Chapter 103
Chapter 103
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 103
Chapter Title: The Meaning of Face
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"House Gugang, Daeyang, Jae-kyeong... Every one of them carries weight in name alone. How could a mere Archery Club manipulate documents by sweet-talking outfits like these?"
"House Gugang is just a hotel at the end of the day, and Daeyang is nothing more than a shipping company. Excluding Jae-kyeong, they're all subsidiaries."
"So you're saying the name 'granddaughter of the Palace Saint' was enough to sway them."
"Plus, she's pretty, isn't she? Bet she got plenty of favor from those pot-bellied old executives."
Noble had thoroughly assessed the Archery Club's capabilities.
They even knew that Jang Yeon-ju, the club leader, hadn't awakened any archery-related skills—a fatal flaw.
The structure was one of absolute dependence on No Jun-yeop alone.
Yet in the single night without No Jun-yeop, they had dramatically boosted their maintenance score?
They must have pulled some trick.
The kind where they actually completed a B-rank mission but recorded it as an A-rank on the paperwork.
It was theoretically feasible.
Even if the client colluded to falsify documents, once Lion's Castle launched an investigation, the truth would come out eventually.
In other words...
"It's because they have such an overwhelming desire to punch above their weight? Commoners are truly foolish. They always overreach with greed and commit obvious mistakes that get them caught."
This meant the Archery Club's rise would soon end.
The fact that they had carried out requests as usual without No Jun-yeop served as evidence of their misconduct.
Noble's decision had become the foundation for upholding the school's order.
Noble members puffed up with pride, noses in the air.
"We should report the Archery Club to the Student Council based on today's events."
"Good idea. Personally, though, I'd like to negotiate with Jang Yeon-ju first."
"Hmm...? Ah, yeah, she's pretty enough to keep around."
"Her family background is solid too. The Palace Saint's prestige is on par with nobility, after all."
"You fucking pricks are full of shit."
No Jun-yeop, bound in the corner and watching the Noble members, snorted derisively.
"What's the point of using that archaic speech to sound impressive? The content is shit—way lower than Baek Do-jin's bullshit."
"...I spared you out of pity for your drooling state, and you yap away. Mercy on the lowly is always wasted."
Tsk, tsk. The blond boy clicked his tongue and snapped his fingers, sending his retainers into motion.
"Mmph! Mmmph!!"
No Jun-yeop struggled against the gag shoved back in, but it was futile.
The ropes binding his limbs absorbed mana, lowering his stats and sealing his skills.
No Jun-yeop was going mad with frustration.
Kidnapped?
No big deal.
Lion's Castle was a place where all sorts of factions and politics intertwined, far removed from a normal school.
With so many lunatics around, getting kidnapped once or twice was routine.
But being framed for the Archery Club's cheating? That was infuriatingly unjust.
How hard had the club members worked?
No Jun-yeop had witnessed many who endured lightning torture that scorched their heads bald, or repeated fainting from excruciating pain, yet never gave up their passion.
That's right.
The Archery Club's recent surge was the result of everyone's efforts to grow stronger.
It was born from the dedication of members struggling not to fall behind the freshman Kang Jae-hyeok and his teammates.
And yet they dared accuse them of cheating?
'They even claim the Palace Saint's prestige is on the same level as you noble scum?'
Crunch!!
Blood trickled from No Jun-yeop's mouth as he bit down hard on the metal gag.
Even if it meant shattering all his teeth, he was determined to break free.
He needed to hurl a barrage of curses at those damned bastards to vent.
As his body trembled with rage, eyes bloodshot...
"Club Leader No Jun-yeop, a noble's face matters more than you can imagine."
The girl seated by the window, quietly focused on calligraphy, set down her brush and spoke.
Her neatly pinned-up hair was secured with a long ivory hairpin, and her modified uniform skirt reached her ankles, giving her a refined impression.
Cha Jo-ah.
Noble's president.
She stared intently at No Jun-yeop, who was on the verge of a meltdown.
"Noble has no desire to be the best. For maintaining school order, it's more efficient to yield the top spot to the Student Council. Nor do we need to be number one. In this little society called school, granting commoners a chance at first place is the magnanimity of us nobles. However..."
Swoooosh...
Cha Jo-ah's three white eyes slowly turned golden.
An overwhelming pressure silenced everyone in the room.
Even No Jun-yeop halted his outburst, gasping for air.
"There's no need to suffer humiliation unnecessarily, is there? Even yielding and magnanimity have their limits."
Swoosh.
She drew a black line on the pristine white paper.
"Dragging Noble down from major status was a clear line crossed. This time, the Archery Club's greed went too far."
Major club.
It referred to the top five clubs in Lion's Castle.
They held value even usable as credentials in society.
If Noble lost that status?
It would be humiliation beyond measure.
Unprecedented in history.
From the moment the Archery Club pulled Noble's maintenance ranking to sixth, a clash between the two clubs became inevitable.
"Are you angry? Indignant? But our face matters more than your feelings. Blame your own foolishness."
Cha Jo-ah picked up her brush again.
The characters she wrote in one fluid stroke were bold and majestic, revealing an inner self at odds with her delicate appearance.
No Jun-yeop sensed it instinctively.
She wasn't ordinary.
Deceived by her refined exterior, even a tiny opening would sweep him into the storm she unleashed.
'Tactics major top student, Cha Jo-ah.'
Second daughter of Count Cha Seung-min, symbol of the military...
As No Jun-yeop unwittingly shrank back, about to bow in submission...
"Do you even know what face means?"
A somewhat unfamiliar voice to the Noble members echoed through the room.
Tap, tap, tap...
The footsteps on the marble floor rang out with eerie clarity.
All eyes focused in one direction.
A figure appeared at Noble's ornate front gate, always open but traversable only by the chosen.
"Why is it the Archery Club's fault that you got pushed out of major status? Their maintenance ranking is second, so your real rival is fifth-place Magic Tower. Are you all collectively idiots?"
The boy's voice rang clear and bright, pleasant to the ear.
But his tone was so infuriating it incited violence.
"If you want to reclaim your status, don't scheme against the Archery Club—drag Magic Tower to sixth and climb to fifth yourselves. That's the honorable way, the proper demeanor. In other words, face, right?"
"...Kang Jae-hyeok?"
"Good lord! Why has that filthy bloodline come to this sacred place?"
Noble members recognized the approaching boy's face and recoiled in disgust.
Jae-hyeok checked No Jun-yeop's condition.
"You're bleeding a lot. Must've been tortured badly."
It was understandable.
Freshly kidnapped after morning training soaked in sweat, No Jun-yeop hadn't washed in a full day. Sweat streaked his face, and the damn gag had left it covered in drool stains.
The blood he'd just spat now smeared across his face, mixing with sweat and saliva without dripping off his chin.
"We didn't lay a hand—"
"Looking even uglier now. Nose and cheekbones smashed. How can you beat someone this badly?"
"We didn't hit him, you bastard!"
No Jun-yeop denied it vehemently.
No violence, and he absolutely hadn't gotten uglier.
It almost sounded like he was defending Noble, startling Jae-hyeok into a serious expression.
"Is this Stockholm syndrome? How bad was the torture to brainwash him this quick?"
"...Absolutely not, so don't speculate."
"We just kidnapped him. No physical or mental torture."
Every time Kang Jae-hyeok spoke, things escalated.
Noble members, growing uneasy, began refuting him in earnest.
Jae-hyeok nodded and slipped a hand into his jacket.
Click!
The recorder switched off.
"Anyway, you admit to the kidnapping."
"What...? You led us on purpose?"
Realizing Jae-hyeok's intent, Noble members frowned.
The atmosphere turned hostile, as if they'd pounce any second.
"Calm down."
Unexpectedly, Cha Jo-ah diffused the tension.
"Kang Jae-hyeok, what brings you here? Do you have a personal friendship with Club Leader No Jun-yeop? How did you know he was here?"
Cha Jo-ah majored in tactics and strategy.
She disliked unforeseen variables.
She viewed Jae-hyeok's presence itself as a problem.
"You don't have to answer now. Just leave peacefully for today."
"Lady...!"
"President!"
Noble members protested.
They couldn't fathom letting this insolent intruder who breached Noble without permission go so easily.
"Don't worry."
Cha Jo-ah didn't bother persuading them.
It was simply an order to trust and obey.
Members exchanged glances and nodded one by one.
They knew she wasn't one to take losses.
"Go."
"We don't want to share the same air, so get lost."
Noble members parted a path for Jae-hyeok.
Their gestures urging him back the way he came were aggressive.
More like shaking off filth from their hands.
No one cared about the recorder.
Thanks to kidnapping No Jun-yeop, they'd exposed the Archery Club's cheating and upheld school order—no qualms.
"Weird. Why are your necks so stiff?"
Jae-hyeok ignored the path Noble cleared.
He advanced straight ahead, as if the way he walked was the true path.
Toward the head seat in the clubroom.
Cha Jo-ah's position.
"House Kang is on the move... Don't you grasp the situation?"
Noble was a class society created by children.
By their own laws, the noblest one here was undoubtedly Jae-hyeok.