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Chapter 4

Apologize

7 min read1,527 words

[Title: Hellobot Isn’t a Fraud?]

Content: If you look at his completely empty skill window at the start, it means he learned absolutely nothing until Academy enrollment, right?

But he became the Academy’s strongest in less than a year, and the world’s strongest within three years. Isn’t he just a total talent freak?

The game company goes on about how the soul that possessed him is none other than you, the Player~ But no, how is it me when a blockhead who learned nothing became valedictorian in three years, swept all the Nobel Prize categories, and hung Olympic gold medals around his neck?

ㄴ: Take it back... Those words!

ㄴ: (Did he think you were friends just because you hung out with him? Context)

ㄴ: AManHwi (Flaunting perfect-score exam papers at the Academy)

ㄴ: No thats impossible I am Helio a Swordmaster and Archmage and Shadow Walker and Grand Archer humanitys strongest

ㄴ: But his dick is 3cm!!!

ㄴ: Dick 3cm (Gargantuan trait)

ㄴ: Sigh... Did he have to take this too?

ㄴ: There is something the developer revealed about that.

ㄴ [Author]: ??? There’s something like that?

ㄴ: Ha, fuck. Aekbung! Stop living real life and live on the community!

ㄴ: There’s a translated interview. Basically, he does have talent, but fundamentally, it was good timing.

ㄴ [Author]: ? What timing? Hellobot did nothing until he was 15 though?

ㄴ: Yeah, that and the timing of his Academy admission were good.

ㄴ [Author]: Are you saying lazing around was a good thing?

ㄴ: Then why am I fucked after wasting my school life?

ㄴ: Ah, you’re the soul that tagged along with Helio, not Helio himself lololol

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“Helio.”

Seven days since becoming a shut-in.

Mom finally pulled out the ultimate weapon, fed up with the unexplained no-shows.

“I heard. You said you won’t do anything?”

It was a calm voice.

Even while mentioning something that would astonish the person himself, it contained little emotion.

She simply gazed at me steadily with faded sunset-colored eyes.

The emotion there was all too easy to read.

“...Nuna.”

Worry, anxiety, concern, responsibility.

Helenora Hellisboatt had come, as she always did, to look after her younger brother.

* * *

“Here, tea.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

As a modern person, Ojio (32) possessed much useful miscellaneous knowledge.

For example, the most appropriate water temperature and steeping time for brewing black tea.

It was a luxury possible only in a world where knowledge acquisition was not driven by necessity but enjoyed as entertainment.

“...It’s delicious. Is this knowledge from the soul that possessed you this time?”

“It’s knowledge that the original owner can’t even remember. Yeah.”

“Amazing. At this level, there would be many people willing to pay to learn it.”

To him, it was merely a fleeting memory from Shorts, something he couldn’t even properly recall, yet this was the evaluation.

“It’s a different world.”

“I suppose so. It really is a different world.”

Nuna smiled faintly and set down her teacup.

It was a simple motion, nothing more, yet elegance emanated from it.

That was both Nuna’s innate charm and simultaneous proof that she was accustomed to spirit possession.

Because the power of spirit possession made it possible to acquire in a short period abilities that some would obtain through decades of time and effort and training.

“And my brother has become a complete adult. It’s a bit of a shame.”

“Uh... It’s true that my mental age has gone up... You know, knowledge and experience are the basic elements that constitute personality, right?”

“Of course, Nuna knows well too. How many times I’ve heard that I don’t act my age.”

With those words, Nuna brought the teacup to her lips again.

As expected, it was an elegant motion, and her voice was gentle, yet I felt as if cold sweat were running down my back.

Drip.

“Oh my, are you hot? Why are you sweating so much?”

“Uh, uh... I wonder. Did it get hot while boiling water earlier?”

“Hehe, then shouldn’t I, who is drinking tea right now, be even hotter?”

“That makes sense too!”

I managed to play along somehow, but it didn’t seem very meaningful.

“.........”

A faint smile remained at the corners of Nuna’s mouth as she quietly drank her tea.

‘She’s angry! And an incredible amount of it!’

Helenora was not someone who got angry easily.

Fundamentally, she had little emotional turmoil, and she herself continued to wish to be mild.

Therefore, she rarely got angry, and even when she did, her expression was far from violent.

Just like right now.

“.........”

She was smiling.

Her gestures were elegant, her smile was mild, and her voice was calm.

However, my normally calm sister was not someone who smiled often in the first place.

“Our brother is now a complete adult. You know how to brew tea for guests. You know the right temperature. Your speech has become more adult-like too.”

“Ye—Yeah, I was just lucky.”

“Still, being adult-like is adult-like, isn’t it? You know how to receive guests, and when a cup is empty, you fill it quickly. On top of that...”

On top of that, she wasn’t someone who meaninglessly repeated the same words like this.

Nuna, who had a strong scholarly temperament, preferred concise speech about the matter at hand instead of meaningless wordplay or unnecessarily drawn-out talk.

‘I realized too late.’

Because I hadn’t brought up Mother or studying, I had thought she came by as usual—such carelessness.

Nuna had come angry from the very beginning.

Without knowing that, I had been merrily demonstrating the newly learned tea-brewing method.

And there was an even bigger problem.

There were so many possible reasons for Nuna’s anger that I couldn’t figure out exactly what the problem was.

“Um... Nuna?”

“Oh my, what is it, our adult-like Helio.”

“...Are you angry?”

“............”

A long silence ensued.

Nuna simply maintained her smile, no longer even picking up the teacup, and gazed only at me.

“Why do you think I’m angry?”

Eventually, after time passed, she asked the ultimate question in a gentle voice.

[Bshiaaaang!!!!!]

For some reason, it felt as if Ojio’s memories were screaming inside my head.

‘That’s impossible.’

There was no self-consciousness in a soul received through spirit possession.

In the game, it was merely a Part 1 displayed as a special equipment piece.

And above all, this wasn’t an emergency.

While Ojio (32) had more life experience, I knew more about Nuna.

“...There are too many things, so I don’t know.”

I spoke honestly.

From unauthorized spirit possession to skipping studies, too many things applied.

“.........”

And at those words, Nuna’s smile began to gradually disappear.

What remained was an expressionless face.

A silence so cold it felt frigid was revealed through Nuna’s face.

It was an expression that others might perceive as anger.

‘...Thank goodness.’

However, on the contrary, I let out a sigh of relief.

That wasn’t an angry expression; rather, it was her usual expression.

Her anger had subsided.

At least to the point where it would no longer be expressed outwardly.

“It’s fine that you didn’t study or train. But couldn’t you have at least explained why?”

And only then did Nuna begin to get to the main point.

Regarding this, me and Ojio (32) had the same opinion.

“Yes...”

Showing signs of obedient reflection.

“You know well that extremely unexpected knowledge or things difficult to explain circulate easily in our family.”

“That’s right...”

“And what kind of speech habit is ‘Mother’ to Mom? Mom said she didn’t mind, but hearing it directly, I felt suffocated.”

“I was wrong...”

From beginning to end, it was a calm and quiet tone.

There was no anger, contempt, annoyance, or urgency in it.

Only a logical, proper, and clear voice.

I couldn’t act strongly toward Nuna, not since I was younger and more innocent.

Because it was Nuna who had raised me in place of Mother, who was busy as the lady of a high noble house.

“...So was there some big problem? A reason you couldn’t train? You didn’t foresee some strange future or anything?”

See.

Even now, after saying what she had to say, what she does immediately after is worry about me, doesn’t she?

With the red color almost faded, her now pale peach-colored hair swayed as she stared at me blankly.

It was a gaze filled with weakness—worry and concern.

“It’s not that. I found a method for explosive growth.”

“Knowledge from spirit possession?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I can understand, but...”

Nuna trailed off for a moment, then soon looked at me with a sigh.

“Then what exactly is the reason you’re trying to do nothing? And you even used strange speech. Mother sighed.”

That I was doing nothing was according to plan, but the speech was purely emitted while intoxicated by Ojio’s knowledge, so I had nothing to say.

In times like these, I should just get to the main point.

“Um... I’ll tell you, so can you check if the knowledge I obtained is correct?”

“Good. You mean cross-verification? That’s a good attitude.”

Interest settled into Nuna’s obedient face.

It was a curiosity befitting her scholarly constitution.

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