Everything is within his plan, yes, EVERYTHING. And everyone is just dancing in the palm of his hands. Btw, he's never been dragged around by Horikita, ever.

Not a fan of the novel. Passive main character and shitty pseudo-philosophy to excuse his passiveness. Okay, wow, cool, you can manipulate a bunch of teenagers in a school. What's the f*cking point? Lmao. If he's such a cunning, scheming, manipulative guy, why the f*ck is he wasting his time on a f*cking school. Why would you even start in the worst class? For plot progression, no other real reason. This is a literal self insert of a idiot author trying to write a "smart" character. You see the usual "I'm a lowkey genius.." type of monologues. "If I just put a little effort in.." "Haha, all in my scheme.." "I don't care about anything.." well, that's cool, but what's the point? What is his goal? I didn't read far enough ahead to see if he even had a goal, because even if he did, it would simply be something the author made up to justify his baby-tier "manipulation." lol. If he was in a world where there were other smart people besides him, he definitely wouldn't have succeeded. Sure, his disinterested personality is a bit interesting, but the author doesn't know what he wants. Why talk all philosophical and justify your own viewpoints to the reader instead of just saying "This is how I am, I don't care if you like it or not." because that would be less cringy than trying to use philosophy to justify your actions. I enjoy Evil and Cunning MCs a lot, but this MC is "cunning" without a real purpose. He's not a villain either. From the way the five star reviews hyped up all the scheming the MC does I thought it'd be thought out, logical, methodical, and calculative. Instead, it seems like it just comes naturally and he reacts to it.

Another thing I hate about JP novels. The MCs are mostly reactive. Sure, you can have a bunch of monologues about how cool the MC thinks he is or how he's just "using" everyone, but that doesn't change the fact he's passive to an extent where we don't even see his supposed "uncaring" attitude. Wow bro, you can emotionally manipulate a f*cking girl teen. So cool. So? What's your goal in doing this? What's the point? If you're so disinterested in everything, why manipulate them? Wow, he killed people in his past? No f*cking way. So badass and tragic. Lmao.

Here's what I would do to make this better, giving the setting and plot

1. Make other characters smart. I would make the other characters as smart as the main character. Sure, the other characters aren't really brain dead, but they're idiots for sure. The "schemes" are nothing more than parlor tricks compared to novels such as Reverend Insanity, LoTM, and other intellectual works.

2. Make a less passive main character. I enjoy monologues, but it gets boring to a point. Sure, he thinks he's cool, uncaring, and manipulative, then act on it lol. It's just a boring, bland plot in my opinion. The main character has potential but he's simply too reactive. The author is a self insert, so he needs a reactive protagonist in order to "relive" his own highschool life through his own works. It's a typical "I'm such a genius bro I swear, if I just put in effort.." cringe story. You know how you ask some people about their highschool GPA or grades and their like "Lol, I never cared about work, so my GPA was low. But if I put in effort.."? Pretty much the MC. Talks about how smart he is but never shows active plotting, only the results, which is boring as f*ck.

3. Less philosophy. If he was in a cultivation world where he needed to be strong to even survive, I would agree with the philosophy he's using. But he's in a f*cking school. What in the actual f*ck is the point of plotting in a school. It makes no sense and is there for no other reason than the own authors wish fulfillment. It would have been much better if he wrote the MC scheming in politics or something. But the author isn't smart and is only capable of writing schemes against people who are very dumb or young, so he can never write politics.

Summary: Classical JP novel. A dumb author trying to write a smart character by mix mashing a few "ruthless" philosophies in the most cringy way possible. Author constantly jacking off how cunning, ruthless, and uncaring the MC is, without actually showing him actively plotting. It's a bland story all together and the five star ratings are for people who have never read any other novels besides tr*sh, beta, JP lns. If you want a story about a real cunning and ruthless protag, this isn't for you. Saying "well actually I was just using you" to a high school girl is cringy and pointless, not ruthless. Pure wish fulfillment, author was probably bullied. If the MC was really ruthless, he'd just kill the people in his way and stop his parlor tricks. Read if you're dumb and looking for a dumb story.

The MC does not have much of a personality but it seems that he is trying to be as neutral as possible. There seems to be some circumstances behind his past that we had not been privy to yet. There is also a plot point with Horikita whose brother is the student council president. The classes are ranked by merit and not just academics.