Your Name (1)
Your Name (1)
After a full day of rest, the next day arrived.
Though the muscle pain was completely gone, my brow remained deeply furrowed as I sat in the lecture hall.
A problem I couldn't solve even after racking my brain all night.
The problem was the contradiction surrounding Winterer, an early-game villain.
"I'll be teaching this lecture myself. We'll discuss the habits of villains, the awakeners' greatest enemy...."
'Damn, what was Winterer’s deal? Did she have some hidden backstory?'
Winterer was the first antagonist in the game who showed players at a glance what a villain was.
Her notoriety in Korea was widespread.
Wasn't she the figure who tried to kill the Chairwoman, a pillar of Korean awakener society?
There was nothing strange about her being designated a Grade 1 Villain based on that goal alone.
At the same time, her role in the game was that of a punching bag.
From the prologue onward, she was portrayed as an idiot who failed to raid the academy, and in the second raid, she was a stereotypical villain who got trashed by the player.
So I hadn't paid her much attention.
Getting blindsided sent the player straight to a game-over route, but once the patterns were memorized, she was easy prey.
To me, she was merely Extra Villain A.
'......I was sure that was all she was, but what's this? Why didn't she use Haru?'
But what if I took Seo Haru's existence into account?
There was no way she would fail a mere raid.
If she attacked alongside Haru, even a veteran as battle-hardened as the Chairwoman couldn't have survived.
Winterer was not stupid enough to miss that.
Yet the academy raid was a failure.
Haru was caught by the Chairwoman after doing little more than damage the building.
It looked as though Winterer had gone beyond simply failing to use Haru's abilities and had deliberately let her go.
'There was no way a villain would do that for Haru....'
"Ahem. Cadet Seo Yujin? Focus on the lecture. When you zone out that blatantly, even I find it rather awkward."
"......Ah, I'm sorry!"
"Pfft. Then let's have Cadet Seo Yujin tell us the characteristics of villains."
While I was deep in thought, the Chairwoman called on me.
A smile was directed at me, as if asking why I was spacing out during a lecture by the No. 4 S-rank and foremost authority on villain identification.
...I couldn't afford to get on the bad side of the boss who gave me a part-time job worth sixteen million won an hour.
I quickly stood up and answered.
"Yes. Villains are unusual cases that appear only rarely among awakeners...."
A villain was an abnormal individual who, unlike an ordinary criminal, treated murder like a drug.
Killing people was a villain's sole happiness and their reason for being.
Their brains, pickled in excessive dopamine, came to crave nothing else.
At the same time, they also had sociopathic traits.
At the moment of awakening, an unknown stimulus caused their brains to lose the capacity for empathy completely.
Villains genuinely believed it didn't matter what happened to anyone but themselves.
Together, those two traits made villains a societal evil.
They forgot whatever morals or values they had built before awakening and chased only the dopamine rush of killing for pleasure.
They were evildoers beyond comparison with ordinary criminals.
"To summarize, they are bad guys."
"Perfect. Then, what do you think about the possibility of reforming a villain? I suspect Cadet Seo Yujin, who has a hypnosis ability, would have an interesting view."
"I assure you, it's absolutely impossible."
What was more, even my hypnosis couldn't reform a villain.
The duration of my hypnosis tended to vary with how strongly the target hated the command.
But villains literally hated the command 'Live a good life' more than death itself.
That said it all: making them kill themselves was about five times easier.
And I was supposed to keep such a command active long enough for them to live normal lives?
It looked impossible, and it was.
I had once tried to reform a Grade 0 Villain at a friend's request, but the command had worn off in under three seconds.
'Well, there was no way I could say that now, though.'
"Recently, various media outlets have discussed glorifying or reforming villains, and human-rights groups have been vocal about it as well, but...."
"It is absolutely impossible. Yes. Cadet Seo Yujin is right on every count."
A broad smile spread across the Chairwoman's lips, apparently pleased with my explanation.
She even licked her lips.
—Slurp. Mutter, mutter.
"He may say that, but no one understands until they experience it firsthand. The more I see him, the more debauched he is. As a graduate student... no, as a successor, there is no one better...."
'What was with that old lady? Was she sulking because I had said everything she planned to cover? Honestly, how childish.'
Anyway, I figured I had paid enough of a price for zoning out during the lecture, so I sat back down.
Sia, who was sitting next to me, immediately handed me a sheet of paper.
[That was unexpected. I thought you'd say something like 'Of course it's possible. Actually, I'm kind of a big deal.']
—Scratch scratch.
[That's what I said during the entrance exam. When did you even hear that?]
[It was going around online. People thought it was cute.]
[......Wasn't it cool?]
[Everyone said you were cute because you sounded so lame.]
"......."
...My earlobes grew a little hot belatedly.
I had said it to look cool in front of Alice, but now that I saw it written out, it did seem a little childish.
Wondering whether Alice thought so too, I quickly turned toward her.
"......Hmph."
—Swish.
"......."
'Right. She was still sulking.'
She would not even make eye contact with me.
Well, it wasn't as though I could not understand her reaction.
After all, I'd put her to sleep without warning yesterday, and then bought her a ton of painkillers good for periods.
What was with this guy? Gross. Disgusting. Had he done something to me?
It was only natural that she would be wary of me if she was thinking that.
Still,
—Scratch scratch. Slide.
[Yujin, did you really do nothing yesterday?]
Aside from not making eye contact, Alice slipped a piece of paper over to me.
This was probably her own way of making peace.
You didn't do anything, right? Okay. Let's get along.
That had to be what she meant by the note.
My face brightened as I took it.
'Even I would have been suspicious, but she trusted me? Damn, as expected of my wife. I loved—'
—Snatch.
"......?"
"Hmm? Hmm~?"
...Sia snatched it away, though.
I only blinked, having no idea why.
But Sia merely smiled knowingly and kept writing.
—Scratch scratch. Snatch.
[Does Yujin look like the kind of person who'd do something to someone while they were asleep?]
"......Tch."
—Snatch.
[I wasn't asking you, Sia. And, I know perfectly well Yujin isn't that kind of person.]
Alice read the note, clicked her tongue once, and immediately tossed it back to Sia.
She passed it back so quickly that I couldn't even see what it said.
'What was going on...'
—Snatch. Snatch snatch.
[I suppose you would know. How much did you have to annoy Yujin for him to put you to sleep and leave you there?]
[Yujin did not leave me there, you know. He even let down my hair so I could sleep comfortably.]
[Sounds like he left you there to me. While you were asleep, Yujin and I... had ■ex. Afterward, we even had a cozy lunch together in Yujin's quarters.]
"......What?"
The high-speed rally reminiscent of ping-pong stopped for a moment.
Alice's dumbfounded voice was a bonus.
Blink. Blink. She stared hard at the paper, as if trying to understand what it meant....
—Slide.
[Um, Sia. This, the first letter is smudged so I can't see it. What did you say you did with Yujin?]
[I wrote it and then erased it on purpose. I could not write a word like that in a sacred lecture hall, could I?]
[What word is that?]
[To put it euphemistically, something that leaves a man and woman covered in sweat?]
"......? .........!!!!!?"
—Snatch.
This time, she stared directly at me.
Her eyes were wide, as if asking whether it was true.
No, those two had been talking among themselves without showing me.
I could not answer unless they actually asked me.
"What's wrong, Alice?"
"......Ugh."
—Scratch scratch. Snatch.
[Don't make dirty jokes, Sia. Yujin is not that kind of person.]
She had even ignored me when I asked what was wrong.
Her face bright red, Alice threw the paper to Sia at super speed.
And so began round two of the high-speed note-passing rally.
—Snatch snatch snatch.
[He is exactly that kind of person, you know?]
[Stop lying. Yujin does not know anything about that.]
[Of course he does. He's a boy too. Do you really think he has no interest in that?]
[I'm telling you, Yujin doesn't know about those things!]
[He knows plenty. He went at it so hard that after showering, he devoured two whole chickens by himself.]
[That is a lie. It is a lie. You are a liar, Sia.]
[Do you want proof? Can you not see my clothes? What I wore yesterday got soaked all over because of Yujin. That's why I wore this today.]
—Grit.
Why were those two passing notes so fervently? Should I switch seats with them?
As I wondered, I heard a grinding sound.
It came from Alice.
She brought her lips close to my ear.
—Whisper whisper.
"Y-Yujin? Sia is lying, so... um... she said her clothes got wet because of you yesterday...."
"Huh?"
'What was this? Was she asking me to pay for dry cleaning?'
I had wondered what she wanted to ask, but apparently she was talking about Sia's clothes getting soaked in my sweat yesterday.
Only then did I understand why the two of them were acting this way.
True. She'd gotten drenched in sweat helping support a guy who had gone limp after a workout. Instead of thanking her, I hadn't even offered to pay for dry cleaning.
Apparently, that had earned the other girls' indignation.
'Sia was rich, so I'd hoped I could rely on her... Tch. I would have to ask the Chairwoman for an advance.'
"Then today's lecture will end here."
"Yeah. So I am going to take responsibility."
Since the lecture had just ended, I told them that I would take responsibility and reimburse her.
Alice jolted.
"......!!!!!? Y-Yu-Yujin. Responsibility...."
"After relying on Sia so much yesterday, I could not just pretend nothing had happened and shirk responsibility, could I?"
"H-huh?"
"It'll probably cost ten million won, but I'll try to come up with it quickly."
'Since repair costs for artifacts are no joke either.'
But I held my head high.
It was only sweat, so dry cleaning alone would probably be enough, but I was going to pay for a full overhaul.
I'd get it fresh and clean as new.
It was a perfect answer, worth a hundred points for a man. Surely even Sia, who had been watching...
"......? Yujin? What do you mean?"
"Huh?"
I expected her to be moved, but she looked dumbfounded.
What was going on?
"Well, your expensive artifact got wet, so I meant the repair costs...."
"You just need to wash that with water?"
"......Really?"
"Yeah. I did it because I wanted to. Why would I make you pay?"
"Huh? Then why were you, Alice...?"
What? Had she not been badmouthing me for not paying for dry cleaning?
Wondering why she was angry, I stared at Alice.
Alice looked at the paper in her hand and me in turn.
"Uh... Yujin, by any chance... what did you do with Sia yesterday?"
"Huh? Oh, that was what you were talking about? Are you interested too, Alice? My hardcore workout."
".........?"
Alice's expression went blank.
She even fixed her gaze on Sia.
"...Sia?"
"It was a joke, but you totally fell for it. Pfft."
"Y-you said a man and woman got drenched in sweat."
"Of course you get drenched in sweat when you work out. I got soaked too while carrying an exhausted Yujin."
"That a man would be interested...."
"Isn't a boy who has no interest in working out the rare one?"
"......."
She looked down at the paper once.
At Sia once. At me once.
Finally, at the paper once more.
Then,
—Tremble tremble.
"......."
She teared up, wearing an incredibly complicated expression.
Grinding her teeth all the while.
"Alice? What's wrong...?"
"......You don't need to know, Yujin."
"Yeah. You don't need to know~."
"......?"
What was this? Had the two of them played gomoku without me, with Sia winning?
I could never understand the world of women.
* * *
Anyway, while I was enjoying some cozy banter with my wives, the Chairwoman sauntered over after finishing the lecture.
"Cadet Seo Yujin. I need to speak with you for a moment...."
"Huh? Ah. Go ahead."
'Why is she suddenly like this? Did something happen to Haru...?'
[If word got out already, it would cause a commotion, so I will use telepathy. Tomorrow, the No. 7 S-rank is scheduled to visit the academy.]
"......."
—Grind.
'The only man among the S-ranks. That bastard was coming here...?'
The news made me clench my teeth instinctively.