"...Ah, what should I do?"
[What’s wrong?]
"You know, Author-nim. The Webmen."
[Ah... Right. You said we need to cut them down...]
"Sigh."
I had no idea how to handle this.
The Webmen—we had to reduce their numbers to just four.
...But how?
Time was running out. The end-of-term ceremony was coming up soon.
Exactly four.
Four should be enough.
Dorothy, Yu Siwoo, Amelia, and me.
If each of us took one, that would be perfect.
"...No matter what, the attack will happen during the ceremony, right?"
[Yes! That’s the plan! Hmm, though we haven’t decided how strong the villains will be yet.]
"Hmm..."
What should I do?
...Wait, should I just kill them all before the ceremony even starts?
"Author-nim. Have you thought about other villains besides them?"
[No?]
"..."
I shouldn’t have asked.
I already knew Author-nim never planned ahead.
Even if Author-nim said that, we’d still end up adding more villains.
We’d pruned the villain group down as much as we could, but we’d only just covered half of the first year.
To keep the story moving, we needed new obstacles.
As I’d said before, Academy novels were a genre where readers experienced catharsis by watching the protagonist overcome trials.
Of course, we could keep those guys alive and use them later, but then Author-nim’s readers would riot.
They’d demand to know why we didn’t kill the enemies when we had the chance.
If that happened, would Author-nim’s sanity hold up?
...I was skeptical. From what I’d seen, Author-nim didn’t seem like the type to handle that kind of backlash.
[Why not just kill them all like last time?]
"If it were that simple, I would’ve done it already."
Author-nim seemed to think that if I just went and killed them all, the problem would be solved.
But it wasn’t that easy.
Too many eyes and ears were already fixed on the Arachne villain group.
"Investigator Ha Yul—can I kill her?"
[Ugh, she’s too good to waste... A detective chasing villains is so cool... D-Do you really have to kill her?]
See?
Author-nim didn’t want to kill the investigator. Probably because she fit their tastes perfectly.
Well, I could understand that. Everyone had their preferences.
...The problem was, Investigator Ha Yul was going to be a nuisance.
Killing her would be the fastest solution. She was just a side character who didn’t even appear in the main story.
I didn’t need to waste my energy on characters who wouldn’t make it onto the stage...
But if Author-nim cared about her, that changed things. Even if I insisted she had to die, it wouldn’t matter.
If I forced the issue, my relationship with Author-nim would shatter.
...And then what would happen to me?
A sudden chill ran down my spine. I stopped myself from thinking any further. Don’t. Don’t think about it...
Before I knew it, I’d dialed a saved number on my phone and pressed call.
[The call has been connected.]
"It’s me."
[Arte-nim...! Please hold on a moment!]
Thud.
I could hear a clatter from the other end of the line.
...Did I call the wrong number?
I picked up my phone and double-checked the contact info.
It’s correct… an Association executive.
"Your performance is impressive."
[Ahem! It’s all thanks to my competence!]
"···."
C-Competence…?
No, competence is the right word.
It makes sense that a high-ranking Association official would be this deferential—it’s all because of the Author.
A setting Iha-Yul the investigator had tossed in out of annoyance: *‘Arachne has deeply infiltrated the Association.’*
I’d just thrown it in there carelessly, but I never expected it to come in handy like this.
[Please, tell us. We’re ready. Are you planning to purge all the villains?]
"···Ah, no, that’s not it. I just had a question."
[O-Oh, I see. Ask us anything!]
What the hell are these guys?
They’re supposed to be Arachne’s lackeys—traitorous Association members.
I can hear multiple people breathing on the other end of the line. More than one. Did they just bring them in?
I thought there was only one, but why are there so many?
···I’ll have to check. The setting must have naturally filled in the vague background.
"Still, this feels strange. The Association, which hates villains, having a conversation with one."
[···Villain? That’s going too far.]
"But the Association officially designated them as villains, didn’t they? The villain organization, Arachne. Extremely dangerous."
[While the Association has no choice but to label them as such, surely you know we don’t actually think of the organization as just a group of villains.]
The middle-aged man’s voice rose naturally, as if proud.
[Society’s system can’t kill villains. The law prevents it. And because of that, citizens suffer, and criminals, even when caught, just rot in prison for life!
Worse, most of them get plea deals and end up back on the streets! All because of a lack of manpower!]
"···True. Most of them fail and die on the battlefield, though."
[Society’s trash doesn’t deserve human rights. Those bastards forfeited their own rights! How dare they demand rights for themselves after violating others’?!
We can’t accept it! Do those scum really deserve human rights?! They’re not even human!
···But the law can’t punish them, and the citizens’ suffering only grows. If not for Arachne!]
Huff, huff…
The excited voice caused a brief commotion on the other end before the speaker changed.
This one was also older. Made sense, since they were high-ranking executives.
[That’s why we support you, Arachne.
The law is always imperfect, and improving it takes far too long. At least until all the magical beasts are dealt with, that’ll remain true.
How could we cause trouble for those who’ve taken it upon themselves to clean up society? So tell us. What do you want?]
···Ah.
I get it now.
To fill in the setting of *‘Arachne and the Association have a close relationship,’* the Association’s higher-ups must have been set up to despise villains.
The Association clashes with villains directly, so they’ve probably seen all kinds of ugly things.
That’s why the longer someone’s been in the Association, the more they hate villains. …That’s a reasonable interpretation, right?
To those executives, Arachne is the cleaner. The one who washes away the filth of the dirty city.
"The investigator who was chasing Arachne—Iha-Yul. What’s he doing now?"
[That man? He’s on leave. External pressure forced him to halt his work, so the shock was considerable. He’s probably resting up.]
"Hmm…"
As if I’d rest easy.
This was someone who kept suspecting me even when I had a solid alibi proving my innocence.
I doubted they’d cave to outside pressure so easily. Even if it meant turning their back on the Association, they’d keep chasing me.
If I couldn’t kill that stubborn leech or drive it away…
…then I could just make it latch onto someone else.
"Recall them. Tell them an Arachne has appeared and they’re needed."
[Huh? What do you—]
"We’ve located the Weaver Men. Half their remaining forces remain. Four executives."
[…!]
Of course, it was all a lie.
Location? I didn’t know a thing.
But there was no need to worry. This world was the Author’s puppet show. All I had to do was ask the Author.
If there were too many props cluttering the stage, they’d just adjust the numbers to fit.
"Their goal is to steal some hidden artifact inside the Academy."
[So that means…]
"They’ll probably raid the Academy eventually. That’s their target, after all."
[…We’ll reinforce security.]
"Don’t. Do you know when they’ll strike? If you’re too on guard, you’ll just make it harder to track them."
Another lie.
In truth, I knew exactly when they’d attack and how many there’d be.
They’d strike on Graduation Day, no matter what.
…But I had no obligation to tell them that. Yu Siwoo needed to face trials and grow. This was an event he had to experience.
Puppets that never made it onto the stage only needed to watch. That was enough.
"Leave just enough of them to make it seem possible but still unsettling, and as for the rest…"
[…Understood. Necessary sacrifices, then.]
"Something like that."
[I’ll handle the part you mentioned right away. Then.]
"I’m counting on you."
I hung up unilaterally.
There was nothing left to say.
"Ahh, this is… tough!"
[H-Hey, that was amazing! A villain pulling the strings from the shadows to wipe out an evil organization!]
"Amazing? I’m neither a villain nor an evil organization."
I brushed off the Author’s nonsense.
What kind of evil organization was I?
Unless it was a secret society.
…Still, I was looking forward to it.
The longer someone stayed in the Association, the deeper their hatred for Villains grew.
I wondered how an investigator truly felt about Villains.
No one had seen firsthand what Villains did and how they behaved more than them.
Maybe the Author was right—maybe there was no need to kill them.
My mood improved.
"…What the hell."
"H-Hiiik…! Th-Thank god we knelt and begged…!"
Laira and Spira were horrified.
They couldn’t believe what they’d just heard was true.
"…Y-You heard the same thing I did, right?"
"Master is connected to the Association…?"
"Crazy… and we heard it right."
They hadn’t caught everything.
But they’d clearly heard Arte giving orders to the Association’s higher-ups.
And what was that about—
"Half the Weaver Men are going to disappear…?"
"…"
Laira let out a sigh of relief.
Thank goodness the rotten rope had snapped so quickly.
If they’d kept climbing, clinging to it… who knew what would’ve happened to them.
They’d almost ended up as cube steak.