<730 - Who Did That (1)>
“Darknodi has returned. However, Gwakjo reports that something seems off.”
I was shocked to hear that Darknodi returned without any notice and was crying.
“Who made our kid cry!”
I rushed over to find that the kid’s eyes were swollen from crying.
Darknodi looked at me with a face full of things to say, so I quickly consoled him.
“Here, have some gold foil pumpkin soup, gold foil steak, and a gold foil drink!”
Darknodi gave me a look that said, “Why is everything covered in gold foil?” and “Do I really look like I want to eat that right now?” at the same time.
“I had no local specialties, so I made these! If you just add gold powder to every dish, it will be considered a new food for the collection! Isn’t that totally awesome? A revolution in collecting!”
“True… Since you’re the original. Always discovering and pioneering new things.”
Even though I had come up with a new invention, Darknodi looked more sorrowful than happy.
“Didn’t eating make you feel better? Then take a look at the collection I gathered just for you, Darknodi!”
As I checked the access permits, which went through strict isolation protocols, Darknodi’s expression became more and more stern.
“How is it? Amazing, right? In this facility, even Red Tide’s widespread pollution can’t hold up. I can take it out and beat it whenever I need experience points while keeping it perfectly isolated!”
“…That’s true. Once you go in, you won’t be able to come out on your own again. It guarantees detention from cradle to grave.”
“See, Darknodi gets it! Do you know how hard I worked to make this? Everyone looks at me with evil eyes, thinking I have malicious intentions. Do you know how wronged I felt? I’m building a safe house for my pet to keep it from running away!”
“…”
Even though I boasted excitedly, the reaction was strangely unimpressive.
“And next to it, I built a house for Darknodi too!”
“…”
“Darknodi, are you so moved that you’re about to cry? Hehe.”
At least he seemed to be happy about getting a house!
As I wiped beneath my nose, feeling proud, Cruel approached me on tiptoe and poked my waist.
“Why?”
“You fool. Cruel insists, it’s not about joy—”
Suddenly, Gwakjo hurriedly covered Cruel’s mouth as he was about to say something strange.
“Ha, haha! It seems Cruel is feeling jealous of the lovely house. Honestly, I was envious too—it’s bigger than our house!”
“Since Cruel said he wanted to meet Jonnas, we should go together to the Academy! I could build him a house here, but are you really trying to stay?”
“…”
Cruel, with his mouth covered, shook his head.
I knew Cruel would prefer to go to the Academy over having a house!
Thud.
“Eek!”
Ignoring Gwakjo’s scream as he bit down on my hand for blocking his mouth, I was worried about the exhausted Darknodi, who trudged into the house like he was about to die.
*
“So, why do you think Darknodi is feeling down?”
Seonhwang Papa chuckled, revealing tremendous confidence.
“My troublesome youngest daughter, consulting with me was a splendid decision.”
“Why?”
“Because I have two daughters before you who are just like you.”
“Masugaki and Yayoi!”
“I’ve heard that even your older and younger sisters get gloomy. Whether they participate in official royal events or not, always.”
Suddenly, memories of Masugaki’s backstory came to mind.
If you select Masugaki as a playable character, you can see one of the precious old memories in the [Past] phase of a dream.
It was the story of a citizen who, while screaming about the royal family’s death, attempted a suicide bombing against young Yayoi and got blown away when the protective barrier forced him back, splattering blood and flesh onto Yayoi, who remained dazed, and Masugaki, who came running late.
– “Nothing to be surprised about♡ Those useless commoners always blow themselves up on their own♡”
– “Really…?”
– “Of course♡ They default on their mortgage, leading to a debt explosion, their love lives get wrecked, birth rates plummet, crops fail, and the whole village gets taken away to forced labor camps~?”
– “Yikes! The outside world is scary… I want to go back now…”
Masugaki 2, who had to act like a double to protect her little sister from the revolutionaries’ deep-seated evil at external royal events.
The player knows.
Masugaki’s rambling about useless things is just her verbal habit to help her sister escape her trauma and to lighten up reality.
It’s obvious it wouldn’t be fun at those events.
Yayoi, aware of her sister’s sacrifice, would also lament her own predicament.
“So, what do you think caused your sisters’ puberty, Seonhwang Papa?”
“That is, of course, weakness.”
“Huh?”
“There is no existence of a national policy that saves everyone. If saving ten people requires sacrificing one, that person’s resentment will follow.”
“Now that you mention it, it feels like I’m listening to Professor Destroyer’s lecture!”
“Kuhahaha. Has that dim-witted former hero finally become someone who can hold a conversation? Ni’alatotep would be so pleased to hear this. You’ve only just become an adult.”
I can’t tell if he became an adult or just a child.
Showing him the shota version of the Professor would definitely make him awkward, so I’ll have to keep that a secret.
“By the way, I have a question!”
“Go ahead.”
“If every commoner across the world hates something, wouldn’t that mean all ten people hate it rather than just one?”
“If everyone’s going to live as they please, knowing that they would be swept away by the Principal in the future, I would willingly become a tyrant. My justice and tyranny do not rely on anyone’s understanding.”
“You must’ve raised your sisters to be strong!”
“Well. To help them get used to it, I occasionally threw revolutionaries into the inspection sites and sneaked assassins into the palace. Thanks to that, they’ve adjusted pretty well at the Gift Academy, haven’t they?”
I really like Seonhwang Papa’s educational policies.
Yes, newbies should be raised strong!
“I think I need to reflect too. I’ve spoiled Darknodi too much; I guess that’s why they’re such a tearful and easily moved weak child.”
“Indeed. If my surrogate daughter is to stand alongside me, she should know how to come back alone after defeating something on the level of the Demon King’s Four Kings. If you coddle them like a plant in a greenhouse, they’ll grow up just like my useless son.”
Uh-oh, that’s a bit much.
Hearing Seonhwang Papa’s curse—rather, his invisible curse—makes me worry about Darknodi, who needs to collect candidates for great evil and gain experience points quickly.
The crown prince, who had to raise the corpses of heroes discovered in the Hero Memorial and experiment with technology from the Forbidden Research Institute, boldly challenged the secret forbidden arts.
Somehow, doesn’t it seem like their situations are strikingly similar?
They both study forbidden knowledge, don’t attend the academy, and are socially awkward shut-ins.
The only people willing to assist them are nobles, and even though Seonhwang Papa is by their side, he has no interest in them at all—how uncanny!
‘Thinking about it this way makes me feel like I shouldn’t heed Seonhwang Papa’s advice!’
Suddenly, I felt a surge of distrust and glanced at Seonhwang Papa’s back.
It’s great to have the philosophy of raising newbies strong, but the reality is that they often get battered like grain in a threshing machine when you try too hard.
– “Make use of Hestia’s rampage to take out any troublesome juniors or seniors, huh? Is this really a beginner’s guide…??”
– “When I asked why the friends who got swept away by Hestia were called to the murder scene, I wondered if this was a crime game…? My conscience is stinging, and I am suffering…”
– “Every time summer vacation ends, my friends disappear, and the assumption is that bad endings are the norm?ㅠㅠ Please, bring my friends backㅠㅠㅠ”
– “Wars broke out in the academy due to parents’ rebellion, and I ended up getting caught up with the rebels… What should I do now?”
– “So, you want me to go back to the save point and join the suppressors this time to unlock the opposite route? You guys are demons?!”
They simply pointed out efficient gameplay methods, but the weak-hearted newbies confessed their pains, screaming in agony, and then disappeared one by one without a trace.
Seems Darknodi might have a strategy too, but like a newbie, they might not be able to accept it due to being easily intimidated.
“Thanks to that, I clearly understand what the problem is!”
“Don’t worry about it. Your future will surely help my future. We don’t need to thank each other for every little thing since we share the same boat.”
In the opposite sense, it was indeed helpful, but still, I went to thank Darknodi and asked.
“Who was your favorite friend among them?”
“…What do you mean?”
Darknodi was exhibiting amazing wariness and tension.
He really is a cowardly one.
I soothed Darknodi to make them feel at ease.
“I’m not going to make you kill the friend you mention or drag you through a bad ending while telling you the aftermath, so you can relax! Um, I just thought it would be nice to write a letter about recent happenings!”
Darknodi’s body started shaking like a phone on vibrate.
“Why would you ask that? If you’re right in front of me… the friends will think something’s up.”
Good point.
I hadn’t thought of that.
“So it wasn’t really a pure intention. If you don’t behave in the cradle, it’s a threat that I’ll have you kill a friend and say goodbye, huh…”
“Not at all?! It’s just… um, I won’t see you for a while, so I’m going away, and when I get lonely later, I thought I could look at it?!”
If I take a year off and come back, I can recover the excuse.
I’ve already seen the events I advanced by one year.
I can even tackle the events I’ll see while attending the academy together and graduate with my friends.
With one action, I can gain many benefits simultaneously, so taking a year off might not be so bad, right?
“…Regardless, I was set to leave anyhow, but do you really think your peers would just wait patiently while you’re gone?”
“Isn’t that possible?”
“Ten or more guys immediately come to mind who would drop out or take leaves just to find you.”
With Sing’s comment, my confidence shattered.
Sigh.
I guess there’s no helping it.
“So what about the recent news letter?”
Sing has seen firsthand that Oknodie and Darknodi are separate beings, but other students don’t know that.
“If you want to write a letter while staying at the academy, you’ll need to reveal the existence of the doppelganger to some extent.”
“Is that okay?”
“Just say your body and soul have separated.”
“Huh?”
“Isn’t that plausible at the Wahyhiemhai Foundation? Extracting a child’s soul from the disobedient body and locking it in another flesh is something they could do.”
“Oh!”
“If you say that part of your soul has been ripped away, you could protect the you at the academy and also write letters to the you outside, right?”
“What if the doppelganger feels sorry and wants to come out?”
Sing, with a bored expression, replied.
“Just act pitiful too. They’re indecisive kids; they won’t know what to do.”
Though it was a cold remark characteristic of Sing, who had no special bond with their peers, it was quite an enticing plan.
