I Became The Administrator of A Sacred Ground

Provoking the bodyguard wasn't Euri's intention...originally.

But then, a sudden idea had come to his mind. He was very curious to learn how much his body had truly changed in terms of combat capabilities. This was a crucial piece of knowledge for his near-future plans.

1.12 points—what did this truly represent? Was it enough to bulldoze his way through ordinary people with combat experience?

Since he needed to pick a fight to know the answer, why not these guards? Unlike random thugs in the streets, they'd not go overboard. They wouldn't fight desperately. They might not even take him seriously as an opponent.

It was just the right opportunity to test himself! And so, seeing how his accurate guess had left the guards shaken and suspicious, Euri used their wariness to provoke them further, finally leading to this five-second-long scuffle.

And he had lost, terribly lost. But he knew his past self wouldn't have made it past the first two moves from Oboi. That enhancement of 0.12 points was the equivalent of three extra seconds of survival.

"Who told you we're employed by Bloodfly Clan?" Oboi asked, all hint of mirth gone from his face. The second bodyguard's gun wasn't even necessary here.

Reining in the pain of having his ear grabbed and twisted, Euri tried to navigate through the confusion.

"I can answer that, but I have to ask first, how much do you know about the strife inside J.J. Foundation's board of trustees? Because that's where my explanation begins."

"It doesn't concern you what we know. You just need to answer the question."

Had his ear not been in the risk of being torn off, Euri would have retorted with equal arrogance. But now he could only swallow the insults and give a quick explanation.

"There's been lots of rumors in the school that our principal, one of the ex-trustees, had some disagreements with some people, which displeased the founder of the trust. Just before you guys appeared here, people from that trustee board visited the principal and made some wild claims, targeting his current assets, from what I understand.

"Among those claims, the most significant one was that our Principal's patron, the Helios Clan, had offended the Bloodfly Clan. Now the Bloodfly Clan is indirectly supporting those guys in harming the interests of Helios Clan through our Principal."

Instead of being persuaded by his truthful answer, Oboi sneered and tugged harder at Euri's ear.

"Ridiculous! Just because you heard that the Bloodfly Clan has ill will towards your principal's patron Clan, you directly assumed that they'd come to visit him in secret? Wouldn't it be more logical for the Helios Clan to arrive to provide support to your principal? We even copied their style while coming down here! There is no way you guessed it all by yourself! Who clued you in?"

"...Brother, I don't think you understand how secretive movements work in these areas. A dozen uniformed cars and thirty bodyguards don't mean anything here, except that the ordinary people must avoid getting in your way. Helios Clan, Bloodfly Clan... It's all the same to us."

His answer this time must have been more convincing, because Euri noticed the bodyguards exchanging quick looks. Oboi relaxed the grip on his ears and asked, "So nobody told you to approach us? And your guess was just a result of accidentally picking the right one between two options?"

"Yes! Yes! Can you let my ear go now? I got classes to attend, big brother!"

He was finally released after requesting so pitifully. Rubbing his ear and suppressing his grievance, Euri hurried off to his classroom.

A red-haired, grizzled old man slowly hobbled out of one of the cars and came to stand beside the flabbergasted bodyguards.

"Your way of dealing with an emergency is rarely so amateurish, Oboi. What went wrong?" he said between raspy heaves, as if uttering every word was painful for him.

Oboi held his gaze on the distant jogging silhouette and replied, "Frustration. I have been unable to contribute to the team for too damn long. Once a chance appeared, I was too eager to show off. My deepest apologies for the mistake, Sir."

The old man snorted and silently hobbled back into his car. Oboi's colleagues started flashing him impressed gestures the moment the car's door shut close.

"No remarks means no criticism!"

"He liked that!"

"Looks like someone's getting a renewal of their contract!"

But Oboi wasn't distracted by the praise. He knew that there was an issue everyone here was consciously avoiding in order to not hurt his ego.

But it would be brought up later, certainly. If not in front of him, then behind him.

Why did it take him so many moves to neutralize someone who wasn't even a threat? It had taken him unusually long to defeat an ordinary, underprivileged student! Not to mention, he had won by relying on a dirty move...

What if that kid had truly been sent by an enemy? Would Oboi even be able to suppress a real opponent?

Oboi opened his mouth to explain himself, multiple times, too. But he could not put into words a reasoning that wouldn't leave his dignity in shambles.

So he decided to make up one!

"Fuck! My stomach was giving me hell since I woke up. Didn't realize it was gonna affect my combat effectiveness so horribly... I'm sorry, everyone. I screwed up, and the consequences could have been terrible."

Shaking his head in dismay, he clutched his stomach and expressed great disappointment in his performance before anyone else could.

"Come on, Oboi, you weren't that bad," Donny said in a consoling tone.

"Yeah, kid was pretty fast. Good reflexes on these street rats, I've seen it before. No shame in surprises, bro," another guy followed up. Now the undertone in the group had undergone a subtle shift. Elated, Oboi waved a hand as he began to walk away from the group.

"I'll be taking a break for a couple of hours. Make some adjustments to the outer formation, guys."

Leaving them simmering with his ashamed reaction, Oboi began to tour the campus lazily. It was quite lackluster and shabby even compared to other public schools. So it wasn't long before he ended up in the only spot of the campus that wasn't crowded to the brim—the cafeteria.

But before he could step inside, he noticed the familiar face of the boy in one shadowy corner, surrounded by several students whose appearance revealed volumes to Oboi's experienced eyes.

One bald kid in particular caught his focus almost immediately. As someone who had been working in Peacock District for nearly a decade, Oboi knew all the faces and names a protection agent needed to know. This bald brat's father was one of them, albeit being pretty low on the list.

What was the relationship between these two boys? Oboi's suspicion came back like tidal waves. It couldn't be a coincidence! Was he sending back information to the baldy's father?

Eyes narrowing into slits, Oboi hid behind a large pillar and started tracking their lip movements.

"Faceless Gang... Secret commission... Twenty thousand credits... Info leak... will sell... Too ambitious... Projects... Backstab... Murder... Many gangs are eager..."

Although the reading he got wasn't exactly comprehensive, Oboi was shaken to the core. He could string those keywords together and clearly see how large the threat looming over his clients was!