554 – Metamorphosis (1)

As it turned out, I ended up saving the thief, but the situation was resolved for now.

Even though he may seem a bit perverted, he was caught in the act. From arrest to surveillance.

And then I waited quietly until the owner of the workshop, Jane, came. Even the thief knew he was at fault, so he stayed quiet even when I took action.

“Huh······! Gasp······!”

I deliberately set off the alarm when Jane’s class was about to end. Then Jane came running out of breath.

She began to take stock of the situation in the workshop, looking back and forth between me and the thief.

Finally, as if he had finally figured out the situation, he came to me out of breath.

“Shhh! Gulp! Gulp!”

Even though she’s holding her breath, Jane is a natural scientist. She must be relatively lacking in physical strength.

I helped her control her breathing, and thanks to that, Jane’s breathing became stable again.

She looked at the thief with a fake angry expression. Now she waited for Jane to speak.

“······also.”

Jane seems to know the thief’s face. The thief has now completely taken off his head, including the robe he is wearing.

The thief’s face resembled that of a typical college professor. He had gray hair and a uniquely grown mustache.

Lastly, even the glasses. He was a perfect professor without any shortcomings.

“You were Professor Metro.”

“··· ···”

The thief, Professor Metro, flinched as Jane mentioned his name in a cold voice.

Then he glanced at Jane’s face, and as soon as he made eye contact with her, he lowered his head again.

At least he knows that he is clearly aware of his mistake. The two of them are even acquainted with each other.

The relationship between the two was no different than that of a teacher and student, but the author, who was the teacher, tried to steal the student’s masterpiece.

To be exact, I got distracted by the steel suit and ended up like this. If I had tampered with the research materials even a little bit, things would have been more serious.

‘I vaguely remember this person’s face······’

While Jane sorted out her complicated thoughts, I recalled what had happened in Soul World.

As I said before, the original flow of the story was Professor Metro introducing Jane to her superior.

After that, Professor Metro’s appearances were almost non-existent. For some unknown reason, he disappeared from the story.

Looking at the connections he has with his superiors, he is clearly a person with great connections, but I have no idea what is going on.

Jane’s personal story is also mentioned in passing, making it difficult to look into the details.

“······Do you have anything to say?”

“··· ···”

“Are you really trying to take what I made… something I made all by myself?”

“······I’m sorry. But, Jane, could you please listen to my excuses, even just a little?”

An apology came out of Professor Metro’s mouth. However, he spoke in a voice that was almost like a plea, as if he had something to say.

Jane nodded, letting out a deep breath, as if her fever hadn’t yet reached the tip of her head.

I watched quietly from the side, just in case Professor Metro could have played a trick on Jane.

Professor Metro then watched Jane closely and made an excuse.

“First of all, I would never, ever intend to steal a student’s research materials.”

“sure?”

“I wasn’t stealing it, I just… I wanted to see how that masterpiece that transcended boundaries was created.”

Is there an excuse that is as ridiculous as that? It is on the same level as the excuse that says I drank alcohol but I didn’t drive drunk.

A situation where there is no evidence and only suspicions. Even I, who am listening, am at a loss, so how much more so must Jane be.

“You want me to… believe that? Do you think it makes sense?”

“I know it sounds ridiculous, but I’m serious.”

“What the······”

Jane’s face turned bright red at his words, which were so bold that they were almost shameless. It seemed like she had reached her limit.

I carefully grabbed her shoulder, eager to hit her. Then Jane looked at me with a puzzled expression.

I have a rough idea of ​​what she wants, but in a case like this, procedure is important. If we proceed without procedure, only she will benefit.

Above all, I have a fearsome connection with the president. That person is already a rat in poison.

“What do you want to do? Are you planning to kick me out?”

“······I don’t know. Professor Metro is someone who listened to my theories well······”

“Listen carefully?”

“Yes. And you even corrected the misaligned parts here and there.”

It turns out there were other professors who recognized his true worth, not just Professor Godin. And that was before the invention of the steel suit.

I looked at Professor Metro with a surprised expression. He still had his head bowed, knowing the sins he had committed.

How could it not be used? His superiors are intertwined with the main characters of the Santiago episode, so it would be a shame to throw him away.

‘First of all, it seems like the person is more confident than shameless······’

I still remember him clearly. His figure yapping in front of the steel suit.

If he was a real thief, he would have looked for research materials first. But he was only focused on the steel suit.

It’s an act of injecting some sincerity into his words. Let me start by telling you this.

“Professor Lee. As soon as I got here, I saw the steel suit. I didn’t look at the research materials.”

“Huh? You didn’t see the research materials?”

“Yeah. You’re excited in front of the steel suit?”

“Ahem······”

When I spoke openly, Professor Metro coughed and lowered his head.

He felt guilty, but it seemed like he felt ashamed first. He even squirmed as if he didn’t know what to do.

Jane must have felt something about this part. She rolled her eyes and suggested in a serious voice.

“······Okay. Then before we send you to trial, I have one question for you.”

“··· ···”

“Steel suit. Would you like to ride it?”

-Shock!!!

Professor Metro’s body twitched violently at Jane’s suggestion. Anyone could tell that he had reacted strongly.

I wanted to hide it somehow, but my body reacted first. It even started to fidget as if it didn’t know what to do.

Anyone who saw it could clearly see that I wanted to ride in a steel suit.

“··· ···”

Jane’s expression turned into a look of bewilderment. Professor Metro’s true feelings must be getting a little confusing.

Do you want to see a steel suit in its purest sense, or is there another reason?

After much thought, Jane decided to pursue the issue further.

“If you wanted to board, you could have just told me then. Why did you sneak in so secretly?”

“I wanted to see the research data as well. I don’t know about anything else, but I thought they wouldn’t show me the research data.”

“You’re making the same excuse as before. Is that really why?”

“That’s right.”

Professor Metro answered like that, glanced at Jane, and sighed deeply.

Then he opened his mouth in a slightly self-mocking voice.

“I’m truly sorry for doing something I shouldn’t have done as a fellow engineer. But I couldn’t overcome my greed after seeing the future itself.”

“··· ···”

“Could you please show me your research data? Not just once, no, not even for 10 minutes, even for 10 seconds. Just give me a glimpse of the future······!”

-thud!

Professor Metro was now pleading with his head down. Jane’s face showed embarrassment at this.

If you look at his words and actions, it is never a lie. Professor Metro was sincere.

The problem is that the sincerity is so excessive that it leads to a crime. This is a big mistake.

Since she was Jane, we decided to mercifully drag her to trial. If it were anyone else, it wouldn’t have been strange to kill her right away.

Since ancient times, the treatment of ‘spy’ has not been good. If you look closely, Professor Metro is also an industrial spy.

“What do you want to do?”

“······It seems sincere. At least on the surface.”

Jane hesitated at my question. It was the first time something like this had happened, so she must have been confused.

By the way, before that, I have a question. Why didn’t the alarm sound when this person broke in?

The alarm went off a while after I subdued Professor Metro. He must have used numbers.

“Let me ask you something too. How did you control the alarm?”

-Swoosh

Professor Metro took something out of his pocket, his head buried in the ground.

It looked like a remote control, but it was very small. What on earth could it be?

“The security device installed by Student Jane is a device that detects magical waves. That’s why the alarm sounds immediately when someone enters.”

“··· ···”

“This remote control disables the pulse detector embedded in the alarm. It deliberately causes errors by emitting extremely strong pulses.”

As expected from a college professor. Creating something like this based on a previous failure.

You must have planned this intrusion. Jane’s expression hardened even more.

“······Okay, I understand. I guess we’ll have to go to court.”

“··· ···”

“Before that, I will show you my research materials as you wish, and allow you to wear the steel suit.”

“Is that, is that true?!”

Professor Metro looked up. His face was filled with cheer and joy.

At this, Jane nodded with a stern expression and headed off somewhere.

The side where research materials were piled up. That is, the desk side.

She then appeared to be organizing the materials, and handed them over to Professor Metro, except for the most important few pages.

“I left out a few chapters because I still don’t trust the professor. Please be satisfied with this for now.”

“Oh, of course! Can I really take this?”

“Consider it a blessing that you listened to my theory all this time.”

Professor Metro ignored Jane’s cold words and took over the research materials. His hands were shaking, showing that he was very excited.

Professor Metro soon began to read each page carefully. His eyes sparkled behind his glasses.

He didn’t even blink an eye. If he was poisonous, he was really poisonous.

“Ohh······ Ohh······!”

“··· ···”

“I see! That’s what it was! So······!”

“Do you understand?”

Even if he’s a thief, is it because of his nature that he can’t be deceived? Jane asked with a little bit of anticipation.

Professor Metro answered energetically with an expression full of happiness.

“no!”

“······?”

“I don’t know a single thing about them except for a few theories! Most of them are the first time I’ve seen them!”

What the heck, this guy. I don’t know him, but why do I like him?

It was when I thought that frowning was normal. He looked back and forth between the research materials and the steel suit and shouted.

“That’s why it’s even more surprising! That means there are still undiscovered theories in that suit, and there are countless theories!”

“··· ···”

“I could write hundreds of papers on just this one theory right now! Ah! God! Thank you! For giving me this beautiful result······!”

mom.

He seemed like such a pervert that I couldn’t say anything.