“…Quickly, explain.”

“Y, yes.”

Ha-Yul could feel his subordinate being wary.

Did he look that upset? But this wasn’t the time to mind that.

It’s definitely suspicious.

Her face at that time.

That smile.

It was a smile as  if she was certain she wouldn’t be caught.

Most innocent suspects aren’t that bold in such situations.

People who haven’t experienced it may scoff, asking why they would be flustered, but that’s the bluff of those who haven’t experienced it.

In reality,  if you get caught up in an incident you didn’t even do and are treated as a suspect, you become extremely flustered.

They say it’s easy to show various anxiety symptoms.

…But what about her?

Forget anxiety.

A confident smile.

A voice filled with certainty that she won’t be caught no matter what happens.

Of course, as he told his subordinate yesterday, she may not be the culprit.

But it was suspicious. Far too much.

That attitude, as  if she knew the culprit would be caught, kept circling in his head.

“The suspect is a 38-year-old male, Elio Oland. His ability is Duplication. They say he can use the ability of a person he has seen for a day.”

“He duplicated her ability with that?”

“Yes. It’s a great ability for pinning accusations on others.”

 If that man is the culprit, as my subordinate says.

Then everything falls into place.

Because it means nothing was a coincidence, but an inevitability.

It’s not that the crime coincidentally occurred where she went, but that the man orchestrated it to be that way.

He deliberately drew the spider picture to frame the culprit.

The detailed motive will need to be investigated, but further investigation will be difficult.

He’s already caught.

It makes sense. It’s reasonable.

But an incongruity came over Ha-Yul.

“…Why didn’t they tell us?”

“Pardon?”

“It was a case we were in charge of. Why did I have to first hear the culprit was caught on the news?”

“…Oh, that. He turned himself in…”

“Turned himself in?”

“Yes. He became afraid of retaliation. Rather than disappearing without a trace by Übermensch, he said he’ll survive even  if in prison. That’s what he testified.”

“Ha. Ridiculous.”

Nonsense.

Since he massacred that many people, a death sentence is possible.

Execution of the death penalty tends to reflect public opinion to some degree, so he may not actually be executed in light of killing villains.

Because public opinion will arise that he killed guys who deserved to die.

…But will the Übermensch really sit still?

There are countless cases of people who picked fights with villainous organizations and died in prison.

While they have to cover it up, the guards don’t care.

The atmosphere is that it doesn’t matter  if one or two people die since it’s just criminals killing criminals. All they have to do is the paperwork for a longer sentence.

“He killed that many and thinks he’ll survive in prison? No way.”

“… That’s true.”

Revenge of blood for blood will occur.

They’re criminals anyway. Plenty of guys will not care  if their sentences increase a bit.

Those kinds of guys, if compensated enough, can kill people and still have room to spare.

He’ll become a cold corpse before long.

Does he not know that? No, there’s no way he doesn’t know.

For an organization that big, no matter what prison he goes to, members of said group will be imprisoned there. Surviving is impossible.

And that’s not all.

Forget prison;  if he had hidden and stayed quiet, Arte Iris would have been the top suspect.

Why did he turn himself in?

“Why are you acting like this? Normally, you wouldn’t care and just check the next case.”

“… It’s too suspicious. There’s definitely something.”

It’s a case of a villain killing villains.

 If the culprit was caught, he normally went, “Ah, I see,” and moved on.

But her face flickered in his mind.

“Didn’t I say villains who enjoy self-promotion cause confusion in the investigation and enjoy that?”

“Yes, you did say that.”

“Those guys tend to enjoy that kind of thing.”

There were more than one or two strange points.

Her tone and expression were as  if she knew the “culprit” would be caught.

Actions that were conversely confusing because they were so suspicious.

A case that concluded without coming to the main investigators.

Moreover, the culprit framed Arte Iris as the suspect before abruptly turning himself in?

…It was too suspicious.

“Bring me more information on Arte Iris.”

“What? But the culprit already turned himself in…Do you still think she’s the culprit?”

“Yes. So bring me more, quickly!”

“B-But we’ve already been stripped of authority. Since the investigation ended, we can’t investiga–”

Bang!

Irritation surged, and he slammed the desk hard.

He felt a bit sorry seeing my subordinate startled by the sound. Did he hit it too hard?

“Then I’ll investigate personally.”

“Ye-Yes?! But…!”

“I know, it’s dangerous. But I need to unveil the truth.”

To cause confusion in the investigation, she had someone turn themselves in.

Such thoughts circled Ha-Yul’s head.

***

“This is troublesome.”

[Hmm? What is?]

“That person yesterday. You heard right, Author-nim? Teacher’s friend.”

[Ah, aah! That cool person!]

…The impression is that he’s a cool person, huh?

Putting aside his appearance, he’s an irksome obstacle to me right now.

After school, Claire quietly approached and informed me.

She said he brought up meeting me the next afternoon.

Since the culprit has already been caught, it’s obvious how he feels.

He still suspects me.

I accepted it for now since rejecting it would obviously make it worse, but…

Why?

Why is he suspicious of me?

He must have learned that someone had them turn themselves in. In a state where the culprit has already emerged, what is there to suspect?

…Is it because of my impression again? I feel like I’m always the only one accused of being suspicious.

“Sigh. I had things I wanted to take care of while I had spare time.”

[Things you wanted to take care of?]

“I need to reduce Übermensch’s numbers a bit.”

[Oh. I-Is that so…?]

There were too many of them.

Currently 11 executives and roughly 2,200 members.

 If it goes on like this, the power inflation will become unmanageable.

I wanted to trim them down a bit before Siwoo and Übermensch clash directly, but  if a strange person sticks to me, it’ll be a pain.

“Hmm, should I kill him…?”

[No! The teacher at the academy and her old friend, the cool detective, we can’t let a person like this go!]

“Hnng…”

The problem is that the Author took a liking to him.

She seemed to have taken a liking to something about him. She’s in adamant opposition, saying killing is not allowed.

Even  if I say I want to interfere by inserting settings to prevent him from interfering, she opposes.

It seems the Author quite likes that he’s investigating the case.

“Sigh. It can’t be helped.”

Clap clap.

The Author mentioned she didn’t like how I pulled on Lyla’s leash, so I had to change it to her taste.

The only one who suffers is Lyla, who has to come at this small sound. Well, her ears are good, so I guess it’s fine.

After a short while, Lyla arrived, her purple hair fluttering.

“…What is it?”

“I have a small favor to ask this time too.”

“…?”

“Are you good at drawing by any chance? No, it doesn’t matter  if you’re bad. You’ll become good at it.”

I smiled brightly at her.

 If throwing one person at him doesn’t dispel his suspicion, I can use another method.

***

“Hmm, do you have more business with me? I heard the culprit was caught.”

“No, I just came to apologize.”

“Apologize?”

For what?

It was an excuse.  If Ha-Yul apologized individually to every person he investigated, it would be a waste of time.

It’s just to gauge her reaction. He didn’t feel sorry in the slightest.

“Yes. Since the culprit was caught too. I think I was too aggressive then, so I came to apologize. Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. The culprit wasn’t caught at that time, so it couldn’t be helped that I was suspected. You’re only doing your job.”

“Arte…What a considerate child…! You’re kind as you look.”

Claire smiled at Arte brightly.

Are you blind?

He suppressed my urge to say that.

That remark is a bit…

 If she looks kind, everyone in the world must look like a saint.

Anyhow, Claire is someone unusually weak to students.

She’s completely infatuated.

“Right. I came to say that today. Thanks for understanding.”

“Not at all. Everything turned out well.”

That ended the conversation.

…No particular gains, huh? As expected, there were limits with just a hunch.

Was it a waste of time?

As Ha-Yul let out a small sigh, his subordinate called.

“Ah, sorry. Let me take this call.”

“No. Go ahead.”

‘What is it? I’m sure I told him I was coming here.’

Did something urgent come up?

His subordinate’s urgent voice came through as he put the phone to his ear.

[H-Ha-yul sir! It’s big trouble!]

“What is it? Speak quickly. What happened?”

[A-Arachne! Arachne has appeared! 10 minutes ago, we got a report that a villain in an alley was dismembered! It’s the same as that time! A picture of a spider drawn in blood! Thread is left behind too!]

“What?”

[As expected of you, Ha-Yul-nim! You knew the culprit wasn’t caught!]

“…”

[The higher-ups are in an uproar right now! Wh-What should we do?]

Suddenly, his gaze turned to Arte.

Her slightly smiling face with red eyes exposed felt like she was sneering at me.

She clearly couldn’t hear what we were talking about.

…But still, her smile, as  if things went according to plan, bothered him.

“Wait. I’ll be right there.”

[Yes, yes!]

10 minutes ago, right after Arte Iris came here.

…It can’t be.

“Seems like big trouble has come up. How about you go quickly?”

“…Right, I should go quickly. Thanks for the consideration.”

“Not at all.”

No, he should return for now.

It seemed pointless to continue this battle of nerves any further.

Author’s Notes

These days, I’ve been contemplating whether I should make emoticons.

Why, you ask?

Because it seems readers really, really want to smack “Author.”

I was wondering  if it might be better to have an emoticon of “Author” getting smacked?

Translator’s Corner

The emoticons exist.

I’m just too lazy to get it done.

I’ll just put the link to the novel. You can check the illustrations there. Support Author-nim also  if you can.

https://novelpia.com/novel/115820