The Academy’s Deceased Ate It All

As I was thinking that it might be better to leave them alone and move away from their spot, Alice Blessbuck, who had been sobbing and wailing, shrank back and freed herself from Cass Lyle’s embrace.

“I’m sorry… I’ve embarrassed myself by holding onto a busy person.”

She hastily wiped her eyes and spoke, and Cass Lyle skillfully took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her.

As she took it and wiped away her tears, I asked her what I had been wondering whether to ask or not.

“…I understand what kind of relationship you have with Professor Cass Lyle. And also how you are entangled with the children of Milted and the seven-evil Milted. But there is one thing I don’t understand.”

She had clearly said to me and Cass Lyle, ‘I’m the one who ruined your lives.’

In Cass Lyle’s case, I could understand it because I had heard their story in front of me, and more importantly, I had already known the rough background and storyline of Cass Lyle, one of the eight playable characters.

There was at least one character for each character to interact with, and in Cass Lyle’s case, it was Alice Blessbuck. I also knew very well that they had a very affectionate feeling for each other, which was hard to express in one word.

That’s why I was curious.

Alice Blessbuck had lived for hundreds of years, but she was a young vampire who could be considered a novice in society if compared to a human.

Not only that, but she had spent most of her life being oppressed by her mother, Natalia Milted, and honing her alchemy skills or serving as her assistant.

In other words, she was very unsociable and immature in many ways.

This may not apply to her now, but in the original work, she was criticized for favoring some students, or failing to resolve conflicts or incidents among students, or making verbal mistakes and causing trouble.

Also, as a responsible professor, she should have interacted and cared for the students she was in charge of, but it was too burdensome for her, who was inexperienced in many ways.

As a result, she was misunderstood as favoring and giving preferential treatment to some specific students, and even suffered a great humiliation.

She was depressed and gloomy, thinking that she was not qualified to be a professor, but she regained her confidence thanks to Cass Lyle and other students, but that’s another story…

I digressed, but that’s the gist of it.

Alice Blessbuck would not approach anyone who did not have a certain degree of relationship with her, and to establish such a relationship, she needed something like a big catalyst, like Cass Lyle or Lee Myung-jun.

And I had no such catalyst with her.

The only thing I could think of was making the purification potion in the past and exchanging a few contacts with her when she was on the run, but it was hard to think that she had opened her heart to me with just that.

And above all…

“Why did you ruin my life, Professor?”

“…”

At my question, she looked at me with a dry expression.

And then she nodded cautiously as if she had made up her mind.

“First of all, don’t misunderstand and listen to me. Ji-hyuk, you can handle the branches of the World Tree, right?”

“Yes.”

It was not something to hide, as I was known as one of the tribes of the World Tree.

“And Ji-hyuk, you have a strong resistance to poison, don’t you?”

“…Why are you asking me that all of a sudden?”

As I showed a slight wariness towards Alice, who asked me about poison out of the blue, she quickly raised both hands as if she had no ulterior motive.

“I’m sorry. I’m not trying to scare you or pry into you. Just… can’t you answer me?”

“…”

Alice Blessbuck was more flustered than when she faced Cass Lyle, and she seemed to be careful not to provoke me.

“Do you have poison resistance? No, not only that, but you also know how to handle poison well. Right?”

At her question, which seemed almost desperate, I hesitated for a moment and nodded.

It was not a big secret, and it was beneficial for me to have a good relationship with her and Cass Lyle in the future.

They had already revealed their secrets, which were also their weaknesses, to me, so there was no need to hide the mere presence or absence of poison resistance.

“As expected…”

At my affirmation, Alice Blessbuck nodded deeply as if she had expected it.

And then she asked in a trembling voice.

“There’s a criminal group called Red Case.”

I couldn’t help but be surprised by her sudden remark.

Why was the name of those who were practically destroyed being mentioned from her mouth now?

And as if she didn’t miss my reaction, which was only for a moment, her lips pursed.

“They’re a crime group that’s been smashed to the point where their past name is meaningless and their power is weakened. But just a few months ago, they were one of the crime groups that dominated the world. You must know that well, Ji-hyuk. Because since the last guild invitation, you’ve been involved with them more than once, like Aegis’s control center. Right?”

I had to nod again.

She was so tense that I could see her throat move and gulp.

“Then… are you directly or indirectly involved in what happened to Red Case?”

She hastily added before I could answer or react.

“I, I have vampire blood in me!”

She made a face as if she had made a mistake, but then blinked her eyes as if she had decided.

“Even though I’m only half-blooded and can’t use the vampire abilities that are called mesmerism or suggestion, I still have very sharp senses and intuition compared to ordinary people. For example, I noticed that you were very uncomfortable with my question just now.”

She was beating around the bush, telling me to tell the truth.

“…Yes, you’re right, Professor.”

“Ah.”

She looked surprised for a moment when I nodded, then quickly frowned as if she was in pain.

Why was she acting like that, I wondered.

“…You two must know well that my research records were used for unsavory purposes. No, the rumor has spread so much that there must be no one who doesn’t know it in this Orhe Academy.”

She said in a quiet voice.

“I got help from people like Lee Myung-jun, and I destroyed all the places that used my research records to conduct horrible experiments. It’s not something to be proud of, but my research records were very useful and unique, so there were a lot of twisted bugs. …Of course, I was stupid to share my research records, believing that they would be used for the public good without knowing anything.”

She muttered as if she was complaining, and continued.

“…Then I was able to get information about a place called Orchard.”

Orchard.

As she mentioned the word I had forgotten, she looked at me and I looked at her.

Her eyes were filled with guilt.

“Red Case, and the Thorny Cross… Maybe Big Watch and other places were involved too. One thing for sure is that there was no laboratory as large and entangled with many organizations as Orchard.”

[Aha, I remember.]

Spangali muttered with a rattling sound.

[I heard a story that Lee Jae-joon collaborated with Red Case to destroy a laboratory for his plan. I’m sure the name of the laboratory was Orchard. He said he would create artificial awakeners, and ones with the power of the World Tree at that?]

Spangali scoffed at the nonsense.

[Nonsense. It’s already unlikely to succeed in creating awakeners artificially, let alone giving them the power of the World Tree, which is the origin of nature itself. It would be more constructive to inject venom into your veins and hope to survive.]

“That’s where unimaginable numbers of human experiments took place.”

[Tsk tsk tsk… They just wasted precious lives.]

Ignoring Spangali’s words of pity, I sent her a look that seemed to ask her to continue.

“They conducted experiments to forcibly give the power of the World Tree to humans who were not the World Tree’s tribe.”

Her eyes touched my right arm.

“And all the victims of the experiment, for some reason, died from their own blood that turned into venom. The ones who were recorded to have survived longer were inevitably resistant to poison.”

Then it touched my heart.

“And the fact that you asked Myung-jun to find the location of Orchard, the purification potion… And.”

[Oh, my goodness.]

Spangali laughed as if he was amused.

On the other hand, I couldn’t laugh at all.

[Do you think you were born as an experimental subject from the experiment at Orchard?]

“Wait a minute.”

Before he finished his sentence, and before Alice Blessbuck finished her sentence, I raised my hand.

“…Do you know what you’re saying?”

I glared at her with an angry expression and quickly started to think.

The only ones who knew that I was not originally from this world were Han Soo-young, Choi Hyun-woo, Jin Ye-seul.

And Lee Ye-eun, who was the first to find out that fact.

Of course, there was no need to tell anyone else about this fact.

No, it was right to hide it, as it could be a big weakness for me.

…I’m sorry to them.

‘Besides, if I’m going to blurt it out, I should tell Yuna Ivan first.’

It was a cold-hearted thing to say, but Alice Blessbuck and Cass Lyle were not as trustworthy as the people I mentioned before.

So I decided to pretend I didn’t know what she was talking about.

“…I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that, Professor Alice. You must know that I’m a member of the World Tree’s tribe. And that was the kind of thing that other people could think of as malicious slander.”

“Ah, I… I didn’t mean…”

I left the flustered Professor Alice alone and quickly pushed my wheelchair back.

There was no point in being here.

It was too sudden, and I honestly didn’t know how to deal with the situation.

[I don’t understand.]

Spangali muttered as if he couldn’t understand my behavior.

[Why don’t you just admit that she’s right? Then, as I said before, she’ll do anything to pay you back. She’ll even be your slave.]

He said, clacking his beak.

[Half-vampires, also called dampires, are very useful because they are rare. If she has as much ability as her, even more so. And that homunculus… Yeah, that’s why I felt that way every time I saw it. It was made from the body of Milted. She might be more useful than her. It seems that he will also help her pay off her debt, so why are you doing that?]

“…”

I didn’t answer his question.

Sure, it would have been easier if I did as he said.

And I wouldn’t have to think or worry about anything else.

But…

“…”

I looked at Alice Blessbuck and Cass Lyle alternately without saying a word.

I didn’t want to do that when I saw them, who looked closer than anyone else.

That was all.

“Please be careful from now on. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear what you just said.”

“Ji-hyuk, I want to tell you…!”

Alice, who was trying to say something urgently, closed her eyes as if she understood.

Then she looked at Cass Lyle and then at me.

“…Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. Let’s talk more when I get better. I have a lot to tell you about Milted.”

“Yes, let’s do that. Oh, by the way.”

I told her something I almost forgot before I moved my wheelchair out.

“I succeeded in getting Natalia Milted’s ankle. Talk to Evanjeline Roengreen through Lee Myung-jun. If you examine her body, you’ll surely get some useful information.”

***

After Yu Ji-hyuk left, Alice Blessbuck sighed deeply with a drained expression as if she had exhausted all her strength.

Next to her, Cass Lyle, who had been supporting her, asked her in a quiet voice.

“But, professor. I don’t doubt you, but is there any guarantee that Ji-hyuk really… suffered that?”

“…”

Alice Blessbuck didn’t answer.

“In my opinion, rather than that, it would be better if he was a bastard as the rumor says…”

“I’m a vampire, Ryle. You know that, right?”

“How could I forget…?!”

Cass Lyle, who was answering, gasped and Alice Blessbuck nodded.

“…Yeah, I can tell his hidden power and such just by his blood smell. And Ji-hyuk and Ye-eun don’t have a drop of the same blood.”

“Then you mean Ji-hyuk is deceiving them…?”

“No way, Ryle, you know as well as I do that Ye-eun and the other World Tree’s tribes are not so flimsy. She must have known and kept quiet.”

Cass Lyle nodded at her words.

He respected Ye-eun’s ability, even if they were not on good terms.

“And I felt something blocking his head.”

“Blocking it?”

“Yeah, charms or hypnosis didn’t work at all, as if it was perfectly blocked.”

Alice Blessbuck shivered and breathed.

“And in that case, either he has a great psychic ability, or his innate power is so strong that it doesn’t work, or he’s already been subjected by such an ability user.”

“You mean…”

“Most of all, Henir’s Shadow.”

Alice Blessbuck muttered something she hadn’t told Yu Ji-hyuk before.

The representative legacy of the Shadow Walker.

It was a name that only a few people knew by now, but she had done some research on him, thanks to her mother who had a deep grudge against the Shadow Walker.

So she knew better than anyone that Henir’s Shadow, which was rated as the best masterpiece among all the ‘artificial composite lifeforms’ in existence, was incompatible with the World Tree’s branch, which was the natural existence itself.

Most of all, the World Tree’s branch and Henir’s Shadow were notorious for devouring their owners if they were not qualified.

What kind of method would it take to contain two such things, and without any resistance?

If you think simply, you could come up with a hypothesis that the World Tree’s tribe and the Shadow Walker’s blood were mixed.

But she knew better than anyone that it was physically impossible and not such a simple story.

It was impossible for her and her mother.

If possible, only one…

“…Milted.”

“…”

“I have to kill him.”

Alice Blessbuck muttered.

“If he wakes up, he’ll probably go after you, Ryle, and Ji-hyuk.”

She couldn’t let that happen.

She had lived a life of regret, and she didn’t want to do that at the end.

She made up her mind and got up quietly.

“Will you help me…?”

Cass Lyle smiled quietly at her question.

Alice Blessbuck also smiled weakly at him.

And, in the dark corner of the classroom where they were.

Something twitched there.

“…”

Jin Ye-seul, who was hiding in Henir’s Shadow that Alice Blessbuck had mentioned, also smiled meaninglessly.

****

“Yeong-ah, Soo-young-ah!”

Han Soo-young opened her eyes quietly at the touch of a hand.

As she blinked her dazed eyes, Choi Hyun-woo, who was sitting next to her, said.

“It’s been 20 minutes, as you said.”

“…”

She had asked him to wake her up after 20 minutes.

Apparently, he had lent her his shoulder and watched over her, who had collapsed like losing consciousness.

As she tossed and turned, his coat that covered her like a blanket fell off.

“…Thanks.”

Han Soo-young nodded quietly.

She had a hard time moving and coming back as a soul, maybe because it was the first time in a long time.

“It’s going to get busy.”

She muttered quietly.