Something was off.

This whole situation—something about it.

“...You said, friend?”

One misfortune after another. At my words, Ezekiel’s expression stiffened slightly. Judging from the 【Script】, he was now wondering if I’d been hypnotized by Adele.

“Golden Rat. Surely you know how many so-called friends end up betraying us.”

“There’s no need for confusion. She was merely expressing her feelings about me.”

“......”

Ezekiel stared at me with those vivid pink eyes, typical of royalty. Half concern, half suspicion—just like the 【Script】 said.

So, I bowed politely and turned to leave the office. First things first—I had to resolve this off-kilter feeling inside me.

I had to meet with Adele.

But the misfortunes didn’t stop there.

Just as I was leaving, Shaman’s assistant, Bugi Bugi, rushed over. “Department Chair Ezekiel—ah!” He flinched as soon as he saw me.

“What is it, runt?”

“Ah, well... the Director urgently summoned you.”

“The Director? Why me?”

Bugi Bugi glanced up at me.

“It’s about a meeting concerning Assistant Adele...”

This too was abrupt. To summon department chairs—each of whom had packed schedules—this suddenly?

“...Also, Professor Dante is requested as well...”

So I was being called too. No doubt about it. This was a meeting to decide Adele’s disposal.

“You going?”

“Yes.”

I headed to the meeting room with Ezekiel. Balkan and Shaman were already there, seated. At the head of the table sat Director Hedwig, clad in that ridiculous owl mascot suit.

“Hmm. Welcome~!”

A light, bouncy voice, almost playful. But the atmosphere? Far from it. Shaman and Balkan looked grim.

“This is an emergency meeting! We are now discussing the identity of an unknown monster—or infiltrator—or something that merely looks human that has invaded the Department of Assassination!”

“I have a question, Director.”

“Speak, Professor Dante.”

“This is about my assistant, so... why is this meeting happening just now?”

“I meant to call it earlier, but everyone kept pretending to be busy. Now we’re all here, though. Mhm!”

I took a seat as well.

The meeting began with Balkan, Shaman, and Ezekiel—those who were already aware of the situation—trading rapid opinions.

“Unauthorized use of the ‘List⧉’ during wartime already makes her eligible for execution, more or less.”

Shaman, the old man forever labeled a traitor, coldly pushed for Adele’s death.

“To claim the right to kill a young person whose threat level and identity remain unknown... I don’t believe we have that authority.”

Balkan, a man of justice and principle, tried to rein in premature judgment.

“Then what about quarantine?”

Ezekiel offered a neutral stance.

The debate continued for some time. With tensions from the Kreutz incident still lingering, one side argued there was no reason to tolerate hostile elements. The opposing side countered that such thinking could justify endless killings in the future. It was a sharp ethical standoff.

Through it all, I kept chasing that sense of wrongness. Something in this situation... something didn’t fit.

And then—yet another disaster struck.

Mana particles fluttered in from nowhere. Brushed past me from somewhere far away... and hit Ezekiel’s consciousness.

“...Wait. The signal from my curse just triggered.”

“Huh? What signal?”

“I cast a ‘Curse of Surveillance’ on that assistant long ago. Any trace of large-scale mana use sends me a ping.”

So Adele had just used a massive amount of mana?

At that, Ezekiel glanced at me. Even now, he was respecting my place in this.

“Shall we reveal it?”

“Go ahead.”

There was no reason to hide it.

Adele, who just this afternoon said she’d cook at home—now suddenly using massive mana?

Ezekiel placed his hand on the crystal orb and flowed his mana into it. A static-filled screen flickered into existence like a hologram.

“Wha—no way...”

“...Huh.”

And when the 3D image played out, both Balkan and Ezekiel fell silent.

“......”

So did I.

Because right there—one of the many mysteries I’d long held had been solved.

Adele’s power.

Far off in the distance, wrapped in light, someone was falling away. Adele reached toward them. Her hands came together like she was dancing, slow and still... and the person’s head exploded.

“...Who were the deceased?”

“Presumed outside assassins.”

“Then... what the hell is that technique? It’s not telekinesis...”

Balkan murmured, but no one answered. Even with three [Challengers] present.

No one knew. Because the number of people in the world who could wield that curse could be counted on three fingers.

But I knew.

‘......That’s the Curse of Instant Death.’

Curse No.96. A curse that kills on cast. Rumored to have once belonged to bugged Jinksythe.

Each caster’s version works slightly differently, like fingerprints. Most often, the abdomen, chest, or head bursts upon activation.

“Whatever it is... it’s terrifying.”

Balkan clicked his tongue. Even for a military academy stocked with weapons, anything in the 90s was in another league. Adele, essentially, was someone carrying a loaded gun in an elementary school.

And then, amid the confusion, I latched onto a faint clue and asked Ezekiel,

“...How many times has this happened?”

If this was the second time or more—

Then I’d give up on Adele right now.

Because Ran had mentioned a bursting head when ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) speaking of her own death.

“This is the first time.”

The first?

“...Pardon my insistence, but are you certain, Chair?”

“Why? Something bothering you? No one can tamper with my Curse of Surveillance. It’s branded with a [Stigma].”

So then it wasn’t Adele who killed Ran.

I shelved that thought for now.

“Professor Dante. May I share something about someone from Kreutz?”

“Yes.”

Ezekiel told everyone what he knew about “Adele Muang.”

Then the Director raised a hand.

“I’ll confirm it myself!”

“Kreutz is involved—how do you intend to do that?”

“It’s time for our little industry to show its worth!”

And with that, the Director placed a call.

To someone from the Kreutz sect. She brought up Adele Muang and a supposed “doppelgänger” indirectly.

“You don’t know?”

—“Mmhmm! First I’ve heard of it!”

“You don’t know? I see!”

The person on the line replied in the same chirpy tone as the Director—denied any knowledge of doppelgängers. Claimed Adele Muang was a devout and beloved high priestess from a faithful family. Said she’d never been involved in anything magical or suspicious.

“......”

“......”

After the noisy call ended, silence blanketed the meeting room. We were right back where we started—lost in a maze.

“Let’s kill her.”

The Director was the first to narrow the discussion. That mascot-suited enigma of a monster.

“I agree.”

Shaman too wanted to get rid of what disturbed him.

“I vote to oppose.”

Balkan was against it. Ezekiel shook his head. “I’m neutral. I can’t make a decision.” A response born from the tension between respect for me and his own unease at a murder spell that even a grand mage like him didn’t understand.

“...What about you, Professor?”

At last, Ezekiel turned the spotlight on me. All eyes fell on me.

Normally, a professor’s opinion wouldn’t matter much. But right now, I was considered a key figure within the academy.

“......”

I paused in silence.

【Director Hedwig: ‘Why aren’t you saying anything?’】

【Chairman Shaman: ‘Don’t get soft on us. Professor Dante.’】

【Warrior Chair Balkan: ‘Tough question... but you’ve given us good answers before, haven’t you?’】

Everyone wanted to know what I thought.

In front of me was a red button.

The moment I pressed it, Adele would die.

“......”

But hold on.

Doesn’t this seem off?

At least—it felt off to me. And so I kept thinking, tracing that strange feeling’s origin...

And then.

Suddenly.

A voice whispered in my ear.

‘Aah, really? Funny how people think the same~’

Years ago.

The same voice that recited my research word-for-word from my notebook.

And when I asked for the source, shamelessly answered—

“......”

My eyes opened wide. Slowly.

Ah.

I finally understood.

What was wrong with all of this.

Who created this entire situation!

***

It was years ago, back during grad school. Even then, I’d felt this same kind of unease.

An Excel file’s modified date off by a single day. A stranger’s fingerprint on my data. Seniors exchanging glances behind my back. A professor dodging calls. A PhD student suddenly asking me to stay out of the lab.

That creeping sense—of something shitty unfolding just outside my reach...

Just like now.

All of this stems from one thing: I don’t know enough about Adele.

But I’m not the only one.

I don’t know.

Ezekiel doesn’t know.

The Kreutz officials don’t know.

Adele Muang herself doesn’t know.

There’s no one related to Adele who knows.

And no one’s offering to tell us.

......Does that make any sense?

No.

It doesn’t.

Maybe in real life, sure. Like in my past. But this world? It shouldn’t work that way.

Because this place is inside a game. And the game “Hiaka Academy” isn’t the kind of game that hides information from players like this.

Every game has its own design philosophy.

For example, FromSoftware’s Dark Souls series is famous for hiding its lore behind cryptic metaphors and vague item descriptions.

Zelda games, on the other hand, use flashbacks and cutscenes to deliver their story with warmth and clarity.

And this game—Hiaka Academy—is the latter.

It follows two major rules:

1.    The game’s flow shifts with each main storyline.

Take now, for instance. The “Professor Assassination” arc has mostly fizzled out. Why? Because the devs structured the narrative like this:

[Survival of the Professor] → [Professor Expands Influence] → [Preparations for Demon King War] → [Demon King War]

2.    Every main story is preceded by countless clues.

For example:

I knew about Rebellion and Collapse, and The Betting Table even before they began.

And now, I feel it again—Paradigm is about to start, even though it hasn’t been triggered yet.

Because I’m clever?

Because I’m a veteran?

No.

Because the game told me.

No matter how punishing the difficulty, this world is built to be fair—to communicate with the player.

That’s the core design of this universe.

A law that must never be broken. A flow that must always be honored.

And yet, I know almost nothing about Adele.

Her very existence breaks the design.

As if something omnipotent is forcibly keeping her hidden.

This isn’t just Adele’s problem. If I’m missing this much information, then Adele’s just the part I happened to uncover.

At the end of this thread—there’s something. Just like back then, when someone else’s fingerprint led me to my advisor’s filthy scheme.

So my instinct is telling me this:

“Someone is hiding something fatal from me.”

That disoriented feeling I’ve had all along...

It’s because this entire situation has been masterfully manipulated by someone.

My head feels like it’s being crushed by a weight of lead.

Then—who?

Who is it? The one who, the moment I started suspecting Adele, urgently scrubbed the 【Script】 to limit my information?

Who is it? The one who, once I realized who Adele had targeted with the “List⧉,” framed her as a threat and nudged me to kill her immediately?

Who is it? The one who never showed their face before but now, out of nowhere, convenes this meeting and forces me to choose Adele’s death?

Who is it? The one who keeps manipulating the circumstances to make Adele seem dangerous, even though I’ve run countless tests proving her harmless?

Surprisingly, the answer behind all of that...

Is just one star.

‘......System⧉.’

In short:

System⧉ is trying to kill Adele.

And it’s doing so... without telling me a damn thing.

Why?

Because there's something it must keep hidden.

I don’t know what it is yet.

But one thing suddenly hits me differently now—

“Hundreds of Hell-difficulty players all died.”

No game dev ever underestimates their players. Do you know how many young people cling to gaming as their last remaining purpose in life?

Only those who cleared Hard difficulty were even given access to Hell difficulty.

And all of them died?

What if...

What if Hell mode was bugged to be unwinnable from the start...?

What if System⧉ is trying to cover that up... by killing Adele, a walking bundle of bugs who's stuck too close to me?

Professor.

That’s when it came. 『Whispered Mindlink』. From Ezekiel.

If it’s hard for you to decline in this setting, give me a signal. I’ll reject it on your behalf.

Even now, he was looking out for me. Not out of some sentimental fondness.

This situation... it all feels too staged—

—.

And then, it cut off. Abruptly. 『Whispered Mindlink』 severed.

“You two whispering secrets without me? That hurts~!”

...In the Director’s hand.

“Now then!”

The owl suddenly burst out.

“Let’s get an answer, Professor Dante!”

The Director—System⧉’s puppet—focused its gaze. It had always looked like a dumbass owl.

But not now.

“Are we killing the assistant?”

A god was trying to deceive me.

“......”

But...

“No.”

“...No?”

The owl’s eyes narrowed.

I looked up and met its gaze.

“No.”

And that set the room off.

【Department Chair Shaman: ‘Professor Dante, you bastard...!!’】

【Warrior Chair Balkan: ‘You dare challenge even the Director, to whom even kings bow?’】

These were people who’d always felt suffocated under the Director’s unspoken pressure.

And now, they were stunned by my answer.

“Let’s do it, okay~?”

“No. I oppose the decision to eliminate Adele.”

“Why? Let’s kill her! Come on, it’s dangerous!”

“I disagree.”

The owl’s face began to crumple.

“She just killed someone, didn’t she?! You saw it—bam! Head explosion!”

“A few deaths in the Department of Assassination are hardly unusual. First, let’s identify the dead. If they were enemies targeting our own, this could warrant a reward, not punishment.”

“No no no—”

“Also, I’ll speak with Adele myself. We’ve come this far. I’ll prove her harmlessness personally, in front of you all.”

“No? No?? I don’t like that? I’m saying no?! Professor Dante! Why are you being so—”

“We don’t have time. I’ll be going now.”

“PROFESSOR DANTE!”

The owl suit twisted grotesquely. Like some demonic creature. Its head expanded. A horrific triple row of fangs emerged—hundreds of jagged teeth.

“You think I’m joking right now?”

I stared up at that thing.

Murderous pressure crashed down, suffocating my skin.

“......”

How ironic.

Come to think of it, that’s how developers work too.

They run the game for players—but constantly clash with them.

There’s no good or evil there. Just a tug-of-war between stubbornness and incompetence. A response limited by their own fatigue.

“Professor Dante. This is your final warning.”

And as a result...

A god is trying to deceive me.

“Reverse your decision. Now.”

“......”

......But even if it's a god—it can’t control me.

Because this is a game world.

And a world exists for one reason only:

To serve a single player.

“...I’ll reverse my decision.”

The owl retracted its monstrous teeth, beaming.

“Aaaah~! That’s right! Of course, that’s better! So what’s your revised answer~?”

But here’s the thing.

No matter how much the devs try to one-up the player—

They can never tamper with the foundation of the world itself.

“If Adele dies... then I will leave Hiaka Academy.”

Like a bomb, the words dropped.

“Wha—what?!”

“Professor Dante! You...!!”

The entire room exploded in panic.