Episode 66 – Collapse (3)

Collapse (3)

The monitoring room detected the rapidly rampaging Mana Nucleus. The overflowing spirits had already exceeded the threshold, and the escaped spirits, taking the form of human faces, filled the interior of the barrier.

Vrrrrrrrrrr───!

Vibrations shook the monitoring room. A surge of crimson magic power flowed in from beyond the screen.

“Damn it! Explain! Why is this happening?”

“I can’t ascertain the details.”

Shelton jumped up and glared at the surveillance camera, but the camera screen remained the same.

For the past 5 minutes, Shion and Soliette had been standing still, facing each other. It looked like a still image, but time was still passing.

What is this, are they entranced by the phantom?

Shelton grabbed the shoulder of the middle manager.

“Give me a probability, even if it’s just a guess!”

“From a magical, scientific, and probabilistic perspective, it’s inexplicable. The output of the Mana Nucleus has suddenly upgraded. It’s a matter worth reporting to the academic community-”

“Report, my ass! So what happens now?”

Boom──!

A massive shock hit the monitoring room. Several researchers fainted and fell to the floor.

The middle manager spoke.

“……The resonance within the Mana Nucleus, the shell of the Mana Nucleus can’t withstand it. It’s causing its own collapse. It’s an impossible phenomenon. An unforeseen variable.”

“No, so, if it causes a collapse, so what about the Mana Nucleus?”

“…….”

The middle manager let go of his hand.

The hand that had been fiddling with the keyboard and mouse for 30 hours straight was neatly gathered on his lap.

“It’s already irreversible.”

“What the──!”

Shelton felt like he was going crazy. The back of his head was hot as if it had been filled with lava, and static electricity kept crackling on his back.

“So the solution is-”

“The Mana Nucleus has already collapsed.”

The manager pointed to the screen as if to confirm the kill.

The drone camera overlooking the barrier.

Crackling…….

In this artificial barrier, which Shelton and the tower had poured hundreds of millions of Ren into, cracks were being engraved.

One by one, it was breaking into fragments.

“…….”

Shelton stared blankly.

His legs gave way.

When he came to his senses, his knees were on the ground.

60 million Ren. The cost invested in this Mana Nucleus.

6 billion Ren. The value of the ‘comprehensive theme park’ to be produced with this Mana Nucleus.

That’s the value when measured at the very lowest.

“Ah…… Fuuuuuuck!”

Shelton roared like a beast and looked around at the researchers. He glared at each one of them.

“You guys! This kind of! Design! And Fuck! How did you make it!”

“It seems to be force majeure. If we consider the probability, it’s almost zero…….”

He shut the middle manager’s mouth with his bloodshot eyes.

“You should have responded first instead of blaming the probability, you, you dumb probability-heads——!”

───Rumble rumble rumble rumble!

The sound of an explosion echoed through the speakers.

Shelton and the researchers turned to the monitor at the same time.

Whoosh────.

The entire barrier was collapsing.

Like a wrongly pulled block in Jenga, so emptily.

In an instant.

More feebly than a sandcastle.

Zzzzt-.

Soon after, the entire screen cut off with noise.

The monitoring room was completely blacked out.

“Ha, hahaha…….”

In that darkness, only Shelton’s hollow laughter faintly echoed.

______________________________________________________________________

[0 : 00 : 00]

I returned as the last one standing. The place was Clemen Hall, but it was empty. There was no Soliette, no one else.

Creak-

Just then, the front door opened. A man in a gown walked in.

“Hey.”

It was Shelton.

“Congratulations. You’re first.”

With a grim face, he glared at me and asked.

“Just one question. Nothing happened in there, right?”

He’s getting informal because he’s shaken.

Now he’s showing his true colors.

“Yes. Something did happen.”

“What happened?”

“Suddenly, those phantom faces…… Ugh, it’s horrifying. I’m still getting PTSD.”

“……Anything else?”

“Anything else? I’m telling you I’m getting PTSD. Shouldn’t I be compensated for psychological damage?”

At the mention of psychological damage compensation, Shelton slightly shivered.

“That was part of the task, so there’s no such thing.”

“Give me my money. At least the 30 Ren you took from me.”

“……Tsk. Well. What could a D- like you do with a Mana Nucleus anyway. Live your life leeching off others.”

Shelton sighed heavily and turned around. It’s helpful to have a D- grade at times like this. I’m not suspected at all, am I? Or is it not suspicious that a D- came in first?

Thud-

Shelton stopped and turned back to me.

“Hey. You said 30 Ren would do.”

“……What?”

He pulled out 30 Ren from his wallet and stuffed it into my coat pocket.

“Don’t say anything else. Consider this psychological damage compensation, settled for 30 Ren.”

“…….”

As he was saying this absurd thing, he left Clemen Hall. His lab coat pocket was ringing with his phone going off – wiiing- wiiing- wiiiiiiing-.

Those are unusual alarms. I’m really looking forward to what’s going to happen next.

“Goodbye. You won’t get far.”

I smiled broadly.

Of course, he’ll have his own backup. He’s a guy who’s managed to pull together an investment of tens of millions of Ren on his own, so his ability is certain.

So, a double tap might be necessary.

I picked up my smartphone. I dialed a number I had saved before.

Ring ring ring- ring ring ring-

—Hello.

I thought she wouldn’t pick up, but surprisingly, she picked it up right away.

“……Ah yes.”

—Who is this?

Her voice was full of thorns, as if she hadn’t slept.

“I’m sorry to bother you, but I wanted to make a tip.”

—Who are you? Do I know you?

“……Isn’t this Inspector Rena Heller?”

—Yes, but who are you? Yawn.

While yawning, I could hear the sound of her sinking into a chair.

She must be busy with her work.

“I saw you last time in the Recordark interrogation room.”

—What… Ah, the yellow buzz cut one? Shion Ascal?

I smiled silently.

At least she remembers my name.

—Hey. Do you want to die? You’re climbing up because I’m looking at you. How dare you call Edsilla’s inspector?

“……I told you when we met. I said I’d call if I had a tip.”

—What tip?

“There’s been an incident at the College Board.”

—The College Board?

Rena raised the end of his sentence.

“Yes. Do you know about the Cadillac Casino incident?”

—How would I not know? It’s an incident that’s in the textbooks.

“That Mana Nucleus from then, it might not have been released.”

—…What did you say?

Rena’s voice changed instantly.

She deduced the whole story from just this 30-second conversation. Well, she’s a guy who has all of Edsilla’s cases and precedents in her head.

“Try investigating. An interesting person might come out.”

—Hey, wait-

I hung up the phone after leaving just that.

As I said, Rena is a competent inspector. In Edsilla, which is almost like a caste system, she’s a unique character who has risen to the position of chief inspector while taking down quite a few nobles.

If I gave her this much information, she would handle it on her own.

______________________________________________________________________

At the same time.

Prestige, one of the top-tier apartments in Edsilla.

“Sigh……”

6-star prospect Elise Petra is still buried in bed.

She’s depressed.

She’s embarrassed.

She’s annoyed.

It’s hard to estimate how much CP she lost in this assignment.

Of course, she can easily enter Edsilla National University, but Elise’s goal was more than that.

Top of the entire College Board.

She wanted to prove herself by standing at the very top.

Rumor has it that Gerkhen Kal Doon and Soliette are at the full score cutline…

“……Sigh.”

A sigh slipped out. She clenched her pillow with both hands and axed the poor bed.

Bang- Bang- Bang- Bang-

Like a beaver cracking a clam, she did this for a while, then lay back down in a proper position and looked up at the ceiling.

She’s depressed.

She’s embarrassed.

She’s annoyed… No.

No.

Nothing changes by just lying down like this.

Everyone fails. The same goes for the legends of the continent.

They all failed, fell, and collapsed more than once, but what was important was the ability to overcome that failure and stand up again.

Bounce back.

She can definitely do that too.

Because she has the talent that everyone envies. Because she has more than enough qualities to become a legend.

Elise sat up.

“……Ah.”

But her body won’t listen. Physically, she keeps sagging as if she’s been injured.

She doesn’t want to do anything, suddenly she doesn’t want to live, everything feels meaningless.

“……”

She stared blankly at the door of her room. It was wide open.

All the doors in her residence are open. They don’t close. They can’t be closed.

Let’s think positively, the problem that day might not have been just about the grades.

It might have been fortunate that she didn’t die that day.

The Room 444 incident was the worst of the worst. The worst in nearly three years.

The panic on the fourth floor that day was so suffocating to recall, and at the same time, confusing.

What exactly happened to me there?

Was I forcibly transferred just before I died, or…

Did ‘someone’ really save me?

“……There was someone.”

She shook her head.

There’s no need to worry about this.

There was definitely someone there. The faint memory, the touch, the warmth in her drowning consciousness was more certain than anything else.

Elise trusts her memory.

She didn’t survive by simple coincidence, but because of some ‘unknown man’, she didn’t die.

That’s why it’s more problematic.

Who on earth?

Ding-

Her smartphone rang.

Elise groped around the bed and grabbed it. There were many messages, but she ignored them.

She searched for puppies on YouTV. She also searched for rabbits. She blankly watched them eat and run around, then put it down again.

Ding-

The smartphone rang again. She glanced at it, and her eyes widened.

[James: We’re meeting at 7 today, right?]

“Ah…… right.”

There was a meeting for the festival play.

The casting was done even before the College Board assignment started.

First, four people who take the Latinel class together. James, Wendy, Brown, Del.

Two Edsilla National University students aspiring to be musical actors. Miller, Sasha.

Including Elise herself, seven people.

The meeting time is Saturday at 7 p.m.

It’s just an hour away.

Elise forced herself to get up.

Indeed, the will to keep a promise can overcome even this emptiness-

“Ah.”

She collapsed back onto the bed.

If they talk about the play, they’ll definitely ask about the assignment during the break.

What should she answer then?

Should she just set it as a taboo topic?

Ding-

[JR: I heard the rumors. But don’t worry.]

This time it was a message from the admission consultant.

How did he know without her even telling him?

[JR: The score difference is enough to turn the tables.]

The rumor has already spread so much, and he’s saying not to worry, but it seems to have worsened.

Elise gritted her teeth.

Who spread the rumor? Should she go and kill them?

[It’s okay.]

It wasn’t okay, but she replied that way and crawled out of bed. She rolled out of the bedroom with her strengthless body.

“Miss! Are you okay?!”

Petra’s servants rushed in. They all had worried faces.

Elise spoke in a pained tone.

“Prepare… some clothes… I have to go… for a play meeting….”