“Mi, Mir…?”

Someone presumed to be from Übermensch, holding a concrete object, sobbed as they called out to someone.

But I didn’t care at all. There was something more important to her.

“… You’re alive.”

He was bleeding but clearly alive.

I used all my remaining thread to wrap Siwoo to bring him to the hospital as quickly and safely as possible.

“Mi, Mir…! Mir!”

I had to leave the academy with my body only roughly covered by my jacket.

There was no time to feel embarrassed. It was an emergency.

There were probably more than a few injured people. They obviously couldn’t do more than first aid, let alone proper treatment.

We need to go to the hospital.

[Re, Reader-nim?! You’re not going to finish the last executive?!]

“There’s no time.”

[What?! B-but…!]

I lightly ignored the Author’s words.

I didn’t have any thread left to use right now, and I had to do something much more important than that.

If that puppet causes problems later, I can just erase it.

But Siwoo is different.

He’s someone I have to protect.

No matter what.

“He’s the protagonist. It’ll be big trouble if he dies.”

[Well, that’s true…]

“Right. This is unavoidable for his safety. You said you can’t even change his settings? What are you going to do if the protagonist dies here.”

The Author didn’t seem to want to stop serializing yet.

So, I decided to throw the nail in the coffin.

“Don’t tell me… Author-nim, are you already preparing the discontinuation notice?”

[…Okay.]

After roughly getting her agreement, I left the scene.

Well, she has no choice but to agree. She said with their own mouth that the protagonist can’t be modified.

Then she can’t revise it to make it seem like Siwoo was fine. He’s really injured right now, and badly.

What if he becomes untreatable because I was too slow?

That can’t happen.

The students fought the weak villains, and the teachers hurriedly came to the academy’s main building.

And the corpse of the Übermensch leader and the dog next to it disappeared at some point.

But why would I care about the other bastards?

Only Siwoo mattered.

The world’s protagonist, a human in this puppet show.

Just Siwoo.

***

Siwoo suddenly frowned.

A bright light shone as if to torment his closed eyes.

“Ugh…”

Ignoring the sensation that felt like it was stabbing his pupils, he tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t fall asleep again, so he decided to get up.

His head felt dazed, but he couldn’t keep his eyes closed any longer.

Swallowing his sudden irritation, Siwoo opened his eyes and was startled again.

“…Are you awake?”

“Eek?!”

Because he saw Arte staring at him with her red eyes wide open, unlike her usual narrowed eyes.

“Ack?!”

“Ow… O-ouch…”

Surprised, he sat up and collided with Arte.

Siwoo and Arte rubbed their reddened foreheads from the unexpected accident.

“I’m glad you seem healthy… And you’re still…”

“What do you…”

“I heard your muscles were damaged, and your brain was almost destroyed too. You didn’t wake up for days. I really thought you had died.”

“What?!”

Siwoo hurriedly looked around the room.

The white room and the IV drip. The slightly musty smell is unique to hospitals, like medicine.

Realizing that the place he was lying in was a hospital, Siwoo finally started to come to his senses.

“Ah, the academy! What happened to the academy…!”

“It’s already over.”

“… It’s over?”

“Yes, definitely. Übermensch has been annihilated. Ta-da.”

Although Arte spoke in a light tone, as if a child was talking about a play, the content was not light.

The annihilation of Übermensch.

In other words, while he was sleeping, everything ended.

“It was on the news? What was the academy doing? Those incompetent Association bastards.”

“Ca-casualties?! No, are Amelia and Dorothy okay?!”

“…Worrying about others as soon as you wake up? Don’t worry, everyone is safe.”

“They’re okay…?”

Arte smiled and pointed to the table.

On the table was a calendar.

“Well, everything has been handled in the week you were–”

“A week?!”

“Yes. A week. After checking, there were no deaths and about 10 people seriously injured, most with minor injuries.”

Along with saying that it was mostly the teachers who were seriously injured, Arte told him that if it weren’t for the teachers, there would have been even more damage.

“One executive missing, three dead. Most of the villains were arrested. The end, it’s over.”

“…I see.”

No students died in that chaos.

He was resentful, wondering why the teachers weren’t coming when he was holding out in the main building.

There was a reason for everything.

“But Arte.”

“Yes?”

“Can you move away a little?”

“…Why?”

Huh?

He never expected this kind of reaction.

He thought she would naturally say, “Oh, I’m sorry,” and give some distance, but an unexpected reaction returned.

Wh-what?

Something was strange. It was Arte as usual… but.

“Th-that’s…”

What could he say?

‘You smell too good being close, so I want you to move away a bit?’

Absolutely not.

If he says that kind of thing as soon as he woke up, he’d deservedly be treated as a pervert with no excuses.

After going through so much hardship, he couldn’t become a sex offender.

At that moment, when he was agonizing over what to do, an unexpected person helped me.

“You’re awake?”

“Ah. Hello.”

“Amelia…!”

“… What’s with that reaction? Creepy.”

A timely help that came in by chance.

With Amelia’s interruption, Arte’s attention naturally shifted to her, and Siwoo sneakily moved away.

Perfect, Amelia. Thanks.

“Is your leg okay?”

“Huh? …Ah, it’s fine. They said I can slowly start walking now.”

Amelia smiled brightly and lifted her crutches.

And that’s when he noticed Amelia was badly injured.

One of her legs was thickly wrapped in bandages.

He could tell, even without it being said, that Amelia was one of the seriously injured.

“You’re hurt?”

“…Yeah, well. That guy was fast. I got hit by one low kick, twist my leg.”

“What?!”

“Don’t worry. They said there won’t be long-lasting effects.”

She waved her leg wrapped in thick bandages as if it were fine and smiled brightly.

“Dad got revenge for me too!”

“…Dad? The hero…”

“Yeah. I almost died, but luckily, Dad came. Without time to dodge, wham.”

She spoke playfully, but the content was not light at all.

She brushes it off so easily, even though she almost died.

As expected, Amelia is tough.

She usually doesn’t show it, but the toughness she occasionally displays is impressive.

“…Ah, Arte. Sorry, but can I talk to Siwoo alone for a bit?”

“Why are you asking me…?”

“No, well. I want to have a heart-to-heart talk between friends. Candidly.”

He could feel Amelia gauging Arte’s reaction.

…What? Why is she being cautious?

Amelia requested Arte while emphasizing the word friends.

“Okay. Should I come back in about an hour?”

“Thanks. That much is enough.”

“It’s nothing.”

Seeing Arte off, Amelia sighed deeply a little while after.

“You, you…! Siwoo! What did you do?!”

“Wh-what?”

“What the hell did you do to Arte?!”

“I was just sleeping. What could I have done?!”

Siwoo was ready to be reprimanded, but what was she on about suddenly?

Rather than the typical nagging, it felt like she was excited.

No, not just a feeling. It was clear. Amelia was excited.

…A sense of unease came over him.

He never received good news when she was like this.

“You, you bastard…! Good job! I don’t know what it is, but you really did well!”

“With what?!”

“Arte acting like that, didn’t you do something? It seems like she’s half fallen for you!”

“What are you talking about again…”

“Managing to seduce a girl even amid such a fight. I didn’t see you like that, but you’ve got some moves, eh~?”

And his worries were not unfounded.

Talking nonsense again.

“What nonsense are you saying? I didn’t do anything!”

“That can’t be true. You might not be able to see it, but she was caring for you with utmost devotion?”

“What’s that…”

“She watched over you for more than 3 hours every day without fail before leaving? What did you do? Tell me honestly!”

…What?

‘She watched over me for more than 3 hours a day?’

“Wh-what do you…”

“Just what on earth did you do? Tell me already. We need to plan the next steps.”

She was watching over me for more than 3 hours a day?

…Really?

Suddenly, Arte’s ominously shining eyes, which he saw as soon as he opened his eyes, came to mind.

Along with that face that was close enough to bump foreheads with when he abruptly sat up.

“D-don’t tell me, earlier too…”

Was she continuously watching over him?

Why in the world? What got into her?

‘I didn’t do anything?!’

He thought he was ready for anything when he got used to Arte stalking him.

A chill ran down his spine at her incomprehensible actions.