The academy buildings cracked and split apart, their fragments rising into the air.

RUMBLE!

The fabricated sky had already shattered completely and vanished, exposing a pure white space.

In that crumbling world, Gremory, too, had taken a direct hit from the magic.

"Ah..."

Her body cracked and fell apart like a shattered glass sculpture.

With everything already over, Gremory looked up at Yohan and gave a self-mocking smile.

"... I should have killed you when I first saw you, instead of trying to have fun."

I shrugged and corrected her.

"You shouldn't have let me in here in the first place."

I looked down at her without avoiding her eyes.

"Next time, check your prey's weight class before opening that mouth, you pelican."

"—!"

Taking in the sight of the truly towering, arrogant magician, student council president Gremory's form scattered completely.

FSSSH...

Something was faintly visible amid the scattering dust, and I squinted.

'... Thread? A hair?'

It was a single long strand of beautiful, deep red hair. But I saw it for only an instant before it vanished in front of my eyes.

RUMMMBLE!

At the same time, the collapse began in earnest, and the academy buildings themselves started rising into the air.

Enveloped in light, the false, fabricated world collapsed completely.

Everyone bound within it was set free.

... Meanwhile, in Yohan's small studio apartment in the outside world.

The laptop, which had shown no response until now, rattled as light poured from its screen. Grizzly tilted its head.

"Gyaa?"

<Mysteries of the Worm> and <The Lesser Key of Solomon> moved from the bed back to the spots where Yohan had left them.

Grizzly was recalled as well.

"Gyagyat?"

The room was quiet once more, no different from when Yohan and Sion had entered the uncanny game.

‧

‧

‧

I blinked and came to my senses, then looked around.

My small studio apartment, the unfolded folding table, and the laptop sitting on top of it.

The laptop screen was fine, and the game was closed.

Feeling a weight against me, I turned my head slightly and saw Sion asleep with her head resting on my shoulder.

"Mmm..."

Up close, her eyelashes were long. Anyway.

"..."

I looked up at my apartment's familiar ceiling and said the obligatory line.

"A familiar ceiling."

Another case solved.

"... Yohan?"

Sion came to her senses shortly afterward and moved away from my shoulder.

"Um... I'm sorry."

"It's fine. Nothing wrong with leaning on someone when you're unconscious... Oh."

I addressed Sion.

"Now that we're outside, is it all right if I keep speaking casually to you?"

"That's fine. I think it would feel awkward to hear you speak formally to me again at this point."

Recalling how uninhibited Yohan had been in the game, she found formal speech from him would actually feel strange. She smiled faintly.

"Please speak however you're comfortable."

"Thanks. I'll keep it casual, then."

"Of course."

After collecting herself and checking her physical condition, Sion immediately checked [Harem Academy] on the laptop.

[Harem Academy], the root cause of this anomalous incident, had become an empty file.

Her eyes widened slightly in surprise as she stared at the screen.

"... The game has been deleted."

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say it had vanished altogether.

BZZZT!

Just then, Sion's phone rang. When she answered, the voice of Lee Hyeeun, a female operative from Special Response Section Team Three, came tumbling out in a rapid torrent.

"Team Leader Sion! Everyone from the missing Special Response Section Team Six is back! All the other civilians returned through the computers we had in storage, too! Every copy of [Harem Academy] circulating online has disappeared! The uncanny has been eliminated! You did it, Team Leader!"

"That was... I... Yes... Understood. I'll make my report shortly."

After the brief conversation, Sion hung up and let out a sigh of relief.

"Whew... Yohan, they say everyone abducted by the game has returned safely, not just the twenty-five."

Apparently, just as Gremory had said, the people who died inside the game hadn't really died.

That hadn't been my intention, but it was a fortunate outcome.

I'd made the right call firing Saturn's destruction beam without worrying about people whose survival I couldn't even confirm.

"Of course, they're in a state of panic because of what happened in the game... but their lives aren't in danger."

Sion bowed her head in thanks.

"It's all thanks to you, Yohan. Thank you."

She was courteous in every little thing. You could really tell she'd been brought up well.

"Forget it. No reason to thank me for work I'm getting paid to do. If anyone should be thanking anyone, the civilians we rescued should be thanking you."

I wasn't just saying that. I meant it.

"You're the one who offered two hundred and fifty million won out of your own pocket to have the uncanny eliminated and the civilians rescued."

"No, at the time, you were the only one who seemed capable of resolving this case..."

Sion responded calmly.

"Considering how dangerous the uncanny was, it could potentially have caused far greater danger and harm. I think resolving it for two hundred and fifty million was inexpensive and a rational choice."

Then, after speaking so calmly, she added hesitantly,

"Oh, I only mean inexpensive in terms of the harm to society... It's a lot of money for me, so while I'd like to give you more... I don't think I can."

At that, I smiled without thinking.

"Forget it. Just give me the ten-million-won fee the Special Response Section originally promised."

"... Pardon?"

"I told you at the start. If the job's dangerous, I need to be paid more. It turned out less dangerous than I expected by my standards, so I should lower the price, too."

Honestly, of course I wanted the two hundred and fifty million.

But I'd recently acquired Kim Miryeo's hundred-million-won emergency fund and had money to spare. Making Sion feel indebted to me this time seemed like a good alternative.

Like the story of the North Wind and the Sun.

If avoiding her couldn't dispel her suspicions, I'd use goodwill to make her reluctant to suspect me.

Someone like Sion would probably care about this sort of thing.

Honestly, even getting her to hesitate once before shooting me would be a gain.

"You protected me well and helped me, so I was able to get the magic ready quickly. Let's call it helping each other."

Sion's eyes widened at the completely unexpected words.

"I appreciate that, but... that's... um..."

"If it bothers you, you can buy me a meal sometime."

"All right. In that case..."

Sion rose and walked over to the refrigerator, then stopped short as she reached for it.

"Oh, I got so used to cooking for you that I just..."

... True, Sion had always cooked for me while we were in the dating sim.

"Cooking for me works, too. I'm a little hungry. It's a bit early, but shall we eat now?"

"All right. Please give me a moment."

Seeing that I had pasta at home, Sion went out to the supermarket for shrimp and other ingredients, then made gambas pasta.

SIZZLE!

Watching from behind as the Special Response Section operative I'd been most wary of carefully made pasta in my home left me with mixed feelings.

In any case, the pasta was finished. Sion set a plate of it before me on the unfolded folding table, along with a bowl of salad containing a little cabbage and plenty of cherry tomatoes.

"Here you are. I hope you like it."

Pasta was good to begin with, and the shrimp sautéed in oil was savory and springy—a reliably delicious combination.

"It's good. Thanks for the meal."

"I'm glad."

Normally, I didn't talk much while eating, but this seemed like a good opportunity to learn something about Sion, so I spoke up.

"Come to think of it, the Special Response Section must have looked into my past and all that when they brought me on as a civilian collaborator, right?"

I'd only been concerned with collecting magical materials while we were in the game.

"Since we're working together, let me dig into your background, too. What's your family situation?"

A little flustered by Yohan's blunt question, Sion coughed before answering.

"Ahem. Um... It was a basic background check, confirming that you grew up in an orphanage and had no criminal record. But you're right, it isn't entirely fair."

For a moment, Sion considered giving an evasive answer.

"I have a father, a mother, and a younger sister. And..."

She decided to be honest.

"... My father is the director of the Bureau of Anomalous Phenomena Countermeasures, the agency the Special Response Section belongs to."

"..."

That unexpectedly significant revelation silenced me for a moment.

Good thing I hadn't rushed into killing Sion. I'd nearly stirred up a real hornet's nest.

"... He sounds like an impressive, decent man."

At my noncommittal response, Sion smiled bitterly.

"Yes, I do think he's impressive. Though I'm not sure he's a decent person."

She recalled something from the past and began to explain.

"Actually, my birth mother passed away when I was young, so my current mother is my stepmother. My sister is my half sister, too."

It was a story from Sion's fifth birthday.

"My father asked what I wanted for my birthday, and I was so young... Perhaps it was because I was a child, but I told him I wanted a kind mother and a cute little sister."

I smiled faintly at that.

"A little sister, huh? That's a gift that would put a parent in a difficult spot."

"Haha... Yes. But he actually brought them home on my birthday. My mother and sister."

Recalling it, Sion laughed in disbelief.

"It turned out he apparently had another woman he was seeing. She'd already had his child, too."

I smiled faintly at the absurd birthday story.

"He's impressive in a different sense, all right."

I understood what Sion meant. A good father, but not a proper human being.