I Became an Investigator Because of a Lie
(July 14, 2026)
I’ve made some minor revisions to the content from chapters 6 through 16.
The changes were made without disrupting the existing flow, but I recommend reading them.
The question that had risen in the infirmary still refused to leave my head even that night.
Why had I come to this world?
Of course there was no chance of an answer appearing overnight.
The next morning, on my way to first period, Selene intercepted me.
“Cheongha. Come to the Student Council Room.”
No greeting. No explanation of the business at hand. She simply appeared with her notebook and told me to follow.
By now, just seeing her like that was enough to make me anxious.
“I haven’t caused any accidents this time.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you calling me?”
“Because of the magic circle found in the lake.”
Did that mean I could skip class? I almost let myself feel glad for a second. It was probably going to be more exhausting than any lecture.
I hugged the Yeouiju I was carrying a little tighter against my chest. Selene turned away as if her business was finished. I really didn’t want to go. But I had no choice.
More people were waiting inside the Student Council Room than I had expected.
The Mana Manipulation Professor. Three professors I had never seen before. Lydia. And Erika, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.
“Why is everyone gathered here?”
When I asked, Erika answered.
“Demon investigation.”
“Why here for that……”
I trailed off mid-sentence. Black stone fragments lay across the long table. They were the mana stones that had been embedded in the magic circle at the bottom of the lake. Most were cracked or missing corners. Beside them sat scraps of water-soaked cloth, a black metal plate, and even a diagram with the complex patterns carefully transcribed.
The Mana Manipulation Professor gestured me toward a seat.
“Sit down, Student Cheongha.”
I don’t want to. Sitting feels like a terrible idea. But everyone was looking only at me. I carefully took the chair closest to the door. It was a good spot for escaping. Lydia naturally settled into the seat beside me. Escaping just got a lot harder.
Only then did the black familiar sitting at one end of the table catch my eye. That familiar gloominess.
“Is Noel-senpai also taking part in the investigation?”
The familiar gave a short nod.
“We need analysis of familiar magic and curse systems.”
Selene explained in her place. It was very Noel to send only her familiar instead of coming in person.
The professor pushed one of the black mana stones toward me.
“This was recovered from the lake.”
“I know that much.”
“Try holding it.”
Ominous. Very, very ominous.
I touched the mana stone with my fingertips. It was cold. That was it. No feeling at all. No evil aura of demons. No hidden flow of mana. No ominous premonition of approaching danger. None of that. It was just a cold, black, somewhat ugly rock.
The professors watched my expression. Selene raised her pen. Lydia looked at my hand with worry. Erika wore the face of someone waiting for something interesting to happen. The familiar’s gaze flicked between my hand and the mana stone. This was stressful.
“How is it?”
An elderly professor I had never seen before asked.
“Not particularly……”
I was about to say I felt nothing, then closed my mouth. I had already lied that I had sensed a strange aura at the lake. Would it work to claim the traces vanished after the magic circle was smashed? Or that it could only be felt while underwater? Either way, additional examinations would probably start. Why do lies keep shrinking my options the more I tell them?
“It’s gotten a lot weaker.”
I said it with the most meaningful face I could manage. The elderly professor nodded.
“With the core mana stone destroyed, most of the formula was lost, so of course.”
I’m saved. The other person even supplied the reason for me.
Selene’s pen moved.
“Residual mana detection possible even after damage.”
“I didn’t say it was possible.”
“Saying it’s gotten a lot weaker means there’s still some left.”
I’m screwed. I died again three seconds after being saved.
The Mana Manipulation Professor crossed his arms.
“According to the faculty’s analysis, this magic circle appears to have been prepared for at least several months.”
Several months. Long before I ever came to this world.
“It slowly infiltrated the management formulas of the training area and seized control of the monsters. The structural signal blocking was hidden so that it would only be revealed after the plan was executed.”
The elderly professor pointed at the patterns on the diagram.
“The problem is the purpose. The scale is far too large to think they prepared this much just to attack a few freshmen.”
Another professor continued.
“The reason they lured the monsters to the lake is also unclear. If the magic circle hadn’t been destroyed, there’s a high possibility there would have been a next stage.”
The gazes in the room gathered on me again. Why are you looking at me? I know less than these people. I only dabbled in the original game. I remember there were demon events. Early on they just passed by a few times like minor battle events. Crises to get closer to the heroines. Enemies to show battle CGs. That’s all I thought of them as. But the magic circle under the lake had been prepared for months. Then the other events might not have been coincidental either. One plan. Multiple attacks. And events that haven’t come out yet.
“I don’t think this will be the end of it.”
The thought slipped out of my mouth. The room went quiet. Oops.
Selene’s pen stopped. The Mana Manipulation Professor’s eyes narrowed. The elderly professor leaned forward.
“Does that mean there will be a next attack?”
“No, not to that extent……”
“When?”
“I’m just saying that’s the direction of things.”
Selene’s pen moved quickly.
“Specific timing unconfirmable. High possibility of additional attacks.”
“Don’t summarize my words like that.”
“Am I wrong?”
I couldn’t say she was wrong. In the original I had fought the demons a few more times. But I didn’t remember when, where, or why. Only the broad direction was right, and the details were empty. The worst walkthrough guide ever.
The elderly professor looked straight at me.
“On what basis did you make that judgment?”
I couldn’t say it was the original game. I especially couldn’t say I had only dabbled in it. I looked down at the black mana stone.
“The flow.”
Even I thought it sounded incredibly vague after saying it.
“The flow?”
“They prepared something this big, so I don’t think they’d just give up on everything after failing once.”
That, at least, was a logical statement.
“And……”
Everyone waited for the next words. It was an oppressive silence. I fidgeted with the Yeouiju for no reason.
“It’s similar when looking at the sky.”
My mouth moved on its own again.
“Even if it’s not raining right now, if you look at the direction the clouds are flowing, you can tell roughly where it will rain, right?”
That was a little cool just now. I don’t even know exactly what I mean, but.
The elderly professor took on a deeply thoughtful face. Selene wrote down my words without missing a single letter. Lydia’s hand came to rest on the back of mine. It was warm.
“Have you been sensing things like that continuously?”
“Not continuously.”
I tried to correct it, but Lydia’s gaze had already changed. It was the look of someone looking at a child who had known the danger alone but couldn’t speak of it. No. Really, no. I just thought of it now.
Lydia looked at the professors.
“Miss Cheongha’s power has never stayed only inside her body from the beginning.”
She looked in turn at the Yeouiju I was holding and the sky outside the window.
“The sky, the rain, and the wind responded to Miss Cheongha’s emotions and will. Perhaps Miss Cheongha senses the surrounding flows much more broadly than we do?”
The professors in the room fell silent all at once. Lydia-nim. Why are you blowing this up so much.
“In other words, rather than sensing after a change has occurred.”
Lydia squeezed my hand a little tighter.
“The moment the flow of the sky changes, she senses the changes that will happen ahead of time.”
No. I know because I played a little of the original. And even that, I don’t remember accurately. But Lydia was already looking at me with eyes close to conviction. The professors began reviewing Lydia’s words in low voices. The flow of the atmosphere and weather. Broad-range sensing. Precursors of changes that haven’t happened yet. Things I had never done were gaining plausible terminology.
I opened my mouth, then closed it again. If I said no, the lie from the lake would collapse first. If I said yes, things would get even bigger. Silence was the only option left. The professors seemed to take even that silence as affirmation.
Selene’s pen scratched across the paper.
“Cheongha. Possibility of wide-area precursor observation through atmospheric and mana flows.”
“Please make sure to write ‘possibility.’”
“I already did.”
It seemed we had already passed the stage where attaching “possibility” could put me at ease. The Mana Manipulation Professor pushed a document from the table toward me.
“So we would like to request Student Cheongha’s cooperation in the investigation.”
I looked down at the document.
Drakenheim Academy Joint Investigation of Internal Demon-Type Rituals
The letters were far too long. Ominously long.
“Me?”
“Just confirm whether there are similar flows or precursors with your senses.”
“I’m still a freshman.”
“Class attendance will be treated as an excused absence.”
“It’s not about the excused absence……”
I couldn’t find an excuse to refuse. I had said I sensed the magic circle in the lake. I had also said there would be a next attack. I had even grown the misunderstanding that the Azure Dragon might be able to read omens. It was a trap I had made myself. There was no exit.
But that wasn’t everything. That magic circle had been prepared even before I came to this world. It probably had no direct connection to me arriving here. Still, it was evidence that something was moving outside the original I knew. If I wanted to know why I had come here, I first needed to know what was happening in this world right now.
I let out a short breath.
“Alright. I’ll help as much as I can.”
“If Miss Cheongha is going, I’ll come along too.”
Lydia spoke first. I had expected that.
“Me too.”
Erika pushed herself off the wall.
“If demons show up, we just fight them, right?”
I had expected that side too. The familiar on the table raised a front paw.
“We can use the familiar surveillance network too.”
Noel butted in as well. Selene closed her notebook.
“I’ll take charge as the investigation lead.”
In an instant the investigation team was complete. Wait a second. I checked their faces one by one. Red Dragon princess Erika. Gold Dragon saintess Lydia. White Dragon student council president Selene. And Black Dragon princess Noel participating via her familiar. All four heroines from the original were gathered. But Kyle, who should have been at the center, wasn’t there, and I was sitting right in the middle. Is this really an investigation team? Why does it look like a failed harem route party? I clearly said I’d only help as much as I could.
“Um, excuse me.”
No one listened. The professors began discussing investigation zones and schedules. Lydia organized the protective magic to prepare before entering danger zones. Erika asked how strong the demons were. Noel’s familiar spread out a map of the academy. Selene recorded everything.
The Mana Manipulation Professor pointed to one side of the map.
“The first investigation zone is here.”
Beneath the academy main building. On the map, old waterways were complexly connected.
“At the time of the training ground accident, a brief mana disturbance was also confirmed in the closed underground waterways. Currently the entrances are sealed.”
Underground. Waterways. I looked at the clear sky outside the window. In the forest the wind splitting among the trees had felt stifling. But this time it was completely underground.
“Could we maybe investigate from the surface first?”
“Reason?”
“The weather’s nice.”
Everyone in the room looked out the window. It was clear without a single cloud. Weather that had nothing to do with the investigation. Selene pointed at the underground waterways on the map again.
“We depart tomorrow morning.”
My opinion was ignored very naturally. Erika patted my shoulder.
“If demons show up, I’ll stand in front.”
From the other side, Lydia firmly held my hand.
“Miss Cheongha must absolutely not move alone.”
The familiar on the table also raised its tail.
“I’m confident in dark places.”
Everyone was reliable. But why was I wanting to go back more and more? I sat right in the middle of them staring only at the black mana stone. I clearly had only played the game a little. But when I came to my senses, I had become a demon investigator.
As expected, you shouldn’t lie in the first place. Especially lies you can’t handle, even more so. Still, this time I hadn’t just been dragged along by the lie. I wanted to know why I had come here. It didn’t seem like the answer would happen to be in the underground waterways, though.