The Villain’s POV in the Academy

Chapter 43

A dark back alley.

Far off, the faint, blurry glow of neon billboards seeped into the narrow street.

Raindrops tapped weakly against the ground, and the distinctive chemical scent of Anti-rain clung to my collar, making my head spin.

And then—the smell of blood.

Was something like this even allowed to exist in reality?

The scent was so thick and heavy that it felt like it seeped in through the back of my head and poured into my nose.

That was when I realized.

Ah, I was running away.

How long had I been running?

A dreadful weakness and fatigue, unlike anything I had ever felt before, wrapped around my limbs like chains.

Only then did I notice that my stomach was burning hot. When I looked down, a red liquid was mixing with the rain and flowing down.

Even as that happened, the dark presence was drawing closer.

Click, clack.

The low sound of shoes pierced my eardrums like the jab of an awl.

‘I have to run…!’

I wanted to live.

I wanted to live.

I didn’t want to die.

The most primal instinct as an animal forced my body to move.

But at that speed, I could never escape ‘him.’

And sure enough—

By the time I came to my senses, he had already reached my back. As if under some spell, I turned my head without thinking.

What I saw in that moment—

Yellow eyes staring at prey.

“Ah, aaaaah…!”

The only thing I could do—

—was pray.

“[Kuhhhh-!]”

“Kahahaha! How’s that? Amazing, right?”

He exhaled like a man who had been holding his breath for far too long and got to his feet.

In front of him stood a man with a steel frame embedded in his jaw and nose, grinning as if amused.

Silence pulled a chip from its socket and held it in his hand. It was one of the illegal SS-chips, the so-called Junk Chips, and this one had a particularly unusual appearance.

A white body with a red triangle.

Inside, there was a single red dot.

He immediately hurled the chip away, raised his middle finger, and an angry-faced emoji lit up on his LED mask. A synthetic mechanical voice followed.

“[Shut up. I told you I was looking for Part 2, not Part 1. Fuck.]”

“Damn, you’re picky. You said before it didn’t have to be Part 2 exactly, just something closer to the ‘original.’”

“[Bullshit. This isn’t any different from the last one.]”

This Junk Chip made his stomach churn even worse than the one he’d seen before. Whether it was because the damn creator had edited the emotions to be overly provocative, or because there was some other issue with the chip…

“[Uweeeehk!]”

He couldn’t hold back and ended up retching violently.

The middleman for Junk Chips frowned and let out an “Ehh!” in disapproval.

Silence wiped his mouth and asked.

“[Goddamn it. What the hell did you do to this chip to make it like this? Feels like bugs are crawling in my head!]”

“Huh, weird. The guy who gave it to me said you’d definitely like it.”

“[Who?]”

“There’s someone. But… it’s better if I don’t say.”

“[What? You bastard.]”

Click.

Silence aimed his gun at him, and the Junk Chip dealer threw both hands up in surrender.

“Ah, no, I said no! Calm down!”

“[No, you son of a bitch. I’ve been boosting your sales for two years at the Academy. I even let you take more than half the profit. And all I ever wanted was one thing.]”

Revenge on the culprit.

To find the Junk Chip containing the memories of his dead lover and uncover the perpetrator. That was all.

“[Nayeon’s memories, from so long ago, are still being distributed like this. That means someone out there still has the original.]”

“T-That… I wouldn’t know. Once a Junk Chip is made, the same content can be endlessly altered or duplicated…”

“[No? At the very least, you should know. Shit, we’ve been working together for two years—you should grant me this one request. If you’d intended to grant my wish, you wouldn’t have brought me this crap today. Am I wrong?]”

“W-Wait, listen to me! I-I’ll explain everything! Let’s not do this, okay?”

“[Explain before I change my mind.]”

Silence tilted the muzzle slightly, urging him to talk.

The Junk Chip dealer swallowed hard and began explaining.

“L-Look, I really am doing my best here. I’ve been tracking down every single person who might know anything about Part 2.”

“[And?]”

“But every damn time I find someone who seems to know something, the moment I bring up Part 2, they completely change their attitude. Isn’t that weird? Like they’re being threatened.”

“[That’s just what you think.]”

“N-No, that’s not all! Ever since word got around that I’ve been looking for it, strange things have been happening!”

“[Strange things?]”

“You remember a while ago when I told you I couldn’t deliver the goods because there was a problem? Back then, I thought I’d just damaged them by accident while storing them, but now I’m thinking it might have been some kind of warning.”

“…”

A warning, huh.

It didn’t sound like a random excuse—there was a certain realism to his words. More than anything, it was strange that despite constant searching, the original had never surfaced.

“[So, someone doesn’t want Part 2 to be released?]”

“Y-Yeah! That’s it!”

The Junk Chip dealer clapped his hands together loudly and continued.

“My guess is—it’s probably tied to some corporation bastards.”

“[Proof?]”

“Who else in this city has the power to silence people over such a wide area?”

“[I see…]”

If you crossed a corporation, you died.

That was the unspoken rule of this world.

If that was the case, it made sense why people were so cautious.

“L-Lately, even Part 1—the one you just saw—is hard to find. I barely managed to get that one.”

“[From where?]”

“Can’t say. But I think ‘they’ already know about you. I heard them say, ‘Show this to Silence. He’ll be pleased,’ and that’s why I brought it to you.”

“[So you thought it was Part 2?]”

“I don’t know the contents either…”

Well, there are merchants who use Junk Chips themselves, and there are those who won’t even touch them knowing how dangerous they are.

The merchant in front of me was the latter.

“Ah, anyway! Since it’s come to this, I’ll try to broaden my connections with ‘them’ a bit more. I’ll slip your story in here and there while I’m at it. But in return, you…”

“[You want more money and credit, right?]”

“That’s right! You and I have only been in this business for two years. If we were in a street gang, this would be the time we’d just start being trusted with important work.”

“[Spare me the useless comparisons.]”

Silence clicked his tongue.

“[So basically, you’re saying I should sell more.]”

“Exactly! From what I can tell, they’d like more of the goods to flow into the Academy if possible.”

“[Why?]”

“How should I know? How many people have grudges against those corporate bastards?”

“[Fair point.]”

In this business, no one avoids taking corporate money, and no one escapes getting stabbed in the back by them.

Among those who hate the corporations, there must be some who would love to wreck their private soldier training ground—the Academy.

“Honestly, the Academy is just an incubation facility for corporations! Who’s gonna cry just because the kids get a little messed up? Just sell them like crazy!”

“[You think that’s easy? Do you even know what the Academy is like?]”

Would corporations really sit by and watch their precious assets be destroyed by Junk Chips?

Most students lived in dorms, and with CCTV everywhere, the difficulty of distribution was extreme.

Well, the upside was that you could sell them for a high price.

“You’re the one who’s been gouging prices and selling well for two years without getting caught. I’m counting on you, so help me out~.”

“[Tch.]”

Silence let out a long sigh.

There was still a long way to go.

But now, it felt like he was finally starting to see a lead.

The culprit was a corporate insider.

Possibly someone of very high status.

‘Just wait a little longer, Nayeon.’

I’ll find the bastard who killed you—

—and kill him the exact same way.

***

“You failed to recruit him? Why…?”

“I don’t know.”

“What exactly did you say to Silence?”

“I told him that if he became a special scholarship student, I’d help him find his lover’s killer. His goal is revenge for his lover.”

“And even then he refused?”

“Yes.”

I’d already repeated myself three times.

No matter how you looked at it, Silence had flatly rejected my proposal, and I couldn’t understand why.

‘Why did I fail?’

I couldn’t tell right now.

It wasn’t as if I’d made a mistake.

And it’s not like I misunderstood Silence’s character. So where did it start going wrong?

“Could it be… he’s the same as us? A Transmigrator?”

“Silence himself? No, I doubt that.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve had him under surveillance since he came to the Academy. I haven’t seen a single suspicious sign.”

Like during Academy classes.

Or going out on weekends to secretly meet the Junk Chip dealer and bring in goods.

It was exactly the Silence from the original story.

If he were a Transmigrator, there’s no way he’d be this quiet until now.

In Act 1, Part 1, he would’ve at least tried to approach Miyu or Iri somehow—he had the standing to do so.

“Rather than him being a Transmigrator, it’s more likely that this is a butterfly effect caused by me or other Transmigrators. Or maybe another Transmigrator contacted him. Either way, I need more information first.”

“I-I see…”

“And judging from his reaction earlier, I don’t think he realized I’m the culprit. That’s fortunate.”

“Wait… what? Culprit?”

Ciel’s expression said, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’ But I was the one who couldn’t understand her reaction.

“The person Silence wants revenge on. The culprit is Aaron Stingray—me.”

“You killed her?!”

“Quiet. Lower your voice.”

I covered Ciel’s mouth.

Judging by her reaction, she really didn’t know.

“You can tell from the context. The one who killed Silence’s lover was Aaron Stingray. Of course, that was before I transmigrated into him.”

“There was no such description in the novel…”

“There was. In Act 4 of Part 1—remember how Silence showed a strange reaction when he saw Aaron Stingray’s corpse after fighting the protagonist? It’s because his target for revenge was gone.”

“I don’t know how you remember such minor details… but now that you say it, maybe there was something like that. I just thought he was emotional because it had been a tough fight.”

“Tsk.”

With comprehension like that, no wonder she only ever won encouragement prizes.

Of course, I didn’t say that out loud. I never expected her to excel in that area anyway.

“In any case, the killer Silence is looking for is me. And now that he’s refused to work under me, the chances of him finding out the truth have gone up.”

Originally, I’d planned to keep him close for a while, control the flow of information, and handle him carefully. But since that failed, there was no choice.

I’d have to recruit him using rougher methods.

Ciel asked,

“What do you mean by ‘rougher methods’?”

“Junk Chips.”

“I don’t quite follow.”

“He’s distributing Junk Chips inside the Academy. I’ll use that as leverage to blackmail him—offer to wipe his crimes clean if he becomes a special scholarship student.”

“Wow…”

Ciel made a face like she was disgusted, but I ignored it.

I did feel a bit sorry for Silence, but I had no intention of becoming his mortal enemy over something I hadn’t even done.

And with the other Transmigrators in play, this wasn’t the time to be picky. First, I’d make him a special scholarship student, then buy time while I prepared a fake culprit.

“Then why do I have to distribute Junk Chips? Couldn’t you just meet him again and get straight to the point?”

“There’s no evidence.”

“Ah.”

Silence was a thorough man.

Even though I’d had someone tail him, I still couldn’t get any clear evidence that he was distributing Junk Chips.

Of course, if I used the power of the Stingray Foundation, I could forge all the evidence I wanted—but then Silence wouldn’t be swayed, he’d only grow to resent me.

My ultimate goal wasn’t his destruction.

It was to help him grow into a reliable companion who could navigate the many threats that would come as the scenario progressed.

“So, back to square one. Junk Chips.”

Yes, Junk Chips.

What I’d first asked Ciel to do was to distribute SS Chips—in this case, specifically Junk Chips—inside the Academy.

The Academy was a small market.

Right now, Silence had a complete monopoly, and if a new competitor appeared to interfere in his business, he would have to respond in some way.

“When Silence approaches you first, you’ll steer him into confessing his crimes directly. That’s when I’ll step in.”

In exchange for burying his crimes of selling illegal SS Chips, I’d negotiate for him to become a Stingray Special Scholarship Student—similar to what I’d done with Iri.

Add in another promise to help him find the culprit again, and it should be enough to convince him.

“That’s my plan. Questions?”

“It’s fine, but… there are two issues I’m concerned about.”

“Let’s hear them.”

“If we go through with this plan, I’d be selling cyber-drugs to students. Doesn’t that feel… wrong?”

“What exactly is ‘wrong’ about it?”

“Uh.”

Ciel flinched at my immediate response.

But isn’t it unavoidable?

Even if I kept my hands clean, Silence’s Junk Chips would still spread among the students.

If anything, my involvement would let me control the type of Junk Chips sold, which would be better for the students.

It’s not like my favorites would be the ones suffering.

Even without me spelling it out, Ciel seemed to grasp what I meant, and moved on to her next point.

“Well, okay, I get it. I’ll let that go for now. But there’s another problem.”

“What now?”

“I have absolutely no idea where to get Junk Chips…”

“That’s your job to figure out.”

“What?!”

Ciel was appalled again at my reply.

But I firmly drew the line.

“Think of it as a test. Surely you’re not saying you can’t even manage that?”

If Ciel weren’t a Transmigrator, I’d try to handle it myself, but with things already this busy and an extra hand available, why bother?

I’d decided to keep her alive, but that didn’t mean I was going to protect her blindly.

She’d have to pull her weight.

“B-But…”

“The androids in the Fallen Sector sometimes sell Junk Chips to make a living. Since they don’t suffer human-like side effects from using them, they’re arguably the best sellers.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

“I’ll provide you with the initial funds to buy Junk Chips and authorization to leave the Academy. The rest is on you.”

“Huh?! Y-You’ll let me go outside?”

“If you don’t like it, we can forget the whole thing.”

“No! I’ll do it!”

Ciel shouted in excitement.

“I’m sick of doing nothing but damn laundry here! I’ll do it! Please let me do it!”

“Good.”

Yes, that’s more like it.

She must have been seriously worn down by chores because she was an android.

Still, I didn’t forget to give her a warning.

“But just because you can go out doesn’t mean you should get any ideas. By now, they’re probably installing a tracker and remote detonation feature in your body.”

“E-Eek…”

“That’s all. You have one month.”

“Ah, understood. But are you sure about this?”

“What do you mean?”

“What if I break my promise and try to run away?”

If you’re asking that, it means you have no intention of betraying me in the first place.

I could have said that, but instead I shrugged.

“Go ahead.”

The meaningful smile was a bonus.

“I’d like to see the result myself.”

“…I’ll be absolutely loyal. Please believe me.”

Looks like the threat worked—her eyes were full of fear. If she had a physical body, she’d probably have thrown herself flat on the floor.