Chapter 36

Iri Elisbell.

A key character in Act 1 of Part 1.

A brawny genius from the Fallen Sector. She had the nickname “Tank” because of her reckless, charging personality. The main heroine with a straightforward and tough demeanor.

But I knew Iri’s true self.

The feelings she herself hadn’t yet realized.

If I were to sum up the truth hidden beneath the façade of her feigned strength in one phrase—

‘A wild stray dog cornered.’

Like a lone stray dog driven to the edge of a cliff without a single companion. She was utterly convinced that taking even one more step back would be the end.

A frightened stray barks madly.

Even if a hand is extended with good intentions, she bites it. She snarls and yells at the top of her lungs for others to stay away.

‘She’s calmed down a little for now.’

That was probably because she felt somewhat safer thanks to the Stingray fence I had built around her.

But her fundamental mindset, shaped by being used to the wild and standing alone, hadn’t changed.

–Even alone, I’m fine.

–I can endure anything.

Because that belief lay at her core, her words sometimes came out rough and aggressive. Even if she knew it was a mistake—or knew she shouldn’t say it—she wouldn’t take it back.

‘Like when she kicked me the first time we met because she was angry, or when she flipped off the bigwigs after the [Showcase] ended.’

But in the end, a stray dog that refuses to be tamed and has no companions has only one fate.

Euthanasia—or dying naturally.

A stray that never follows humans or allows itself to be tamed will inevitably be killed, or wander the wilds alone until collapsing in misery.

So, in the end—

What I had to do in this episode was simple.

‘Break Iri’s way of thinking.’

A kind of shock therapy.

Drive her to the edge of the cliff, then catch her when she falls. Show her that in this world, you can’t survive on your own strength alone, and that she has an ally here.

A fully staged game of cards.

But unavoidable.

If I couldn’t tame Iri at this point, the consequences would go beyond just stumbling in the episodes to come.

When all the truths came to light—

Iri would probably break down on her own.

‘And by then, it would be irreversible.’

In the original novel, [Cyber-Module’s Necromancer], this was depicted rather cleverly.

A pitiful heroine bullied by the entire school because of her origins, and the male lead who saves her.

The most clichéd kind of rescue plot.

But you mustn’t meddle with it without fully understanding the process.

If you just relied on your knowledge of the original, punished the Leon group, or rescued Iri from the bullying, you’d end up with only half the intended result.

But—

‘I know people.’

I don’t just know “events,” I know the “people.”

I understood this world more deeply than anyone.

I knew exactly how Shade smiled.

I knew exactly how Iri cried.

I knew the lines that would comfort Miyu’s pain.

I knew the words that would tear open Ciel’s wounds.

I knew—

How to sit right here, without moving—

And still draw out the best possible result.

“Module offline.”

After confirming that Ciel had left, I deactivated the module. My appearance shifted back, the soaring overload rate dropped, and my body stabilized.

After taking a breath—

I set my cooled head to work again.

‘Alright, let’s review.’

I told Ciel this:

Aaron was injured in the last attack and went into hiding to recover. And the best way to draw him out was “to follow the original and use Leon’s bullying of Iri.”

But the truth was different.

That attack had been staged, and I wasn’t injured. Letting Leon’s atrocities continue was to ensure the successful conclusion of this Act 1 episode.

I instructed Ciel to approach Iri, who was suffering under Leon’s gang, comfort her, build rapport, and earn contribution points. Then, after the episode ended, share some of the rewards with me.

But I knew—

Ciel’s approach would backfire.

A bristling Iri would only see Ciel as an enemy, and her contribution points would plummet.

‘And Benedict will take all the blame.’

From this incident, a once-unclear “enemy” would be born—Benedict Stingray and his followers, villains as if drawn straight from a picture.

In this situation, there was only one thing I had to do.

Watch.

Gather information, making sure the incident didn’t drift in unintended directions. Not mistaking the timing of when to step in.

For about two days, I wandered around the Academy gathering information. Sometimes as Benedict, sometimes wearing another’s face, I got what I needed.

And what I learned—

‘Everything was going according to plan.’

Sure enough—

Leon’s gang used a “Wizard” to put a leash on Iri. The malicious module embedded in her neck had started gnawing at her nerves.

That’s why, before I went into hiding, I introduced Miyu to Iri—so Miyu could accurately diagnose Iri’s condition up close.

‘Miyu’s estimate was one week.’

The prediction of the best modular in the world wouldn’t be wrong. That left several days before the date the Titan was expected to appear.

I paid even closer attention to Iri’s situation, just in case. I monitored Ciel, Benedict, Leon… and the others just as carefully.

Yes, up to that point, it wasn’t hard.

Tricking Leon with Benedict’s face to get the release code in advance, or interfering so Ciel would ruin her relationship with Iri—those were simple enough for me.

Rather—

The hardest thing was…

Waiting.

“……”

Watching Iri’s situation without stepping in. I had no desire to go into detail about what she endured.

All I could say for certain was that Leon’s gang’s bullying was becoming increasingly severe.

Cunningly and meticulously—

As if slowly pushing the target to the edge of a cliff—

Eating away at their mind little by little.

It grew worse with each passing day.

Even worse the next day.

And worse still the day after that.

But Iri did not break.

When under strain, people tend to fall back on the strategies they are most familiar with. The more Leon’s gang bullied her, the more Iri refused to rely on anyone.

She locked the door to her heart even tighter, wrapped herself more firmly in her thorn-covered armor. She pressed her feet harder into the edge of the cliff and endured.

‘Ah…’

I marveled.

Even in such moments, I felt a shiver at her stubborn dignity—her refusal to give in no matter what. I almost wanted to salute that strength.

But at the same time, I shuddered with pity.

Why must it be like this… Why…

Why did her dignity have to lead only to loneliness? Why was a life that should have been showered with the Creator’s love instead steeped in so much pain?

And the moment I thought that—

I realized the damp, ugly feeling inside me.

Guilt? A sense of sin?

Was I sorry for doing nothing?

Did I tell myself it couldn’t be helped because of the situation?

Was it all “for the sake of the scenario”?

‘Throw all that out.’

Let’s be honest.

I wanted to see this scene.

The scene the original had glossed over vaguely—

The sight of Iri, unyielding even amid terrible persecution—

And then, blooming again from the mud.

It was a problem I could have solved in countless other ways. Yet I had deliberately chosen a path no different from the original, out of my own ugly desire.

‘…The Titans will be here soon.’

The time was approaching.

Iri’s deeply rooted obstinacy and delusions—

An overwhelming terror that would shatter her mindset completely, then force her to be reborn, was about to play its part.

‘And I have only one thing to do.’

Wait.

Until Iri fell from the cliff.

And then—after letting her taste a pinch of despair—

Offer my hand.

“They say there’s only a hair’s breadth between a hero and a villain…”

I muttered the thought without meaning to.

And then, as if it had been waiting—

Wiiiiiiiing—!

Sirens blared across the Academy. Without a doubt, it was an alert for a city assault.

“…It’s finally starting.”

The Titans’ invasion of the city.

Even the students were urgently mustered as military support, and the Academy was in an uproar for a while. I stayed still, waiting for the commotion to settle.

When the signs of life in the Academy had mostly disappeared, I finally rose from my seat.

It had been a long wait.

The time had come to bring everything to a close.

[Stage 4 Anti-rain alert has been issued. Citizens of Sector E, District 35, please remain indoors and await further instructions…]

Ssssshhhhhh—!

Artificial rainfall mixed with chemical agents poured down like a waterfall. The storm was so heavy you could barely see an inch ahead, and the drainage systems greedily swallowed the rushing water.

The sight reminded Iri of a mythical monster her brother had once told her about—a monster that devoured everything and eventually brought the world to ruin.

It was as if the monster’s gaping mouths were embedded all across the city.

She imagined that when their hunger reached its peak, they would finally consume even her.

Chewed to pieces—

Broken apart completely—

Dying in the belly of the monster called the city.

Such images flickered through her mind.

Kwaarrrrung—!

A deafening roar suddenly ripped through the air, snapping her back to reality. The source of the boom that pierced even the downpour was none other than the city wall’s automatic defense turrets.

“What the—!?”

“Uwaaaah!”

On the secondary wall protecting the city, the long-slumbering 105mm railguns, which had been little more than decoration, all began firing at once.

Iri had spent her whole life drifting between Sector E and the Fallen Sector, yet this was the first time in twenty years she had seen those things in action.

‘If they’re using something like that… does that mean something truly dangerous is attacking?’

The other Academy students seemed to sense the seriousness of the situation as well. Because of the pouring anti-rain, the internal comms network for the first-years—which had been left open—started buzzing with noise.

[H-have they already gotten this close?!]

[They’re still getting closer even with all this anti-rain pouring down?!]

[God, God, God…!]

[Shut up! Stop praying over comms, you’re jinxing us!]

[More importantly, can someone explain what’s actually going on?! How long are we going to be stuck here just waiting?!]

[What the hell are the Defense Forces doing? If they’re going to fight, they should fight—why are they just making us wait here?!]

The first-years, dragged from the Academy to Sector E on short notice, had no idea what they were supposed to be doing.

They had been hastily mustered because of manpower shortages, yet the field commander had given no proper explanation—just left them with orders to wait before vanishing.

With no information given, the unease among the first-years only spread faster.

Then—

A student who had been breaking regulations by checking online articles shared some new intel.

[Guys! There’s a news article! The “mystery” the Defense Forces are fighting right now—it’s probably the Titans!]

[T-Titans?!]

The Titans…

Weren’t they some of the highest-ranked monsters among the mysterious? Giants like that were attacking the city right now?

[The hell, don’t talk crap! If things like that were attacking, why wouldn’t they tell us?!]

[I can’t find any article like that. Where’s your source?!]

[Weekly Dave Journal!]

[What? That’s not news, that’s that garbage blog run by some idiot! You trying to scare us with that crap?]

[Idiot! Don’t you know all the major news is controlled by the megacorps and the government? Dave’s the real journalist here!]

An argument broke out among the students over whether the new information was true. The sheer pettiness of the fight was proof of how nervous they all were.

And then—

Someone pointed beyond the city’s outer wall. Past where the railgun turrets were firing relentlessly.

[Look over there!]

The heavy rain and mist obscured the view, but something massive was out there. A being so huge it could easily surpass the dozens-of-meters-high wall.

[That’s…!]

An overwhelming presence.

Each of the “mysteries” gave off its own unique energy. And just seeing the being beyond the wall made it hard to breathe.

The moment everyone saw it—

They knew what it was.

[It’s a Titan…!]

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep