Chapter 62
“Fully geared, huh?”
“In case we get discovered.”
After carefully putting on the black mask, I returned to the dormitory, where Erica was waiting.
Unlike me, Erica wasn’t completely covered.
She had only tied her distinctive silver hair back to keep it hidden.
“Where’s Cynthia?”
“She just started moving. If she stops, we should head directly there, right? You can get anywhere within the Academy anyway, can’t you?”
“Okay. Keep tracking her.”
“That’s what I’m already doing.”
“Has there been anything suspicious so far?”
Erica nodded while covering her face with a hood, leaving only her eyes exposed.
“Nope. She’s been the perfect Academy student. Completely model behavior.”
Erica shrugged, tightening her hood behind her head, and began stretching her arms and legs.
“Then it’s definitely today.”
Without responding, Erica closed her eyes.
She seemed to be focusing on something—likely tracking some change in Cynthia’s movements.
Worried about distracting Erica, I waited for her as quietly as possible.
“She stopped.”
“Where is she?”
“From here… about 2 kilometers northeast.”
As soon as I heard Erica’s words, I had a hunch.
Northeast from the dormitory, 2 kilometers.
The location wasn’t exact, but based on that direction, it was obvious.
It was the same place Cynthia had received candy last time, and where the Kane Hover incident had occurred—the Training Forest.
“Let’s go.”
Extending a hand toward Erica, I recalled the rooftop I had used previously to reach the Vice-Principal’s office.
Operation: Catch in the Act, commence.
***
“Whew.”
Cynthia couldn’t hide her nervousness as she hurried along, glancing around.
It was late, and there was no one around, but she couldn’t be sure.
When she reached the Training Forest, she suddenly recalled what had happened not long ago.
Kane Hover losing control, and her being completely useless again.
Even though she had taken the candy back then, she hadn’t been able to react at all.
Once more, she had been helpless and had relied on Ryu for help.
Perhaps because of that, Cynthia found herself increasingly dependent on the candy, despite knowing she shouldn’t.
“I’ll only use it when it’s absolutely necessary. Only when it’s necessary.”
Cynthia tried hard to justify herself.
She wasn’t stupid.
After taking the candy a few times, she had a faint understanding of its effects.
As far as she knew, there was no other drug that could enhance abilities so drastically in such a short time.
In other words, the candy provided by the Vice-Principal wasn’t being distributed through normal or legal channels.
It was suspicious enough that she had to receive it in such secrecy.
What’s more, Cynthia had recently been acutely aware of her difficulty controlling her emotions.
She found herself snapping at trivial things and unable to tolerate even minor setbacks.
It didn’t take her long to realize that her change began when she started consuming the candy.
Yet, Cynthia couldn’t give it up.
It wasn’t just that she couldn’t throw it away—she made sure to take it at least once a week for training.
The difference in her performance with and without the candy was too stark.
That overwhelming sense of omnipotence after consuming the candy—once she experienced it, she couldn’t stop.
Even though she fully understood that the power she wielded for about 30 minutes wasn’t truly her own.
“Hello?”
Arriving at the forest with these complicated thoughts, Cynthia called out into the empty air, just as she had done before.
The surroundings felt eerily quieter and darker than usual tonight.
“Hello?”
Cynthia raised her voice a little and shouted into the air.
“You’re here.”
“Yes.”
After a brief wait, the man from before appeared.
Cynthia felt a slight sense of relief when the man in the white robe emerged.
“I’m a bit busy today. Here.”
“Ah.”
The man pulled out a pouch from his robe, similar in size to the one he had last time.
From the bulge, it seemed to contain a significant amount of candy.
“That’s a lot.”
Cynthia quickly reached for the pouch the man was holding out.
As she tried to snatch it from his hand—
“This is it, isn’t it?”
Flinch—
Both the man in the white robe and Cynthia recoiled, taking a step back in surprise.
The candy pouch was no longer in either of their hands.
It was now in the hand of a black-clad figure who had suddenly appeared in the middle.
“Who are you?!”
The man in the white robe quickly assumed a defensive stance, his hands glowing with mana.
‘Who is that person?’
Cynthia’s gaze locked onto the figure holding the candy.
The “black figure” was entirely dressed in black from head to toe.
Even their face was concealed by a black mask.
Judging by their voice, it was impossible to tell whether they were male or female.
“Illegal substances like this shouldn’t be circulating in the Academy, should they?”
Crackle—
The mention of “illegal substances” made Cynthia flinch, but the man in the white robe didn’t seem fazed.
Ignoring the black figure’s murmuring, the man charged forward.
Thud—
“Ugh?”
The man in the white robe threw a mana-infused punch at the black-clad figure, but the latter effortlessly blocked it.
With a gloved hand, the black-clad figure casually stopped the punch.
At some point, the candy pouch the figure had been holding disappeared without a trace.
“Who are you?!”
“That’s what I’d like to ask you.”
“What the…!”
Wooong—
With those words, both of them suddenly vanished before Cynthia’s eyes.
“…Huh?”
Cynthia blinked several times, thinking she might have seen wrong, but that wasn’t the case.
The two people who had been right in front of her were gone.
“What is this…”
Muttering in confusion, Cynthia looked around.
With the two people who had seemed moments away from fighting now gone, the forest grew even quieter.
For a moment, Cynthia wondered if she had been hallucinating.
But it wasn’t a hallucination.
The marks left on the ground by the white-robed man’s steps when he threw his punch were clear evidence.
“Uh…?”
Wooong—
“Whew.”
“Uh, what…?”
What she had just witnessed was definitely not a hallucination.
The black-clad figure reappeared, sighing as though relieved.
The white-robed man who had disappeared along with them was nowhere to be seen.
“Cynthia Surplus.”
“Who… who are you?”
Cynthia felt a chill run down her spine when the black figure called her by name.
This person, who had mentioned “illegal substances,” also knew her identity.
She couldn’t help but feel uneasy.
“I’m disappointed.”
“Uh…”
The surroundings were too dark to see clearly, but her face heated up with embarrassment.
The words, spoken by someone whose identity she didn’t even know, struck her deeply.
With just a single comment, the anxiety she had felt moments ago completely vanished, replaced by overwhelming shame.
“I didn’t think you were this kind of person.”
“…”
Cynthia couldn’t respond to the man’s continued remarks.
It felt like he wasn’t just hitting the mark but digging straight through her.
The black figure standing before her seemed to know everything about her.
“I think you already know it yourself.”
Though his face was concealed by a mask, Cynthia could distinctly feel his gaze.
The sharp, cold stare directed at her was impossible to ignore.
Facing that piercing gaze, Cynthia found herself unable to move.
Swoosh—
“I think this will be the last time. Should I give it to you?”
The black figure pulled out the candy pouch he had taken earlier and held it out in front of Cynthia.
Her eyes were instantly drawn to it.
In this situation, who would even think of accepting the candy? Yet, Cynthia couldn’t look away from the pouch.
“I won’t tell anyone about this. In a way, thanks to you, I was able to catch that guy.”
“…What?”
Moments ago, he had expressed disappointment and made cutting remarks. Now, suddenly, he was offering to let her off the hook?
Cynthia was utterly confused.
She had been baffled from the start—by the man who appeared out of nowhere to snatch the candy, then vanished with the white-robed man only to return.
Now he was saying he would give her the candy.
She had no idea how to respond.
“What are you even saying…”
“In any case, the choice is yours.”
“…”
Though his tone was calm, his message was clear.
“Who are you?”
“That’s entirely irrelevant right now. We’re out of time. Should I just leave?”
“…Go ahead.”
Lowering her head, Cynthia spoke firmly.
The man stood still for a moment at her words, then began to move.
“Then, I’ll leave.”
Wooong—
Before Cynthia could say another word, the man vanished in the blink of an eye, just like before.
She waved her hand through the space where he had stood moments ago, but there was nothing there.
“What was that…?”
For a while, Cynthia stood frozen in place, unable to move.
The sudden appearance of the black-clad figure,
The abrupt and swift resolution of the situation—it all left her bewildered.
“A man…?”
Come to think of it, she didn’t know when she had naturally started thinking of him as a man.
His voice had been altered, making it impossible to determine his gender.
Yet the image of the man scolding her came to mind without effort.
It felt as though he knew her very well.
The encounter left her shaken but strangely clear-headed.
“Something…”
A sense of unease lingered.
—
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