Thursday, evening, 7 days till the Negotiation.
In a tidy room on the fiftieth floor of the first year dorms, was a trio of students. Each of them sat around a small, metal table, on it was the Cube smartwatch.
However, it wasn't just any smartwatch, it was the counterfeit that Minori Nii had snatched off of a Djinn as well as the one Yoo Yeonha had managed to hack into safely.
Both of these people were present in addition to one other member.
The seemingly unimpressive rank 934 Kim Hajin, also known as the author of this world.
Of course, no one else knew this fact. Even so, his inability to hide his extensive knowledge and seemingly random fear of Minori had garnered the attention of Minori himself.
Speaking of which, Minori was the one who had gathered the three here to plan out the next steps for the impromptu group of cadets.
It's just… he didn't exactly know either.
To gain the backing of someone with a lot of capital, Minori had made friends with both Rachel and Yoo Yeonha. Although both friendships had occurred because of necessity rather than genuine affection, Yoo Yeonha was treated in a completely different manner to Rachel.
While the princess of England became his study partner, Yeonha had become something Minori molded to fit his hateful goal.
He had led the girl through guilt and fear. Yet this thought hadn't crossed his mind a single time.
Perhaps the only person who understood Minori's nature was the creator who threw him away.
"...So, should we get this underway? Let's not waste any time, I'm busy." Hajin spoke in a cold tone, making him appear rather arrogant or perhaps impatient.
'A mask to hide your nerves. I'm sure.' Minori couldn't help but muse in his mind before nodding.
"Sure. A couple days ago someone, who I had identified as a Djinn, ambushed and attempted to kill me. After a struggle, I managed to pin him down and interrogate him… in the heat of the moment, he bit down on something in his mouth and… yeah." Minori clenched his fist, his forearm bulging with cut muscles, before releasing it.
"Anyways, I managed to scavenge this watch from his body and escape with my life."
He lied as easily as he breathed, facial expressions that he practiced in bathroom mirrors were finally coming into practice.
Yeonha scrunched her brow subtly and then moved her lips to ask. But one look at Minori made her hold her tongue for a bit longer.
On the other hand, Hajin was less afraid to question the boy.
"And I assume, the reason Ryan Thompson is missing is because of this?" Hajin had a measured glare in his eyes.
"Yeah. Turns out, the guy was a Djinn. Jumped out of nowhere too."
"Is that so? Did the cameras catch anything?" Hajin tilted his head, expecting Minori to answer.
Instead Yoo Yeonha, opened her mouth for the first time in this conversation.
"No. The cameras in the area Minori-sii got attacked hadn't shown any change when under review."
Hajin internally clicked his tongue. This delusional girl was stuck in a web. If only Minori had replied, then Hajin, who knew Minori had no way of knowing the answer unless he was directly the cause, would've stepped into his trap.
Ordinarily, Hajin wouldn't be doing this, but right now, more than anything, he didn't want a main character under this bastard's thumb.
"There was however a brief moment where a shadow, around Thompson's height and figure, plastered some sort of slip onto a tree in the vicinity several hours earlier."
Hajin grit his teeth but nodded his head, [Acting] had already come into effect, muting his emotions.
"Anyways, now that that's cleared up. Let's get onto the main course.
Minori then reached out to tap the watch that lay on the table. With a jolt a hologram lit up, presenting the previous screen that the watch had displayed before the death of its owner.
"As I said before, this watch was owned by Djinn before I killed him. And although I managed to retrieve the watch and disable the spell that would cause it to self-destruct, we were still only able to recover the last frame that the watch had."
The screen displayed a string of texts, or rather, two very important messages.
[Make sure you bring him. Even if he's dead, they want his corpse. The warehouse under the book shop.]
[There won't be a problem. I'll be back in about a week.]
Kim Hajin stared at the messages, a feeling of doubt worming into his heart.
"That's… it?"
Yeonha nodded gravely before speaking, it seems the pressure keeping her from speaking had worn off.
"Yes. It's unfortunate, but all the data on it had been wiped. The only thing we could get was…this." She gestured.
"But because of it, we could pinpoint their location. Now all we have to do is hatch a plan to go in and… apprehend them." Minori nodded seriously.
Hajin's face morphed into a frown before he brought something up.
"I see… but, why didn't you go to a guild or even the hero association? Hell, even the police would've done something."
Minori raised two fingers.
"Two reasons. One, the police are too slow and so are guilds. Another reason is that Yeonha and I both don't trust them… there are too many uncertainties, and the more people we inform, the lower the chance we succeed in an ambush."
The pale eyed boy's face contorted unnaturally.
"Actually, there's a third reason… I want revenge for the people we lost during the midterms. Although I haven't been here as long as someone from the Combat Academy, I do care about the loss of that many innocent lives."
'What a creepy smile… it really doesn't fit what he says… but I guess there is some merit to his words. I know better than anyone that the character Minori Nii is not totally merciless.'
Despite his thoughts, Hajin couldn't help but notice how the look in Yeonha's eyes sharpened with determination. That speech wasn't for him, it was for her.
It was to make sure that Yeonha wouldn't get cold feet.
But then he started up again with a cruel smirk. He was up to something.
"Which is why, in around seven days, I'll head to the rendezvous point of the book shop and clean up." Minori paused, refusing to elaborate any further.
Hajin raised an eyebrow and Yeonha looked at Minori with an expectant look.
"...then why do you need us?"
Minori smiled and pulled out his own watch, projecting a floor plan into the air.
"Well… no matter how competent I am. I'm not someone who can stop stragglers easily. Plus, I still need to be rather… inconspicuous to avoid the public eye."
The plan was of a two story building, consisting of a first floor and a basement, which was unusual considering the location displayed at the top right of the screen.
The first floor had five rooms, the common room which was lined with the shelves of a book store, a backroom, a public restroom and a private one. However there was a hatch within the backroom which clearly led to the basement.
In the other image, was a completely empty room, in the centre was a circle, labelled, "Sewer"
"This is what I reconstructed based on what the Djinn who attacked me told me."
Hajin studied the room before his eyes widened with realization.
"I think I get what you're going to say…"
"Yeah. I'm essentially going to funnel them through the store, killing as many as I can before pushing the rest into the sewers. That's where the two of you will kill the rest. The two of you can do that, right?"
As cadets of Cube, the killing of Djinns was tantamount to killing a rather dangerous rat. The thought of its death didn't provoke a drop of empathy from either of the two. Despite this, a hoard of rats still had their fangs.
Yeonha gulped, before calmly nodding.
"Yeah, no problem."
Hajin on the other hand… hesitated.
"How are we supposed to find this exact manhole without getting caught or spotted? Don't tell me we have to go to the city edge… no, no way. We're actually- No, I refuse to go that far for such a dangerous mission. Telling anyone else is a much safer alternative no matter how mu-"
"I'll enchant every bullet you own for the duration of the mission." Minori cut him off.
"..." There was a moment of pause as Hajin's heart burnt with avarice.
"...for free?"
"Yes."
"..."
Hajin breathed in through his nose and then let out a deep sigh.
"How should I let you know once we've found the manhole?"
Minori's grin spread as he pulled out a piece of paper.
On it, was a peculiar magic circle, weaved with strokes of both twists and waves, before interlacing with a rune Hajin didn't recognise but knew of, nonetheless.
It was the spell circle for [Alert], which made the caster's sense sharpen for a single moment, tied into the rune that simply said "Realise".
"All you have to do is rip this sheet of paper and in around… 5-no 2 minutes, I'll have thrown a Djinn into the manhole."
Hajin grit his teeth as a cold sweat ran down his back.
'...you're kidding me. That strong already?! Is this coauthor trying to make this run impossible?!'
Despite his thoughts, Hajin considered this both a boon and a curse.
A curse, as he was certain that Minori's personality was still as foul as before. Making him an even more annoying threat.
And a boon, as Hajin was certain Minori wouldn't kill and betray the heroes for at least another year.
That was enough. He could get stronger or rather the main character could get stronger in that time.
Strong enough to face this bastard though? Hajin wasn't sure.
"Alright…" Hajin grabbed onto the paper and looked at Yoo Yeonha.
This was a chance to check her mental state. She seems to have developed some strange obsession with killing Djinns and… well he didn't like it. It wasn't part of the future he had planned and he'll be damned if that advantage were to slip out of his hands due to his complacency.
–Clap!
"Great! Glad we have that hatched. Now, if you don't mind, I need to make ample preparations for my siege!"
Minori got up, prompting the other two to get up as well.
He saw the two guests to the door and bid them a farewell before shutting the door.
"..." The moment he was sure he was alone, Minori turned and leaned onto the door, sliding down and letting out a sigh.
"Haaa~, I cannot believe that worked!" Minori pulled out another watch and clicked it open. This time another chain of messages were revealed.
[Hey, I ran into some trouble. I'll be back in 7 days. Prepare the shop for when I get back. The bastard is putting up a fight.]
[Lol, that's what you get you dumb bastard. Don't worry, we'll bring the Shaman from the white clad to collect his heart asap. Though we'll have to be extra careful since that princy bastard is in town that day.]
That's right. The watch used in the meeting was a fake. It was Minori's personal watch that had been wiped and set up to look like the Djinn's.
The real one had been in his own hands the entire time.
He never needed Yeonha to help him.
This way, Minori could hide his involvement in setting up the meeting, the fact that he had anything to do with the White Clad and anything too out of the ordinary that he wanted to keep under wraps. He had also learnt a few things by looking through the watch on his own.
1: The White Clad guild which was headed by Vatz and was used as his personal vanguard were apparently working with the Djinn, but not fully. It was more likely that the two were going to go ahead and kill each other immediately after the deal. In other words, it was extremely tense.
2: For some reason, the White Clad were obsessed with the idea of trying to get Minori's heart and blood. The Djinn Ryan was talking to seemed to think they were going to eat it but Minori wasn't so sure.
3: The Djinn's had for some reason, stopped hunting Minori. Around 6 or 7 weeks ago there was a text saying:
[Why did we stop head hunting that bastard who killed our recruiter? Ori was such a fine chick to just be incinerated by some kid.]
[Apparantly Branch leader himself had order for it to be stopped. How do you not know that, stupid bastard?!]
If the fact that they had stopped hunting hadn't bothered Minori before, it was going to now.
But how would he get his answers?
He needed to capture the Shaman and funnel the Djinn within the 2 minutes that he had given himself.