to gain more power while having fun. She amuses herself by giving opportunities to tr*shy people (in this case, the hero, a transmigrator who had nothing going for himself before being transformed by her powers), and judge them afterwards, enjoying their despair. After explaining that to the party, she takes back the hero's powers (and enhanced appearance) and they go back home secretly. But the kingdom needs the hero and the demon king (everyone obey them because of the threat of the demon king and the possibility of getting help from the hero) ; plus, the boom of the hero coin (sold at a high price everywhere) invented by the king made the kingdom's economy, internal stability and borders' security extremely dependent on the hero's power. Basically, the hero losing his powers will cause some kind of stock market crash and, subsequently, uprisings and war. So the hero's party's 'successful return' is very unwelcome. To escape the hopeless situation, the MC asks to be given a land that nobody would want (because it's too dangerous). Since he's too OP, they have no choice but to agree (hoping to turn him into a scapegoat while he's away). From then on it will probably become a mix of politics, territory development and fights (not sure since he has yet to reach his land).

One thing I appreciate is the fact that the MC is not driven by revenge. He understands that he was s*upid about his fiancée and is actually grateful he got rid of her. He also dislikes the hero but acknowledges his usefulness (well, until he lost his powers). He's not jealous, just annoyed, and wants nothing but to be left alone (still, I feel he should have a better sense of justice, because that scummy serial r@pist hero deserves punishment).

Also, in general, the 'bad people' are not too exaggerated. The hero's party are not actively bullying him or anything. The king is not a good guy, but it's not like the whole court is against the MC. They just obey. Basically, the 'bad guys' are not everywhere and they are mostly selfish and/or incompetent people, but not exaggerated villains, which make it believable for the MC to just not care about them.

So far I am curious and I like the MC. <<less

An interesting twist on the summoned hero and downtrodden mage of the party. The Hero from my Previous Life has Died is about Elang Meister, after the defeat of the Demon King, surviving the mistakes the current hero Kim Yeomjin caused. The twist being that the chosen hero is a reincarnator, while the main character is a native of this world.

I recommend reading this story if future readers enjoy feeling catharsis from having the hero get their karmic punishment and other people get karmic rewards.

The possibility that this novel... more>> goes downhill is still feasible, so take my recommendation as a thumbs up until chapter 14. <<less