Preparation

Chapter 8

The two-meter giant who looked like a delinquent was Jang Yeong-han.

"That's so mean, meow!"

He was a hardcore otaku. Nothing about his face suggested he belonged in a school uniform, but he was seventeen, just like me. Even the school chairman sometimes looked away when Yeong-han walked past. If I hadn't known him since kindergarten, one glare from him would have been enough to make me wet myself.

A memory surfaced: a chubby seven-year-old Yeong-han running toward me and shouting, "Si-hyun! I'm here, meow!"

He'd already had the face of a thug back then. Now it looked like a murder weapon.

"Why didn't you even message me yesterday, meow?"

Hearing that cutesy speech come from such a terrifying face made my head hurt. Why would the creators put a walking anime stereotype in their game?

'Wait. Did they model Yeong-han after someone?'

The shock faded. I exhaled and accepted it.

'Everyone in this world already looks like an illustration come to life. Why should he be the exception?'

Between Ha-rin's obsession and the coming catastrophe, I had no time to worry about a harmless oddball.

"My phone broke yesterday."

"Oh! Sorry! Are you okay, meow?"

"Not even close. Bas—uh, yeah. I'm fine."

"Are you sure, meow?"

In the game, Yeong-han had been almost absurdly kind. Si-hyun's memories confirmed it, but I wasn't eager to trust those memories.

'The original Si-hyun was raised to depend on Ha-rin. Every instinct he had seems designed to keep him under her thumb.'

His in-game monologues were a parade of helplessness: What if Ha-rin gets angry? What if she starts acting strange? What do I do?

'That useless bastard...'

That was the protagonist of Tower Journey: a boy who could burn through all his Action Points simply by trying to make a decision.

'Why did I keep playing this mess? The character illustrations really were something else.'

This is why that fucking compass is dangerous. If it didn't have ARPG elements, like those Soulslike games, I'd have quit ages ago. No, seriously, why did I even keep playing that game? Ah... I played it because the female characters turned me on... For a moment, I was hit with a sudden reality check. "Si-hyun-chan, what's going on, nyan? Did you get a new phone, nyan! Huh, why are you quiet, nyan? Are you angry about something, nyan!"

That voice was getting on my nerves. But I couldn't afford to pick a fight over it.

"I'm not angry. I got a new phone."

I showed him the replacement smartphone—the one Ha-rin had bugged. Its price would once have terrified me; now I could afford a thousand without blinking.

'Being rich is great. It's the terrifying sister who comes with the money that's the problem.'

"What happened yesterday, meow?"

...

I finally gave in, biting back a curse.

"Yeong-han, we're in high school now. Do you really have to talk like that?"

"It's part of who I am. I can't help it, meow... Sorry."

I ground my teeth. Never mind Yeong-han; there were more important things to worry about.

"Hey. Why did Se-eun make you get off the bus yesterday?"

Yu-seong leaned toward me. As usual, he was more interested in my sisters than in me.

"Is your family moving or something?"

Looking at this bastard's usual behavior, you could tell how he saw the protagonist. 'Didn't he come at him with a choco slam tackle and plant a smooch right in front of his little sister?'

Even when the protagonist politely tried to stop him, he ignored it and hit on Park Se-eun, didn't he? Even when the protagonist was absent from school, he didn't even worry about him, did he? 'This bastard's just a son of a bitch who doesn't even treat the protagonist like a friend. I'm just a stepping stone to pick up Park Se-eun... A total fiend who'll do every damn thing to bang the girls, that one.'

That's why gamers called him 'Golden Sun Kang Yu-seong.' 'Of course, given the heroines' settings where they only spread their legs for the protagonist, NTR has never succeeded, though. But the fact that he's thinking about disgustingly stealing the heroines already puts him out of bounds. If he were the protagonist, he would have spared him anyway, all while stammering and pulling all that idiot troll bullshit...'

I'm no longer the protagonist 'Park Si-hyun.' The mere fact that he's trying to mess with Park Ha-rin and Park Se-eun is disgusting enough, and now he's trying to mess with other heroines too? On top of that, he's driving a wedge between me and them, and he's even trying to rape them? 'I'm never letting this xx bastard off the hook.'

Forgiveness? I erased that from my head a long time ago. For men, the concept of forgiveness doesn't exist, and that won't change going forward. 『Passive 'Optimal Progression' is being applied.』

'When society collapses in three years, you'll pay for this.'

#

The more dangerous an enemy, the closer you should keep him. If I pushed Yu-seong away, I'd never know what he was plotting.

Staying friendly with him made my skin crawl, but keeping him close could turn me into a competent player rather than an easy mark. I smiled.

'As long as he thinks we're friends, he'll let his guard down.'

"Se-eun wasn't feeling well, I guess. She suddenly pulled me off the bus and insisted we go to the hospital."

With Ha-rin involved, I doubted the police-station incident would leave an accessible record. She was pathologically obsessed with covering every loose end.

"Oh, really? But since when were you two close? I've hardly ever seen you talk."

He'd gone straight for the one question I didn't want to answer. I smiled without explaining.

"Anyway, could you ask her to unblock me? I just want to check on her."

I gave him a weary look. His handsome face wore a smile so confident it was almost impressive.

"Sure. I'll ask."

Good luck, kid. I know full well that all you think about is making a donburi out of the Park sisters. It'll never happen, but go ahead and dream all you want. 'Park Ha-rin is already crazy in some mind-blowing way, and since there's no room left for her to go any crazier, there's no way she'd ever like anyone. Since I'm afraid Park Se-eun might stray for no reason at this point, I'll just leave her alone. And let's give up on the idea that Golden Sun can be reformed.'

Apparently satisfied, Yeong-han shoved his phone between us. A twin-tailed anime girl winked from the screen.

"I'm glad you're feeling better, Si-hyun, meow! Look—Ri-na's outfit changed!"

"..."

Right. An outfit change. Why was I even supposed to care? In this world, everyone already looked halfway between an animated character and a real person.

Then again, I wasn't allowed to browse pictures of women on my phone. Ha-rin had blocked them all: websites, photos, even female game characters. The only exception was Ha-rin herself. Her face filled the lock screen, the home screen, and the call screen.

'No wonder the old Si-hyun hung out with Yeong-han. His friend could show him games Ha-rin wouldn't let him see. They even hunted together in online games.'

And that was precisely why Ha-rin hated Yeong-han. She saw any time Si-hyun spent with him as time stolen from her.

In the game's future, Ha-rin killed Yeong-han to make Si-hyun depend on her alone. Yu-seong survived only because he spent his time pursuing girls elsewhere and never drew her attention.

"Ri-na really is an angel, meow!"

"Yeah, she's great. Now put the phone away. Everyone's staring."

I watched Yeong-han beam at the picture while Yu-seong pretended to be interested. Despite his intimidating size, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Yeong-han was painfully innocent. He was just a boy who liked fictional characters.

Someone like him didn't deserve to die because Ha-rin was jealous.

"This might sound sudden, but I'm thinking of quitting the game."

"What?! Si-hyun! We promised we'd play together forever, meow!"

"You asked me to play in the first place. What's with you today? Did something happen yesterday?" Yu-seong frowned.

"Sis doesn't seem to like me playing it."

Yeong-han stiffened at the mention of Ha-rin, then nodded solemnly.

"If it's Ha-rin... I guess I understand."

"Why? What's wrong with Ha-rin?" Yu-seong immediately perked up.

There was no chance I was telling him.

"You should treat my sister well."

I said it as brightly as I could manage.

Ding. 『Park Ha-rin's Suspicion Level - 9.8%』

So she really was listening. I almost laughed.

"Park Si-hyun!" a classmate shouted from the doorway. "Your homeroom teacher wants you in the faculty office. You were absent yesterday!"

"I'll be back."

"Good luck, meow!"

I headed to the faculty office.

#

My homeroom teacher was a handsome man in his late twenties.

"Ha-rin called me. Are you feeling better?"

He referred to my guardian by her first name with suspicious familiarity. The original Si-hyun apparently hadn't noticed.

'Teacher, if you value your life, please don't fall for my sister.'

"Yes. I'm fine."

"Ha-rin was terribly worried. I was hoping to speak with her about you. Could you ask when she'd be available to have dinner?"

Of course she'd blocked his direct contact too. Why did everyone expect me to serve as the go-between?

"I don't think my sister would be comfortable with that."

"Just ask her, all right? I'll buy you a meal afterward."

'My credit-card limit is probably higher than everything you own.'

"Y-yes, I'll try asking her!"

"Alright. Please, make sure you do."

The teacher was handsome enough, but not so handsome that he had any reason to be confident about Ha-rin. She was an impossible standard even among beauties. A man like him had no chance with her—or with Se-eun, for that matter.

'I'm sorry, but whatever happens next is on you.'

I half-jokingly predicted that he'd lose his job for bothering her.

The very next day, we had a new homeroom teacher.

'You're kidding. She actually did it?'

And naturally, his replacement was another man. My hands trembled with despair.

Come to think of it, there ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wasn't a single female teacher in the entire school.

'This is hopeless!'

I nearly cried. So much for my fantasy of having an attractive female homeroom teacher.

#

Once the fire incident blew over, I settled back into school. I needed to stay on Ha-rin's good side until my skill's cooldown ended.

'The trick is to let her get used to the changes in me, one at a time.'

If I changed too abruptly, she'd suspect I wasn't Si-hyun again. At least the System had given me a visible 『Suspicion Level』 to track. But that new mechanic raised questions of its own.

'What is this world? And who—or what—is Ha-rin?'

Why had she been so certain the soul in Si-hyun's body belonged to someone else? That wasn't a conclusion any normal person would jump to.

'She knows something.'

In the game's public backstory, she was a celebrated pianist and a brilliant, wealthy investor. That was all.

'Unless...'

I remembered the Ha-rin from the 『BAD END』 on the Tower's ninety-fifth floor.

'Could they be the same person?'

The thought fit too many of the facts. Ha-rin had dragged me here, after all. But I had no way to test the theory.

'If she wants to pretend she knows nothing, fine. I'll play along and work on my own plans.'

Whether the theory was right or wrong, I couldn't afford to be complacent. So I began training.

"Since when do you work out?"

I was lifting dumbbells in the mansion's lavish home gym when Se-eun appeared.

Like our older sister and me, she had deep-set eyes and snow-white skin, and her chest and hips, every bit as enormous as our older sister's, had already gone far beyond the standards of a middle school student.

She always wore her hair down, but for some reason, today she had it tied up in a side ponytail, swept to one side.

Her outfit was a tank top that couldn't hide her enormous presence, and leggings that clearly showed the lines of her lower body.

It was a maturity that was utterly unbelievable for a middle school girl.

A youthful face paired with a sexy body that might rank in the top 0.0001% even among adults. For her to go and lose her mind, showing up in front of her older brother in such revealing clothes, made me feel like the world was finally turning the right way.

"Ha-rin said I looked healthier, and she seemed happy about it. So I thought I'd build a little muscle."

"Oh. Well... good for you."

Se-eun approached with a reluctant expression and inspected me from my arms down to my legs.

"You do look a little better. I'll give you that."

She looked away almost immediately, her cheeks reddening. Why was she acting so embarrassed?

"J-just don't lift too much and stunt your growth."

I almost snapped back at her. Then I remembered the knife in my side from the prologue.

"Don't worry about that. Sensible weight training won't stop you from growing taller."

And with this skill, even overdoing it might not matter.

『Protagonist Synchronization Rate 131% → 137%』

『The completion of passive skill 'Optimal Progression' has risen by 3.71%.』

『Current 'Optimal Progression' completion - 5.99%』

The messages kept arriving. I'd been doing a lot of things the original Si-hyun never attempted.

I was only 172 centimeters tall now, but this body was supposed to reach 185 in another three years.

'And I have a ridiculously powerful skill to help it along.'

『As you wish.』

『It will be adjusted to suit ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you.』

『Passive <Optimal Progression> has begun to optimally configure your body and mind.』

For someone who'd never cared about working ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out, I suddenly felt motivated. It was as though the System had made self-improvement inevitable.

'Nothing's stopping me now.'

Then I noticed a barbell on the floor.

The thing was loaded with 700 kilograms of plates, yet the bar hadn't bent. Ha-rin apparently lifted it for fun now and then.

"......."

'Better not think about that.'

I returned to my five-kilogram dumbbells.

For some reason, Se-eun began exercising beside me, wearing a small pout.

'What a kid.'

She could be infuriating, but at least she was cute in her own peculiar way.