243. Mission Complete
243. Mission Complete
"Wha—what!? You finished it all...? Already? It's only been ten days since I gave you the mission! And you're telling me you took care of all three of them!?"
A few days later, I went back to the Chairwoman's Office.
Having received my mission completion report, Rina shot to her feet, looking dumbfounded.
I nodded, playing it cool.
"Yes. Gulliver's Travels gave us a little trouble, so that was a week. Beauty and the Beast was two days. And Alice in Wonderland took six hours."
"What? A—a week, two days, and six hours? No. How on earth is that possible...? Clearing just one of them in under two weeks would have been nothing out of the ordinary..."
Rina wore a thoroughly confused look, utterly unable to accept my report.
"It worked out."
Exactly.
Among Chairwoman Rina's Library Quests, only one was truly brutal and complicated.
『Gulliver's Travels』. That was it.
The demon sealed there was hard to take down without the giants' help.
But, thanks to a super save by Ichika and Ga-eul sunbae, who went with me,
we managed to wrap up something that originally should have taken several weeks at the fastest, within just a single week.
And the remaining two after that?
For those, separate speedrun strategies existed.
First, 『Beauty and the Beast』.
The people who came with me: Kang Do-hee and Sofia.
Honestly, there wasn't even a real "strategy" to speak of here.
You just brute-force it with pure physical power, no gimmicks involved.
Don't bother thinking about clearing the story.
If you attack the Beast right from the beginning, it immediately activates monsterfication right then and there.
─ Groooaaaarr!!
If you force the beastification without watching the story like that,
it becomes partially invincible, immune to all attacks except strike-type attacks.
But, well, Kang Do-hee primarily fights with nothing but her two fists and two feet anyway.
In other words, the affinity matched up.
So Kang Do-hee, having taken on the role of the Beauty, went fist-to-fist against the Beast,
while I cleaned up the teacups and teapots flying in from all sides so they wouldn't get in her way.
Sofia?
Sofia faithfully played her Healer role, standing rooted in the back and shooting arrows to refill Kang Do-hee's health whenever she got hurt.
And after just fighting like that, without sleep, for two days straight—it was over.
─ Mm, it's been a while since I've had a proper opponent. The impact felt great.
─ This was more tiring than I thought...
Despite fighting an all-out, no-frills brawl for two solid days, Kang Do-hee actually looked like she'd blown off some steam and was in great spirits.
Sofia, being a Healer position with less stamina than us, collapsed from exhaustion right on the spot.
Still, since you could just fight without having to bother with all sorts of complicated thoughts, it was clean and straightforward.
And last.
『Alice in Wonderland』.
The people who came with me: Lee Yu-ri and Shin Se-hee.
This was a stage where the objective was to catch and kill a caterpillar monster that used invisibility,
all while solving puzzles on a stage crammed with complex mechanisms.
Normally, it's a quest that would take a very long time and a lot of hard work, but...
─ Jin Yu-ha. Is this... really okay to do?
─ Yeah, it's fine. The spot we're standing is the one place made of glass, so the fire won't reach it.
─ No, that's not what I, I mean... Ah, fine! Hiyah!
Whooosh—!
We just set the entire stage on fire.
Since the whole stage is made of wood, it's highly flammable material.
When Shin Se-hee, who had taken on the role of Alice, set fire to a single chair,
the fire spread on its own to the desks, bookshelves, floor, ceiling, and all manner of fixtures, swelling in size in an instant.
WHIZZ—
The increasingly desperate caterpillar shot poisonous stinger attacks from blind spots,
but—
─ Claang!
it was useless.
No matter how much it used invisibility and attacked from blind spots, when faced with Lee Yu-ri's Taunt, all of those attacks converged onto her shield.
Ting!
─ Jin Yu-ha. Are you really sure about this...?
─ I said it's fine. Ah, looks like it's about to die now.
The invisible caterpillar's main issue was its stealth; its defense wasn't actually that high.
And so, not long after the stage started burning, it let out a pathetic shriek and burned to death.
─ Kieeeeeeek....
And just like that, we were able to return to the library in only six hours.
─ Jin Yu-ha, is this really okay?
─ Uh, from what I remember, Ga-eul sunbae and Ichika were together for quite a long time... And Kang Do-hee and Sofia were at it for two days, too...
─ What, you complaining because it was too easy?
Enough so that Shin Se-hee and Lee Yu-ri, who had gone with me, were actually voicing their dissatisfaction at how easy it was.
─ It's not that it was too easy! It's just! Something! Else! You know!
*
Chairwoman Rina's expression while receiving my mission completion report shifted moment by moment even as I gave my explanation.
And when I finally finished the report, the words that left her mouth were:
"...Are you a lunatic?"
High praise.
"Huh? I'm not a lunatic, though? Anyway, I've completed all the missions you assigned."
"R, right... I acknowledge..."
At that, Rina admitted her defeat and quietly bowed her head—
"—as if I would! You crazy bastard!!!"
Nope. Instead, she snapped her head back up and let out a furious roar.
"Excuse me?"
"Do you have any idea what kind of mission that was!?"
"Hm? The ones you couldn't catch, so you sealed them to dump on a cadet?"
"...Ah, well, that's— That's not the point! This was a gateway to test my successor! And you dare pass it using those kinds of underhanded shortcuts!?"
'Huh.'
Just what you'd expect from an old-timer Brat.
Rina showed her narrow-minded side, unable to acknowledge our kitsch, revolutionary, innovative strategy, a strategy positively brimming with MZ-generation sensibilities.
'Well, I could just leave things as they are.'
Anyway, a pass is a pass, in the end.
Even in the game, when you do a speedrun strategy like this, the Brat gets angry, but eventually tires herself out and acknowledges it.
'But I'm a little different.'
Unlike in the game, I had arranged to receive her help later on.
'To change the Serious Scenario, things can't go exactly like the game.'
Which means it wouldn't do any good to have things get twisted over this.
'And that's why I brought this. Though, this wasn't the reason I picked it up.'
"If you're that disappointed... really, I guess there's no helping it. Haah... It seems I'm just not qualified to be your successor, Chairwoman."
"...Wh, what?"
Perhaps Rina hadn't expected me to come at her this way, as she stammered.
Haaah—
I let out a deep sigh with a forlorn expression and rolled up my sleeve.
And there on my arm, the Subspace Tattoo was revealed.
"Honestly, I even brought something like this just in case..."
Clink—
A clear metallic sound rang out, and the Locket necklace fell into my hand.
"!"
At that, Chairwoman Rina's eyes went perfectly round, just like a Brat who's just had tanghulu for the first time.
Dangle, dangle.
As I swayed the Locket in front of her eyes,
Chairwoman Rina's violet eyes followed the Locket as though hypnotized.
Then, snapping back to her senses with a jolt, she pointed a finger at me.
"Y... you! How in the world did you get that...!?"
"Oh, do you recognize this?"
"G, give it back! It's mine!!"
She was so genuinely flustered she didn't even think to use magic, instead stretching her short arms out towards me.
In response, I casually raised my arm slightly higher.
Flail, flail.
Chairwoman Rina hopped and jumped, unable to reach it even though I only lifted it a little.
"Eek! G, give it back!"
"Oh? This puts me in a tough spot, doesn't it? This is legitimate compensation I obtained by clearing the mission."
"I, I never designated that as a reward!!"
"But I still obtained it, didn't I?"
"H, how in the world did you..."
"The demon dropped it when I killed it?"
That's right. This was the very thing I obtained by landing the last hit on the demon in Gulliver's Travels.
Chairwoman Rina's Locket.
When I said I'd gotten it by killing the demon, Rina's face twisted into an indescribable expression.
"This, that bastard had it..."
"So, may I consider myself to have passed your test, Chairwoman?"
"..."
Gripping.
Chairwoman Rina shut her mouth and glared at me.
But in the end, there was only one thing she could say.
"I, I'll call it a pass, so pl, please..."
'...Hm.'
Seeing the mighty Rina swallow her pride and beg like that, a few bad thoughts briefly crossed my mind.
"Here."
But I placed the necklace gently into her hand without any further bargaining.
Then Rina, as if she couldn't believe it, looked back and forth between the necklace in her hand and me.
"...R, really!?"
"Yes. I have no intention of playing games with someone else's cherished memories. It's precious to you, right? I brought it because your name was engraved on the back, Chairwoman Rina."
"...."
In the game, this item gave no reward whatsoever.
It was simply miscellaneous junk that raised Chairwoman Rina's Affection.
'But still, how could I ignore it when she wants to find it this badly.'
That's why, Affection issues aside, I'd intended to kill the demon with my own hands from the start.
"Th... thank you. Jin Yu-ha."
Rina held the necklace preciously to her chest and bowed her head toward me.
* * *
Late at night, when everyone was asleep.
A faint lamp was lit inside the Chairwoman's Office.
Rina held a glass of liquor and muttered to herself.
"That damned brat... How did he manage to find this?"
She gazed absently at the Locket wrapped around her wrist.
"I wondered where on earth this had gone... So it was in that place, was it..."
On the back of the necklace, her name was engraved.
[ RINA ]
Click—
When she opened the locket,
the face of a woman came into view.
The face of a woman who looked very much like her.
"If you've gone and brought me something like this... how can I possibly say anything to you now..."
Gripping.
Chairwoman Rina clutched the necklace in her hand and held it to her chest.
Her gratitude toward Jin Yu-ha spread through her heart like bleeding dye.