Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Plan (2)
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"Long time no see, everyone."
Standing at the podium was Professor Kang Hyo-rin, the genius researcher on dungeons and monsters.
It was the first time seeing her since she vanished last time due to some urgent family matter.
"Something unfortunate came up at home... so I'm finally back to teaching."
Professor Kang Hyo-rin must have really been through it—dark circles stretched long under her eyes.
"But let's push forward anyway! I haven't finished grading the pop quiz from last time, so today we'll do Strategic Chess."
"Aah..."
Sighs spread through the cadets.
Strategic Chess was that notoriously complex practical exercise they all hated.
"Sweet! The Strategic Chess I've been waiting for!"
"...?"
Ever since joining the same club, I'd gotten closer to Lucy and Lumi. They weren't right next to me, but they sat side by side in the seats ahead, with me alone directly behind.
I couldn't see their faces, but the faint twin scent wafting from them during class made it impossible to focus.
The reason I'd reacted to Lucy's words with surprise? Lucy wasn't the studious type.
Not every mage excels at studying. Sure, there were things like magic circles you had to memorize outright, but most mages just relied on talent.
Lucy was the character who always clutched her head and wailed during theory lectures. So why was she so confident now?
About Strategic Chess, of all things, which was notoriously tough.
The hologram monitors mounted on our desks flickered to life, forming chessboard-style fields.
Whoa, it's been a while. For real.
Strategic Chess—one of Victoria Academy's practical exercises. It was like a game where you led a raid team as the leader to conquer a dungeon.
Back when I was a student, I'd always wished, If only tests were actual games~. But games are fun precisely because they're games.
If you couldn't get into a good college because you sucked at games, or if your mom nagged you for it, you'd probably say, Ah, I wish I could ditch games and study instead.
This Strategic Chess was the same.
A turn-based game like chess: move your team members one by one, capture all the enemy monsters, and win.
Even in the original game, Strategic Chess had a bad reputation.
It boiled down to three elements.
The dungeon backdrop.
The enemy monsters.
Your controllable raid team.
Each had over fifty patterns, randomized every time.
Difficulty ranged from easy to nightmare.
Probably starting with easy ones since it was our first go, but knowing Professor Kang Hyo-rin—who got a kick out of our suffering with that nightmare pop quiz last time—who knew.
"Alright, let's begin the practical~."
With Professor Kang Hyo-rin's words, the hologram in front of me shifted.
My dungeon: [Jungle]. Enemy: [2 Banana Blood Monkeys]. My raid team: [10 Melee Warriors, 5 Curse Mages, 5 Support Mages].
"What the hell is this."
Not the best synergy, but honestly, not that hard.
Banana Blood Monkeys were boss-type monsters—strong, but not too bright.
Lead with melee warriors up front, stack curses from the curse mages, and take them down with minimal damage.
"What?! This is super easy?"
"Yeah, right? Professor must've toned it down for the first one."
"Lumi, I'll show you a demo first, so watch closely, okay?"
"Yeah! Go for it."
Hmm.
Recalling the professor's face from that pop quiz, it didn't seem likely.
Then another cadet raised their hand.
"Huh? What the—Professor, my raid team won't listen!"
Professor Kang Hyo-rin grinned like she'd been waiting.
"It's fine. This scenario's setting has super timid team members. They won't follow unless it's a plan that feels totally safe, with zero risk."
"W-Wait, what? Where's a plan with zero risk?!"
"That's for you to figure out."
"...!"
"We're just testing your creativity and leadership. Don't stress—it's the process that matters, not the result. Try anything~."
No matter how reassuringly she said it, from the cadets' perspective trying to solve it, the pressure was immense.
"You probably won't clear it anyway, but for motivation's sake, anyone who does gets bonus points~."
Was that really motivation from someone trying to motivate?
Anyway, this is nightmare difficulty, isn't it?
Even in the original game, the key was minimizing your team's casualties.
That boosted your score and kept expulsion at bay.
Plus, to unlock the Elise route, you had to beat her exam scores, so it was extra intense.
"Ugh? Why won't you listen, you guys...?"
The once-confident Lucy was dazed, barking orders at her unresponsive team.
"Argh! No, you could break through there and kill it—why won't you?!"
The other cadets were the same.
Watching them scream and restart from the beginning while Professor Kang Hyo-rin sipped her coffee—it was a little scary.
She definitely had some S tendencies.
I slowly analyzed my own problem.
In this dogshit ero-game Sex Academy, you had to clear Strategic Chess at least five times to advance the scenarios.
Everything changed each time—no memorizing possible.
But I'd conquered every route, clearing Strategic Chess countless times.
I knew the Banana Blood Monkeys' traits inside out.
Banana Blood Monkeys always appeared as a mated pair.
They ate bananas as their staple, so they were super wary of outsiders messing with them.
Their nest had babies.
But don't touch the babies. Killing them enrages the parents, making the fight way harder.
"Hmm... doable."
After analyzing my team and monsters, I started moving my units.
These guys ignored unsafe orders, so I had five melee warriors vandalize banana trees from afar.
They wouldn't listen at first, so I ordered just one tree each, then run—finally obeyed and chopped.
Then I took the remaining five melee warriors, five support mages, and five curse mages toward the nest.
Each support mage could shield three people, so it was relatively safe.
Hiding quietly and observing, the monkeys rushed out to deal with the intruders attacking their banana trees.
The tree-chopping warriors had probably all fled by now.
While the Banana Blood Monkeys were away, I led the rest into the nest and stacked debilitating curses on the baby monkeys.
Not lethal ones—spreading paralysis curses, then bolted.
"Now 3x speed, and we're done."
The curses on the babies would slowly infect the parents.
These maternally obsessive idiots would nurse their young until their own bodies seized up from the curse.
Then rush in the troops and finish them—clear.
The key? Patience. After 3x speed, just wait.
Over 30 minutes of idle adjacent moves to keep the monkeys nestled, gradually poisoning themselves.
It'd dock some points for time, but this was the only zero-casualty surefire way.
"Argh!"
A scream from ahead startled me—Lucy was clutching her head, groaning.
"I practiced Strategic Chess all last week! How could it do this to me?!"
"..."
"Waaah. It's all ruined."
"D-Don't cry, Lucy... It'll be okay."
While she put on her sob story up front, my team slit the throats of the curse-crippled monkeys.
Victory!
The word flashed on my hologram, ending the game.
"Huh? Someone already cleared it?"
Professor Kang Hyo-rin sounded surprised.
The other cadets stared in awe.
"Tch. A promise is a promise. One bonus point."
She smacked her lips regretfully.
Feeling awkward, I stayed quiet—but Lucy, fake-crying face-down, whipped around.
Her eyes widened at my floating Victory!
"How?!"
"Got lucky. It was easy."
Anyone knowing Banana Blood Monkey traits could solve it. Though figuring out they cling to injured babies wasn't obvious.
"Gimme some tips too... Ah, no. Not now. Gotta try harder!"
Lucy started begging me, then locked eyes with Professor Kang Hyo-rin, flinched, and refocused with renewed fire.
30 minutes later.
"This is impossible! No way! Who even made this?!"
Waaah—
Watching Lucy bawl face-down again, I thought:
Good, her 'bad at studying' trait hasn't changed.
*
After class, Lucy headed to the Playtime Club room.
She'd told Lee Ho-yeon to come for new member recruitment.
But:
- Sorry, got something urgent today. Finish that and I'll head over.
He'd dashed to the dorms.
Lumi said cookies were out, so she went to the bakery.
"Aaaah, so boooring."
Lucy had always loved wandering and staying active.
She'd started the club for that, but with no one showing up, a new member thrilled her.
Knock knock knock.
"Yesss~? Who is it?"
"Uh, it's Felix."
"Ah! Coming right up!"
Opening the door revealed a platinum-blond boy with innocent eyes.
"Not everyone's here yet—sit and wait."
"Sure."
Felix glanced around awkwardly, then perched lightly on the sofa.
Affable Lucy doted on the shy boy, chatting him up.
"Yup, our club's me, a guy named Lee Ho-yeon, and my sister Lumi—just three of us."
"Lee Ho-yeon... Is that the Student Council PR guy?"
"Yep! Our club even has a Student Council exec."
She shrugged proudly—nothing big, but club president Lucy puffed up.
"Ahh... So that's why no one joins... Gulp."
"What'd you say?"
"N-Nothing."
"No, I heard you. Say it again. You know why no one joins our club?"
Lucy's eyes turned unusually serious on Felix.
Felix bowed his head like he'd messed up, then sighed.
"You gotta promise to keep this secret."
"Of course. What's up?"
"Well... There's a lot of bad rumors about that Lee Ho-yeon guy."
"...Bad rumors?"
"First off, his girl troubles. Student Council President, Professor Im Sol, even Elise from PR—tons of scandals."
"..."
"And someone saw him going to a motel with a classmate."
Lucy never judged by rumors—only what she saw. The Lee Ho-yeon she knew started with a misunderstanding but turned out kind and diligent.
But that initial misunderstanding.
If the boob-grab incident wasn't an accident?
"Come to think... everyone around Lee Ho-yeon is basically girls."
Lucy had guy friends, but besides one male cadet Kim Young-han, she'd never seen Ho-yeon talk to guys.
"Right? That's probably why girls avoid joining."
"...Maybe."
Since starting the club, plenty of guys approached eyeing her and Lumi's bodies, but no girls had ever signed up.
"Anyway, not all confirmed. Just rumors. But being in a club with you, Lucy? Hope it's all BS."
"Yeah. Me too."
Felix smiled at Lucy—words that'd make Lee Ho-yeon explode if he heard.
Ding-
Then an alarm on Lucy's smartwatch.
"Didn't know about those rumors... Anyway, Lumi and Ho-yeon are coming—wait here! I'll go meet 'em."
"Okay."
Lucy dashed out, leaving Felix alone. His smile vanished, eyes narrowing.
"Doesn't look like they're dating..."
Felix had assumed Lee Ho-yeon and Lucy were at least flirting. To split them, he'd manufactured and spread fake rumors, then fed them to her.
But they were just friends—no big reaction.
He smacked his lips, sucking a drink from the table.
"Plenty of time. Gotta take it slow."
Lucy.
The girl demon infiltrator Felix fell for at first sight.
The one who made him risk sneaking into the academy.
Being here was risky, but for her alluring face and voluptuous chest? Worth it.
Thud thud thud.
Footsteps outside.
Felix switched back to innocent, set down the drink, and sat tensely on the sofa.
"Whoa, it's all clean now?"
Lee Ho-yeon remarked on the club room.
"You'd freak if you knew how hard Lumi and I cleaned. Heh."
"Good work. Why not call me for help?"
"Lumi said absolutely not~."
"But... without you, Ho-yeon, we wouldn't even have this club..."
"Nah. No need to feel indebted anymore."
They bantered intimately right off the bat.
Despite his rumor-spreading efforts, nothing changed.
Felix seethed inwardly but held it together and turned.
"Oh, right! We're recruiting a new member—wanted your take. Whaddya think? Seems nice, right?"
Lucy introduced Felix to Lee Ho-yeon.
The two locked eyes for the first time.
Ho-yeon smiled faintly.
Lucy figured it'd be approval—but his words were the last thing she expected.
"Nah, don't want him."