Coercion

“Here you go.”

“Good. Let’s see…”

Rustle, rustle.

Lying comfortably on the sofa in the dimly lit room, I immediately began flipping through the papers as soon as the requested items arrived.

…It’s too dark to see properly.

“Could you turn on the lights?”

“Understood, Ophelia-nim.”

At a nod from the unnamed executive sitting beside me, a low-ranking member near the door moved to switch on the lights.

Perhaps noticing me squinting slightly from the sudden brightness.

The executive beside me passionately shouted:

“You bastard! How dare you hurt Ophelia-nim’s eyes?!”

“S-sorry!”

“You should’ve dimmed them first! Dimmed! You insolent fool!”

The visibly emotional executive began violently slapping the back of the subordinate’s head as he approached.

The beating intensified to the point of channeling mana into his hands, yet nobody intervened.

Rather than stopping him, everyone watched with cold eyes as if this treatment was deserved.

Even the beaten member seemed to consider it justified.

…Ugh.

“Enough.”

“Ophelia-nim.”

“This displeases me. Stop it.”

“Understood.”

Was this hypnosis attempt a failure?

While successfully transferring their organizational loyalty to me was good, their excessive devotion seemed likely to cause problems.

Well, no need to worry. They’ll all be dead soon anyway.

After glancing at the staggering member, I returned my gaze to the papers.

“Is this everything?”

“Yes.”

The documents contained the organization’s detailed information, activity records, and current member locations – essentially everything about them.

“I, Salome, prepared this diligently for Ophelia-nim.”

“Well done.”

“Thank you!”

This guy’s more competent than I expected.

He actually completed everything I asked in such short time?

Though competence didn’t matter, it’s ironic how I always get incompetent NPCs when praying for capable ones.

“What shall we do next?”

What should I make them do?

Frankly, these guys have outlived their usefulness.

I didn’t recruit them to nurture like simulation game characters for future wars.

A simple suicide command in some remote area would cleanly erase their existence.

They’re all terrorists – keeping them alive brings no benefit, yet eliminating them feels uncomfortably similar to my power-drunk past.

“Hmm…”

A good idea struck me.

A way to use them without killing.

“Do you have money? How much?”

“We’ve embezzled funds leaking from the Church and Imperial Family. With some effort, we could buy about ten houses in the capital.”

Did you steal an enormous amount?

And you’re mentioning it so casually?

Is this guy exceptionally capable, or do the Imperial and Church coffers really leak that much?

Not that I care about the source. Money’s money.

I was prepared to make them take loans if needed – this saves trouble.

“Good. Then build an orphanage.”

“…An orphanage, you say?”

“Yes.”

When I visited the Church with Anastasia before, she mentioned too many war orphans.

Since these guys are useless now, having them run an orphanage seems perfect.

Though ten years late, babies from back then would be around ten now.

Anastasia gets sad seeing those kids begging on streets.

“…I see. Understood!”

“Hm?”

“Gaining public support before overthrowing the Church and Imperial Family…! Truly worthy of Ophelia-nim!”

“Uh, sure…”

What nonsense. I’m just disposing of you.

His excessive loyalty makes him interpret things his own way…

“We’ll begin immediately! Everyone, move out!”

“Yes!”

They’re gone.

I casually waved at their retreating backs as they hurried to obey.

Doubt I’ll see them again.

An orphanage funded by illegal money seems odd, but whatever.

It’s the Imperial and Church’s money anyway. Consider it cleaning up their mess.

“Yaaawn… Sleepy.”

Today was supposed to be my day off.

Somehow finished all hotel business already.

It’s already 1 AM.

Too lazy to return to my room, I flopped onto their bed.

Tomorrow’s busy replacing the organization’s leadership. Should sleep early.

I closed my eyes to rest.

***

“You…! Your true identity…!”

“Bored of that line. Zap.”

“…”

Why do they all react the same?

Who are you? How did you find this place? What have you done…?

Hearing this repeatedly gets tiresome.

But this is the last time.

I waved at the man staring at me from his chair.

“Hello there, Mr. Terrorist.”

“…The academy’s new teacher.”

“Surprised? You know me?”

“Naturally. The academy’s under close surveillance. We track who comes and goes. That’s how we recruited Ian too.”

“Ah.”

The final boss appearing when playable characters fail happy ending conditions.

Leader of terrorist group Bright Light Society – Bavarian.

Having seemingly given up, he just stared without resisting.

“…Not resisting?”

“Would it matter? Look around you. This is madness. Like corpses moving unconsciously. Can’t fathom how you did this.”

“Hypnosis?”

“Obviously. But it makes no sense. What’s the condition? Such powerful ability can’t be used without cost…”

Ugh, so noisy.

Bavarian is the normal ending’s final boss.

The first final boss new players encounter.

Hence his meme status as an exposition dump – sprinkling hidden setting hints despite limited screen time.

…Didn’t expect him to remain this talkative in reality.

Poor character design for a final boss, even if a fake one.

“No cost would enable such spamming. Therefore, either no cost or trivial ones. Likely none here. Then conditions? If none existed, you wouldn’t need to visit me. There must be some condition, yet I’ve observed none. Meaning hypnosis conditions must also be trivial, therefore…”

“Nuh-uh. Enough.”

Can’t understand a word.

I snapped my fingers to forcibly seal his mouth.

Too damn noisy. Quiet down.

“Remarkable… Is this hypnosis? Can’t speak even if I want…”

“…Meant to fully mute you. More resistance than expected from someone who surrendered.”

“Haha, I’ve still got pride. This much is… *gag* Difficult. Is forcibly silencing people acceptable?”

“Too noisy. Thought some quiet would be nice.”

“Harsh.”

Games let you skip long text or find summaries online.

What am I supposed to do with real-life monologues?

“So? Here to punish us for disturbing society? Or avenge your colleague?”

“Not interested.”

“…What?”

“For your curiosity, I’ll share the plan. You’ll die.”

I whispered in his ear.

“Not now, of course. The Imperial Family and Church will reconcile.”

“Impossib- Wait, unless…”

“Correct. I’ll make it happen.”

Bright Light Society members will forget being terrorists and perform charity work.

Then, when imperial and church leadership changes, and all Sword Saint’s legacies are recovered.

The moment everyone forgets about terrorists.

I’ll sacrifice them to conclude all events.

“When everyone achieves their happy ending, sudden terrorist attacks will naturally unite them against you.”

“…”

“Even fighting families unite against external threats. Bonds form through shared struggles.”

“Hah.”

“Verbal reconciliations leave resentment. Shared experiences foster closeness.”

“…Was the academy principal blind? Letting this viper into her academy.”

“Well then, your death will fertilize world peace.”

I asked if he’d die for humanity.

“Do you accept?”

“Like I’d… accept.”

“Thank you!”

He glared, knowing forced acceptance meant nothing, but I had no time to care.

“Now, next location… Damn, two days one-way? Ugh, did I slack off too much…?”

The massage was so good I lazed around two extra days.

My schedule’s too tight now.