I’m Sick of the Kind Protagonist, so I Might as Well Just Die - Chapter 67

—————

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

—————

#67
Perenustus had been acting strangely ever since he showed up at dawn, throwing everything into disarray.
“As of today, I’ve officially registered you as an Academy student.”
Perenustus, who had summoned me to his office, made the declaration out of nowhere. I stared at him in disbelief. Leonas and Bilateia, who had arrived earlier, didn’t seem surprised, which suggested they’d already been informed of this development.
“Are you serious? Just a while ago, weren’t you saying I could contaminate the other students?”
“Well, it’s already happened to me. Seemed unfair that it would only happen to me.”
At his words, Bilateia and Leonas opened their mouths as if they might faint, then quickly snapped them shut.
“…I shouldn’t speak carelessly in front of the children. That’s my mistake.”
Before I could finish speaking, Bilateia glared at me. Perenustus, who appeared not to have slept all night and kept pressing his brow, let out a deep sigh.
“I’ve come to believe it would be far more effective in the long term for Aurelia to become a student and systematically study the structure of the Worlds. To be more honest, I wanted to bring Aurelia more firmly into my domain.”
His final sentence carried a nuance distinctly different from his usual businesslike tone—something oddly ticklish. Leonas and Bilateia, listening from the side, widened their eyes once more.
‘Ah… looking at their expressions, it seems “bringing into my domain” must mean something quite serious.’
I scratched my neck awkwardly, then nodded in understanding. Leonas turned his gaze toward me, then looked at the ceiling. Bilateia covered her mouth with the back of her hand and sighed. Regardless of how the two of them reacted, Perenustus continued with his instructions without concern.
“So the two of you should take Aurelia with you and attend classes together. While you two steadily guide Aurelia, I will fulfill my duties as administrator here and design the next phase.”
“Understood. We’ll take care of—”
“No, you didn’t understand properly. What I’m saying is that you’ll need to manage well among yourselves for a while.”
Perenustus cut off Leonas mid-sentence and waved his hand.
“The Ancient Gods are watching me closely. If I provoke them even slightly, the difficulty of the next stage will skyrocket beyond control. So I intend to maintain my position as a textbook administrator for some time.”
At his words, Bilateia and Leonas nodded without complaint. Following their lead, I also nodded. By now, I understood that it made far more sense for him—the creator and professor—not to intervene directly in the field.
“The total of comedy and tragedy is accumulating smoothly. Since this Worlds has proven how efficient it is at drawing the gods’ attention, you’ll need to bear the pressure that comes with their gaze going forward.”
Bilateia, smiling awkwardly, trembled. Leonas’s laughter was equally strained. Though we knew how exhausting it was to endure the gods’ gaze, there was no way to refuse when the professor said so boldly: “bear it.”
“Well then, good luck. Let’s go.”
The moment we were driven out of the office, I lowered my voice and whispered to Bilateia.
“What happened last night? Did something change in Perenustus’s mind? Why is he suddenly registering me as an official student?”
“How would I know? The professor said to do it, so we do it without complaint.”
I walked through the corridor, bustling with the energy of students, flanked by the two troubled top students.
“Today’s first class is ‘The Composition of the Worlds and the Establishment of Narrative.'”
Bilateia pointed to a gleaming dark-green door. It seemed Perenustus could no longer tolerate me recklessly tearing through the Worlds without any sense of order.
“So… what you’re saying is that Perenustus’s plan is for me to learn the fundamentals of the Worlds here with you two, so I can act a bit more systematically than I do now?”
“Probably?”
Leonas opened the lecture hall door as he answered. Before I could even feel the unease that something had gone wrong, an intensely brilliant silver-white light consumed us.
[Warning] Penalty activated!
Administrator Perenustus’s ‘observation’ plan has been rejected!
The distance between creation and administrator is being forcibly adjusted!
What I thought was light turned out to be this kind of warning message. When the violent notifications, repeating the same sentence countless times, subsided and my vision returned, before us lay not a lecture hall but an endless Dark Space.
And standing in the middle of that darkness was a familiar silhouette.
“…Perenustus?”
At my call, the silhouette slowly turned around. I had a bad feeling, but it really was Perenustus. The man who should have been left in his office elegantly shuffling papers now stood before me with his hands shoved into his pockets like some back-alley thug, his face twisted with fury.
“What’s going on? I thought you weren’t entering the Worlds. Why are you here?”
“Didn’t you see the status window? A penalty has been activated.”
He gritted his teeth as the words spilled out. Dragged far more roughly than we had been, his hair—usually impeccable—hung in wild disarray.
“It appears the Divine Beings have interpreted my resolve to remain in my Office and fulfill my duties as administrator as merely another ‘plan’ to be disrupted. Since plans must go awry, I was forcibly summoned to this coordinate against my will.”
Silence fell at Perenustus’s explanation, tinged with bitter laughter. Leonas muttered as if to himself.
“So Aurelia gets a curse that won’t work as intended, and the Professor gets the penalty of his plans going wrong…?”
“Then we’ll move as carefully as we can!”
Before Perenustus—already looking for somewhere to vent his frustration—could lash out at Leonas, Bilateia smoothly interjected.
“Professor, in this world especially, please clear your mind and rest as much as possible! For everyone’s safety.”
Perenustus, about to say something in return, closed his mouth and nodded instead. I was about to nod along when I paused, then stepped closer to Perenustus’s side and shook my head.
“No, actually this works out perfectly.”
“Works out perfectly?”
“Let’s use this opportunity to properly experiment with how things go wrong and how our intentions fail to materialize.”
….
“The energy reserves were quite full in the last world, weren’t they? So in this world, whether it’s comedy or tragedy, let’s not worry about gaining or replenishing anything at all! Let’s focus solely on researching our curses and penalties.”
Unlike Perenustus, who looked intrigued, the senior members who had shifted behind him all shook their heads in unison.
“Why not? I actually wanted to experiment in the last world, but things kept exploding left and right and I never got the chance. Now that Perenustus has fallen here with us, wouldn’t it be perfect to experiment openly?”
“It would be.”
“Exactly! We’re all in this mess because of the penalties anyway, so if things really go catastrophically wrong, we can just pin the blame on those exalted beings up there.”
My index finger pointed skyward. Bilateia and Leonas, staring at the pitch-black sky my fingertip indicated, gritted their teeth and held back their sighs—as if that dark expanse were a mirror of their own futures.
“If things go really wrong this time, even the Divine Beings might think ‘this won’t do’ and adjust the severity of their sanctions.”
“That’s actually tempting.”
“Professor…!”
Leonas, who rarely raised his voice against Perenustus, spoke with unusual intensity. Perenustus raised his hand in a reassuring gesture.
“I understand what Leonas is worried about better than anyone.”
“Hearing you say that….”
“I understand, but this time Aurelia’s argument is far more persuasive. Let’s focus this stage on analysis rather than energy harvesting. Though this kind of intervention and accompaniment was never part of my plan, it may not be entirely unwelcome.”
Having finished speaking, he gestured at Leonas with his chin, asking why he wasn’t leading the way. Leonas, habitually lifting the corners of his mouth, took the lead, and the entire group stepped forward into the pitch-black darkness. I gazed up at Perenustus as he walked with a furrowed brow, and smiled secretly to myself.
‘He looked so troubled this morning that I was worried, but he seems to be in better shape than expected. Thank goodness.’
Perhaps my expression of relief was too obvious. Bilateia gently pulled me closer and slapped my forearm. When I hardened my gaze with the most serious expression I could muster to convey that there was nothing to worry about, her slapping hand pressed down with even more force.
Ah, why.

—————

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

—————