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Chapter : 3
At that age, his morality was only 20%. That told me everything I needed to know about his character.
“Kyyaaa! D—…!”
“Shut up. Lower your voice.”
This time, I dropped the voice setting straight down to zero.
“You won’t be able to speak. I’ll adjust it again in two hours.”
Catherine looked like she was hurling curses at me, but only her lips twitched.
That’s right.
With the mark engraved on my wrist, I could open the characters’ “control windows” and manipulate them.
Just issue a command, and they moved on their own—like a remote control.
“Catherine, the way you’re just moving your lips makes you look exactly like a carp.”
“…!”
“They say even if a carp escapes a fishing hook, it bites the same bait again. Because it’s stupid.”
I whispered softly toward her.
“Be careful.”
“…!”
“Next time, I’ll open up your head and remodel everything.”
It sounded brutal, but all it meant was that I’d raise her fear stat.
Even so, Catherine’s eyes trembled as if she’d seen a ghost.
—Baekju, are you crazy? That mark—why is the mark still there, hey! Put it back right now! If you mess with characters recklessly, it’s a problem—zzzt, zzzzt!
My team leader’s furious voice stabbed into my eardrums.
“You told me to adapt and survive here. You know I’m good at following your orders, Team Leader?”
—Wh-what, ugh!
That was the end of it.
I tore off the earring—now useless—and discarded it.
“‘What? A final order?’”
I shoved the broken earring into my pocket and stepped into the hallway.
“‘Do your best to adapt?’”
Once it started to feel real, I couldn’t help laughing.
I never knew my team leader had this much talent for comedy.
Fine. If that’s how it is…
“‘I’ll escape on my own.’”
Beyond the window spread the vast scenery of the Ducal Castle of Rekaten.
A deep blue sky, pale green gardens, rose vines and statues scattered throughout.
The wind ruffling my hair, the harsh sunlight on my skin.
Seeing it all with my own eyes made it feel real.
“‘This isn’t reality.’”
But I knew it. This was nothing more than the world inside a book.
So there was nothing to be scared of.
All right. Crying time’s over. Time to work.
“Erago. Change the access password.”
[Would you like to change the access password to Everyone Is Afraid of Me?]
At the same time, Erago’s voice—the system that managed dimensions—rang out.
Let’s start by stabbing headquarters in the back of the head!
“Yes, yes, yes!”
[Executing the order of Main Controller Agent Baek Jua.]
The main controller of Everyone Is Afraid of Me—aka Mo.Na.Mu—was me.
If I changed the password, no one else could access this dimension.
“‘I’m not the only one getting screwed.’”
It was like sharing an Xflix account and suddenly changing the password without warning.
“Phew, there you are. It’s the young duke’s order.”
Just then, footsteps sounded behind me.
“Grab her and restrain her immediately.”
“Yes, sir.”
Thud!
My knees buckled instantly, and I crashed to the floor.
Something heavy had struck my legs.
“Because of you, I seriously—”
“…ugh.”
I didn’t even have time to register the pain.
“They say you tried to kill Arno. A poisonous herb secretly smuggled in from the Eastern Continent?”
A sharp voice poured down from above.
“Of all things, you messed with a priest. You’re completely insane.”
I lifted my head. A boy was looking down at me.
Despite his cute appearance, his eyes were razor-sharp.
“I’m telling you, you’re not getting out of here anyway. You’re the one making my life harder.”
I couldn’t tell who he was just by his face.
“‘Trying to kill Arno with Eastern Continent herbs… Was this incident happening around now?’”
Ah. Thinking back to the original novel, I roughly understood what he meant.
“Take her to the young duke. Looks like she’ll be confined for about two months this time.”
“Yes!”
The boy turned his back, and knights rushed in, binding my shoulders.
Diel Ekaterina had always been this kind of character.
Every novel had one—an irredeemable troublemaker, a frustrating mess.
I knew that much, but I never imagined I’d experience it firsthand.
“Hey, do you have any proof I did it?”
But I wasn’t about to become a frustrating mess myself.
“What, what? ‘Hey’?”
Even while bound, I called out to the boy.
“You’re saying I used a merchant caravan traveling to the Eastern Continent to get poison? How? You know I’m stuck in this backwater annex palace and can’t move an inch.”
When our eyes met, his control window activated.
[Jean Rekaten, Rank F, biological nephew of Duke Rekaten]
As I looked at the window, I thought:
“‘As expected—Rank F.’”
Rank F. A supporting character with no conditions or restrictions on control.
The kind a rookie agent handled. Not even close to my level.
“‘What’s his relationship with Diel?’”
[Extremely little interaction. Core emotion: distrust]
When I wondered about their relationship, a relationship chart unfolded.
“No matter how you got the poison, it’s none of my business. I’m just here on academy break to rest, but because of you, every single day—”
Those core emotions were terrible.
All right. Let’s lower suspicion by about 30%.
“Cleaning up your messes—huh?”
Then raise trust by about 60%.
“Hmm? Well… yeah. You’re right. How would you even know merchants from the Eastern Continent?”
The numbers shifted rapidly, following my thoughts.
“Then why did I suspect you in the first place?”
The look in his eyes changed instantly.
Manipulating minor characters like this was easy.
“Wasn’t it Catherine?”
“Catherine?”
“I heard Eastern Continent poison herbs have a side effect that makes you lose your voice.”
I added calmly,
“Wouldn’t that explain why Catherine came all the way here without even a maid? You know everyone avoids my room—it’s the perfect place to hide.”
I pointed toward the door.
By now, my team leader had probably realized the access password had changed and was going berserk—but whatever.
“‘Who cares.’”
He wasn’t my boss anymore.
“She’s in there. Go check if she can speak.”
“Huh? Catherine?”
Jean hesitated, apparently close to her.
That wasn’t a problem either.
“‘Max out trust toward Diel.’”
All I had to do was make him trust me more than Catherine.
“Yeah, I’ll go check myself!”
Jean’s attitude flipped immediately as he moved off.
“Diel, you couldn’t be wrong. I can trust you completely!”
Nameless, unranked extra knights followed him like robots.
“Huh? But hey—no, I mean, you.”
Just then, Jean—walking confidently—turned back.
“What?”
“Did you always talk to me casually like that?”
“Yeah.”
“O-oh. Right! That’s true! If you say so, then it must be! Anyway, make sure you go see the young duke!”
He nodded vigorously and disappeared.
From here on, let the extras fight among themselves.
“‘The young duke, Evan Rekaten.’”
I turned my gaze toward the main building where the young duke would be.
“‘One of the five male leads.’”
A main character, Rank B.
Ranks A, B, and C were the leads that drove this novel.
Unlike supporting characters, they were hard to control.
Because they came with “restrictions.”
“What’ll pop out this time?”
I headed straight for the young duke’s office.
“‘Evan Rekaten, huh.’”
This guy was rich enough to freely use expensive teleport scrolls and portals.
That was why he spent most of his time here at the annex palace instead of the capital.
Of course, it was also to keep a close watch on Diel.
“Why does this place feel so creepy?”
I’d seen it countless times through headquarters’ monitors, but coming here in person felt unfamiliar.
“‘How should I talk?’”
I needed to announce my arrival somehow.
After a moment of thought, recalling the original novel, I opened my mouth.
“Hey, is making people suffer like dogs your hobby?”
Diel and Evan had more than frequent interactions.
“‘They grew up together.’”
So even a slight change in speech would tip him off—I had to copy it perfectly.
“Why are you always ordering me around? What, you don’t have feet? No legs?”
Then—
“……”
From the darkness lit only by lamps, a man raised his head.
Light blond hair swayed softly, grass-green eyes.
His gaze slid over me from head to toe between long lashes.
“‘Yeah… definitely doesn’t feel real.’”
It was a cold, pressure-filled stare.
Strangely, it made me feel more at ease.
“‘Look at that face.’”
A handsome man you’d never see in Korea—or even at headquarters.
“…Strange.”
So no matter how crooked his expression was, it didn’t bother me.
It just made it more obvious that this world was made of text.
“I clearly told Jean to bring me the attempted assassin of the priest.”
Evan muttered, staring at me.
“So how did you walk in here perfectly fine on your own two feet?”
[Evan Rekaten, Rank B, eldest son of Duke Rekaten]
At the same time, his control window appeared.
[One of the five male protagonists. Agents are advised to exercise caution.]
Evan was familiar.
I’d been handling him until just recently.
“You should’ve been dragged here in chains, if anything.”
That’s why I knew all too well.
This bastard had an absolutely atrocious personality.
