The Genius of Cloning in the Academy City

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“So, you got beaten up by a first-year? Is that something to brag about? You idiot…”

The woman sitting at the desk, sipping her coffee, scoffed. The man standing before her grimaced.

His appearance was a complete mess. His face was covered in bruises, a lump on the back of his head, and his left eye was swollen shut.

“No… Sis! That jerk hit me first! I told you, right? My wallet got stolen last time. Thinking back, it was him for sure!”

Ignoring Martin’s lament, Martina twirled a lock of her disheveled hair with her fingers. Great, my hair has seen better days.

Seeing Martin’s desperate flailing only amused Martina further as she smirked back at him.

“Oh dear, our poor little brother. How tragic… So what? Didn’t I tell you to stop bothering the juniors for a while? You brought this on yourself.”

“Ugh… Dammit, no. You’re telling me that a senior got beaten up by a junior! This is totally your job to handle!”

Feeling irritated by Martin’s attitude, Martina found it hard to listen to her whining brother. She spoke softly but with a strong tone.

“Shut up.”

“…Ugh.”

“I told you not to act up, and acting up is exactly what you did. It’s your fault. I’m already annoyed with that Violet girl; do I need to deal with you too?”

Martin, cowed by his sister’s oppressive demeanor, floundered.

“No… I was just wondering if you could help me out a bit…”

“Fine. What’s the name?”

“Violet! I think her name is Violet! And… there’s that girl named Daphne too…!”

Martina replied in an annoyed voice.

“And how am I supposed to know that with just that? You think I’m the kind of person who knows every name and face like the Student Council President?”

“Here…! Here it is. I asked a friend to look it up for me. Here, I’ll send you a text.”

A quick text containing the name, where she lived, and her major was sent over on the smartphone.

There was even a picture. One was of a beautiful silver-haired female student seemingly taken by the roadside, while the other was a photo of a blonde girl, ravenously devouring food like a beast.

“I’ve seen this somewhere…”

“Oh, it’s her.”

“Do you know who she is?”

“Yeah, I do. I’ve seen her picture in messenger. There was that third-year who got suspended for drinking last time, right? I heard her friend fought a first-year and got beaten up. Apparently, they forced a food challenge on him, and he ate all the food. They said she has the ability to create clones. So she’s the one.”

Martin’s swollen face brightened up.

“So? You’re going to help, right? Right?”

“Uh… Hold on, oh! The Student Council President…”

When the text from the Student Council President appeared on the screen, her face lit up. It had been quite a while since she got a response.

Feeling good, she decided to obligingly fulfill her silly brother’s request.

“Well, I can’t handle it directly due to Management Board regulations, but fine. I’ll contact my friends and acquaintances. I’m a little interested too.”

So, this mischievous little brat was the center of that ridiculous rumor, huh?

She thought to herself.

I need to show this reckless kid a taste of reality. There are too many annoying underlings crawling up these days. Just the last time alone, several people applied for a duel all at once. I need to set a good example.

Suddenly, while scrolling down, she saw the photo of the silver-haired girl that was sent along.

That pathetic little brother of mine probably tried to hit on her and got beaten up for it. With that face, it’s no wonder.

Even though I have no personal feelings about it, I also feel like giving that silver-haired roommate a lesson. She might feel wronged, but there’s such a thing as collective responsibility.

And she was kind of pretty. Mixed looks, but you could tell she had some alterations done.

Martina didn’t particularly like cute juniors.

***

The prospective researchers were guided and escorted around until 11 PM. They toured the massive tunnel with the large pipes that had caught our attention last time. They weren’t really doing anything special.

What I was observing looked like a company orientation. People were seated in chairs, listening to a senior researcher talking in front, but there were no academic discussions—only trivial chit-chat about work.

“Are they really going to do this? Why not just find some more information instead…?”

“Information? I’ve gathered all that can be collected. I searched the internet for what the research equipment in the photos and videos is, and I summarized the personnel and lists as best I could from what I’ve found.”

“Are they even clocking out? I saw some people living here last time.”

After putting in time and effort, we had some vague understanding of who they were and what they were doing.

But that wasn’t enough. It felt like trying to piece together a jigsaw puzzle with a piece missing. What we found were just a few scattered corner pieces.

“Why don’t we just kidnap Doctor Sturgis?”

“Are you serious? We don’t even know what they’re up to. There’s no need to take unnecessary risks. Security might tighten. And you know…”

“This is like when you kidnap a factory worker to investigate a nuclear weapons manufacturing facility.”

Voices of opposition rang out in my head. The second clone, interrupted in their thoughts, lashed out.

“Ugh, come on! Stop interrupting me! That’s not even a fitting metaphor! Just because they have a high level of education, it means they’re likely to know the information we need. And more than that…”

The second clone sent an image of a document that read [Classified Confidentiality Agreement] through our minds. It was a common document you’d see in government offices or military.

The content of the document was generally similar too.

Our attention shifted to the silver magic circle shaped like a QR code next to the signature line.

“Neural imprinting confidentiality magic. Ugh… I never thought I’d actually see this.”

“Don’t forget, while we may be exhausted, the primary reason we halted our kidnapping plans is this.”

That thing is what’s commonly considered a silencing spell.

If the conditions specified in the contract weren’t fulfilled, it would inflict pain, and depending on the terms, it could fry the subject’s nerves with magical power, resulting in their death.

In the game, there’s an episode where the scholarship officer suffers because they inadvertently signed a document with that spell.

Summarizing the content written in that confidentiality agreement, it went something like this:

“Do not disclose any matters regarding the internal projects of the research facility to anyone not authorized.”

The contents of the confidentiality agreement were drafted with clear and stringent conditions to prevent even indirect information relay through insinuation.

If we had executed the kidnapping plan without discovering that contract, we would have witnessed someone dying in agony, emitting smoke from every pore.

The armed forces would quickly swoop in as an additional problem.

“I guess we have no choice but to settle for the second best, huh?”

“Is it possible that those people also signed?”

“First, let’s verify whether they signed the agreement. If the neural imprinting magic was applied, there should be a mark left on their body. If there is, we can just pretend to be robbers and knock them out.”

Even though it was a flimsy and impromptu plan, we needed “human intelligence.” It didn’t matter if they didn’t know about the confidential information. It was enough if they could help us interpret the documents or data we obtained here.

Speaking of which, this research facility had its peculiarities. We were only inferring based on surface-level titles or the books on the desk, but there seemed to be various types of people here.

Starting from physicists, doctors specializing in Awakened beings, neuroscientists, psychologists, and even big data algorithm experts.

I just can’t understand the purpose of gathering all these people together.

“Are they trying to create super soldiers? Maybe an army of ghouls…?”

“We’ll find out once we catch one, right? That’s just low-level monsters. A well-trained, armed non-awakened mercenary would likely fight better than that.”

Well, I guess we’ll figure it out gradually.

“By the way! Oh, there’s something else I forgot to explain…”

“Huh? When was that taken?”

The second clone clicked on some old photo documents they’d forgotten about and displayed them on the screen. It was a photo of a calendar and a chart.

On the schedule chart, parts labeled ‘Winter Break’ and ‘Start of the Second Semester’ were checked off. Most of the calendar contained only trivial personal notes, but there were numerous days between December and February marked with stars or highlighted in red.

“This was a September semester, right? So the second semester starts in January.”

“I wonder why they marked those?”

“Don’t know. Maybe something important is happening.”

While we were deep in conversation, the researcher announced the closure.

“…Make sure not to be late tomorrow! Anyone who doesn’t show up will be considered as indicating they don’t wish to participate.”

I could see people gradually beginning to disperse from the eyes of the sixty-fifth clone.

The second clone, who shared our vision, spoke in a serious tone to everyone.

“I’ll explain it again. What we’re doing is kidnapping. Once we start, there’s no going back. In the worst-case scenario, we might have to kill them. Understood? If anyone objects, speak up now.”

I could feel everyone’s hesitation, but no one spoke out against it.

“Okay, who should we go for? Should we grab someone from the underground facility?”

The second clone shook their head adamantly, signaling through the network.

“There’s likely an exit somewhere in this school that we don’t know about. Let’s just wait until those people come out. We might be able to deduce the location of the exit too. Let’s aim to grab just one person. Are all the friends from other areas ready?”

“Ready. Unit 54 is currently waiting with a truck at the rendezvous area. I’ve checked the fuel and engine, so bringing it back to the base won’t be a problem.”

Before the conversation could finish, the Violets, disguised, arrived at the front, back, and the school parking lot.

“Arrived! I’ll wait here.”

After what seemed like a long wait, people began emerging from several buildings in pairs, some of which we had seen earlier.

“Okay. Let’s begin.”

As we followed them from a distance one or two at a time, we observed for the right moment to act when a Violet at the parking lot signaled.

“I found one of the people we saw earlier. I think he drove his own car?”

“Can you approach?”

“Yeah, no problem!”

As a man in a gray sweater opened his car door amidst the dim shadows and lights, a Violet carefully approached within the range for clone generation.

The moment the engine of his car roared to life, a Violet crafted one clone in the trunk and another under the back seat. The Violets lay flat against the floor, holding their breath. Fortunately, it seemed the man didn’t notice in the dark.

“What about tracking the others?”

“Let’s stop here since we secured one. More than two or three is too much.”

The car left the parking lot and took to the road toward the front gate.

“Initiate tracking now.”

The Violets positioned outside the school cautiously revved their motorcycles, keeping a distance while following the car.

I could feel the vehicle we secretly boarded moving. Our location detection ability had its inaccuracies, so just in case, we brought a GPS tracker. The surveillance team was monitoring the car’s movements in real-time, keeping a safe distance to avoid raising suspicion.

After about thirty minutes, the car came to a stop. According to our coordinates, it was a residential neighborhood in a small town, somewhat distant from the Polaris Academy. It seemed the man lived nearby.

“*Yawn*… So sleepy…”

In front of a multi-family house, the man parked his car in an alley, yawning as he switched off the engine.

“Now?”

“Now!”

The Violet who had been lying flat in the back seat stood up. As the man felt a presence and turned around, the electric shock weapon in the Violet’s hand sparked to life.

“What the…?”

*Krzzzz!*

“Ugh!”

As the man fainted, Unit 15 immediately summoned three clones on the spot.

“Search for his stuff, and don’t forget to tie him up!”

While one Violet collected his wallet, keys, and mobile phone, the remaining clones stripped him of his outerwear. We had something to check.

“There’s no sign of a magic circle. Looks like he didn’t sign any confidentiality agreements.”

Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

“…Hmm, that’s a relief, but I’m still… suspicious. I wonder if this guy knows what we want.”

Unit 3 hesitated, voicing their concern.

“He must know something since he heard about the project. Otherwise, let’s just leave him discarded in the middle of the road. We prepared disguises for situations like this. There’s no need to rush.”

Taking out a flashlight, I examined the body multiple times, but the type of magic circle from the game was nowhere in sight.

The man had dark skin and thick black glasses that were typical for a techie meme online. While Unit 21 secured the keys, we put a blindfold on the unconscious man and gagged him. We restarted the car and headed to our designated meeting place.

After driving for a while, at the moment the moon crossed our heads, we spotted the truck parked at a deserted roadside.

“Thanks for your hard work!”

“See you later.”

We lifted the man into the truck. Unit 12 drove the man’s compact car back to the earlier housing complex. After ensuring he was securely tied, we dumped him in the cargo area, covering him with a blanket.

Our destination was a storage facility between the western and central districts we had scouted beforehand, completely deserted.

A little later, our truck rolled through the night, and the waiting Violets greeted us as we arrived.

“Welcome back! Good job.”

“We’re off to rest. Please take good care of him.”

After placing the man in the storage, we tied him to a chair. They say the shock from the electric weapon lasts a long time, but he was sleeping soundly.

It was time to wake him up.

I shook the one tied to the chair after only removing the gag. Pouring water on him would be a bit inhumane, right?

“Wake up! It’s time to come back from dreamland.”

“Where am I…? What’s going on? Someone help me! Is anyone there?”

Good. Let’s start asking a few questions. Hopefully, he’ll spill something useful. Bringing in another person would be a hassle.