SWNOVELXO Chapter 102
I curled up inside a box that was left in my rented room, staring at my report card. There were a lot of things written down like strength, assessment skills, and more, but honestly, the only thing that mattered was the score.
93 points. It was a score that would at least land me in the top 5. But coming home, I found it wasn’t all that exciting. Strange, right? At the Academy, I felt proud and happy.
Yet here in this stinky one-room apartment, it felt like nothing. No disappointment, no joy, not even irritation. You’d expect to feel a bit proud, at least.
As I thought it over, I quickly realized why. As long as I didn’t fail, it didn’t matter at all.
After all, I was only attending the Academy for my freshman year. After that, nothing would matter. So, it made sense that I felt nothing right now.
But why was I so happy and proud during the day? In the end, it was a pointless exercise as long as I didn’t drop out.
Why was I so thrilled? I pondered deeply, scratching the walls of the box with my nails.
Then, not long after, I remembered the reason. It was because of them.
Lapiz, Seolhwa, Minho, Jinhyeon, Yeonhwa, Ageha. It was because they were there that even meaningless things felt so enjoyable.
During the day, I was a student at the Academy. A slightly naughty student named Blanca, who hung out with them, and that’s why I was happy.
So now, it made sense that I wasn’t feeling happy. The current me was Blanca, a member of the Liberators, so it was only natural that I wouldn’t feel joy.
So that was it, that was the reason. Chuckling to myself, I suddenly stopped laughing as if someone had cut the sound and turned on my Talaria.
The kids were shooting messages around in the chat room, enjoying themselves. I joined in, texting them to sleep well, and see them tomorrow.
Seeing them respond with wishes of sweet dreams, it made me smile unintentionally, then frown.
It was a bizarre state of smiling while frowning, but it couldn’t be helped. A troubling question had popped into my head.
The ‘me’ who sent that text was a Liberator, so why did I smile at their messages?
I couldn’t dare to answer that. Because the moment I did, it felt like something would fall out of place.
So, in a hurry, I secreted some Nepetalactone and took a deep breath to make sure my thoughts didn’t stay normal.
As I forcefully cut off my thoughts and slipped into the world of hallucinations, my immediate concerns melted away like snow.
Lost in pleasant hallucinations for 15 minutes, when I finally woke up, my beloved box had turned into a piece of trash rolling around on the floor.
No, my box. Just as I felt a wave of sadness, I quickly remembered I had intended to forget something. Instead of continuing my thoughts, I immediately called that person.
After a brief ring, they picked up my call right away.
-Is this Blanca? Is there something urgent you need to discuss?
But soon I was at a loss for words. After saying no, I racked my brain to figure out what to say and finally thought of something.
“Um, actually… you know! It’s about the plan! How about we tweak it a little?!”
-Tweak the plan? It’s not like there’s a disaster, so what do you want to change?
They expressed doubt as to why they would change a perfectly good plan since nothing went wrong.
“Well, I thought if the kids resist, maybe we should handle it by overwhelming them, you know…”
-Hmm… If it’s your suggestion, Blanca, I don’t see why not. But can I at least hear your reasoning? It’d help the soldiers below to understand.
They wanted a reason. I couldn’t say it was because I didn’t want them to get hurt, so I made up the most plausible excuse I could think of.
“That way, we’ll have justification. If we attack the kids… don’t you think the public opinion won’t smile on us?”
-Indeed, that’s a reasonable point. Alright, I’ll instruct them to handle the students without causing them harm as much as possible.
They asked if I had anything else to say. I wanted to say I lied, but I held back and just wished them goodnight.
They replied that even though it was daytime, they would appreciate the sentiment and hung up.
Only after hanging up did I realize what I had just done. Just now, I lied to them. For the first time in my life.
If they told me to die, I could willingly do that. But if they told me to hurt them… I can’t. I can’t…
Could I really do it…?
– – – – –
The next day, as soon as I arrived at the Academy, I looked around to see if any of the heroines had dropped out. Thankfully, there wasn’t a single one.
Blanca, Seolhwa, Lucia, Ageha, Maria, and Amelia were all in their places.
However, that didn’t mean there weren’t any empty seats. Five spots were still vacant. I could sense the oddly down atmosphere among the other group.
It seemed that the owners of those empty seats hadn’t received scores that matched the A-class status.
I wondered how many of them were switching to the villain side. Just imagining that gave me a headache already. But…
This wasn’t just a problem; it meant new members were joining A-class.
And among them, there would be heroines joining late, so it wasn’t all bad. Even though they were joining right before the end of the first semester, their story was important, which made it all the more significant.
She would be the pivotal point tying into the Evil Society.
…Although technically, I was already entangled with the Evil Society thanks to Blanca. And it was quite a mess.
But that didn’t mean her role would diminish… I hope. The twisted developments caused by Blanca were countless; I didn’t know how her role would turn out.
Even if her significance went down to nothing, I’d still have to take care of her.
As I waited for those who leveled up to A-class to come in with the roll call, soon Justitia entered the room with five students.
“Nice to see you again, Class A. As I declared earlier before the final exams… due to five students who didn’t make the cut, they will take their places starting today.”
Justitia’s expression gave away a hint of bitterness.
However, in stark contrast, the five students from the lower class were tense as rocks, probably convinced that being looked down upon would mean they’d get eaten alive.
“I’m White, coming up from B-class. Um… yeah. You probably don’t remember, but nice to meet you.”
Four out of five were from B-class. Among them was one who Blanca had personally dived with during the Tournament, a skills user of cognitive manipulation.
“I’m Alice, from C-class. Don’t underestimate me just because I came up from a lower class. We’re on the same level now.”
The last one was from C-class. And she was the heroine related to the Evil Society.
“Please welcome them with open and warm arms. Everyone, please stand. Applause.”
After following Justitia’s lead in standing and applauding, I kept an eye on the spot where Alice would sit. The front row, huh? That’s going to make it tricky to talk to her.
Justitia went on with the usual announcements but seemed to sense the mood had sunk too low and decided to share some cheerful news.
“The break is just around the corner. Until then, please put your all into Academy life. And… during the break, we’re planning a training program with a focus on ability enhancement. It will take place in Busan, so you can look forward to it.”
“The sea!” someone muttered. Following that, Seolhwa chimed in about the sea as well. With just that one word, the previously gloomy atmosphere began to rise.
“I-I don’t like water…” Rapiz whined about not wanting to get wet, but Blanca quickly silenced her.
Summer camp was going to be an event hard to resist. I didn’t harbor any malicious intentions, but just the thought of seeing Blanca’s swimsuit got me a little excited.
Looking forward to it, indeed.
– – – –
“Blanca, is there something weighing on your mind? Your expression seems a bit gloomy today.”
During the self-training time, Ageha came over to ask if something bad was going on.
Things were going on, but I couldn’t tell the truth, so I lied.
“Me? Nah, not at all! Really. Just… huff. Maybe I didn’t sleep well. Had some bugs bothering me at night.”
“Bugs bothering you? Really?”
…Ah, did I fabricatе that too carelessly?
“You know, sometimes what one bug hates is something another bug loves.”
“Oh, is that so? I thought with your abilities, you could easily deal with anything. I guess a bug-repelling spell does come in handy sometimes…”
“Is there such a spell?”
“Yeah. When I first discovered it, I thought it’d be useless, but it turns out it has its uses.”
Ageha teasingly commented, “Looks like I’ve won this round~” and mocked me.
While we were playing these silly banter games, an unexpected figure approached me. It was Alice.
She was a heroine who had accidentally gained strength due to obtaining something that was supposed to go to the Evil Society, and thus climbed to A-class. Literally, there was no chance of our paths crossing.
So, I was just watching her with my mind full of questions about what she was planning.
She suddenly placed her hands on her waist and pointed at me, shouting.
“I’ll avenge the underclassmen you bullied!”
Aha.
So that’s what this was about.
Hah, it’s just my fate.