[Reader #2 Just Wants to be a Fan Girl] 27
Chapter 27
30 minutes later, in front of the main building.
The suspects we met a week later welcomed me and Yeom Juwan warmly.
“Hey, Yeom Juwan! Didn’t you grow a bit taller in the meantime?”“Didn’t you miss this hyung?” As soon as Lee Hyojun and Noh Jitae saw Yeom Juwan, they started tackling him in a back and forth manner.At first glance, it seems like a normal prank by male students of the same age, but... 'Why are you acting so friendly? We only met for a day!' It can't be helped that I feel nervous.Immediately afterwards, worried eyes poured out on me. “How have you been, Sora?”“Yeah, are you feeling better?”“Me? Oh, the injury from the goblin? The examiner cured that with a potion back then.”“No, that’s not it….” The suspects exchanged glances, hesitated, and then spoke with difficulty. “Lee Hyojun said earlier that if you use your abilities excessively right after awakening, it can be harmful to your body.”“There’s something called mana exhaustion! If a freshman uses a skill too many times, it becomes difficult… You used it dozens of times that day, right?”“Did you experience any strange symptoms? I got worried after hearing that.” Now that I think about it, there was such a setting?Even if you borrowed the power of potions, if you used skills 31 times in a row on the first day of awakening, you should have lost all mana.But I'm fine. Um… why am I fine?Is this also a special feature for the transmigrator?This world is really good at treating transmigrators well! “No problem at all.”“But how about going to the ward once?”“It’s okay, I know my body best.”“Just in case, it’s better to get tested….” No, the person in question is all fine, so why are they gang up together and making people out as sick?Where do I have time to go to the hospital now? I really wanted to tour the Academy today, but I barely managed to squeeze in some precious time for the mission to find the culprit! At that moment,I suddenly felt a frigid energy radiating from my left. When I turned my head, Yeom Juwan was looking at me with a rather intimidating gaze. "Go.""…yes."“Right away, tomorrow.”"…yes." My baby, why are you suddenly so energetic?I got so startled by you that I agreed without even thinking.I can't break my promise to my child, so I'll have to take some time tomorrow to go to the ward. * * * On the way to the main building restaurant.Hyojun Lee revealed various TMI in an excited voice. “The people in my house told me that I absolutely had to try the Minotaur Donkatsu at the main restaurant.”“Minotaur Donkatsu is served as a meal?”“Only in the main restaurant. Limited to 100 per day.”“Okay~ As expected, it’s Lee Hyojun from the Hunter family! Please keep giving me more tips in the future!”“When did I say you could get a free ride?”“The person I’m going to rely on is truly a big shot.” Hyojun Lee said he had been to the academy when his older brothers and sisters graduated.He had a lot of information from hearing various stories at home, and no hesitation in sharing it.Thanks to this, a friendly atmosphere was created throughout the trip. And while everyone was busy talking, I was absorbed in observation.I didn't call these guys out without thinking.I've been planning my own strategy to capture my confidant.It was a three-stage operation. Operation ①. Filter by appearance. Let's not forget the time-honored clichés of genre fiction.The villain looks villainous. Since they use a locust to kill people, there must be a murderous look in their eyes or at least some sinister aspect to them.So I analysed each person's face carefully, 'I don't know.' If you just look at their appearance, they all look empathetic and kind.Lee Hyojun and Noh Jitae look like ordinary, mischievous high school students, and Park Rahee resembles a church sister. Well, these days, appearance clichés are a bit old.If you can't refer to the appearance, let's move on to the next operation. Operation ②. Find someone who agrees with the goals of the mastermind. The ultimate goal of the dark forces is to eliminate the 'Master of Fate'.According to the prophet, the 'Master of Fate' who will fulfill the tower's wish will enter the academy this year. The mastermind - still unaware that it was Ki Hyunmin- had initially targeted individual freshmen before shifting strategy to shut down the academy entirely. Their subordinate would naturally support these closure efforts. My plan? Weed out anyone showing apathy toward their studies or indifference about the academy's potential shutdown. I bided my time until the conversation lulled, then struck with calculated precision.First, a heavy sigh that evokes the feeling of the ground collapsing. "Ha…."“Sora, what’s wrong?”“It’s just that when I think I'll have to keep attending the Academy… it's overwhelming.”“You're not happy about being admitted?”“Yeah, it’s a mess with everything locked down and no one can come in or out….” In the world of ❮Doomed Academy❯, the hunter is the most coveted profession.Complaining about Academy admission was like getting into medical school only to declare you didn't want to be a doctor In a word, it is a deception to draw out a new atmosphere so that suspects can more easily reveal their genuine feelings. “It’s true that being a hunter is a job that comes with money and fame, but isn’t it a job that requires you to deal with monsters? It’s a dangerous job where you never know when or where you might lose your life… I don’t think it’s fair to force you to spend the rest of your life slaughtering monsters just because you’ve awakened. Besides, we’re only 17 years old. Forcing minors who should be protected to learn killing techniques without asking our opinions or giving us a choice seems too much.” As I parroted the arguments of the parents who had been campaigning to abolish the awakening test, some children gradually began to agree with me. “Well, that’s true. They didn’t ask us if we wanted to be hunters.”“Actually, during the awakening test… I had a hard time.”“Even if they're monsters, killing feels wrong. Goblins may be evil, but their bodies look almost human...” Yeah, the atmosphere isn't bad at this point.Now, shall we go one by one?First, the loudest candidate. “Lee Hyojun, what do you think you would have done if you hadn’t awakened?” Suspect 1. Lee Hyojun is the youngest of the 'All Hunter Family', a rare family in this world.Lee Hyojun answered my question with a clenched fist. “If I hadn’t awakened, I would have retaken the test. Two or three times, until I did.”“Do you want to be a hunter that badly?”“Should I say I want to be one? I… have no other path. I have to become a hunter, if only to secure human rights.”“Securing human rights?”“In my house, if you’re not a hunter, you’re treated like less than a human. No, you’re treated like a dog. At home, I’m a dog, a dog.”"Ah…." While everyone else suffered from second-hand embarrassment and avoided eye contact, I straightened my posture. The youngest and only civilian in the Hunter family.If he had been abused, he might have nurtured anger and resentment in his heart, eventually joining the gang to trash the school. “…They don’t even call me by my name, just ‘Puppy’. They would say to go on a walk, then put a leash on me. They would say not to sleep alone, and always crawl into my bed, taking turns doing so. They even dress me up in some weird pink hoodie... Haa, the treatment is so deadly, I’m going to have to become a Hunter!” Do you usually call that dog treatment?Although the family's way of expressing affection is a little different, Lee Hyojun seems to be a beloved youngest child. The kid didn't even have any wrinkles in his life.You can tell just by looking at him naively sharing hunter knowledge that he could have kept to himself without any compensation.For now, I decided to put him on hold and move on. “Noh Jitae, what about you? Was there anything else you wanted to do?”“No, actually, my dream was to enter the Academy. If I didn’t become a Hunter, my family would be ruined.”"Why?"“Because my father runs a fencing school.” The story continues.Noh Jitae's father runs a fencing school, but it's always running at a loss. Of course.In <Doomed Academy>, the only people who learn swordsmanship are the Awakened. However, Awakened people can learn swordsmanship for free at the academy.In other words, the kendo dojo has zero business potential. “But if there’s a son who was a hunter, wouldn’t ordinary people come to visit? Then Ican revive the dojo, pay off some of my father’s debts… It’s a dojo that’s been passed down for three generations, so I can’t just let it close down.”“There’s no need to force yourself to learn swordsmanship if you don’t want to.”“No, it’s not that I don’t want to do it… I, I actually dream of creating my own sect.” Looking at his bright red face, it looks like he really is genuinely passionate.Noh Jitae even said in a shy voice that he wanted to become reknowned through swordsmanship.That is something that can't be acheived without an Academy degree.I decided to stop investigating him for now and was about to ask leading questions to the last suspect, Park Rahee, but she opened her mouth first. “You’re all combat-type. Why am I different?”“Really? What kind of pathway are you from… Ah, is it rude to ask something like this?”“It’s okay, you’ll learn my pathway anyway when you take the class.” Park Rahee opened her mouth with an understanding smile. “I’m in the healing pathway.”“Wow! Awesome! That’s really rare!” Healers are precious in this world.It can't be helped due to the structure of the awakening test.You put them in front of a monster and give them a weapon, but in that situation, it's not easy to express a strong will to 'heal them'. Healers make up 0.1% of the total Awakened population.Because it is hard to obtain, the annual salary is ridiculously high according to the law of supply and demand. “If you’re a healer, you’ll never starve to death, right? And the guarantee is huge!”“That’s true, but… if I’m going to do it, I’d like to go into the private sector.”“Why? When you enter the tower…”“My younger sibling is very sick.” Park Rahee also had a difficult story.She has a sick younger sibling, and she wants to learn healing arts quickly so that she can one day heal him and the people in his ward. So this kid also needs the Academy. She needs to get proper training as a healer. 'There's no one that really stands out.' Noh Jitae and Park Rahee need their diplomas, and Lee Hyojun doesn't seem desperate enough to reach out to the mastermind.I didn't think I'd be able to uncover it all in one day, but I thought I'd at least be able to narrow down the search. I really have no idea.It is even possible that some of them are lying.To uncover their lie, you'd have to stick around, dig small traps, find clues, track them down, investigate further, and dig new traps... Honestly, it's a waste of time. There are so many things I want to do!I'm so busy admiring my favorite characters, why should I waste my precious time spying on suspects? 'Should we just go with the third operation?' Operation ③ is to raid the scene.Attacking the criminal the moment they commit a crime.And I can predict my conspirer's next crime. 'No matter how I look at it, this guy seems like the main culprit behind the monster escape incident.' The 'Monster Escape Incident' is a phenomenon that occurs periodically in <Doomed Academy>.There are normal cases where monsters that are locked up for training/research break through the barrier and escape, but the timing of this one in particular is very artificial.In short, it's like this: What if the protagonist tracks down the culprit?→ The escaped monsters jump out and block the path. What if the protagonist follows a suspicious person?→ That person will definitely become prey to the escaped monsters. Yet, when the incident was over and the investigation was conducted, there was no problem with the barrier. It was a direction that received a lot of criticism such as 'forced sweet potato', 'old direction', 'the writer's intelligence is questionable', etc.What if this wasn't a writing mistake but the fault of a conspirer? The locust summoned by the confidant uses a type of release magic.This means that it has the ability to release the barrier and free the monsters at any time. In fact, isn't it possible that this mastermind was secretly watching from somewhere on campus and releasing monsters to sabotage things whenever necessary?Tailing the suspects on the day of the monster escape incident provides more solid evidence than anything else. 'Yes, this is not procrastination!' It's not that I'm putting it off because I don't want to do it, nor is it that I'm using tricks.This decision was made because it was more rational to act based on solid evidence rather than uncovering lies. Yeah, it's not worth worrying about, let's just put it off, no, let's wait! … and a translucent window appeared before my eyes. [Freshman class assignments have been completed. Please check your personal information window.]
Have the classes been assigned now?The Academy has a total of six classes per grade.Classes A~F, and the topmost class is S Class.We conduct ability assessments once every few weeks, and assign students to classes based on their potential: those who will become A-class Hunters are assigned to Class A, those who will become B-class Hunters are assigned to Class B, etc. “Ooooh! Me, Class A! I was told that if I don’t get into Class A, my family register will be sold!”“Thank goodness, Puppy. You kept your last name. Now let’s just get your name back.”"You?"“Of course this hyung is A.”"Me too!" All three suspects are Class A.It seems that you guys are more skillful than I thought. “Yeom Juwan, what about you?”“S.”“As expected!!! Even Sora?” Yeom Juwan and I are both S-class.It wasn't that surprising, so I was nodding my head thinking, 'I guess this is how it is', when a new notice arrived. [This is information regarding the entrance ceremony.
The entrance ceremony will be held tomorrow at 7:00 AM in the main auditorium of the main building.Freshmen, please check in 15 minutes early.Freshman representatives are requested to arrive 30 minutes early.
Freshman Representatives: Ki Hyunmin, Yeon Sora]
Blink, blink. I closed and opened my eyelids 10 times, but the text did not change. [Freshman Representatives: Ki Hyunmin, Yeon Sora]
What the heck, why is Yeon Sora here?
30 minutes later, in front of the main building.
The suspects we met a week later welcomed me and Yeom Juwan warmly.
The suspects we met a week later welcomed me and Yeom Juwan warmly.
“Hey, Yeom Juwan! Didn’t you grow a bit taller in the meantime?”
“Didn’t you miss this hyung?”
As soon as Lee Hyojun and Noh Jitae saw Yeom Juwan, they started tackling him in a back and forth manner.
At first glance, it seems like a normal prank by male students of the same age, but...
'Why are you acting so friendly? We only met for a day!'
It can't be helped that I feel nervous.
Immediately afterwards, worried eyes poured out on me.
“How have you been, Sora?”
“Yeah, are you feeling better?”
“Me? Oh, the injury from the goblin? The examiner cured that with a potion back then.”
“No, that’s not it….”
The suspects exchanged glances, hesitated, and then spoke with difficulty.
“Lee Hyojun said earlier that if you use your abilities excessively right after awakening, it can be harmful to your body.”
“There’s something called mana exhaustion! If a freshman uses a skill too many times, it becomes difficult… You used it dozens of times that day, right?”
“Did you experience any strange symptoms? I got worried after hearing that.”
Now that I think about it, there was such a setting?
Even if you borrowed the power of potions, if you used skills 31 times in a row on the first day of awakening, you should have lost all mana.
But I'm fine.
Um… why am I fine?
Is this also a special feature for the transmigrator?
This world is really good at treating transmigrators well!
“No problem at all.”
“But how about going to the ward once?”
“It’s okay, I know my body best.”
“Just in case, it’s better to get tested….”
No, the person in question is all fine, so why are they gang up together and making people out as sick?
Where do I have time to go to the hospital now? I really wanted to tour the Academy today, but I barely managed to squeeze in some precious time for the mission to find the culprit!
At that moment,
I suddenly felt a frigid energy radiating from my left.
When I turned my head, Yeom Juwan was looking at me with a rather intimidating gaze.
"Go."
"…yes."
“Right away, tomorrow.”
"…yes."
My baby, why are you suddenly so energetic?
I got so startled by you that I agreed without even thinking.
I can't break my promise to my child, so I'll have to take some time tomorrow to go to the ward.
* * *
On the way to the main building restaurant.
Hyojun Lee revealed various TMI in an excited voice.
“The people in my house told me that I absolutely had to try the Minotaur Donkatsu at the main restaurant.”
“Minotaur Donkatsu is served as a meal?”
“Only in the main restaurant. Limited to 100 per day.”
“Okay~ As expected, it’s Lee Hyojun from the Hunter family! Please keep giving me more tips in the future!”
“When did I say you could get a free ride?”
“The person I’m going to rely on is truly a big shot.”
Hyojun Lee said he had been to the academy when his older brothers and sisters graduated.
He had a lot of information from hearing various stories at home, and no hesitation in sharing it.
Thanks to this, a friendly atmosphere was created throughout the trip.
And while everyone was busy talking, I was absorbed in observation.
I didn't call these guys out without thinking.
I've been planning my own strategy to capture my confidant.
It was a three-stage operation.
Operation ①. Filter by appearance.
Let's not forget the time-honored clichés of genre fiction.
The villain looks villainous.
Since they use a locust to kill people, there must be a murderous look in their eyes or at least some sinister aspect to them.
So I analysed each person's face carefully,
'I don't know.'
If you just look at their appearance, they all look empathetic and kind.
Lee Hyojun and Noh Jitae look like ordinary, mischievous high school students, and Park Rahee resembles a church sister.
Well, these days, appearance clichés are a bit old.
If you can't refer to the appearance, let's move on to the next operation.
Operation ②. Find someone who agrees with the goals of the mastermind.
The ultimate goal of the dark forces is to eliminate the 'Master of Fate'.
According to the prophet, the 'Master of Fate' who will fulfill the tower's wish will enter the academy this year.
The mastermind - still unaware that it was Ki Hyunmin- had initially targeted individual freshmen before shifting strategy to shut down the academy entirely. Their subordinate would naturally support these closure efforts. My plan? Weed out anyone showing apathy toward their studies or indifference about the academy's potential shutdown.
I bided my time until the conversation lulled, then struck with calculated precision.
First, a heavy sigh that evokes the feeling of the ground collapsing.
"Ha…."
“Sora, what’s wrong?”
“It’s just that when I think I'll have to keep attending the Academy… it's overwhelming.”
“You're not happy about being admitted?”
“Yeah, it’s a mess with everything locked down and no one can come in or out….”
In the world of ❮Doomed Academy❯, the hunter is the most coveted profession.
Complaining about Academy admission was like getting into medical school only to declare you didn't want to be a doctor
In a word, it is a deception to draw out a new atmosphere so that suspects can more easily reveal their genuine feelings.
“It’s true that being a hunter is a job that comes with money and fame, but isn’t it a job that requires you to deal with monsters? It’s a dangerous job where you never know when or where you might lose your life… I don’t think it’s fair to force you to spend the rest of your life slaughtering monsters just because you’ve awakened. Besides, we’re only 17 years old. Forcing minors who should be protected to learn killing techniques without asking our opinions or giving us a choice seems too much.”
As I parroted the arguments of the parents who had been campaigning to abolish the awakening test, some children gradually began to agree with me.
“Well, that’s true. They didn’t ask us if we wanted to be hunters.”
“Actually, during the awakening test… I had a hard time.”
“Even if they're monsters, killing feels wrong. Goblins may be evil, but their bodies look almost human...”
Yeah, the atmosphere isn't bad at this point.
Now, shall we go one by one?
First, the loudest candidate.
“Lee Hyojun, what do you think you would have done if you hadn’t awakened?”
Suspect 1. Lee Hyojun is the youngest of the 'All Hunter Family', a rare family in this world.
Lee Hyojun answered my question with a clenched fist.
“If I hadn’t awakened, I would have retaken the test. Two or three times, until I did.”
“Do you want to be a hunter that badly?”
“Should I say I want to be one? I… have no other path. I have to become a hunter, if only to secure human rights.”
“Securing human rights?”
“In my house, if you’re not a hunter, you’re treated like less than a human. No, you’re treated like a dog. At home, I’m a dog, a dog.”
"Ah…."
While everyone else suffered from second-hand embarrassment and avoided eye contact, I straightened my posture.
The youngest and only civilian in the Hunter family.
If he had been abused, he might have nurtured anger and resentment in his heart, eventually joining the gang to trash the school.
“…They don’t even call me by my name, just ‘Puppy’. They would say to go on a walk, then put a leash on me. They would say not to sleep alone, and always crawl into my bed, taking turns doing so. They even dress me up in some weird pink hoodie... Haa, the treatment is so deadly, I’m going to have to become a Hunter!”
Do you usually call that dog treatment?
Although the family's way of expressing affection is a little different, Lee Hyojun seems to be a beloved youngest child.
The kid didn't even have any wrinkles in his life.
You can tell just by looking at him naively sharing hunter knowledge that he could have kept to himself without any compensation.
For now, I decided to put him on hold and move on.
“Noh Jitae, what about you? Was there anything else you wanted to do?”
“No, actually, my dream was to enter the Academy. If I didn’t become a Hunter, my family would be ruined.”
"Why?"
“Because my father runs a fencing school.”
The story continues.
Noh Jitae's father runs a fencing school, but it's always running at a loss.
Of course.
In <Doomed Academy>, the only people who learn swordsmanship are the Awakened. However, Awakened people can learn swordsmanship for free at the academy.
In other words, the kendo dojo has zero business potential.
“But if there’s a son who was a hunter, wouldn’t ordinary people come to visit? Then Ican revive the dojo, pay off some of my father’s debts… It’s a dojo that’s been passed down for three generations, so I can’t just let it close down.”
“There’s no need to force yourself to learn swordsmanship if you don’t want to.”
“No, it’s not that I don’t want to do it… I, I actually dream of creating my own sect.”
Looking at his bright red face, it looks like he really is genuinely passionate.
Noh Jitae even said in a shy voice that he wanted to become reknowned through swordsmanship.
That is something that can't be acheived without an Academy degree.
I decided to stop investigating him for now and was about to ask leading questions to the last suspect, Park Rahee, but she opened her mouth first.
“You’re all combat-type. Why am I different?”
“Really? What kind of pathway are you from… Ah, is it rude to ask something like this?”
“It’s okay, you’ll learn my pathway anyway when you take the class.”
Park Rahee opened her mouth with an understanding smile.
“I’m in the healing pathway.”
“Wow! Awesome! That’s really rare!”
Healers are precious in this world.
It can't be helped due to the structure of the awakening test.
You put them in front of a monster and give them a weapon, but in that situation, it's not easy to express a strong will to 'heal them'.
Healers make up 0.1% of the total Awakened population.
Because it is hard to obtain, the annual salary is ridiculously high according to the law of supply and demand.
“If you’re a healer, you’ll never starve to death, right? And the guarantee is huge!”
“That’s true, but… if I’m going to do it, I’d like to go into the private sector.”
“Why? When you enter the tower…”
“My younger sibling is very sick.”
Park Rahee also had a difficult story.
She has a sick younger sibling, and she wants to learn healing arts quickly so that she can one day heal him and the people in his ward.
So this kid also needs the Academy. She needs to get proper training as a healer.
'There's no one that really stands out.'
Noh Jitae and Park Rahee need their diplomas, and Lee Hyojun doesn't seem desperate enough to reach out to the mastermind.
I didn't think I'd be able to uncover it all in one day, but I thought I'd at least be able to narrow down the search.
I really have no idea.
It is even possible that some of them are lying.
To uncover their lie, you'd have to stick around, dig small traps, find clues, track them down, investigate further, and dig new traps... Honestly, it's a waste of time.
There are so many things I want to do!
I'm so busy admiring my favorite characters, why should I waste my precious time spying on suspects?
'Should we just go with the third operation?'
Operation ③ is to raid the scene.
Attacking the criminal the moment they commit a crime.
And I can predict my conspirer's next crime.
'No matter how I look at it, this guy seems like the main culprit behind the monster escape incident.'
The 'Monster Escape Incident' is a phenomenon that occurs periodically in <Doomed Academy>.
There are normal cases where monsters that are locked up for training/research break through the barrier and escape, but the timing of this one in particular is very artificial.
In short, it's like this:
What if the protagonist tracks down the culprit?
→ The escaped monsters jump out and block the path.
What if the protagonist follows a suspicious person?
→ That person will definitely become prey to the escaped monsters.
Yet, when the incident was over and the investigation was conducted, there was no problem with the barrier. It was a direction that received a lot of criticism such as 'forced sweet potato', 'old direction', 'the writer's intelligence is questionable', etc.
What if this wasn't a writing mistake but the fault of a conspirer?
The locust summoned by the confidant uses a type of release magic.
This means that it has the ability to release the barrier and free the monsters at any time.
In fact, isn't it possible that this mastermind was secretly watching from somewhere on campus and releasing monsters to sabotage things whenever necessary?
Tailing the suspects on the day of the monster escape incident provides more solid evidence than anything else.
'Yes, this is not procrastination!'
It's not that I'm putting it off because I don't want to do it, nor is it that I'm using tricks.
This decision was made because it was more rational to act based on solid evidence rather than uncovering lies.
Yeah, it's not worth worrying about, let's just put it off, no, let's wait!
… and a translucent window appeared before my eyes.
[Freshman class assignments have been completed. Please check your personal information window.]
Have the classes been assigned now?
The Academy has a total of six classes per grade.
Classes A~F, and the topmost class is S Class.
We conduct ability assessments once every few weeks, and assign students to classes based on their potential: those who will become A-class Hunters are assigned to Class A, those who will become B-class Hunters are assigned to Class B, etc.
“Ooooh! Me, Class A! I was told that if I don’t get into Class A, my family register will be sold!”
“Thank goodness, Puppy. You kept your last name. Now let’s just get your name back.”
"You?"
“Of course this hyung is A.”
"Me too!"
All three suspects are Class A.
It seems that you guys are more skillful than I thought.
“Yeom Juwan, what about you?”
“S.”
“As expected!!! Even Sora?”
Yeom Juwan and I are both S-class.
It wasn't that surprising, so I was nodding my head thinking, 'I guess this is how it is', when a new notice arrived.
[This is information regarding the entrance ceremony.
The entrance ceremony will be held tomorrow at 7:00 AM in the main auditorium of the main building.Freshmen, please check in 15 minutes early.Freshman representatives are requested to arrive 30 minutes early.
Freshman Representatives: Ki Hyunmin, Yeon Sora]
Blink, blink.
I closed and opened my eyelids 10 times, but the text did not change.
[Freshman Representatives: Ki Hyunmin, Yeon Sora]
What the heck, why is Yeon Sora here?
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