Chapter 200: Finals 4
Chapter 200: Finals 4
The moment I heard it, the sentence brought to mind *Animal Farm* — a literary work from my past life.
All Constellations are noble. But some Constellations are nobler than others.
Where *Animal Farm* packed its words with satire and mockery,
the sentiment behind the statement on Constellation nobility was closer to fervent worship.
"The nerve... the absolute nerve...."
Lee Ha-rin was seething, barely containing her fury — and she wasn't alone.
Han Ye-ji, Kim Ha-eun, and Song Ye-na all wore the same grim expressions.
"How could anyone speak such insolent words...."
Electronics lay dead, fried by an unconscious surge of magical power.
Four Incarnations huddled together in the darkened room, deep in troubled discussion.
It was too awkward to ask what they meant when I was this clueless, so I slipped away into the inner room and pulled out my smartphone.
The phone had survived — tucking it into my pocket must've shielded it from the surge.
— All Constellations are noble.
From those who descended to the frontlines and bled for humanity,
to those who purified tainted earth and tilled fields to feed starving children,
every Constellation is noble and deserves humanity's respect.
— But some Constellations are nobler than others.
Yet what the insolent who dare compare Constellations must remember
is that the loftiness of one's origin and the greatness of one's power do not equate to the nobility of one's soul.
Search for "all Constellations" and this was the first result, right at the top.
In this world, a "nobler Constellation" had nothing to do with combat prowess.
It referred to those who had cast aside their status and sacrificed themselves whenever humanity faced a crisis.
'If he's poked this, hasn't he seriously fucked himself?'
This was too big in scale to write off as some arrogant newcomer's stunt.
Below the grim explanation stretched a long list of Constellations.
When soil contamination brought devastating drought and famine before fertilizer was developed,
a Constellation who'd been a perfumer converted her own existence into points and purchased food.
When the front collapsed and plague swept the cities, a Constellation who'd been a woodcutter
burned his own soul in a self-immolation offering and saved tens of thousands from the epidemic.
All Constellations who strive for humanity are noble.
Those who sacrifice themselves for humanity are nobler still.
Because sharing the privileges you hold
and surrendering those privileges to immolate your soul simply cannot be compared.
To survive death in the midst of annihilation and then willingly offer yourself to death again.
The meaning was clear: sacrificing yourself for another is the highest form of nobility.
Insulting both religious saints and historic heroes in one breath — that's one hell of a tongue.
"What about the Academy side?"
"The Guard Corps deployed everyone. Not a single person held back."
"This is a broadcast hijacking case — how is that even possible?"
"When they built the arena and the defensive spires this time, the security magic circles got modified along with them."
"A fully premeditated crime, then."
From the living room drifted the Incarnations' deep-sighing voices,
and through the window came the furious howls of beasts.
Wolf howls. Tiger snarls.
If you flung open every cage in a zoo and fired a gun, would it sound like this?
And the bastard had specifically singled out the Academy when talking about Constellations.
If he'd genuinely wanted to debate nobility, he could've picked on club Constellations or drug Constellations.
So the one he's targeting is most likely me — Lethargic Nightmare.
...Looks like any chance of a peaceful daily life just sailed away.
※
Despite the arrogant, insulting declaration, Academy life flowed on as usual.
In the morning, I woke a groggy Han Ye-ji and sent her off to the Guard Corps.
Then, around lunch, I headed to Lee Ha-rin's lab in the Magic Building to bring her a meal.
'Fuck. I finally wrap things up and try to take some vacation time, and now some bitch-ass bastards crawl out again.'
'Every history book seems to have a Fallen Constellation — looks like we've got a big one this time.'
Instructors, cadets, and Incarnations strode around with deeply furrowed brows,
sheathed in palpable killing intent and noticeably coarser in speech — besides that, everything was normal.
A broadcast hijacking, in practical terms, amounted to one broadcast popping up. That's it.
There's nothing to be done unless you're tracking it down or hunting for an Incarnation who collaborated.
The beastkin roamed more actively than usual for that very purpose,
but judging by all the growling, they hadn't caught anything.
'Not that I'd expect otherwise — if someone pulled that stunt and got caught in a day, they'd be a whole other kind of impressive.'
What had caused that duel after Han Ye-ji caught a glimpse of another male Constellation's chest?
It was precisely the Academy's new surveillance spires — she was testing them and happened to see it.
And someone pulled off a broadcast hijacking while security was getting tightened in real time like that.
If they aren't a moron like Heart of the Exiled Serpent, catching them won't be easy.
If it was done from long range, fine — but if they entered the Academy, they've got skill.
"Ah, Constellation, you're here."
"Ha-rin. Don't tell me you didn't sleep?"
"Hehehe...."
"I'm pretty sure I told you to sleep, no matter what."
"I'm sorry. It's not that I tried not to sleep — I couldn't. My blood was boiling too much."
The way she sheepishly scratched the back of her head was exactly how I looked after an all-night gaming binge.
Except she'd roughly tied her hair back up the moment it started falling loose, which I never bothered with.
Her eyes were bloodshot red — she'd probably been trawling every Academy-related site out there.
Lee Ha-rin wasn't the only one, so I held back the nagging.
Han Ye-ji alone had gone to work this morning with eyes just as red.
When I'd been admiring her back as she shuffled out half-asleep in clothes she'd clearly thrown on,
I could almost understand the mindset of a friend from my past life who'd been addicted to watching female streamers.
A feast for the eyes, that's what it was.
Baggy shorts showing off pale thighs, a sloppy tee that revealed cleavage and bra straps.
It felt less like a gender-role-reversed world and more like I'd become an invisible man sneaking into the women's dormitory.
Although the sight of powdered male nobles mincing along with simpering, tinkling laughter
would send that pleasant mood hurtling into the abyss — but I'd learned to stomach it.
Refusing male attendants might honestly be the best decision I've made since coming to this world.
"Anyway, you four are acting like children...."
"More importantly, I forgot to ask yesterday — what is that?"
The moment my nagging seemed about to start, she straightened her posture and swiftly changed the subject.
I felt a faint pang of regret as the teasing glimpses of her navel line disappeared.
What she was pointing at with an oddly stiff turn of her head was —
"What the... why are there so many?"
"Isn't that the drone Kim Ha-eun was summoning yesterday?"
Filling the entire training field was a drone swarm, the kind I'd only ever seen in the dream city.
With Academy cameras even subject to censorship for security reasons, a drone swarm showing up
had drawn a crowd — cadets, instructors, tournament officials, all gawking.
Drones the size of basketballs hovered in eerie silence,
ringed by dozens of spectators staring slack-jawed. The sight was absurd.
"So this is where she disappeared to this morning. Gathering these."
"What on earth happened to Kim Ha-eun that her ability changed so drastically?"
"It didn't change."
"Pardon?"
Between yesterday's broadcast hijacking and the flood of Incarnations, I'd almost forgotten,
but hadn't the dream city Kim Ha-eun resided in been consumed by her heart?
And if she wasn't in her quarters, what had she been doing since morning — no, since the crack of dawn?
Maybe she'd disclosed her abilities to the Academy side and undergone verification for the drones, or...
The drones suddenly buzzed outward in all directions like hornets from a struck nest.
The onlookers dispersed back to their business — but one person only grew more excited.
"Wasn't Kim Ha-eun's ability soul healing using magical waveforms?!"
"No, that's closer to the essence of a Dream Demon."
A hardcore otaku of Constellations, Incarnations, psychic powers, and esoteric abilities — an information fiend, a print addict.
That was Lee Ha-rin, and the bizarre combination of dreams and machines had completely entranced her.
I left her there, feverishly tapping at her smartphone,
and turned my gaze back outside. Through the scattering crowd, I spotted the guards.
Makes sense. An Academy that hadn't even had its new security spires for a full week
just had a broadcast insulting the sacrificial Constellations hijacked through its own airwaves.
First the assassination attempt, now broadcast hijacking — two breaches in rapid succession.
'Maybe I should just gather up the ones close to their heat cycle and ambush 'em under self-defense.'
'If they resist, sneaking in a finger or two — or just eating them — would still fly, right?'
'Fuck, my own heat cycle's close, and instead of dick I've got nothing but bitch-ass bastards gathering.'
The beastkin guards' teeth-grinding was clearer than the hum of the drone propellers.
If the emotions I normally sensed through my Dream Demon instincts were a lawn swaying in the breeze,
what I felt now was a soda bottle with a whole pack of Mentos dropped in — a furious, seething boil.
Amid the beastkin guards' searing killing intent, only two figures felt incongruous.
Han Ye-ji, carrying a strange firearm I'd never seen before — and Kim Ha-eun, the hub around which the small drones revolved.
So they had reported to the Academy and begun cooperating with the guards after all.
"Oh, dammit. Running off just the two of them — so unfair."
Lee Ha-rin grumbled at the sight and flopped back down in front of her desk.
So she could separate personal curiosity from duty after all.
I'll be honest, I'd expected her to charge over to Kim Ha-eun without a second thought.
"But what is this...?"
Proud of her restraint, I quietly stepped up behind Lee Ha-rin and set a hand on her shoulder.
The strap of her bra snagged against my casually placed hand on her bare shoulder — but that wasn't the point.
— Esoteric abilities related to mechanical devices [Approximately 23,421,423 results]
— Esoteric abilities related to illusion magic [Approximately 7,339,523 results]
— Broadcast hijacking incident [Approximately 43,398 results]
Anything happens and this girl starts by scraping the public institution databases.