Chapter 21
Chapter 21
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: Protagonist (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The scene unfolding before my eyes was nothing short of violent.
Watching the protagonist who drove the story forward roll limply across the ground as a corpse—it was a sight so unbelievable that even seeing it with my own eyes, I could scarcely accept it.
But it had already happened.
What I needed to do right now in this situation was accept it.
Why it happened, whose fault it was—none of that mattered anymore.
The key was to quickly assess the situation and decide how to act next.
They say the golden hour is the minimum time with the highest chance of successful treatment, but unfortunately, Kim Si-hu was completely dead.
There were no vital signs from him at all.
There's no way to revive someone whose life has ended.
Even if there were, it wasn't something someone like me could pull off right now.
Therefore, Kim Si-hu was a lost cause.
With that thought settled, Aria moved.
I stopped her.
"Wait."
"Hm?"
Aria looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"What about the cleanup..."
"I called the Cleaners."
Cleaners, huh.
The 21st Century Secret Society calls their specialists who handle the messes from their incidents "Cleaners."
It wasn't directly mentioned in the original story, but I'd seen info about them in the Secret Society's announcement section under "Collaborators."
This was probably the last I'd ever see of Kim Si-hu.
I gazed down at him with complicated feelings.
Suppressing a heavy sigh, Aria suddenly spoke to me.
"Goat and Alchemi figured the drug's effects will peak in about two weeks. Around 50 to 80 Psykers will turn into Dimensional Beasts all at once—an unprecedented disaster."
Once that happens, it'll be even harder to operate in Academy City, so be careful not to get your identity exposed.
Aria gave me that advice.
It was something I already knew, but I nodded anyway.
Aria turned to leave, as if that wrapped things up.
"One thing I'm curious about."
"What?"
"Does killing people not sit well with you?"
For a split second, I caught a faint tremble in her fingertips.
But as someone who'd served directly under Zero One for decades, she quickly composed herself, and the atmosphere shifted in an instant.
"What's your angle, Dracula?"
Her low voice carried a clear murderous intent.
The air around Aria began to vibrate.
A ferocious pressure that shook my entire body made me shrink back instinctively.
As her red eyes glared into mine, I felt like a rabbit facing a wolf.
"Were you trying to insult me?"
She made it crystal clear that she held my life in her hands, firmly establishing our hierarchy.
She was superior in status and power.
Her overwhelming presence screamed that at me.
"If that was your intent, then mission accomplished."
Kim Si-hu might not have been a prodigy like Yubyeol-ha, but he was still a cadet at Arcana Dimensional Beast Hunter Academy.
Even after losing to Baek Do-hyun in the prologue without his main weapon, he'd managed to inflict serious wounds—a true powerhouse.
There was no reason for me, in my right mind, to speak carelessly to Aria, who'd snuffed out his life so easily.
I couldn't have meant it that way.
I steadied my trembling voice and continued.
"No, I was just... wondering if you felt the same way I do."
Did she feel any guilt about what she was doing? Did she secretly disagree with the 21st Century Secret Society's atrocities?
I probed her intentions with veiled words.
A moment of silence fell.
The sound of fresh rain enveloped the quiet alley.
In that brief instant, countless emotions flashed across Aria's red eyes.
Then she spoke.
"Pretend you didn't hear that."
"Aria..."
"Dracula. You shouldn't go blabbing about that so easily either. Make sure it never leaves your lips to anyone else."
With those parting words, she left.
"The Secret Society and Zero One never forgive traitors."
That was Aria's warning to me.
Once she vanished into the darkness, the Cleaners in work clothes arrived shortly after and began clearing Kim Si-hu's body and all traces from the alley.
I watched the scene from under my umbrella.
The Cleaners finished up and vanished from the alley, but even after that, I couldn't tear myself away from the spot where Kim Si-hu's body had been for a long while.
I don't know why.
I just felt like I had to stay.
Unless I burned this scene straight into my brain... someday I'd end up like Kim Si-hu, stuffed into a trash bin the Cleaners hauled off.
My chest tightened.
It felt like someone was slowly smothering my airways with cloth.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The protagonist had been murdered.
And I was the one who'd set it in motion.
By surviving the prologue, I'd shattered the connections between the protagonist and the heroines who were meant to help him.
As a result, unlike the original story, Kim Si-hu had investigated the Arc attack alone to uncover the truth—and ended up marked as a suspect in Yubyeol-ha's bizarre murder case, leading to his brutal death at Aria's hands.
The villain meant to die in the prologue and the protagonist meant to carry the story had swapped fates.
If I'd used the time, chances, and abilities given to me wisely, Kim Si-hu never would've died at Aria's hands.
Now it just looked like I'd devoured the protagonist's life to survive.
I'd vowed to twist fate for my own survival.
I still believed that resolve was right.
But I should've thought a little more before acting.
Regret lingered.
Kim Si-hu's death felt tragic.
The thought that I might end up like him someday terrified me about the future.
If I just holed up in my room doing nothing, maybe I wouldn't turn into a corpse like him.
Pathetic thoughts like that kept swirling in my head.
But I had to move.
There was one unchangeable law in this world.
Those with finite lifespans die right there if they don't move.
I knew full well that miracles and luck don't happen by chance, and you can't get the results you want for free.
I'd chosen to step into the story myself and bend fate.
Now was the time to prove that choice wasn't wrong.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Kim Si-hu's death. Due to 'Fate Divergence,' 50 evolution points have been awarded. Evolution conditions for the 'Vampire' and 'Hypnotic Eyes' traits have been met. 💬 Messages — Yubyeol-ha Antonio del Piero—that's the name of the blond kid I saw back then. I've tracked down his residence and activity spots. Heading in to take him down with the Federal Guidance Bureau now. Don't worry about the safety of the Psykers who took Experimental Awake. The Bureau will move as planned. Any issues? — Han Cheong-ah Heading back to Korea with Miyuki today. @~@ — Aria The time has come. Lay low for a while so you don't arouse suspicion. — Goat Beer after work today? I checked the messages that had come in.
And once more, I sorted through the situation in my head.
Kim Si-hu, who'd been moving alone to uncover the truth behind the Arc attack, was dead.
In the original story, Yubyeol-ha's best friend Haena Rolling investigates the incident alone to help him and gets caught by Goat, turning into a Dimensional Beast.
But with Kim Si-hu's death, Haena Rolling was now completely uninvolved.
Yubyeol-ha and the Federal Guidance Bureau had teamed up.
They'd located most of the Psykers who'd taken Experimental Awake.
The Bureau wouldn't miss the Last Time hitting today, and they'd secure the injectors safely.
Yubyeol-ha and Cheryl would have no trouble taking down Goat together.
With that, preparations were complete to prevent all damage to Academy City from Dimensional Beast awakenings.
And on top of that.
I'd finally completed a plan one step ahead.
The Secret Society would distract everyone with the Dimensional Beasts, then Aria would lead a move in the chaos.
And infiltrate the place housing the Archive, where all of Academy City's info is stored.
But they would never reach the Archive.
Not as long as I was alive and watching.
The Secret Society wouldn't get the future they wanted.
I emerged from the dim semi-basement.
8 p.m.
The time when twilight settled over the concrete forest.
There was no sun in Academy City's sky, but the artificial glow from incandescent bulbs and LEDs lit the city.
Even though it was night, it felt brighter than day—was that just my imagination?
I looked up from below at the cityscape packed with towering skyscrapers.
Inhaling the cold night air and exhaling cleared my head.
I pulled up my hood and donned the mask I'd prepared.
The perfect time for a nocturnal vampire to get moving.
Alright.
Time to twist the story.