I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 735 - Side Story 8: The Scent of Water (3)

People have an innate essence they're born with. Some call it constitution, others call it talent. Rudger decided to call it essence.

And Rudger believed that this essence was something unchangeable.

Because he believed that within people, there must exist some foundation that would never change.

Of course, it could change. If one completely dismantled all the components of their mental constitution and reassembled them anew, it might be possible. However, that process involves such arduous trials and pain that people cannot endure it.

Conclusively, people cannot change.

The reason Rudger thought so pessimistically was because this world was made that way from the beginning.

To be precise, this beautiful garden created by the gods changed that way after falling into Lumensis' hands.

Lumensis isolated the beautiful garden and transformed it into a giant cage. The god wanted this world to remain unchanged.

To preserve intact the beauty he envisioned, he cut off the buds of possibilities that might exist in the future.

'That way, the beings living in the cage had to face the fate and destiny they were born with.'

No matter how much they struggled, it was impossible, and in the end, those who were broken came to accept their fate. Everything in the world was given a 'role' of what they should do from the moment they were born.

That was the law Lumensis created.

However, that law didn't apply equally to everyone.

'There were those who escaped the law. I was one of them.'

They were the apostles of other gods, called demons by the world. In a way, they too lived trapped by their purposes, but if they wished, they could make different choices.

Like Surna, the great demon who sacrificed everything to save the saint rather than serve his own god.

The Holy Kingdom, which received authority from Lumensis, was the same. They used their authority to satisfy their own greed.

Even the saint went so far as to refuse the will of the main god Lumensis. Because of this, the Judgment Eye left Bretus' hands and drifted aimlessly through the world.

'But those who couldn't do that had to live according to their given fate. Casey Selmore was the same.'

Casey Selmore was destined from the beginning to become a Colour Magician and had to become a detective to eradicate evil.

If there was a turning point that changed Casey, it would be meeting Rudger himself.

'Thinking this way seems like excessive self-consciousness, but I had a big influence on Casey Selmore.'

Casey Selmore, who would have simply solved mysterious cases with given talent, came to desperately pursue James Moriarty.

The moment Casey met Rudger, she chose a different path rather than the life given to her.

Of course, she probably doesn't realize it herself. The superficial reason for pursuing Rudger was to capture the crime lord James Moriarty who caused all those incidents.

But the more she dug into the cases and learned the truth, what Casey faced was a world different from what she knew.

Hidden truths. Twisted good and evil. What is right and wrong. She had to face various trials and was broken in the middle, falling into crisis.

Nevertheless, Casey endured. It wasn't through her strength alone. Even that wasn't without Rudger's influence.

And now Casey Selmore showed a new life, not as a detective.

"It's funny for me to say this, but isn't this my work?" 

"It's our work." 

"Where exactly is the copyright?" 

"Can you bring up copyright for work adapted from a true story? And I changed the names too. That's not what's important!"

No, I think that's important too. Rudger gave up arguing and told Casey with his eyes to say more.

"It's true I enjoyed writing. Otherwise I couldn't have written so much. Of course, I didn't write it thinking about publication. It was something my sister did on her own." 

"Anyway, it was a huge hit. Though it doesn't feel real to me." 

"It's funny to say this myself, but don't you read the newspapers? I'm a super famous author!" 

"Is that something to say to someone who lived in a place more remote than a deserted island for 3 years? I haven't even stopped by a nearby bookstore." 

"Anyway! I can't keep doing this forever. Since the difficult things have gotten better, I should get back to my main job. But people won't leave me alone."

I understand. It's a work that made an insignificant small publishing company earn money on a scale comparable to a corporation.

If Casey now completes the series and says she's ending it here, would they really just say okay and let it go?

When a goose that lays golden eggs says I'm leaving now and tries to fly away, no one waves goodbye. Rather, they'd coax and cajole her somehow to keep laying golden eggs.

'By force, well, they couldn't do anything.'

There were publishing companies that locked up authors who wouldn't listen and used violence if they didn't write a certain number of words per day. Well, it's still an era where such barbarism remains.

But they couldn't do that to Casey. Who in the world would dare do such a thing to a Colour Magician? Even her sister is a Colour Magician and the head of a famous magical family.

So they could only cling to Casey's pant legs, crying and begging her to please do more.

"You know what's more annoying? My sister is also siding with them and keeps interfering with me." 

"Well, that would be natural."

Marias Selmore didn't like her younger sister wandering outside and acting freely. If Casey, who was of marriageable age, did such things, it wasn't good for the family's image either.

That's why Casey could no longer delay and had Rudger pretend to be her fiancé, right? Of course, it was eventually exposed.

"Since she can somehow keep you in the family with a definite justification, the head of the family has no choice but to do so." 

"What? Are you taking my sister's side now?"

Casey glared at Rudger with fierce eyes. Rudger just smiled faintly and shrugged.

"So is this the result of that choice?" 

"Right. If the protagonist dies, that'll work. Then the work will naturally be completed. What can they do? He's dead. It's all over." 

"But it appeared in the newspapers. Plastered as big as a gate." 

"That was exactly the problem."

Casey's expression grew heavy.

"I didn't know what I did would have such a big impact. People are going around making a fuss that a famous detective died, and some crazy people even held a funeral in tears! Right in front of me!" 

"Hmm. The degree is quite severe." 

"No, think about it, it's strange. He's just a fictional character! It's just a creative work, so why are they getting so heated about it?" 

"Strictly speaking, it's not exactly fiction." 

"Anyway! I'm going crazy because of that. People protest outside my house every other day telling me to revive the protagonist, the editorial department people are trying to find me to make me write a new work. And you know what's funny? Even my sister nagged me about it. Asking why I killed the protagonist." 

"That's a bit serious." 

"Right?" 

"No. I'm talking about your judgment in killing such a famous character." 

"Hey! Even you're doing this?!"

Casey clenched and unclenched her fists as if about to grab Rudger by the collar.

"I'm going crazy because of this right now!" 

"So you ran away to cool your head?" 

"Yeah. If I stayed there, I couldn't endure it." 

"True. If you're determined to run away, there's no one who can catch you. So, do you feel a bit better now that you've vented thoroughly?"

Casey finally seemed to regain her composure and calmed her heaving breath.

"...A little. But it's still not enough. In the end, the problem isn't solved." 

"So you're trying to get advice from me." 

"You have some stake in this story too. Come up with a good idea." 

"...Is that something to say from someone who took it without permission and used it?"

Rudger asked back with an incredulous expression.

"Anyway! What should I do now?" 

"What's there to worry about? Just revive him and that's it." 

"What? No, are you joking?"

Casey raised her eyebrows. But she didn't react as violently as before. Because she herself had been vaguely thinking the same as Rudger.

"Didn't you say he fell under a waterfall? Then just say he's actually alive. Especially if it's a story based on a true story."

"...I did that in the first place intending to conclude it."

"But it didn't turn out that way. Then you have no choice but to go back to square one and make a different choice."

Rudger held up one finger.

"First, revive the protagonist. The reason can be added somehow." 

"But I officially announced he died in the story and even held a funeral." 

"Just say the protagonist actually hid himself to pretend to be dead." 

"But I already caught the final boss, so what do I do next?" 

"Was I the final boss?" 

"I'm talking about the character in the story, not you."

Same difference. Rudger wanted to nitpick but decided to hold back.

"Well, can't you just say there was actually a hidden mastermind? That he was actually just a puppet of the true evil, and the real one is somewhere else." 

"Will the readers accept it? It goes against plausibility." 

"Seeing you talk about plausibility, you've really become a writer. They will. Because they don't want some rational judgment. They just want to see the character they love and cherish show them the story again." 

"Even so..."

Casey was about to say something but closed her mouth. A past scene came to her mind. People who were genuinely sad even though a character made of mere print had died.

Are they stupid? Rationally, it might feel that way. But conversely, it was right in the realm of emotion where one can deeply immerse themselves and purely enjoy something.

She wrote what she experienced with just a little variation exactly as it was, but for the readers reading it, it wasn't like that.

That's what the power of the story is. It touches and leads people's emotions, drawing out intense empathy. Casey had to acknowledge it.

That she had been overlooking the importance of such emotions too much until now.

"It seems you understand now." 

"...Sigh. But it's still troublesome. This means I have to go back to just writing like before." 

"Who said that? You can revive the protagonist and write the next story. But there's no guarantee you must write it forever, is there?" 

"Uh...!"

Casey trembled once as if she realized something.

"Now that I think about it, right? Why haven't I thought of this until now? I can just write whenever I want." 

"Even if you pretend otherwise, it's probably because you felt a sense of responsibility to meet other people's expectations." 

"Responsibility."

Casey thought the word responsibility didn't suit her.

Just look at her past actions. Because the family was suffocating and she hated it, despite her sister's opposition, she ran out freely and worked as a detective.

She was happy being praised as a genius by those around her, and tried to solve other cases.

She tried to eradicate evil, but personal desire for self-satisfaction was mixed in there too.

She interfered in cases freely, solved them freely. She didn't care that other people were uncomfortable or troubled by it.

In the end, she could solve the cases, but in fact, she could have acted with a bit more flexibility. It's not like there were cases she couldn't solve by doing that.

Casey thought her past self was foolish, arrogant, and selfish. A tomboy with no sense of responsibility, just acting according to her whims.

Rudger told such a person that she had a sense of responsibility.

"I had no idea." 

"It's natural not to know. Because an ordinary person couldn't help but not know." 

"But I'm a genius detective..." 

"Just because you're a detective, can you know everything? Then how much did you know about me?"

Casey couldn't answer.

"A detective is human in the end. They make mistakes, waver, and sometimes fail to recognize things."

At this moment, Rudger's words weren't just directed at Casey. These were words that applied to himself as well.

"Have I changed?" 

"You might have changed, or you might have been that way originally."

Does a person's essence change?

Life has no choice but to live from the moment it's born. Walking the path of life, one faces a wider world and is influenced by that external environment.

People interact with their external environment. They clash with certain ideologies and shatter those ideologies, or conversely are influenced by ideologies. As a result, they adopt different behavioral patterns than before.

That's what living is. Realizing something, changing one's thoughts, making new choices.

Breaking free from the framework of the cage called given fate, finally soaring freely, that was the world Rudger wanted.

"It seems you've become a bit of an adult."

Casey, who had been somewhat shocked, soon chuckled. It was a smile that had become much more refreshed after escaping the pressure.

"What are you saying? I've been an adult from the beginning."