episode_0080

I had a feeling, and it turned out to be true.

“Hey, let’s drink!”

That evening, Lena came in with a bottle of whiskey, a few snacks, and five packs of ramen, already dancing energetically as if she was in high spirits.

“Tonight, we drink until we drop dead!”

“You know you’re supposed to sleep in the dorm, right?”

Although it was more of a formality and just a headcount, there was still a curfew in the dorm. It didn’t need to be as strict as in the military, but at least there had to be some rules in that space.

In that sense, I was quite worried about whether Lena could even stand on her two feet after finishing all that whiskey.

“I’ll just drink enough to feel good. Don’t worry!”

Whether she said that or not, Lena opened two packs of snacks on the floor, poured the whiskey into a paper cup, and handed it to me.

“Cheers!”

“Is…is it okay?”

“Just drink it for now!”

“Okay…okay!”

Let’s eat and die.

We clinked our paper cups, downed the whiskey in one go, and laughed with a burning sensation in our throats.

Lena grabbed a cheese-flavored pretzel and looked around for a moment.

“But isn’t this place too empty even without anything?”

“It’ll take some time for things to arrive. But at least we have a gas stove, so we can cook the ramen.”

“Ramen…ugh. Is ramen the problem when we have to sleep on the floor?”

The house provided by the academy was quite spacious but literally barebones.

If it was a small house with full options, it would have been more convenient when moving in initially. However, since there was no need to move out of the academy, they assumed that once you moved in, you would stay for a long time and gave you a big house from the beginning.

With a decent salary as a student, they could gradually fill up the space and make good use of it. But for now, it was just an empty field.

No wardrobe or dining table.

No plates or cups.

Of course, no bed or blankets.

The only cooking utensil was a pot to cook ramen.

Even the chopsticks were disposable wooden chopsticks from the convenience store.

Thanks to the gas stove that arrived without much delay, the fact that they could cook and eat ramen was a small comfort.

Amidst the chaos of not buying dishes while shopping for a new home, Lena, who had finished the miserable house tour, just handed me the whiskey without any sentimental thoughts.

“Drink, drink.”

“Okay.”

“Drink until your nose twists and you pass out!”

And so, we clinked our glasses again. The clear liquor in the paper cup shimmered.

The feeling of the strong drink passing through the throat was hot and vivid. My hand involuntarily reached for the salty and savory cheese pretzel.

“Do they go well together?”

“Perfect match, right?”

“It’s just the basics.”

Since I had always drunk soju or beer and had never tried whiskey, it felt a bit unfamiliar, but the snacks Lena brought went well with the whiskey.

They say high-proof alcohol gives you a clean hangover the next day, so I should enjoy it.

“What do you think about getting married?”

At Lena’s question, I smiled bitterly and picked up a pretzel.

“It’s just…complicated. I feel useless.”

“Because you lost your abilities?”

“Probably. I feel like I’ve become a useless person. It’s a strange feeling.”

“Don’t think like that. You must be a special person to Lager.”

“I guess so, but…”

I handed Lena a glass, my words trailing off. Lena quickly poured more whiskey for me.

“Drink slowly. This is strong stuff.”

“I’ll be fine.”

I chuckled lightly and clinked my glass before taking a sip of whiskey.

While it was a bit awkward to talk about with Lena, our marriage felt quite different from the typical idea of marriage.

“Hey, don’t think of it as a grand marriage. Just think of it as getting a new roommate.”

“Who are you to say that? Don’t have any dirty thoughts. Just buy some condoms secretly.”

“Do I have to buy them?”

“Do you want to die?”

“No, it’s not about using them, it’s just in case…”

“You take care of it yourself. Just buy them. Just in case you need them.”

The Showindow couple, well, they did get along quite well.

If I had to put it into words…

Roommate couple? That’s about right.

“I’m going to visit Yuju this Saturday. Do you want to come along?”

“Looks like you two have gotten really close.”

“It’s just… things happened.”

It felt a bit awkward to laugh meaningfully and sip on whiskey.

“What’s going on between you two?”

“We were about to have a serious talk, but it didn’t happen.”

“Lena, are you perhaps…”

“Hey, don’t turn things in a weird direction. I’m not interested in that.”

Lena clapped her hands, emptied her glass, placed it on the floor without offering it to me again, and changed the subject.

“Ale. But are you going to live as an incompetent person forever?”

“Do you think I want to be kicked out willingly? If I could do something, of course, I would want to. It might be helpful to that guy.”

“But isn’t living by doing odd jobs for Rager in a way helpful?”

Lena’s words made sense in a way.

But still, that wasn’t the direction I wanted to go in.

“I want to fight.”

“Really? Even if you could die?”

“Even so.”

“Why?”

It was a trivial reason.

It was a meaningless statement.

But I didn’t want to be a burden.

“I promised Rager.”

“I will not be someone to protect, but a comrade to fight alongside.”

More accurately, it was an expression of ‘fighting heroine,’ but using that directly seemed a bit funny. Lena might not understand it right away.

Anyway, now that I knew this world was not romantic or happy at all.

I had to fight alongside Rager until the end.

I already felt like I owed him a lot just for the help I received last time.

If there was a way.

I would do anything.

After confirming my determined expression, Lena filled the paper cup with whiskey and handed me a drink.

As I poured the drink slowly, Lena asked, “Ale. What if… let’s say you don’t have any cups at your house but you want to drink. What would you do?”

Pouring the drink slowly, I shouted out the answer just as the paper cup was filled.

“Oh, you have to borrow a cup from somewhere!”

“That’s right. Whether you use paper cups like us or borrow from the neighbor, you have to borrow a cup.”

The cup almost overflowed.

Lena lightly tapped her cup against mine, took a sip, and continued her explanation.

“Your tablet serves as the cup in this case.”

“So the drink poured into the cup is…”

“The concentration of mana.”

Unbelievable.

She was like a mana theory professor.

“If I’ve explained this much, you should have an idea of what I’m trying to say, right?”

I nodded in agreement with Lena’s words and cleared my glass.

Since that day, I didn’t attempt meditation.

No, to be precise.

I simply focused on drawing blue circuits within the empty silhouette, as usual, without trying to create the silhouette itself.

Using mana to materialize objects. However, it is usually not difficult to draw it in detail and concrete form in your mind.

A medium for using abilities was given.

It was a tablet and a pencil.

In other words.

“If you are skilled at handling mana, you didn’t need a tablet from the beginning.”

“You’re a great student. Good. Two pieces of pretzel as a reward.”

“Thank you, professor.”

“What do you have in mind?”

I playfully accepted the snack, but there was a slight sense of regret.

“I should have told you earlier. If you had known this sooner, you might not have been expelled.”

“Hmm. There are two reasons why I didn’t tell you earlier.”

“Two reasons?”

“First, you hid it so well, how was I supposed to know and tell you?”

That’s true. After going through the disciplinary committee, the rumors of me being expelled and marrying Lager spread, and that’s how Lina found out about my incompetence.

“And secondly, I just had to wait a bit. I had to let Lager figure it out on his own.”

Wait.

What did you say?

I furrowed my brow at the sudden sense of unease.

“Let him figure it out…?”

“If I interfere too much, it would be a violation of the rules. It wouldn’t be a fair competition…”

Hey.

Interference. Violation of the rules.

Fair competition.

The words pouring out of Lina’s mouth sent shivers down my spine.

It was as if a character from a comic I was enjoying suddenly turned around and said, “Hey, it’s time to stop and go to bed.” It was eerie.

It’s really absurd. Lina, you…

“You look like you want to ask if I’m a character.”

Lina’s words snapped me out of it.

How could you…

You, no.

“What are you?”

It’s not Lina.

This isn’t the Lina Prilwood I knew.

The guy wearing Lina’s mask casually filled his glass, drank it all, and then chewed on the pretzel.

It was undeniably Lina-like to chew on snacks like the men drinking alone at home.

…Wait a minute.

Why act like a man?

“Are you also a possessor?”

“Half right, half wrong. I am possessed, but Lina is a woman regardless of my presence.”

“So what are you? Who are you…”

“Ayle, I’ll ask you a quiz. It seems like you’re not catching on.”

Lina stared at the empty cup, then slammed it on the floor and slowly got up.

Staggering, she approached me.

“Don’t come any closer.”

“Don’t worry, Ayle. I’m not your enemy. And I’m not the ‘character who dies in episode 2’ that Lager originally planned.”

“Don’t come closer!”

To calm me down, she raised both hands in front of her chest and said, “Whoa,” before turning her hands as if she were a surgeon about to operate.

Between her hands, sparks danced and lightning wrapped around her fingers before disappearing into thin air.

Soon, sparks flew from her body, and Lina, surrounded by faint lightning, illuminated the large house.

Glowing and looking down at me, Lina seemed like a deity.

“It’s a quiz, Ayle. Normally, Lina Prilwood should have died in the second episode, right?”

“But I… ”

“Yeah. You saved her. So what should I do with a character who should have already died and left the stage after you saved them?”

“No, wait! That doesn’t make sense! If that’s the case, then your ultimate goal is…”

Clearly, it was said that poking the tail destroys the original author’s setting.

And clearly, I heard a message in my head as well….

“Ael. Think about it. Did you hear the message I mentioned too?”

Ah.

Ah….

Well then.

“In fact, there hasn’t been a time when you poked me since that day, right?”

Lina staggered towards me.

Kindly holding my tail for me, as my mind wasn’t functioning properly.

She directly poked her own palm.

[This ability cannot be used by the editor.]

Lina Prilwood, who should have died in Episode 2 as per the original.

The identity of this person who entered to fill her place.

An existence that analyzes the author’s work and sometimes directly interferes with the work to suggest appropriate developments.

An editor.

“Editors can possess as well? What’s next, a publishing house coming out of nowhere….”

“Oh, it’s not like that. To put it simply, if I were to explain my role, it would be as an editor, not on Earth.”

“Then what are you on Earth?”

“Me?”

Lina, as if talking about someone else’s story, cleared her throat and carefully chose her words.

“The exact title is ‘Ruler of the 1,937th Earth.’ To put it simply.”

“God.”

That’s how she introduced herself.