〈 Episode 228 〉 Episode 224 – Voting (3)
*
“Please let me out!!!”
“That damn guy added a bullshit rule!”
“I feel like I’m about to explode!!!!”
“I can’t take it!!! I’m getting out!!!”
“……Does anyone have spare pants?”
The voting station, filled only with candidates, was a complete disaster.
Some were lamenting their hunger.
Others were crying out in distress from intense bodily functions.
Some were just shedding tears of sorrow.
‘Ugh, filthy bastards.’
[…You did this, you demon brat.]
Eventually, unable to endure it, some candidates sprinted outside.
A few were coping in the corners while tossing their dignity aside.
And the interim Chief, treated as a candidate, was not much better off.
“Kim Shinwoo! You bastard!”
“Are you suffering from indigestion? You seem to have a stomachache.”
“Don’t—don’t push me!!!! Please!!!!! Ugh!!!!!!”
A gurgle erupted from the Chief’s belly.
It seemed he was paying the price for stuffing himself with breakfast.
But leaving would mean suffering financial penalties.
Having already spent so much money.
[That rule was well made, huh.]
‘That bastard thinks he can run away.’
Team Hunger and Team Bodily Functions.
Both teams had no one to help them.
Students, professors, and staff had already completed their voting.
In other words, re-entry was out of the question.
Some students pleaded with the guards outside for leniency.
Asking if they could accept items handed over by others.
But.
“It’s not allowed.”
“Why, why not!!!”
The guard was resolute.
“In the past, when we handed over items, the entire security department was held accountable.”
“That— that’s not the case now! I promise it won’t happen again!”
“No can do. We exchanged those words back then, but in the end, we bore all the repercussions.”
“This time is different! I swear it is!”
“Anyway, the only ones who can bring in items now are those who haven’t exercised their voting rights.”
The karma of the past had returned.
Ultimately, the students had to grit their teeth and shut the door again.
Meanwhile, I was waiting for someone.
The person I had contacted before the voting started.
That was none other than.
“Shinwoo student! Delivery here!”
“Thank you! ‘Baemin1’ really is fast.”
The cafeteria staff.
The staff handed me two servings of food along with a plastic bag containing the items I requested.
They then expressed their curiosity.
“But do you really need this too?”
“Yes, thanks for bringing it anyway.”
“It’s nothing compared to the help you usually give! Good job!”
Since the cafeteria staff were also faculty, they had voting rights.
That’s why they could enter the voting area at least once and deliver my request while they were at it.
Besides, it was lunchtime.
Students holding back their bodily functions didn’t cast a glance at my lunch.
But the students complaining of hunger had a completely different gaze.
It was like they would snatch the food the moment they had a chance.
[These beasts are relentless.]
‘Even opening up wouldn’t be as polite as that bunch.’
Moreover, this wasn’t a place protected from violence.
Though they wouldn’t yield easily, it was clear they could be quite formidable if they decided to team up.
So.
“Everyone pay attention! I have a fragrant serving of spicy pork stir-fry! With rice, soup, and sides!”
gulp
I lifted one serving of the two, high in the air.
The hungry students locked their gazes onto the food, swallowing hard.
I waved it back and forth gently and spoke softly.
“I’ll only give this perfectly to one winner among you.”
A promise to give it to just one winner.
Some students began to rebel.
“Don’t lie! You’d never give it up easily!”
“You’re trying to pit us against each other, aren’t you? Our friendship isn’t that weak!”
“Just hand it over, you bastard!”
They looked ready to rush at me any second.
Do they not realize who has the upper hand?
To demonstrate, I glowered and slightly tilted the packaged food.
As if to say I would spill it with just a slight annoyance.
“I really wanted to give it to the winner, but if you’re going to act like this, I might just have to throw it away?”
“Ugh! Just kill me already!”
“Please, spare my spicy pork!”
Then, the students hesitated and stopped moving closer.
Since I had finished my lunch, I approached them slowly.
“You all decide the winner among yourselves. I’ll leave this here.”
I placed the food among them.
And as I left the food behind without doing anything, the moment I turned to walk away.
“Get your hands off, you bastard!!!!”
“You were just talking about friendship, weren’t you!!!”
“I’m friends with the spicy pork! Don’t ruin our friendship!”
“Guys! Let’s just share! I’ll eat only the meat ethically!”
“You’d better not eat, pig! That’s fratricide!!!”
Chaos erupted.
One serving was far too little to share.
It was only natural they would fight over it.
[Disgusting.]
‘It’s only going to get worse from here.’
Well, I had dealt with Team Hunger.
Now it was time to target Team Bodily Functions.
I rummaged through the items the cafeteria staff had handed me from the plastic bag.
There was a dwindling roll of toilet paper.
A few wet wipes.
And even a pair of sweatpants.
This time, Team Bodily Functions narrowed their eyes at me.
But they couldn’t charge in easily.
Unlike Team Hunger, moving might set something off.
All they could do was tremble and glare at me.
Of course, there were exceptions.
One who had already soiled himself looked ready to pounce on me.
Before he could close in, I quickly tossed the needed items towards them.
[Why aren’t you handing it over directly like earlier?]
‘Because it stinks. Filthy bastards.’
[…Who do you think caused this, you bastard?]
Their gazes fixed on the items and began to move.
I smiled and raised a finger while facing them.
“Only one can survive.”
None of them answered.
As if time was too precious.
Instead, they started attacking each other.
“Get out of the way! I feel like I’m about to burst!!!”
“My skirt is entirely yellow! Hurry up and yield!”
“P—please, I only need a little bit of toilet paper! Just four sheets!!!”
“Fuck! This isn’t even double-ply! It’s single-ply!!!”
“……If you don’t want a mess, get out of the way, you bastards.”
Even the Chief got involved in this fight.
It was truly a sight to behold, them trying to guard that item at all costs.
On one side, chaos filled the air.
On the other, some food was spilled while they fought.
Some picked it up and ate it while others fought to protect their remaining food.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the little toilet paper that existed was half-torn due to the intense tussle.
Some even resorted to tearing their sweatpants to solve their issues.
A temporary alliance formed to defend the sweatpants from being ruined.
It was truly the multiverse of chaos.
And since it had nothing to do with me, I happily watched this scene unfold.
I switched my gaze between them, raised my index finger, and smiled kindly.
“From now on, kill each other.”
*
After a long time had passed.
Finally, the end was drawing near.
In a complicated sense of the term.
Team Hunger desperately picked up the crushed food.
No matter how dirty the food was, the combination of their greed not wanting to share and the survival instinct to eat this hurt even more.
Some were even searching every nook and cranny to eat any bugs that might be in the voting booth.
Meanwhile, Team Bodily Functions had become stinkier than before.
Only one person remained, pitiably dressed in sweatpants that were torn to the hot pants level.
The rest had tranquil expressions, but judging by the messed-up faces of some, it didn’t seem like they had fully resolved their urgent issues.
Especially the Chief, who seemed to have grown a bit taller while sitting.
[……I thought the Student Council President fight would be a bit dirty, but this is truly filthy.]
‘Politics is said to be a cesspool fight, isn’t it?’
By the time evening arrived, the students cast expectant gazes at me once more.
But this time, sadly, I didn’t request anything.
As a result, many students gave up on the Student Council Presidency and left.
While clearly expressing their disillusionment over whether it was worth it to go this far.
Of course, if you were going to leave, it would have been better to do so before seeing such a pathetic scene.
The remaining students now began to watch my every move with narrowed eyes.
They were ready to stop me at any slightest motion.
A silent alliance.
It would have been great to sneak a few votes, but once I realized that it was impossible, I immediately gave up.
Instead, I opened the academy app and began to look over the faces of the remaining candidates one by one.
Each one of them high in potential votes.
It seemed worth it to remain here at the cost of human dignity.
On the other hand, my own probability of winning was still indicated by the app with high betting odds, signaling that it was low.
Unlike the academy app, which had the last update from last year, my betting odds were continuously updating to new highs.
If I were to be elected Student Council President, it was certain that the academy would shed tears of blood once again.
[There’s not going to be anyone laughing among the first years, at least.]
‘Those bastards need a hard knock to come to their senses.’
Before I knew it, it was 5 AM.
As everyone dozed off, the foul-smelling Chief suddenly woke up and pointed at me while yelling.
“It’s over now! Please just end it here!”
“No. We’ve got to go to the end.”
“There’s no one else coming!!!!”
Candidates who had been woken up by the Chief’s shouting began to express their dissatisfaction one by one.
Why wait for someone when nobody else would come?
Why was I still enforcing this when my probability of winning was low?
But.
click!
“No.”
That denial didn’t come from me.
The source of that voice was none other than.
“The representatives from our research students are still here.”
The research student representative.
And behind him were numerous research students who must have gathered without missing a single one on their way back from work.
They all looked tired, with dark circles around their eyes, but their gazes sparkled brightly.
As the Chief began to yell at me again.
“Don’t be ridiculous! What voting rights do research students have!”
“Idiot, research students are people now.”
“Stop babbling!!!”
Let me reiterate, voting rights can only belong to entities deemed as people by law.
And right now.
“Have you forgotten the Kim Shinwoo Law?”
“…….Ah.”
Research students are legally recognized as people.
Thanks to none other than the Kim Shinwoo Law.
In other words, they had legitimate voting rights.
“B—but! Your chances of winning are the lowest!”
“The academy app’s last update was last year. It seems research students weren’t counted as people.”
“Fuck!!!!!!!!!!”
Meanwhile, the research students slowly began to make their way to the voting booth, not caring about the Chief’s rants.
Then, as soon as the representative spotted me, he rushed over with an apologetic expression, bowing his head repeatedly.
“I’m sorry. Did we arrive too late?”
“No.”
I shook my head and reached for the research student representative.
The moment he took my hand, I grinned and spoke.
“You arrived just in time.”
My earlier actions, which had made no sense when I first considered ‘the liberation of research students.’
However, that seed I had sown in the ground had finally bloomed.
*
