Chapter 121
Chapter 121
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: The Intruder's Disguise
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‘I need to focus.’
Rooftop of the main building.
Kang Jae-hyeok’s expression was deadly serious as he looked down at the students densely packed at every intersection, blocked off by the Discipline Squad.
He was uncharacteristically tense.
A beastman who had infiltrated the school with a clear objective.
This one was on a completely different level from anyone Jae-hyeok had encountered so far.
Not some innocent young student.
Nor a careless assassin who might let their guard down against a kid.
A pro.
A specialist who had slipped into Lion’s Castle undetected without a hitch.
‘Unlike the owner of that tamed monster, who’s restricted in movement while posing as school staff.’
A guy walking a razor’s edge to achieve his goal.
The moment his identity was exposed and he was backed into a corner, he’d do anything.
He might take students hostage to force an escape, or just lash out in rage and hurt them.
‘That can’t happen.’
Lee So-young had speculated that the beastman was disguised as a faculty member.
There’d been no recent transfer students, but staff turnover happened frequently.
Of course, they would’ve thoroughly vetted every new hire’s background…
‘But there were plenty of gaps to exploit.’
Jae-hyeok now understood the school’s inner workings.
A battleground where the Foundation, Association, government, and guilds vied for control.
Lion’s Castle was the arena for factional rivalries.
Even for low-level hires, each side fought to plant their own people.
If the beastman knew that, he could’ve easily landed a job by playing the factions’ positions and psychologies against each other.
Exactly.
Jae-hyeok agreed with Lee So-young’s guess.
Or more precisely, he hoped she was right.
If by some chance the beastman was disguised as a student, things would get far more complicated.
It would mean he had chameleon-like transformation abilities or had been active in Lion’s Castle long before.
‘Either way, a headache.’
A monster who could completely evade the surveillance nets of the professors and Martial Force.
Jae-hyeok prayed such a guy wasn’t hiding among the students.
He hoped Lee So-young had already spotted him and taken him down easily.
But the world wasn’t particularly kind to him.
No, it was downright hostile.
It had stolen his parents from a mere boy and forced him to watch his house’s downfall.
“…What’s this?”
A harbinger of disaster.
A foul stench carried on the wind brushed Jae-hyeok’s nose.
An extremely faint odor, one no ordinary human could detect.
But players weren’t ordinary humans.
Especially Jae-hyeok, whose stats rivaled A-rank players.
Chills ran down his spine.
He calculated the wind direction and fixed his gaze on two of the thirteen paths leading to the main building.
***
Once word spread that they were checking for wigs, not two-tone hair.
“Next!”
The students obediently followed the Discipline Squad’s orders.
They all wore displeased expressions, but none stopped the squad members from roughly probing their scalps.
“Annoying.”
Cheon Hye-ji felt the same.
A girl with lush blonde hair.
For someone who spent over two hours every morning styling it, the squad’s inspection was pure torture.
But defying the Discipline Squad as a mere student was impossible.
“Ah, come on! Don’t mess up my hair! Do you grab art like that when you’re appreciating it!?”
“Thick hair. The downy fuzz on your nape proves it’s real. Clear.”
“Eek! Who’re you calling fuzzy! You got CCTV in my room or what!?”
“Next.”
The Discipline Squad members were like machines.
They stayed focused on their duty, no matter the reaction.
Reacting to each one would never end.
People’s personalities and positions varied, after all.
Plenty didn’t fear the squad.
“Can’t you see it’s a sport cut, you bald bastard? You think I’d wear a wig this shitty even if I had to? You picking a fight?”
“I’ll sue! Touch me and it’s sexual harassment! You think guys can’t feel violated!?”
‘Exhausting.’
‘Starting at dawn for this nonsense.’
The squad were human too.
They questioned the student council’s order to inspect every single student without exception.
The backlash from the students wore them down.
But they didn’t show it.
The squad enforced rules on students.
Relations weren’t friendly.
Showing weakness would invite a storm of backlash.
“Next.”
It felt like a storm had passed…
The squad members looked pale after dealing with a string of particularly prickly ones.
“You’ve had a rough morning.”
A bright blonde boy approached the weary group.
His curly locks were thick.
As dense as that crazy first-year girl’s who’d ranted about CCTV.
‘This one’s real too, probably.’
The squad member thought so but reached for the boy’s head anyway.
The student council’s order was no exceptions.
The moment he did.
“Eek! That gorilla’s touching Min-woo’s head!”
“Stop right now! What if your filthy sweat ruins Min-woo’s pretty face? Can you take responsibility!?”
The surrounding first-year girls erupted.
Seemed like the blonde boy’s fan club.
‘Damn it all.’
Already exhausted, and now this…
As the frowning squad member’s hand neared the boy’s head.
“But what happens if my hair’s a wig?”
The boy asked with a smile.
“?”
The squad member felt an odd disconnect.
Something was off.
But he couldn’t pinpoint what.
“You’d be sent to the student council for further checks, I hear.”
“Really?”
The blonde boy tilted his head.
“Might be better that way?”
“…….”
A chill ran down the squad member’s spine.
He still didn’t grasp why.
The boy’s eyes, gazing at him, remained curved in a smile.
“No inspection?”
“Uh…? Well…”
Shaking off the unease, the squad member placed a hand on the boy’s crown.
Dense and fluffy, as expected.
‘Grab and pull here, per protocol…’
Recalling the manual, he lightly gripped and lifted a lock.
Then.
“…Huh?”
“Hm?”
The blonde wig came off with a flop, dangling from the squad member’s hand.
“It was a wig?”
The inspector,
“Unexpected…”
The watching students,
“No wayyyyy!”
And the presumed fan club girls.
All reacted with shock, just in varying flavors.
A boy who looked barely into his mid-teens.
No one could’ve guessed such a pretty one was bald.
The blonde boy—no, just the boy—scratched his now-bare scalp sheepishly.
“Genetics, you know. Can’t fight it.”
“Oh no…”
Sympathetic looks all around.
Baldness no potion could cure.
A plague modern man had yet to conquer.
“Min-woo! We’ll keep cheering for you!”
“No hair? So what! You’re still pretty, Min-woo! Yeah, no big deal! Just keep wearing wigs!”
The fan club girls tearfully waved as the squad dragged the boy away.
***
“Must be all these kids packed together. Schools really are childish and inefficient.”
O Ja-ha grumbled, lips pursed as he watched.
Flanking him as always were his twin sisters and the bobbed hippie girl.
O Ja-du and Mo Yo-a.
Young retainers of House Silla.
They were fed up with the farce blocking their way to class.
They wanted to flash their credentials at the squad and get out of here.
But Silla Kyung was silently waiting his turn.
What could retainers do if their lord stayed put?
Just gripe.
“…A beastman.”
Silla Kyung stared fixedly at the boy being hauled off by the squad.
His eyes flashed gold for an instant, making O Ja-ha grip his sword hilt.
“Something wrong?”
“Nothing to worry about. The one who started this takes responsibility.”
He didn’t know the exact situation.
But every incident had a cause.
Resolving it fell to whoever sparked it.
‘The era where nobles bore such burdens ended with Yaksha’s fall.’
Yet Yaksha’s own son refused to accept that.
Ironic.
Spotting Jae-hyeok arrive late and scan the area, Silla Kyung muttered.
“You’re outdated.”
For you of all people to ape Yaksha bordered on sin.
Jae-hyeok vanished back into the crowd,
Step.
And Silla Kyung stepped forward.
“Next… Huh?”
The squad member facing him panicked visibly.
“No wig… right?”
No exceptions.
The squad broke the student council’s order for the first time.
The heir to Korea’s greatest house, revered by all.
A National Treasure Candidate to boot—treating Silla Kyung normally was tough even for the squad.
At the same time.
“Bet the student council’s got a bunch like me by now?”
Min-woo asked, trailing silently behind the leading squad member.
“Who knows… How many baldies among thousands of students?”
“Hope there’s a lot.”
“Wishing a ton of people your fate? That’s petty. If I were you, I’d struggle to stay nice too, but you could watch your words.”
“Not that. More suspects, the better, right?”
“?”
Suspects?
The startled squad member whipped around.
Too late.
A cold sensation pierced his abdomen.