‘More than a hundred people died.’
A conscience is like a sharp triangle.
Once it is worn down over and over until its point disappears, it becomes a circle and no longer hurts.
But to become that dull, one must discard countless things.
The time when that point wears away differs for everyone.
Some are born with triangles already close to circles.
Most people, however, are born with one that is quite sharp, whether large or small.
And Martin was an ordinary person whose guilt and conscience had yet to wear away.
No matter how superhuman one became, their foundation still began as an ordinary person living in today's world.
At first, he tried to deny it.
No, calling it avoidance would be more accurate.
From beginning to end, Aton had taken the lead in everything.
So it was true that he had constantly convinced himself he bore no responsibility.
But that defense mechanism shattered into meaninglessness the moment he saw the infirmary.
Aaaaargh!
My arm... my arm...!
Those screams still echoed in his ears.
Pain.
Grief.
Fear.
Sorrow.
Even Support Department cadets, who were comparatively accustomed to such scenes, were quietly struggling mentally.
There was no way Martin could have remained unaffected.
“......”
Aton had lost his mind.
After confirming that, Martin returned to his dormitory room and spent several days lying in bed.
He skipped classes, claiming he was ill, but with quite a few students suffering from PTSD, no one thought much of it.
...Besides, many lectures had already been canceled.
During that time, Martin curled himself up alone in the now-empty dormitory, clutching his head with his haggard face.
‘Damn it. I should've stopped him.’
His emotions were impossibly complicated.
It was not simply guilt.
If this incident came to light, he feared the contempt and fury that would be directed at him from every direction.
He was not an idiot.
From the moment he started hanging around with Aton—
No, from the moment he had been swept up by Aton's momentum that night and followed him—
He knew better than anyone that he could never escape responsibility for what had happened.
He understood that much rationally.
Perhaps, just as Aton had said, if the two of them simply kept their mouths shut, Instructor Jin Crow would shoulder all the blame and everything would end.
‘But...’
Was remaining silent really the right thing to do?
Martin's worries only grew deeper.
“Ahtom and Mahreen.”
“Aton and Martin, Ran.”
Correcting Dokgo Ran's pronunciation, Famille swept her gaze across the cadets before speaking.
“They're suspicious, but that's all they are. There's nothing we can actually do.”
It was an extremely cold and matter-of-fact statement.
Yet paradoxically, everyone found themselves silently agreeing.
The evidence Ner had brought.
Certainly, there were suspicious elements.
However, once researchers like Naomi had already been detained and Lillian was absent, it had effectively lost all value as evidence.
Reminding everyone of that fact, Famille looked toward Ner, who was now sitting on Miel's lap.
“I understand how you feel, but we're only cadets too. We can't do as much as you're hoping.”
“I see.”
Ner looked disappointed.
Still, Famille wasn't wrong.
Just as Miel and Hino Kanae were about to comfort the disappointed-looking Ner—
Dokgo Ran suddenly spoke.
“Why don't we just tell the Military Police?”
Lately, she had occasionally said surprisingly sensible things, so everyone had unconsciously hoped for something.
But Baek Hwi-young shook his head.
If it were really that simple, Ner would never have come looking for them.
Sure enough.
Famille, who had also briefly entertained the possibility, looked at Dokgo Ran with an expression that plainly said, 'Of course.'
“What exactly were you listening to? For this to become evidence, we need something much more definitive.”
“Really? Then forget it.”
Come to think of it, this was the Dokgo Ran they knew.
Because they all knew that, everyone abandoned their expectations far more quickly than before, and silence settled over the room once again.
Perhaps that was only natural.
No matter how they would eventually become the famed Riders of the Stars, at present they were nothing more than somewhat outstanding cadets.
But then—
Unexpectedly, it was Baek Hwi-young who broke the silence.
“Let's post it on Blind.”
“Huh?”
Miel turned toward him in confusion.
The other cadets reacted no differently.
Blind?
Out of nowhere?
Yet, contrary to expectations, Famille—who seemed the most likely to object—seriously nodded before adding,
“That might actually be the only way.”
Ever since the rise of the internet as a virtual space, anonymity had always been one of its hottest topics.
Its advantages and disadvantages were both painfully obvious.
On one hand, an unspecified crowd could slander a specific individual and spread false information.
On the other hand, anonymity made whistleblowing and exposing matters in the public interest much easier.
Naturally, what Baek Hwi-young had proposed was the latter.
“The academy's Blind guarantees anonymity, and it's a community secretly used by cadets, instructors, and staff alike. Even if it's only circumstantial evidence, it'll be enough to stir controversy there.”
To begin with, the academy's Blind was not run by the military.
He did not know who had originally created it.
Rumor had it that someone from the very first graduating class had built a small site to help cadets communicate, and it had simply continued existing ever since.
‘This has precedent. Even the factions can't completely ignore cadet public opinion.’
Instructors generally refrained from recruiting first- and second-year cadets because withdrawals were still common.
But once cadets reached their third year, becoming entangled in factional politics was practically unavoidable.
Yes.
This had already become a political struggle.
And Baek Hwi-young had absolutely no intention of siding with Kukenhauzen.
...Even if he still had not completely decided what to do about Jin Crow.
“Not a bad idea.”
“I agree.”
Beatus nodded.
Hino Kanae voiced her agreement immediately afterward.
“Why make it so complicated? I said we should just tell the Military Police.”
Naturally, Dokgo Ran remained unimpressed by all this talk about Blind.
Fortunately, unlike her, everyone else possessed enough intelligence to distinguish between situations where they should step forward and situations where they should not.
“Are you okay with this?”
“Yes.”
Ner nodded at Miel's question.
She understood better than anyone that this was not something that could be solved through force alone.
“Let's start with that.”
And above all—
She was confident.
“I'll make the post.”
Inside her mind, countless pieces of information on 'How to maximize clicks' had already been neatly organized.
Exactly one hour later.
A bomb exploded on the Central Special-duty Officer Academy Blind, which had remained shrouded in gloom ever since the Bishop incident.
――――
■Free Board
[The EU Why Central Special-duty Officer Academy Is Complete Garbage]
[Anonymous N124]
Sorry, baited you into clicking this.
But you wouldn't have clicked otherwise, right? ㅇㅈ?
Anyway, I'm a researcher working in the Research Building, and there's something seriously weird about the Bishop incident.
It's not even my specialty, but I occasionally help out there, so I know this much.
Training Dummies fundamentally can't go berserk like they did this time.
Why?
Because they're literally designed not to.
Even if there's a bug, a malfunction, or someone screws up the calibration, it's still impossible.
To put it simply, it'd be like your Watch bugging out and suddenly hacking Sirt Planet's planetary defense system to launch orbital bombardment.
Yeah.
In short, it makes zero sense.
And honestly, Instructor Jin Crow's personality might be trash, but he came back from Mercato with his body wrecked trying to save cadets.
Would someone like that knowingly leave something that dangerous alone?
Yeah...
I don't buy it lol.
[Upvotes: 442][Downvotes: 32]
Comments / Oldest▼
Anonymous F005
Honestly, agreed.
Didn't want to say it because so many people died, but there definitely were suspicious parts.
Anonymous N663
So what's your point?
That Instructor Jin Crow is innocent? lol;
Anonymous B431
The suspicious part is real.
Still doesn't mean he's completely free of responsibility though?
――――
It began as a small post raising a simple question.
At first, public opinion remained evenly divided because the atmosphere toward Instructor Jin Crow was already overwhelmingly negative.
But once the question had been raised, it began leading to more and more questions.
――――
■Free Board
[Honestly, It Is Weird]
[Anonymous X111]
Professor Lillian graduated first in her class from Fundamentum Stellar University and pioneered Training Dummies.
You're telling me she'd make a mistake this catastrophic?
[Upvotes: 55][Downvotes: 2]
――――
The controversy spread like a plague.
Some genuinely questioned the incident.
Some merely treated it as entertaining gossip.
Others rejected every suspicion outright.
Before long, Blind was literally on fire.
――――
■Free Board
[Instructor Jin Crow Isn't a Bad Person]
[Anonymous A711]
At least he's more gentlemanly than those idiots who hit on androids because they think they're easy targets;
[Upvotes: 155][Downvotes: 7]
Comments / Oldest▼
Anonymous N663
Lmao, the tin can is talking.
└ Anonymous A040
Lmao, the biological lifeform is talking.
――――
Posts fueling the controversy.
Posts denying it.
Posts inventing conspiracy theories.
Posts spreading nothing but hatred.
Even bait posts caught in the middle.
Once the entire forum had become an absolute hellscape worthy of the Antichrist's arrival—
The original poster, 'Anonymous N124'—
Or rather, Ner—
Released the evidence she had been waiting to post.
――――
■Free Board
[I'm Blowing the Whistle. Something's Wrong.]
[Anonymous N124]
■Attached Files (2)
As you can see, the data around 2:05 a.m. differs from the normal records.
It's like someone copied and pasted it.
And the CCTV just happened to reboot around the same time.
Judge for yourselves.
ㅇㅇ.
[Upvotes: 1,715][Downvotes: 9]
Comments / Oldest▼
Anonymous N063
Can someone who knows explain?
└ Anonymous A040
It's a little hard to explain, but Training Dummies are based on bioengineering, so their internal electrical signals naturally follow consistent patterns.
At a glance it doesn't look strange, but once you analyze it closely, it's definitely abnormal.
That's not a pattern a simple malfunction could produce.
Anonymous A711
Could there really be something behind this...? ㅠ
Anonymous X111
I'm a senior researcher in the Research Building.
Even without Professor Lillian, that's unquestionably an abnormal pattern.
There's no way a natural malfunction could create it.
And the CCTV reboot...
Pretty suspicious lol.
Anonymous F007
So what's the conclusion?
Someone intentionally tried to screw over Instructor Jin Crow?
I'm not the only one thinking of 'that duo,' right? lol.
└ Anonymous A993
If this is true, that's actually terrifying;
└ Anonymous G220
Those crazy bastards.
I'd love to tear them apart.
└ Anonymous B379
I'm staying neutral for now.
Nothing's confirmed yet.
Although...
Now that you mention it, I haven't seen them around lately...
└ Anonymous A711
If this is true, Instructor Jin really got screwed over... ㅠㅠ
――――
Everything happened within just three hours.
Before long, Blind had reached the point where it was burning on its own even without any further posts from her.
Seeing that, Ner logged out of her device with a satisfied expression, as though her work was finished, and looked up.
“It's done. Now we'll get a response.”
Meanwhile, Baek Hwi-young and the cadets, who had watched everything unfold in real time, could only stare blankly at Ner while unconsciously sharing the exact same thought.
‘...No wonder she's Instructor Jin Crow's ward.’
‘Instructor... just how did you raise this child?’
‘I should never provoke her.’
Accepting all of their stares without the slightest concern, Ner inserted the straw into the apple-flavored juice pouch Miel had handed her and thought,
‘The first battlefield of modern warfare—public opinion.’
Instructor Jin Crow—
Victory.
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