Became a Traitor in an Academy

While I Didn’t Know

Monday, only after arriving at the monorail station near the academy did I belatedly realize.

It had only been a week since enrollment. Though it felt like a month had easily passed.

It’s really not easy. Having such annoying things happen in just a week, it really felt like being around main characters.

Of course, I was the cause of more than half of them, and one I even willingly stuck my head into despite being able to avoid it.

Still, I thought there were too many incidents happening.

It would only get worse from here, not less. And it’s already this crazy.

I wondered if my arms and legs would still be intact by the end of first year.

With this world’s medical level they could somehow reattach severed limbs, and the protagonist and heroines’ limbs were fine, so maybe I’m worrying too much.

Maybe not for extras, but the main characters’ limbs were fine after all.

While making such pointless worries, heading toward the school gates, reporters were swarming as expected.

Like flies and beasts gathering around corpses, they were shoving microphones at students and faculty alike trying to get even one story.

It was so identical whether here or there that it even made me laugh hollowly.

Of course, no one gave proper answers.

Obviously. What does it matter to kids they don’t know.

Some students even got angry instead.

That one must be a Hunter Department student.

Hunter Department kids must be burning up inside right now.

Because hero aspirants cleared a Gate instead of them. Must feel bad.

The competitive relationship between Hunters and Heroes was quite famous in the setting.

Though rather than competition… it was a clear fight that showed which side started it first.

From some point they both established a competitive dynamic.

Hunters in their own way disliked that the media only paid attention to heroes when they were the ones mining magic stones and artifacts that kept society running.

While heroes maintained that they never harmed hunters, and moreover they were the ones who rushed in when rescue requests came from inside Gates.

Though not a perfect analogy, you could call them worker ants and soldier ants.

If hunters were worker ants mining resources outside, heroes were soldier ants protecting other ants.

Of course this is just among ability users.

When comparing ability users and normal people, obviously normal people were worker ants and ability users were soldier ants.

That’s just if you had to divide them.

While mindlessly avoiding reporters rushing in saying “aren’t you that child from the video”, I saw Yeonhwa looking troubled while buried among reporters.

“W-well, I didn’t do much. It was all Jin-hyeon…”

“But it was the wall of flames that stopped the villains!”

“In the video that boy didn’t do anything!”

“Did you learn that technique from your father?!”

Just looking at that I could tell what happened.

The good-natured Yeonhwa probably answered this and that, so the vultures swarmed.

And that bastard was nowhere to be seen at a time like this.

Wow. Did he really abandon his childhood friend when she was in trouble?

Really trash.

When I lightly sprayed smoke, the reporters scattered while arguing among themselves about some attack or other.

“Oh, Blanca…?”

Finally freed from the reporters, she looked tired.

Well, any normal human would struggle mentally after burning people to death.

Yeonhwa with her gentle nature must have been even more shocked.

“You’re too nice to people for your own good.”

I grabbed the hand of her standing still with a bitter smile and walked inside the school gates.

“Um… thanks, Blanca.”

“What’s there to thank? I just did what that bastard should have done. To think he’d run off first while his benefactor’s daughter was struggling.”

When I expressed my hatred for Jin-hyeon as naturally as breathing, Yeonhwa explained the situation saying that wasn’t it.

He squeezed out his magic power and ability to their limits, so his condition wasn’t good and he was going to rest at the hospital until today.

“If that’s the case… well, I have nothing to say.”

Still, my resentment hadn’t changed.

While grumbling inside, I gave Yeonhwa some advice.

“Yeonhwa. As a friend’s advice, you don’t need to be so nice to people. You don’t need to show kindness to everyone.”

It’s funny having someone who will eventually betray her say this, but I was sincere.

Because mental energy isn’t something that wells up infinitely.

There are too many people who think kindness is their right when you treat them kindly.

Yeonhwa looked like someone who would suffer from such people.

“Thanks for saying that, Blanca. But… I prefer being like this.”

“If that’s what you say, I have nothing more to add. Just keep it in mind, just that.”

Really hopelessly nice.

She should be a bit more wary of people.

…Since I’m not a real friend, would interfering that far be crossing a line?

As we entered the classroom while exchanging short stories about Jin-hyeon and what we did over the weekend, kids swarmed like bees to honey.

Seeing that, I doubted for a moment if these were really the same awkward kids from last week.

“Are you okay, Blanca?!”

“Are you hurt anywhere?! No, you’re not!”

“I-I was scared…! There were, so many people, and no one I knew in class…”

“…Seems fine.”

“You’re okay, thank goodness.”

Most were Yeonhwa’s friends, but there were also people worried about me.

Fukukin, Ageha, and the other losers.

Lapis was whining.

Min-ho, Lucia…

“I saw the interview. When I looked it up personally, they said you took down the boss monster, is that true?”

…Even Lim Chang-won.

I’ve never even talked with this guy.

Why is he showing interest in me?

In the original work, Lim Chang-won wasn’t someone who showed interest in others first.

He only appeared as a goal for the protagonist to overcome, and then to establish a good rivalry afterwards.

So, I had no idea what was going on either.

She seemed equally confused about what was what.

Whether it was because she knew what kind of person Lim Chang-won was, or because someone she’d never met was approaching her.

I couldn’t know that far.

…Whatever it was, it was definitely giving me a headache.

Did she know that she was destroying the original work just by existing?

The villain attacks weren’t supposed to start until the field training. Not now.

Plus, the Suicides? They were villains I’d never heard of. It was also shocking that there was an ability user who could open Gates in the middle of downtown.

Since Lapis killed that villain, I didn’t need to worry anxiously about where unknown Gates might appear…

But that wasn’t the important thing.

What was important was that the original work I knew was slowly changing.

I thought maybe I was making too much fuss since it was too early, but there were already meaningful changes that couldn’t be dismissed as fuss.

Even now I was being wary of the reformed Fukukin wanting to spar, Lapis chatting, or Lim Chang-won approaching to talk.

I opened the status window and pressed her entry.

Still, nothing had changed from then.

Her physical information and name that wouldn’t help even if I knew them.

All other information was locked.

To unlock this, I’d need to build a relationship with her…

But there was no relationship quest to help build that relationship.

This is troubling.

While showing relationship quests for other heroines, why not show one for Blanca alone?

Relationships don’t necessarily only increase by clearing quests… right?

Even if not directed by quests, I should be able to just make personal contact.

She probably won’t reject or run away.

But I was afraid of what aftermath that might bring.

Since nothing had gone wrong following what the status window directed so far, conversely, I couldn’t know what would happen if I did something the status window didn’t direct.

However, staying still just because it wasn’t directed also made me more anxious.

“Min-ho. You look deep in thought. Is something wrong?”

“Ah… sorry. It’s nothing important, Seolhwa.”

“You were just looking at that girl.”

Her expressionless question made it hard to tell if she was angry or just curious.

If she had a tail like Blanca I could roughly figure it out from that, but sadly I couldn’t even do that.

The best I could do was act while assuming the worst.

“I’m sorry. I lied.”

“No need to apologize. It’s okay. I’m curious too.”

Fortunately it seems it was pure curiosity.

“I heard. From Yeonhwa and Lapis too. That without Blanca it would have been bad.”

If even Seolhwa is showing interest, dungeon clearing must be more prestigious than I thought.

…I guess finding out information quickly would be the best strategy after all.

“To think we’d lose the lead.”

“Some stray dog dares to beat us to it!!!”

“If they called themselves Suicides, they should just die according to their name, why cause trouble…!”

“…This makes our position awkward. We’ll be treated as mere copycats at best.”

The members poured out complaints while watching the news being broadcast all day.

All the curses were directed at the villain group called the Suicides.

As expected of people scraped together from the streets, they were pathetic.

Issues get buried under bigger issues.

“Stop whining, you lot. We just need to make a bigger and flashier blast. ‘Elder’ said they’d support us this time too. What’s there to worry about?”

“Just like a Chinese bastard to be so carefree…!”

“Now, now. What does region matter? We’re all Korean citizens now. Right, Alexei? Let’s be friendly, friendly.”

He smiled while grabbing and lifting up the throat of the member trying to climb up.

“…I’m getting pissed off too.”

“Got anything in mind, Wang? I refuse to become copycats.”

“I do. We’ll proceed with the attack as planned. But… that day, let’s target that heterochromatic bitch.”