“Now, only two are left.
Monster Boy and the Hunter.
The Hunter is more or less the most normal among the protagonists, so let’s exclude him for now…
Monster Boy.
Please, don’t let him be the protagonist.
If you’re the protagonist, it won’t be fun or moving.
What I want to see is a fantasy action where superhumans clash, not flipping through pages to find monster feed or chatting with intelligent monster girls.
And the ending… let’s not even talk about it.
I didn’t want to watch a romance between humans and monsters in real life.
Wait, is it not a romance but a ‘key-jab’ (a term referring to a relationship with a significant age gap)?
But where is this guy?
The academic library?
Or the lecture hall?
Probably the academic library is more likely.
I only played him once for achievement purposes after over 1000 hours of gameplay, so my memory isn’t that clear.
Originally, who would obsess over a male character in an otaku game?
His personality was too eccentric to get immersed in anyway.
How long did I walk, racking my walnut-sized brain?
I arrived at the outskirts of the academic department, where people were busily coming and going, and stretched for a moment.
What’s this?
It’s still too early for anything to happen.
I slowly observed the people passing by.
All of them.
The people going in and out of the building weren’t from the academic department but seemed to be porters, wearing casual clothes instead of uniforms or neat staff attire.
Shirts and coats made of rough fabric like sandpaper.
The insulation is poor, but if it’s cold, you have to wear something.
In this world, only nobles can afford clothes as warm as 21st-century Korean attire.
Because they require high-quality materials.
“Ugh, this is exhausting.”
“It’s almost over, right? Let’s grab a drink after this.”
“Sure!”
Alcohol.
Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I last drank.
Of course, it’s natural, but hearing about alcohol made me want to have a drink.
Not that I would actually drink it.
I got up from the ground and circled around the academic department.
The academic department is a three-story building. I couldn’t just walk in, so I planned to climb the wall.
This spot seems good.
I walked to the less crowded back of the academic department and started climbing the wall using protruding structures.
My goal was the rooftop.
I planned to search for Monster Boy from the rooftop down to the first floor.
The first floor was crowded, so if I went in, I’d likely get caught quickly.
…Should I just go see Iri-na’s face instead?
Thinking about climbing a building wall to see a guy’s face made me lose motivation.
Of course, I don’t have any sexual desire towards humans, but still, girls are preferable to guys.
Getting close to male students isn’t a good idea, whether for business or survival.
Girls might find you cute and treat you well, but guys tend to scare you off or try to kick you.
Am I a soccer ball for cats?
Damn these medieval fantasy guys, overflowing with macho sensibilities, going crazy at the sight of a cat.
I thought of my sibling, who was kicked to heaven by some brats, as I reached the rooftop.
“Wow.”
As expected, a school with money is different.
They built such a lavish facility.
I marveled at the dome-shaped building occupying half the rooftop area.
An observatory used by astronomers and students from the academic department.
In the game, it was just a quest location, but at night, it was a great spot for screenshots, so it was a place you’d visit often in Academy Chronicle.
I wanted to go in, but I shouldn’t.
The door is closed, so I can’t enter anyway.
If I find a gap like I did to get to the rooftop, I might be able to enter, but my goal is to check Monster Boy’s appearance and meet Iri-na.
I want to handle this quickly, so I should focus on that now.
Getting caught up in nostalgic spots might lead to being chased out without achieving my goal.
I forced myself to ignore the observatory and walked towards the door leading inside the building.
Thanks to the observatory, the rooftop door was wide open.
I peeked inside.
A staircase wide enough for two people to pass side by side.
I listened for any signs of movement and quietly descended to the third floor.
“This theory…”
“According to the ancient philosopher Professor Watson…”
“This equation is like this…”
Is it lecture time?
Surrounded by the symphony of sleep-inducing ASMR, I quickly crossed the empty hallway, passing by the lecture rooms.
My destination wasn’t the lecture rooms but the academic library.
If my memory serves me right… that guy works part-time at the academic library to earn living expenses and fulfill his selfish desires.
Whether he’s the protagonist or not, he works as a library assistant, so I should find Monster Boy there.
The real problem is determining if he’s the protagonist.
If he’s the protagonist… there should be traces of the secret archive being opened.
If he’s not, he becomes an NPC who teaches the protagonist how to open the secret archive.
If he’s the protagonist, he would open the archive exactly one week after the semester starts, so if it’s open, he’s the protagonist.
So, just check the secret archive and quietly leave!
Organizing my thoughts, I descended to the second floor and looked up at the massive door.
The door to the academic library.
For humans, it’s just a heavy door, but for a cat, it’s an impregnable fortress.
If it were a normal door, I could jump and grab the handle to turn it, but this one is too big.
Even if I could turn the handle using my weight, I couldn’t push the door open properly.
If the door opens, attention would be drawn, and I’d be chased out immediately.
So, the only option I have here is to wait.
Wait until someone opens the door, hiding among the supplies next to the door.
I quietly hid among the supplies and waited for someone to open the door.
How long did I wait?
I started to feel vibrations through the soles of my feet.
“I envy you… I want to be sponsored too.”
“If you work hard like me, someone will notice you.”
“Senior, you’re beyond just working hard… you’re at the ‘living for today’ level.”
I didn’t expect to see them here.
I peeked through the gap at the purple-haired graduate student and the half-elf, presumably her junior, approaching the academic library.
I should quietly follow them at the right moment.
“You’ll ruin your body. Completing your research and ruining your body is a bit much, don’t you think?”
“It’s okay. I’m taking care of it.”
“Spending money on cat food for healing isn’t exactly taking care of your health.”
“Professor Ruyen said mental health also helps physical health.”
Whatever it is, it seems her research is going well.
I let their chatter flow through one ear and waited for the moment the graduate student put her hand on the door handle.
Three.
“You’ll really collapse.”
Two.
“But thinking the research will be completed soon… it’s unbearable.”
One.
“That’s also a sickness.”
Now!
Like a predator quietly stalking its prey, I slipped out from among the supplies and quietly squeezed into the still-open door.
Phew.
If I were any later, I would’ve been caught.
I quietly hid among the bookshelves before anyone noticed.
Fortunately, there was no one near the bookshelf I hid in.
But the librarian was still moving around, returning books, so I couldn’t let my guard down.
I quietly climbed up the bookshelf.
Humans rarely look up, after all.
From the top of the 2-meter-high bookshelf, I quietly moved towards the inner part of the library where the secret archive should be.
The library was ridiculously large, fitting for the ridiculously large academy, so I had to cover quite a distance with my cat steps.
“Again, they messed it up and ran away…”
“I want to graduate…”
“Who stuffed books randomly on the shelves?”
“This is a history book, why is it among art books?”
“Let me hit the professor just once…”
This library is like…
This is the zombie apocalypse!
Librarian zombies and graduate student zombies wandering under the bookshelves, groaning, while ordinary students sneak around, avoiding them!
Seeing students avoiding graduate students made my 4cm-long compassionate heart ache.
…Not that my life is any better, so I shouldn’t throw stones.
Let’s just do what I need to do.
I quietly jumped over to the bookshelf where the secret archive was hidden.
It’s in a secluded corner, mostly filled with books no one looks for.
Among the dusty books, a red-covered book that felt oddly out of place caught my eye.
It seems untouched, so it hasn’t been opened yet.
Hooray!
Monster Boy isn’t the protagonist!
There won’t be any more half-human, half-harpy births in this world!
But perhaps because I was too happy.
I noticed the gaze looking up at me too late.
“…Kitty? What are you doing here?”
Why are you here, sir?
“…Meow.”
Unable to speak human language, I looked down at the purple-haired figure with a questioning gaze.