episode_0053

“So, you got beaten up by a first-year? Is that something to brag about? Idiot…”

The woman, sipping coffee at her desk, sneered. The man standing before her grimaced.

The man’s appearance was a mess. His face was covered in bruises, he had a bump on the back of his head, and his left eye was swollen shut.

“No… Noona! I’m telling you, that bastard hit me first! Didn’t I tell you? My wallet was stolen last time. Now that I think about it, it seems like he did it!”

Martina let Martin’s complaints go in one ear and out the other, lightly twisting a trailing strand of her side hair with her finger. Oh dear, my hair’s a bit damaged.

Watching Martin get even more agitated and furious at her composure, Martina calmly brushed him off.

“Oh dear, my poor little brother. Oh, how regrettable… So what do you want me to do? Didn’t I tell you to lay off the juniors for a while? This is your own doing.”

“Haa… dammit, no. A senior got beaten up by a junior! Dealing with this kind of thing is your job, Noona!”

Martin’s attitude was slowly grating on Martina, making it impossible for her to listen to her whining brother. She spoke quietly, yet with force, almost growling.

“Shut up.”

“…Ugh.”

“I told you not to act up, but you did, didn’t you? It’s your fault. I’m already annoyed to death because of that Violet girl, and now you too?”

Martin, with his tail between his legs, stumbled over his words at his Noona’s overbearing attitude.

“No… I was just, well… wondering if you could just teach them a lesson.”

“Alright. What’s the name?”

“Violet! They said her name was Violet! And… that Daphne bitch too…!”

Martina replied with an irritated voice.

“How am I supposed to know with just that? Do you think I’m like the Student Council President-nim, memorizing everyone’s face and name?”

“Here…! Here it is. I asked my friend to look it up for me. Here, I’ll text it to you.”

The name, address, and department were immediately sent to her smartphone via text message.

There were even photos. One was a beautiful silver-haired female student, seemingly taken on a street, and the other was a photo of a yellow-haired girl gobbling down food as if ravenous.

I’ve seen this look somewhere before.

“Ah, it’s her. That one.”

“You know who she is?”

“Yes, I do. I haven’t seen her in person, but I saw her picture on messenger. You know that third-year who got suspended last time for spiking someone’s drink? I heard their friend dueled a first-year and got beaten up. I heard they tried to torture her with food, but she ate all the prepared dishes. They said she had the ability to create clones, didn’t they? So it was her.”

Martin’s swollen face brightened.

“So? You’ll help me, right? Huh?”

“Ah… just a moment, oh! Student Council President-nim…”

When a text message from the Student Council President-nim appeared on her screen, her face lit up. It was a response after a long time.

Feeling better, she decided to grant her foolish brother’s request.

“Well, getting directly involved is difficult given the management council’s situation… but alright. I’ll contact my friends or people I know. I’ve become a bit interested myself.”

So, it turns out this girl was the protagonist of that ridiculous rumor.

She thought.

This impertinent kid needed a taste of the real world. Lately, too many kids have been trying to climb up from below. Just last time, multiple people applied for duels all at once, which showed it. A precedent needed to be set.

Suddenly, as she scrolled down the screen, she saw the photo of the silver-haired female student that had been sent along.

Her pathetic brother, no doubt, got beaten up trying to flirt with this girl. Looking at her appearance, it made sense.

She had no personal feelings, but she thought she might as well teach this silver-haired roommate a lesson too. The roommate might feel wronged, but there was such a thing as joint responsibility.

And she was quite pretty. She was attractive, but she surely had a few places touched up.

Martina didn’t like pretty juniors.

***

The provisional researchers were guided and observed various places until 11 PM. They also looked around the tunnel with the large pipes that we had noticed last time. They didn’t do anything special.

The scene I’m watching now feels like a company orientation. People were sitting in chairs, and a senior researcher was speaking in front of them, but there was no academic talk, only trivial anecdotes about work.

“Are you really going to do it? Let’s search for more information instead…”

“Information? We’ve gathered everything we could. We’ve scoured the internet to find out what kind of research equipment is in the photos and videos, and we’ve briefly summarized the personnel and lists here to the extent we found them.”

“Do they even go home? Last time I saw, some people even lived here.”

As a result of the time and effort invested, we generally figured out who these people were and what they did.

But that wasn’t enough. It felt like trying to complete a thousand-piece puzzle with a hole in the middle. What we found were merely scattered corner pieces.

“I’m telling you, let’s just kidnap Doctor Sturges.”

“Why bother when we don’t even know what they’re up to? There’s no need to take risks. Security might even be tightened, you know. And as you also know…”

“…This is like kidnapping a factory worker to investigate a nuclear weapons facility.”

The dissenting voices of the clones in her head grew louder. Clone 2, whose conversation was interrupted, got annoyed.

“Ah, come on! Don’t interrupt! That’s not even an appropriate analogy. He has a high level of education, so the chances are high that he knows the information we need. More importantly…”

Clone 2 sent an image of what she was seeing through her mind.

It was a photo of a document titled . It was a common document seen in government offices or the military. The contents of the document were generally similar.

Our gaze was drawn to the square, silver magic circle next to the signature line, which resembled a QR code.

“Neural Imprint Oath Spell. Ugh… I can’t believe I’m actually seeing this.”

“Don’t forget, although we’re exhausted and worn out, the most fundamental reason we stopped the kidnapping plan is this.”

The true nature of that object was what was commonly known as a gag-order spell.

If the conditions written in the contract were not fulfilled, it would inflict pain, and depending on the conditions, it could even incinerate the entire nervous system with magic, killing the person.

In the game, there’s an episode where a scholarship student accidentally signs a document with that spell and suffers greatly.

And the contents written in the oath could be summarized as follows:

‘Do not disclose the contents of internal research projects to anyone outside of authorized personnel without permission.’

The security oath was written with clear and strict conditions, preventing even indirect information transfer through suggestion.

If we had carried out the kidnapping plan without discovering that contract, we would have witnessed a person dying, emitting smoke from their entire body.

The armed forces that would immediately rush in would be a bonus.

“Well, it’s a ‘chicken instead of pheasant’ situation [a proverb about settling for something inferior when the ideal is unavailable], but it can’t be helped.”

“Is there a chance those people also signed?”

“First, let’s check if they signed the oath. Applying the Neural Imprint Oath Spell leaves a mark on the body, you know. If there is one, we’ll just pretend to be robbers and knock them out.”

Although it was a clumsy and impromptu plan even to themselves, we needed ‘human intelligence.’ It didn’t matter if they didn’t know classified information. It would be enough if they could just interpret the data or papers obtained from here.

By the way, this research facility had something strange about it. Although this was only inferred from superficial job titles, books on desks, and research papers, this facility had all sorts of people.

From physicists to medical doctors who specialized in researching awakened individuals, brain scientists, psychologists, and even big data algorithm experts were present.

It was hard to understand what purpose brought all these people together.

“Are they thinking of making super soldiers? Or a ghoul army…”

“You know from catching one, don’t you? Ghouls are low-level magical beasts. A well-trained non-awakened mercenary with a gun would fight better than that.”

“Well, we’ll find out about that eventually.”

“Oh, right! There was something else I forgot to explain…”

“Huh, when did you take that?”

Clone 2 clicked on old photo data she had forgotten she’d taken and displayed them on the screen. They were photos of a calendar and a chart.

The schedule chart showed sections checked as ‘Winter Break’ and ‘Early Second Semester’. In the case of the calendar, most entries were merely records of minor personal matters, but just looking at the dates between December and February, many parts were marked with stars or red cross-hatching.

“This place was on a September semester system, right? So the second semester starts in January.”

“Why did they check those?”

“I don’t know. Looks like there’s something important.”

While we were talking amongst ourselves, the researcher declared the end.

“…Please be here on time tomorrow as well! Those who are absent will be understood as having no intention of participating.”

Clone 65 saw people slowly dispersing.

Clone 2, who was sharing the vision, spoke to everyone in a serious tone.

“I’ll explain again. What we’re doing is kidnapping. Once we start, there’s no turning back. In the worst case, we might have to kill. Everyone understands, right? If anyone still objects, voice your opinion now.”

Everyone’s hesitation was felt, but no one objected.

“Alright, who should we choose from those people? Should we catch them inside the underground facility?”

Clone 2’s shaking head was transmitted through the network.

“There must be an entrance somewhere in this school that we don’t know about. Let’s just wait until those people come outside. We can also infer the entrance’s location at the same time. Let’s just catch one person. All of our friends in other areas are ready, right?”

“Ready. Clone 54 is currently waiting with the truck at the rendezvous point. The fuel has been checked and the engine inspected. There’s no problem bringing them to the base.”

Before she even finished speaking, Violet clones wearing camouflage arrived at the main gate, back gate, and school parking lot.

“We’ve arrived! Waiting.”

After a long wait, the people we had seen earlier began to emerge from various buildings, in pairs or alone.

“Alright. Starting now.”

As we followed one or two people at a distance, looking for the right timing, a signal came from the Violet clone at the parking lot.

“Me. One of the people we saw earlier is here. Looks like he drove his own car?”

“Can you approach?”

“Yes, no problem!”

A man in a gray sweater opened his car door between the dim shadows and lights. The Violet clone cautiously approached within clone-creation range.

The moment the car engine started, one Violet clone each was created in the trunk and on the back seat floor. The Violet clones flattened themselves on the floor and held their breath, fearing they might be discovered. Fortunately, it was dark, and the man didn’t seem to notice.

“What about tracking others?”

“We’ve secured one, so let’s stop. Two or three or more is too many.”

The car exited the parking lot, drove along the road, and came out through the main gate.

“Begin tracking.”

The Violet clones stationed outside the school also cautiously drove motorcycles, maintaining a distance as they began to follow the car.

I felt the movement of the clones who had secretly boarded the car. Our location detection abilities had inaccurate parts, so just in case, we also brought a GPS tracker. The tailing team also checked the car’s movements on the road in real-time, moving at a distance so as not to arouse suspicion.

After about thirty minutes, the car’s movement stopped. When we pinpointed the location, it was a residential area in a small town, somewhat distant from where Polaris Academy was located. The man seemed to live nearby.

“Yawn… sleepy…”

In front of an apartment building, the man parked his car in an alley and yawned as he turned off the engine.

“Now?”

“Now!”

The Violet clone, who had been flattened on the backseat, got up. Just as the man, sensing a presence, tried to turn around, the electric sparks from the taser in the Violet clone’s hand flashed.

“What…?”

-Crack!

“Ugh!”

As the man passed out, Violet 15 immediately created three more clones on the spot.

“Find that, and don’t forget to tie his limbs!”

While one Violet clone collected his wallet, keys, and cell phone, the other clones undressed him. There was something to check.

“There’s no trace of a magic circle. Looks like he didn’t sign the oath.”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“…Hmm, it’s a relief, but I’m still not entirely… convinced. Will this person really know what we want?”

Clone 3 hesitated inwardly.

“He must know something since he received explanations about the project. Otherwise, we’ll just leave him on the road immediately. We’ve already prepared camouflage measures for times like this. There’s no need to rush.”

They took out a flashlight and shone it, checking his body several times, but the magic circle they had seen in the game was not visible.

The man had dark skin and wore thick-rimmed black glasses. He had the typical appearance of an engineering student, the kind that might circulate as an online meme. While Clone 21 secured his house keys and entered the apartment building, the unconscious man was blindfolded and gagged. We restarted the car and drove to the rendezvous point.

After driving for a long time again, with the moon crossing over our heads, our truck was visible, parked on the shoulder of a deserted road.

“Then, good work!”

“See you later.”

We lifted the man and got into the truck. Clone 12 drove the man’s compact car back to the residential area. After confirming he was securely tied, they tossed the man into the cargo area and covered him with a blanket.

The destination was a deserted warehouse between the border of the Western and Central districts, which we had scouted earlier.

A while later, after the car drove through the night, Violet clones who were waiting welcomed the truck.

“Welcome! Good work.”

“We’ll be off to sleep. So, please take good care of him.”

They carried the man into the warehouse and tied him to a chair. It was said that the taser would keep him unconscious for a long time, and he was indeed sleeping soundly.

Now it was time to wake him up.

After removing only the gag, they shook the man in the chair. Splashing cold water on him would be a bit inhumane, wouldn’t it?

Wake up! It’s time to check out of dreamland.

“Where am I…? What? Help me! Is anyone there?”

Good. Let’s ask him various things. Hopefully, something comes out. Catching another person would be a hassle.