Chapter 115: Event Certainty Alright, what do I do now?
To briefly summarize my situation: I'm screwed because of Trevor.
No, it's not Trevor's fault. It's my fault for using his ability.
Regardless, there's a blue-haired girl who suspects me, a dragnet closing in on Trevor by the minute, my connection to the guy, and Randall, who already thinks I'm a nuisance.
Think.
I might not be a genius, but I've consumed plenty of content in my past life that should be useful at a time like this.
… …
Dammit, I should've read more detective manga.
I only watched action movies because I liked seeing things go boom.
I can't think of a single way to break through this situation.
If there were fixed rules like in a game, I could try to find a loophole, but I'm too stupid for this.
What if Trevor gets caught? Will he pretend he doesn't know me?
Or will Randall, knowing there's a connection, beat a confession out of him—or even fabricate one?
I should just kill him.
No, no, no, no. Let's not think so drastically.
I resolved to get blood on my hands to survive in this world, but I never resolved to become a piece of trash.
Still, I can finally understand why people are driven to murder when they're backed into a corner.
The pressure is no joke.
I sent a text to Yukina and Setsuna.
To Setsuna, I said I'd be taking a break from tutoring for a while because of a mission. To Yukina, I sent a slightly more detailed message, staying just within the bounds of the regulations.
The text saying I'd been assigned to a mission to catch a hacker who's been stirring up trouble lately wasn't actually meant for Yukina.
Trevor, you're monitoring my phone, right?
I thought about going to him directly to kill him—no, no—to explain the situation in detail, but I scrapped that idea the moment Park Yu-jeong stuck to me.
For all I know, Park Yu-jeong might have been given a separate mission to mark me.
If Trevor intercepts the text, misunderstands, and starts seeing me as an enemy, then so be it.
This is the most I can do for him.
With such a large number of personnel deployed and Event Certainty in play, my movements are too restricted.
"What are you thinking so hard about?"
"Huh? Oh, I was just texting Yukina."
"You don't have to show me—you two really are close, aren't you?"
She's right… I didn't have to show her. I'm acting exactly like a criminal trying way too hard to prove his innocence.
I guess even I do stupid things when I'm panicking.
"We are close. We've been together since the start of the semester."
"Hmph, no fair. Why won't you play with me?"
While Park Yu-jeong was pouting and expressing her dissatisfaction, the door opened, and the agent in charge of us walked in.
There were about fifty people gathered here.
It was a mixed team: students from other magic academies, mages who had licenses but weren't affiliated with the government, and so on.
A stiff-looking middle-aged man stood on the podium and scanned the room.
"I am Takiyama Keito, the Rank 7 Agent in charge of your group. I assume you have all familiarized yourselves with the mission details?"
"… …"
Since we had been gathered so suddenly, no one stepped up to answer. Everyone just stared blankly at Keito.
Keito didn't seem to expect an answer anyway. He adjusted his glasses, which perfectly matched his rigid impression, tapped on the tablet in his hand, and looked up.
"Ms. Park Yu-jeong."
"Yes~"
Why call her all of a sudden?
I was so nervous I expected him to say, "Arrest him," and have all fifty people in the room pounce on me at once.
"Could you give us a brief explanation of the mission?"
"It's simple. The personal information of Black Agents currently being spread across internet communities is data that civilians shouldn't be able to access. Among that data is information on deceased Black Agents that exists only as digital records without official paperwork, so the government suspects hacking."
Despite her smiling face, Park Yu-jeong's explanation was sharp and articulate.
Starting from the current situation, she fluently explained the outline of the operation to utilize Event Certainty, our specific roles, and the precautions we needed to take—an amount of information that would be difficult even to memorize.
If it were me, I would have stuttered at least once even if I had memorized it. She's impressive.
"That is all. May I sit down now?"
"Yes, you may."
After finishing her explanation, Park Yu-jeong sat back down under the gaze of the crowd and linked her arm with mine.
Hey… I'm not going to run away, so can you stop that?
Keito nodded, looking satisfied.
"As expected of an Yggdrasil student. Excellent."
No, it's not because she's an Yggdrasil student; she's just smart.
The moment he mentioned we were from Yggdrasil, the way people looked at us changed.
It ranged from gazes full of curiosity to looks of jealousy and envy from students of other magic academies.
"I expect the rest of you to show the same level of excellence as these students."
Hey, don't do that.
It's cheap to try and boost performance by inciting a sense of competition. It might be convenient for you, but being the target of that competition makes things uncomfortable for us.
Even though Park Yu-jeong had summarized it perfectly, Keito pulled up a screen and gave the same stiff, boring explanation all over again.
"I'm asking because I don't know much about it, but can this supernatural ability called Event Certainty be trusted? It'll be a pain if we're just barking up the wrong tree for nothing."
When a man who didn't look like a student raised his hand and asked, others looked at Keito as if they agreed.
I guess even people living in a world where magic is common aren't used to supernatural abilities.
"Once an Event Certainty is established, it happens 100% of the time."
"Is that even possible? Then you could just establish a certainty that all those monsters and demons are defeated."
It was a question I might have asked if I hadn't played the game.
Hey, if there's such a convenient power, what is the government doing? Our combat mages are dying out there—why aren't you using it?!
Seeing the people whispering, Keito spoke in a calm voice.
"If you look at Event Certainty on its own, it doesn't have the power to change human history, nor can it even force an individual's actions."
"Then it's useless."
"On its own, yes. However, when supplemented by the power and manpower of the government, it becomes a key to the future."
Since the nature of Event Certainty wasn't a secret, Keito explained it to the crowd.
The ability couldn't have detailed conditions; it only worked if the conditions were broad and vague.
For example, "Trevor comes to the interrogation room" wouldn't work, but "Trevor comes to a crowded street" would.
Even then, the "crowded street" had to be within the bounds of common sense. It wasn't about gathering a bunch of agents and forcing him to come here; it was about calling Trevor to a place where people naturally gather.
"It's less impressive than I thought."
"Is this actually helpful?"
"You said 100%, but are there statistics? From what I'm hearing, it sounds like an ability where you can't even verify if it actually worked or not. There must have been times when an operation failed. Do you have proof that those failures weren't the fault of the ability?"
As everyone chimed in, a woman asked a question, and Keito nodded.
"If it's impossible, the ability simply won't activate in the first place."
"… …?"
"For example, let's say I make a prophecy that it will rain tomorrow and you will get wet."
Keito explained skillfully, as if he had explained Event Certainty many times before.
"But after hearing the prophecy, you decide not to leave your house at all. In that case, the prophecy that you will get wet cannot be established."
So, because it was prophesied, the prophecy couldn't be fulfilled?
It sounded like a philosophical paradox. It was interesting.
"That is exactly why it is called Event Certainty rather than Prophecy. If you all do something from this point on that prevents us from meeting the hacker, the ability will not activate."
"Then… if there's a spy or something here, wouldn't the ability fail to activate?"
"Yes. That is why we change the conditions and try multiple times until it works. The future is made of countless branches. Furthermore, we don't know where the hacker is or what state he's in. To take an extreme example, if he were dead or unable to move, the ability would not activate under the condition that we meet him somewhere."
"… …"
"Event Certainty sifts through dozens of futures to confirm a future that must happen. Even if there is a spy among you who tips him off, it confirms a future where we meet because he was tipped off."
Whoa… if I had met Trevor, I'd be finished by now.
Sweat trickled down my back at the detailed explanation that hadn't appeared in the game.
Why did they give it such a confusing name like Event Certainty? Even if you call it a prophecy, it's a prophecy that accounts for everything.
So that's why they used the ability with such unfriendly conditions. It wasn't just for game balance.
Once the room went quiet, Park Yu-jeong, who had been silently holding my arm against her cleavage, raised her hand.
"Then, has the Event Certainty already been used? Or are you going to use it now?"
"It will be used in twenty-seven minutes. We will wait here until then. I will remain here, so if you have any questions, feel free to come and ask. You are free to rest within the building."
"Heh—it's a more inconvenient ability than I thought."
Park Yu-jeong's last remark was so quiet that only I, standing right next to her, could hear it.
Is the 'before' and 'after' important?
Park Yu-jeong, who was thinking about something with a smirk, noticed my gaze and looked up at me.
"What? You gonna give me a kiss?"
"What do you mean by it being an inconvenient ability?"
"Hmm—it's just my personal opinion, but Event Certainty probably can't see very far into the future. Prophecies and predictions usually go up to years, so even if this one is short, it should be weeks or months."
How did she reach that conclusion after hearing that explanation?
I kept staring at her because I didn't understand, and Park Yu-jeong explained with an innocent smile.
"First of all, if it could see far, there would be no need to use the ability after gathering us all here."
That's true. There'd be no need to waste time gathering people first.
"And additionally, it needs a confirmed past that can't be changed by mere plans. The government has set up an operation to catch the hacker. People will definitely gather, and the ability will be explained."
"… …"
"Don't you get it? Yesterday, all of this was just a plan. It could have been ruined by a sudden demon attack, or the operation could have been canceled. Or someone else could have intervened. Like a spy in disguise?"
So what?
When I just blinked at her, Park Yu-jeong laughed as if it were funny.
"It means it's not as great an ability as that four-eyed guy was praising it to be. It means they can't use Event Certainty while including the condition of us gathering. They can only predict the future using things that have already become a confirmed past. That's a fatal flaw for a prophecy."
"… I'm not entirely sure, but are you saying that while they could confirm a future where they meet the hacker yesterday, they couldn't confirm a future where we meet the hacker while waiting at that location?"
Is that right? Don't start talking about difficult things when I'm already struggling to keep up.
"Yep, exactly. Because yesterday, the future where we gather today wasn't confirmed. I don't know who named it, but they chose a very fitting name."
… Is that… so? Even after hearing it, I didn't really understand why that was a flaw.
I didn't get why the name was fitting, either.
Regardless, whether Event Certainty had a fatal flaw or not, I still had no plan, and the future where I would soon meet Trevor was about to be confirmed.
What did the flaws matter? My future was on the line right now.
Time continued to tick away. Perhaps because Event Certainty—which is 100% accurate but has a low activation rate—kept failing, it wasn't until an hour after the scheduled time that Keito announced it had been confirmed.
With this, the future where I kill Trevor had also vanished.
Wait, no. It only said we would meet; it didn't say what would happen.
Even if Trevor appears, he'll be showing up in a massive crowd. I'm the only one who knows his face.
I just have to meet him and kill him.
In the first place, this mission is about collecting data on everyone who gathers at that time and place to narrow down the culprit; they don't actually expect to catch him on the spot.
After the mission, or during it, I could approach him because he looks suspicious, and then an unfortunate accident… or if not that, because he resisted too fiercely…
… …
Ah, why do I keep deciding to kill him?
I guess the thought process of a human backed into a corner is always the same.
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