The Perfect Plan

It was ridiculously easy to spread the rumor about the perfect plan. All I had to do was hide my presence near the exhausted, worn-out noble students and leave behind a letter and some snacks. The crucial part was delivering everything strictly according to their year rankings. If the order got jumbled, the rumor might spread quickly at first but would lose all credibility. This step was essential if I wanted people to at least say it had originated from the S-class.

I shouldn't present too certain a reward. What if I'd offered something like a shop or extra points instead of the most noble honor? The excessive detail would only make them suspicious. They'd think it was too sudden and raise their guard. That was why I'd set a sloppy, ambiguous goal. The noble students, steeped in elitism, would naturally conclude, As expected, it's right to support the nobles. Then, by gently scratching at their ambition while invoking the concept of honor—the ultimate symbol of the privileged consciousness only they could share—everything would fall into place.

This is how it turns out.

The sharp stone arrow sliced through the wind with a scream and slammed straight into a student's forehead in the darkness. Following the letter's line about honor that only appeared in the darkest places, the students pushed forward through a blackness where they couldn't see an inch ahead. Each time sparse moonlight revealed their faces, another one vanished without a sound.

With neither main skills nor sub skills, this is the only way I can win.

Since I couldn't use mana or activate any skills, the only way to overcome my incompetent abilities was to make full use of the environment. When I judged the situation coldly, I couldn't guarantee victory against even a top-four ranked student at my current level. Of course, battles aren't decided by numbers alone, but recognizing the reality of the situation was what mattered.

"Kwaaaaaaaaah!"

The bowstring twanged and the stone arrow struck another student's head with a heavy thud. Even as screams echoed around them, the noble students would never stop moving. The final line of the letter—Even with danger lurking, can you still claim the honor?—had them by the throat. They were probably thinking, For the sake of obtaining the most noble honor, a trap of this level is only natural. They'd dismiss the fallen as fools, rejoice that their competitors had decreased, and charge forward with nothing but the baseless confidence that they simply needed to move faster than everyone else.

But as expected, their overall speed has slowed considerably.

That was only what they believed. In reality, they weren't running at all. Or rather, they couldn't.

Thud. Thudududuk.

"Noooooooo!"

One student who had been walking fine, too focused on the arrows, failed to notice the ground giving way beneath him and fell straight down. Since arrows alone obviously couldn't handle everything, the multiple traps I'd installed were finally showing their worth. The traps I'd dug with painstaking care from the moment I decided on this plan lay hidden in the darkness, quietly waiting for their moment. Stepping on a spiderweb would trigger wooden logs to spring out, rocks to roll, or the floor to collapse. The entire setup made it feel as if they were true knights who spared nothing—not even their own bodies—for the sake of honor.

The reason I could install such bold traps and fire arrows without hesitation was simple: I trusted the professors. They were monitoring every single student, so they would definitely pull them out before any serious injury occurred. Knowing they wouldn't actually die, I could afford to create traps that felt lethal.

But the traps I'd prepared weren't the only ones. The greatest trap of all—the one I'd created myself—was none other than the noble students themselves.

"You idiots! I'm going first! Acceleration, activate!"

"Where do you think you're going?! You can't go alone!"

"You think we'll just let you pass?!"

"Uwaaaak! What the hell are you doing?!"

There's no way people aiming for the same goal could ever become true comrades.

They weren't cooperating; they were literally just walking alongside each other. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠proof was how they refused to help anyone who fell into a trap and instead felt genuine joy when others were eliminated. In that kind of atmosphere, if one person tried to use a skill to pull ahead? It was an absolutely unforgivable act.

Because first-years couldn't activate skills without making a sound, their position was immediately exposed. The other nobles who heard it would naturally move to check them. The inability to move quickly, the difficulty of avoiding traps in the dark, and the pressure of knowing competitors surrounded them on all sides—these three factors were far too heavy for seventeen-year-olds to bear.

Still, as time passed, a winner would eventually emerge. Only then did they finally realize the truth.

"What? There's nothing here!"

They had been deceived.

And that was the exact moment I executed the final phase of my plan.

I screamed at the top of my lungs, spreading the false information far and wide. Before the deceived student could say anything else, I created a misunderstanding and let it spread like a virus. Their thinking shifted from Could it really exist? to It actually does?, filling them with the burning desire to seize it for themselves.

But I didn't stop there. I repeated the same words over and over so the commoner students could hear it too. By using the vague phrase "that bastard" to point at an unspecified target, I made every student around them suspicious of one another, planting the seeds of chaos. Commoner students who believed it wasn't a lie and that there really must be something gathered toward the area where the noble students were.

Once that happened, the exhausted noble students would be attacked by the relatively well-rested commoners.

Then naturally the nobles' rankings will drop while the commoners' rise.

Since the noble students had been diligently triggering all the traps by falling into them, the commoners wouldn't encounter any. Moreover, unlike the nobles, the commoners didn't view each other as enemies. After all, it had been clearly established that the one holding the most noble honor was unmistakably a noble student.

Commoners target nobles, but nobles cannot target commoners.

Only one person could claim the most noble honor. The nobles, unable to cooperate, would turn on each other while the commoners exploited those openings and devoured them.

Perfect.

The most interesting part of this situation was how the atmosphere of chaos would completely envelop the uninhabited island. Once the students who had fallen into a lull all began fighting, nonexistent fighting spirit would burst into flame. And since they were at an age easily influenced by their surroundings, they would quickly catch the mood. Victorious cheers and screams of defeat. These two sounds would fill the island and spit out eliminated students like crazy.

Not bad.

Now that I'd lit such a beautiful spark, the firewood would keep piling up on its own. It was obvious how things would turn out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠even without watching, so I turned to leave the area. Or rather, I tried to leave.

If only she hadn't been there.

"Meiri, stop hiding and come out."

"...How did you know?"

Because you're the only one in this entire situation who has zero interest in what's happening.

The absolute forbidden land, Sinmibi. She came from a place where people lived lives completely detached from the secular world. There was no way someone like her would be drawn to worldly values like the most noble honor or victory. Among the 1,523 students, she was the sole existence my plan couldn't reach. That was Meiri.

"It's hard not to notice when you're radiating mana all over the place."

"You can sense natural mana?"

"Huh? What are you talking about? Natural mana?"

"Ah... forget it if you don't know."

Since Lee Seokhyun was a character with high late-game growth potential, I needed to compensate heavily for his early weaknesses. And compensating for those weaknesses included not only raising his personal stats but also learning how to handle specific situations.

Meiri's case is special, after all.

She was a fraudulent main character—you couldn't even face her without natural mana. Standing at 131 centimeters with a small, delicate frame, always wearing a sleepy expression and moving with languid gestures. Looking at her appearance alone, one might think she was weak, but she was the undeniable powerhouse ranked second among the first-years.

I expected we'd run into each other, of course.

When I'd gathered most of the students using something like honor as bait, I knew that if it was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Meiri, she would come find me. Since she had no interest in the situation itself, she would naturally be curious about the mastermind behind it.

"So why did you come?"

"Huh?"

"Why did you come? You must have some purpose for approaching me."

I'd considered hundreds of countermeasures for dealing with Meiri, but nothing special ever came to mind for her alone. Sinmibi was that unique, and her personality itself was impossible to predict. Even when I'd played the game directly, there had been more than a few occasions where she ignored the choices and moved according to her own whims.

"...You're not flustered?"

"Why would I be flustered talking to a classmate?"

I spoke naturally and approached her without hesitation. Since it would be hard to hear from a distance, I made an expression that suggested I simply wanted to talk closer. With purely innocent intentions, without the slightest hint of killing intent, I moved carefully—stealthily.

Meiri doesn't see me as a beast anyway.

Having communicated with countless animals in Sinmibi, she wouldn't be overwhelmed by my presence. She might even have hugged me, calling me a cute teddy bear.

Meiri, the fact that you never learned how to suspect people is your biggest flaw.

The first question she had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠asked me—whether I could use natural mana. The reason I'd played dumb was entirely deliberate.

I'm not stupid enough to tell a competitor everything I can do.

If she learned I could use natural mana, then naturally—by any common sense—Meiri might have become wary of my approach. That would mean no openings, and the chance to defeat her would never appear.

"Normally people get flustered when they're caught like this... Isn't the mastermind supposed to act that way?"

"Aren't you seeing me as too much of a villain?"

"...I didn't see you that way."

Meiri's pure white skin glowed under the moonlight. Her eyes, untainted by the secular world, overflowed with pure curiosity, and her gestures were filled with wonder at this new environment. The way her lips kept moving told me indirectly just how many questions she had. Having left Sinmibi and begun proper academy life, she must have been bursting with curiosity. I could understand completely.

"Do you have something you want to ask me, by any chance?"

"Huh?"

It was important to initiate the conversation first and approach her kindly. That way she wouldn't suspect me. She would firmly believe I was a kind person.

Step. Step. Step.

"No, it's just that your face says you have a lot you want to ask about."

"Ah... is it that obvious? Actually..."

"I have one thing to tell you before that. Is it okay if I say it first?"

"Huh? Uh..."

The moment Meiri learned I couldn't use natural mana, her wariness had completely melted away. And I had used the conversation as a pretext to naturally close the distance until I stood right beside her. The match was already over.

Innocent Meiri. When you lived in Sinmibi, no one tried to deceive you. Everyone treated you with genuine sincerity.

But this wasn't Sinmibi. This was Mirinae Academy.

"Ugh... ugh... uh...?"

Reality could be cruel sometimes.

Thud!

No matter how strong the opponent was, if I drove my full strength into a fist without even coating it in mana and slammed it into their solar plexus—

"I... I really am a bad person..."

Thump.

She collapsed, of course. Meiri, who couldn't even finish her sentence, was eliminated on the spot.

"Mass elimination of nobles, more than half the commoners eliminated, and the second-ranked first-year eliminated."

Mulling over the results of this plan, I let a thick smile spread across my face. The operation had been a complete success.