episode_0194

Sophieel stayed nearby for a few days, during which the Violets underwent several tests.

Violet received a sleek tablet. When she turned on the screen, a test paper appeared.

“Alright, you’re going to solve this now. Understood? Answer the questions honestly, and if you don’t know something, you can ask.”

“Yes!”

Violet tilted her head.

What the future scholarship officer and current Audit Bureau agent handed over was a screen filled with various survey questions.

It was a psychological test.

「It seems I have to solve this!」

「Then I have to! She’s a scholarship officer, isn’t she? Even if she isn’t one yet.」

Violet matched the patterns of the shapes and selected her answers.

Each time a test ended, the answers to the psychological test, processed by an algorithm, appeared one by one on a different screen.

Sophieel examined the results. Numerous graphs and figures represented Violet’s intelligence and personality.

Overall intelligence level was similar to or slightly lower than her peers.

Spatial perception and memorization were excellent, but other abilities were below average. Mathematical reasoning and language skills were particularly lacking.

‘Still, her concentration is good.’

Next, she had a simple conversation with the Violets.

“What do you like? Tell me one by one.”

“Fried chicken!”

“Swords and guns!”

“Pizza!”

“Playing!”

As the Violets chattered, Sophieel outwardly smiled, but inwardly observed them with a keen eye.

The clones all answered a single question together.

Sophieel cautiously asked Violet.

“You said there are many Violets, right? So you’re not controlling clones by yourself, but rather, all of you are clones?”

“Yes! We are many!”

“I’m number 678!”

“She’s number 1000!”

“Wow, that’s truly amazing.”

She pretended to clap and observed Violet’s reaction.

What came to her mind was the words her younger brother had left.

‘Thousands of clones carried out terrorist acts across all regions, and when the main body was killed, they temporarily stopped, but soon started moving again, didn’t they?’

The way the girls in front of her moved had similarities to the scene Seijis had described.

Beings moving autonomously without a main body. Like the clones of the dead witch.

If the witch’s ability before her death was a combination of one main body and multiple clones, then the clones that persisted even after the main body was killed were said to have only instincts left, like ghouls.

Suddenly, the reaction Seijis showed when describing the existence of the “Witch of Myriad” came to mind.

Anger, fear, frustration.

The scholarship officer confessed to her. That he had been hasty.

Although the main body was dead, the stopped clones mechanically began to move again at some point, continuing indiscriminate destruction and violence.

He shuddered as he described the witch’s actions, how she had hampered people and caused casualties until the very end of the world.

‘It was the monster from the other dimension that ended the world, but the Federation and the clans instigated such a situation. And the witch gave them an excellent justification!’

Even at the moment of the apocalypse, the witch’s clones sprang out from all directions, instinctively engaging in slaughter and destruction.

They reportedly stormed into the closing doors of bunkers and even leapt into escape vessels trying to flee the planet.

The girl named Violet in front of her matched the second type of existence.

A being that moves autonomously without a main body.

But it’s a little different from the description, why?

If the dead witch was a hive mind moving like ghouls, then the girls now seem to possess individual self-consciousness.

‘I need to report this too. A special note.’

Sophieel asked the Violets.

“Thank you for your cooperation. It’s almost lunchtime, is there anything you want to eat? I’ll buy it for you.”

“Then please order us pizza!”

“Alright. Just a moment.”

The Violets’ eyes sparkled.

The girls, giggling as they walked, didn’t see the electrical wire on the floor.

“Wait, under your feet…”

She tried to stop them, but it was too late.

As the leading Violets tripped over the wire and fell, the Violets following them also got caught up and tumbled down.

“Whoops! I’m falling!”

“Waaaaah!”

Watching that, Sophieel made a new assessment.

They show excellent concentration when performing tasks, but appear somewhat scattered in their daily lives.

As she approached to help the Violets up, new Violets walked in from inside the warehouse.

The girls were groaning as they transported large and massive objects.

Heavy silhouettes that couldn’t be fully covered by cloth. Sophieel quickly realized what the objects were.

‘That’s a machine gun, this… this is an anti-tank missile, isn’t it?’

Sophieel maintained her smile and questioned Violet.

“Violet, what are those, by any chance?”

The Violets were startled for a moment and stammered.

“Oh, those are construction tools!”

“Ah, I see…”

The Violets darted their eyes around, avoiding her gaze.

As she took them in, Sophieel internally upgraded Violet’s danger level by one stage.

They are bad at lying, but possess heavy weapons similar to those witnessed during the terrorist attack. Exercise caution.

‘I shouldn’t let my guard down just because they’re cute. Where on earth did they smuggle those in from?’

**

While the Violets were undergoing psychological tests, the dismantling of the Magnabyss Group continued.

“It’s completely over now.”

In the Violet barracks’ lounge, Professor Albert, who was sitting on the sofa watching TV, muttered.

On the screen, students’ parents and civic groups were staging a protest.

Normally, they would have been disbanded long ago, or the protest organization itself would have been impossible. But now, under the Federation’s protection, the protests were unfolding freely.

-Why did our children have to die! Explain yourselves!

The screen changed, and the background shifted to the Federal Courthouse.

Behind the Polaris Academy students and parents who had lost their children appeared numerous people in suits. They were a team of lawyers, backed by the immense support of the Union of Mid-Small Clans and the Cascadia family.

The victims, having gained unexpected reinforcements, felt emboldened and walked into the courthouse. Magnabyss, whose legal team and connections had been blown away with the explosion, would have little chance to explain themselves.

“…Really. What exactly was all that we prepared for?”

Frederick felt a sense of futility watching that.

Because the scale and level of what Violet had been planning and orchestrating was simply overwhelming.

The academy’s former senior students and ex-teachers felt gratitude and shame towards their student, who not only uncovered a conspiracy so vast it couldn’t be compared to the various suspicious deaths, corruption, and personnel issues they had been investigating at the academy, but also reduced it to ashes.

“What can we do? We can only admit it. That we were incompetent and lacking…”

The two middle-aged men, in their gloom, pulled out cigarettes and put them in their mouths. The strong smoke of awakened-use cigarettes billowed up.

When they changed the channel, a broadcast titled appeared.

In the hearing room, a Federal Congressman was cornering a Magnabyss executive.

“Those bastards, still putting on a show.”

A moment later, a young, brown-haired woman with a delicate appearance entered the hearing room.

-The Vittorio terror incident was an act carried out by me, along with the personnel of the Mystical Investigation Department Section 3 and Vanguard agents. Under the orders of Agent Lera Belestan, my research team and I manipulated the Vision Prism to kill Federal soldiers…

-In other words, you also participated in that crime?

-Yes, there is no room for excuses. I apologize to the bereaved families. I am prepared for any punishment…

Professor Albert clicked his tongue as he watched the woman nod. He had heard that this woman was a prisoner his student had converted. To be involved in such a major crime at a young age.

Although she showed a cooperative attitude at the hearing, it would be difficult for her to avoid a heavy sentence.

“Shouldn’t we also stand in that position soon? I heard from the Federation; are you ready?”

Frederick asked. Albert replied as if it were obvious.

“Of course. Would I not have prepared for something like that? You prepare properly first. I still remember that time you forgot your topic during a presentation and made a fool of yourself.”

“Tsk, when was that…”

They watched TV and exchanged old stories. They lamented that they didn’t know what to do now that the academy had reached this state.

“We’ve become completely jobless.”

“Well, what can we do? My home is gone too, so for a while, I suppose I’ll have to rely on my student, the worst terrorist in the Western Sector.”

Having finished speaking, Professor Albert looked out the window. Frederick followed his gaze.

Inside the factory, boys and girls could be seen training in unison. To the professor, a blue-haired boy practicing magic casting particularly stood out.

“It seems there are some kids worth teaching. I heard those children are preparing for transfer admission. It might be a good pastime.”

The instructor laughed.

“Well, imagine that, becoming an entrance exam academy teacher in my old age…”

**

On the day of the special interview, we moved to the Central Sector with Sophieel Unnie.

Passing through a cityscape lined with futuristic glass-paneled buildings, we arrived at the Central District.

This place, where the Audit Bureau is located, is where the academy city’s administrative institutions are concentrated.

For this interview, Violet 1 was specially put forward.

This interview was very important. An opportunity to imprint the image of us being good and benevolent Violets onto the scholarship officer!

Therefore, it was right for the first Violet, the girl who survived the outdoor unit, to step forward.

I looked around.

The impression of the neatly arranged government offices and institutional buildings was interesting.

「Look over there! A skybridge!」

「Wow, it’s amazing!」

If likened to a city on Earth, the atmosphere here is similar to Sejong City.

Although it was in a state of being constantly pushed around by the Federation and the three major clans, it was, by name, the place that handled all administrative tasks for the academy city.

Its appearance alone was not inferior to the central downtown areas of other sectors.

「Ugh! We’ve arrived!」

We took the elevator up. Following Unnie, we walked down a corridor where many civil servants and agents passed by, heading towards a neat-looking office.

The scholarship officer was there.

“Violet.”

“Oh, hi! Scholarship Officer!”

I smiled to give a benevolent impression and sat down. I could feel her squinting slightly.

「Gasp! Did I make a bad impression?」

「Let’s be careful!」

We were tense. What would she ask, anyway?

And the interview began.

“Name?”

“Violet, Violet Dunhind Ruzilin!”

Surprisingly, the interview wasn’t difficult. It was simply a matter of the scholarship officer looking at some unknown documents and asking various questions, to which I would respond.

“Th-this is all?”

“Then, what did you think I was going to do?” “…Background checks?”

The scholarship officer opened her mouth with an expressionless face.

“If it’s that, it’s been finished for a long time already. It’s not like you’d answer directly anyway.”

“Gasp!”

Was the scholarship officer such a thorough and terrifying person?

I felt a sense of disconnect seeing the scholarship officer in the game and this real-life scholarship officer.

“Now for the important matter. As you know, Polaris Academy has been destroyed. It’s beyond repair. What are you going to do now?”

I answered confidently.

“I’m going to transfer with my friends to another academy!”

I explained what I had investigated beforehand.

That is, the administrative rule that if an academy is completely destroyed for some reason, a special transfer measure is implemented for its students.

“With this, I’ll go to Aegis Academy! It’s a prestigious school in the South, so it must be amazing, right? I’ll study hard and…” Seijis replied in a somewhat blunt tone.

“Unfortunately, you’d best wake up from your dream. You can’t transfer.”

“Why? No! I’m going too!”

「Ugh! That guy must really be from the future. He’s discriminating against us!」

「Even terrorists have human rights! The right to transfer schools! The right to transfer enrollment!」

As we clamored inwardly, he pointed to a map hanging behind him before answering.

“Look closely. Polaris is an academy located in the Western Sector, and Aegis is an academy in the Southern Sector. The special admission measure is a procedure that only applies to academies within the same sector. Didn’t you know?”

“Couldn’t we go somewhere else…?”

“The academy city authorities aren’t fools; there’s no way they’d allow an easy way to get into other prestigious academies.”

When the scholarship officer finished speaking, I bowed my head in disappointment. To think that an easy, backdoor method would be blocked.

“Waaaaah…”

What do I do now?

「Do I have to prepare for exams? I hate studying!」

This won’t do. I’ll have to prepare for cheating, at least!