Chapter 11
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 011
Chapter Title: The Deepening Delusion
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My brows furrow.
“What do you mean by that?”
“I might be able to fool you, Professor, but I can’t fool the spirits.”
The professor lied to me.
With that as her opening, Elin launched into an elaborate string of misconceptions.
“Why would someone who claims to have failed keep conducting experiments in the lab?”
She’d hit on a blind spot.
As I stayed silent and just watched her, Elin rattled on as if her wild guesses were stone-cold facts.
“The truth is, Professor, you’re already one step ahead of everyone else when it comes to the secrets of runes. Am I right?”
“No.”
“No way.”
Elin shook her head as if that couldn’t possibly be true.
No, really, it’s not.
I don’t even understand it myself—why the hell is it working?
And I’m planning to seal it away permanently, too.
To repeat: I understand absolutely nothing.
‘Why are you insisting it’s right when I’m telling you it’s not…?’
“After reaching Master level, you secluded yourself and secretly researched runes while everyone else was in the dark.”
No, is that how it is? Does it really connect like that?
People looked like chitinous insects… and that mental shock led me to take a break for recovery.
There’s absolutely no such fact! That’s a slander against Aiden!
Aiden isn’t that kind of person.
He isn’t…
“Yes, now I’m convinced. You’re the kind of person who wields aura that governs purity.
You must be incredibly knowledgeable about runes. Far more than a mere student like me.”
That’s why you could answer Professor Paulo’s surprise question so easily. It’s all in your head, so responding must have been a breeze…
No. You need to value yourself a bit higher.
With self-esteem that low, how do you plan to navigate the grim story ahead?
Of course, the latter part is baseless, too.
‘So where the hell do I even start to clear up this misunderstanding?’
Elin fell into a long silence, groaning as if she were wringing her brain for answers.
Then, slowly, she opened her eyes.
“You’re refining the rune language, Professor. If modern humans can’t use it because our vocal organs have degenerated, you’re dressing it up in new clothes. Making it usable!”
“That’s dangerous talk.”
I growled low in a clear threat, telling her to drop it.
It was dangerous talk.
If the ancestor-regression fanatics doing human experiments overheard this, things could get serious.
‘Worst case, they might even kidnap me.’
To tangle with them, you need at least the midgame of the original story.
It’s beyond what the protagonists can handle right now.
As I lowered my voice in a domineering tone, Elin stopped talking.
She looked pretty flustered.
But then her face drained of color, and she gasped.
Pale as a ghost, she scanned the surroundings.
Wondering if anyone else had heard, or if there were listening devices.
Let me be clear: there’s nothing like that.
All I’d said was not to talk about it outside— I wasn’t implying anything about bugs or surveillance.
She was just imagining it all on her own.
“I’m sorry… But it seems I got pretty close to the truth. After reaching Master, you encountered a new path. That path was the rune language. The seclusion was just a ploy to fool everyone’s eyes.”
She shook her head down, then up, and conviction gleamed in Elin’s eyes.
“The rumors of the genius’s downfall and all the suspicions—they’re just strategies to blind people with the timing. So no one suspects you’re researching runes!”
“Not at all.”
“And taking this professor position—don’t tell me…!”
No words were getting through.
Ah, this is driving me insane.
“You needed facilities for more precise research. While fooling everyone’s eyes. Brilliant.”
Since I wasn’t confirming anything, the standoff continued.
Elin was protesting why I wouldn’t affirm it after she’d dug this deep, but I truly had nothing to say.
Not a single thing she said was right.
How can I affirm or deny when it’s all so wildly off-base? There’s nothing to affirm.
Clearing up a misunderstanding requires the other party to have the capacity to accept it’s a misunderstanding in the first place. But Elin had already solidified in her mind that her version was the truth.
It wouldn’t get through to her at all.
Elin stood first and bowed her head.
“I don’t know exactly what else you’re hiding, but I guess you’re not going to tell me. In that case, I’ll find out myself. Thank you for today. See you around.”
She expressed her thanks on her own terms, as if objections weren’t welcome, and bolted from her seat.
Just before crossing the threshold, Elin paused and shot me a glare.
“Thanks for the canned coffee.”
Then she fully turned and left.
Only Isel, who had served the tea just as I’d asked, alternated glances between me and the departing Elin.
‘Haa…’
I could already see the route twisting out of shape.
“Professor?”
“Isel.”
“Yes?”
“Bash your head against the wall and stand there.”
“Whaaat?!”
She got angry, as if demanding why she had to do that after going to the trouble of brewing the tea as instructed.
‘If you hadn’t given Elin that hint about it being my coat…’
This wasn’t pointless venting… probably.
Ignoring her grumbling beside me, I rested my chin on my interlaced fingers.
I had to untangle this somehow, but I didn’t even know how the knot was tied, so I couldn’t touch it.
“Professor, I feel so wronged…”
“Have some tea. I need to think alone.”
“Whiiiine, isn’t this treatment a bit too much?”
I didn’t answer and leaned back in my chair.
‘I need to investigate Elin a bit.’
The route being twisted was a certainty.
To get it back on the right track, an investigation was essential no matter what.
* * *
Elin stepped into the hallway, twisting her expression as if the stares from surrounding students meant nothing to her.
Soon, unsatisfied, she bit her lower lip.
Even as her heavy eyelids drooped in thought, her face stayed contorted.
‘I nailed it so perfectly.’
That professor just stared at her with his usual utter flatness.
It didn’t feel like she’d uncovered a secret or dug up dirt.
Not even a hint of agitation—enough to make her doubt if she’d gone off on a wild tangent.
‘No way.’
Everything fit together perfectly.
Aiden the genius professor secluding himself due to some mysterious mental illness, handing official duties to his little sister, answering Professor Paulo’s ambush question— all of it.
It all pointed to runes.
Everything else was just a cover.
A strategy to fool others’ eyes.
If not, these eccentricities made no sense.
Once the direction was set, things she’d ignored until now started catching her eye one by one.
A natural flow.
Clearly the result of that professor luring her into believing the flimsy ‘genius’s downfall’ ploy.
Once she felt that incongruity, she could trace back and spot more oddities.
Elin closed her eyes.
Piecing it together one by one.
‘Professor Aiden could have become a full professor but stubbornly chose temporary professor. Why?’
Because full professors have to hide all sorts of things from the university.
He wanted a lab to use but no traces left, so he could bolt with his research anytime things went south.
And she’d stumbled upon it by chance.
Elin nodded firmly, brimming with conviction.
Yes. This was the truth.
“But he’s hiding something more from me.”
He’d tried to cover it by showing that fake Ignite replica.
Trying to convince her at a moderate point that it was impossible and send her packing.
“What the hell is it?”
What else was that professor hiding from her?
Unable to contain herself, she stomped her feet and made a tearful face.
The face of a child throwing a tantrum for not getting what she wanted.
At least, that’s how she looked reflected in the elevator mirror in the Martial Arts College building.
Irritation surged again at herself for making such a face, but she forcibly suppressed it.
That bottled-up irritation gathered at one point.
Elin chewed her lips.
“That impassive face.”
She hadn’t reached the core, had she?
That’s why he could act so nonchalant.
What she’d uncovered was just surface-level.
Anyone could connect runes and Professor Aiden on that superficial plane.
“I’ll figure it out no matter what.”
Elin burned with determination.
The quiet lab.
Inside, Isel and I sipped our tea.
The mood was somewhat subdued, but I didn’t mind.
It didn’t bother me.
“…You’re not even going to tell me to cheer up?”
Isel glared at me, thoroughly sulky.
She was watching to see when I’d apologize.
Unfortunately, Aiden never apologizes, not ever.
That’s why he’s half-assed for a reason.
“…Ughh.”
Only after Isel was fully pouting did I take a sip of tea and close my eyes.
Thinking alone, I couldn’t arrive at any answers.
It was a knot worthy of being called Gordian.
‘Of all the misunderstandings, why did it have to be one this tangled?’
Frustrating.
“Isel, what do you do when a girl has the wrong idea?”
“Huh?”
She asked why such a random question, but her face gradually turned sly.
Her lips curved up, and she started humming idly—quite the mismatch.
But one thing was clear: she seemed excited.
“Heh, hehe. What kind of misunderstanding?”
“She acted like I’d done something awful to her.”
“Wh-what awful thing?”
“I just wanted to cherish her, but it didn’t go as I intended, and the meaning got all twisted.”
All I’d done was cover Elin with my coat because she was asleep on a chilly day.
It was pure goodwill!
Isel flushed bright red as if it were about her and cleared her throat a few times.
“Ahem, ahem. Is the girl pretty or something?”
Pretty? What kind of talk is that?
‘Objectively speaking, Elin is plenty beautiful.’
Being a half-witch, half-elf probably accentuates her beauty even more.
Her figure was petite now, but later she’d mature thanks to her witch genes kicking in.
Whether now or in the future, Elin’s beauty was unchanging.
The only difference was whether it was a girl’s youthful charm or an adult’s mature allure.
“Beautiful. She’s beautiful enough now, and she’ll be even more so once she matures.”
“R-really?”
Isel turned completely red and avoided my gaze.
So why are you reacting like that?
“W-well, in that case, I get it. Yeah, people can be bad at expressing emotions sometimes! Yeah! No problem at all. Oh! I just remembered something I need to check—be right back!”
She bolted out.
As she left, she muttered, ‘Saying that with that face is foul play!’ but I had no clue.
In this context, where did that even fit?
The lab fell silent with Isel gone, too.
I stared blankly at the empty spot she’d left, then leaned against the sofa back and let out a sigh.
“What the hell is all this…?”
At some point, I’d become unable to understand people’s psychology.
Without even realizing it.
It was utterly frustrating.