Chapter 130: I Don’t Like Yandere Tropes, Please Don’t Be One
Emory’s fingers tapped restlessly against the desk. "But... why the academy?" he muttered, more to himself than to me.
I shrugged, though my mind was already racing through possibilities.
After a beat of silence, Emory continued, his voice steadier now as his "broker" persona bled through. "Could it be... evil forces are trying to eliminate students? Or..." His eyes sharpened. "Is there someone important hidden at the academy? A teacher or student they want to target?"
I nodded slowly, though my thoughts took a different turn.
Or maybe that "important person" isn’t as grand as they sound.
After all, I was living proof that even background characters could get tangled in dangerous plots.
But what if Emory was right? What if there truly was a high-value target hidden among the students or staff? What if Aeron or Zephyr were the target? Or some other hidden person I don’t know of. Possibilities were many.
Only one person would know for sure. Whether this theory was true or not.
Master.
I wouldn’t doubt if someone told me Virion had his people in every shadowy corner of this world. If something—or someone—dangerous was lurking in the academy, he’d know.
Emory shifted in his seat. "T-then what should we do? Should we report this to the officials? Or the academy guards?"
I shook my head after a thought. "No. We don’t have any proof. Just theories and suspicious coinage." My lips twisted wryly. "They’d either laugh us out of the room or lock us up for spreading panic."
Emory’s shoulders slumped slightly, but he nodded in understanding. "S-so... what then?"
"For now?" I leaned forward, lowering my voice. "We observe. We dig for more information. And we don’t draw attention to ourselves."
A dangerous glint flickered in Emory’s eyes—one I recognized from his Masked Broker persona. "Understood," he said, the stutter gone. "I’ll track every inquiry about monsters and that person from now on. I will note every detail."
Kai chirped softly in agreement, fluttering to Emory’s shoulder.
I exhaled, watching the snow fall outside the window.
Just another normal day at the academy, I thought dryly.
Where the biggest threat might be hiding in plain sight.
"Alright," I said as Emory stood to leave. "You handle your part, and I’ll do mine. But don’t overdo it—if anything feels dangerous, back off immediately."
Emory nodded, his usual daytime demeanor returning as he adjusted his glasses. "You too, Manager. Don’t push yourself too hard."
As he turned to leave, I activated [Character Insight], watching the familiar blue text materialize in my vision as his silhouette disappeared through the doorway:
━━━━━━━━◇━━━━━━━━
Alias: Emory
Affiliation: Emporium Knowledge Archiver / Male Lead
Character Assessment:
- Analytical Prowess: ★★★★☆ (Master Analyst)
- Preferred Methods: Information networks, psychological profiling, discreet observation.
- Weakness: Struggles to reconcile his two identities.
Present Goal: "Analyze all available information about the suspicious inquiries and identify patterns."
Favorability Level: ★★★⯪☆
"Views you as a reliable, smart, kind individual, and easy to get along with. Believes you work too hard and push yourself beyond reasonable limits."
━━━━━━━━◇━━━━━━━━
I rested my chin on interlaced fingers, eyes narrowing slightly at the floating text. This wasn’t my first time checking Emory’s profile—I’d done it once before, on the day I saw his broker persona.
The alias confirmation was expected. The "Master Analyst" rating didn’t surprise me either—not after seeing the Masked Broker in action.
But Male Lead affiliation ?
That changed everything.
My mind raced through possibilities:
Does Emory have his own storyline?
Some protagonists operated independently until their narratives collided with others.
Or is he part of a joint narrative?
Like how the Honorary Custodian and Sunny Shaela shared a storyline despite being separate leads.
Then came somehow the unsettling thought:
Is he the male lead of Cassandra’s story?
My fingers tensed slightly at the notion.
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel something toward Cassandra—though it certainly wasn’t romantic. Attraction, perhaps? To her razor-sharp intellect and effortless grace? Maybe. But I’d long since decided: no deliberate romantic entanglements until I secured my survival.
Principles and Survival first. Romance? Nowhere on the top of the list.
Shaking my head, I refocused on the profile. The "weakness" notation gave me pause:
Struggles to reconcile his two identities.
A raised eyebrow.
Split personality?
Or was it just the strain of maintaining his flawless broker persona?
Then again...
Isn’t there always that one cliché character with "another self" lurking inside?
The kind that emerged in moments of crisis? Or a type that could change control at any moment?
If Emory did have some hidden persona beyond the Masked Broker...
What kind of individual would they be?
I only hope they won’t have extreme personalities as in the cliches.
Obsessive, yandere, evil, and the list can go on.
I frowned slightly at the thought of Emory having some hidden, extreme persona.
I’ve never liked that trope.
In stories, those types of characters were always portrayed as either tragically cool or dangerously alluring. But in reality? Someone with fractured identities would be exhausting to deal with—unpredictable, volatile, a walking liability.
Still... I hoped.
For Emory’s sake, I hoped it was just ordinary persona maintenance rather than some deeper fracture.
My gaze drifted back to the floating text, lingering on the favorability rating.
Three and a half stars.
Not bad.
On the surface, it might seem middling—but for someone like Emory? Someone who clearly had trust issues and a meticulously guarded past? This was practically a declaration of friendship.
It meant he trusted me.
Guess all my hard work paid off...
A small, unexpected warmth bloomed in my chest at the realization.
Then came the sigh.
If only I could see his threat level and abilities too.
That would answer so many questions. Was he dangerous? How did his analytical prowess translate to combat? What other skills did his "Male Lead" status grant him? Was he as ’weak’ as he appeared to be?
But no—the System, in its infinite vagueness, had decided favorability was what I needed.
Deciding to study it, I also tried it on the twins and a stranger the other day too. Twins’ profiles showed favorability, while the stranger’s profile showed threat level.
Which means...
I tapped my fingers against the desk, piecing together the pattern.
Character Insight shows favorability for allies or familiar faces.
Threat level appears for hostile or neutral/evil characters.
A useful distinction, if frustratingly limited.
Guess I need to level it up again to know more...
The snow outside the window swirled harder now, casting shifting shadows across the office.
I dismissed the profile with a thought.
No use dwelling on what I couldn’t see.
Right now, I had bigger concerns—like finding Virion before whatever conspiracy was brewing came to a head.
Pushing back from the desk, I grabbed my coat.
Time to hunt down the ’extremely brutal’ mentor.
______ ___
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