Chapter 64: Isn’t Travel in Academy Stories Always Like This? (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 64: Isn’t Travel in Academy Stories Always Like This? (1)
When I woke up in the morning, I felt worse than I had in a very long time.
One could say I was lucky to only feel “terrible” after taking a Named character’s signature move head-on, but that didn’t magically make the exhaustion go away.
“Oh, you’re up? I’m almost done, so go wash your face first.”
But I couldn’t possibly pass up a breakfast made by my cross-dressing roommate.
Honestly, I really shouldn’t get used to this, if only out of guilt, but I had completely fallen for the magic of a life with warm rice and soup every morning.
The side dishes, prepared with nutrition in mind, and the broth, seasoned with ingredients easy on the stomach, had already completely captured my heart and body.
My body had reached a point of no return; I could no longer imagine a life where I didn’t eat with Ha-ni.
“I’m really sorry for just freeloading every day.”
“Why do you say the exact same thing every single morning? Stop talking nonsense and go wash up so you can eat.”
As I sat at the table and sipped the clear soup, its warmth spread through my weary body.
Now this is a real breakfast.
“Pfft. You look like a total middle-aged mister right now.”
“…I’m not that old yet, you know.”
“Whatever. We’re the same age, so obviously I’m joking.”
Just a small curiosity: how on earth does she make all this while I’m sleeping? Shouldn’t I normally wake up from the noise?
“Oh, right. Lilac said we should have an after-party for the ranking tournament.”
“We do that every season, do we really need an after-party?”
“Lilac’s treating everyone to celebrate maintaining his co-top rank.”
“Well, that changes things.”
“Typical. Anyway, he said we should go on a trip with the Travel Club this weekend and have a barbecue.”
Come to think of it, why did she join the Travel Club in the first place?
I couldn’t point it out right now, but I assumed she had her reasons…?
“But the seniors are going too, right? It’s not just us, so can we really call it an after-party?”
“Hey, we’re just using it as an excuse to hang out. Does that stuff really matter? Man, looking at you like this, Ga-eul was right. Should I try it too? Hey, you little loser~”
“Ugh, not you too with the ‘loser’ talk. Kim Ga-eul is more than enough.”
“Fine, fine~ So prickly.”
Ha-ni was cackling as usual.
For someone who had drawn the sword known as a Cursed Blade, she seemed perfectly fine.
“Hey, let’s head out. We’re going to be late.”
“Can’t be late for Professor Cathy’s morning roll call.”
“Whatever you say~”
It felt like today was going to be another peaceful day.
* * *
The thing about being a transmigrator in an academy story:
If you wish for a peaceful day, you’re asking for trouble.
An incident exploded without any warning whatsoever.
On the desk where Butt usually sat with a strange smirk, piles of vegetable boxes were now stacked, and a farmer with a familiar face stood guard beside them.
Consequently, Butt had been reduced to a trembling mess like Kim Ga-eul, shivering near my desk.
What was this insane sight?
Was I actually still dreaming?
“Oh, you’re finally here! I was worried the freshness of these vegetables I prepared would fade while I waited!”
I arrived at school only to find a terrorist in the classroom.
He was even polishing a cucumber.
After meticulously wiping the cucumber while his bronzed muscles rippled, he held it out to the person in the seat in front of mine—the one who used to be Kim Ga-eul’s friend.
“You. You can’t eat cucumbers even though you don’t have an allergy. And yet, you dared to throw food on the floor?”
Ah, shit. I remembered now.
That guy definitely said he’d head back today for my sake, so he must have intended to finish his business first.
For some reason, that bastard Lilac wasn’t even thinking of stepping in and was just watching, while Cheon Yu-hak had AirPods in his ears, completely dissociating himself from the situation.
“Eat the cucumber. It’s only because you haven’t tasted a delicious cucumber yet. A chilled cucumber is delicious just for its refreshing burst and moist texture in the mouth. If you soak it in honey, it tastes just like a melon…!”
He was a madman.
“If there’s an unavoidable reason, fine. Simply hating it and running away is also fine. But if you’re just running away without even giving it a proper try, then I pity you.”
Since he wasn’t shirtless today, he looked like a handsome, well-built man, but that only made the scene more surreal.
“No, I mean…”
“Open your mouth! Eat the cucumber I grew…!”
It was such a fanatical sight that Kim Ga-eul was covering her mouth with a distorted expression… wait, no. Looking closely, the corners of her mouth were twitching upward.
I did call him for that purpose, but seeing it in person felt a bit much. Are you feeling refreshed now, Ga-eul?
“You’re the only one left! Everyone else has accepted the vegetables! Once your turn is over, I’ll be busy with scouting offers, so eat the cucumber…!”
Screams echoed through the classroom, and a girl’s mouth was violated by a bumpy green vegetable accompanied by a crisp, refreshing sound.
“…Lilac, why didn’t you stop that?”
“Hmm, he doesn’t seem like such a bad person?”
For the first time since transmigrating, I doubted this guy’s sense of justice.
Is he a psychopath too?
“Oh… it’s good.”
However, after savoring the long green object, the girl looked at the farmer with a startled expression.
“See? It’s delicious, isn’t it? Don’t throw away food from now on. Next time, I won’t let you off with just a cucumber.”
“See?”
What do you mean ‘See?’, you bastard? If you’re a normal person, you should stop a terrorist the moment he enters the classroom.
Why are you trying to pull off some weirdly touching fraud? That kind of thing doesn’t work on readers these days…!
But perhaps I was the only one who thought so, as the classroom had already taken on an oddly heartwarming atmosphere.
Wait, am I the weird one?
Is this the average emotional sensitivity of characters in a trashy novel…?
“Whew, now I should get to the main point.”
The madman’s gaze turned toward me.
“It seems you had a hearty breakfast. I can see your nutrients are rejoicing.”
For the record, his Talent couldn’t see anything like that. In other words, it was just his delusion.
“And you still haven’t left any food behind…! Come to our farm after you graduate from the Academy! We’ll start your successor training immediately!”
Burdensome muscles rippled under his clothes.
It was better than them rippling while exposed, but it was still not a sight I particularly wanted to see.
“That’s enough.”
The one who stepped out in front of me to block him wasn’t Lilac or Cheon Yu-hak, but Ha-ni.
Ah, Ha-ni…! I knew I could count on you, dammit…! You’re so cool…!
“Ah, I got too excited. I can just come see you whenever I drop by to donate vegetables in the future. I was too hasty.”
Ha-ni reached for Seol-ah at her waist, looking displeased.
“…Hmm, by the way, I thought this when I saw you last time too, but are you a guy?”
…I thought we might get through this quietly, but the madman veered off in a different direction.
A look of anxiety crossed Kang Ha-ni’s face, and her hand moved to the sword at her waist.
“Your body fat and bone structure are exactly like—”
But then, an urgent voice came from outside.
“Over here! Professor!”
“Mr. Ban Gi-san! I heard you came to donate vegetables!?”
It was a security guard with an eggplant in his mouth and Professor Cathy.
“Ah, dear. I must be going! I hope you seriously consider my offer! Boy!”
With those words, he leaped out the window like a character in a manga.
The fact that he didn’t break the window gave the impression of someone where madness and common sense coexisted.
…Well, you do need one character like that among the villains.
Since I had already made the scouting offer and couldn’t take it back, I decided to think of it that way.
Professor Cathy hesitated between chasing him or starting the roll call with us as we stood there blankly, but she eventually stood before the chalkboard.
“Good morning, everyone, right? Today is the day the latest rankings, reflecting the tournament results, are released. You’ve all been waiting, haven’t you?”
And so, she started the roll call as if nothing had happened.
I understand. You really don’t want to get involved with a true madman.
* * *
“So-hyun, what’s your rank?”
After all the classes were over, the usual group was chatting on the way back to the dormitory, and the topic naturally turned to rankings.
“Me? 336th.”
“Huh? That’s lower than I thought.”
“Really? I think it’s higher than expected.”
Ha-ni asked as if she were surprised, but by my standards, it wasn’t bad at all.
Since I had spent all the points I earned early on and from the Jin Gyeong-tae incident, this was the result of calculating purely with points from the ranking tournament. 336th out of 400 freshmen was a decent rank.
“Lilac, what about you?”
“Hmm, I’m still 1st. Yu-hak is 2nd.”
“Oh, top student. If I had just kept dueling this time, that spot would be mine.”
“I don’t plan on losing that easily, you know.”
“Then what about you, Han-hee?”
“Me? I messed up the written exam a bit at entrance, so I’m 6th right now.”
“What about Ga-eul?”
“I’m 140th. Hehe, loser, I guess I’m the closest to you after all.”
Is that really something to be so happy about…?
“Yu-na?”
“Yes, I’m 17th.”
The Pink Chihuahua smiled brightly and wagged her tail at Lilac.
She was a cold city chihuahua to everyone else, but she was infinitely warm only to her master.
“I see.”
But it seemed Lilac couldn’t even tell the difference.
Lee Yu-na, perhaps at a stage where she no longer got stressed by this, accepted it as her own karma and moved on.
“Oh, right. So-hyun, you’re definitely coming on the Travel Club trip this weekend, right? No backing out.”
“I said I’m going. How many times are you going to check?”
“I’m just worried you’ll try to bail again~ Even though you know you’ll love it.”
“Is it really that great? Midterms are right after we get back from the trip.”
“Hmm? What do exams have to do with a trip? So-hyun, you’re supposed to take exams based on how much you’ve usually studied.”
“That’s true~”
Lilac was a genius, so he didn’t struggle with studying, and Ha-ni didn’t really care much about the written side to begin with.
Lee Yu-na and Kim Ga-eul seemed a bit dumbfounded by that attitude, but neither said much, perhaps out of anticipation for the trip.
“It’s going to be so much fun. I’ve actually loved traveling since I was in elementary school!”
“Is that so?”
It was a setting I already knew, of course, but I gave a generic reaction.
“Oh, right. I’m going to be the one grilling the meat on the trip, so don’t anyone else touch it. Just eat and relax.”
Ah, for the record, there was a description that Lilac’s meat-grilling skills were top-notch. There were even rumors that some heroines were seduced by his grilling.
“Oh, you’re good at grilling?”
“Of course. I can confidently say it’s a skill worth bragging about.”
“Lilac is great at it. His father really loves traveling, and Lilac learned by following him around.”
With Lee Yu-na chiming in, Lilac got even more excited and started boasting about his grilling skills.
Watching them laugh and chat together made me feel warm, but on the other hand, I felt a bit sorry for them.
As is always the case with the first trip in an academy story, it was an event perfectly suited for an incident to occur.
In the novel, several Villain Alliances appear besides The Twelve Zodiacs. The first trip of the Travel Club was the episode where one of them made its first appearance, and the protagonist got stranded in a dungeon with his friends.
This event was forced through at almost the exact same time in the original work, so there was no way it would go off track.
Well, still.
Since I’m here, I won’t let the trip get too bad.
I’ll make sure we can grill meat, have fun, and treat the dungeon incident as just a surprise mishap, so don’t worry too much.
I mean, what kind of variable could there possibly be?
* * *
“Hmm? Where the Travel Club kids are going this time? Since it’s before midterms, we’re planning to stay domestic and keep it simple.”
“Ah, I see. Then, is there anything we could do to help?”
“Oh, I’d love it if Professor Cathy came along. The young kids will like you more than me, anyway. Besides…”
“Yes, I also want to help ensure nothing happens to the Academy cadets.”
“Inspector Kang Na-hyun is practically a celebrity! The kids will be so surprised.”
“Is that so? Thank you for your permission.”
It would be on the day of the trip that Kang So-hyun would realize his group had grown a bit larger without his knowledge.
“Unnie, what if So-hyun hates that professors are joining in while the kids are playing?”
“There’s nothing to worry about. You know our So-hyun isn’t that kind of kid.”
“I’m just anxious.”
“I guarantee he’ll love it.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
And so, with unexpected variables joining in, the first trip of the Academy story began.