Possessor #2 Just Wants to Fangirl Chapter 138

The sudden case of missing items.

I blamed it on a bug, the teaching assistants launched a video analysis to assess the situation, and before long, they announced the following result.

[After analyzing the Drone Eye footage, it has been determined that no specific cadet is responsible. The exact cause of the missing items is unknown, and we will inform you as soon as further investigation identifies the cause.]

Cause unknown.

A result that lent weight to Yeon Sora’s bug theory. The cadets were nodding and accepting the verdict without protest.

“A new bug on the Floor 2 too?”

“FXck, are bugs going to pop up on every single floor now?”

“I brought an item I got as an enrollment gift, and it had to be today of all days…!”

The slightly surprising part was that even the theft victims readily accepted the bug explanation and blamed their own bad luck.

I’d expected at least one or two to be suspicious, but Yeon Sora wasn’t even on their radar—they were directing all their questions at the teaching assistants.

“Is there any chance the missing items will turn up later?”

“If so, what happens with ownership?”

[Should lost items be recovered at a later date, ownership will be recognized and the items returned only to cadets who filed reports. Any affected cadets, please notify us immediately.]

“My necklace disappeared! It had a protection barrier on it….”

“I had distance-measuring glasses….”

While the victims scrambled to file their reports, I was watching the subordinates one by one. They were all staring at the ground with ashen faces—clearly not planning to come forward voluntarily.

‘Well, it’d be pretty weird to report a missing button.’

Just as the incident seemed to be wrapping up, there was exactly one person who refused to give up. Bang Haeun, glaring at me and trembling with fury.

“A bug? Don’t make me laugh! It was you, Yeon Sora! You’ve had your eye on my gauntlets from the very start!”

“That’s why I returned them.”

“They disappeared the second they were returned—you’re calling that a coincidence?”

“Didn’t you hear what the TA said? It’s a bug.”

“Say something that actually makes sense! There’s no history of this kind of bug ever happening on the Tower’s 2nd floor!”

Not a single person took Bang Haeun’s desperate outcry to heart. The onlookers were staring at her like she’d lost her mind, whispering among themselves.

‘Did she not see the footage? Bugs are popping off left and right on the 1st floor….’

‘It’s not like she was stranded on a deserted island—there’s no way she didn’t see that video….’

‘No, she definitely saw it. She was the one going around saying the video exposed Seong Hayul’s true nature.’

This is what you call getting bitten by the very bug you believed in!

If the mastermind hadn’t pulled that stunt on the Floor 1, everyone here would have believed Bang Haeun.

But the mastermind had opened up the possibility that ‘bugs can occur at any time inside the Tower’ for the sake of massacring freshmen, and thanks to that, my thievery could be buried under the bug excuse too.

Only the mastermind knows the truth. But no matter how much they scream, nobody believes them—how frustrating must that be?

Bang Haeun still didn’t know the meaning of giving up and shouted toward the instructional Drone Eye.

“The bug that occurred on the Floor 1 was confirmed to be the work of a terrorist group, not a system bug! However, I was told that thorough pre-inspections were conducted on this floor to ensure the terrorists’ reach didn’t extend here! This isn’t a bug—it’s a theft committed by Yeon Sora’s group! Yeon Sora stole an heirloom that has been passed down through my family for generations! Since the incident occurred in a zone supervised by the academy, if this is swept under the rug, I will pursue legal action!”

[We acknowledge Cadet Bang Haeun’s objection. We will consult with the professor and inform you of the result.]

Perhaps rattled by the threat of a lawsuit, the TA said they’d hold a meeting. Bang Haeun glared at me triumphantly, but whatever.

I ignored the villain and turned my attention to Gyeon Junhwi. Our Junhwi was smiling cheerfully while urging the cadets along.

“Looks like a lot of people still haven’t voted. Send us the name of whoever you think shouldn’t receive a flag.”

He was telling them to hurry up and select the 89 who’d receive their passing tokens. Murmurs broke out here and there as the voting began, and while everyone’s attention was scattered, I slipped away to the back.

“S-Sora, wh-where are you going?”

“Bathroom.”

I entered the restroom and opened the very last stall. It was normally used as a storage closet, and inside the large silver sink used for wringing out mops, the fairy was sprawled flat on her back, panting.

“Is it that exhausting?”

“Handling physical objects is still hard for me. Especially ones this heavy!”

“They didn’t look that heavy to me.”

“You and I are not the same size!”

The fairy said she still didn’t have enough charge, so she could only steal items one at a time. She’d been running back and forth—steal one, stash it, steal another, stash it—until she was completely drained.

“Great work! Come out for a sec, we need to move the stuff.”

“Was it really necessary to steal this much?”

“You hide a tree in a forest.”

I spread out the magic wrapping cloth and transferred the spoils into it. Stealing only from the mastermind’s side would look suspicious, so I’d ordered her to grab various other things too—and there was quite a bit of miscellaneous loot.

Four buttons—the real targets—plus one pair of gauntlets. Beyond that, an unusual ring, a pocket watch, glasses, and so on.

After packing the spoils, I placed the most important item on my palm—the grasshopper’s corpse—and squeezed.

Crrrunch—

The hard insect shell crumbling was disgusting and unpleasant, but I had no choice. This was absolutely necessary.

Meanwhile, the fairy seemed to have recovered her energy. She was flitting about, flapping her cape this way and that. The little thing had been grinning to herself, but the moment our eyes met, she abruptly stuck out her lower lip in a pout.

“But why’d you make me wear this outfit anyway? It didn’t even show up on the footage.”

“True for now, but you never know about later.”

“Later?”

“You know how in crime dramas, sometimes there’s blood evidence left at a murder scene but they can’t do anything about it? Then twenty years later, DNA testing is invented and they catch the killer.”

The mastermind’s side had a genius inventor.

Even if the fairy wasn’t captured on the Drone Eye footage now, there was a non-zero chance the mastermind could develop the technology to detect the fairy in the video.

The phantom thief costume meant that even if the fairy was discovered, we could claim it was an entirely different creature.

“You… you were thinking about what comes later too?”

“That’s Lying 101. You always need a backup plan for when you get caught.”

After giving the fairy a brief lesson in the art of deception, I returned to the auditorium to find the voting results already posted.

Yeom Juwan and Ki Hyeonmin were taking turns releasing cadets from their pressure points and distributing flags. Watching this, the fourteen who’d been eliminated were screaming curses.

“You think there won’t be consequences?!”

“You’re only thinking about the 2nd floor—what about after? What happens when we run into each other at the next practicals?”

The group of rejects included a healthy serving of villains like Baek Hyeonjung and Bang Haeun, and they were swearing revenge for the next time they met inside the Tower.

The threats worked quite well. Even though the villains had been eliminated today, being in the same class meant there was a high chance of running into them again soon.

‘What if they actually come after us later? Floors up to 10 aren’t instanced areas….’

‘With their skill level, they’ll obviously pass the weekend makeup practicals. If they deliberately block our path, we’ll have no way to deal with it….’

Cadets everywhere were shrinking back in fear when the TA’s voice rang out from above.

[Attention, please. As Cadet Bang Haeun suggested, we have decided to conduct a more thorough safety inspection in consideration of the possibility that Antithesis may have planted something on the Floor 2 in advance.]

[Therefore, this weekend’s makeup practicals have been canceled. Cadets who did not pass today will redo their practicals alongside the 2nd class of trainees, two weeks from now.]

Thanks to Bang Haeun raising safety concerns, the villains had been pushed back to the 2nd class. Which also meant we wouldn’t be running into them for a while.

The cadets’ reactions split cleanly in two.

“Haah….”

“Phew….”

“Bang Haeun, you just had to cause trouble!!!”

“What? So we’re 2nd class now?”

Those who’d been threatened breathed sighs of relief, and the villains cursed Bang Haeun. I just tilted my head in mild wonder.

‘It worked out like this?’

Thanks to Bang Haeun, we’d be climbing the Tower villain-free for the foreseeable future. At this point, I was starting to wonder if I actually had some kind of hidden luck stat.

[The 14 cadets without flags will now be auto-teleported.]

Fwoooosh—

In an instant, the fourteen rejects vanished. Since their pressure points hadn’t been released, they couldn’t even hold the weapons that had just been returned to them.

As a result, fourteen villain-owned weapons sat abandoned on the floor. I picked up Bang Haeun’s holy sword from among them and handed it to Ki Hyeonmin.

“Here, let’s just borrow this until everything’s over. Everyone else, feel free to borrow a weapon if you need one.”

* * *

After that, things went smoothly.

To clear the 2nd floor, you needed to attack an orc village, and conveniently enough, one sat right across the road.

The weaker cadets, myself included, hid inside an exhibition hall building while Ki Hyeonmin and Yeom Juwan took on the orc village by themselves.

Whoooosh—

CRASH!

One swing of the holy sword from Ki Hyeonmin sent the orcs’ fortified walls crumbling.

Orc warriors poured out from behind the collapsed walls, but Ki Hyeonmin and Yeom Juwan moved at incredible speed, dropping the monsters left and right with pressure points.

‘Even now, they’re making sure to feed her.’

The reason they chose pressure points over swordplay or flame magic was for the fairy. She was having the time of her life feasting on a lavish spread.

The cadets watching this spectacle through the glass windows were awestruck.

“Insane… are they really freshmen like us?”

“How does a human move that fast?”

“Wait, he’s using pressure points on orcs?”

Seeing people acknowledge my babies’ performance filled me with pride. Protagonists need an audience, after all!

But after the show had gone on for a while, something slightly flustering happened. Several cadets came up to me with tears streaming down their faces, grabbing my hand and thanking me.

“We were so lost… thank you. Because of you guys….”

“You’re our saviors, literally pulled us out of hell.”

“It was so bad I was seriously thinking about just dropping out….”

Hearing their thanks, I was cringing hard on the inside.

‘It was because of me, though….’

By leaving only one rabbit hole standing, I’d funneled everyone to the same exit—but it wasn’t just rabbits in there. Wolves had been included too.

They’d been at the mercy of villains like Baek Hyeonjung and Bang Haeun, driven to despair. As I debated whether to confess, Gyeon Junhwi had already opened his mouth.

“I’m sorry—it’s our fault. We reduced the number of test sites….”

Gyeon Junhwi readily acknowledged our responsibility and apologized, but the cadets shook their heads vigorously.

“No! Thanks to that, we’re passing too!”

“You had a grand plan all along, right? The process was rough, but clearing the 2nd floor in one shot? I never even imagined that!”

“Seriously, isn’t this the first time this many non-combat types have passed at once?”

“You guys are our saviors! If there’s anything you need, just say the word!”

The cadets here were practically swearing loyalty to us.

‘Come to think of it, this is a butterfly effect too.’

The story had diverged so far from the original it was almost unrecognizable.

Originally, the 2nd floor was supposed to be a battle royale survival where you’d build grudges with villains, then spend floors 3 through 10 fending off their interference….

But thanks to the Robin Hood operation, we’d be climbing the Tower alongside cadets who’d pledged their loyalty to us. And among them, as many as thirty-seven were non-combat types.

We’d identified the grasshopper subordinates, found a way to lure Bang Haeun’s parents out, obtained a fairy, and drastically lowered the difficulty.

The original plot was practically unrecognizable at this point.

‘Well, it changed for the better, so that’s fine.’

I was nodding to myself when Hyeonmin and Juwan entered the exhibition hall.

“It’s done. Let’s move.”

* * *

Finally, the end!

The long, grueling practicals were finally coming to a close!

“First team, go in.”

At the center of the orc village sat the chieftain’s throne, surrounded by what looked like candlesticks. Yeom Juwan led the first group of nine cadets to the throne and planted their flags in the stands.

Vrrrmmm—

A magic circle pattern appeared on the ground, and a troll boss monster was summoned.

Grrrrrrr—

Fwoooosh—

The troll was about to let out a monstrous roar when Juwan whipped his black-flame lash with flawless precision, obliterating the troll on the spot. The ten people standing inside the magic circle were immediately teleported—transported to the temple.

“Next team!”

This time, Boram and Seong Hayul led a group of eight cadets through the same procedure. Since so many of the passing cadets were non-combat types, our team members had to split up and handle the monster elimination.

A summoning circle opened at the center of the magic formation and a troll slowly rose—only to be shattered to pieces by a single strike of Boram’s curse doll.

Fwoooosh—

Ten more teleported, and it was my turn.

I led eight cadets alongside Gyeon Junhwi to face the troll, and—

KA-BOOM!

I dispatched the troll instantly with a flame spear.

[You have successfully cleared 2F.]

[Transporting to the temple.]

A flash of light bleached my vision white, and when it faded, the temple came into view. Simultaneously, numerous translucent windows popped up.

【You have gained 24 exp.】

【Your overall stats will be adjusted as a reward.】

【An error occurred during overall stat adjustment.】

【You have completed a mission for Side Quest <Tower’s Wish>.】

【Mission rewards can be checked in the quest window.】

【An error occurred during overall stat adjustment.】

…

As expected, Yeon Sora couldn’t get stat adjustments.

There was plenty to check, but I minimized everything else and focused on a single window. This was the most important one.

【A new pillar has bloomed.】

【If you wish to generate a skill, try sending a wish to the Tower Goddess.】

It seemed what Seong Hayul had said was true. That grasshoppers were some kind of energy source, and exposure to them accelerated skill generation.

It was thanks to killing and crushing that grasshopper earlier that I could now obtain a new skill!

I pressed my hands neatly together and offered a prayer with every ounce of sincerity I had.

‘Dear Goddess, I really want to prevent the world’s destruction, okay? I mean this from the bottom of my heart. Preventing destruction is the only way I get to live happily ever after with my babies, laughing and having a good time, you know? So please give me the power to see the future! A prophecy skill, I’m begging you!’

In <On the Brink of Destruction>, all skills stem from personal desire.

Just as no amount of praying could give me Gyeon Junhwi’s crafting skill, only skills born from genuine want could manifest.

But I truly, genuinely wanted a prophecy skill. After pouring every ounce of that desire into my prayer, I opened my tightly shut eyes—and a new translucent window greeted me.

【The Tower Goddess responds to your wish.】

But the skill I’d been assigned was a little different from what I’d had in mind.

【Unique Skill <I Was Taught to Watch the Good Stuff Big and Slow> has been generated.】