The Line Between Fortune-Telling and Fraud
Charles Teddybear. His class is Fighter. His original name was Charles McClair, a soldier and war hero who fought in the massive gate disaster that swept across the United States fifteen years ago. With his exceptional skill and distinguished service record, he was tasked with rescuing the President from the Pentagon, now completely overrun by gates. But he failed.
The details of that failure aren't well known. The game never went into that much depth. What is certain, however, is that the process was horrific enough to completely reverse the once-vibrant soldier's personality. Because of it, he carries a heavy debt of guilt toward Abel Legion, the Hero and grandson of the late American President.
After returning from the disaster, he lost his wife to illness and raised his daughter alone. At some point, he accepted an offer from Romance Academy and became an instructor. When his daughter's condition worsened, he tried to resign, but after seeing how broken Abel Legion had become, guilt drove him to restore the boy to his former self before finally deciding to retire. That decision only deepened the rift between him and Abel Legion.
I jot down everything I know about Charles Teddybear in my notebook.
"Haa……."
I've played this cursed game twenty-five times, but most of those were speedruns that ignored the story entirely. Only the early playthroughs focused on plot and background, so dredging up the details takes effort.
After filling several pages of the notebook, I finally lean back in my chair, rolling my stiff wrist.
Shhhhhhh──
"……It's raining."
Through the base's window, I can see heavy rain pouring down. I like watching the rain fall without a single thought in my head. In those moments, I can forget about part-time jobs, studying, my parents, and that cultist bastard, and just sit quietly.
"………Can I really do this?"
Charles Teddybear's daughter, Aileen Teddybear. The girl who loves teddy bears so much that her father legally changed their surname. A pure, cheerful child at the age where anyone would smile just looking at her. Yet she is also the starting point that reveals what kind of game Romance Academy truly is.
"………."
Romance Academy doesn't feature large-scale disasters like villain attacks, demon terrorist incidents, or sudden gate openings. What it does have, however, are frequent "small" incidents and accidents. "Charles Teddybear's event……is the first of them."
It wouldn't be wrong to call it Charles Teddybear's character event. If the player succeeds in curing Aileen Teddybear, Charles Teddybear's favorability maxes out and he becomes a reliable ally. But if they fail……the character Charles Teddybear simply disappears from the game entirely.
That was the kind of game Romance Academy was. It placed the most important events on individuals, and if those events weren't resolved, the character would vanish from Romance Academy forever—through expulsion, withdrawal, resignation, banishment, or disappearance. It was a game that focused more on microscopic personal stories than on macroscopic events.
"…Why did Ji-soo make something like this?"
Namgung Ji-soo might be rude, dense, lazy, and constantly complaining, but she wasn't the type to create a game like this. If she were going to make anything, I'd have expected some sappy otome game full of cringe. Why create one with such unnecessarily dark elements?
Will I find out when I return?
Only the first day of the entrance ceremony has passed. There's still a long way to go until the ending. Even so, I never once thought I couldn't go back. If I can't see the ending, then no one in this game will ever see it either. There were only ten buyers, and I'm the only one who's ever seen an ending even once. Does that make any sense, you bitch?
"……Pfft."
I think of my younger sister, who used to whine that the game wasn't selling, ran away from home, yet kept coming back just to eat and disappear again. Yeah. Even for my sister's sake.
"I have to make sure she ends up in a mental hospital."
Time to do what an older brother should do.
I check my suit and dress shirt, kept immaculate by the Cleanliness skill, and run a comb through my hair.
"…Let's go."
Most importantly, I touch the necklace containing Observation before standing up. It's time to do what a Fortune Teller must do.
*
Aileen Teddybear suddenly opened her eyes.
"……Ah."
Regret came immediately. Her throat was parched, her stomach empty, her limbs numb, and a headache crashed over her. The price of briefly waking from sleep was brutal. The bed soaked instantly with sweat. Letting out a pained groan, Aileen hugged the doll by her pillow.
A teddy bear. The doll the girl loved most, now her very surname.
"Ugh……hic……."
Tears began to trickle down as her arms trembled around the teddy bear. Was Dad still not home? Through watery eyes, she barely managed to check the clock—it was only five in the afternoon.
"D……Dad……."
There was still an hour left until her father got off work. An hour was far too cruel a time for the girl.
"Ugh……ugh……."
So, as always, the girl prayed. For this pain to disappear. For someone to save her. When she prayed, someone always came.
"……Don't worry."
"Ah……."
See? Today, too, that warm hand was stroking her. Normally she would have surrendered to that warmth and fallen asleep, but this time Aileen forced her tear-blurred eyes open and mumbled.
"Who……are you……?"
"…………A sinner."
"A sinner……what's that……?"
"A very bad person. A truly wicked person."
"Not……a bad person……."
"……No. I am a bad person. So."
It's time to sleep now.
"Ah……."
Aileen's small eyes fluttered shut. Soon, her breathing grew soft and even.
"…………."
Shhhhhhh───
In the pitch-black room with no lights, only the sound of rain echoed. It poured violently, as if trying to wash everything away. Someone gently stroked the girl, who had fallen asleep while suffering and drenched in cold sweat, gazing at her with eyes full of guilt.
A truly kind, innocent girl.
"Do you know?"
"I hate the rain."
Shhhhhhh───
Quietly closing their eyes, they murmured as if in prayer. As if that was all they could do.
"Because I met this child on a rainy day. On that day, I committed an unforgivable sin."
"Back then, it wasn't this bad. She could walk, smile brightly, and speak in a lovely voice."
"But not anymore."
Someone who had been speaking in a low voice, afraid the girl might wake, continued while stroking her with one hand.
"So please leave."
──With the other hand, they raised a mace.
"This is no place for a fortune teller."
"………."
Crackle……
For a brief moment, lightning illuminated the room. The girl lying in bed. Someone standing protectively over her. And the fortune teller watching them.
In the room that soon darkened again, the fortune teller was smiling.
"An unexpected visitor, Saintess."
"…………."
"I heard you examined the instructor's daughter once before."
"I won't say it twice."
Fwoooooosh!
General Skill — My Own Little Fortune Teller Shop
A pure white light spilled from the Saintess's feet. It covered her feet, her legs, her body, her arms, and finally her head, shimmering brilliantly. Yet the light did not obscure her form. It merely outlined her, as if refusing to dye the Saintess herself. Like a halo surrounding her entire body, the Saintess glared at the fortune teller.
"Leave, fortune teller."
"The uninvited guest has quite a lot to say."
"………."
"Saintess, I am a guest permitted by Instructor Teddybear. Even if you threaten me, I won't back down—unless the homeowner himself tells me to leave."
The fortune teller smiled. The Saintess narrowed her eyes. That smile was unpleasant no matter how many times she saw it.
Driving him out by force would be simple, but doing so would wake Aileen. Just as she was about to scare him into shutting up—
"Fortune Telling."
"……!!"
The Saintess swung her mace at the tarot card that appeared in midair. The card scattered through the air after striking the solid steel mace. Yet the fortune teller was already holding a single card.
"Major Arcana XII, The Hanged Man, reversed."
"…………."
"You must know about tarot, Saintess. As someone who hunts heretics, you would be well-versed in them."
"………Pointless sacrifice and devotion. Indecisiveness."
"Then why are you doing this, when you understand it so well?"
"……A foolish question."
The fortune teller's sharp remark through tarot meant nothing to the Saintess.
"If someone is suffering, they deserve the Lord's mercy."
"Haven't you already failed once, Saintess?"
"I did not fail. I was merely frustrated…… I heard you were quite skilled. It seems the rumors were true."
If it weren't the fortune teller, she would have been genuinely happy for the help. Swallowing the rest of her words, the Saintess raised her mace once more.
"I've said enough. This is your final warning. Leave."
"You're the one who should leave, Saintess. Unauthorized entry is a crime."
"A pathetic lecture. What would you do if the Lord had forgiven it?"
"……Did He forgive it?"
"Of course not."
Whoosh.
"………!"
Before she could even blink, the Saintess closed the distance in an instant and stopped her mace right in front of the fortune teller's nose. The force of the swing stirred a weak breeze, reflecting clearly on the fortune teller's slightly distorted smile.
……The card of The Hanged Man had been cleanly torn apart.
"Next will be your head."
"………Hello. Are you Aileen?"
"…!! Aileen, don't talk to this man──"
General Skill — My Own Little Fortune Teller Shop.
"──You mustn't……?"
When the Saintess whirled around in panic, all she saw were a flickering candle and blackout curtains. In the moment even the Saintess was stunned by the sudden change—
"How about it? Quite mystical, isn't it?"
"……Fortune teller."
"This is my fortune-telling shop. I can forcibly invite anyone nearby. Once you're inside, you can't leave until you've had your fortune told, so don't waste your strength."
"You scammed me."
"That's right. Aileen is sleeping soundly, so don't worry."
Grab!
The Saintess seized the fortune teller by the collar and glared at him. ……The fortune teller was not smiling.
"You people are always like this. Con artists who exploit the desperate."
"I agree."
"Yeah. Being this shameless is just how you………right?"
Agreement? The Saintess blinked, confused by the unexpected response. She wondered if she'd heard correctly.
Looking at the Saintess, the fortune teller spoke—without a trace of a smile.
"All you know how to do is read the hearts of the desperate and scam them. You drain their spines for your own gain, strip their hides, and take everything they have. If they're desperate, you make them more anxious. If they're angry, you provoke them further. If they try to regain their senses, you confuse them. A bunch of frauds who spout nonsense about a fate that doesn't exist."
"………Hm."
"That's what fortune tellers are. That's the harm they cause……and you're no different, Saintess."
"……What?"
"Why do you sneak around?"
At the fortune teller's words, the Saintess's grip on the mace tightened before her body went rigid. Even she couldn't simply dismiss what he'd said.
"And not just once—every single day since the day your examination failed."
"……How?"
"I'm a fortune teller. I read your fortune."
"Fortune?"
The Saintess scoffed, mocking herself for being momentarily swayed by the fortune teller before her. Then she scoffed at the fortune teller sitting in the purple chair as well.
"You really hate fortune-telling."
"…………."
"And yet your class is Fortune Teller. This must be either the Lord's cruel joke……or a cruel punishment."
"……Which do you think it is?"
"You're asking because you don't know."
She raised the mace.
"Obviously the latter."
Crack!
She brought it down. That was all.