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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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-The main quest has started early due to the Creator’s intervention.-
“…What?”
That notification popped up while I was cleaning up after the drunk kids.
Well, I was used to that notification itself, so it wasn’t surprising, but the timing was too random.
It was right after midterms ended.
I had already taken care of all the villains who were supposed to be active at this time, and the only one left was the head of the Twelve Zodiacs, but even he couldn’t move now since I had taken care of all his potential subordinates like Choi In-ho and the pervert elf.
No matter how much I racked my brain, I couldn’t think of any incident that would happen at this time.
My friend had a bit of a perverted streak and liked to torment his characters, but he wasn’t the type to twist his own story too much.
I carefully recalled if there was anyone I missed, but the only one I hadn’t caught was the idiot who was supposed to take the Saint’s Tears, Resurrection.
It couldn’t be him though since he would probably be caught before he could escape to the dungeon.
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t think of anyone other than the head of the Twelve Zodiacs or that guy.
There were plenty of villains who appeared later, but none of them were in a state to be active right now.
This wasn’t the first time I felt this way.
I had thought the same thing when Choi In-ho appeared and when Jin Kyung-tae acted a month earlier than he was supposed to.
At first, I thought it was just because the academy started a month earlier, or perhaps it was a butterfly effect caused by me, who wasn’t originally a resident of this world.
But while investigating the relics of Latis Erbashun, that perverted idiot elf, I couldn’t help but feel suspicious.
Why did he act so much earlier than he was supposed to, when he was originally supposed to try and take over the chairman position at the beginning of the third year?
And how did he get his hands on the brainwashing relic so quickly?
It would have been difficult to reverse it if I had acted later, now that I thought back to the original events.
I knew that this world would change due to my intervention, and the information I could use would gradually decrease.
But this was too strange.
As if someone who knew the future was directly helping them.
“…The Creator’s intervention.”
If there was anyone other than me who knew the future of this world, then I had a rough idea.
I thought I might be able to meet a familiar face soon.
“Master, are you alright?”
“Ah, yes, I’m fine. I’m just a little worried about something.”
“I brought you some honey water in case you have a hangover.”
“Hey, I didn’t drink that much.”
“Still, I made it for you, so I’d like you to drink it.”
“…Well, if you insist.”
A red-haired woman in a maid outfit offered me honey water.
Hmm, the warm honey water seemed to clear my cluttered mind a bit.
“It’s filled with my affection. Sticky, slimy affection.”
“…You didn’t put anything weird in it, did you? You’re just talking about honey, right?”
“Of course.”
“That’s a relief.”
“The water filled with the love from my body couldn’t possibly be anything strange, Master.”
“Cough…! Hack… hack…!!!”
“It’s a joke, so you can relax. I didn’t put anything in it besides dried pear and honey.”
…Damn it.
The one who gave me the honey water was Rose.
The homunculus I rescued from the dungeon that day.
As a side note, I told her to choose her own name since I wasn’t good at naming things, and she chose the name ‘Rose’ herself.
Rose. How straightforward.
After the dungeon exploration, she somehow came to the academy the next day, and I decided to hire her as a maid at our house for the time being.
I couldn’t enroll her in the academy, and I couldn’t just insert her as an inspector or assistant professor either.
When I went to ask my father, with countless excuses and explanations prepared, he simply said, “Do as you wish. But I would like to have some family time after your exams,” and let it slide.
Well, that was fine, but she, who wasn’t normal from the beginning, became even more sexually suggestive after putting on the maid uniform.
For the record, I had already asked her why she kept making sexually suggestive remarks every time I saw her, and her answer was simple.
-I saw it on the internet, and everyone seemed to like it.
The problem was that I had told her about the internet for her to be able to gather information, since there were many differences between the original world’s knowledge and this one.
No, honestly, I kind of expected this to happen.
But honestly, I wanted to see a homunculus character making jokes with rich emotions and using the internet.
I wasn’t the only one who thought that way, right?
I really enjoyed characters like this when I read about them in other novels.
But seeing her actually doing this felt like seeing my friend, who used to be shut in his room, going to work at a maid cafe for his first part-time job.
“…Well, anyway, thanks for the honey water.”
“Yes, the sticky water filled with my love, right?”
“You really didn’t put anything else in it, right?!”
Her smiling face was beautiful, but it made me feel incredibly uneasy.
Honestly, she seemed to be acting like this because she favored me, but I didn’t expect her to be this affectionate.
And I didn’t know I would react like this to someone being affectionate with me.
“I told you I would stop this if you were truly displeased.”
Yes, she did say that on the day she became a maid.
“And then you said, ‘However, I won’t be able to do all the things I’ve dreamed of alone for countless years, but that’s not more important than your situation,’ right?”
“Yes, I meant it.”
“…Fine. Just continue.”
I used to think it was ridiculous how dense protagonists would lose to heroines even when they were being taken advantage of, but now that I had transmigrated into a novel, I kind of understood them now.
I would usually tell her off, but what could I do if she said she had spent her entire life alone in a test tube and the first thing she wanted to do after escaping was make sexually suggestive jokes? I had to listen. I felt sorry for her, after all.
And if we were to compare who was more desperate, it was me.
It wasn’t like I was in a position to dislike her showing affection.
“I’m glad I have such a kind master.”
…Well? I wasn’t sure if I was kind.
Actually, I hadn’t completely given her freedom.
I had rescued her partly because I wanted her to become my villain comrade.
“What about the things I asked you to do?”
“The kingdom’s swordsmanship and alchemy from Father’s study are almost completely deciphered. I’ll start practical training soon.”
That “Father” was, of course, the Rose Alchemist.
“What about mana control?”
“I already had that knowledge while I was in the test tube, so I can already use it.”
Good, just like in her settings.
She was a homunculus created by inheriting both the legacy of the kingdom’s strongest knight and the Rose Alchemist, so she had a lot of potential.
She wasn’t at the level of Lilac or Cheon Yoo-hak, but wouldn’t she be able to compete with Ha-ni at her peak?
Since she already had the knowledge, all she lacked was research and practical experience. Once that was resolved, she would quickly become stronger.
“Judging by the way you’re looking at me, it seems like you need a little more of the sticky stuff I made.”
“No, I don’t.”
It would be great if she could just fix this habit of hers.
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The next day, for some reason, Ga-eul didn’t come to class.
Ha-ni and Lilac seemed to have apologized immediately. They must have been incredibly embarrassed.
As I was watching the rather original-story-breaking scene of Cheon Yoo-hak and Lilac teasing and joking with each other, a familiar professor came in for our homeroom class.
“Aha, hello everyone. As those of you in my mana studies class know, I’m your popular Professor Park Ah-ram.”
Huh?
“I came here to cover your homeroom class for Professor Cathy, who’s absent without leave. Well, there’s not much to do for homeroom, right? I’ll just take attendance and leave, so don’t worry.”
The classroom buzzed at her nonchalant bombshell.
Professor Cathy was absent without leave?
Some were flustered, and some seemed to think it was possible, but I couldn’t be so complacent.
There was only one episode in the original story where she was absent without leave.
But that was an event that originally happened in the second year.
No, damn it, this kind of thinking was meaningless.
Yes, hadn’t I just thought yesterday that things like this might happen more and more often?
Denying what had already happened and what was currently happening wasn’t a sound way of thinking.
It was more rational to think about what to do from now on.
And as a result of my contemplation, I stood up as soon as homeroom ended.
And as I stepped out the door, our little witch, Professor Park Ah-ram, was standing there as if waiting for me.
“Professor Park Ah-ram?”
“A search party has already been formed for Professor Cathy. There’s no need for Kang So-hyun to push himself.”
Perhaps that was true.
I wasn’t even sure if this was the same incident.
But the problem was that several hours had passed since the notification that the main quest had started.
If this incident was the episode I was thinking of, it would be better to have as many people as possible searching for the professor, since I didn’t know how far the incident had progressed.
And I had a strange feeling that if I wasn’t there, she would meet the same end as in the original story.
My friend really seemed to hate it when the story became too lighthearted.
He would force it to become darker.
“I have to go because of circumstances. And it’s better to have more people for this kind of search.”
“Really? Even so, I’m a professor, so I can’t just ignore three honor students skipping class.”
“What?”
I turned around, and Lilac and Cheon Yoo-hak, who had followed me out, were standing behind me.
“So-hyun, you know where to go, right?”
“You seem to be in a hurry, so lead the way. Opportunities to stand before me are rare.”
Wow.
Normally, I would have thought it was a bit much, but seeing them follow me without even asking about the situation made me realize they were protagonists for a reason.
Ah! So cool! No wonder the girls fell for them so easily…!
“Oh, good. I like that, it feels youthful. But you all know you’ll get penalty points if you leave like this, right?”
“I’m the top student, so it’s fine even if I get some penalty points.”
“I’m not in a position to worry about points either.”
“Aha, this is a problem. There are so many students I like in this freshman class.”
Saying that, she handed us a piece of paper that said “Temporary Leave Pass.”
“A professor should do this much for her honor students. It’s enough of a reward if Kang So-hyun becomes my lab assistant.”
Lilac and Cheon Yoo-hak nodded.
They were so cool just moments ago, why were these bastards selling me out?
“I don’t want to.”
“As someone said, it’s better to have more people searching. But don’t push yourself too hard. You have to run away if there’s a dangerous villain.”
“No, I said I don’t want to.”
“I don’t think Professor Cathy would want you, especially Kang So-hyun, to get hurt because of her.”
Huh? She’s completely ignoring me?
“Anyway, I’m not going to be a lab assistant, but thank you for the leave pass.”
“Haha, seeing your hands being honest while saying you don’t want to, you’re going to become my assistant anyway. Then be careful and don’t push yourselves.”
Lab assistant, what a horrible thing to say.
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‘Huh, how did I get home yesterday…?’
‘No, did I even go home?’
“Sister? Are you okay?”
“Ah, yes. I was a little dazed and didn’t hear you. Don’t worry. I’ll definitely find your parents.”
That was right. Cathy didn’t go home yesterday.
She had been looking for this child’s parents after he said he got separated from them and lost his way in the park yesterday.
It was fine since she was a superhuman, but she couldn’t keep dragging a child around, so she needed to rest.
“Aren’t you tired?”
“No, I’m fine.”
He was a good kid, not showing his fatigue even though he must be tired.
She thought he only resembled her brother’s looks, but he was just like her brother in this aspect too.
She used to take care of him because of this side of him too.
‘…Him?’
The image of someone surfaced in her hazy mind, fragmented and disappearing.
‘No.’
But that disappearing sensation was strangely unpleasant, so she forcibly held onto the fragment of memory that was trying to disappear.
‘Don’t run away.’
‘You can’t go.’
‘You’re mine. Don’t run away.’
The hazy memory became clearer, and the fragmented image, like a mosaic, gradually regained its original form.
Black hair and red eyes.
The image of a boy with a constantly sullen expression gradually surfaced in her mind.
Kang OO.
A name with a part she couldn’t remember came to her mind.
“Si-sister?”
“Yes?”
Ah, the moment she answered, the memory she had been trying so hard to recall scattered again.
But it was okay.
Kang OO.
Since she hadn’t completely forgotten, she would remember it again.
It was enough that she recalled one part of his name for now.
She would find this child’s parents and slowly recall it.
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“…What? She was definitely affected by the relic.”
“What’s wrong?”
“No, she shouldn’t be able to remember anything else, but… Is this even possible…?”
A woman who was watching her from afar shuddered at an unknown chill.
The relic should have definitely completely brainwashed her and even her talent by now.
It must have been some kind of delusion.
Was it even possible to resist a hero-grade relic with willpower alone?
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T/N – I knew it, it really was Professor Cathy’s death scenario. The MC’s author friend is really a dick to the point that I question how the fuck did they become friends in the first place.
Also, I like Rose. I do hope her jokes stay jokes. The MC has too many women already as it is. Lastly, lol as the MC being forced to become Professor Park Ah-ram’s lab assistant.
If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.
Professor Cathy!!!!!!