The Official School Bully Trio Assembles
The school trip to Calderan Island was quite the long journey. After switching carriages twice to reach the harbor, we boarded a massive ship and crossed the sea. I’d heard the destination was an island owned by the Academy, but did it really have to be this far…?
“Haa…”
I let out a light sigh and leaned against the railing. When I glanced down, I could see the hull slicing powerfully through the water. Occasional sprays of waves caught the sunlight and sparkled. Whoosh… splash…
Under the brilliant daylight, the blue sea gleamed so brightly it stung the eyes. A cool sea breeze carried the rich scent of the ocean. The refreshing salty tang brushing against my nose left me resting my chin on my hand in a daze.
“……This is boring.”
I’d already been killing time like this for several hours. The novelty of watching the sea had worn off quickly. Staring at the same scenery over and over only made me yawn. In my previous life, I used to fly to tournaments in the blink of an eye. Was there really no one in this world who wanted to fly through the sky?
I stretched, lamenting the absence of those great brothers, and my stiff body cracked audibly. Crack, pop. The sound of bones realigning echoed from my back.
At that moment, a voice rang in my ear.
“Whoa~ The atmosphere here is pretty brutal. Looks like someone’s about to get murdered.”
A sloppy yet distinctly light tone. I immediately recognized the owner of the voice and muttered his name as I turned around.
“Gold Tae-yang.”
Standing there was a blonde, tanned delinquent dressed in loose clothes. He was swaggering around with a pair of black sunglasses perched on his nose. The outfit screamed stereotypical beach bum Gold Tae-yang, and I couldn’t help but frown.
When our eyes met, Gold Tae-yang spread his arms wide toward the sky and shouted.
“Uhyo lololol School’s S-rank bastard spotted!!”
“……What’s with that frivolous way of talking?”
“Super lucky☆!”
“……”
When I shot him a cold, fed-up glare in response to his insane speech, the idiot who had been grinning foolishly shrank back a little.
“I was just joking… If you look at me like that, I’ll get hurt, Teacher.”
“Good. Get hurt.”
“……You’re no fun at all.”
Gold Tae-yang pouted and shuffled over, eventually leaning against the railing just like me. With the deep blue sea rippling behind him, he slumped down.
“Ughhh… When the hell are we arriving?”
“Professor Lucas said we only have about two hours left.”
“I’m so bored…”
Gold Tae-yang let out a long yawn and smacked his lips. I silently nodded in agreement. Come to think of it, there was a large open space at the back of the ship. Maybe I could spar with him there. There were even training sandbags nearby.
I turned my gaze toward Gold Tae-yang and spoke.
“I noticed earlier that the space at the back of the ship is quite wide. How about a light spar—”
“I refuse.”
“Your refusal is refused. Follow me.”
“Ah, please…”
I grabbed the back of the neck of the sandbag who was already trying to sneak away. Where do you think you’re going? It wouldn’t be as fun as sparring with Professor Lucas, but this guy had a nice impact when you hit him. He’d make for a pretty decent training partner.
I dragged him by the scruff of his neck toward the rear of the ship. And so, until the ship reached its destination, the deck echoed with mysterious thuds and screams.
. . .
Several more hours passed. The ship that had been cutting through the blue expanse finally arrived at its destination.
“Attention, students! We have reached our destination!”
When Sharon, the homeroom professor of Xenon Class, shouted energetically, the chicks who had been drowning in boredom burst into cheers.
“Waaaaah!!”
“……”
Among them was Gold Tae-yang, who had just finished sparring with me. He rubbed his bruised arms and yelled.
“I’m free!! Get lost, you bastard!!! I’m outta here!!!”
He threw down the practice mace he’d been holding and flipped me off with all his might. I tilted my head as I watched him.
What’s wrong with him? Did he suddenly break? Did I hit him too hard?
I let out a mocking laugh full of concern and said,
“Hm. Where exactly are you going? I’m pretty sure you and I are in the same group.”
“……Ah, fuck.”
Gold Tae-yang belatedly remembered that fact and slapped his forehead while cursing. He forced an awkward “Hahaha!” and looked at me.
“You… You know how much I love you, right…?”
“We’ll have another spar during free time later.”
“I’m screwed……”
Gold Tae-yang picked up the mace he had thrown with a face on the verge of tears.
“Teacher… You’ll spare me, right?”
“……”
“You’ll spare me… right…?”
“……”
Gold Tae-yang wailed.
. . .
After exchanging pointless banter with Gold Tae-yang and disembarking, I saw that the other students had already gotten off long ago. The noisy atmosphere was unmistakably that of excited teenagers thrilled by the words “school trip.”
Overwhelmed by the lively energy, Gold Tae-yang and I moved toward the edge of the crowd.
“Whoa~ Everyone looks super excited, huh?”
“Indeed. They all seem full of anticipation.”
“Of course, dumbass! It’s a school trip! School. Trip!”
Gold Tae-yang seemed just as excited. He threw his arms up in the air and shouted, “Uhyo lololol!”
Embarrassed, I quietly stepped away from him.
“Hey, what the—! Come on, let’s go together!”
“Stay away from me.”
“Aaaagh! So mean!!”
While I was shoving away the clingy Gold Tae-yang and preparing to escape, one of the professors supervising the students shouted.
“EVERYONE, ATTENTION!!!!”
A roar that felt like it was shaking my eardrums. It was Aaron, the burly homeroom professor of Riel Class. He clapped his hands infused with mana to gather the students’ attention.
Boom! Boom! Boom!!!
“Everyone, be silent.”
I frowned at the loud noise ringing in my ears. Wait, wasn’t that a clap? Why does it sound like cannons going off?
“Cadets, after a long journey, we have finally arrived at our school trip destination—Calderan Island.”
“Waaaaaaaah!!!”
“As you all know, this school trip will be conducted based on the groups formed earlier. For the next three days, get along well with your group members!”
“Yes!!!”
“The school trip will take the form of camping. Feel free to enjoy nature, and in the evening, pitch your tents and camp out. This was explained beforehand, so I assume you’re all familiar with it?”
“Yes, we are!!”
“Is there any cadet here who wants to say, ‘I am a noble of high standing and therefore cannot participate in something like camping’?”
“No, there isn’t!!”
“A true noble must be able to maintain dignity even in such raw, untamed environments. Understood?”
“Yes, sir!!”
“Then, before dinner time, everyone must reassemble here without exception.”
“Yes!!”
The students responded enthusiastically to every single one of Aaron’s words. The scene reminded me eerily of a cult, and I could only let out a complicated sigh.
Forcing these pampered noble brats, spoiled by comfortable lives, to go camping? Wasn’t he worried about backlash? Well… considering Korn could single-handedly rival an entire marquis family, I doubted anyone would dare oppose him.
‘Still, isn’t camping a bit much…?’
I grumbled inwardly, tears welling up. I already suffered from insomnia. Now I had to deal with camping too? I had assumed a school trip to an island would mean staying at some grand hotel. Guess that was just wishful thinking. This place was a remote island after all—there wasn’t even a single house in sight, let alone a hotel.
‘I already feel like running away.’
I was already missing the dormitory where Rachel and Ariel were waiting. As I silently sulked, Aaron clapped his hands again and shouted.
Boom! Boom!!
“Now, gather with the groups announced beforehand! Once your groups are assembled, we’ll begin activities immediately!”
Clatter, thud!
The students moved about noisily at Aaron’s command. I shook my head as I watched the chaotic scene.
“No matter how I think about it, I don’t understand why they’re so excited.”
Gold Tae-yang, standing beside me, glanced over and muttered.
“I feel sorry for you, not knowing the beauty of a school trip…”
“I know the beauty of sparring, though. Would you like to experience it?”
“Actually, you don’t look that pitiful anymore.”
“Too late.”
“Fuck.”
Just as a sparring session was being sentenced in real time and Gold Tae-yang was desperately begging me for mercy, two students approached us.
One was a girl with dazzling silver hair and captivating red eyes—Margaret Filer.
“……Greetings, Lady Filer.”
I offered a stiff greeting at her sudden appearance. It was because I remembered running into her at the carriage stop a few days ago.
“Yes. Nice to see you, Young Lord Lisite.”
She didn’t look happy to see me at all. Margaret gave a completely mechanical reply to my greeting and quickly turned her head toward Gold Tae-yang.
“Your name is… Gold… Tae-yang, correct?”
“Ah, yes. That’s right.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Margaret Filer of the Filer family.”
Her voice was kind and gentle—completely different from before. The stark contrast in her reactions left me letting out an awkward cough.
Well… I had done something wrong, so I couldn’t really complain.
“Haha! Just call me Tae-yang, no need to be formal!”
“Alright. I look forward to getting along, Tae-yang.”
The two of them chatted warmly. I let out a complicated sigh and shifted my gaze. That was when my eyes met a girl who had been fidgeting a few steps behind Margaret.
“Ah…”
The moment I saw her, it felt like my breath had been stolen.
Shoulder-length purple bob hair. Trembling purple eyes that looked pitiful. A deeply hunched posture. A frail-looking body. And… bandages covering her entire right face.
“……”
“……”
I stared at her in a daze. The girl I had only seen in the original work’s illustrations was standing right in front of me.
“……”
“……U-um.”
Violet must have found my blatant stare uncomfortable, because she raised her hand to cover her bandaged face. I snapped out of it and quickly looked away.
‘……Violet hated showing her face to people.’
I shook off the bitter smile that had crept onto my lips and approached the girl. Then I gave her a light greeting.
“I don’t believe we’ve met. My name is Raiden Lisite.”
“Hic! Hiccup…!”
Violet jumped at the hand I extended and immediately began hiccupping. Her restless fidgeting, as if she had no idea what to do, made her look like a frightened puppy.
‘Her personality is exactly like it was in the original…’
Timid, fearful, and quiet. The textbook definition of a shut-in. Violet trembled all over before finally taking my hand and bowing at a perfect ninety-degree angle.
“I-I’m Violet! I-it is an honor to meet you, Young Lord…! Hiccup.”
Her voice trembled thinly, and her tone was on the verge of tears. Even while shaking my hand, her eyes desperately avoided mine. Feeling the warmth of a girl who looked like she might shatter at any moment, a wave of pity rose in my chest.
To think that such a fragile child would become a villain in a year.
I bit my lip gently, suppressing the complicated feelings inside me. As a heavy silence flowed between our clasped hands—
Gold Tae-yang suddenly squeezed himself between Violet and me.
“Whoa~! Nice to meet you! I’m Gold Tae-yang! Since we’re both commoners, you can speak casually, okay?”
“Hiccup… Y-yes…”
Finding his cheerful greeting ridiculous, I smacked the back of his head.
Smack!
“Ow! Why’d you hit me?!”
“What do you mean, ‘since we’re both commoners’? Then why do you speak casually to me when I’m a noble?”
Gold Tae-yang frowned deeply as if in pain and groaned.
“Ugh… You’re a noble, but you’re just too…”
“Oh? Too what? Go on, finish your sentence.”
“Too… overflowing with dignity!”
When I started rolling up my sleeve, the idiot who had been spouting nonsense quickly changed his tune. He let out an artificial laugh and changed the subject.
“Haha… Anyway, isn’t it interesting?”
“Hm?”
“All three members of the Academy’s official outcast trio ended up in the same group.”
At Gold Tae-yang’s words, Violet flinched and trembled. Why did this idiot have to bring that up?
I glared at him as he shouted “Uhyo lololol” and smacked the back of his head again.
Smack!
“Ow! Why are you hitting me again?!”
“Refrain from saying rude things in front of the person concerned.”
“I’m one of the people concerned too, you know?”
“If I say don’t, then don’t.”
The blonde tanned idiot looked like he had no idea what he’d done wrong. I gave up and let out a deep sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose.
Yeah… Well, if you’ve heard this much, you’ve probably already guessed.
The final member of the Academy’s official outcast trio, which included me and Gold Tae-yang, was the purple-haired girl standing right beside us.
The purple monster—Violet.