Beneath his dull, ordinary-looking profile, the records stacked up into something terrifying.
Solo clears worth as much as an entire veteran party's haul.
Completion times that made no sense, far too short.
And every single timestamp on his dungeon logs lined up, disturbingly well, with the guild's whispered reports about a mysterious figure—"Dungeon God," better known as God Solo.
"...Too perfect to be coincidence."
Reina Hikawa muttered the words under her breath.
She'd tested every angle. Maybe a system error? Some unknown bug? External cheat tools? But no—the diagnostics came back clean. The system was functioning flawlessly. Which left only one conclusion.
That unremarkable middle-aged man, Sato Koichi... was actually Dungeon God (God Solo).
But how? His registered skill was only a non-combat "exploration-type." How could he possibly—
Her thought cut off. A new alert flashed across her monitor. Koichi's log had flagged something unusual:
"Recorded close-range contact with another adventurer. Target: adventurer Momo."
Momo. Reina knew the name. A dropout infamous around the guild—weak support skills, bounced from one party to another, always begging to be taken back.
Why on earth was Koichi with her?
At last, Reina felt like she'd found the missing piece that would turn suspicion into certainty. She reached for her desk comms unit, her voice cool and composed.
"Please summon adventurer Momo to Reception Room Three. Immediately."
* * *
"U-um... did I... do something wrong?"
Momo sat nervously on the edge of a chair, fidgeting under the pressure of the room. Across from her sat Reina Hikawa—the guild's flawless ice queen, her beauty sharp enough to cut. Even her silence carried weight.
"No," Reina replied, her tone soft yet firm. "I just want to ask you a few questions. A few days ago, on the middle floors, you encountered a [Guardian Golem], didn't you?"
"Y-yes..."
Momo bobbed her head rapidly under the steady, composed voice.
"According to your report, you defeated it solo and walked away almost unscathed. But with your skillset, damaging a golem should be impossible. So tell me—how did you do it?"
"T-that's... well, I guess I just got lucky..."
Momo scrambled for words. She couldn't say anything about her shishou—about Satou-san. She wouldn't. She didn't want to get in his way.
"Lucky, hm? And what kind of luck would that be?"
"Uh... it just so happened there were traps nearby, and the golem blundered into them..."
"I see."
Reina nodded without a hint of expression. But her eyes held no warmth. She leaned forward slightly.
"There was another adventurer present, wasn't there?"
"..."
The color drained from Momo's face. Her silence said it all. Reina caught it instantly. She shifted the line of questioning with surgical precision.
"Sato Koichi. He was the one who saved you, wasn't he?"
"N-no! He didn't save me, I swear. It was all just coincidence—"
"Is that so? Then what kind of person is Satou-san? For someone ranked F, he must be extraordinary."
Momo slipped.
"Y-yes, he is! He's amazing. My shishou—!"
Her hand clamped over her mouth, but too late. The word was out.
For the first time, Reina's lips curved into a faint smile. The smile of a predator who'd cornered her prey.
"Shishou, hm? So he's your—"
"Ah, n-no, that's not... I didn't mean—"
"That's enough. Thank you, Momo. You've been very helpful."
Reina rose smoothly to her feet. Momo was left frozen in confusion, not even sure what she'd revealed.
Back in her office, Reina pulled up Koichi's profile once again. An unknown skill. A deliberate cover-up. And now, the word "shishou," slipped from Momo's lips.
Piece by piece, the puzzle locked into place.
"Sato Koichi... just what are you?"
Her eyes lingered on the face staring out from the monitor—an unassuming, timid-looking middle-aged man. But Reina's doubt had already crystallized.
What had been suspicion a moment ago was now a solid, unshakable conviction.