chapter 22
22. Why are you here?
In this work, the villain is deeply intertwined with the world.
Starting from absolute evil or necessary evil to the heroine.
He was intertwined with the world in various derived relationships, but essentially belonged to the villain group.
Among them, the villain guild called ‘Disanord’, which is considered the most vicious.
Today, the 6th and 5th-ranked assassins of the Disanord Guild are recognized for their merit in suppressing them.
Surely they also said they would give a prize money, but how much is it?
Even while immersed in deep thought behind the tiered auditorium where the academy gives awards.
“Tsk, it’s really trashy.”
Erin, who was next to me, clicked her tongue as if she wanted me to hear.
Originally, Jane kept asking what kind of training should be done next to use the skills I practiced yesterday.
I was nervous because I didn’t know when Rica, who was quietly on the other side, would turn wild.
Now, she switched places with Jane, who had a strange misunderstanding.
She kept telling me something, as if asking me to make an excuse.
“No matter how, how could you do that to innocent Jane?”
Glancing sideways, a female with a puppy-faced expression, arms folded, was staring at me fiercely with her green eyes.
Clicking her reddish-brown hair that was pretty neat.
Her green eyes, as if asking me to make an excuse, pierced through me.
It looked like a puppy that had a fit because it didn’t get a snack.
“Hey, be quiet.”
In the meantime, I didn’t open my mouth, and after speaking, I immediately cast a closing spell at the entrance.
Erin’s personality burst due to Jane’s insane language skills.
If her elementary school ethics teacher saw it, they wouldn’t have expressed their surprise in all directions.
“You pretended not to know after shaking your hips enough to make your legs wobbly? I thought you had changed a bit…. You garbage kid.”
With the impression of being hit hard on the back of the head, no matter what misunderstanding it is..
I have a rough idea of what she’s misunderstanding.
Even though I’m living a pretty normal life now.
There’s no law that the fraud inside won’t go out.
Before reincarnation, I was a guy who put up nude pictures of heroines on the ceiling.
Because the initial reputation itself was a highly energetic stalker, because he was a guy with so much energy.
It seems that Erin thought I had played a nasty trick on Jane under the guise of teaching her something.
And that’s why her hips were shaking a lot.
“It’s not what you’re thinking.”
As I don’t need such misunderstanding, I answered no.
“What’s that? Do you know what I’m talking about??”
Looking genuinely innocent, he gingerly asked with his face just a hint of red.
Usually, the one who misunderstands has a tangled mind.
Despite her calm exterior, Eryn, with her seemingly tangled mind, looked at me as if I was the scum of the earth.
“What I asked you to do wasn’t a simple squat workout, but a training to use a specific technique.”
I responded in pure, like a bottle of Jeju Volcanic Rock Mineral Water that boasts of no impurities, and nodded my head.
Eryn, having lost some color from hearing my response, was startled and promptly opened her mouth.
“So… that! That thing! You trained and then pretended not to be aware of it!?”
…She seemed to have let her perverted mind wander and stammered her words.
Or maybe she was genuinely unable to hide her emotions, like a puppy.
Her previously inquisitive lips wavered, and her eyes, wide in surprise, trembled as they avoided my gaze.
Eryn’s ears and face seemed slightly flushed, as if confirming my suspicion.
“Why is it so hot here!?”
She realized that she was the one who misunderstood and fanned herself with her hand.
“…What were you thinking? You pervert.”
With a phrase I’d wanted to say at least once in my life, I teased Eryn and briskly turned my head.
“No! It’s not like that! Really! Hey-! I don’t want to hear that from you-!”
Eryn, who had disappeared from my sight, sounded like she was enjoying this far too much next to me.
Turning back to Eryn who had innocently tangled thoughts.
I caught the gaze of Rika, who had been looking ahead quietly since before.
She stared at me with red eyes in the strange silence that passed.
Was it the friend treatment that seemed to be in effect these days?
“Hey! Don’t ignore me!”
Rika remained silent, even in situations that would make even Eryn misunderstand.
She merely looked at me for a long time, then suddenly smiled slightly, which felt like a surprise attack.
For a brief moment, I almost reached out to her like picking up a gem that had fallen on the ground.
In contrast to my desire to conquer, Rika’s relaxed expression.
Facing forward with an anxious feeling of uncertainty.
“Everyone, get ready to move on!”
Then, Associate Professor Clie announced from the end next to Rika.
As we followed behind Rika onto the stage, I noticed that the important seats were filled.
Some people were even disguised villains we had fought in the main work.
After all, it’s interesting that four students caught villains who could exterminate two classes of the first year of Awakened Academy.
Especially, the other three students were prominent from the start.
All eyes should be on them, but…
…strangely, everyone glanced at me once or twice.
If a strange one is mixed among those who have been prominent since before, I would also look once.
“The award will be presented by Gaff Gong, vice-captain of the ‘Moonlight’ Guild, ranked 43rd among the guild alliances.”
With that casual announcement of the award ceremony, a bald man with a formidable appearance stepped forward.
“Oh, you must be Jane, the top student. Truly, you’re an object of everyone’s envy. Beside her is Eryn, a top student of the Magic Academy, right? And Rika, who finished first in military academy? Wow, all the exceptional children gathered here.”
He listed their records, about which I knew little, and swallowed his non-astonishment.
Rather than being overly important, I was thinking about the stock to buy and the message from travel club president earlier.
“Huh? Aren’t you the student who took down a gem golem and fainted?”
To my surprise, the bald man who was awarding the prize recognized me.
Was it this intimidating bald man who saved me when I smashed the core of the Gem Golem and fainted?
“Phew~ You smashed the Golem’s core like a modern art piece, how about it? When you graduate, how about working as a mercenary under ‘Moonlight’.”
As he handed me the award with transparent acrylic and various devices attached to it, he casually proposed to scout me.
“You seem to have the dead eyes of our department, how about it? Unlike hunters and heroes, mercenaries can do any job in secret.”
Recognizing my eyes, which have grown slightly darker than before, as a side effect of a heartbeat addiction.
Just slightly revealed my dangerous intention like baring my canine teeth.
You’re looking through me, not being a powerful fortuneteller or something.
For now, just a bit of a dropped tension and darken glance, hardly noticeable.
Would my eyes change like Rika’s, which occasionally opens a deadly gaze?
“If you’re looking for those dead eyes, the one next to me is more…”
“…Hmm?”
I haven’t really thought about where I belong yet, so I just went roundabout.
###
A morning class before lunchtime at the Awakened Academy, which resumed classes after a few days.
During the time when video about the danger and history of villains was played.
“Hmm, do I need to go out and catch these villains?”
Rok Seo was buying shares on his laptop that only he could see.
A bank account balance nearing 100 million won, thanks to a total of 30 million won in prize money.
He bought 40 million won each of the newly listed ‘Fall of Gyeongcheon’ stocks and ‘Grace of God’ stocks that were hitting rock bottom.
“Seeing ‘Fall of Gyeongcheon,’ which controls the dark world, listed, it sounds like the mid-term evaluation of the academy is starting soon….”
He was torn between focusing on the exams for the scholarship and hunting villains to invest in stocks that the villains made with the money.
“Wait, this is a total miraculous cycle!?”
Rok Seo was amazed by the situation where he’s funding the villains with the money he made by catching villains.
“This isn’t like feeding aloe to aloe.”
In the face of this peculiar situation, Rok Seo decided to focus on the class for the moment.
Next, he pulled up messages from the black market and the head of the travel club.
“Hmm….”
A friendly text from the head of travel club that began with a request to not tell anyone else.
In summary of the long message.
The members of the travel club asked for an investigation request to find stolen items.
The request ended successfully because it was received by Rok Seo, but from the perspective of the Thief Guild, they were busted.
It’s said they requested the Disanored Guild to take care of the related students.
Luckily, the heroes, who were already waiting for a thief because as one had stolen from one of them, stepped forward.
They crushed the Thief’s Guild, and as the Disanored Guild also got involved and the requesters got caught.
Disanored Guild stated through underworld communication network that they would step out of this.
Thanks to that, they got the weapons back and the case was buried.
Because the already notorious Rok Seo completed the investigation request, he was able to get involved unnecessarily with the Thief’s Guild, who could be pointed out as the culprit for moving the Disanored Guild.
It was about how about taking it as just joining the club.
If he gave a reply, they would tell the club members that a student who was going to originally join, who also completed the inquiry, couldn’t come in because of an affair,
And another student came in instead.
“He’s not wrong.”
Despite his reputation improving, Rok Seo recalled the vile ones still clinging on.
Because those bastards will definitely make a fuss if they find out about this.
Rather, the care of the club president felt courteous.
Rok Seo, who had already thanked him in reply, went to the place where they gathered for lunch.
“!? You, why did you come in here!?”
Eryn was surprised when she saw Rok Seo.
Her expression shook as if she had seen a ghost.
“Rok Seo! Are you the new club member!?”
“Oh, if you’re going to come in, you should have told us beforehand.”
Rika held back Jane, who was trying to rush to Rok Seo with a strange distance.
Other students who saw him were murmuring too.
Everyone was reeling from the fact that Roxer had transformed from a stoker to the final blow in their lives. They had seen him receive awards with the finest first-year students of the academy, that too in real time.
The club room was a bit chaotic right now.
“Alright everyone, gather around! This is Roxer, a new student who just joined us.”
A man, apparently good-hearted, managed to garner the group’s attention with a single clap. He smiled warmly as he introduced Roxer by placing a hand on his shoulder.
“Nice to meet you all. I promise to do my best.”
Roxer greeted everyone politely.
“eeek….!!”
When Erin, livid like a boiling teapot, made a sound. From Erin’s perspective, she’d tried her best to get close to the first-year student who’d taken on her investigation request in spite of the threat, and helped her find her weapon.
But instead of him, another peculiar character turned up. Yes, this person saved her life.
But trouble had always followed in the wake of Roxer, and now she had this man to deal with.
Especially when she was waiting to receive an award today.
[‘Certainly, that was something perverted!! Yes, I admit I might have certain unusual thoughts! But, I didn’t want to hear any of that from him!!’]
She was accused of being a pervert based on a reasonable misunderstanding, due to Jane’s words…
Finally, Erin exploded like an overheated kettle, her face turning bright red in frustraion.
“I can’t promise to do my best!!”
Erin screamed, like someone shocked after expecting chicken, only to receive deep-fried fish instead.