Chapter 78: What I Lost, What You Lost. (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 78: What I Lost, What You Lost. (1)
-The Main Quest has begun early due to the Creator’s Intervention.
“…What?”
I was in the middle of cleaning up after the kids who were completely wasted when that notification popped up.
I mean, I was used to that specific alert by now, so it wasn’t exactly shocking, but the timing was completely out of left field no matter how I looked at it.
Midterms had just ended.
Normally, I would have already dealt with all the villains who were supposed to be active during this period. The only one left was the Leader of the Twelve, and since I’d already crushed his pawns like Choi In-ho and that perverted elf, he shouldn’t be able to make a move yet.
No matter how much I racked my brain, I couldn’t think of a single event that was supposed to happen right now.
My friend—the author—has a bit of a perverted streak and loves tormenting her characters, but she isn’t the type to enjoy twisting her own story too much.
I carefully went over the list of characters to see if I’d missed anyone, but the only one I hadn’t caught was that idiot who tries to take the Saint’s Tears—the Resurrection artifact.
But he probably got caught before he could even flee into a dungeon, so it couldn’t be him.
Yet, no matter how hard I thought, no one else besides the Leader of the Twelve or that guy came to mind.
There were plenty of villains who would appear later, but none of them were in a state to be active right now.
Actually, this wasn’t the first time I’d felt this way.
I’d thought the same thing when Choi In-ho first appeared, and when Jin Gyeong-tae moved a whole month earlier than scheduled.
At first, I just thought it was because the Academy had started a month early, or perhaps a butterfly effect caused by my presence as someone who wasn’t originally a resident of this world.
But while investigating the artifact belonging to Latis Erbashun—that perverted moron of an elf—I couldn’t help but have doubts.
Why did a guy who wasn’t supposed to try and take over as Chairperson until the beginning of the third year move so quickly?
And how did he get his hands on a brainwashing artifact so early?
If I had moved late, relying only on my knowledge of the original events, things would have been difficult to fix.
I knew that this world would change as I intervened, and that the information I could use would gradually decrease.
But this was just too strange.
It was as if someone who knew the future was directly helping them.
“…Creator’s Intervention, huh.”
If there was anyone else besides me who knew the future of this world, I could take a pretty good guess.
I had a feeling I might be seeing a familiar face soon.
“Master. Are you alright?”
“Ah, yes. I’m fine. I just have a nagging feeling about something.”
“I brought some honey water, as you might have a hangover.”
“Hey, I didn’t drink that much.”
“Still, it is a token of my sincerity, so I would appreciate it if you drank it.”
“…Well, if you put it that way, thank you.”
The woman with red hair, dressed in a maid uniform, handed me the honey water.
Mmm. As the warm honey water went down, my cluttered mind felt a little lighter.
“It is filled with my affection. Thick, slippery affection.”
“…You didn’t put anything weird in here, right? You’re just talking about the honey, right?”
“Of course.”
“That’s a relief.”
“There is no way water filled with love from my body could be something strange, Master.”
“Pfft…! Cough… hack!!!”
“It was a joke, so you can rest easy. I added nothing but dried pears and honey.”
…Fuck.
The one who handed me the honey water was Rose.
She was the Homunculus I had rescued from the dungeon that day.
As a side note, since I have no talent for naming, I told her to choose her own name, and she picked Rose.
Rose. Quite intuitive, I suppose.
After the dungeon exploration ended, she somehow found her way to the Academy the next day, and I decided to hire her as a maid for my house for the time being.
I couldn’t exactly enroll her in the Academy, nor could I plug her in as an inspector or an assistant professor.
When I went to my father with a mountain of excuses and justifications to ask for his permission, he simply brushed it off coolly, saying, “Go ahead. Instead, I’d like us to have some family time once exams are over.”
Well, that part was fine, but for some reason, ever since she put on that maid uniform, the intensity of her sexual innuendos increased every time she saw me. She wasn’t exactly normal when we first met, either.
For the record, I’d already asked her why she kept making those jokes, and her answer was simple.
— I saw it on the internet, and everyone seemed to like it.
…The problem was that I’d introduced her to the internet so she could gather information, since there would be many differences from her original world’s knowledge.
No, honestly, I kind of expected it to turn out like this.
I mean, who wouldn’t want to see an artificial human character with rich emotions cracking jokes and surfing the web?
I’m not the only one who thinks that, right?
When I read about characters like this in other novels, they seemed really fun.
But now that I was experiencing it in reality, it felt no different from seeing a shut-in friend show up for their first part-time job at a maid cafe.
“…Well, anyway, thanks for the honey water.”
“Yes. You mean the thick water filled with my love?”
“You really didn’t put anything in it, right?!”
Her smiling face was lovely, but it made me incredibly anxious.
To be honest, I think she does this because she has some level of affection for me, but I didn’t expect her to be this favorable.
I also didn’t expect her to act this way toward someone she likes.
“I told you I would stop if it truly made you uncomfortable.”
Right, she did say that on the day she became a maid.
“And then you said, ‘However, I would be unable to do all the things I dreamed of while enduring those countless long years alone, but I suppose that is not more important than Master’s circumstances,’ didn’t you?”
“Yes, I meant it, of course.”
“…Fine. Just keep doing it.”
I used to think it was so frustrating when a dense protagonist would let the heroines walk all over him even when he was the one suffering, but now that I’ve transmigrated into a novel, I kind of understand.
Normally, I’d shut it down, but what can I do when she spent her whole life in a test tube and the thing she wanted to do most after escaping was make sexual jokes? I have to let her. I feel bad for her.
And if we were to weigh who would be more disappointed, it would be me.
I wasn’t in a position to complain about her showing me favor; I should be grateful for it.
“I am glad such a kind person became my master.”
…Really? I’m not sure if I’m kind.
In fact, I hadn’t exactly given her total freedom.
Part of my motive for rescuing her was the hope that she would become an ally for me as a Villain.
“What about what I asked for?”
“I have almost finished interpreting the Kingdom’s swordsmanship and alchemy mentioned in Father’s report. I plan to begin practical training soon.”
By “Father,” she naturally meant the Alchemist of the Rose.
“And mana manipulation?”
“Regarding that, I already possessed the knowledge while in the test tube, so I can already use it.”
Good, just like the settings.
She was a Homunculus created by inheriting the secrets of both the Kingdom’s strongest knight and the Alchemist of the Rose, so her potential was set to be incredibly high.
She wasn’t on the level of Lilac or Cheon Yu-hak, but she might be able to hold her own against a fully grown Ha-ni.
Since she already had the knowledge and only lacked research and practical experience, she would grow strong quickly.
“Seeing you look at me like that, it seems you need a bit more of the thick stuff I made?”
“No, I don’t.”
If only I could fix that one habit of hers.
* * *
The next day, for some reason, Ga-eul didn’t show up at the classroom.
Ha-ni and Lilac had just apologized immediately, but it seemed she was genuinely embarrassed.
As I was watching Cheon Yu-hak and Lilac tease each other—a scene that was quite a departure from the original work—a familiar professor walked in for morning roll call.
“Aha, hello everyone. Those of you taking Mana Studies will know me, but for the rest, I’m the popular Professor Park A-ram.”
Huh?
“I’m here to handle the morning roll call on behalf of Professor Cathy, who has gone on an unauthorized leave. Well, it’s not like we do much during roll call anyway, right? I’ll just take attendance quickly and head out, so don’t worry.”
The classroom buzzed at the bombshell she dropped so casually.
Professor Cathy was on unauthorized leave?
Some were flustered, while others thought it was just something that could happen, but I was the only one who couldn’t stay so calm.
There was only one episode in the original work where she went on an unauthorized leave.
But that was an event that was supposed to happen in the second year.
No, fuck. Thinking like that was pointless.
Hadn’t I just thought yesterday that things like this would happen more often from now on?
Denying what had already happened—and what had been happening all along—wasn’t a productive way of thinking.
It was more rational to figure out what to do next.
And as a result of that deliberation, I stood up as soon as roll call ended.
When I stepped out the door, our Little Witch, Professor Park A-ram, was standing there as if she’d been waiting.
“Professor Park A-ram?”
“A search party has already been formed for Professor Cathy. There’s no need for Kang So-hyun to overexert himself.”
Maybe so.
After all, I didn’t even have confirmation that it was the same incident.
But the problem was that it had already been several hours since the notification that the Main Quest had begun.
If this incident was indeed the episode I was thinking of, and since I didn’t know exactly how far it had progressed, the more hands we had to find the professor, the better.
And I had a strange conviction that if I wasn’t there, she would ultimately meet the same end as in the original story.
Because my friend, the author, seemed to absolutely hate it when the atmosphere of the work turned bright.
He would force it back to being dark.
“I have my reasons, so I really must go. Besides, it’s better to have as many people as possible for a search like this.”
“Is that so? Still, I’m a professor in my own right, so I can’t just let three honor students skip class.”
“Pardon?”
I turned my head to see Lilac and Cheon Yu-hak standing behind me, having followed me out.
“So-hyun, you know where to go, right?”
“You look like you’re in a hurry, so lead the way. There aren’t many chances to stand in front of me.”
Good grief.
Normally, I would have thought they were being a bit much, but seeing them follow me without even asking for an explanation made me realize why these guys were the protagonists.
Ah! They’re so cool! No wonder the girls fall for them…!
“Oh, that’s nice. I like things like that; it feels so youthful. But you all know you’ll get demerits if you leave like this, right?”
“I’m still the top student, so I can afford a few demerits.”
“I’m not in a position to worry about my grades either.”
“Aha, there really are so many interesting kids among this year’s freshmen. It’s a problem.”
Saying that, she pulled a piece of paper labeled ‘Temporary Hall Pass’ from her robe and handed it to us.
“A professor should at least do this much for her honor students. For repayment, it’ll be enough if Kang So-hyun joins my lab as an assistant.”
Lilac and Cheon Yu-hak nodded.
They were so damn cool just a second ago, so why are these bastards selling me out so easily?
“I don’t want to.”
“Like someone said, the more hands, the better. But don’t push yourselves too hard. If there’s a dangerous villain, you must run away.”
“No, I said I don’t want to!”
“I don’t think Professor Cathy would want you all—especially Kang So-hyun—to get hurt because of her.”
Huh? She’s just grit her teeth and ignoring me?
“Anyway, I’m not going to be an assistant, but I’ll take the hall pass. Thank you.”
“Haha, seeing how your hands are so honest even while you say no, you’ll definitely end up as an assistant. Well then, don’t overdo it and be careful.”
An assistant? What a horrifying thought.
* * *
Wait, how did I get home yesterday…?
No, did I even go home in the first place?
“Noona? Are you okay?”
“Ah, yes. My head was just a bit foggy for a moment. Don’t worry. I’ll definitely find your parents for you.”
Right. I didn’t go home yesterday.
I met this child in the park yesterday, and after hearing that he’d been separated from his parents and was lost, I’d been helping him look for them.
As a superhuman, I was fine, but I should probably take a break since I couldn’t keep dragging a young child around.
“Are you tired?”
“No, I’m okay.”
He was a good kid, not showing any signs of being tired even though he must be.
I thought he only looked like my younger brother, but he was even like him in this regard.
I’d looked after my brother for the same reason at first.
‘…That boy?’
A figure flickered in her hazy mind before being shattered and vanishing by something.
‘No.’
But that sensation of vanishing was strangely unpleasant, so she forced herself to grab onto the fragments of the memory that were trying to disappear.
‘Where do you think you’re going?’
‘You can’t go.’
‘You’re mine. Don’t run away.’
The blurred memory gradually became clearer, and the mosaic-like scattered images slowly regained their original form.
Black hair and red eyes.
The image of a boy with a perpetually grumpy expression slowly surfaced.
Kang OO.
One character of the name she couldn’t remember surfaced.
“Noo… Noona?”
“Yes?”
Ah, the moment she answered, the memory she’d struggled to recall scattered again.
But it was okay.
Kang OO.
Since she hadn’t completely forgotten it, it would come back to her.
Recalling just one character of his name for now was enough.
She could find this child’s parents first and then take her time to remember.
* * *
“…What? She was definitely hit by the artifact, wasn’t she?”
“What’s wrong?”
“No, she shouldn’t be able to remember anything else… Does this even make sense…?”
A woman watching her from a distance shivered from an unknown chill.
The brainwashing should have been perfect, using both her talent and the artifact.
It must be some kind of mistake.
How could anyone resist a Hero-grade artifact through sheer will alone?