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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: Dungeon Practice
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"…What is this?"
"Th-thread…? No way…"
[Ah, I'm not late! P-phew, that was close!]
Phew, that was a relief.
That was really close.
A little bit later, and Yu Siwoo would've been cut in half.
Did I spend too much time clearing those boulders?
No, but I couldn't help it.
I spent ages wondering if I should use more thread.
"…You're alive?"
"Haha, it seems so. Unfortunately for Miss Laila."
Laila really seemed to dislike me.
It made me a little sad.
…Though it's largely my fault.
Was she really that angry about me pretending not to know and mentioning her talent, all just to confirm it?
No matter how I think about it, there's nothing else.
It was clearly my fault no matter how you looked at it, so I had nothing to say, which made me even sadder.
Still, I couldn't help it.
It was the easiest way to confirm.
"…How?"
"Huh?"
"You should have been crushed by the falling rocks…"
"Ah, that? It would've hurt if I'd really been crushed."
Since I'd hastily used too much thread, I felt it was a waste not to show off a little.
Beyond twisting and spreading the threads, I made triangles, squares. Then the Eiffel Tower, and even perfect circles.
I made all sorts of shapes.
How's that? This is string figures without hands.
Pretty cool, huh?
"Luckily, my ability is like this. If I wrap it around my body, it doesn't hurt that much."
"…Tch."
That's too much.
That was my ultimate special skill…
As soon as I got this ability, I practiced so hard because I wanted to show it to people someday!
Did I say I was a little hurt earlier? Cancel that.
I'm very hurt.
"Well, whatever. You being alive is a bit surprising, but nothing changes."
"Is that so?"
"Hunting two exhausted rabbits can't be that hard."
Laila grinned, scratching her head.
…Huh?
Did I just see something like a fang?
[Ah, it's started. The side effect.]
"…The side effect, it's started?"
Come to think of it, Laila took some suspicious medicine to gain power.
The pill she got from the Ubermensch, I did think there would be side effects.
…Now? Suddenly?
"E-ears on her head…!"
"What? Ears on her head? …What is this!"
Around where Laila was scratching her head, ears sprouted.
[Well, it's both an advantage and a disadvantage, I suppose? Hehe, the setting is that it's a drug that injects animal factors into people!]
Animal factors?
…Ah, so that's why 'superhuman'. Ubermensch.
Because they've gone beyond human.
It's a double meaning.
Was Laila continuously scratching her head a precursor to her ears sprouting?
[As time goes on, the animal's traits grow stronger. They become incredibly powerful, but more and more of the animal's characteristics manifest. Eventually, they turn into a half-human, half-beast…]
Wait.
I think I just heard something strange.
"…Half-human, half-beast?"
[Yes. Like a Minotaur.]
A furry!
Are you kidding me right now?!
"Change it."
[…Huh? But the setting is that they receive animal factors, so they inevitably turn into that kind of body… And changing settings is hard, you know.]
I felt dizzy.
I underestimated the author's hipster tendencies too much.
Even if it's an enemy, a furry?
Are you crazy?
Why are you wasting a pretty bishoujo spy like that?
If you just throw in such a divisive element, even for a minor role, it'll be a disaster.
The novel will explode!
The limit for beast-kin is just ears, tails, and eyes!
"Stop it. Either put in a new setting, or change it. Now!"
[Uh, uh…?! O-okay!]
Did they not expect me to get angry?
The thoroughly flustered author hastily changed the setting.
[I-I added a setting! Miss Laila is actually a descendant of a child born between a werewolf and a human hundreds of years ago! S-so, the factors won't severely transform her body!]
"Hmph…"
Normally, I would have wondered if that setting would convince the readers.
But I didn't have the luxury of thinking about that.
All I wanted was to drag my utterly exhausted body out of this place.
Should I scold them later?
Since I'd also secured the video for the author to watch, I decided to scold them while watching it.
"The surveillance camera setting, it's done, right?"
[Y-yes… As the Reader said, the setting is that it broke down due to a sudden power outage three hours ago.]
Good.
I fiddled with the USB tucked inside my white hoodie.
Now, all I had to do was take this and leisurely watch it with the author.
I had no more business here.
How did I get the video, you ask?
It wasn't that difficult.
I added a setting for the security guards who were on duty.
[They sometimes slack off and go play billiards. For at least five hours.]
…All I had to do was add a setting like that, and then change the time to three hours ago. It wasn't even really an infiltration.
And after taking measures to save all videos stored on the unmanned security room computer to a USB, what if I added a setting that the perfectly fine CCTV had actually been broken three hours ago?
The creation and completion of a video that shouldn't exist in this world.
Finally, retrieving the thread wrapped around the USB would be the end.
Easy, right?
Even for an academy, not all teachers can come.
They're busy enough supervising all those students, what teacher has time to check CCTV?
They just outsource it to a trustworthy security company.
High-quality personnel are always in short supply.
…And accidents tend to happen because of such complacent attitudes.
Wow, what bad luck that a power outage happened right after the guards left their posts.
And a defector appeared during those three hours? What an incredible coincidence.
"Wh-what is this…!"
"Sorry to interrupt your confusion, Laila."
I needlessly hugged my white hoodie.
Even though I knew no one was looking at me, I still hesitated for some reason.
The gaze felt even more bothersome.
They wouldn't have noticed, right?
Because Yu Siwoo ran away, I was so flustered that I unwound the thread from my uniform before my leotard, so now I'm only wearing a leotard under this hoodie.
If it was just a little unwound, it'd be fine, but I used most of it to block the falling rocks and clear them away.
I was smiling as if nothing was wrong, but I could feel my face burning red.
How embarrassing.
"Would you mind dying?"
***
It was a surprise attack.
Flustered by the sudden turn of events, Laila couldn't react to Artae's distant attack.
And that was the end of it.
"Sh-she's dead…?!"
"Yes, she's dead."
The thread tied to the dagger surged forward, and Laila, distracted by her transformation, didn't notice the dagger flying towards her back.
…That was the end.
The end of Laila, who had easily dealt with the Minotaur and threatened my life.
It was a futile death.
"Well then. I'll be going now."
"…You're not going to kill me."
"…? No. Is there any reason for me to kill Siwoo?"
Siwoo felt relieved when it seemed Artae wouldn't kill him.
He had just seen Artae kill someone, her face flushed red.
She had killed someone with such an expression, yet he felt like he would survive.
Siwoo felt ashamed.
He had entered the academy to become a hero, but someone had died right before his eyes.
Laila had been after my life.
He knew that well. It would be strange not to.
But, but… The hero Siwoo aimed to be wasn't someone who would dwell on such things.
Saying that villains must die no matter what isn't what a hero does.
The hero in Siwoo's heart was someone who would crush any hardship head-on.
Someone who would uphold the justice they believed in, even if the world hated them for it.
To aim for such a hero, yet feel relieved that he survived while someone else died, was utterly pathetic.
It was truly laughable.
"Yu Siwoo, Artae! Answer if you're there! Are you alive?!"
"Oh, the teacher's here."
Do you want to head back first? You seem tired.
He stared intently at Artae, who was asking that.
"W-what… are you doing?"
"Right now, I'm weak. I'm mentally immature, and I almost died because I couldn't handle one defector villain."
"Huh?"
"…Someday, I'll be stronger than you."
Siwoo stood up on his own and began walking towards the sound of the teacher's voice.
He's still, still immature.
To say he'll become stronger than her, when he couldn't even handle one defector Laila.
To Artae, it must sound no different than a chick chirping.
But she's letting her guard down.
For some reason, she has some kind of interest in me.
Amelia's words were right. For some reason, she won't kill me.
That reaction she showed me, in a situation where killing me wouldn't be strange.
At least for now, I won't die.
I'm immature.
…But being immature means I can still grow.
Isn't that why I came to the academy?
Keep your guard down.
Someday, I'll be stronger than you.
***
"Ugh-hyaa… That startled me. I-I thought they noticed. C-cold…"
Was it because I was so tense that I sweated a lot?
The cool breeze instantly wicked away the cold sweat, and I rapidly started to feel cold.
Though I pulled up my hoodie to cover myself, I couldn't stop the chilly wind from getting through.
Just because it's spring doesn't mean it's not cold.
Plus, my uniform was gone.
"Still, it's a relief, Author. You almost got disappointed in the protagonist. Is he a growth-type?"
[…D-don't talk about that. As expected, there's no protagonist other than Yu Siwoo! It's fine if the protagonist is a little weak at the start, you know!]
"There you go again. You cried, 'The protagonist abandoned the heroine and ran away…! Waaah!'"
[Kyaaaah! Kyaaaah! Kyaaaaaaaaah!]
No, but I'm not even the heroine.
…Well, does it matter?
At that timing, in that place, in that situation, anyone would think I was the heroine if I was behind the protagonist confronting a villain.
That's probably what they meant.
"Anyway, what should I do now?"
[Th-that's why I told you to kill her! Kill the heroine if she shows up!]
"Aish, even so, I'd feel too bad. And what heroine? I've already lied and said she's dead, you know?"
Even if she's not human, one still feels sorry.
People feel sorry if they destroy a wild animal's home and it's freezing to death from the cold.
If I killed her after all this, it would feel off.
"She even has a tail."
How interesting.
…Should I touch it a little?
I've always wanted to touch a beast-kin's tail.