“…Ah, indeed. I understand why the rookie died.”

The chameleon villain sighed as  if giving up.

“Kill me. I lost.”

“…”

What’s this?

Why don’t you kill him already?

Siwoo pointed his sword at the villain’s neck, not beheading him.

“Aren’t you going to kill me?”

“Uh…”

[Ah, that’s it.]

The Author let out a small exclamation as  if enlightened.

I also realized why the protagonist was acting that way.

Sigh.

Siwoo was hesitating to kill someone.

“What? Are you hesitating to kill someone? Did you really kill the rookie?”

“I won’t kill you.”

“…Why?”

“Because I need to hear information about that Übermensch you talked about.”

It was an excuse.

The Author, Siwoo, Amelia, and even the chameleon villain himself realized it.

“I’ve been trained to endure torture. It’s a waste of time.”

“No, there must be a way to get the information without killing you.”

“…”

The villain’s mouth closed as  if refusing to say anything more.

Hmm, what to do.

It’s not trendy for the protagonist to be so averse to killing these days.

A kill is only natural at this time.

Ah, right.

That would be better.

“Wha…What?!”

“… Don’t try anything! You can’t move in that state! Surrender!”

I manipulated part of the wire I had laid down to bind the chameleon villain and forcibly stand his body up.

It was a wire so thin it was practically invisible.

Siwoo would have noticed it normally, but this was far from it.

His mind was probably preoccupied with other thoughts.

As expected, he didn’t notice the wire descending silently from the ceiling.

Hmm, he’s still inexperienced. He’ll need to notice things like that eventually.

He should be able to dodge attacks even while sleeping. Hmm.

“Kh…?!”

The chameleon villain seemed flustered, understandably so.

Of course, he’d be flustered  if his body moved without him controlling it.

No matter how much he tried to move his body, the tightly bound wires wouldn’t let him.

He must have thought a ghost possessed him or something.

“St-Stop! You can’t win like this…!”

Siwoo was taken aback when the villain suddenly switched to recklessly attacking without regard for his safety.

Right, he probably thought the villain couldn’t move at all, so this must be startling.

Their body couldn’t actually move alone.

Judging by his side turning red, his internal organs must have ruptured or something.

It must hurt a lot…probably.

Not that I would know how that felt.

Kang! Kang!

“Ugh…!”

The battle resumed.

The difference from before was that it was no longer a surprise attack but an outright struggle.

However, Siwoo couldn’t easily subdue the villain.

Even when opportunities to attack opened up, he didn’t take them.

He could have easily won by striking.

…He still won’t strike? Even now?

The villain’s throat, heart, and bleeding side were open for attack, but Siwoo still hesitated.

Does he think one hit would be fatal?

Well, it probably would be.

“You’ll really die at this rate!”

It was no use speaking to him.

 If he told Siwoo that he was being controlled, it would be a big problem, so I sealed his mouth.

Ah, but this is kind of fun.

It feels like I’m playing a game.

Take this! Deadly horizontal slash!

…Missed.

“Ugh, heh…!”

“Wh-What is this…?!”

After a while, I got bored of manipulating the body this way and that.

It was fun at first, but then it got monotonous.

The attacks were all blocked as expected, and Siwoo showed no sign of finishing it.

Boring.

Should I wrap this up?

We’ve fought enough, I think.

I manipulated the wires to make the puppet’s body move even more violently.

Siwoo had no choice but to defend as the villain relentlessly swung his sword without letting up.

His reluctance to kill was impressive, but perhaps he was trying to find an opening to knock the villain out.

But that won’t do.

A web novel protagonist must boldly smash through all obstacles.

They can’t be held back by trivialities like this.

I made the villain slash diagonally with his sword.

Siwoo would naturally swing his own sword to block, right?

Good, just as expected.

In that situation, what would happen  if I forcibly bent his arm to change the trajectory?

“…?!”

Of course, the obvious result.

Siwoo seemed to notice it too, but it was already too late.

The villain’s attack trajectory had been forcibly changed into an impossible angle.

The unaltered horizontal slash severed the puppet’s neck.

“He… He’s dead…?!”

Yes, dead.

Definitely.

Isn’t it stranger to be alive  if the head was separated from the body?

Ugh, gross.

I looked at Amelia behind Siwoo’s dazed expression.

Good, now it’s time for the heroine to soothe him with her warm, compassionate heart.

“…Huff, huff.”

Huh?!

Amelia’s face had gone pale seeing the corpse, barely able to stand.
.
You’re not supposed to react like that!

Why are you mentally breaking down too?!

Oh no, this is bad. I thought Amelia’s bold personality would be unfazed!

The protagonist is just staring blankly–someone needs to comfort him right now.

Amelia…! Pull yourself together!

But my mental plea didn’t reach her.

Her ability isn’t telepathy, after all.

Damn it. I can’t help it then.

I lightly felt my own chest.

…This is pretty sizeable, right?

“Don’t worry, Siwoo.”

“…Arte.”

“It was just an unavoidable accident. Amelia and I were watching the whole time.”

“B-But…!”

Aah, he’s so chatty.

“?!”

Feeling too awkward to embrace him from the front, I hugged him from behind instead.

Ah, life.

I wouldn’t have had to do this  if only Amelia was mentally sound…

My face felt hot and flushed.

Ugh.

…This should be enough, right?

“Everything will be alright. It’s not your fault.”

“…”

“He threw his own body away–you did nothing wrong.”

Siwoo’s trembling gradually subsided.

Did he calm down?…He did calm down, right?

Good. Success.

His aversion to killing should have lessened now.

The first time is always the hardest.

Once you cross that line, it gets easier.

“What’s going on here? Such a commotion…?! Are you all alright?!”

Ah, the instructor finally came.

With such noise, it would be weird  if the instructors didn’t come.

Good timing, at least.

I smiled wryly as the instructor hurriedly tried to control the situation.

[That was fun…! A perfect scene!]

The Author seemed delighted too.

A great success.

***

“…”

Siwoo clenched his fist.

…He still felt the sensation.

The feeling of piercing flesh.

The odd feeling of easily cutting through, only to hit an obstruction–probably bone.

A chill ran down his spine.

He had only intended to silence him.

 If, by some tiny chance, the villain told her he didn’t actually search her underwear,

Then, he would no longer be able to push the blame onto him.

That’s why he wanted to restrain him quickly.

“…It was a success.”

Yes.

It was a success.

He can no longer refute the claim.

Because he’s dead.

But Siwoo felt conflicted.

He certainly deserved to die after invading the academy and being part of the same traitorous organization as Lyla.

The villain didn’t expect to survive after being defeated.

That’s probably why he goaded Siwoo to kill him too.

However, there was still a possibility he could have lived.

In the end, I’m the one who took his life.

“Phew…”

Siwoo lay on the bed, blankly staring at the ceiling.

Thankfully, the gloomy thoughts didn’t last long.

Whenever those thoughts crept in, the next scene flashed through his mind.

“No, don’t think about it…”

He shook his head repeatedly, but it had no effect.

The more he tried not to think about it, the more it occupied his mind.

The soft sensation of her gently pressing against him came flooding back.

“…Ugh!”

Thump!

He banged his head against the wall, hoping to erase the memory.

…But it had little effect. Being superhuman, it barely even hurt.

A wave of self-loathing washed over him.

To dwell on the feeling of a woman’s chest after killing someone.

Wasn’t that downright depraved behavior?

Yet whenever the sensation of blood on my hands returned, that whispering voice gently settled in his ear.

“It wasn’t my fault…”

What’s her goal?

At first, he thought she wanted to kill him, but that was a misunderstanding.

Why was she observing him like this?

Did she just want to watch for observation’s sake?

She knew of the monster attack and the Secret Room.

‘But what did that have to do with watching me?’

He couldn’t make sense of it at all.

“I don’t know!”

Siwoo decided not to think too hard about the difficult things.

There was no way to know for sure right now anyway.

Dwelling on it would just plunge him back into self-loathing.

“…I can’t sleep.”

But as always, plans never go as intended.

Siwoo couldn’t sleep, the sensation of her hand on the back of his head and her dizzying scent lingering in his mind.