Surviving in my Own Unpublished Failed Novel

"Russell, what do you mean by dropping out?!"

A worried and confused voice of a woman, Melina Moon; Russell and Freya's mother sounded through a call via his smartwatch.

After they had decided to drop out, they were called to the Teacher's Faculty Building, specifically, to the office of the Vice-Chancellor.

Their parents were on their way to the Obelisk Academy due to the sudden news they never expected.

"Mom, it's hard to tell you what happened, but... we suffered from something, and... don't be surprised, we have good news, too."

He couldn't just straight-out say that they were forcibly pulled out or kidnapped by the number 1 Player.

'Although some unrelated parts of the original story are this f*cked up, I can't let this go public as it might shake Artorious' authority as the main head of the Obelisk Organization.'

"Oppa... I don't know what's the right thing to do because what's next for us is unknown."

Freya said poignantly as she sat beside him with Amelie.

"When I think about it, there's no absolute right thing about what's about to do, it's just we are deciding what's better for us and our parents."

Russell replied with a somewhat monotonous tone; Amelie, who heard him, interjected.

"I like that the two of you are doing this for your parents... when I think about it, my parents right now probably forgot about me.

"Well, it's not like I have sympathy for them who sold me out for a few hundred thousand Obel, you know.

"It's not the blood that's strong, but rather the deep bond between people that's more than just a biology."

When Russell recalled that Amelie was just a 16-year-old woman, but was speaking like that, he felt like he has a vibe mentally considering his mental age.

Knock-! Knock-!

Click-!

Creaked-!

The Vice-Chancellor, Dexter Rainfall, who went out for some time came back with someone behind him.

As he opened the door, Russell, Freya, and Amelie heard some unusual noises outside; there were classes as it was early morning.

They didn't bother their parents to be called at night and to go to the academy, so they waited until the next day to process their dropout forms.

But, with the issue regarding it; it'll be troublesome to talk about it with their parents, especially through a call. They might see their parents screaming in public about what happened if they tell them beforehand.

The people behind the Vice-Chancellor were Ms. Ayleen Mayfield and... Artorious Hall, who came personally.

<Russell, he's a f*cking desperate man.>

Amelie spoke via telepathy through their Chaos Connection; Freya also heard what Amelie said.

<Oppa, do you think this is too risky? I-I... his presence is just...>

Freya said, using the same means of communication they have.

Although Artorious Hall wasn't releasing his aura because of his extraordinary Mana Control, his presence was just overwhelming as Freya felt like she was having Post-Traumatic Stressed Disorder (PTSD) by getting forcefully summoned yesterday.

Artorious looked at them with his usual emotionless grayish, glass-like eyes.

Without apologizing to them personally, he said with a monotonous tone.

"...What do you want?"

'This f*cking bastard. I feel like he's worst than what I've written.

'I know we are just minors and puny in your eyes, but your coldness seems to have no bounds.

'Well, you are like that with your own daughter, what's more with students you didn't even know?'

Russell lampooned inwardly as he was seething in anger, and wanted to blurt out his thoughts, but doing so would probably get him killed by this merciless man.

...

'For some reason, these students don't look normal... They probably talked with each other through telepathy even for a few seconds when I talked to them last night.'

Ayleen Mayfield — who was standing by the side — thought as she recalled what happened last night when she went to Russell's dormitory room after checking Freya and Amelie's dormitory rooms first, finding them not.

'Even so, what Sir Artorious did was wrong. He could have talked to them personally without using such means.

'Sigh... there's no excuse for what he did. Just how did he even make some groundless connection between the discoverers of the first Micro-Strayed Dungeon and the Tower of Growth? It's ridiculous.'

No matter how she thought about it, Ayleen thought that it was just nonsense that Artorious Hall just suspected the students, having some knowledge about the soon-to-be-opened first Close Mystery Tower, just because they first discovered a dungeon that couldn't be seen with naked eyes.

"S-sir Artorious... w-why did you do t-that to us...? and w-why you c-cant seem to let us out of the academy when we decided to drop out...?"

Ayleen looked at the student with pink hair and ruby eyes who was about to shed tears.

It was Amelie.

...

'Just how the hell can Amelie do that without breaking her character?'

He knew that Amelie experienced the worst at her young age; being sold to the Thorn of Rose; forced to produce Dark Tears that killed many, and forced to kill a few people through assassination.

'But, even so, she's in front of Artorious...'

"...Do you want me to apologize?"

Russell's thought was cut off by the cold voice of Artorious Hall.

'My mind is still a mess when I realized that he might have decided to forcibly pull us out of nowhere just because of two unrelated incidents.'

He inwardly said as he thought of what Ayleen Mayfield just thought; about the nonsensical, seemed nonexistent reasons why Artorious acted in that way.

"...We want to drop out."

Russell knew the ability that Artorious Hall used against them.

'It may have thousands of kilometers of range, but it can be countered somehow.'

If Artorious Hall's Skill: Glass Gravitation (SSS+) could just pull out anyone whenever he wanted, it would be considered a very broken skill as he could just pull the Obelisk Organization's enemies one by one and gang up on them on the spot.

Russell followed in Amelie's stead as Artorious just fell silent with Amelie's question and acting.

"And... if we want something, w-we'd like to have many witnesses, so our safety will be assured.

"If we speak a-about the compensation, we're not going to leave the academy."

'Honestly, I don't feel like caring anymore about those major characters, they have their own lives, while I and my companions have ours, too.

'I know many things have already astray from what I know, but it doesn't mean that what I know won't transpire in the future.

'The cause might be different, but the outcome might still be the same.'

He thought poignantly as he felt like being indifferent about the future of those major characters.

"Witnesses... we already have here."

Artorious said succinctly, but Russell argued.

"N-no, we want Chancellor Alexander."

Russell was stuttering, but he just was acting like a minor student while facing the Rank 1 Player.

'If we show composure, we'd be under more suspicions. I don't want to do this sh*t acting, but Amelie was nailing it. Though Freya's emotions are real.'

At that moment, Ayleen and Vice-Chancellor Dexter looked at each other.

"Hmm... Sorry to interrupt, but Chancellor Alexander isn't available at the moment.

"It'll be fine with us, so you can proceed with what compensation you wanted."

The Vice-Chancellor said politely; he was briefed by Ayleen about what happened under Artorious' permission, causing him to have a bewildered expression.

"S-sir, when our parents arrive here, w-we will have no choice, but to explain w-what happened to us.

"W-we don't want them to be involved in this issue, b-but we have no choice... we c-cant just go home and tell t-them we'd stop attending the academy out of nowhere."

'...F*ck, why didn't I think of that...?'

An unrelated thought jolted him as he replied to Vice-Chancellor's words.

...

[Activating Skill: Eye of Night (EX)]

[Target's Name: Artorious Hall]

[Peeking to Artorious Hall's Hidden Nature and Current Emotional State.]

[Current Emotional State: Cold.]

[Hidden Nature: Obsessed with the unknowns.]

[You have discovered the Hidden Nature of Artorious Hall.]

[Your Perception increases...]

...

'Obsessed... this father and daughter have a very similar word that can be attached to them.

'Although Samantha was somewhat possessive with genuine people, it's like the lighter version of Artorious.'

He thought before Vice-Chancellor Dexter cut off his thoughts.

"I'll try to ask the Chancellor first if he's available, then maybe we can resolve this before your parents arrive.

"You see, it will be troublesome for the Obelisk Organization and the Obelisk Academy when the details of the issue or even a rumor spread.

"Please, as a Vice-Chancellor of the academy, I request of you not to leave the academy, resolve this properly, and sadly... it'll come out of my mouth, but can we make up a story about your drop out issue that we should tell your parents when they arrive?"

He said as he tap off his smartwatch, calling the Chancellor.

After the call was answered, he looked at Artorious who was standing, silently asking for his permission to speak about the problem.

...

After some time, surprisingly, the Chancellor, Alexander Akalchelt arrived at the office of the Vice-Chancellor.

'Just as I thought... these two are distant from each other... Well, if you lumped two cold emotionless bodies, they would still remain cold, and if somehow a warmth has been felt, it would probably be a spark.'

Alexander was at SSS rank, while Artorious was at SSS+ rank. Even though the former could be considered one of the strongest, he despised the title and barely attends any Conference meeting of the Obelisk Organization.

"Young man, speak the three things you all wanted, and finish this as fast as possible."

Artorious said, seemingly wanting to leave quickly because of Alexander's presence.

"T-Thank you Chancellor for bothering y-your p-precious time.

"Uhmm... by the way, Sir Artorious, the first thing we want is the safety of our family, in any way they shouldn't be involved in this matter.

"The second thing..."

Russell looked at Amelie and nodded at her.

"W-we want to receive a Player License..."

The reason for this was simple; more freedom when doing some outside business.

One of the reasons, Constellations aside, that players wanted to graduate from the Obelisk Academy was to have a Player License quickly and to be offered by various Guilds easily.

"Consider it done."

'He didn't even hesitate, huh? With Obelisk Organization's power, it's an easy task.'

Russell thought before he glanced again at Amelie, then the both of them glanced at Freya.

"Sir Artorious... I'll be frank, you traumatize me with what you did, that's why we wanted our family out of this in any way possible... So, in line with our first request... we want an assurance that you'll honor it."

Artorious revealed a faint, cold smile upon hearing such words from a 15-year-old girl who was becoming mature day by day.

Ayleen, Dexter, and Alexander looked at Artorious, they seemed to know the necessary thing about such an assurance.

"I see... Young girl, you want this to be in Mana Contract."

Artorious looked at Ayleen, prompting her to take out a Mana Contract in her Dimensional Inventory; she just happened to have a pile of it.

"...Sir Artorious... I'd like to apologize first, but is it possible to make the assurance, not with Mana Contract?"

The adults wore a look of confusion with Freya's words.

"...What do you mean?"

Freya looked at her older brother and Amelie before she took a deep breath and took out something from her Dimensional Inventory.

It's a dark-colored scroll that's exuding a dark aura. Although it came from the Nether Realm, with books that were given to her by the Ruler of Death, she learned that it's possible to bring out a Soul Contract on Earth.

"Sir Artorious, if you really wanted to honor your words about the safety of my family... you will agree with this, right?

"It's called a Soul Contract, just in case you are wondering."