Chapter 101

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“What are you doing?”

“Arte? Um… It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

…Suspicious.

I felt conflicted as I watched Siwoo hurriedly avoiding my gaze and hiding something.

Come on, I’m not a parent nagging about studying or anything.

Recently, Siwoo has been hiding something from me.

And because of that, he has been like this. He’s been spending more time away from me to use his spare time.

He used to only leave for a moment when absolutely necessary.

Lately, he’s been leaving his seat more often without properly explaining.

“What have you been doing lately? You usually don’t use the internet much.”

“Umm, well…”

“And you rarely looked at your phone before, but now you’re constantly checking it.”

At first, I felt a bit hurt and slightly anxious.

Worried that if he continues to be lazy like this, he might be unable to overcome the Author’s trials.

So, I pointed out Siwoo’s recent lazy behavior to complain a little.

His training time has decreased, and he’s been spending more time checking his phone and the internet in between.

Siwoo isn’t the type to become this lazy.

…But as I said it, something seemed suspicious.

There’s no way Siwoo would change like this suddenly.

It’s Siwoo we’re talking about, not someone else. The protagonist of the world. The person who will save the world from crisis.

Someone like that wouldn’t suddenly become lazy.

I trusted Siwoo. There was no reason not to trust him.

Surely there must be some reason.

…And seeing Siwoo break into a cold sweat at my questioning, I was certain.

There’s something.

“…A girl?”

What reason could there be for Siwoo to suddenly become lazy?

I thought hard and suddenly voiced the idea that came to mind.

Siwoo must have heard it clearly. He said he could even listen to my conversations with the Author.

If he could hear it when his abilities were weak, almost in their initial state, there’s no way he couldn’t hear now.

Siwoo slightly avoided my eyes as if confirming my thoughts, looking a bit troubled.

Yes, a girl. So it was a girl.

Was that why he suddenly searched the internet and looked at his phone often?

Was he spending time looking for date spots and whispering sweet nothings to his lover?

“…Who is it?”

“Ah, well, that’s…”

“Who is it?”

Amelia? Dorothy?

Have they already started dating?

I didn’t think I saw any signs of that.

Maybe it’s because we’ve been together for over a month. I’ve already grasped Siwoo’s surrounding relationships quite well.

From my judgment, I didn’t think Amelia or Dorothy had that kind of relationship with Siwoo.

“I-It’s not a girl or anything. Really.”

“Then why are you stuttering?”

“…”

“It’s probably not Amelia. Not Dorothy either.”

Those two didn’t show any signs.

Then it must be another girl.

As far as I know, there are only two determined heroines currently. Just those two.

But if it’s not those two, who is this girl Siwoo is so concerned about?

“Ahaha. Why are you so flustered? I’m not trying to interrogate you.”

I decided to finish my thoughts and reassure Siwoo.

But even as I smiled at Siwoo, my thoughts lingered elsewhere.

…It’s not a heroine.

After considering all the numerous possibilities, I couldn’t help but think that.

I knew that Siwoo and those two had been having some conversations recently, but I let it pass as it was their private life.

But there’s one scene I clearly remember.

Siwoo, Amelia, and Dorothy talked while looking at something on their phones.

If it was one of those two, such a scene wouldn’t have occurred.

…Could it be another puppet, not a heroine?

Since when? Since when did she start flirting with Siwoo?

I’ve been watching him constantly around Siwoo.

I haven’t been doing any Arachne activities. No, I couldn’t.

How could I do Arachne activities when I can’t leave Siwoo’s side?

Most of the current Arachne activities are the work of Spira and Lyra.

“If you don’t want to discuss it, that’s okay.”

“Umm, well. Actually, it’s not much…”

I wonder how those guys are doing these days.

I hadn’t visited home for over a month, so I couldn’t grasp how they were doing.

I should ask our investigator next time.

He was controlling those guys like a nanny.

Spira, who gets cocky if left alone for a bit, and Lyra, who pretends not to but easily gets swept up by Spira.

I know it’s hard controlling those guys, but…

It seems like I have one more thing I need to ask.

“…I’ll go do some laundry for a bit. I’ll return soon, so you don’t need to follow me.”

“Arte? Wait, that’s…”

I hurriedly left the place carrying a laundry basket filled with clothes.

Since Siwoo and I started living in the same house, I’ve been taking care of most of the housework, but…

Laundry was an exception.

Because things like underwear would be embarrassing for others to see, we decided to put our laundry in our own baskets and do it ourselves.

This is my first time living with someone, so I’m not sure, but it probably wouldn’t be much different even if we were the same gender.

That’s why saying I was going to do laundry was the best excuse to leave my spot.

It was even better because when I quickly glanced, an appropriate amount of laundry piled up.

…Good. This distance should be enough.

Even if it’s Siwoo, there’s no way he could hear our conversation from this far.

If he could hear from this distance, I’d believe his ability was cat ears rather than intuition.

Convinced of this, I clapped my hands to call the investigator.

“…Did you call for me?”

“Sorry to bother you while you’re busy, but I need you to do something.”

“Please, go ahead.”

The investigator has really changed a lot.

The person who initially tried to put me in jail has now become a subordinate doing the same work as me.

Along with Lyra, who was a heroine candidate, he’s probably the person whose life has been turned upside down the most because of the Author.

Indeed, this world…

No, no. Now wasn’t the time to indulge in such gloomy thoughts.

There was information I wanted to know as soon as possible, so I erased the thoughts in my head and spoke to her.

“Can you investigate Siwoo’s past?”

“…His past, you say?”

“Yes. As quickly as possible.”

Why on earth am I asking for this? An expression of such doubt briefly crossed Ha-Yul’s face.

But he immediately stiffened his face as if realizing his mistake and nodded.

“Please focus on his relationships.”

Right after meeting Siwoo, I spent most of my time in this world monitoring him.

Yes, from morning to night. Even before I fell into dependence on him.

That’s why I could be certain.

There was no time for Siwoo to suddenly have a girl. None at all.

If there had been, I would have noticed immediately.

There was only one answer.

…There’s a possibility that something happened before he entered the academy.

“Understood.”

“Please do it as quickly as possible.”

I can’t say for certain, but as far as I know, Siwoo doesn’t have a family.

A house is quite spacious for living alone.

But a family that hasn’t shown their face even once in over half a year of watching.

That’s why I thought he didn’t have a family.

Did his family have some kind of accident? Or did the Author remove them before she became unable to manipulate Siwoo’s settings?

Or maybe they’re on a long-term business trip on the other side.

Well, I wasn’t particularly interested in Siwoo’s family circumstances.

I was only interested in one thing.

“If something unnecessary has attached itself…”

I don’t care what kind of puppet it is. I’ll have to remove it.

“By the way, what’s that?”

“Huh?”

“What you’re holding in your hand.”

“…Ah, this.”

At Ha-Yul’s words, I remembered what excuse I had used to slip away.

I said I would do my laundry.

“It’s nothing. Just…”

“Hmm, I’m not sure if I should say this, but… holding someone else’s laundry doesn’t look very good.”

“What?”

What did he say?

At his words, I checked the contents of the laundry basket I had grabbed hastily.

…Strange. Why does it look so big?

“Well, if it’s as Siwoo predicted last time, it’s not bad to secure it early…”

“Uh, uwaah?!”

Startled, I threw the laundry basket, and the piled-up laundry instantly scattered on the floor.

G-Goodness!

I thought it was mine.

I regretted throwing the laundry as soon as I did it, startled by the sudden situation.

The dust on the floor stuck to the clothes, making them much dirtier.

To dirty someone else’s clothes like this.

Just as I was about to pick them up, feeling bad for causing trouble, a voice came beside me.

“Oh dear. Let me help…”

“It’s okay, you can go ahead.”

“No, but…”

“It’s fine.”

“…I understand.”

***

“…That’s my laundry basket.”

Siwoo thought as he watched Arte hurriedly leave.

He had briefly considered whether to say this or not.

And he had decided to say it because the risk of not saying it was too great.

But Arte suddenly left her seat, so he couldn’t tell her in the end.

Her sudden excuse of doing laundry and leaving looked like she urgently wanted to do something, so he couldn’t stop her.

He couldn’t even say that the basket she took was his.

She’ll probably come back when she realizes she took the wrong one after doing what she wanted to do.

Siwoo decided to wait for her patiently.