Sure, it was a world where being filthy rich made you king, but at least ordinary citizens were guaranteed basic safety and freedom.
Except none of those rules applied in front of this lunatic.
There was zero guarantee that Adrian would follow the law.
Besides, wasn’t Adrian rumored to have the most vicious, sadistic gameplay routes right after Lucian?
The madman who cut off the main shouzu’s wrists.
“The Dismemberment Route,” “The Pet Route.”
Those phrases floated ominously around my head.
I couldn’t just brush that thought aside.
This wasn’t a matter of simple choice; it was a matter of my survival.
A lunatic who wouldn’t hesitate to hack off wrists and turn people into domestic pets.
I couldn’t even begin to imagine what would happen if I tangled with that rabid dog.
In the game, you could write it off as standard psycho behavior, but experiencing it in reality made it terrifyingly real.
Noticing the underlying meaning behind my words, Gongi’s eyes flickered slightly.
“……Well, there is a rumor that he runs a human farm in one of his nearby estates, but—”
“Decided.”
“What?! Who?! Don’t tell me, Adrian?!”
Gongi stared at me with wide, saucer-like eyes.
Without a second thought, I lifted my phone and fired off a text to Adrian.
[See you this weekend.]
[Alright, puppy. Come to Suite 1023 at the Queendom Hotel.]
“Are you seriously going to see Adrian?!”
I sighed once more, and this time, I typed out a message to Raphael.
[I’m free. Please come to Suite 1023 at the Queendom Hotel.]
“……Yoon Seohyun?”
Gongi stared at me with a completely blank, bewildered expression.
Lowering my phone quietly, I muttered to myself.
‘Let’s have them meet together.’
That way, I wouldn’t have to deal with Adrian’s psycho frenzy all by myself, and I’d keep my promise to Raphael.
Wasn’t this a foolproof plan?
Gongi looked at me with an expression of profound awe and gave me a thumbs-up.
“……You’re a genius.”
I returned the thumbs-up, exchanging a brief, victorious look of mutual understanding with Gongi.
“S-Seohyun-ah!”
Right then, a familiar voice called out from behind.
Slightly frowning at the overly casual way my name was used, I turned around.
Lee Mujil was running toward me, panting heavily.
His entire body swayed urgently as he hurried over, wiping sweat from his brow.
“……What?”
Catching his breath, Mujil scratched his messy hair with an awkward expression.
Letting out a short sigh, I instinctively rummaged through my pockets and handed him whatever my hand grabbed—a crumpled wad of tissues I’d gotten from the cafe earlier.
“Th-thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. What is it?”
Mujil glanced down at the tissues in his hand, his face flushing even brighter red.
Was he shy, or just hot? As I tilted my head, Mujil looked up at me and said,
“P-professor L-Ludger wants to see you.”
At those words, my expression instantly twisted.
……Ludger does?
“Really? Thanks for letting me know.”
Struggling to keep my expression neutral, I gave a nonchalant reply.
Mujil gave a clumsy little wave and hurried off.
Just as I was about to turn back and tell Gongi I had to head out—
“……Yoon Seohyun.”
Gongi’s expression hardened fiercely.
Her gaze turned ice-cold, and she lowered her voice into a chilling warning.
“If you can help it…… don’t get involved with him.”
Her words sounded oddly eerie, dripping with intense wariness.
I hesitated for a moment before slowly nodding.
That made it the second time.
The second warning telling me not to get close to Lee Mujil.
And…… a second warning meant it was far from a mere coincidence.
“Got it.”
With a brief reply, I bid Gongi farewell and walked away.
Stride by stride, I crossed the expansive campus until I finally reached the door of Ludger’s office.
My hand hovered over the doorknob, but I paused.
For some reason, a heavy reluctance washed over me.
Going to a professor’s office was never a pleasant experience anyway.
Still, since I was already here, turning back wasn’t an option.
Taking a short breath, I pushed the door open.
“Seohyun.”
Standing by the window where the afternoon sunlight slanted in, the man greeted me in a calm voice.
The golden sunlight bathed his beige hair, softly framing Ludger’s features.
Yet the icy blue eyes resting beneath that hair were anything but warm.
He carried the aura of a cold-blooded pragmatist whose temperature never wavered.
Amidst his cool, expressionless face, the corners of his lips curved upward by a fraction of a millimeter.
Quietly pulling the door shut behind me, I said,
“……You asked to see me?”
Glancing around the room, the office was meticulously neat, without a single speck of disorder.
Books were lined up with surgical precision, and there wasn’t even a stray ink smudge on the desk.
Right in the middle of it all, Ludger was watching me.
He held my gaze for a moment before speaking.
“I read your report.”
Instinctively, tension gripped my chest.
I straightened my posture, bringing my hands neatly together in front of me.
I had a pretty good idea what this was about.
The report I had revised after listening to Lucian’s advice.
Standing in front of me right now wasn’t a game male lead; he was a university professor.
As his cool gaze swept over me in a thorough inspection, I stiffened my neck even further.
Sensing the tense atmosphere, Ludger let out a short, airy laugh.
“The perspective was quite fascinating.”
It was a reaction completely different from what I had expected.
I had braced myself for getting brutally chewed out, but it was an unexpectedly calm evaluation.
Awkwardly nodding, I asked,
“……Are you referring to the movie review report?”
Tapping a finger rhythmically against my report resting on his desk, Ludger said,
“The viewpoint arguing that law should not be a mere tool, but an evolving, dynamic system.”
“……”
“You approached it in a way entirely divergent from my own thesis.”
Hearing that, a prickle of unease ran through me as I looked up at him.
Was he pissed that a student had completely contradicted his lecture points, or was he simply amused?
His blue eyes seemed to pierce right through me.
One thing was certain: there was a hidden emotion lingering behind that gaze.
And that emotion carried an undeniable amusement.
……Which I found thoroughly unpleasant.
“I look forward to your future work, Seohyun.”
At those words, I reflexively bit my lip.
‘Look forward to it?’
What on earth was that supposed to mean?
……Don’t tell me he was actually planning to drag me down the path of becoming a grad student.
Damn it, having these guys set flags on me was already terrifying enough, but becoming a slave to grad school was a fate far worse than death.
I tried to look Ludger straight in the eye, but seeing that infuriating hint of amusement in his expression, I quickly dropped my gaze.
“……Yes.”
……If you make eye contact, you get dragged in.
Keep your eyes down.
When I stayed silent, Ludger let out a soft snort and added,
“See you in class.”
