Chapter 49

“Hmm, this is the taste.”

Erica, holding a chocolate-flavored ice cream, chased after the retreating back of a woman who had purchased a vanilla ice cream cone from a roadside stall and was licking it as she moved forward.

The road this woman was taking, though slightly roundabout, was indeed the way to her house.

In other words, Iska, the woman who had previously appeared, clearly knew the way to my house. She seemed like an old acquaintance, so if I asked Yoon-na or the Student Council President, they might know who this woman was.

“Is it delicious?”

“Since I didn’t pay for it myself, it kind of feels alright. I’ll count this as repaying the last debt.”

That woman had relentlessly extracted money from me for the trouble of taking me home. Recalling that memory made Erica’s eyebrows involuntarily furrow.

The money withdrawn from her account was, in some sense, as good as free money, but the thought that it wasn’t hers left Erica with a peculiar sense of owing her sister’s body for every time she spent it. She especially regretted buying 5,000 won worth of street ice cream.

Had the accident not been avoided by saving her from an almost-getting-hit-by-a-car situation, Erica was pretty sure she wouldn’t have lifted a finger, but considering the fact that the system caused the situation while expecting her to show gratitude, Erica was quite irritated. But having given her aid, she couldn’t just not buy the other girl an ice cream.

“What are you out here for?”

It was almost evening, so surely she must have had a reason for being out here. The woman, whose strides were longer than Erica’s and thus gradually moving farther away, was caught up by Erica, who hastened her pace slightly, and the latter asked her the question.

The woman slightly turned to look at Erica, but her behavior did not deviate too much from what Erica knew about ‘Erica’, so there was no significant sign of surprise in her reaction.

“To look for someone.”

“Look for someone?” To Erica, this unexpected answer clearly displayed confusion on her face.

Though Erica considered herself skilled at concealing her emotions and thought her body’s poker face was top-notch, that was far from the truth.

She might be able to hide 20-30% of her thoughts, but her emotions were fairly transparent to anyone who wasn’t completely oblivious.

The reason why the school queen, whose empathic abilities developed because she needed people to trust her in order to fully utilize her abilities, wanted to subdue Erica, was because she had read Erica’s feelings toward her.

Complete disdain. The same disregard for the desk as forgiveness. This was because Erica had inadvertently disrespected the queen by treating the people in this world as if they were merely created.

Erica naturally had no way of knowing this was the reason she was trying to stop a bad ending.

Though her face revealed everything, neither the Student Council President—thinking Erica displayed disappointment due to her secret relationship—nor Yoon-na—who knew Erica’s misunderstanding but chose not to tell her—had let Erica know this.

Thus, this “weakness” ironically acted as one of Erica’s assets. Her expressive face, which made up for her lack of speech, allowed others to instinctively explain things that Erica was curious about.

“There are two people I absolutely have to find. Today, I’m looking for the one with lower priority while also trying to fulfill a friend’s favor.”

Should Erica ask details like favors or who she was looking for, these personal matters weren’t really appropriate to inquire about.

The girl eating chocolate ice cream with Erica was silently considering what to say when Iska abruptly grabbed Erica’s shoulder, turning her body to face her.

“Whatever happens now, I will protect you, so please don’t worry too much.”

Although the sentence was formed only by lip movements without a sound, Erica understood it perfectly, even without telepathic abilities.

However, there was no explanation on what exactly Iska was supposed to protect Erica from. Erica was about to ask for clarification when the extras walking a bit away suddenly converged, pulling out handkerchiefs from their coats to press against Erica’s mouth and nose.

“Umm?!”

Realizing too late that someone was trying to kidnap her, Erica attempted to summon her protective power but could not resist the intruder and slumped lifelessly.

In a mere two weeks since Erica had arrived in this world, it would be impossible to fully control her protective power.

Iska, put to sleep by the sleep-inducing substance on the handkerchief, similarly collapsed and was dragged along with Erica for a while before being thrown into the back of a passing truck.

The kidnappers locked the back to prevent it from opening and took their seats, driving towards an unknown destination.

What the kidnappers failed to notice was that Iska, inside the truck, opened her eyes and, sensing the discomfort of the girl lying beside her, offered her knee as a pillow.

*

Where am I?

My head is pounding. Though the situation is unclear, a window containing helpful information appeared before Erica’s eyes.

“You failed to conquer the School Queen before the end of the final week of Episode 2. Was it because you were lazy or foolish? When your followers exceeded one million, a bad ending was inevitable, but the School Queen who could see the system wasn’t obligated to wait until the one million mark to deliver the bad ending. This incident happened because you let your guard down. So, Erica, you’re merely reaping what you’ve sown. Don’t be upset.”

Though it should have been too dark to see such a window, Erica could read it without issue since the window was unaffected by light or darkness.

“Upset? Why shouldn’t I be upset?”

Calling a Romantic Visual Novel a Romantic Visual Novel, how common are cases where a bad ending route is activated before all the required bad ending stats are reached?

As the system window sent a scolding message, Erica felt her anger bubble up but, before she could vent, she moved her body to assess her situation.

The chains attached to her ankles dragged loudly across the floor with each movement. Her hands were free, unbound by cuffs, but she still felt an undeniable sense of powerlessness.

Was it the aftereffects of the sleep-inducing agent inhaled while unconscious? Or was it due to another reason? The system answered for her.

“The chains you currently wear are one of the tools designed to suppress superhuman abilities, effectively neutralizing even the strongest heroines instantly. This tool was powerfully remodeled by the School Queen.”

Ah, so that’s the explanation. The suppressor tools, which the School Queen created, are preventing my escape.

Even with free hands, given that Erica had physical capabilities much weaker than those of an average girl, it would be hard to utilize her freedom to create any variable significant enough to escape.

This was essentially a dead end. Despite thorough internet searches, Erica hadn’t known about these suppressor tools before, but she hadn’t expected to uncover all critical information with a simple search, so she wasn’t overly disappointed.

“The first bad ending – a slave in a false world – is approaching. However, the biggest variable is right by your side. Depending on her choice, the content of the previous bad ending can be altered, enhanced, or potentially turned into another bad ending.”

“Alone, it’s going to be tough to handle this situation. It’s always the other heroine or the protagonist who saves the heroine. Thus, a rescue event activates to help you overcome this desperate situation. Whoever saves you will gain a +50 favorability boost.”

Noticing the words ‘biggest variable,’ Erica tried to remain positive, like when she first entered this world.

Right, she wasn’t kidnapped alone. Recalling the situation before the kidnapping, Erica’s eyes regained some light, and just then, a sound came from the corner of her confinement.

“Did you wake up? You were sleeping the whole time we moved you here from the truck.”

“Why didn’t you stop it if you knew?”

Before she blacked out, it was clear that Iska had noticed the impending capture, unlike Erica. But why had Iska allowed herself to be captured?

Even in complete darkness, she could see clearly, and the woman before her emitted a soft glow despite the pitch-black surroundings. She was blindfolded, her wrists shackled with what looked like heavy handcuffs, leaning against a gray wall.

“The person I was looking for is probably here. Since they’re so good at escaping, I had no choice but to come this way.”

Erica realized, after hearing this, why the school queen had no motive against her.

“The school queen had no reason to target me, so this is because of you.”

“…Huh?”

Iska’s reason for claiming she would protect her was also clarified. She was helping Erica by obligation, since she had gotten her involved in this situation in the first place. It wasn’t fair that her favorability level jumped by a whole 50 just because of this.

Even as Erica tried to rationalize it for herself, the system maintained silence. Finally, the wronged woman spoke.

“How do you know I pulled you in?”

“Naturally, the system told me.”

Of course, Erica wouldn’t explain this to someone experiencing it for the first time, so after contemplating what to say, she asked instead, in a tone suggesting doubt.

“…Did I? Yes, you did.”

Hearing this, Iska, naturally suspicious, replied.

The two were talking casually, but time continued to pass. Soon, they heard the sound of clicking heels approaching.

The lively heel sounds suggested the approaching person was in a good mood. But given they were approaching a place where others had been kidnapped, something was amiss.

The two women already guessed who the sole individual arriving with such cheer could be.

The former School Queen.

Now aiming to be the queen of the city, she was walking towards their location.