A Solitary War
The local police stationed in Japan arrived. We went to the police station and underwent questioning. The investigation didn't last long and ended quickly. Being Elphon Academy students apparently gave us an enormous amount of credibility.
“Phew...”
I stepped out of the police station and collapsed onto a nearby bench with a heavy thud.
The culprit behind this incident—the innkeeper—was one of Requiem's members.
From a distance, a police officer spotted me and walked over.
“You're the student who was questioned today, correct? Thank you for your cooperation.”
He handed me a coffee as he spoke.
“Thank you. I'll enjoy it.”
“More importantly, is it true that the innkeeper had no personal grudge against any of the Elphon Academy students?”
“Yes. It's the truth. Every student in our Class 1-A was seeing the innkeeper for the first time that day.”
“Then why in the world would he activate the Demon Sealing Formation to try to kill the students? The motive is impossible to understand.”
The officer stroked his chin as he spoke.
“....”
The local police had no idea the innkeeper was a member of Requiem. That was only natural. The personal details of each and every Requiem member were shrouded in absolute secrecy. Their wanted posters listed nothing but their initials. The most critical section—the photograph of their faces—was left completely blank.
And of course the motive behind the innkeeper's actions wouldn't make sense to them. Requiem only taught their special Demon Sealing Formation to their own members. Once activated, it created a perfect barrier between the inside and the outside. Monsters would spawn within the formation and slaughter everyone trapped inside. It would then convert the victims' mana into demonic energy and absorb it.
No one outside of Requiem knew about the capabilities of this formation. After all, every person who had ever witnessed their Demon Sealing Formation firsthand had died.
To Requiem, the Elphon Academy students must have seemed like the perfect materials. Each one possessed a massive amount of mana. If they could absorb it all, they would gain an enormous quantity of demonic energy.
“....Did I hear that wrong just now?”
“No, Vice Commander. You heard correctly.”
Bang—!
The vice commander slammed his fist down on the desk. The metal surface split cleanly in two in an instant. His subordinate broke into a cold sweat at the sight. It had been a long time since he'd seen the vice commander this furious.
“Ellwood, the one who possessed the Crystal Ring, suddenly died?”
“...Yes.”
“Who killed him?”
“We're still investigating, but we don't have the full details yet...”
The vice commander hurled the glass cup from his desk at the wall.
Crash—!
Blood trickled down the subordinate's forehead where the shattered fragments had struck him.
“Does that sound like it makes any sense to you?”
“...”
“After all the money we spent bribing the local police, you're telling me you couldn't extract even a single piece of internal information?”
“Yes... For some reason, the local police were reluctant to share any information about this incident. It seems there's a major figure backing them.”
“......A major figure?”
“Yes. It appears a rather powerful force is behind this incident.”
Grind—
The vice commander ground his teeth. The Crystal Ring had been absolutely essential to him. A ring that doubled mana recovery rate. He possessed a vast mana pool but suffered from slow recovery, making that ring the perfect tool for him.
“...After that bastard died, the ring he had hidden in a nearby dungeon disappeared as well?”
“Yes.”
“...Then whoever is wearing that ring is the prime suspect. Look into it immediately.”
“Understood.”
Creak—
I opened the door to a nearby upscale Japanese restaurant. Cha Jiyun had contacted me saying she wanted to meet briefly.
“Welcome. Do you have a reservation?”
“Yes. The reservation is under the name Cha Jiyun.”
“Ah, I see. Please follow me.”
The staff member guided me to the most secluded private room in the corner.
“You may enter here.”
“Thank you.”
I gave a polite bow and stepped inside. Cha Jiyun was already waiting, having ordered the meal in advance.
“...You've arrived.”
“Yes.”
I sat down across from her. Her expression was far more serious than usual.
“May I ask why you called me here?”
I spoke first.
“...”
Cha Jiyun stared silently at her glass for a moment. Glug— Instead of answering, she poured alcohol into her cup.
“...This is an extremely important matter. I ask that you answer me with complete honesty.”
“....”
“...Depending on your response, I may have no choice but to regard you as an enemy.”
Cha Jiyun gazed at me with an icy expression.
“...Understood.”
“....You killed the innkeeper today, did you not?”
“Yes.”
“...Are you aware of the innkeeper's true identity?”
“How could I know something the police themselves don't?”
“....I believe I already stated that your answer may force me to consider you an enemy.”
“...”
Cha Jiyun stared at me in silence. When I offered no reply, she nodded and continued.
“...It seems I should reveal what I know first. I had our intelligence department investigate him. He was a member of Requiem.”
“....”
“....Did you already know that?”
Cha Jiyun lifted her glass and drank it down. She set the empty cup on the table.
“....Knowing that, you were able to kill him without the slightest hesitation, weren't you?”
“....”
“And since you knew that Requiem's unique Demon Sealing Formation can only be dispelled by killing the one who activated it, you must have been certain that killing him was the only way to resolve the situation.”
“....”
“...How did you know?”
Cha Jiyun frowned deeply.
The Samhwa Group had been pursuing them aggressively, yet Requiem remained a veiled organization whose members' faces were unknown. They had been watching the Samhwa Group with hungry eyes. They had even targeted my father's life. Our investigation revealed that even the secretary had been a plant sent by Requiem.
Cha Jiyun picked up her phone and checked the message that had just arrived.
It was the latest information obtained after the intelligence department team leader tortured a Requiem spy they had luckily captured. The member had confessed just ten minutes earlier while under interrogation. They were targets that had to be eliminated at all costs. But because the organization was so deeply shrouded in secrecy, there were almost no ways to gather information. Still, they had diligently used the intelligence department to investigate. All they had managed to learn was that the Demon Sealing Formation could only be broken by killing the caster, along with the names of a few low-ranking members who had infiltrated the Samhwa Group. And that information had only come in five minutes ago.
Yet this man had killed the innkeeper as if he already knew what I had only learned five minutes earlier. As if he understood the unique property of Requiem's Demon Sealing Formation—that it could only be dispelled by killing the one who activated it.
If he wasn't connected to Requiem, how could he possibly know such a thing?
“Could I have a glass as well?”
I asked.
Cha Jiyun silently poured alcohol for me. I stared at the glass.
Hmm… how should I explain this? I couldn't exactly tell her I'd played the game before my possession and already knew all their faces.
“Then I suppose I should start by proving that I have no connection to Requiem.”
“.....”
“The Requiem members currently infiltrating the Samhwa Group are Il Yura, Minjos, Karin, and Belzos. Four in total.”
“!!!”
Cha Jiyun's eyes widened dramatically. Some of the names I had spoken were the very spies the intelligence department had identified. There was no possibility of that information leaking. It was knowledge shared only between the intelligence team leader and Cha Jiyun herself.
“If I were truly connected to Requiem, there would be no reason for me to tell you this, would there?”
“......That is certainly true.”
Cha Jiyun nodded. If he really were one of them, he would never have revealed those names. But one question still remained unanswered.
“...How do you know? That they are members of Requiem.”
The personal information of Requiem members was buried behind layers of secrecy. Yet this man knew it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. Information that the Samhwa Group's intelligence department had barely uncovered through exhaustive investigation, he knew naturally.
“I've been hunting them for a long time. I have to kill every last one of them.”
I took a sip of the drink.
If Requiem continued to exist, this world could never escape destruction.
“And my relationship with my parents was completely destroyed because of them. It was all because I wasn't strong enough.”
Because while playing the game, I had been so obsessed with killing Requiem members that I became a complete shut-in, rarely leaving my room. As I spoke, I unconsciously gripped the glass tighter.
“.....”
Cha Jiyun stared at me blankly. Only then did everything click into place for her. The reason he had to hide his power. He had concealed his strength so that Requiem wouldn't notice him. While hiding his true abilities, he had been watching from the shadows for any opportunity to dismantle Requiem.
All for revenge against the ones who had destroyed his parents.
Cha Jiyun gazed at me in a daze. Just what kind of lonely battle was this man fighting all by himself?
Then I frowned and spoke again.
“...This isn't real alcohol, is it?”
“....Of course not. You are a minor, after all.”
Cha Jiyun let out a small, amused laugh.