Chapter 3: A Turbulent Entrance Ceremony (End)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 3: A Turbulent Entrance Ceremony (End)
When I opened my eyes, I was greeted by an unfamiliar ceiling.
Oh? This actually feels like I’ve transmigrated into a novel.
“Argh, shiiiit…!”
Perhaps as a price for the mindless joke, a searing pain surged through my body the moment I tried to sit up.
I had the sudden urge to roll around on the floor, but I had to hold back; rolling would undoubtedly bring even greater agony.
To be honest, I thought consuming Innate True Qi would just leave me with a heavy sense of lethargy or something along those lines, but this was on a completely different level.
I could guarantee that stubbing your pinky toe on a doorframe and then immediately stepping on a Lego wouldn’t hurt this much.
If it were just pain, I might have endured it somehow, but the dizziness and nausea made everything ten times worse.
I trembled in pain for a long while, and just as the sensation finally seemed to be subsiding, a strangely familiar voice echoed in my mind.
[The Creator is displeased with you.]
[You have twisted the fate of this world.]
[The Creator has acknowledged the alteration of the world caused by you.]
[You must lead the world toward a more complete ending.]
Hmm.
Honestly, if that ‘Creator’ really was my friend, I expected her to throw more of a tantrum, but she let it slide more quietly than I thought.
Or maybe there are constraints on her too, preventing her from acting purely on whim.
If my friend had written those system messages herself, they would probably translate to something like this:
— Why are you fucking around with my novel?
— The plot is all warped because of you.
— Take responsibility and fix it, or just do whatever the hell you want.
— If you think you’re so great, try making it more interesting than what I wrote.
That girl. She’s definitely sulking.
Actually, I hadn’t planned on doing anything more than this, but since something as novel-like as entering a novel had happened, I needed a goal.
“Hey, if I see this through to the ending, can I go back?”
I tossed the question into the void, hoping for a response, but none came.
Figures.
That nasty personality of hers wasn’t going anywhere.
Just as I was thinking I suddenly had nothing to do, the door opened and someone walked in.
“Ah, you’re awake?”
The face was unfamiliar, but not entirely forgotten.
She was definitely the female student who had been standing in the row next to mine before the terror attack broke out in the auditorium.
With glasses and thick hair tied into twin-tails, she gave off a very gentle and quiet impression.
“Uh, so… the girl from the auditorium?”
“Ah, my name is Chae Yu-jin.”
“Right. I’m Kang So-hyun. Nice to meet you.”
“Ah, yes, me too. Do you remember what happened? You suddenly collapsed, so Lilac-ssi carried you all the way to the infirmary.”
Lilac did? Look at him being all kind-hearted just because he’s the protagonist.
I wondered if it was normal to bring a fainted person to an infirmary, but well, since there were no visible external injuries and the setting established that the Academy infirmary was better than most hospitals, I suppose it was a rational decision.
“He wanted to wait for you to wake up, but the broadcasting station came for an interview, so he was called away.”
Oh, even the broadcasting station showed up?
Well, he did look pretty cool.
I couldn’t see it clearly because I was busy passing out, but the sight of a golden flash cutting through black hellfire to spread light was enough for anyone to feel something sacred.
“It seems Yu-hak-ssi and Lilac-ssi are going to receive commendations. They said it counts as an achievement even before the official curriculum has started.”
“Oh, that’s impressive.”
“And also…”
Ugh, I tried to ignore it, but it seemed like she would keep pestering me all day if I didn’t address it.
Normally, I would have played along, but my head was spinning, and I was starting to want some time alone.
“Excuse me, Yu-jin-ssi? Or Miss Yu-jin?”
“Yes…?”
“Do you have some business with me? Or did the infirmary professor ask you to watch over me? I’m fine now, so you can head out.”
“Ah, actually, it’s nothing much… but could I ask you just one thing?”
“No.”
“Yes, it’s about… wait, what?”
“I just woke up from fainting and I’m dizzy, you see? So I don’t think I can give you an answer.”
“You just said you were fine a second ago.”
Wow, she’s unnecessarily sharp.
“That’s because I felt bad making you wait. Anyway, thanks for waiting for me to wake up. I’ll make sure to repay the favor once the semester starts.”
When I put up an iron wall, she started flusteredly stomping her feet in an exaggerated manner.
Man, as expected of a novel written by my friend, even an extra who didn’t appear in the original is damn extra.
“Uh, no, wait a minute! I can’t stand it when I’m curious about something!”
“That’s your problem. In society, you have to learn how to endure curiosity.”
You might think, Why is this guy being such a jerk when he doesn’t even know what the question is?
But listen closely.
My veteran instincts from over ten years of reading web novels were telling me something.
The first character to show interest in a transmigrator is usually a total pain in the ass.
On top of that, she’s a character who likely died in the original, so there’s no info on her? It was obvious that answering her question would triple my future headaches.
It was such a guaranteed future that if someone asked me to bet on it, I’d seriously consider wagering Cheon Yu-hak’s wrist.
What if I’m wrong? Cheon Yu-hak is talented; he’ll live just fine with one hand.
“Excuse me.”
“No, I’m not buying.”
“Could you stop treating me like a door-to-door salesman? Ah, seriously, is it that hard to just take one question!?”
“Yeah, it’s hard.”
Huh? What if I’m remembered as an arrogant prick?
That’s better than having all sorts of things sticking to me.
At least until April, when the Academy truly begins, I didn’t have the luxury to be kind to anyone.
And it wasn’t a total lie that I was in pain.
“It was you, wasn’t it!”
Ah, dammit.
I struggled so hard not to hear it, but she just blurted it out.
My mistake was being fooled by her gentle appearance and not plugging my ears sooner.
I couldn’t exactly pretend to be deaf now.
I should make sure to carry wireless earbuds from now on.
If I had them, I could have just said, ‘Huh? What did you say? Sorry, I couldn’t hear you~’ and moved on.
But what? ‘It was you’?
“I was right next to you, so I saw everything. The moment something flashed from your hand, Lilac-ssi suddenly became stronger.”
Oh, shit.
I definitely checked my surroundings before using it.
“And you’re lying here because of the backlash from that!”
“No, I’m not…?”
“If you don’t tell me the truth, I’m going to spread rumors.”
“You’re a bad girl, aren’t you… despite how you look?”
“To put it another way, if you tell me the truth, I promise I won’t tell a soul.”
No, if you saw it with your own eyes, just accept it. Why do you need a confirmation?
“Why did you do it?”
“…What?”
What is she, some kind of crazy psychopath? Is she saying I should have just let everyone die?
As if reading my expression, she hurriedly waved her hands.
“No, I mean, it’s clearly a high-burden ability, but if you do it so quietly, no one will ever know. Meanwhile, Lilac-ssi, who became a hero thanks to you, is getting a commendation. Don’t you feel it’s unfair? Half of that achievement… well, maybe not half, but at least some of it belongs to you, So-hyun-ssi.”
Wasn’t it a waste?
“Not really.”
I hadn’t really thought about it that way.
I did regret it because it hurt like hell, but other than that, nothing. I felt absolutely no greed for the things that would follow.
Maybe it was because the reality of being inside a novel hadn’t fully sunk in yet, or maybe it was because I didn’t covet the protagonist’s seat in this shitty, failed novel.
“Why? Are you the type who likes to pull strings from the shadows? Or do you have some other hidden motive? Or are you just a kind-hearted idiot?”
She seemed to be a much bigger delusional case than I thought.
However, telling a delusional person, ‘You have a very wild imagination! Haha, think whatever you want!’ is never a good choice.
So, wouldn’t it be better to give her an answer that sounds somewhat plausible?
But when I actually tried to answer, I couldn’t find the right words.
She wouldn’t accept ‘just because’ as an answer.
And what, should I blabber about how I transmigrated into a novel? I wasn’t confident I could handle the snowball effect that would follow.
“Hello?”
The reason I helped Lilac and stayed quiet.
I am probably the person who knows this world the second best.
Aside from my friend, the original author and Creator, I could be said to know it better than anyone else.
Because of that, I also know the incidents the main characters will face.
I thought of the trials that were a bit too heavy for mere students to handle, and the characters who would be sacrificed for the sake of ‘growth.’
When I encountered it as mere text, it was just a slight discomfort, but now that this was the world I had to live in, the story was different.
One of the reasons was also the selfishness of not wanting to see the world my friend spent nights creating, and its characters, suffer.
To put it simply, I don’t really like depressing stories.
If people can laugh, they should. I’m a simple person who thinks a happy ending, even if it’s cliché, is the best.
So, if I have the power to make it so, I’ll do my best.
Since I’ve received a sort of permission, I might as well try to fix this world into a decent place, right?
So, to sum it up…
“He felt like a friend’s son to me.”
“…Excuse me?”
“I helped him out a bit because it looked like a kid who’s like a friend’s son was going to go through hell. It’s not that strange, is it?”
“Um, So-hyun-ssi, how old are you?”
“Probably the same age as you.”
My inner self was a bit older, but I certainly wasn’t at an age to have a friend with a son that old.
“Why does a seventeen-year-old talk like a withered old man?”
I’m not at the age to be called an old man yet.
…Seriously.
* * *
“This is the footage we secured at the time, Chairperson.”
“Hmm, it’s a shame the quality isn’t very good. But it’s clear enough to recognize faces, so it’s fine. You’ve worked hard; thank you.”
The woman called the Chairperson stared at the low-quality video for a moment before smiling brightly.
“Some very interesting cadets have joined us. Wouldn’t you agree?”
While not perfect, the way these prospective cadets—who hadn’t even officially entered yet—responded to a sudden terror attack was more than enough; it was overflowing with potential.
Well, of course, she already knew about the two who were currently being interviewed.
They were the protagonists of an unprecedented event, having both tied for the top rank simultaneously.
They could truly be called heaven-sent geniuses.
However, to her, the most interesting part of this video wasn’t that.
A student who was still just a raw gem cutting through Hellfire with a sword?
Even a passing dog would treat that as a joke, yet it was a clear fact.
However, it was also a fact that Lilac’s prowess shown right up until that moment hadn’t been at that level.
In the end, it meant either Lilac had been hiding his strength for some reason, or some other factor had come into play. In her eyes, it was clearly the latter.
“Cathy. You made sure to delete the original of this video, right?”
“Yes. No one else possesses the same footage.”
“Mm, good job.”
Lilac’s expression, looking surprised by the power dwelling within him.
And a black-haired boy watching Lilac from a short distance away.
Due to the poor quality of the video, she couldn’t see clearly, but his expression was definitely not colored by fear.
Yet, she heard that he had fainted from terror as soon as the incident ended.
“Did he really faint from terror?”
In truth, while she considered Lilac and Cheon Yu-hak to be treasures, she didn’t think of them as an incredible jackpot.
“Now that I think about it, I heard he even said something that sounded like he predicted the terror attack. I’m curious.”
According to her philosophy, an unpredictable gain, like a sudden lottery win, was closer to a jackpot than a predictable treasure.
Of course, as with most lotteries, the probability of winning was infinitesimally small, but this particular lottery had a way of making her strangely expectant.
“Now then, which side will our student be on?”
The woman standing like a secretary, Cathy, offered a silent prayer for the poor boy who had caught the Chairperson’s eye.