The Author's POV

The circumstances surrounding the three Grandmasters became widely known throughout the entirety of the world. Everyone, whether they were children or adults, was in some way presented with the news.

It was that viral.

Almost everyone…

"Shit, I fucked up again."

Melissa readjusted her glasses while clicking her tongue in annoyance. In front of her were a few test tubes that were releasing a gas that had no discernible odor.

She looked at Rosie.

"How many failed samples does that make?"

"About a hundred."

"The cost?"

"Over one hundred million U."

"I see…"

Melissa gave a subdued nod of her head as her hand made its way toward her chest, and she clenched her clothes. Her heart was hurting.

"What's our current budget?"

"We're almost out."

"I see…"

Melissa proceeded to sit down on a nearby stool.

She couldn't feel her legs.

With quivering lips, she weakly looked toward Rosie.

"Say… how much do you think I'd get if I sold my body?"

"You what?"

The expression on Rosie's face went through a series of abrupt changes as she was rendered speechless.

"Useless."

Melissa turned her head away from her and continued to gaze at the test tubes in front of her. She was close. She could feel it.

'So long as I get the formula right…'

"Tsk."

She clicked her tongue once more and took out her phone.

The first thing that she did was look over her research funds and determine the precise amount that was still available to her.

[3,563,000U]

Her lips quivered at the sum.

"M,maybe I should really sell my body."

Ding―!

At that precise moment, her phone started to ring. Melissa picked up the phone while frowning and responded to the call.

"Yes?"

[Mrs. Hall, there's a guest that wants to meet you downstairs.]

"Does he have an appointment?"

[No.]

"Then kick him out."

She hung up the phone shortly after that.

Massaging her head, she leaned her elbow against the table.

"I think I should start by cutting down the staff."

She'd already told them beforehand not to disturb her with trivial matters. The fact that they called her for something as useless as that annoyed her.

"…I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Her ears were startled by a sudden whisper, and she leaped to her feet in surprise.

"Huh?! Who the fuck are you?!"

As soon as she turned around, she saw a young man with dark hair and blue eyes. He appeared to be about her age and had a smile on his face.

For some reason, Melissa found herself annoyed. Why was she feeling so aggravated by the smile that was plastered on his face?

It made no sense since she'd never seen him before. Having said that, she did not have time to ruminate on it as she immediately stood up and moved backward.

An artifact quickly appeared in her hand and she pointed it in his direction.

"Who are you, and how did you get here?"

***

This was worth it.

It had been quite a long time since I'd seen Melissa this panicked, and I couldn't help but feel some sort of sense of accomplishment from it.

'I should've recorded it…'

"I'll ask you again, who the fuck are you?!"

Melissa's voice brought me back to reality. Looking at her, I raised both hands.

"Let's calm down for a good minute. I mean no har… don't look at me like that."

"Seriously?"

Melissa's face said it all. It was as if she was staring at an idiot.

"Do you actually expect me to believe your words when you suddenly broke into my lab without anyone knowing?"

"Ehm."

I scratched the back of my head.

She had a point.

"Okay, fair enough, but I truly don't mean any harm. If I did, I would've already done something to you by now."

"Good point."

Melissa lowered the artifact in her hand. It resembled a gun, but it was far from one. It didn't have any bullets and curved at weird angles.

She looked behind me and pointed.

"What did you do to her?"

I turned around to look at her assistant, who was standing behind me. She appeared to be completely motionless and without any expression at the moment. When I looked at her, memories from the past came flooding back to me, and my heart chilled.

"Don't worry about her, she's fine."

"She doesn't look fine."

"She's fine."

I could release her if I wanted to, but I wasn't going to.

It may have been a long time ago, but I wasn't one to forget the past. Even if they belonged to another world.

Who was she to make fun of my name?!

"Haa.."

Melissa sighed before sitting down.

"Fucking hell."

As usual, she threw out a curse, and I smiled.

"Are you finally willing to listen to me?"

She threw a glare at me.

"Do I have a choice?"

"You do."

I nodded in a serious manner.

"If I do, then I don-"

"It's just that you need to ask my permission for the choice."

"…"

Her glare grew more terrifying, but I paid no mind to it. I was seriously enjoying myself at the moment.

Finding a stool, I sat down.

"Alright, let's get down to business."

To be honest, I had no idea why I was currently talking to Melissa nor had any idea why I was proposing a deal with her.

However, according to Matthew, if I wanted to find out more about the current situation, then I had no choice but to interact with her.

"From what I've heard, you seem to lack money, right?"

"Yes."

Melissa sighed while raising her glasses a little.

"I'm impressed by your stalking skills."

I smiled and paid no mind to her comments. Demonic Melissa was worse than her.

"I'll keep this short. I'll give you several important recipes and formulas in exchange for a small percentage of the profits."

"How much is a little?"

"Like five percent."

"That little?"

Melissa seemed rather surprised by the offer, and to be honest, I would be too, but it didn't really matter to me.

I was in no need of money.

The opportunity to engage further with her was the sole factor in my decision to accept a share of the profits. If it turned out that she was one of the clues I needed to get out of here, then doing this was necessary.

I looked at her.

"You seem to trust my words quite a bit."

"No?"

She threw me the same look as before. My mouth twitched a little.

"Since I have no choice, then I might as well accept your words. Let me make this clear, I don't trust you at all."

"Fair enough."

She made a good point.

I massaged my forehead a bit, then stood up and walked towards her.

"What are you doing?"

Melissa immediately stood up and moved back.

I rolled my eyes at her actions.

"Don't worry, I already have a girlfriend."

"…That doesn't mean shit."

She covered her body with her arms.

"…"

I ignored her and extended my finger toward her head. She tried to resist, but how could she? The gap in our strength was astronomical.

When my finger finally made contact with her forehead, she immediately lost consciousness. After that, a flood of information poured into my head as I shared several of my memories with her. They were the ones containing the recipes and potions I'd promised her.

'That should do it.'

I took my finger away from her head and tried to absorb the information that I had managed to get from her memories.

'It might take a while for me to absorb everything.'

Sitting down, I crossed my arms and went through each of them carefully. The chip inside my head quickly got to work, and over a thousand different bubbles flashed within my head.

My head throbbed, but I remained composed.

I had no idea how long I had been like this, but I soon heard Melissa's startled voice coming from in front of me, and my eyes opened.

"Is the information you've given me real?"

Her eyes had a strange glow in them as she gazed at me.

It was now my turn to take a step back.

"It is…"

"Are you fucking kidding me? Where have you been my whole life?!"

Her eyes glowed even more. She was practically salivating at this point, and I felt the back of my head tingle.

I took a couple more steps back.

"Let's have some boundaries."

"Fuck off."

Rolling her eyes, she turned away from me and dashed toward a certain section of her lab. When I saw that, I let out a sigh of relief, but my mood quickly changed for the worse.

'I think I have an idea of what the clue is…'

My face twisted a little at the thought.

My feelings were all over the place as I watched Melissa, who was smiling and laughing as she happily took out her notes and flipped through them. If my guess was correct, then…

"This is bad."

I let out a soft breath and turned toward the entrance of the lab.

When I saw that Melissa was completely focused on what she was doing, I knew there was no point in trying to talk to her anymore. I accomplished the purpose of my visit regardless.

'I really hope I'm overthinking things...'

As I approached the door, I reached out to grab the handle; however, just as I was about to do so, the door unexpectedly opened, and I saw a familiar face appear in the space before me.

The figure froze in place as soon as it caught sight of me, but not long after that, his haughty voice resounded out loud while a murderous aura emanated from his body.

"Who are you?"