Ch.23Interview (2)

“Hey, look at that. The Chancellor’s bowing his head.”

“Looks like the Chairman is there too?”

“Seems like they’re both bowing.”

“Indeed.”

Seti and I were chatting while watching the news.

We were very on edge right now.

The hellish scene from the practical evaluation. The suddenly postponed schedule. The interrogation during our detention.

Among other issues that came crashing in like a tide, causing us tremendous stress.

The situation wasn’t good.

With the entrance exam schedule becoming foggy, we couldn’t foresee what would happen next.

Additionally, the monster attack had created genuine anxiety.

If there was any silver lining, it might be that Seti and I had grown a bit closer?

Beyond that, I wasn’t sure.

On the TV screen, the Chancellor and Chairman appeared side by side, announcing the upcoming entrance exam schedule.

[…therefore, Stellarium has decided to urgently change this year’s admission process.]

[The results of the written exam will maintain their current ratio without adjustment.]

[However, we will completely eliminate the practical evaluation process and place greater emphasis on the interview assessment.]

So it’s come to this. As expected.

Seti clapped her hands after hearing the announcement.

“Wow, I wasn’t confident about the practical, so this is a win.”

I nodded in agreement.

Sorry to the other students, but it can’t be helped.

We siblings are terrible at physical activities. It’s beneficial for us that the practical evaluation, which would have been a minus for our assessment, is gone.

However…

“Sigh.”

“Why are you sighing?”

“What about Rustila?”

Seti’s expression froze when she heard that name.

“Ah, right. Big sis…”

Students who get accepted to Stellarium generally fall into two categories.

First, well-rounded students.

Second, students who show specialized talent in one area.

Rustila belonged to the latter. She had steadfastly trained in swordsmanship despite her parents’ opposition and harsh treatment.

If she had properly taken the practical evaluation, she would have received considerable bonus points.

But now that practical is gone?

Her trump card has vanished?

Even I would have lost my mind in that situation.

How much worse must it be for Rustila, with her gentle heart and sensitive nature.

While I was thinking about this, someone knocked on the door.

As Seti tilted her head in confusion at the sound, I got up from the bed without hesitation.

“Hey, you should check who it is before opening…!”

Before she could finish, I flung the door open.

And there stood Rustila, looking up at me with a gloomy expression.

Behind her, three androids were lined up to guard and monitor her.

[The interview will begin three days from today. For detailed information, please check the admissions office website…]

As those words flowed from the news broadcast.

“P-please help me just this once…”

Moisture began to gather in Rustila’s crescent-shaped eyes.

“What? Who is…”

Seti peeked out and was shocked.

“Big sis!”

Rustila was on the verge of tears. We siblings made a split-second decision to bring her inside.

“What’s going on?”

While Seti was calming her down, I went to the kitchen. Sonia followed me with small steps.

“She seems to be under a lot of stress.”

“Chamomile tea is good for that.”

“Then I’ll make that.”

“I’ll brew the tea. Please go back.”

I gently pushed Sonia’s hand away.

As I reached for the pot, Sonia pushed me back again.

“It’s better if I do this.”

“I can do it too, you know?”

“Young master, please go prepare for your interview.”

“I’m telling you this is fine?”

“But still.”

I sighed and replied.

“Sonia, you’re my personal android. You only need to serve me tea when I’m alone. In situations like this, it’s about one person serving another.”

“…If you insist.”

Sonia reluctantly returned to her place. As she did, she subtly smacked her lips.

Is this because she’s a 5th generation android, close to human?

That small detail bothered me a little.

Anyway, I boiled water and brought the tea with the teabag. When I offered the tea to Rustila, she was surprised but accepted it.

Instead, Seti was the one with a dumbfounded expression.

“…What’s with you? Why are you doing things you never do? Did an outer god possess you?”

I pressed my forehead in disbelief.

Well, it’s true that an outer god had possessed me. But somehow I was managing not to go insane.

It was strange indeed. That someone as ordinary as me was handling Cartesia…

After taking a sip of tea, Rustila answered with a somewhat improved expression.

“I was planning to prepare thoroughly after the practical exam. But now, my hope is gone. No matter how well I do in the interview, I’ll fail. And then the bet with my parents will be off…”

“Bet?”

My ears perked up at that word.

“Yes, we made a bet. If I had the skills to enter Stellarium, they would let me go around with just one android… that was the bet.”

Rustila’s face darkened as she spoke. At the mention of androids, Zermel’s face also hardened.

Rustila had been attacked by a monster when she was young.

Since then, her parents had been overprotective of her. Well, it was closer to surveillance than protection.

No, if it were just surveillance, she could have accepted it.

The Kersil couple was interfering with Rustila’s future as well.

“The interview… honestly, I’m confident about it. But that’s only if I can discuss the topics I want.”

In Stellarium interviews, they ask questions like:

– What do you want to do after entering our school?

– What is your dream?

– How will you achieve that dream?

These are questions the interviewers ask every year, and failing to answer them means rejection. Seti and I had naturally prepared for this.

However, Rustila…

“…I promised my parents that when they ask ‘what is your dream’ in the character interview, I would answer ‘lawyer.’ I can’t change that.”

This was quite troublesome.

“That’s messed up.”

I muttered without thinking. Seti immediately smacked the back of my head.

“There goes your temper again. No matter what, don’t badmouth other people’s parents, okay?”

“I’m not badmouthing, it really is messed up.”

“Again!”

Seti was cautious about such things. Perhaps she was trying to shield her closest friend’s parents?

I didn’t think so. Seti also seemed visibly uncomfortable.

Rustila took a long sip of tea and continued.

“…My parents also said that if I say anything strange during the interview, they won’t pay my tuition even if I get accepted.”

This was serious.

I remembered from the novel that her parents’ interference was described as “excessive,” but I never imagined it would be this bad.

“Doesn’t no one know what conversation you’ll have in the interview room? They check for eavesdropping equipment and everything, right?”

“They said they’ll send androids sensitive to sound to secretly listen from outside the waiting room.”

“Wow…”

“But I don’t want to lie in front of the interviewers…”

Rustila’s eyes trembled.

Of course, the interviewers aren’t fools.

They wouldn’t consider as talented someone who deliberately pursues something unsuited to their aptitude due to parental pressure.

“……”

“There seems to be no solution.”

Seti remained silent, and Sonia stated the facts.

Meanwhile, I was feeling something strange.

Somehow I felt that I was involved in the incident that occurred during this practical exam.

Originally, wouldn’t Rustila have been accepted even if she followed her parents’ words in the interview?

That’s because Stellarium knows how to recognize talent.

Until that disaster in the practical, I had expected Rustila to be accepted comfortably and hadn’t given it much thought.

But now things had turned out this way (probably) because of me…

I thought I should take responsibility.

“It’s better to think about what to do after getting accepted than to fail.”

I presented this logical argument.

“But I can’t become estranged from my parents.”

She’s been properly gaslighted, I see.

But that doesn’t matter.

Because the person who could break Rustila’s thought patterns was right in front of her.

“I lived just fine even after committing filial impiety.”

Seti’s eyes rolled dramatically.

Her expression seemed to say, ‘This guy?’

But this wasn’t just about Eidel. I also didn’t have a great relationship with my parents.

– Go to medical school.

– I’m going to Seoul National University. Vroom vroom.

– JINSOOOO!!!

Thinking about it, my situation back then was almost identical to Rustila’s current one.

As someone with 6 years of seniority, I couldn’t help but give her advice.

“People should live doing what they want to do. If you don’t, and instead get swayed by others, you’ll regret it later and pound the ground.”

This was actually very ordinary advice that anyone could give.

However, depending on who says it.

And depending on who hears it, the impact of the message changes.

“There’s a saying: ‘If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha; if you meet the patriarch, kill the patriarch.’ Similarly, if you meet your parents, kill your parents.”

Seti was dumbfounded by my words and widened her eyes.

But Rustila seemed to understand the hidden meaning behind my words, as her eyes began to show a different light.

Sensing this, I intensified my words.

“…If you can’t even do that, you’re not human. You have no free will. It’s the same as being controlled by an outer god.”

Not something I should say while coexisting with an outer god, but anyway.

“I’ll take care of that eavesdropping robot or whatever it is, so say what you want to say and come back. Got it?”

I was only encouraging Rustila.

Eventually, Rustila nodded, and by then, a faint blue light was swirling in her eyes.

***

On the day of the interview.

Rustila arrived at the interview location, reviewing the eloquence she had honed over the past three days.

‘Did I come too early?’

Perhaps because she arrived earlier than expected, the area around the interview room was completely empty.

She was a bit nervous, but it was okay.

– Say what you want to say and come back.

Eidel’s words kept echoing in her mind.

Rustila clenched her fist.

‘I’ll say what I want to say and come back. Whether I pass or not, I’ll think about it afterward.’

Rustila and Eidel hadn’t known each other for long.

Yet somehow, Rustila felt empowered whenever she recalled his precious words.

It was unique.

The only person who could speak such profound words to her.

Contrary to the public perception of him as a ruffian, Eidel had (albeit somewhat extreme) his own life philosophy.

– If you meet your parents, kill your parents.

Even in that statement, one could glimpse Eidel’s values.

He surely didn’t mean to literally kill one’s parents.

It meant not to lose oneself by being deceived by the false authority of parents, but to live an active life.

However, it was difficult for sixteen-year-old Seti or other peers to understand this profound principle.

Only Rustila, who had experienced excessive interference from her parents, could understand its true meaning.

‘That’s probably why Eidel had a bad reputation within his family.’

Given his personality, he must have had several conflicts with his parents.

However, Rustila decided not to think more about this for now.

Rather, she was curiously concerned about the location of the “eavesdropping robot” her parents had supposedly sent.

‘Where on earth is it?’

Looking around, there didn’t seem to be any such robot wandering about.

She also recalled what Eidel had said.

‘Eidel told me not to worry about the eavesdropping. Honestly, it seemed like he was just trying to reassure me…’

While Rustila was thinking this.

In the distance, someone wearing peculiarly shaped sunglasses was approaching.

“Let’s go in.”

A boy dressed in something resembling a blazer suit.

In his left hand was the calipers she had seen when he fought the monster before.