“Did you come?”
“Yes.”
“I want to ask you something before we get to the point…”
Currently, I’ve been dragged into the Chairman’s office.
It’s the last day before the new semester starts.
I was suddenly called by the Chairman and brought here without even a moment to rest.
“…What happened to your face?”
“Don’t ask.”
Rarely, the Chairman looked at me with a pitying expression.
Right now, I’ve got big bruises under my eyes.
The swelling on my cheek has gone down, but the bruises are still clearly visible.
Truly, I’ve become Panda Shinwoo.
[Well, why the hell did you say something so crazy!!!]
‘I didn’t expect my reflexes to kick in.’
To explain this, we need to go back a day.
To the moment we subdued the robbers at the bank.
*
“This wasn’t supposed to happen!!”
“Leader! Why did you insist on entering 30 minutes early! I thought you definitely saw them!”
“I was trying not to miss my drama time! How was I supposed to know there were monsters!!”
“Why do you always show up late and want to be early on a day like this!!”
“Shut up! You damn robbers!”
The police arrived and were sorting out the events at the bank.
We carelessly used our abilities outside, but since it was for subduing the robbers, it was considered self-defense, so no punishment was meted out.
The Silver Claw duo of hunters started listing all kinds of nonexistent heroic deeds as soon as they regained consciousness, but all they got back were cold glares from the crowd.
Meanwhile, I was kneeling at the bank, getting scolded by Hyeji.
“Godless? Is it because you have no chest? You’re such a moron!”
“I’m sorry.”
Hyeji was expressing her anger without holding back, but she hadn’t lost her sanity yet.
I knew that too, so I stayed quiet and kept still.
At that moment, Elcia, who had been watching, suddenly glinted her eyes. She pushed Hyeji from behind.
“Hey!”
“Huh? Why did you push me!”
Due to Elcia’s sudden ambush, Hyeji was pushed forward, almost falling.
I caught Hyeji just before she fell, resulting in us hugging face-to-face.
Hyeji’s anger disappeared instantly, but her face turned as red as her hair.
“Are you okay?”
“Uh, yeah…”
“Hey, Elcia. Why did you suddenly push Hyeji?”
Hyeji spoke in a small voice as she turned her head down, and I asked Elcia why she pulled this stunt.
However, Elcia just smiled at us and gave a thumbs up, not answering my question.
Hyeji turned in my arms and looked at Elcia with admiring eyes.
“Hyeji unnie! How do you feel?”
“Kanfu… Thank you…”
But there was a problem here; I was locked onto Elcia’s gaze.
Because of that, I didn’t realize Hyeji had turned in my arms.
With Hyeji hugged, I felt something strange on my fingertips.
It felt like something bumpy, so I gently touched it, and Hyeji let out a bird-like scream.
“Ah! You crazy pervert! This is outside!”
“Hyeji, it seems like you have a pimple on your back?”
In an instant, the warm atmosphere plummeted.
Elcia covered her mouth with both hands, horrified. Hyeji froze and started emitting murderous intent from her whole body.
Instinctively sensing death, I looked down at Hyeji and finally realized the current situation.
Elcia stammered in fear.
“Mas-Master… That’s not her back… it’s her chest…”
“Ah, fuck.”
“Die.”
[Goodbye.]
I heard a crack sound from Hyeji.
After that, I couldn’t remember well.
It felt like I got nearly beaten to death by Hyeji.
I vaguely recall memories, but the way Hyeji mechanically hit me without any expression was vividly engraved in my mind.
The fact that Hyeji didn’t use her abilities and only relied on her bare hands was probably her last shred of sanity.
Later, the police had to step in to pull Hyeji away, but by then, they said my face was a total mess.
Once everything was settled and we returned to the Academy, Hyeji didn’t say a single word.
Fortunately, I remember Hyeji sitting quietly on my lap in the taxi and me petting her head, which seemed to ease her anger a bit.
Thus, we return to the present moment.
*
“So why did you call me?”
“Well, it’s nothing much.”
The Chairman handed me a stack of documents through his secretary.
“Do you know that many Academy students get expelled for not returning after the vacation?”
“How would I know? I’m not their nanny.”
“Then you don’t know what they all have in common?”
“Nope, no idea.”
The Chairman smiled brightly and said to me.
“They’re all Elves.”
“Oh.”
[Got caught.]
‘They probably don’t know yet. No harm in denying it.’
We definitely smashed every gate in the Forest of Elves before we made a run for it to the Academy.
So right now, there are no gates in the Forest of Elves leading to another dimension.
Because of that, the Chairman pointed out that the Elf students couldn’t return to the Academy.
I tried my best to hide my agitation while hurriedly flipping through the documents the Chairman handed over.
Height. Eyes. Hair color—various physical traits. Classes. Information about their residences.
There were tons of minor details filled in.
While none were the same, they had one commonality.
As the Chairman mentioned, all the students on the current document were Elves.
“Do you have any hints?”
“Not a single one?”
“Really? Then you want to take a look at this photo?”
In the photo handed over by the Chairman, my exact likeness was captured.
The moment Hyeji activated her special effect.
Things were slowly going south.
“What is this?”
“……It’s the moment you were dueling.”
“Master Duel isn’t online?”
“It’s being conducted offline using a duel disk.”
The Chairman smirked and, with that, showed me a video and a photo.
The video only captured me, and when the Chairman played it, voices began to spill out.
– You’re nothing but a monster!
– Then what the hell is that!!!
– It’s a god!!!
And the photo the Chairman showed me clearly depicted the Forest of Elves in flames.
“Why do you think the Forest of Elves is burning?”
“……Because it was blasted with God Blaze Cannon.”
“Are you running a deck? Your bullshit is too long, so I’ll dismiss it.”
“Shit, it was an Eldrick deck then.”
The Chairman continued to wear a smile, pushing me for more answers.
He wore a smile that felt extremely different to me.
“Now, do you have anything more to say?”
[What will you do?]
‘That bastard knows everything and just poked around.’
Having been caught anyway, I decided to just fess up.
I crossed my legs, resting my head on my hand and said cockily.
“What the hell are you gonna do? It’s already burned.”
“Hahaha! So you really did it!”
The Chairman laughed heartily before speaking to me again.
“But did you really burn down the Forest for just one girl?”
“It was practically natural selection.”
And not just one girl.
Elcia.
Though it may seem excessive, for those bastards, it definitely wasn’t enough.
The Chairman stroked his chin and said.
“Well, whether you burn down the Forest or smash it, it’s not our concern. There was a contract after all.”
“Oh, really?”
“Moreover, to speak frankly, it doesn’t deal much damage to the Academy.”
What the Chairman said was this.
Except for Koreans, foreign students have to pay enormous one-time tuition fees upon admission.
So, whether they endure and attend or abandon the Academy to avoid losing that money is all student’s choice.
Either way, the Academy stands to lose nothing.
“I can take care of any noise from the absence of students or the disposal of these documents.”
“Then there’s no problem. Thank you.”
“But.”
“But?”
Suddenly, the Chairman grinned wickedly, rubbing his thumb and index finger together.
“It might be a bit hard to do without payment.”
“I don’t have anything.”
“Nothing indeed.”
Then the Chairman gestured to his secretary, who handed me a piece of paper.
It contained a bank account number and the amount the Chairman demanded.
“With this amount, I can sufficiently look the other way.”
“Seriously.”
[…Except for the hundred won, that’s the same amount in your account.]
‘How the hell did that bastard know?’
“What will you do?”
The Chairman looked at me with a glint of amusement as he linked his fingers together.
I crumpled the paper nervously in my trembling hands and said.
“I-I will give it.”
“No need.”
“Really?”
“Of course, it was a lie, you bastard.”
“You bastard.”
“……Shinwoo student, please mind your language.”
Only after transferring the entire amount to his account was I able to finally leave the Chairman’s office.
My bank account felt as empty as Hyeji’s chest.
