"...Are you really okay?"
"Yes. I’m fine, so please don’t worry."
I calmed the teacher down with a smile.
She really does worry too much.
Maybe it’s because of the trauma of losing a comrade, as per her backstory?
I could understand why she clung to me so much—it was annoying, but I got it. Still, it grated on my nerves a little.
"I’m just a bit shaken. I’d like to rest for a while."
"A-ah! Of course! But be careful. It seems like Laira had a comrade with her."
"...A comrade?"
"Yeah. According to you, she should’ve been dead, but there’s no body."
Ah, right.
Now that I think about it, I had created a spy to mimic the premonition of the attack.
I’d completely forgotten about that.
Should I just tell her?
"...Webermensch. She called herself a Webermensch, I think."
"A superhuman...? Got it. Thanks. I’ll look into it."
"Mhm. Please do."
"Alright. ...Get some rest."
Creak.
Ms. Claire ended the conversation and left the room.
That had taken a full hour.
[Ugh... She’s such a nag...]
"Well, it’s part of her charm. It’d be a waste to erase it, so we’ll just have to put up with it."
If *we* had to deal with it, it’d be annoying, but if *Yu Siwoo* had to, it just became material for the story.
Nothing we can do about it.
It’s better to endure a little annoyance than to reduce her to a bland, generic plot device.
"Alright, now that the teacher’s gone... should we go back?"
To find our animal-eared friend we’d hidden.
"Hah, hah..."
"Ah. Found you."
My back feels like it’s on fire.
...It hurts. It hurts. It *hurts*.
Why do I have to go through this?
I wanted to thrash in agony, but the threads binding me refused to snap.
"Excuse me, could you help me out here?"
This is so unfair.
I just wanted to use my talent.
The organization told me I had one, after all.
I only wanted to repay them.
I just... wanted to be *recognized*...!
SMACK.
"?!"
"Oh, now you notice me. ...Hello?"
A loud noise right in front of me made me jump. I looked up.
...It’s *her*.
The infuriating woman smirking at me. Arte Isis.
"Y-you, you—!"
"Yep, that’s me. Arte Isis?"
"Die, die, DIE!"
I wanted to lunge at Arte in a rage.
But that was just wishful thinking.
My body wouldn’t budge an inch. I was tied tightly to the tree.
"Because of you, because of you, the organization’s orders—!"
"Ah, if it’s the orders of the Webermensch, you’ve already fulfilled them perfectly. How convenient."
"…What?"
Wait.
…How does this woman know the name of the organization?
I never mentioned it.
"What was it again? Something about delivering a warning to the Academy while making the name of the Webermensch known worldwide? Not bad."
"Y-You, you—how do you know that?!"
"Ufufu. A secret?"
A chill ran down my spine.
Before I knew it, I had stopped struggling to lunge at Arte and could only stare at her, entranced.
She knew everything.
My orders. The organization’s goals.
…Probably even my inferiority complex.
All of it.
"Don’t worry. I made sure to tell the teacher that it was the work of the Webermensch. Your mission is complete!"
Only then did I realize.
Who I had messed with.
Why she had been so composed during our sparring.
"Oh dear. Why are you shaking so much?"
Raera suddenly understood.
Every action she had taken up until now had been within the palm of Arte Isis’s hand.
The sudden surge in strength after taking the organization’s elixir.
The fact that she had come here to carry out the organization’s orders.
She knew it all.
There was no other way to explain it.
"Ha, haha… Kill me."
"Hmm?"
"I was just a pawn in your hands, wasn’t I? Just kill me already."
"…Just a moment."
A sudden silence.
The hum of insects, the chirping of birds.
In the forest, where only white noise echoed, the absence of human conversation made the atmosphere unbearably cold.
An inexplicable dread made Raera’s newly grown ears twitch.
"Oh, Author-nim. It’d be a shame to kill her. Yes, there’s a much better use for her."
Author?
I don’t understand what that means. It sounds like a title for someone.
But how am I able to hear voices from such a distant position?
…Is it because of the ears that sprouted on my head?
Now that I have four ears, my hearing might be more sensitive.
The only thing I’m certain of is that she’s not alone.
Is she acting with someone else?
After a long conversation with this "Author-nim," Arte approached me and crouched down gently.
"You’re in luck, Raera. Author-nim has agreed. You get to live!"
"I-I don’t die…? Me?"
"Yes. You can live. It would be wonderful if you’d become my assistant!"
Assistant?
I couldn’t begin to comprehend what she was talking about.
"Unfortunately, I’m a bit short on help. I’ve always wanted someone to assist me. And since you have such excellent physical abilities, Raera, you’ll definitely be useful!"
"...The right to refuse?"
At that question, for the briefest moment—
Arte, who had been squinting, widened her eyes in an instant.
Lyra’s wolf-like tail and ears perked up sharply.
Her body reacted on its own, instinctively sensing a threat.
"A-ah, no. It’s fine. I mean, it will be fine."
"Hehe. Good, Lyra. A wise choice."
Lyra regretted her past actions.
All because of a single moment of inferiority.
She couldn’t control her emotions, and now she was stuck with this woman.
"...But there’s one thing. We should take precautions, just in case. Betrayal would be such a problem, wouldn’t it?"
Hearing Arte’s words, Lyra regretted it all over again.
If she could go back in time, she would have beaten herself to death to stop it.
Now, she was nothing more than a puppet dancing in the devil’s hands.
[I wanted to do a hijeonjuk...]
"Sigh, I told you. I have my limits too."
[But, but!]
I let out a deep sigh at the Author’s stubbornness.
Does the Author think I’m some kind of superhuman?
I have limits too.
"I have my limits. Right now, I’m monitoring Yu Siwoo alone, but I need hands and feet, don’t I?"
[...Hmm.]
"Plus, wouldn’t it be better if minor tasks were handled by other extras while I stay by Yu Siwoo’s side to keep watch?"
[I-is that so?]
"Take this situation, for example. If I had a subordinate, I wouldn’t have needed to do prep work to retrieve the USB. I could’ve just ordered them to do it."
I only have one body.
The Author usually sees the world through my perspective.
That’s why it’s best for me to stay near Yu Siwoo in most situations.
But if there’s no one to handle the odd jobs for me, I’ll have to move every time something minor comes up.
What if I miss a scene where Yu Siwoo makes a date with a heroine because of that?
Then I’d have to listen to the Author’s squealing for ages.
No thanks.
"I’ve already blocked the possibility of betrayal that the Author was worried about, so please accept it now."
I lightly shook the button in my hand.
A single red button between the square plastic.
Anyone could tell what it was at a glance.
A detonator.
"With her life on the line as collateral, she won’t dare think of betrayal, right?"
[T-that’s true... Okay! H-hey, then the USB! Hurry up and play the video! I want to see Yu Siwoo’s exploits!]
"Alright."
Well, it wasn’t a real bomb anyway.
Even if she rebelled, she wouldn’t die. She definitely wouldn’t.
Because the necklace around Lyra’s neck didn’t contain a bomb—it contained my thread.
This detonator-looking thing was just a decoy.
If she tries to take off the necklace or shows any sign of betrayal… *swish.*
The threads will go wild, slicing everything around her.
She’d probably lose an arm, at least.
"…Tsk."
Just imagining Lailah losing an arm made me feel sick.
I don’t even know why I’m this worked up. I could just kill her.
Sure, I did need a subordinate to act as my hands and feet.
But there was no need to forcefully spare someone the Author wanted dead just to use them.
And there was even less reason to spare a villain girl who was, at best, a heroine candidate.
…It’s not like I can’t kill people.
I already did it on my first day here.
An accident that happened because I couldn’t control my ability properly.
A massacre that unfolded in the heat of the moment when some thugs tried to hit on me after seeing my body.
Or maybe it just didn’t feel real.
Especially since the Author had casually cleaned up the scattered bodies in an instant, making it feel even less real.
[…? Reader-nim?]
"No, it’s nothing. Let me see… Ah, here it is."
Was I feeling guilty because I’d turned an ordinary student into a villain?
Or was it just a whim?
…Who cares. Thinking about it just gives me a headache.
Let’s keep it simple.
I spared her because I wanted to. Isn’t that enough?
"Okay, so the video—"
[…Huh?]
What the hell.
…Where did the video go?
"T-The video… Where is it?"
I started digging through the USB folders one by one.
The video was gone.
N-No way…
"W-Wait, I found—?!"
Ah.
I thought I had, but…
…The video was there.
All of it except the parts that had been erased by the blackout setting.
"D-Did I mess up the settings…?"
I should’ve used a different reason instead of a blackout.
Since the world’s history had already recorded the blackout as the cause, maybe all the footage I had was automatically processed as if it hadn’t been recorded due to the power outage.
This was my mistake.
[I-I trusted you…]
"Author-nim, p-please calm down—"
[READER-NIM I TRUSTED YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU! WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!]
This is insane.
…How am I supposed to fix this?
My head started pounding for a completely different reason.
I was starting to regret what I’d done.
I really should’ve found a subordinate sooner.