Chapter 170

Inna’s ability is persuasion. And I have never forgotten that fact. However, as I watched her walk towards us, or more specifically towards me, it felt as if I had completely forgotten it.

The atmosphere around her was akin to being cloaked in the concept of night. Her footsteps made no sound, and her smile possessed no light.

When we first met, she was like the sun, befitting a heroine in a romantic visual novel. But now, perhaps because the sun has fully set, she resembled the night.

As Inna approached us a little more, a woman wearing a cap to jog comfortably leaned down, bringing her lips close to my ear.

Haa~

As her breath tickled my ear, I shivered slightly, wondering why she had to bring her lips so close when supernatural abilities could have been used otherwise.

“Should we run away?”

“Can we escape?”

Even if we tried to run away now, we would inevitably meet again at school tomorrow. So I deemed there to be no reason for escape. However, this woman advancing without emotion felt like a ghost from a horror movie you’d see in summer.

It also meant she was terrifying enough that I wanted to run away immediately if there was any chance.

Han Ye-seul nodded her head.

“My ability tends to fulfill wishes if I truly want them, so…”

The ability to instantly flee home before Inna reached us. Knowing her words verged on being a command, I was about to nod, but then…

“If we run, will you get angry?”

Before I could fully nod, Inna had already reached and clung to us much faster.

I didn’t have the stamina to try and flee again after my previous escape attempt.

When she was just a few steps away, she stopped and, with a smiling face, looked at the side of my ear where Han Ye-seul’s lips had been.

An unspoken pressure directed at Han Ye-seul to move away from me.

“Hmm, shall we escape right now?”

Regardless of Inna’s glare, Han Ye-seul’s voice remained unchanged, confident that they could escape this situation at any moment.

Such confidence was significant because its target was Inna, who possessed abilities close not to the level of a main heroine but that of a true heroine.

Though I hadn’t personally experienced how strong or how far her abilities extended compared to a main heroine versus a true heroine—I could only guess.

“Why did you come, then? You didn’t answer my calls or messages.”

“That’s a bit…”

What? Did you make calls or send messages? When I checked my phone, there were indeed calls and messages from Inna. And on the home screen, there was an installed app named ‘Peaceful Child Location Confirmation’, whose function was clear from its name alone.

‘How long has this app been installed?’

Could Inna have influenced my phone to install it automatically via persuasion? Given her refined ability, it wasn’t entirely impossible—a funny thought.

“So, what’s going on?”

[Surprise Event: Childhood Friend’s Rebellion]

[Event Activation Conditions:

1. If the childhood friend finds out that you are sleeping at someone else’s home other than your own or theirs.

2. If the childhood friend perceives that your heart leans more toward someone other than them.

3. If the childhood friend believes that you’ve crossed a forbidden boundary with them.]

A childhood friend always assumes they will win. But you gave more of your heart to someone other than your childhood friend—or at least made it seem that way to your childhood friend.

Your childhood friend, Inna, will attempt every possible scheme to avoid defeat. If their belief is a misunderstanding, pretend to fall into the schemes, and return home.

However, if it’s not an error and you want to distance yourself from the childhood friend, reject all their schemes. With every rejection, the unseen favorability they hold for you will gradually decrease.

Suddenly startled, my body shivered as a long message appeared, obscuring Inna’s presence in front of me.

However, after reading the entire message, I realized an important truth.

[Conditions met. Character Scenario – Erica’s Main Scenario is now launching. Searching for which episode number of the main scenario is running… Error Detected.

The episode proceeds to the later stages of the Inna Route without following previous episodes. The probability of achieving a strange ending significantly increases.]

Her sudden appearance…

…had re-ignited the momentarily paused storyline of my scenario.

“I said I’d help, so here I am. That request you received, I want to take it over.”

“But I told you last time, you don’t have to help, Ms. Inna.”

[You lack sufficient favorability towards Inna compared to the current episode status. Additionally, Inna’s affection and loyalty towards Erica seem a bit insufficient compared to the current episode status.

For the best ending, I recommend raising both sides’ favorability and affection.

As you get closer to Inna’s route, the power of her bad ending in the ending list significantly grows stronger.]

While the two were arguing, messages that I had previously banned from appearing in front of others kept flooding.

Inna had suggested helping others for various reasons in the past, so the sudden progression of the episode was likely triggered by the surprise event, specifically one particular line that had a significant impact.

“Crossing a forbidden line…? Is reconciling now considered crossing a forbidden line?”

In 19+ romantic visual novels, the meaning of ‘crossing a forbidden line’ is not something unfamiliar to me, but the occurrences with Inna were nuanced and arguably didn’t quite reach that stage.

“So, what should we do? If Erica wants to hang out with me during the break, we need to sort out this problem here quickly. To be honest, this time I came here mainly for you, but finding Erica here means I’m in the right place.”

After the message disappeared, all I could see was a woman shrugging her shoulders. It was an awkward comment, considering I had assumed Inna would naturally come looking for me.

…It would’ve been better if the only reason I’d used a tracking app on my phone to find Han Ye-seul hadn’t been exposed. However, if I were ever kidnapped, it would be useful, so I wouldn’t delete it.

Unlike my acceptance, Han Ye-seul, who was perhaps unaware of the tracking app and had many unanswered questions, interrogated me relentlessly.

“Using my ability, it’s impossible to detect my exact location unless you’ve specifically identified ‘me’. So, how did you…?”

“I’m not entirely sure what your ability is, but there are several ways to find someone’s location without identifying them. For instance, tracking the route of someone running in a hoodie.”

“Doesn’t that imply you figured out I was running in a hoodie and even mapped out that exact running route beforehand? And right now, I’m wearing a cap?”

“It’s a secret beyond that.”

There was no way to explain how Inna knew our location without mentioning the tracking app installed on my phone.

So, she must’ve stopped at a reasonable level before revealing that she discovered our location using the tracking app on my phone. Perhaps she had used a force not meant for me to know. Still, these apps can be deleted with ease.

It was clear that Inna wouldn’t let me freely move around based on mere trust in me alone. That kind of trust did exist between us.

Given that Inna’s tendency toward being dark and manipulative is as inevitable as my intelligence, it wasn’t surprising.

“So, did you just come to say that?”

With her arrival, my storyline naturally advanced, but there was no way Inna would have come because of the storyline—she knew nothing about the system.

Even if she somehow realized the existence of the system, she wouldn’t have known the conditions leading to the scenarios opening up.

“It might seem like that, but I also wanted to meet someone nearby while telling you this.”

As expected,

there was another reason for her visit.

“Then, can we just go now?”

“Wouldn’t it feel like I’m being ignored if you just leave after seeing me?”

“…I was wondering how you found us. So, it really was just a coincidence?”

“It might be, or maybe not.”

As Inna smirked at the slightly puzzled woman, she answered, and the brief and unexpected encounter ended with just a promise to meet again tomorrow.

*

“Then, why did you call me here just to show me that scene?”

The woman who seemed like night itself asked the woman sitting next to her, who had just heard the conversation moments earlier.

The woman whose presence couldn’t have been detected by Erica’s [Eyes] that showed the name and role of others, or by Han Ye-seul’s ability to hear everyone’s voices.

The woman with crimson eyes stood up from the bench, looking down at Inna with emotionless eyes.

“Because I wanted to show you that scene, quite literally.”

The statement carried numerous implications, but Inna understood it immediately.

– It was both a threat suggesting that if she abandoned Erica, this scene would become her everyday reality, and also a statement displaying that Erica now found Han Ye-seul more comforting than herself.

“…There’s nothing more I can do here.”

What else could she do against Erica, who was so certain of her actions from the past?

Forcing herself physically?

Perhaps it might work once or twice, but attempting it repeatedly would activate Erica’s [Protection], which Inna knew from experience would safeguard her body.

Because it was deemed impossible, she abandoned the idea.

For the Inna who had done so,

“Even if I told you a weakness of Erica’s where her protection wouldn’t activate?”

The whisper from the woman who claimed to be Erica’s older sister was

Literally a devilish whisper…