Hidden Conspiracies and Salvation's Path
The tragedy that befell Rotten Bendision. For Arian Liberin, this tragedy was a shocking truth that completely overturned the world she had known. 'It must have felt like the world was collapsing for Arian Liberin.'
As the princess of the Liberin Kingdom and its future queen, she carried the pride and honor of the royal family close to her heart. To her, the tragedy of the Bendision family caused by her grandmother Aizina was utterly devastating. The fact that the kingdom would have offered Rotten Bendision enormous compensation if he had not become a villain brought no comfort whatsoever. Such rewards would have meant nothing to a man who had already lost everything.
Moreover, once he turned villain and annihilated the Le Stan ducal house—the family of Queen Laura—his very existence was erased from public record. The only story known throughout the Liberin Kingdom was that the queen and her household had been massacred by the atrocities of an unidentified, already-deceased villain.
Aizina, the queen's mother and a mana awakener of the Liberin Kingdom, had made that choice to save countless lives. Yet in the process, people were sacrificed, and her family suffered revenge as the perpetrators. Because of her grandmother's sins, the blade of vengeance now turned toward Arian as well. 'It must be an unbearable story for her.'
From Arian Liberin's perspective, Rotten Bendision was the enemy who had killed her mother and annihilated her maternal family. Yet at the same time, he was also a victim who had lost everything because of her own grandmother. At least, that was the truth she had known from the original story.
But what was the real truth? 'The moment Arian learns the level of truth she knew from the original through Rotten...' I would resolve the truth that only I knew.
In the original, Seo Moon-hyun had declared, "Though your circumstances are pitiable, I cannot forgive what you have done, and I will judge you." Yet because Rotten Bendision had long been a villain, Seo Moon-hyun—despite being the protagonist with exceptional talent—could not defeat him and ultimately lost. Arian Liberin was captured and faced being offered as a sacrifice on a hidden altar near the academy.
However, just as Arian Liberin's soul was about to be offered as a sacrifice, Rotten Bendision was betrayed by the Aeturnum Somnium organization and found himself about to be sacrificed alongside her. They had decided that once his revenge on Arian was complete, he would no longer cooperate with the organization, so they would eliminate him now that he had served his purpose.
That was what Arian Liberin had come to know. 'And the readers learned the truth.'
Arian Liberin never learned Rotten Bendision's true story to the very end. Seo Moon-hyun, who arrived late on the scene, did not learn it either. They had only witnessed Rotten Bendision screaming as he met his miserable end. Since they never knew his true identity, the scene left nothing but wounds for Arian Liberin.
'In the original, Seo Moon-hyun displayed anger at Rotten Bendision's wretched final moments and cut down the Aeturnum Somnium members, but...' I did not believe that anger was genuine. Knowing the Seo Moon-hyun I had seen, he was merely acting out an image of himself as heroic. Given his personality—believing himself to be a flawless hero and even resorting to self-brainwashing to maintain that image—he would genuinely convince himself that his anger was sincere.
'Arian Liberin had been driven into such a corner in the original that she failed to see through Seo Moon-hyun's true nature, hidden behind his pretense of justice while he rescued her.' That was why she had become a heroine who actively pursued him despite her status as a princess. But such a thing would not happen now. I would be the one to save Arian Liberin, and I would do so in a far more certain manner than Seo Moon-hyun ever could.
* * *
The afternoon classes alternated between theory and practical training. Since it was the first day, most of the practical sessions involved facing specific monsters through virtual reality. But this was only because it was the first day; starting tomorrow, the classes would gradually change.
'There will be sparring classes.'
With a thousand new students to train through sparring, the first day's practical sessions had been conducted mostly in virtual reality to prevent accidents and to identify in advance which students were most likely to cause trouble.
"Cheon! Are we eating dinner together tonight too?"
After class ended, Yee Eun-chae approached me as I was heading back to my lodging. She seemed to want to have a meal with me, just like at lunch.
"I don't think that will work. I'm planning to eat with Min-hye tonight."
"Ah! In that case, would it be a bother if I joined?"
Yee Eun-chae looked disappointed that she could not join me for dinner, yet she also seemed hopeful that she might be allowed to come along. At the same time, she showed a cautious attitude, worried that her suggestion might burden me. The sight of her acting like a puppy afraid of disappointing its owner almost made me laugh.
"No, it wouldn't be a bother. It might be nice to introduce my friends to Min-hye as well. I'll send her a text right now."
"Oh! Got it!"
Yee Eun-chae answered energetically, her eyes sparkling with anticipation. Perhaps because she had never made friends before, she possessed an innocent charm that made it hard to believe she was twenty-one. Combined with her beauty, even this side of her felt uniquely charming and endearing.
'Alright, then.'
I took out my phone and immediately sent a message to Seo Moon-min-hye.
— I'll bring some friends for dinner. Let's eat out together.
— Sounds good.
Since I had secured lodging outside the academy, I did not need a separate outing permit after classes ended. However, Yee Eun-chae, Yoo Eun-chae, and Arian Liberin, who stayed in the dorms, would need to obtain one.
"Min-hye replied. She says it's fine."
"Ooh! Really!"
Yee Eun-chae's face lit up visibly when she heard Seo Moon-min-hye had agreed.
"I'll go get Hyun-ah and Arian! I'll get the outing permits right away!"
"Isn't it still a bit early for dinner?"
"Ah! Is that so?"
"Yeah. So let's meet at Gate A around 6 p.m. How about that?"
Yee Eun-chae nodded with a smile at the suggestion to meet at the academy's Gate A at 6 p.m.
"We'll do that! Then I'll see you at 6!"
"Sure."
After parting ways with Yee Eun-chae, I headed straight to my lodging. Once inside, I sat on the bed, leaned my back against the wall, and closed my eyes for a moment.
'I don't feel tired at all.'
If I had been in my previous state before gaining power through synchronization—even at the point just before awakening my abilities at fifteen—I would have felt exhausted just from attending classes. But now, the very concept of fatigue rarely reached me.
With this overwhelming power, I had entered the academy—the starting stage of the original story—just as planned, and completed my first day of classes.
'My relationships with Seo Moon-min-hye, Arian Liberin, Yee Eun-chae, and Yoo Eun-chae are progressing smoothly, and I'm also working on Lee Se-na.'
Preparations to bring down Seo Moon-hyun were steadily taking shape as well. Yet something still bothered me.
'Why does this keep nagging at me?'
In the days when I had no power, I could have simply felt sorry and moved on. But ever since gaining strength, I could not shake the feeling that I was meddling far more than necessary. With power came the thought: If I can help even a little, why not? What had started that way had grown larger than expected.
With my wealth, investing in improving the academy's welfare could be justified as being for my own convenience since I attended there. But supporting orphanages across the world or rescuing people harmed by villains through the power of the Yucheon Group was, in a way, nothing more than hypocrisy and self-satisfaction.
There was a saying that acting hypocritically was better than doing nothing, but I still believed I possessed no pure sense of justice whatsoever.
'I don't have the same sense of justice as Yee Eun-chae.'
Still, I had a faint conscience. That was why, after gaining power, I had helped so many people. Orphanages were particularly dangerous because they were easy targets for villains, and it was said that only about 70% of children worldwide survived to adulthood in such places. In other words, 30% either died or went missing. Unlike ordinary people who could hold grudges, orphans without connections were easy to dispose of.
Since I had obtained my power, the number of missing and deceased children in orphanages had dropped sharply. This was the result of not only providing support through the Yucheon Group but also having its mana awakeners regularly patrol the orphanages.
In this way, purely for my own self-satisfaction, I continued to live.
'I should erase the unpleasant scenes from the original and give Arian a proper salvation.'
In the original story, because Arian Liberin never learned the truth, she had lived with a deep wound in her heart. But that wound would disappear. I would make sure of it.