Chapter 23

Class time passed quickly. After the closing ceremony, I slowly made my way with Inna toward the place the Vice President had told us about. The Vice President said he had already made the arrangements, so all we had to do was show up.

Yeah, not just me but us.

I had tried to go alone, but when I mentioned I had something to do and couldn’t go home with her, Inna naturally asked, “Then why don’t I come with you? Do you know the place you’re going to?” and followed me closely.

As much as I wanted to leave her behind, technically, she wasn’t wrong. I don’t have the money to rent a mode of transportation, and I’m also unfamiliar with the geography around here.

This place claims to be a city in Korea, but it clearly differs from any actual Korean city, as evident by the abundance of two-story houses instead of apartments.

Thinking about where I used to live while walking will only get me lost. Even when I heard the address where she lives, it was some place called Changhae.

“Let’s take the bus.”

It wasn’t a long walk from the school gate to the bus stop. However, there were a lot of students waiting.

I had heard about the school’s famous club system, but it seemed like plenty of students didn’t participate in it. The problem was that these non-participating students were all at the bus stop.

Buses came one after another and the students in black school uniforms boarded them, flowing out like a tide.

Just when I thought all the buses had arrived, another one appeared in the distance with the same number as the ones earlier. Inna took my hand, marked us down as two students, and boarded it.

‘Did she intentionally avoid the crowded buses?’

While I was wondering if I had made the right decision by waiting for and boarding a previous bus, she walked to the very back. There were plenty of empty seats, so sitting where we wanted wasn’t difficult.

“So, what exactly do we have to do when we get there?”

We sat side by side in a seat where both spots were free. Inna only now turned to me, asking what our mission was.

Since this is a path leading to the queen for me, I decided to participate, but explaining this to Inna with clear reasoning was hard.

How could I say that the system recommended it to me? After some thought, I found a convincing answer.

“The president is out looking for the queen, and I just agreed to help with one of her tasks.”

“Ah, so it’s something like helping a student who asked the president for assistance?”

Inna asked this with her usual calm voice, instead of showing any jealousy as I had expected.

“Not mad?”

“Thought you two were going out, but apparently not. Also, I kind of already know who she’s hanging out with. Since Kim Ha-neul didn’t show up until the end of the closing ceremony, it seems the Student Council President went looking for the queen with Kim Ha-neul, the one you hate so much. But I’m not bad enough to be mad at or jealous of you helping her after she dumped you.”

Listening to her explanation made me feel a bit pitiful. It was like I was unable to forget a woman who had already been NTR’ed, so much so that I was even helping her with her work.

Still, I had always assumed that Kim Ha-neul skipped classes because he didn’t want to get scolded by the teacher. Now it seems he went straight to the Student Council President to start looking for the queen.

Impressive action.

I was lost in thought, contemplating the city landscape seen through the window. How could they start looking for one woman in this huge city without any clues?

Is he an idiot, or does he have courage?

Or maybe, for the protagonist, the system gives hints about the queen’s whereabouts in a way different from me.

Since I received the mission with what I assumed were clues to the queen’s whereabouts thanks to the system, my case might differ. But considering the system exists, it’s likely the protagonist also has some clues leading to the queen.

And if the Student Council President, who possesses the ability of wisdom, is also there, the probability of finding the queen increases significantly.

When I leaned my head on the window to rest my eyes until we reached our destination, Inna’s hand gently pulled my head towards her shoulder.

“Going to sleep?”

“Yeah.”

The shoulder of the girl next to me. Though small, her shoulder held my head securely so it wouldn’t slip. Trusting her to wake me when we arrived, I drifted off.

“Sleep well. We still have a long way to go, but I’ll wake you as soon as we arrive.”

*

I don’t know how long I slept. When she shook my shoulder, I woke up in a half-dream state and realized we had reached our destination. A girl awaited us.

“Hmm… Are you both the Student Council’s prospective members? Are they just picking people based on looks? You two are disgustingly pretty. Anyway, as long as you keep my mom from getting scammed, anything’s fine. Use whatever scheme you want.”

What’s this? The distance she held in her speech made it sound like it wasn’t her concern at all, quite contrary to what I felt when I received the mission.

Well, even if it’s annoying to be cheated, it doesn’t directly affect her, but something about her attitude felt different. She had a handbag under her arm, as if ready to go out. After tapping the doorframe, she said, “I’ll leave it to you,” and left.

Is this girl, despite her revealing appearance, really a heroine? With her short skirt, and despite worrying that her mom would be scammed, her demeanor of heading out rather than staying by her mom’s side seemed strange, even if their relationship wasn’t good.

When I gazed at the girl who was about to leave, the system displayed a window showing her status.

[Damaged]

[Role: Model Student Heroine]

[State: Submissive]

[Ability: Unusable]

Her name might also be damaged. The other information was surprising, but this confirmed my suspicion about her condition.

The system’s explanation of “lust magic.” If this girl was victim to such an ability, and if this mission is tied to that, then it makes sense why despite the turmoil in her family, her clothes seem slightly vulgar and she’s heading out instead of being by her mom’s side.

It’s probable that these scam artists approached her mother and brainwashed her too.

Since the mission came today, it’s understandable why she was immediately under someone’s control upon arrival.

When her figure disappeared, I opened my mouth. There was something I should have asked before accepting this mission, and it was the enemy’s power.

“Can you resist something like brainwashing?”

“My heart is already full of love for someone, so obviously yes.”

“Cut the jokes and be serious.”

She seemed to be in a playful mood because she was with me, but I had to ask again. If we need to resist the protagonist of the lust magic’s ability to complete this mission, Inna needs to be capable of doing so as well.

I have protection, which allows me to resist Inna’s influence, but if she were brainwashed and wouldn’t let go of me, I couldn’t defend against that.

Even if I could repel her with a white lightning-like flash for a moment, if she continuously tries to restrain me, there’s no escaping her grasp.

“Since I redirect my ability not towards people but towards supernatural forces, I can definitely withstand it. Any attempt to brainwash me will weaken due to the influence of my ability in the moment it tries to reach us.”

How strong was this empathy ability? Every time Inna explains it, I’m surprised.

It seemed like a power that would only make people kind, but from what Inna says, it seems it can do much more.

In romance visual novels, there’s a huge gap after one year, but is it really this significant? Her ability appears particularly honed compared to the others.

“Your power is surprisingly strong. How’d you get so powerful?”

“I’ve always practiced by bouncing off the strongest shield since I was little, so I couldn’t help but get stronger.”

Strongest shield? Given that inanimate objects seem to still be affected by her abilities, and that regular people without special abilities can’t escape her influence, it seems she’s been practicing against a shield capable of resisting empathy.

That naturally narrows down the candidate. The person I estimate she has always been with since childhood.

“Could the strongest shield possibly be talking about me?”

“Well, if you hadn’t caught on so quickly lately, I might’ve slipped through that question unnoticed. Did losing my memory somehow help me?”

What did she say? She spoke so softly I couldn’t hear it. Probably something along those lines but too embarrassed to let me hear.

“Be careful, there’s someone with brainwashing abilities in front of us.”

“Um, can’t we just not go?”

I expected her to ask how I knew there was a brainwashing ability there, but she simply suggested we skip going.

Just as she said, there’s no need to rush into danger. We can avoid the lust magic-related people and keep dodging until the assumed end of the game — third year — but…

If I can’t exit the game, I might have to face continuous threats from the lust magic users.

Just like trimming the bud before it can become a threat to the queen, it’s better to cut the bud of lust magic now, as a precaution for this world.

“We’ll face several dangers if we leave things as they are.”

But the words coming out of my mouth changed.

Rather than giving a clear explanation, it seemed better to say something vague.

Maybe Inna had already intended to listen from the start. She nodded while glancing inside the house.

“Got it. By the way, guests seemed to come to welcome us since the door’s been left open.”

At the same time she spoke, two figures emerged from the darkness.

A brown-haired woman in glasses with short hair and an emerald-haired girl whose hair trailed to the floor.

When I instinctively tried to look at the top of their heads, my eyes stung momentarily.

[Your current role does not allow you to check information about them. The system has temporarily taken damage. Please be cautious as the system will be limited for a while.]

Facing these two presumed to come from a lust magic romance visual novel…

Without the system’s help?

If I had known about this kind of limitation beforehand, I would’ve been more cautious about looking at roles.

I had to face them the wrong way, moving towards us.

This damned system.

I will definitely get my revenge on it one day.