Class passed by quickly. After homeroom, I slowly made my way toward the place the Vice President had told me about, together with Inna. The Vice President said she had already contacted them, so we only needed to show up in person.
Right, not me alone. Us.
I had tried to go alone, but when I said I had something to do and couldn't go home with her, Inna naturally said, "Then I can just go with you, right? Do you know the geography of where you're trying to go?" and attached herself to my side.
I wanted to leave her behind and go, but she wasn't exactly wrong. I didn't have the money for transportation fare. I wasn't familiar with the geography of this place either.
This place was supposedly modeled after some city in Korea, but you could tell it wasn't any actual city in Korea just from how there were many two-story houses instead of apartment buildings.
If I tried to navigate while thinking of the place I used to live, I'd only get lost. Even when I heard the address where she lived, I was told it was a place called Changhae.
"Let's take the bus."
It didn't take long to get from the school gate to the bus stop. Instead, there were many students waiting there.
I had heard there was a club system, the pride of the school, but the number of students not participating in that system seemed to be extremely large as well. The problem was that all of those students were waiting for the bus.
Buses came one after another, and the students wearing black uniforms boarded them and drained away like the ebbing tide.
Just when I thought most of the buses had come, a bus with the same number as the one that had passed by earlier appeared in the distance. Inna took my hand, scanned for two students, and boarded.
'Did she deliberately avoid the crowded buses?'
While I was wondering if it was right that I had waited for a bus that had already passed, she went to the very back of the bus. There were quite a few empty seats, so sitting where we wanted wasn't difficult.
"So what is it we have to do when we get there?"
We sat side by side in two adjacent empty seats. Only then did Inna turn to me and ask what business we were going for.
I had gotten involved because, in my case, I knew this matter was a path that led to the Queen, but the evidence was too flimsy to explain it to Inna in a convincing way.
How could I say I knew because the System recommended it? After pondering briefly, I found a clear answer.
"The President went to look for the Queen, so I decided to take on part of her work."
"Aha, if it's the President's work, then you're helping with a problem a student asked for help with?"
Inna, whom I had expected to show jealousy as usual, asked in a calm voice. Because the reaction I expected didn't come, I asked once more.
"You're not angry?"
"I thought you were going around with her, but fortunately you weren't. And I think I roughly know who she's going around with. Seeing that Kim Haneul hadn't even come back by homeroom, it seems the Student Council President went to search together with Kim Haneul, whom you hate so much. I'm not such a bad woman that I'd get angry or jealous at your admirable heart, trying to help with her work even after being abandoned by her."
Hearing it like this made me sound pitiful. As if I had become someone who couldn't forget a woman who'd already been NTR'd from me, to the point of helping with that woman's work.
Anyway, did that mean Kim Haneul, whom I had roughly assumed was skipping class because he didn't want to get scolded by the teacher, had immediately gone to the Student Council President and set out to find the Queen?
That's incredible initiative. I thought about this while admiring the cityscape visible beyond the window. Setting out to search for a single woman in this huge city without any clues.
Was he foolish, or courageous?
Or perhaps the System gave the protagonist clues to follow the Queen's trail in a different way than it did for me.
That I obtained a mission presumed to be a clue about the Queen was also a hint given by the System, so it would be different for me, but the protagonist, who was presumed to have the System as well, likely had a high probability of obtaining clues about the Queen too.
And if the Student Council President, who possessed the power of wisdom, was with him too, the probability of finding the Queen would increase even more.
I had tried to close my eyes until we reached our destination, intending to lean my head against the window, but due to some movement, I ended up leaning against Inna's shoulder.
"Trying to sleep?"
"Yeah."
The shoulder of a girl my age. Though small, it held me tight so my head wouldn't slip, and trusting the girl who would wake me when we arrived at our destination, I took a brief nap.
"Sleep well. It's still far until we reach the destination, so I'll wake you right up when we arrive."
*
I didn't know how long I had slept. She shook my shoulder, and I got up in a daze. As I walked along like that, before I knew it, I heard that we had arrived at our destination, and a girl came out to greet us.
"Hmm~. Are you guys prospective Student Council members? Does the Student Council pick based on looks alone? You're disgustingly pretty. Anyway, just make sure my mom doesn't get scammed by con artists. Use your beauty or do whatever, just handle it~."
What was this now? Words spoken with a sense of distance, as if it weren't her own affair at all. Completely different from the personality I had felt from the content I saw when receiving the mission from the System.
She'd said it wasn't a big deal since it's not like her mom would die from being scammed, but it felt different somehow. She had a handbag slung under her arm like she was going somewhere, tapped on the open front door with a knock-knock, said "Well then, I'm counting on you~" and went out.
That kind of woman counted as a heroine known for her looks? A short skirt, and an attitude of trying to go outside instead of staying worriedly by her mother's side even though her mom was being scammed—no matter how bad their relationship was, it was strange.
I looked above the head of the woman who was about to disappear, and the System window showed even what condition that woman was in.
[Damaged]
[Role: Honor Student-type Heroine]
[Status: Submission]
[Ability: Unusable]
Her name could have been damaged too. The things below were surprising enough, but with one guess, I could understand that girl's condition.
The 'violation route' that the System had explained. If this girl had fallen victim to that side, and if this mission was the key leading to that side, then I could also understand her attitude of wearing slightly vulgar-looking clothes and going outside even though the household was falling apart.
The probability was high that those so-called con artists had approached through the mother, and that girl had also been brainwashed.
I couldn't say the mission had come on the very same day, so the reason she was already dominated the moment we arrived was convincing enough.
When her back was no longer visible, I opened my mouth. I should have asked before taking on this mission—the enemy's power that even I had only just realized.
"You, can you resist powers like brainwashing?"
"My heart is already fully filled with love for someone else, so of course?"
"Cut the jokes and be serious."
Words full of playfulness, perhaps because she was happy to be with me. But I asked again. If to resolve this mission, we had to resist the ability of the one presumed to be the protagonist of the violation route, then Inna had to be able to resist as well.
I had something called a Blessing, so I could resist even Inna's Influence, but if Inna got brainwashed and tried to grab my body and not let go, I had no way to respond.
Even if white lightning flashed for a moment and I shook off Inna's hand, if she kept trying to grab me, I would eventually be captured by her hands.
"If I change my ability's target from people to superpowers instead, it is perfectly possible. Even a power like brainwashing, the moment it tries to reach us, it receives the effect of my Influence and weakens to the point of becoming meaningless. Why? Shall I switch it over even now?"
Was Influence such a powerful ability? Each time I heard Inna's explanations, it struck me anew.
It was a superpower that seemed like it would only amount to being treated kindly by someone, but hearing her words, it seemed she could do anything with it.
They say one year makes a huge difference in a dating sim, but could it grow to this extent? An ability that seemed trained to handle every situation, unlike the other heroines.
Although the front door, where an [enemy] was presumed to be, was open, instead of going there, I opened my mouth to satisfy my curiosity.
"How did you get so strong?"
"I've always practiced against the strongest shield since I was little. So I couldn't help but get strong."
The strongest shield? Judging from how she made food and such, inanimate objects appeared unable to escape her ability.
Ordinary people like students couldn't escape her power unless they were superpower users, and if superpower users were shields, they were shields, but seeing as she specifically called it the 'strongest shield,' it seemed she had practiced against an ability user who could defend against Influence...
Then naturally, only one candidate remained. Someone who had presumably always been with her since childhood.
"Don't tell me the strongest shield refers to me?"
"You used to not catch on even when I said things like this, but you've gotten quite sharp. Could you losing your memories have been poison to me?"
What did she say? I couldn't hear because she spoke in a voice like ants crawling. Well, she probably said something like that but spoke quietly so I wouldn't hear because she was embarrassed.
"You need to be careful because there's an ability user related to brainwashing up ahead."
"Hmm, then can't we just not go?"
I had expected her to ask how I knew a brainwashing ability user was inside, but to think she'd just say we shouldn't go.
As she said, there was no need to invite danger. If I kept avoiding the people presumed to be of the violation route, I could probably keep avoiding them until third year, presumed to be the end of the game, but...
If I couldn't get out of the game, I might have to face constant threats from the violation route people.
Just as I had to cut down the Queen at the first sign of a possible threat, it was better to nip the violation route in the bud at first sight. In preparation for the possibility of remaining in this world.
"It'll be dangerous in many ways if left alone."
But what came out of my mouth was different words. Rather than saying something incomprehensible, a vague statement was better.
Whether she had intended to listen to whatever I said from the start, Inna nodded while looking inside the house.
"Got it. But maybe because the door's been left open, it seems the guests have come out first to welcome us?"
With her words, two figures revealed themselves from the darkness.
A woman with brown bobbed hair wearing glasses, and beside her, a girl with emerald hair trailing down to the floor.
When I unconsciously tried to look above their heads, my eyes suddenly stung.
[With your current role, you cannot check information regarding them. The System has temporarily taken damage. Please be advised that the System will be restricted for a while.]
Against two people presumed to have come from a violation-route dating sim,
I had to face them without the System?
If I had known beforehand that there was such a restriction, I would have been careful about looking at their roles.
I had to boldly greet them as they approached us without hesitation.
You crazy System bastard.
Someday, I will definitely get my revenge.