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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: Watching You
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"Mi-Mir…?"
The person, presumed to be an Übermensch, who had brought something spherical, called out someone's name, their voice thick with tears.
But I didn't care at all. I had something far more important on my mind.
"…He's alive."
He was bleeding, but he was definitely alive.
To get Yu Siwoo to a hospital as quickly and safely as possible, I used all my remaining threads to wrap him up.
"Mi-Mir…! Mir!"
I decided to leave the academy, roughly covering my body with a hoodie.
There was no time to feel embarrassed. It was an emergency.
Staying here any longer wouldn't help Yu Siwoo at all.
There must have been more than just one or two injured people. It was obvious they'd only get first aid, not proper treatment.
I had to get him to a hospital.
[D-Reader-nim?! Are you-are you not going to finish that?!]
"No time for that."
[What?! B-But…!]
I lightly ignored the author's words.
I didn't have any threads left to use right now, and I had to do something far more important than that.
I could always erase those kinds of puppets later if they caused problems.
But, but Yu Siwoo is different.
He's someone I have to protect no matter what.
"He's the protagonist, after all. It'd be a big problem if he were in danger."
[R-Right, I suppose…?]
"Exactly. This is all an unavoidable action for safety. You said you can't change the settings, right? What are you going to do if the protagonist dies here?"
The author didn't seem to want to stop serialization yet.
So, I decided to say something that would make the author gasp.
"Surely, you're not planning to write a discontinuation notice saying, 'This is the author…' are you?"
[…Alright.]
I roughly convinced the author and left.
Of course, they had no choice but to agree. They said themselves that the protagonist couldn't be modified.
That means I couldn't even modify the story to say Yu Siwoo was actually fine. He really was injured now. And badly.
What if he ended up with sequelae from this?
That couldn't happen.
The students fighting the villains, the teachers rushing to the academy main building.
And the Übermensch leader's corpse, which had disappeared at some point, along with the dog beast-man next to it.
None of it mattered to me.
Only him, resting inside my threads, wrapped tightly like a cocoon.
The protagonist of this world, the sole human. Only Yu Siwoo mattered.
The other bastards didn't matter.
***
Siwoo suddenly furrowed his brows.
A bright light shone, tormenting Siwoo's closed eyes.
"Ugh…"
Ignoring the sensation as if something was piercing his eyeballs, he tossed and turned to try and sleep more, but since sleep wouldn't come, Siwoo decided to get up.
His head felt fuzzy, but he couldn't keep his eyes closed any longer.
Swallowing the sudden irritation, Siwoo opened his eyes, and gasped again.
"…Are you awake?"
"Eek?!"
Because Arte was there, watching him with wide, red eyes, unlike her usual narrow slits.
"Ugh?!"
"Ow… Ah, that hurts…"
Startled, he tried to sit up and collided with Arte.
Both I and Arte rubbed our reddened foreheads from the unexpected accident.
"I'm glad you seem healthy. I thought you might die."
"What do you mean by that…?"
"I heard your muscles were damaged, and your brain almost was too. You didn't wake up for days, so I really thought you had died."
"What?!"
He quickly looked around the room.
The stark white room, the IV drip, and the distinct medicinal smell of a hospital, which seemed slightly stale.
Realizing that he was in a hospital, Siwoo finally started to come to his senses.
"The, the academy! What about the academy…!"
"It's all over already."
"…Over?"
"Yes, definitely. The Übermensch have been annihilated. Ta-da!"
Arte spoke with a light tone, like a child narrating a play, but the content was anything but light.
The annihilation of the Übermensch.
In other words, everything had ended while he was asleep.
"It was all over the news, right? 'What was the academy doing?' 'Those incompetent Association bastards,' they said."
"V-Victims?! No, are Amelia and Dorothy okay?!"
"…You're worried about other people the moment you wake up? Don't worry, everyone's safe."
"They're okay…?"
Arte smiled sweetly and pointed to the table.
On the table was a calendar.
Arte naturally flipped the calendar, then told him something shocking.
"It all ended while you were just sleeping for about a week, you know?"
"A week?!"
"Yes. A week. The confirmed results say no fatalities, about ten seriously injured, and most were minor injuries."
Along with the explanation that most of the severely injured were teachers, Arte told him that if the teachers hadn't been there, the damage would have been far greater.
"One executive missing, three dead. Most villains arrested. That's it, it's over."
"…I see."
No students died in that chaos.
He had felt a little resentful when he was holding out in the main building, wondering why the teachers weren't coming.
There was a reason for it all.
"But Arte."
"Yes?"
"Could you step back a little?"
"…Why?"
Huh?
He hadn't expected that kind of reaction at all.
He had naturally assumed she'd say, 'Oh, I'm sorry,' and put a little distance between them, but he got a completely unimaginable response instead.
W-What is it?
Something was off. It was Arte, as usual… but.
"W-Well…"
How could he say it?
*You're so close, and you smell so good, so could you please move away a little?*
He absolutely couldn't say that.
If those were the first words out of his mouth after waking up, he'd have no right to complain if he were treated like a pervert.
He couldn't become a perverted villain after all the hardships he'd endured.
Just as he was wondering what to do, an unexpected person came to his aid.
"You're awake?"
"Ah. Hello."
"Amelia…!"
"…What's with that reaction? Gross."
Timely help, coincidentally arriving.
With Amelia's intrusion, Arte's attention naturally shifted to her, and I was able to subtly widen the distance.
Perfect, Amelia. Thank you.
"Is your leg okay?"
"Hm? …Oh, it's fine. They said I can walk slowly now."
Amelia smiled innocently and lifted her crutch.
And only then did I notice that Amelia was severely injured.
One of her legs was thickly wrapped in bandages. He didn't need to be told that Amelia was one of the severely injured.
"You got hurt?"
"…Yeah, well. He was fast. Got hit by a low kick and my leg twisted."
"What?!"
"Don't worry. They said there won't be any lasting effects."
She shook her heavily bandaged leg as if it were perfectly fine, smiling brightly.
"Dad got revenge too!"
"…Dad? The hero…"
"Yeah. I almost died, but luckily Dad came. He shattered him before he even had time to dodge."
She spoke playfully, but the content was far from light.
To almost die and still brush it off so easily.
Amelia truly was strong.
She didn't usually show it, but the occasional display of resilience was impressive.
"…Ah, Arte. I'm sorry, but could I talk to Yu Siwoo for a bit?"
"Why would you ask me that…?"
"No, well. I just want to have a heart-to-heart talk with a friend."
Subtly, subtly.
I could feel Amelia glancing at Arte, being wary.
…What is it? Why is she being wary?
Amelia specifically emphasized the word 'friend' when asking Arte.
"Alright. Should I come back in about an hour?"
"Thanks. That's enough time."
"It's nothing."
Arte left the hospital room, escorted by Amelia, and a moment later.
Amelia, certain that Arte had truly left, let out a big sigh.
"You, you…! Yu Siwoo! What did you do?!"
"W-What did I do?"
"What did you do to Arte?!"
"I was just sleeping, what could I have done?!"
I thought Amelia was scolding me.
I thought so, but it was different from what I imagined.
It wasn't a scolding; it felt like she was excited.
No, it wasn't just a feeling. It was certain. Amelia was excited.
…A sense of unease washed over me.
I didn't think I'd ever heard a proper story when Amelia reacted like this.
"You, you bastard…! You did well! I don't know what it was, but you really did well!"
"What?!"
"Arte acting like that, you must have done something, right? It seems like she's halfway fallen for you!"
"What nonsense are you talking about again…?"
"To charm a girl even amidst such a fight, I didn't think you had it in you, but you're quite something, aren't you?"
And my worry wasn't wrong.
More nonsense.
"What nonsense are you talking about? I didn't do anything!"
"That can't be true. You didn't see it, but she was devotedly caring for you, you know?"
"What is that supposed to mean…?"
"She watched you for over three hours every single day, without fail, before leaving. What did you do? Tell me honestly!"
…What?
She watched him for over three hours a day?
"T-That's…"
"What on earth did you do? Tell me too. That way I can plan the next step."
She watched him for over three hours a day?
…Really?
Suddenly, Arte's ominously glowing eyes that he'd seen the moment he opened his own came to mind.
Along with her face, which had been close enough to collide with his forehead when he suddenly sat up.
"S-Surely, that earlier too…"
Had she been watching him the whole time?
Why on earth? What possessed her?
He hadn't done anything, had he?
He thought he was used to Arte's stalking and wouldn't be scared of her anymore.
But her incomprehensible actions sent a chill down his spine.