An invitation from Scholar had arrived. It was for a knowledge exchange, and the timing was perfect. I accepted, planning to report on my recently completed billion-dollar research project and to present my findings from studying souls while destroying the enemies of the world.

A few days later, just like always, a vehicle arrived in front of Eblis Corporation. I left Birana, who was excited about her unexpected vacation, behind and boarded the car alone, heading to the association.

Upon arriving at Scholar, in the now-familiar all-black vehicle, the members of the association who had arrived before me greeted me warmly.

"Dr. Eight." "President." "Haha! You shouldn’t call me that here. After all, I’m only the third member."

Swalon, the president of the Psychic Research Association and Scholar No. 3, scratched his cheek awkwardly. I smiled in understanding and shook his hand warmly before looking behind him at Dr. Kuroi, who stood respectfully, waiting.

When our eyes met, Dr. Kuroi’s expression shifted to one of reverence, as if he were gazing upon a deity. Bowing carefully, he greeted me.

"Good to see you, Dr. Eight." "Yes, it’s been a while. Dr. Kuroi. How’s Lucia?" "She’s doing well, Creator."

With these two awkward and challenging to deal with, I quickly finished our greetings and turned to look around before asking the president.

"—Dr. Swalon? Are we all here today?" "No. There’s one more person. You might know them, Dr. Eight..." "Someone I know?"

I tilted my head, puzzled about who it could be among the Scholar members, when a woman with bronzed skin slowly walked out from deeper within the Scholar headquarters.

She didn’t look like a typical scientist. Her figure radiated health, though her face bore a displeased expression, suggesting something had irritated her. However, it was easy to tell she was either quite young or took great care of her appearance, as she barely had any wrinkles despite her frown.

In other words, she wasn’t exactly top-tier as a scientist.

"—Is it you?" "Pardon?" "The one who sent me that email—was it you?" "Email... Ah, then you must be Dr. Seira?" "Seems like it."

The woman before me pulled out a paper from her lab coat pocket. It was a paper summarizing the things I’d discovered about souls during my research on spirits. I had sent it to Dr. Seira’s email.

Since I didn’t even have a proper degree, let alone any foundation in soul research, I figured if I submitted it under my name, it would be dismissed as a joke. So, I sent it to Dr. Seira, who was already known for her work in that field. Borrowing her name would at least get people to pay attention.

Apparently, she had found the paper impressive. She had even brought a printed copy.

"Are you saying you wrote this?" "Yes, I did." "Why—why did you send it to me?" "Since this isn’t my usual field of research, and without a degree, submitting it myself would get it ignored. So, I sent it to you, Dr. Seira, a fellow Scholar member." "...You want to borrow my name? You’re asking me to submit it as a joint research paper?"

Her words made me tilt my head in confusion.

"Joint research? Oh no—feel free to submit it as your own work." "You don’t care—?" "Not at all. I can just write another one like this..."

Before I even finished speaking, Dr. Seira began tearing the paper in her hands into shreds. Her movements were filled with rage.

After she had been ripping the paper for a while, as if it still wasn’t enough to vent her anger, she stomped on the scattered pieces on the floor, panting heavily.

"You, damn, bastard!"

The paper was being thoroughly ruined. The sight triggered a slight trauma. If that had been a thesis I had worked on for months? The very thought made me shudder.

Luckily, the paper wasn’t my thesis, nor had I spent countless sleepless nights on it, so I managed to calm down.

"...You bastard." "...Why the sudden cursing?" "Are you that good at research? Do you think you’re the only genius in the world, and everyone else is an idiot?" "Well..."

Of course, I didn’t think that. It would be like a modern grad student who studied mathematics looking down on Newton, Gauss, or Pythagoras.

But however she interpreted my hesitation, Dr. Seira raised her middle finger at me and shouted.

"Screw you, you bastard." "...I didn’t think that way." "Just wait. I’ll bring back something far superior to your pathetic paper. Got that?"

With that, Dr. Seira stormed off somewhere. Watching her retreat, Dr. Kuroi, who had quietly observed our exchange, cautiously approached and whispered.

"Master... This time, you might have gone too far..." "Could you stop with the ‘Master’ talk already?"

Honestly, was writing a free paper really such a big deal? I knew professors who demanded far worse back where I came from.

Still, seeing Dr. Kuroi’s reaction made me realize that, yeah, maybe I was in the wrong this time after all.

Inside her car, on her way back to her lab, Dr. Seira chain-smoked furiously. The black interior of the vehicle quickly filled with smoke, but neither she nor the driver seemed to care.

In fact, the driver even asked her worriedly what had happened.

"Are you all right, Dr. Seira?" "...I’m fine. Just focus on driving." "My apologies."

Saying nothing more, Dr. Seira continued smoking until they arrived at her lab. Once inside, she tossed her smoke-saturated clothes aside and headed straight for the bathroom.

Cold water from the showerhead shocked her, but even as the icy water cooled her body, the anger and frustration dominating her mind refused to subside.

‘What? You can write as many of these as you want?’

The thought made her seethe again. If she had been any less patient, she might have started punching the bathroom walls. But, knowing that her patience was considerable and that she wasn’t stupid enough to punch a solid wall with her bare hands, no such thing happened.

After her shower, she returned to her lab and sat down in her chair, staring at her own research paper. To be honest, it was trash.

She realized that after reading that damn paper. The curse of knowledge. Once she knew the answer, the problem seemed so simple. At the same time, she realized how inadequate her solutions had been.

‘...Damn bastard.’

She felt the urge to smoke again. But with superhuman willpower, she resisted and instead began revising her paper. She tried her best to avoid thinking about Eight’s paper.

Hours passed, and eventually, she completed the revisions. Compared to her initial draft, it was significantly improved.

Yes, almost like the paper someone had emailed her.

"Ugh... damn it."

Upon rereading it, she realized most of it was a mash-up of Eight’s paper. Essentially, it was plagiarism. But what choice did she have? When working on the same subject with only one correct answer, if the other person had already given the right solution, anything she wrote would inevitably look like a copy.

This time, she couldn’t hold back. Erasing her hard work, Dr. Seira lit a cigarette and instinctively clicked on the mouse. Before she knew it, she had opened Eight’s paper on her desktop.

The flawless, elegant solution flooded her mind.

‘Ah...’

‘The Compilation of Souls.’ What a grandiose title for a paper. It almost seemed like he was teasing her for being so absorbed in this field. But that wasn’t it.

There was no exaggeration in the title. The paper calmly stated the facts. She realized that after just two sentences.

Her entire research had been going in the wrong direction. It was like seeing a pioneer, effortlessly reaching the goal in a pitch-black darkness.

"Damn it..."

The sentence that sent chills down her spine the first time she read it still did, even after countless re-readings: “This concludes the proof of the existence of the soul.”

This was the future, the completion of the research topic she had dedicated her life to. It had come from someone else’s hands. That alone enraged her, but what infuriated her more was how casually he treated it.

It felt like her entire life’s work had been rendered meaningless.

"Is he really... a genius?"

With a heavy exhale, Dr. Seira released the smoke and let out a bitter laugh. She had been called a genius her entire life, but to think she would encounter a wall even here.

After glaring at the paper for a long time, Dr. Seira carefully navigated to the submission site. She wanted to make things difficult for the person who wrote this paper.

‘What? You said you don’t care if it’s submitted as my sole research? That no one would believe you since you don’t even have a degree?’

With Eight’s name in the front and her own at the end, she submitted the paper as a joint research project. Thanks to her reputation, the paper's view count began to skyrocket immediately.

It would probably make headlines by the end of the day. If it didn’t, she would make sure it did.

"You’ll be stuck researching this with me for the rest of your life."

She laughed quietly to herself as she muttered those words.

__________________
 

[Breaking news: Dr. Seira, renowned expert in biological research, has successfully proven the existence of the soul...] [Religious groups are condemning the research as heretical, with both Dr. Seira and her co-researcher, Dr. Eight, being declared blasphemers—] [Scholars are showing great interest in the suddenly emerging Dr. Eight, making him a hot topic—] [Dr. Seira referred to Dr. Eight as 'the one who stole my life,' causing further speculation...]

"Hmm?"

I perked up at the mention of my name on the TV while I was cooking ramen in the lab. Sure enough, it was my name on the screen.

Why is my name up there?

I had no idea what was going on, but one thing was clear.

"I’d better eat quickly..."

Beep-beep-beep-beep!

As the phone call from the boss came in, I hurriedly picked up my chopsticks.

One more bite would be worth it.