Don't Feed the Professor! - Chapter 51

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Maybe Mallo was angry? Because Jusija had tried to use me as a shield?
‘……Surely not.’
“The building thing—I didn’t do it on purpose.”
Mallo spoke abruptly.
“I’m sorry?”
“I told you already. Salt has no intention.”
Salt has no intention. Even if Mallo harbors no such intent, the mere fact of existing in this place means the building can collapse.
Jusija’s voice continued.
[I wanted to do everything for you. But I couldn’t figure out what you wanted……. I was so afraid of making a mistake, of making you hate me.]
Jusija finally released the tears she’d been holding back.
[Please don’t take Canaria away from me…….]
Watching tears stream down that small face, my own nose began to sting. Seeing me like that, Mallo frowned slightly.
“You do know that’s not actually a kid, right?”
“I have that much sense.”
Whether real or false, it was hard to watch a child cry. It felt like watching myself in childhood all over again.
“You won’t hurt her, will you?”
“Huh?”
“You’re not actually going to harm Lee Ha-young. It was all a misunderstanding anyway.”
“Who said it was a misunderstanding?”
“Jusija misunderstood that Lee Ha-young was the one who set up the ritual. And then Bibi and I burst in and opened the door to Room 1202, so she probably thought we were all in cahoots.”
“I’m talking about something else.”
Mallo gestured at Jusija on the screen.
“The fact that she shoved you into that room is real.”
“……It was just a light push, really.”
“So I just lightly broke things.”
I almost laughed but held it back.
“Anyway, we came here to investigate. We need Lee Ha-young’s testimony, so please be patient.”
“…….”
Mallo still looked dissatisfied, but didn’t argue with me further.
So in the end, what was ‘that’?
Someone had definitely attempted a ritual in Room 1202. The moment Bibi and I stepped into the room, the missing conditions aligned and it activated…….
Did the distress signal Bibi received also turn out to be a trap to draw us in?
But why?
I thought it over but couldn’t hazard a guess.
“More than that, how do we get out of here? We need to collect evidence quickly.”
“Detective play, huh.”
Mallo hummed cheerfully.
Really.
“Oh, before that, there’s one thing I’m curious about.”
Mallo pointed at the screen with a finger and asked.
“Why’s she doing that?”
“That?”
I turned my head.
Jusija on the screen was still crying like a small child. Lee Ha-young held her, gently patting her shoulder to soothe her.
“Embracing someone is a gesture of goodwill, right? So why is that human showing goodwill to that thing?”
“Well…….”
It’s true—Lee Ha-young wouldn’t see Jusija in the best light.
Even if she’d entrusted her safety to her, being confined to the house would’ve felt suffocating, and from the looks of it, she’d been under heavy surveillance regarding clothes and food.
Above all, Lee Ha-young had said she could never leave the Nest Building unless Jusija let her go.
And yet…….
“Well, I don’t really know, but……, maybe she just wants to comfort her. Because she’s crying so sorrowfully. She might’ve grown attached over time…….”
I spoke while watching Lee Ha-young, whose nose had turned red as she sniffled.
Mallo raised her eyebrows.
“Grown attached? You’re saying they became close?”
“Well, what would I know anyway. Let’s go faster. I’m worried about Bibi too.”
But Mallo showed no sign of moving, her arms crossed.
“…….”
“……You’re not going to leave?”
“Worried?”
“What?”
I turned the odd question back on her, but Mallo didn’t answer.
“Let’s go.”
I followed Mallo as she stepped forward, exiting the Screening Room.
The moment I passed through the doorway, a light vertigo washed over me, like when crossing a severed space. When my vision cleared, I was in Room 1202.
All the traces we’d seen before were neatly swept away, and in the empty room stood someone with a confused expression.
“Bibi?”
“Amelie……!”
Bibi started running toward me but suddenly stopped.
His gaze shifted to Mallo.
‘Don’t tell me, again……!’
I hurried forward and grabbed Bibi’s arm.
“Bibi, are you okay?”
At that, Bibi’s gaze quickly returned to me.
“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine.”
I let out a relieved breath.
“Inside the room? There was no one?”
“There was something that looked like a corpse…….”
“Looked like?”
“It melted. Without a trace.”
Melted? Like ‘the Snail’?
That means there’s no clue left to identify who it was.
‘So we couldn’t salvage anything after all…….’
“And…… this.”
Bibi set something on the table.
“……A protein bar?”
It was a handmade protein bar wrapper. Its contents had turned into something like white ash.
“It’s from the outside world. I don’t remember when it was put here…… But I think this was the reason.”
“So you’re saying…… this was ‘food’?”
“Exactly. The thing inside recognized this as a kind of offering, so the ritual was completed the moment we opened the door.”
Bibi’s expression was gloomy. It was clear he blamed himself for us being attacked.
Just as I was about to tell him not to blame himself, click—the lights went out.
“……?”
And then with a thud, a round spotlight fell overhead.
“Uh……, Professor?”
Music played. It was a jazzy rhythm like something from a mystery thriller film.
“Nope.”
Mallo sat in a folding chair that appeared from nowhere, her long legs crossed, and spoke.
“Director.”
Where did those sunglasses come from? Without minding my bewilderment, she raised a rolled stack of scripts.
And…….
“Action!”
With the sound of a slate clapping, I found myself standing in an Interrogation Room.
I let out a hollow laugh.
Of course, it wasn’t a real interrogation room. It was more like a small set had materialized in the middle of Room 1202.
‘But this looks more like a detective interrogation than…… wait, isn’t this a detective room?’
It was a space like the interrogation room from a classic detective film, with ceiling fans and blinds installed.
Canaria sitting across from me and Bibi beyond the glass window both looked bewildered.
“Uh……, what’s going on here?”
“I have no idea…….”
When I looked toward Mallo, she gestured with a tap-tap at the table.
On the table, where nothing had been moments before, sat an antique CRT television like something from a museum and a metal storage box with handles.
“…….”
I opened the storage box first.
“Huh?”
I gestured to Bibi. Bibi glanced toward the director’s chair, then climbed over the set wall and came to stand beside me.
“This…….”
“Looks like the belongings of whoever was in this room earlier.”
First, a card key with a cage-shaped key ring. That jingling sound when ‘it’ burst from Room 1202 had definitely come from this.
A jar about thirty centimeters tall that appeared to have been used in the ‘ritual,’ and…….
“This is a communication device from The Agency, right?”
Bibi nodded at my question.
So the distress signal had indeed been transmitted from Room 1202, not 1201.
And finally, a cylinder with tubing attached.
“Bibi, do you know what this is?”
“I’m not sure of its purpose, but…… it looks like Black Market merchandise.”
Of course.
The form was slightly different, but it resembled something I’d seen during the last course registration. That painkiller pump Russell had been carrying.
‘I don’t know what it is, but something living and suffering was in this room. And next…….’
I turned on the television receiver. A black-and-white CCTV feed appeared.
The screen showed the interior of Room 1202. In the center of the room sat a Vessel of Blood, and scattered across the floor were unidentifiable black marks.
“Here, this person. The one that melted earlier.”
Bibi pointed to the edge of the screen. Beyond numbers too smudged to read, a figure in black clothing leaned against the wall.
The face was unrecognizable, but it seemed to be a young man. His waist and knees were half-bent, as if he might collapse at any moment.
‘Something seems off…….’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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