Chapter 3 …

Are Graduate Students the Final Boss?

“…No matter how hard research gets, I’m not taking hallucinogens or anything. Don’t worry.”

Only then did Isabella seem to believe me. Her expression fell.

“But still, after surviving in that lab for so long, this is way too sudden…”

“I finally came to my senses.”

“Even though if you quit like this, you won’t have anything left? Adele, just in case, go back and apologize properly! Okay?”

“…”

“You never know. Maybe they’ll at least put your name on the paper.”

“Yeah, my name would remain.”

I sighed as I packed my bag.

Looking at all the data and experimental records I had accumulated over the years, I did feel a little regretful.

“…But it’s not worth sacrificing my pride and my future for.”

“Ugh, listen to yourself. Anyway, once you’re gone, Professor’s going to lose his mind for a while. Honestly, he’s already making a huge fuss.”

At those words, I finally felt a bit guilty toward the colleagues I was leaving behind.

“Really? Did the professor say anything to you guys?”

“Nothing special. Just the usual talking behind your back. He kept muttering your name over and over. Honestly, it really sounds like he’s planning revenge…”

Apparently, he had finally decided to properly memorize the name he’d never bothered learning before.

“Let him.”

I slammed my bag shut and looked at Isabella.

“More importantly, what about you? Are you going to keep working here?”

“Well, I haven’t been here as long as you have… and for now, I can still endure it.”

“Yeah? Then I guess I should wish you good luck.”

For the first time in a long while, I smiled freely.

“If you ever want to escape later, give me a call. As a senior who ran away first, I can at least give you some advice.”

…Though I said it dramatically, the reality was that I was basically unemployed.

World destruction or not, finding a new source of income came first.

I do have a few business ideas I came up with while getting ground down under that professor.

For the time being, I would stay at home and figure out what to do with them.

When I arrived home by train, my parents greeted me with surprised expressions.

“What brings you here?”

They looked flustered to see me suddenly appear without any notice.

“…Is that person home?”

The first thing I asked about was someone else.

A strange emotion crossed my parents’ faces.

“Ah, you mean Adrian? He’s probably out drinking with his friends somewhere. He didn’t say he was coming home.”

Mother awkwardly laughed as she brushed the question aside.

Meanwhile, Father’s eyes had already settled on the luggage in my hand. The trunk must have looked rather heavy.

“But what’s all this? Did our daughter get a reward vacation from the Magic Tower or something? Did your research finally finish?”

There was unmistakable anticipation in his voice.

Considering my personality up until now, he probably couldn’t imagine that I would voluntarily quit my research.

Mother nudged Father in the side and spoke to me.

“You must be tired from traveling. Come inside and eat dinner first, Adele.”

The family home I hadn’t visited in a long time still looked cozy on the surface.

But now, that warmth felt slightly uncomfortable.

After recovering my memories of my previous life, I could finally see how I had really been treated in this house.

Even so, this was still my home, and these people were still my parents.

“Yeah, I’m back, Mom. Dad.”

* * *

“…Actually, it’s not a vacation. I decided to quit my research.”

While eating dinner, I finally said it.

Mother’s expression instantly stiffened. Father dropped his fork with a clatter.

“You quit? What are you talking about, daughter?”

I answered calmly.

“It was too hard. It got so difficult that suddenly I just wanted to quit everything.”

My parents’ expressions visibly darkened.

Shock, confusion, and beneath that, anxiety.

Both of them had probably assumed I was only home for a short break. Learning that wasn’t the case seemed to hit them hard.

“So anyway, I’m going to stay at home for a while. I just want to rest and sort out my thoughts.”

“Wait. Does that mean you completely left the Magic Tower? For real?”

“Yes. I left yesterday.”

The moment they heard that, their expressions became even more rigid.

I expected them to be surprised or disappointed, but this reaction felt strangely unsettling.

Is my family… struggling financially?

I’d been sending plenty of money every month.

“I’m going to my room first. I’m already tired.”

But my mind was far too cluttered to start digging into the reason right now.

Dinner had just ended, so I immediately stood up.

First, I needed time to think.

“Alright.”

Leaving behind my troubled-looking parents, I headed to my room.

“…Hmm, it’s exactly the same?”

Even though it had been left untouched for over five years, nothing had changed.

The neatly arranged bedding.

The bookshelves covered in dust.

The countless notes and documents piled inside.

Still, it was far cozier than the chicken-coop-like dormitory at the Magic Tower.

I set my luggage aside and flopped onto the bed.

Then I began organizing my plans for the future.

Hmm. For now, I’ve removed the biggest danger.

Now that I had withdrawn from the research, its progress would slow considerably.

I tapped the bed with my finger as I thought.

The problem is Heon, the protagonist of the original story.

One day, after being swept up in the apocalypse, he miraculously opened his eyes once more.

With the memories of his previous life intact.

Using those memories, he investigated the cause of the world’s destruction and eventually came face-to-face with me—the Final Boss.

But right now, the story had only just begun.

Whether before or after his regression, there was no way he knew that I was the true cause of the apocalypse.

So for the moment, I could relax.

Before the protagonist stabbed me with a sword, I needed to completely redesign my own life.

From now on, I’m going to live differently!

I’ll wear makeup, cut my hair, and be reborn as a cool, beautiful woman~

Humming cheerfully, I began scribbling into my research notebook.

[To Do]

1. Become successful quickly
2. Become rich
3. Enjoy everything life has to offer

★ Never live like a slave again

In both my previous life and this one, I had wasted my life locked inside laboratories like a slave.

In other words, I spent my days cleaning up after professors, being exploited, and never even getting my name properly listed on a paper.

Living squeezed dry like that is probably why I ended up doing something as ridiculous as causing the apocalypse.

To prevent the bad ending at its source, I would never become someone’s slave again.

I was the owner of my own life.

I began pulling notebooks out of the trunk one by one.

Just because I had resigned on the spot didn’t mean I had left without a plan.

Among the things I’ve researched over the years, there are quite a few ideas that could make good businesses.

After all, whenever someone gets transported into a fantasy world, don’t they usually start some kind of business?

I think it was during my second year as a Magic Tower researcher.

There was a paper I wrote in a sleepless trance one night.

An idea that nobody paid any attention to, yet one I believed would be incredibly useful someday…

“Found it.”

A moment later, a faded notebook emerged from the pile.

The moment I saw the formulas and model designs densely covering its pages, I couldn’t help smiling.

With this, success was guaranteed.

People had discouraged me before, saying it lacked practicality.

But if I adjusted and improved it a little using the theories I had developed since then…

Just imagining it painted a rosy future before my eyes.

Though that was one thing.

“Yaaawn.”

Before all that, I needed to catch up on some sleep.

* * *

An emergency had erupted in Professor Great Everrun’s laboratory.

“Damn it. Why now, of all times?”

Great ground his teeth and paced anxiously.

The study titled “Research on the Flow of Mana and the Distortion of Space-Time” was one of the most highly anticipated projects within the Magic Tower.

The Lord of the Magic Tower himself had high hopes for it, believing that if its principles could be uncovered, it would open an entirely new frontier in magical tool development.

That was the reason Adele had been assigned to the project in the first place.

Since her Academy days, she had consistently researched and shown interest in the field.

Thanks to her efforts, the once-intangible theory had gradually developed a solid foundation over five years.

As a result, an experiment observing minute distortions in space-time through the use of mana had recently succeeded for the first time.

And now…