Chapter 411: Peaceful Daily Life at Leilan Academy (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 411: Peaceful Daily Life at Leilan Academy (2)
“Major Restructuring of the Leilan Academy Student Council.”
“A Special Organization Beyond the Rankings. Are There Cadets Above Cadets?”
“Effectively Exceeding Cadet Authority—Are They Being Treated as Elite Heroes in Waiting?”
“Newly Formed as an Autonomous Body of Five to Ten Cadets. Could Be Dangerous Depending on Their Capabilities…”
“Internal Selection Already Underway; Voices Crying ‘Unfair’ Arise. Is that so?”
Indeed.
After consulting with the Chairperson and explaining the situation to my friends, it was great that they all agreed to drop out of the rankings without much protest.
The problem erupted elsewhere. About a week after we had huddled together, synthesized our opinions on rights and duties, established our own safety measures, and handed the final proposal to the Chairperson—
Simultaneously with the Chairperson’s public announcement, Leilan Academy was being torn apart by critics from both inside and out.
From the outside, claims arose that this was a new form of discrimination that transcended the rankings. From the inside, voices demanded that every member except for me, Lilac, and Cheon Yu-hak be selected through a fair process.
…I can ignore the outsiders since there are always people looking for an excuse to keep the Academy in check, but are the people throwing a fit on the inside actually insane?
I created this system with them in mind, and they’re complaining about it?
What, are they scared of us but think Ha-ni and Ga-eul are pushovers?
It was a moment that made me realize I’d been neglecting internal Academy affairs while wandering around outside lately. It also reminded me that I might need to discipline my fellow students with a bit of “tough love.”
Surprisingly, everyone except me seemed quite calm—or rather, they mostly didn’t care.
“Aren’t you guys mad?”
“What’s there to be mad about? Well, it is a bit annoying to be looked down upon compared to Lilac and Cheon Yu-hak.”
Judging by her usual snickering, Ha-ni really didn’t seem angry.
“But they’re not entirely wrong, are they? People can have complaints when they see a roster handpicked by you and the Chairperson. If they’re better than us, it’s only right they take the spots.”
Even though she hadn’t fully adjusted to her new sword yet, Ha-ni’s eyes were brimming with confidence.
“I welcome any challenge. They think they’re better than me? If they can prove it, let them try. They say you don’t know if the gap has grown or shrunk until you get hit, so why should I run away?”
Ga-eul, who was mimicking throwing jabs with a “Pow! Pow!” sound, shared a similar sentiment.
“The chance to prove I’m not just a pet has finally arrived! I’m not the sidekick I used to be!”
“Hmm? Honestly, I’m not that interested. Though I won’t turn away anyone who goes out of their way to come get beaten up.”
“Rather than the position itself, I should give my all to honor the challenger’s will.”
On the other hand, Aisha and Master didn’t seem particularly interested, though they didn’t seem inclined to forfeit either.
“Well, honestly, excluding the ones just acting out because they see an opening, how many people will actually step up once a proper stage is set?”
“Mm, that’s true. Everyone’s just worked up right now. If we actually start taking applications, there probably won’t be as many as you think.”
Hearing Cheon Yu-hak and Lilac say that made me think they might be right.
“Let’s keep it simple, simple~!”
“Yeah, let’s just take applicants, hold a tournament, and tell them to fight us directly.”
“If there are people on par with us, we can just recruit more. You said the limit was ten people, right?”
Everyone seemed to view it as a light matter, something on the level of a ranking match.
We organized our thoughts and sent the proposal to the Chairperson for approval. She also seemed to think of it as just a small tournament and gave her okay without much fuss.
Yes.
I—no, we—had made a mistake.
Just because the bad seeds and loitering delinquents had vanished from the Academy didn’t mean the dormant nutjobs had disappeared as well.
Since we were close with the professors and often skipped class for “fieldwork,” we failed to realize how sweet the “right to skip classes freely and be exempt from ranking matches” would sound to cadets starved for time.
The news that we were accepting challengers spread across the Academy like wildfire. It reached the ears of every eccentric who had been lying low, only reacting to their specific interests.
“…Oh, I was already running low on time for my new cooking research.”
Some applied for the sake of their club activities.
“…I have been reborn. I have undergone blood-soaked training. This time, I will convey my feelings properly.”
Some applied for purposes that would make anyone who heard them recoil in horror.
“So this is basically a contest to see who’s the strongest in the Academy? Maybe I’ll give it a shot.”
And some applied purely to test their own strength. An absurd number of cadets signed up for the test.
* * *
“…I misheard you, right?”
“…No, you heard correctly. Including the seniors, there are 300 participants in total. We can’t have you face all of them, so we plan to hold preliminaries to filter them out. The final eight remaining will then duel the opponent of their choice among you.”
“No, how many people are even in this Academy for 300 to apply…?”
“Ah, let me correct myself. It’s not exactly 300.”
“Pardon? Right?”
“Yes. While there were 300 applicants on the first day, the number will likely increase. Some 4th years might cancel due to graduation prep, but I expect the number of additional applicants to be higher.”
“We might as well just force the entire student body to participate and call this tournament the ranking match.”
“…The preliminaries are tournament-style, so we can’t do that.”
“I was joking. I’m just saying.”
Feeling a strange sense of fatigue, I looked outside. To my surprise, the line of applicants for the Student Council was still growing.
Well, some probably just applied to hop on the bandwagon, and since the safety measures are solid, it shouldn’t be a problem.
…Surely the entire school won’t end up participating, right?
* * *
Contrary to Kang So-hyun’s expectation that accidents like ambushes or lynchings might occur, the Academy sailed smoothly toward the first day of the preliminaries without incident.
…Was it just an illusion that this brief silence felt like the calm before a storm?
While everyone observed each other with a strange tension, time passed and the arena doors opened.
As everyone watched with bated breath to see who their opponent would be, a man walked toward the arena with a dignified air.
He had a tall, muscular build that could be described as manly.
His face was rugged—not ugly, but not exactly handsome either.
Woo Jae-hee.
The tanker for Cheon Yu-hak’s party, Silver Bullet, and a possessor of talent recognized even by Kang So-hyun.
“This time, I’ll show them.”
They say a man speaks with his back.
Standing in the arena with his ideals shouldered, Woo Jae-hee scanned the audience and accurately located his party members watching him.
I knew you guys would come.
He was a man who had always lost in ways that felt like the world was conspiring against him.
But this time, all the monsters were seeded.
If Lilac, Yu-hak, and Kang So-hyun weren’t there…! Wouldn’t he finally have a chance to shine?
“Now then, who is the poor soul destined to be sacrificed for the sake of my harem path?”
He had intentionally avoided looking at his opponent to look cool, but surprisingly, the person who walked out from the opposite side was a female senior of quite short stature.
Even if he was over 180cm, there had to be at least a 30cm difference between them.
…This felt like bullying.
No, of course, being small didn’t mean being weak, but still, with such a glaring difference in appearance, it wouldn’t look cool at all even if he won.
In fact, it was more likely to give him a bad reputation.
It can’t be helped. I’ll aim to win as gracefully as possible and save the cool poses for the next opponent.
“Ah, my opponent is a junior~? Nice to meet you~”
Hmm, she has a bit of a cute impression, but I can’t let my guard down.
Yu-hak and Kang So-hyun had both said his biggest weakness was letting his guard down. He decided not to underestimate her and to observe her while holding out with his specialty: defense.
“Oh, you’re not taking the first move? Then I won’t be shy~”
She slowly pulled something from her robe and showed it to him as if showing off.
“A kitchen knife…?”
Seeing her hold something like that with such a cute face created a massive sense of dissonance. It was actually a bit scary…?
“Hey, don’t be scared. I brought this to use for cooking. A kitchen knife is a tool for cooking; it wasn’t born to hurt anyone. It’s just that many people use them dangerously. A kitchen knife is actually the warmest blade in the world.”
…Cooking? In this situation? Was her talent related to cooking?
If so, she wouldn’t be suited for combat.
“…Are you going to say something like, ‘The ingredient is you’?”
“Haha, you’re funny. Good joke. Want to join the Cooking Research Club? You can be in two clubs at once.”
“…I’m not interested.”
“Really? That’s a shame. Cooking is fun.”
Just as his tension was about to snap because there was no sign of the fight starting, Woo Jae-hee’s talent, Survival Instinct, began to send out warnings.
And his overwhelming reflexes, which transcended human limits, allowed Woo Jae-hee to succeed in dodging a mysterious strike that a normal person could never have avoided.
“Oh~? You dodged it.”
Woo Jae-hee blinked at the sight before him, searching his memory to see if he had misseen it. Unfortunately, no matter how many times he replayed it, the memory didn’t change.
The moment she swung the kitchen knife through the empty air, the arena floor had turned thin like noodles and lunged toward him.
“What did you just do…!?”
“Huh? Can’t you tell? It’s cooking.”
…This is cooking?
“Yes, it’s cooking. Cooking becomes more delicious the more you put your heart into thinking about the other person, and better dishes come out the more you appreciate the ingredients. Cooking is an expression of gratitude, respect for the ingredients, and consideration for the other person.”
…Those are nice words, but what on earth do they mean?
“Then, tell me. Why do you think bad-tasting food exists?”
“…Because the cooking skills are poor?”
“Haha, that’s not wrong~ But I think it happens because of a lack of respect and gratitude. You treat the ingredients haphazardly and cook them poorly because you ignore them, right? You do a sloppy job because you don’t care about the person who’s going to eat it~”
No, seriously, what is this?
“What I just did was, well, I put malice into the cooking beyond just indifference. I took the will to attack you, used the floor as the ingredient, and swung it not haphazardly, but specifically targeting you. Should I call it ‘Special Material Noodles That Make You Scream Horribly’?”
I’m asking what that even means…!
“What should I cook next? Failures are meaningless, so a dish that can handle you more surely would be good. Right? Oh, thanks to you, I just had a great idea.”
“I surren—!”
“No. Once I’ve decided to make a dish, I make the person eat it no matter what. That’s my conviction.”
I think that’s a very nuisance-like conviction…!
“Mmm, ideas are gushing out. Since it’s a dish for you, I hope you’ll taste every bit of it.”
The moment she swung the kitchen knife again, the floor on all sides rose up to create a sealed room, and something she threw inside exploded and scattered everywhere.
“F-Flour?”
“This dish is ‘Flour Scattered in a Sealed Room and a Small Spark.’”
Along with the thought that this was an incredibly ominous combination, Woo Jae-hee became certain of one thing.
His luck with matchups might be the worst in the world.
A massive explosion occurred, and his body was sent flying high into the sky.
* * *
“…Oh boy. Why did that guy have to get matched with that senior? Poor bastard.”
Watching that scene, I couldn’t help but offer my condolences to Woo Jae-hee’s unfortunate luck.
Before I regained my memories, she was the culprit who made me absolutely refuse whenever Ga-eul asked me to go to the Cooking Research Club with her.
Talent: Imaginary Cooking.
It was a bizarre talent that derived a “result” called cooking by selecting ingredients and mediums based on one’s imagination.
It was a peculiar talent heavily influenced by the user. I wasn’t sure if she was the best user for it or the worst.
She was a human with an incredibly vivid imagination—the biggest problem with Imaginary Cooking.
In the end, she was a nutjob who had figured out the complex usage of her talent to create dishes that tasted like heaven, dishes that tasted like hell, and even dishes that weren’t of this world.
She had no real interest in grades, so she was always holed up in the Cooking Research Club. And while she wasn’t exactly “strong” in a traditional sense, her personality was so eccentric that, honestly, I had no desire to proactively get close to her.
“He’s doomed.”
He was holding out well enough by utilizing his talent, but Woo Jae-hee was the type who fought primarily using physical defense, recovery, and evasion based on sensation.
It would take time to respond to such “4D” attacks.
By the time Woo Jae-hee was sent flying for the fourth time, and every time he tried to shout something, the small senior would smile and feed him a new “dish.”
…Well, let’s just think of it as bad luck, Jae-hee. Your opponent was that senior.
Yeah, well. As always.
“Aaaaaaaagh!!!!!”
It’s not very cool. Man.