Episode 149. The Case of the Missing Candidates (3)

Before diving into the investigation of the missing candidates case.

I made an excuse to leave Sophia and Berald behind and headed to a certain place.

The place I headed to was the most secluded spot within the vast grounds of Reynaldo Hero School.

It was a place with a rundown research building that looked like it could collapse at any moment.

I clicked my tongue softly as I looked at Professor Jade’s lab.

‘I should have come here sooner.’

I had thought about visiting ever since my relationship with Sophia went south, but due to various reasons, I only managed to come now.

‘Come to think of it, I haven’t been in touch with Professor Jade much in the past few months.’

Even when I did contact him, it was just brief greetings through the Hero Watch. It had been a long time since I visited his lab in person.

“Professor Jade, are you in there?”

*Knock knock.*

I lightly knocked on the lab door.

*Thud!*

“Ahhh!”

A crashing sound and Professor Jade’s scream came from inside.

It seemed he got startled by the sudden knock and bumped into something.

“Are you okay?”

I hurriedly opened the door at the sound of the scream.

“Ah, I-I-I’m fine!”

Professor Jade was frantically organizing the research materials piled on the table.

He rubbed his forehead, which had hit the bookshelf, and groaned.

“What brings you here?”

“I came to see how you’re doing, Professor. It’s been a while.”

I looked around the messy lab without bringing up Sophia.

I sighed and shook my head.

“It’s a mess again.”

“Ah, ahem. It may look messy, but everything is organized and arranged with careful calculation…”

“We should clean up first.”

I tried to clean up the messy lab, ignoring Professor Jade’s lame excuses.

“Ah, no! It’s fine! I’ll clean it up later!”

Professor Jade grabbed my arm like a teenager caught with a hidden adult magazine.

I stopped cleaning and tilted my head.

“Why are you so nervous?”

“Haha. Ah, it’s nothing.”

“……”

It was obvious he was hiding something.

‘Well, that’s not important right now.’

I decided not to press further and pulled up a nearby chair to sit down.

“Professor, can I ask you something?”

“Hmm? What do you want to ask?”

“Do you know a candidate named Sophia Evergreen?”

I cut straight to the point.

“……”

Professor Jade’s expression hardened at the mention of Sophia’s name.

His eyes trembled as if lost.

“H-how do you know that name…?”

Professor Jade’s voice trembled.

I shrugged lightly and replied.

“I happened to meet her. Sophia mentioned she knows you… I was curious about your relationship.”

“……”

Professor Jade clenched his lips and lowered his head.

He chewed his lip and spoke in a suppressed voice.

“Do you know… what I’m called among the candidates?”

“……”

A title more infamous than ‘Descendant of the Great Sage’ within Reynaldo Hero School.

‘Jade Bastian, the Student Killer.’

A nickname that arose after a candidate died in an accident during Professor Jade’s research experiment two years ago.

“Well… yes, I know.”

I nodded without saying the name out loud.

Professor Jade wiped his wrinkled face and let out a deep sigh.

“The candidate who died then… was Sophia’s older brother.”

“……!”

My eyes widened at Professor Jade’s bombshell.

‘Sophia had an older brother?’

In my past life, I had never heard of this despite being in the same party with her for ten years.

“Wait a minute. Their last names are different, though?”

“Sophia’s parents divorced, so her last name changed. Before that, they were both ‘Caliph.'”

“……”

Sophia’s former last name was Caliph.

This was also the first time I’d heard of it.

“…Hah.”

A hollow laugh escaped my lips.

‘Really… I didn’t know anything.’

Iris, Yuren, Berald.

I thought I knew everything about them after ten years together.

But going back in time, I realized that what I thought I knew was just the tip of the iceberg.

“So that’s why Sophia dislikes you, Professor.”

“……”

Professor Jade nodded heavily.

“How did that candidate, Oscar, get involved in the accident?”

“……”

For a moment.

Professor Jade’s face hardened.

He clenched his fist as if holding back boiling anger.

“Oscar was… a terrible candidate.”

“……”

“Arrogant, selfish, self-centered, and only cared about himself.”

Professor Jade poured out his pent-up emotions with fierce criticism.

“…So the accident happened because of Oscar?”

“Yes!”

Professor Jade nodded with a stiff face.

“That idiot didn’t listen to me and recklessly conducted dangerous experiments! And… and!”

*Thud!*

Professor Jade slammed the table.

Papers scattered like snowflakes.

The words ‘Artificial Holy Mark’ caught my eye.

“Because of that fool, I lost everything in an instant! My lifelong research! My reputation! My achievements!”

Tears streamed down his wrinkled face.

The suppressed anger erupted like a volcano.

“I… I…! I couldn’t do anything…!”

Professor Jade sobbed with his head down.

Suddenly.

A conversation I had with Professor Lucas came to mind.

-You know what that bastard did in front of Oscar’s grave, huh? He insulted the dead student, calling him a ‘fool’! I heard it clearly!

‘So that’s how it was.’

If he lost everything in an instant because of one student’s mistake, I could understand Professor Jade’s reaction.

I placed a hand on Professor Jade’s trembling shoulder.

“Calm down, Professor.”

“*Sigh*… Sorry for getting worked up.”

Professor Jade sighed and shook his head.

“Sorry for making you come all this way… but could you leave for today?”

Professor Jade asked with a tired expression.

“…Yes, I understand.”

Even if we talked more, the long-suppressed emotions wouldn’t be resolved in one go.

I nodded and stood up.

*Click.*

As I opened the lab door and stepped outside, I saw a cloudy, ashen sky.

“*Sigh*.”

I swallowed a sigh and clicked my tongue.

‘It’s going to be hard to reconcile Sophia and Professor Jade right now.’

If their rift was due to a misunderstanding, I would have tried to mediate, but in this situation, it was better not to rush.

‘If I try to fix it clumsily, it might just make things worse.’

For now, finding the culprit behind the ‘Missing Candidates Case’ was the priority.

* * *

The next day.

Berald, Sophia, and I held a meeting to catch the culprit behind the missing candidates case.

“So, have you thought of a way to catch the culprit?”

“First, I looked into the case again.”

I handed Sophia a document with the list of victims.

The document contained detailed information about the victims, the circumstances of the accidents, and their testimonies.

“…How did you get this?”

Sophia looked surprised at the neatly organized document.

“I have a friend who’s pretty good at this sort of thing.”

“What’s his name?”

“Albert Hoover.”

“The Hoover Family… the empire’s largest information guild?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Last night, I contacted Albert to help investigate the case, and he prepared the document overnight.

‘I knew the Hoover Family was capable, but I didn’t expect Albert to be this helpful.’

It was hard to imagine the usually clumsy Albert, who screamed while being forced to drink Professor Lucas’s health juice, being so competent.

“Hmm. You’re more connected than I thought.”

Sophia looked at me with a glint in her eye.

But it was short-lived.

Her gaze turned cold.

“Of course, you’re also connected to someone who’s nothing but trouble.”

“……”

Ignoring her sharp words, I looked around at the party members.

“Let’s each review the information and think of a way to catch the culprit.”

“Got it.”

“Hoho! Leave it to me!”

We each took the documents and reviewed the information about the ‘Missing Candidates Case.’

As we were going through the documents.

“Gasp…! T-this can’t be!”

Berald suddenly stood up, his eyes wide.

“B-brother! Look at this!”

“Did you find something?”

“A 4th-year candidate known as the ‘Iron Nun,’ Amanda, was actually married!”

“Hey, you idiot.”

What the hell are you even looking at?