Night came without fail, despite the chaos engulfing the academy.
Some instructors argued that the cadets' unsettled atmosphere needed to be brought under control, but Ideale decided there was no need to do so and maintained the current state.
First of all, this was neither a terrorist attack nor a coup.
More importantly, she understood better than anyone that putting additional pressure on the cadets in an already gloomy atmosphere could easily backfire.
Humans were not machines.
No...
Ever since the concept of the Machine Spirit had come into existence, even androids and strong AIs had developed emotions.
What more needed to be said?
“...Sigh.”
That did not mean the atmosphere resembled an ordinary day.
The soldiers patrolling the grounds remained visibly on edge, while most of the cadets had already returned to their dormitories early, casting a heavy gloom over the academy.
Perhaps because of that...
Martin looked around more cautiously than usual as he headed toward the secluded corner of the park where he always spent time with Aton.
Then he approached Aton, who stood there smoking with an unmistakably anxious expression.
“Hey.”
“......”
No answer came.
Aton irritably ruffled his hair before lowering his gaze to the countless cigarette butts scattered around his feet, grinding his teeth.
“Hey, Aton.”
“...Shut.”
“What?”
“I said shut the fuck up!”
Aton glared at him with bloodshot eyes.
His emotions had become so unstable that Psionic Energy leaked from his body, making his stare terrifying enough in the dark corner of the park.
This time, however, Martin refused to back down so easily.
No...
Martin was just as agitated.
He immediately grabbed Aton by the collar and spoke through trembling lips, teeth clenched tightly.
“I told you we shouldn't do it, didn't I?!
Damn it, people died!
No matter how screwed up we are, this is...!”
“You fucking idiot...”
Aton instantly balled up his fist and drove it into Martin's face.
Baaam!
As their rankings clearly reflected, Martin was no match for Aton.
His nose burst open, and he was thrown backward.
Blood splattered across Aton's clenched fist.
But Martin was no longer thinking rationally either.
He scrambled back to his feet and charged at Aton.
Before long, the two were locked in an all-out brawl.
“You bastard!”
“Ghk!”
The fight was over almost immediately.
And once again...
The one lying on the ground was Martin.
“Huff... huff...!
Cough!”
Aton mercilessly stomped on Martin's stomach as he lay there, gasping in pain with broken teeth and a split cheek.
Then, growling like a rabid dog, he muttered,
“...Nobody knows anyway, damn it.
They said there's no evidence left behind.
As long as we keep our mouths shut, no one will ever know.
You pathetic idiot.”
Was it because he had always despised Martin for constantly hiding behind him?
Or was he simply trying to justify his own actions somehow?
Looking down at Martin, who trembled pitifully beneath his foot, Aton continued,
“And is it our fault those bastards died?
They died because they kept forcing themselves to attend those useless lectures.
Right?”
It was sophistry.
An excuse.
An act of escape.
Yet Aton, his eyes half-mad with anxiety, kept repeating it.
“Yeah...
None of this is my fault...
Fuck.”
Looking up at the completely broken Aton through one swollen eye...
Martin may have realized it at that very moment.
...Everything Aton was saying was nothing more than self-justification to convince himself.
The dead of night.
“...Sigh.”
At three in the morning, when nearly every cadet and instructor had long since gone to bed, Ideale quietly rose from her seat and left the Headmaster's office.
“Salute!”
The soldiers she occasionally encountered saluted her, but none of them questioned where she was going.
Given the hour, they naturally assumed she was returning to her quarters.
However...
That was not her destination.
Taking a route with as few soldiers as possible, Ideale eventually arrived where she intended to go.
“...Yaaawn.
You're late.”
“Let's go inside, Obia.”
The Headquarters of the Military Police Battalion at the Central Special-duty Officer Academy.
Obia, who had already received word and was waiting outside, greeted her there.
Ideale walked past her and entered the headquarters.
The Military Police maintained neutrality as a matter of principle.
Moreover, most of them held favorable opinions of both Jin Crow and Ideale.
Arranging a secret meeting with Jin Crow was therefore not difficult.
Creeeak.
The old steel door opened.
As she stepped into the interrogation room, Jin Crow, who had been waiting, stubbed out the cigarette he had been smoking before turning his gaze toward her.
“You've come, Headmaster.”
“How many have you... Cough.”
She had not intended to say something like that the moment they met.
But the interrogation room was so thick with cigarette smoke that she could not help herself.
The smoke was so dense that even the CCTV footage had likely become nearly impossible to see clearly.
Ideale was a non-smoker.
More than that...
She absolutely hated cigarette smoke.
Still, she chose not to say anything further.
She already knew how much Jin Crow normally smoked.
And after everything that had happened today...
She could hardly blame a smoker for smoking this much.
“...Please bear with it for a moment.”
Still...
This one sentence had to be said.
At this rate, even a superhuman might start worrying about suffocating from secondhand smoke.
“Understood.”
At her words, Jin Crow casually tossed his second empty pack of cigarettes into the trash bin.
Silence lingered briefly.
Ideale glanced toward Obia.
Understanding immediately, Obia let out a long yawn before nodding.
“You two have a nice talk.
Yaaawn.”
Judging by her messy red hair, she had clearly been dozing off until moments ago.
As soon as Obia left, Ideale looked at Jin Crow with a conflicted expression and finally spoke.
“The Rosen Faction still refuses to respond.
The Kukenhauzen side and the Alliance of Minor Factions have requested that you be suspended from duty and that the Ministry of National Defense's Inspection Bureau conduct an investigation.”
“A suspension and an inspection, huh.
Thorough.”
At his words, Ideale could only nod.
If the Kukenhauzen Faction or the Alliance of Minor Factions had demanded harsher punishment—such as removing Jin Crow from his position or suspending him outright—she would have had grounds to object.
Instead...
Their demands remained entirely reasonable and well within common sense.
“They intend to tighten the pressure slowly.
Either way.”
“I suppose so.”
“Have you discovered anything regarding the text message that impersonated you, Headmaster?”
She shook her head.
That fake message had been the very first thing they investigated.
But apart from confirming it had been the work of Darknet Divers...
They had found nothing.
The academy's internal security had not been breached.
Instead, someone had skillfully manipulated the message to appear as though it had come from Ideale herself.
Essentially...
It had been an elaborate spoofed message.
Who could have imagined...
A fake text message impersonating the Headmaster?
“Moreover, Assistant Instructor Ginnatio is still unconscious.”
“...Sigh.”
Hearing that, Jin Crow narrowed his eyes slightly before reaching into his coat.
He pulled out a fresh pack of Black Star cigarettes, opened it, and placed one between his lips.
Naturally...
Ideale stared at him with an expression of utter betrayal.
Jin Crow ignored her and lit the cigarette anyway.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Smoke drifted upward before disappearing into the ventilation system.
Finally giving up, Ideale continued speaking.
“I also heard Professor Lillian's return has been delayed.
Naomi and the research team are insisting that an external piece of malicious code was responsible.”
“They're probably right.”
“...Malicious code capable of infecting Training Dummies.”
Just as she said...
The researchers were not fools.
Putting realism aside, the fact that a perfectly synchronized dummy had suddenly displayed aggressive attack patterns that had never been programmed was undeniably unnatural.
‘The problem is...
Even knowing the cause doesn't mean you can stop it.’
In the original story, the answer behind the incident was not revealed until roughly six months after it occurred.
In other words...
There was nothing that could be done now.
By the time Jin Crow had smoked about half his cigarette, Ideale quietly spoke again.
“...I won't be able to stop the suspension or the inspection.
Their justification is simply too perfect.”
“I know.”
“......”
His calm acceptance caused Ideale to swallow the words she had been about to say.
Both of them already understood.
Neither needed to say it aloud.
They both had a rough idea of why this incident had happened.
“Most likely...
The Kukenhauzen Faction is behind this.
Their objective is probably to force me from my position.”
For now, it remained nothing more than suspicion.
But Ideale had spent her life suffering beneath her family's schemes.
She knew the pattern all too well.
It was always the same.
Pile every mistake and disgrace onto the subordinate responsible for carrying out the work.
Then force her into submission when she could no longer bear it.
Unable to meet Jin Crow's indifferent gaze as he calmly continued smoking, Ideale quietly said,
“...I'm sorry.
Because of me, you've...”
But at that very moment—
Sssst.
He crushed the nearly finished cigarette into the ashtray before looking directly at her.
Then he answered.
“It was I who proposed introducing the Creature Training Dummies.
It was also I who left my assigned post as an instructor.”
His voice carried no obvious emotion.
“And I was also the one who chose to visit Professor Lillian.”
There was no anger.
No resentment.
Only a calm, matter-of-fact recitation of undeniable truths.
Ideale slowly lifted her head.
Inside the tiny interrogation room, barely five pyeong in size...
Separated by a steel desk while seated on a steel chair...
Those black eyes looked back at her without the slightest wavering.
“I initiated every one of those decisions.
I made them.
Therefore, I am the one who should bear responsibility.”
He declared quietly.
Then added,
“I have no attachment to my position as an instructor.
However...
I hope you'll prevent the Creature lectures from disappearing because of this incident.”
He spoke of his own end with complete composure.
And yet...
Even then, he continued speaking about the future.
Several times Ideale parted her lips...
Only to close them again.
‘This isn't self-sacrifice.
Nor is it heroism.’
Having looked into Jin Crow's black eyes countless times...
Ideale understood.
Within those eyes...
Within the depths of his heart...
There was no fundamental expectation of humanity.
‘Why...?
Why did you become like this?’
She wanted to ask.
What on earth had happened to make him this way?
Anyone would have found this situation unjust.
It would have been perfectly natural for him to resent the Kukenhauzen Family.
Or even to resent Ideale herself for dragging him into all of this.
Yet...
He simply did not care.
As though...
Without expectations, disappointment itself could never exist.
‘Even Rosen refuses to protect Jin Crow.
Yet he never questioned it.
As though he had expected that from them all along.’
When that realization struck her...
Sympathy.
Anger.
And an inexplicable bitterness welled up within her as she unconsciously clenched her fist.
Perhaps...
Just perhaps...
Was it because Instructor Jin Crow expected nothing from Rosen either?
Maybe he had always known.
That to the enormous Rosen Faction...
He was nothing more than a disposable pawn to be used and discarded.
“...I'll find a way.
Somehow.”
Quietly repeating those words to herself, Ideale left the interrogation room.
As she stepped outside the Military Police headquarters, she took a short breath of the cold pre-dawn air.
Then her brilliant white eyes gleamed sharply as she whispered,
“...Even if it means becoming an enemy of my family.”
It was a resolve unlike any she had ever made before.
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