[Name: Ken Feinstein

Innate Skills: Item Creation, Calorie Burn.

Innate Attribute: Physical abilities enhance as body weight decreases.

Possessed Attributes: Obesity, Curse of the Grim Reaper -NEW!

Current Physical Stats: 175cm, 104kg]

[Curse of the Grim Reaper: The cursed individual will inevitably die after the specified period.]

As I carefully examined the attribute description, I realized.

'The inevitable has come.' This is the Sudden Death Incident Event that also occurred in the game.

The episode begins with rumours of a student at Dedris Academy suddenly dying.

A death where one falls asleep without any warning and does not wake up the next day.

The cause of death was never revealed even in the game.

Whether it was a contagion, poisoning, magic, or a curse, the sudden death incident remained unresolved by the academy's faculty.

Emily gets entangled in the incident starting with the death of one of her classmates.

An event where Emily, angered by the sudden death of a student she knew, begins investigating the incident.

"But the first victim is me?" I was prepared for this event to occur.

But I didn't expect I would be the first to suffer.

Damn it.

'No, maybe it's actually lucky that I'm first...' Rather than solving the event after another person was sacrificed, it’s better for me to be the first victim.

'I've prepared in advance anyway.' Originally, the first person to sacrifice in this event is a nameless student completely unrelated to Emily.

Then, a classmate of Emily's.

Followed by a random character who has a high affinity with Emily.

The final sequence ends with Emily herself being cursed.

To clear the event, Emily must find and eliminate the culprit behind the curse before she dies.

The problem is that finding the culprit using normal methods is extremely difficult.

This event is designed as a high difficulty deduction game that assumes the use of Save Load.

"Raphne, I need to talk to you seriously."

"...Huh, what?

Did I do something wrong?" When I called out to Raphne with a tense look in my eyes, she approached me cautiously, looking scared while cooking.

"Listen carefully.

First of all, let me say this...

I'll be fine."

"O-Okay?" I said this to prevent Raphne from possibly going on a rampage.

Then I gave Raphne some time to digest my words.

Slowly, I began to speak.

"I'm going to die in three days."

"...What?" Despite my warning, Raphne looked like she had lost her world.

And after a moment.

"No!

No, no, no!!

If Ken dies, I'll die too!

Sniff, I'm sorry!

It's my fault, waah!

Don't die, Ken!

Ken, you can't die!!!” Raphne threw herself into my arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

“Is something troubling you?

Are you giving up on life because of it?

Please don't…

Sobbing, you're my only hope for living, Ken…!

Sniffle, just tell me!

Who is causing you this pain?

Just say the word and I'll take care of it all for you!”

‘…As expected, it came to this.’ I patted Raphne's head as she clung to me and started to explain.

“Look….

I will die, but it's not really dying, okay?” The truth is, using Raphne's pendant could prevent my death now.

However, given that I've been chosen as the first victim of this curse, avoiding it would actually be foolish.

That's because there's a trick to clearing this event quickly by using the death caused by the curse.

“Raphne, calm down and listen to me until the end.”

“Sniffle, sob, hic.”

Holding onto the still tearful Raphne by her shoulders, I looked her in the eyes and spoke earnestly.

“When I die in three days, there will surely be an uproar.

…But I'll be back in a week, so don't worry.” Upon hearing my explanation, Raphne continued to cry but looked at me blankly.

“Sniffle… you won't die?”

“…Hmm, well, it's not that I won’t die…

So even if I die, don't be too surprised.

I'll be back soon." In this Culprit Finding Event, we don't know who the culprit is, so we shouldn't carelessly discuss strategies like this.

But with Raphne, it's fine.

This event is also part of the Demon King's Army Invasion Event.

That means Raphne is tasked with finding the culprit.

There is no chance that Raphne will be the culprit.

Therefore, she's the only person I can inform about my return after my death.

"...Sniffle, so you'll be gone for a whole week?" Oh, now that you mention it.

"A, a week should be fine, right?

You have Emily and Mary too!"

"But I want Ken to be by my side…" Her face, mixed with feelings of disappointment and sadness, made my resolve waver.

"Umm, can't you die in my room then?

That way, we can still be together for that week…" So, she's even okay with a corpse.

"Then Raphne would be suspected as the murderer.

Absolutely not."

"Sniffle…" Feeling dejected, Raphne buried her face in my chest again.

"Then...

let's stay together until the third day.

Let's sleep here too." Then, she lifted her head and looked up at me with moist eyes.

...I guess it's okay until the day I die.

During the previous Survival Event, she couldn't even last five days before leaving the tower.

Now, with the pendant and having spoken about my death, she won't feel abandoned.

I stroked Raphne’s head as she looked gloomy.

It felt nice as her soft hair slipped through my fingers.

“Alright.

But not the night before death.

I will die after falling asleep.”

“…Okay.” I thought she would smile if she accepted my condition, but instead, she looked even sadder at the mention of my death.

Then she cautiously looked up at me.

There was a brief moment of silence as Raphne just stared at me.

Soon, she blushed and slowly closed her eyes.

…Ah, this is.

Feeling suddenly bashful at the sight, I hesitated for a moment.

“…Mhm.” I closed my eyes and kissed Raphne on the lips.

I felt her moist lips and her warm breath.

Soon, Raphne wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly.

…I have a feeling she’ll keep asking for this until I die.

The next day.

After finishing my training with Siegfried, I returned to my dormitory room briefly.

Standing before the bed that would become my grave in a few days, I took out something.

It was an item I found during the festival outing with Mary, a sale item from the hidden street vendor.

The Revival Scroll.

As its name suggests, if used in advance, it can bring you back to life a certain period after death.

For the record, I asked Raphne to preserve my body.

You never know what might happen if someone decides to cut open my body belly to investigate the cause of death.

'...Is this how you use it?' I infused the scroll with magic, just like I would with any other magic item.

Then, blue flames ignited and burned the scroll.

[System: You have used a Magic Scroll.

The effect is imparted.]

“Oh, it worked perfectly.” At least now I can feel at ease.

This Revival Scroll is like an item in a game that allows you to revive anytime, but in reality, it can only be used for this event as a special item.

In the original game, when you die, the standard practice is to start again with a save load.

However, this Finding the Culprit event occurs randomly, and most players face death at the beginning.

It's just that difficult to find the culprit without dying from the start.

That's why the game developers prepared this item for those who are blocked from save loading in hardcore mode.

To help them skip the event quickly.

"Alright, since everything’s ready, shall I head to the Academy?" I wondered what the others would think.

In this event, you never know who the culprit might be, so you can’t just go around saying, ‘I will come back to life!’ or something like that.

Everyone will probably think I'm really dead.

It's as if someone they've gotten close to just suddenly dies overnight.

‘...One week.’ There’s no way around it.

While there are ways to prevent the curse, this method is the best to catch the culprit quickly without other sacrifices.

If I somehow avoid the curse, I don't know who its next target will be.

But it's only for a week.

Even if it's sad, it’s bearable if I get through it.

Trying to ignore my heavy heart, I smiled and headed to the Academy.

But then.

"Hey, Ken.

Are you free the day after tomorrow?" Emily suddenly asked out of nowhere.

"Huh, the day after tomorrow?"

"Yeah, you remember that Meal Ticket we won at the Survival Tournament?" Now that she mentioned it, I did.

We competed with Mary to get it, and Emily, who had allied with me, ended up winning.

I’d forgotten all about it because of Raphne's unexpected visit.

No way...

“How about the day after tomorrow?

Are you free then?” Emily asked cautiously, her face turning red with shyness.

‘How should I respond to this?’ Of course, it's difficult.

Haha, sorry Emily.

I'm planning to temporarily die that day, so let's have a meal some other time.

...I can't exactly answer like that.

While I was struggling with my thoughts, Emily, sensing my hesitation, asked again.

“Are you not free then?”

“Uh, well, I have something scheduled for that day.”

“I see…” Emily looked a bit disappointed.

But thankfully, Emily seemed to understand without me needing to come up with an excuse.

Phew, I got through...

“Then how about the day after that?” But Emily did not give up easily.

Far from being discouraged, she smiled confidently, shedding her earlier shyness.

But I felt terribly sorry.

Because I was planning to be dead for a week.

“Sorry, ...I’m busy that day too.”

“Oh, really?

...Then how about four days later?”

“Well...

that day too, I have plans...”

“...Then five days later?”

“…”

I couldn’t bring myself to answer.

It was because of Emily’s changing expression with each continued refusal.

At first, Emily’s face had grown confident after the second request, but with each continued refusal, her expression grew darker.

And soon, tears formed in her eyes as she glared at me.

Ah, I should at least make up some schedule to tell her…

“…What, if you don’t like it, you could just say so.” But before I could even open my mouth, Emily, who seemed about to cry, spoke with a trembling voice.

“…E-Emily, it's not that.” I opened my mouth to make some kind of excuse.

“Enough, you idiot!

Just die!” Emily's anger was faster than my reflexes.

She turned around and ran off.

“…Ah.” I watched Emily’s retreating figure.

As she ran, small droplets sparkled beside her.

No, but… I’m really going to die.

Two days after Ken had turned her down, Emily greeted a depressing morning in her bed.

Originally, today should have been a day filled with excitement and anticipation for her date.

But Emily, who had been completely rejected, was feeling down since the morning.

Right, it's possible he didn't want to eat with me...

She had not forgotten what she had done to him.

She remembered the words he spat out in anger toward her.

She never thought that being forgiven by him would erase what she had done.

She just wanted to treat him to a meal out of the guilt she felt toward him.

...No, that's not it.

Emily paused while combing her hair and lowered her head.

The tears she had been holding back since morning started to fall, wetting her knees.

The truth is, she wanted to go on a date with him.

Using an apology as an excuse, she wanted to have a cosy meal with him.

But maybe that was just her selfish desire.

He had been indirect in rejecting her invitation.

"...S-sniff, if that’s the case, just say you don't want to..." His inability to easily refuse, his kindness, made her heart ache all the more.

After letting her tears flow for a while, Emily calmed herself down and left the dormitory.

...Today, I'll talk to him.

She hadn't been able to speak with him for the past couple of days.

Of course, she knew it wasn’t his fault.

But whenever she faced Ken, she felt like she would burst into tears, so she couldn’t easily approach him.

If this continued, it was clear their improved relationship would fall apart again.

Today, Emily resolved that she would greet him with a smile.

But then...

"Emily!" On her way to the Academy, the usual path seemed less crowded than normal.

Out of the blue, Adrian came running toward her, looking unusually flustered.

"W-what's going on?" He, who normally appeared composed, now seemed anything but calm.

Standing before her, he hesitated in a way that was unlike him.

"...Emily, ...I don't know how to tell you this." Adrian finally managed to speak, and what he said made Emily drop the bag she was holding.

Please support the series on NovelUpdates

Read Here for premium chapters