Field Practice

A full week had already slipped by since my spar with Min Ji-won.

Until then, the days had drifted past without incident, and a lazy haze had begun to settle over the students.

"As previously announced, in two days we will head out for tower exploration as part of your practical training."

The Academy schedule, however, had already read the slackening mood and had no intention of allowing it.

"As I explained beforehand, one instructor will be assigned to each team and will move with you. Entering the dungeons inside the tower is fundamentally prohibited. Should anyone attempt to do so, your instructor will intervene."

Dungeons.

Monster dens nested within the tower.

Plenty of uncertain information still surrounded them, but one fact had been firmly established: inside a dungeon, monsters poured forth without end.

Not endlessly overflowing, though — only up to a fixed number, precisely capped.

It varied by dungeon, but much like monsters respawning in a game, they regenerated on a set cycle. And they never left their designated territory, circling the same patch of ground as if bound by an invisible zone.

So long as you never set foot inside, they posed no threat at all. A mysterious kind of place.

It felt so thoroughly game-like that someone had simply named them dungeons.

The difficulty of the dungeons scaled with the tower itself, of course.

Definitely not somewhere students ought to be wandering into.

Even in a tower that wasn't particularly high-ranked, a place where monsters continuously spawned was still a bit much for students to handle.

"Artifacts may be used the same as in practice — both personal and school-issued. Keep in mind that this exercise is, first and foremost, tower exploration. Simply slaughtering as many monsters as possible will not earn you a high grade. Please take that to heart."

Sending every team into the same dungeon would have meant constant collisions during the search, so the groups were paired off — Teams 1 and 2, Teams 3 and 4, Teams 5 and 6 — two teams per dungeon.

The dungeon types differed, but the instructors had carefully selected ones of comparable difficulty, cutting off any fairness disputes before they could start.

The briefing itself wasn't long.

Exam precautions, the structure of the exercise, point deductions — a simple rundown. It wasn't the first time they'd heard it, and the instructors had been drilling the same points steadily, so there was no need to drag it out.

Once the explanation wrapped up, students drifted back one by one to practice with their teammates.

"All right. Let's get started."

I stretched and headed toward my group. The moment my eyes met Lee Ju-won's, I caught the way his whole body flinched.

Looks like the warm-up's going nicely.

All that relentless needling was clearly paying off. Lately Ju-won's condition had taken a visible nosedive. Apparently he got especially twitchy whenever I wasn't around.

Yesterday's conversation, too.

Click.

"Fuck! Why is it always me getting shit on?! There are over ten of us who came in as freshmen, and those bastards aren't doing a damn thing!"

He'd even gone that far, venting his frustration out loud.

Over ten spies planted among the freshmen, huh…

He was finally starting to spit out useful information. Contrary to my worries, the stress was stacking up smoothly. Good.

"Ju-won. You going to be able to move properly when you're wound that tight? Just try not to screw anything up, all right?"

"Ugh… y-yeah."

I needled him lightly out of habit, then casually shifted my gaze toward Min Ji-won's team.

They were far enough away that I couldn't make out the words, but from their expressions and gestures it was clear a heated exchange was underway.

On the surface it looked no different from before — except the hesitation I'd seen in her before our spar seemed to have vanished. I couldn't say for certain, but maybe she'd found whatever insight she'd been hoping for in that match.

Watching a talent like Min Ji-won grow quickly was a welcome sight.

This practical wouldn't be difficult enough to push her growth much further on its own. Still, experience was experience. It wouldn't hurt.

"Yeon-chan, aren't we starting?"

"Yeah. Coming."

At Yeon Min-ju's call — my own teammate — I committed Min Ji-won's figure to memory and walked slowly back to the group.

"That's enough for today."

The words had barely left my mouth before my exhausted teammates, already gasping for air, collapsed on the spot.

Thud—

Bodies that had been barely holding themselves upright crumpled in a heap.

"The practical's the day after tomorrow, so tomorrow we'll take it easy and skip free practice entirely. Get your condition right before we head into the tower."

"Mmh…"

"Haa… yeah."

Kang Min-hyeon and Yeon Min-ju answered in drained voices. My eyes drifted to Lee Ju-won, who was face-down on the ground without a word.

"Ju-won. Not going to answer? Don't tell me you're sulking just because I gave you a hard time."

"N-no…"

"Just do it right when it counts."

"…Okay."

He was probably clinging to whatever scraps of pride he had left. I had no intention of cutting him any slack.

Once I'd heard each of them answer, I nodded and told them to break. They hauled their battered bodies up and scattered in a hurry.

And then—

"Hey, we gotta go. Today's basically the last day — he might work us even harder."

Kang Min-hyeon, running his mouth for no reason, got worked even harder for real.

"This is Lee Ju-won."

The cold voice on the other end of the line made irritation rise in me before I could stop it.

"Nothing out of the ordinary. I'll be entering the tower for the practical as part of Park Yeon-chan's team."

Fucking bastard.

I knew the call was supposed to stay short and clean, but that tone of his was needling a temper that was already frayed.

"My apologies. The staff haven't had any opportunity to make contact with students… However, contact with the faculty is possible, so I—"

"I-I'm sorry."

Son of a bitch, screaming into the receiver like that.

The way he pounced the second I slipped up made me want to reach through the line and crush his throat shut.

The content of the words and the voice delivering them didn't match.

It was the tone of someone who expected there to be more — who was asking, without asking, whether that was really all.

Maybe I was imagining it. But the moment I decided that was what he meant, the irritation surged higher.

Just say it out loud, you bastard.

Silence stretched between us over the line. Feeling like I had to say something, I opened my mouth.

"If there's anything you'd like me to convey—"

Click.

The line went dead the instant I finished speaking.

"You rude piece of shit! Every single time you hang up, you leave the other person ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠feeling like absolute garbage!"

"Aaaagh! Goddamn it, that bastard!"

Lee Ju-won's shouting voice carried loud and clear through the window.

I didn't even have to try eavesdropping. The sound rolled out so far it wouldn't have been strange for the room two doors down to hear it.

Wow… the effect's even better than I expected.

From what I'd overheard, I'd picked up some genuinely useful information.

First: spies had infiltrated the faculty as well.

Second: it was now confirmed that Alpha was among the staff.

The problem was—

Getting a lead on Alpha isn't going to be easy.

I'd been certain enough from the moment I first overheard the name. Park Jae-hyun and I had thoroughly dug through the personal records of every Academy staff member, hunting for anyone who looked like a Freedom operative.

The result: total failure.

"Boss, this Alpha person… are we sure they're actually Academy staff?"

We'd turned up so little that Jae-hyun had been left shaking his head, questioning whether Alpha was even on the staff roster at all.

This time, I'm going to have to take however long it takes and pin them down.

Leaning on time wasn't ideal, I knew that. But for this, there was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠no other way.

The gaslighting operation was already starting to show results. All I had to do was keep tightening the noose, nice and slow.

Click.

"It seems the ones on the ground lack the insight to grasp the situation," the man said after ending the call, addressing the woman who sat with her back to him in the chair.

"They're trying to deceive us and make their move. Freshly planted agents aren't going to catch their trail that easily."

The woman answered with a lazy flick of her hand from the oversized chair, radiating mild annoyance.

"What would you have us do?"

The man's question hung in the air.

She had clearly heard him, but no answer came at once. She simply rocked the chair with a soft creak and hummed under her breath.

Knowing that was her habit when she was thinking, the man didn't press. He waited.

"Hmm… leave them be."

"Are you certain that's wise?"

The words had been tossed out so lightly that the man couldn't help asking again.

"Ordinarily, I would have purged the ones insolent enough to throw cold water on my plans and started over at a measured pace."

She gave the high-backed chair a casual turn. Crimson eyes met the man's as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she continued.

"But right now, an interesting variable has appeared, hasn't it?"

The chair creaked as she turned ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it further, her gaze shifting toward the sofa opposite the man.

"And that interesting variable would be me?"

A soft voice drifted from the sofa.

There, a woman's silhouette sat with her legs crossed. A mask hid her face, but black hair and black eyes blended into the unlit background until she seemed cut from pure darkness itself.

"Who knows. Too early to say — but it could be."

"How romantic of you, Queen of Freedom."

The woman on the sofa let out a quiet laugh. The creaking of the chair stopped cold.

The woman seated in it — the leader of Freedom — turned her crimson gaze fully on the sofa.

"That's right. I'll do whatever it takes for the plan. Call it inhumane. Say it's not a plan any human should make."

The red-eyed woman, Cha Min-hui — true head of Freedom — continued, her voice edged far sharper than before.