Dungeon Practical

Time slipped by, and Friday arrived.

After the last class of the day, I sat in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the lecture hall talking with Lucy and Rumi.

"Ho-yeon... we can still start our club, right?"

"Don't worry. I'll take care of it."

"If Ho-yeon says not to worry, then it'll be fine, Lucy."

"Yeah, I'm counting on you...!"

The twins' wide, sparkling eyes were a little much to take.

Once today passed, no new clubs could be founded for the rest of the semester. Naturally, the Club Department hadn't given us so much as a word. By now it was all but certain. Thinking it through, there was only one place this kind of trouble could have come from.

The Mana Research Club. They'd made the first move — a show of force.

They'd declared war, so I had no choice but to hit back.

Preparations were already finished. I strode into the Club Department with my head held high, Lucy and Rumi trailing after me like ducklings.

I told the two of them to stay outside and not get involved.

"Why? I'll come in and ask with you. More people is better, right?"

"Well, yes, but I'm going in as a student council officer."

"Ah! I don't really get it, but okay!"

Mentioning my student council position was enough to make her stay quiet. Power really was a beautiful thing.

I looked at the new club applications desk. Today, instead of the guy I'd seen last time, an unfamiliar girl was holding down the station. She had the kind of face where you could slap the word diligent across her features and it wouldn't look the least bit out of place.

"Hello. I'm here about starting a new club."

"Yes. Do you have all the paperwork ready?"

"I submitted the documents last time, but I was told there was a system error that delayed processing. Has it gone through?"

"Ah, let me check for a moment."

"The club president is listed as Lucy. Three members. The club name is Nolza Club."

The girl typed away with genuine enthusiasm, then looked up with a puzzled expression.

"I'm sorry, but there's no club registered under that name at all..."

"Ah, junior. You're back again?"

That was when an irritating face blocked my path. The Club Department Head cut the girl off and stepped forward.

"Senior..."

"It seems our new staffer made a mistake on her first day. There were quite a few irregularities in your club's paperwork, Ho-yeon. The club room is already in use by another club, and the supervising professor has declined."

They'd dragged this out for days, so of course they'd already cooked the books. And now he was standing there grinning about it. It pissed me off.

"Ahh, so that's why it didn't go through?"

"That's right. Unfortunately. Why don't you try finding a new club room and a supervising professor even now? You've got until this afternoon, so if you hustle, you might just make it?"

Now he was being openly sarcastic. He knew perfectly well that nothing I did would work. And he wasn't wrong — when I'd gone around myself, every club room had been full. Every professor had turned me down.

But the Club Department Head had no idea that I had the connections to handle all of it.

"I see. So I just need a club room and a supervising professor?"

"Yes. Until six this evening, so you've got about two hours..."

"That's fine. I've already got both."

"Hm?"

Before he could even voice his confusion, I handed over the new documents. I'd prepared everything perfectly before coming. There was nothing to be nervous about.

"Pfft. That's not even a funny joke. Supervising professor: Professor Lim Sol. Club room: the Student Council Public Relations office? There's a limit to how much I'll look the other way just because you're a student council junior, Ho-yeon."

"Don't talk nonsense and just process the application."

"...Excuse me?"

"I've already gotten permission for everything, so just handle the system processing. Senior."

"...Please. You think getting scouted into Public Relations means you're close with the President? The President is kind to everyone. You're completely deluding yourself."

Then he made a call on his smartwatch.

"Yes, Student Council President. This is Park Min-gang, Head of the Club Department. A junior who just joined Public Relations is making the absurd claim that he wants to use the PR office as his personal club room."

Park Min-gang. A name I had zero desire to remember. I'd just keep calling him the Club Department Head.

He was looking at me with a faint sneer. I wondered how long that expression would last.

"Yes, and he wants Professor Lim Sol as the supervising professor, so I thought I'd personally take charge of guid— ...Yes? What did you say?"

The guy's eyes went wide as he stared at his smartwatch.

"Y-yes. I'm sorry. I'll make sure to confirm thoroughly from now on. Yes. Thank you for your time."

He kept bowing toward empty air as he apologized, then hung up.

Click.

"Please process it quickly. I don't have time — I need to get going."

"Don't tell me the rumors about you being close with Professor Lim Sol were true...? Even so, how did you get to the Student Council President...?"

When extras reacted like extras, it just drained the life out of me. Wrestling with extras felt like such a waste of time that I was already exhausted.

"Anyway. I'd like you to do it while I watch. I want to confirm for certain whether there's another 'error' or not."

"...I'll be rejecting this under my own authority as Club Department Head. There are too many irregularities in the paperwork. I'd rather not create unnecessary controversy."

"Ah, this is actually getting annoying."

"W-what did you say?"

"Forget it, you bastard. I'm done playing along."

I was sick of catering to this asshole. If it were a heroine or a woman, I could grit my teeth and play along — but some guy expecting to be treated with respect? Who did he think he was?

Lucy and Rumi were waiting outside, and the Club Department Head had already sent the girl working the desk out of the room. Nobody was listening to our conversation.

I pulled out my own smartwatch and made a call.

"Yes, Su-rin noona. I'm on the sixteenth floor. Could you come down to the New Club Applications desk just once? We've run into some trouble."

"S-Su-rin noona? What the hell are you—"

I'd tried to handle this on my own as much as possible, but when the guy came at me this hard, what else was I supposed to do? I had no choice but to play dirty too.

THUD!

In less than a minute, Mun Su-rin opened the door and walked in. That was barely enough time to have sprinted down from the seventeenth floor, and yet not a single fold of her clothes was out of place.

As expected of my amazing noona! Chew this guy out!

"President. We keep running into trouble with the new club application. The Club Department Head is rejecting it without any real reason — I suspect some kind of political pressure is involved."

"W-what are you talking about! President, that's absolutely not the case!"

"Hmm. Well, we can just check and see."

"President! You're going to take the word of some guy who's been in the student council for less than a week? I've been Club Department Head since the student council was first formed, and I've given it my all!"

"I know. I know. I'm just checking — why are you so worked up? Feeling guilty about something?"

"No, it's not that, but..."

Watching the Club Department Head shrink in real time was quite the show. Easy. So easy. I could have just called Su-rin noona from the start and saved myself all this wasted time.

After that, I more or less just watched him get thoroughly dismantled, then thanked Su-rin noona and left.

Naturally, the club application went through. No matter how much pressure the Mana Research Club had applied, there was nothing they could do once the Student Council President personally stepped in.

I walked over to Lucy and Rumi, who were waiting outside.

"Ho-yeon! How'd it go?!"

"I saw the Student Council President running this way earlier... D-did something happen in there?"

"It's fine. I took care of everything. Here — the club founding documents."

"Oh! But the club room is listed as Student Council Public Relations... isn't that a mistake?"

"That's just what we put on the application. I'll change it back to Room 205 later. Don't worry."

The remaining club rooms had all been filled with fake clubs by the department head. Once today passed, no new clubs could be founded, so those would all disappear. We could swap then.

"And the professor is Professor Lim Sol?"

"Yeah, I used my connections for that. She's just lending her name, so don't worry about it."

"Anyway, thank goodness. I really appreciate it today! Starting a club with Rumi has been my dream! Let's meet in the club room next time!"

"Thank you, Ho-yeon."

They were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠twins, but their vibes were completely different. Still, it felt good to have one more thing off my plate today.

Next time something like this came up, calling Su-rin noona right away would probably be the fastest solution.

Completing the quest had raised Lucy's affection.

With this many heroines, managing them all at once was getting exhausting. I wasn't about to get stabbed to death on a boat, was I?

Over the weekend I also had to visit Baek A-young's volunteer facility, and I couldn't afford to slack on my training or my studies either. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Annoying or not, what had to be done had to be done. Saturday: Haetbit Orphanage, then training. Sunday: training, then studying.

"Aigoo. If you want to wear the crown, you have to bear its weight."

To become king of a harem, you had to endure the weight.

The weekend ended, and Monday dawned. The weekend had actually been harder than the weekdays. There had simply been too much to do.

On top of that, I'd missed Baek A-young at the orphanage on Saturday — our timing hadn't lined up. Still, I needed a consistent record of showing up so I wouldn't draw suspicion, so it hadn't been a complete waste.

On Sunday I meditated in the Meditation Room and raised my mana stat by one. After sinking days of investment into that room for a single point, a faint hollowness settled over me. A few completed quests and the stats would practically duplicate themselves!

Today was finally the day of the dungeon practical.

In front of the lecture hall, our homeroom professor Kim Jin-hyeok was earnestly running through the precautions with the cadets.

"Safety first. Safety second. The dungeon practical is also the exam where accidents happen most often."

The cadets listened with shining eyes, not a trace of boredom among them. The dungeon practical was about as close to real field training as it got, so everyone was looking forward to it.

"You'll enter the dungeon by team. Your teams are the same ones assigned at the start of the semester. After this much time, you should all be close enough to trust each other with your backs."

Amazingly, I hadn't exchanged a single word with any of my teammates except Rumi since the day the teams were first divided. Nam Da-eun never gave anyone a chance to talk before vanishing off somewhere, and the one guy on the team didn't interest me in the slightest.

"Finally, after individual inspections, you'll be deployed into the dungeon. The practical will begin in thirty minutes."

I didn't have anything in particular to prepare, so I went looking for my teammates. Rumi spotted me and came trotting over, and I managed to track down the guy and Nam Da-eun soon after so we could all gather.

"...."

"...."

"...."

"Haa...."

These bastards — the comrades who were supposed to trust each other with their lives — had a closeness rating of exactly zero. At first, the guy — Lee Byeong-hun — had kept trying to approach Nam Da-eun, but her iron wall had apparently made him raise the white flag. Now he just sat there in silence without even attempting conversation.

I, for my part, was simply worried about the practical.

"I don't like it."

"Huh? What's wrong, Jin-hyeok?"

"That Lee Ho-yeon bastard. Every time I see his face, I get pissed off."

Do Jinhyeok was talking with his clique in the very back row. The moment Lee Ho-yeon and Rumi walked past in front of them, Do Jinhyeok's face went hard.

"Huh? Ah, right! He pisses me off every time I see him too!"

"Y-yeah. Last time he had the nerve to switch from swordsman to mage, then he got himself mixed up with the Student Council President for no reason, and now there's a rumor he had some kind of run-in with Professor Lim Sol too. He's just an attention whore, isn't he?"

"Hearing it like that, yeah, he is. So that's why he gets under your skin, Jin-hyeok?"

"...."

The sensation Do Jinhyeok was feeling right now was strange. Those reasons were certainly part of the emotion, but they only accounted for a surface-level irritation.

What he felt rising from deep in his chest was an instinctive revulsion — as if the feeling had been stamped into his heart from the moment he was born.

"Yeah. Something like that."

But he simply accepted the feeling as it was. He could have questioned it, could have held it in — but he chose to embrace it and let it out.

That choice, too, was the fate of a man written to be a villain.

The dungeon practical training began.

The order of entry was decided by drawing lots. We were Team 13. Teams went in ten at a time for the first dungeon. Since we were thirteenth, we were in the second wave.

The waiting teams could watch the earlier groups clear the dungeon on a massive holographic screen floating in midair. The second wave would be entering a different dungeon anyway, so fairness wasn't an issue.

"...."

"...."

Unlike the other teams, who were laughing and building camaraderie to shake off the tension, our team held our ground in stony, stew-thick silence — reliable, filling, and utterly wordless. Suffocated by it, I stood up, if only for an excuse to find the bathroom.

I was walking along looking for one when a pack of guys bumped my shoulder with a movement that was obviously deliberate.

"Oops, sorry. My bad."

"Heh heh heh. Why are you even apologizing to an attention whore? He probably loves the attention."

I turned my head. Standing there were Do Jinhyeok and his lackeys.

What exactly had I done to these people to deserve this? I hadn't done a thing to them. We'd barely even crossed paths. I couldn't understand it.

Was being the protagonist my crime?

Bullying among young students usually started over nothing, sure — but this was something else.

"Watch yourself in the dungeon. I might mistake you for a monster and run you through. Heh."

Among them, the scrawny one playing the role of the weedy sidekick sneered at me.

"The second I see you, I'm dropping a spell on your head, so you'd better dodge."

"What? You little—"

He'd talked like a dog, so I'd answered like a dog. Let me say it again: there was no consideration and no yielding for other men.

The lackey's pride was apparently wounded enough that he reached for his sword, so I drew up my mana. I had no intention of actually fighting — it was purely for the minimum of defense.

"That's enough. Too many people watching."

That was when Do Jinhyeok, who had been watching from behind, stepped in. The lackey heard him and fell back with a disappointed look.

"Tsk. Consider yourself lucky."

Even the line he delivered sounded like a third-rate villain. Who did he think he was, strutting around like that?

Do Jinhyeok looked at me, then turned and walked away. A few cadets' eyes had gathered in our direction. I didn't want any more attention either, so I left.

If I run into them in the dungeon, I'll drop a spell on them and call it an accident.

I headed back to my seat.

By the time I returned, they were introducing the hunters the Association had dispatched for the dungeon practical.

"Hello. My name is Baek A-young."

Naturally, Baek A-young — sent by the Association — was standing among them.

"Whoa, it's the Saint! The Saint!"

"I genuinely want to protect her... That's it. I'm definitely joining the Association."

"Last time you were ranting about joining the student council after seeing the President, and now it's the Association?"

The fact that she was called the Saint surely had a great deal to do with that face. Jet-black hair falling to her waist, porcelain-white skin, and blue eyes. That unadorned, innocent face stirred a protective instinct in anyone who looked at it. Everyone who had ever spoken with her wore the same look of rapture afterward, so even a first-time observer could tell just how enormous her popularity was.

She herself, of course, found being called a saint embarrassing and blushed at the title.

She turned her head this way and that, spotted me, and gave a small wave.

Looking at a pretty girl really does make the hatred fade.

So this was why people sought out beautiful women. After dealing with those freaks, just seeing Baek A-young's face made the anger melt right off.

Once the introductions of the dispatched hunters were more or less finished, Baek A-young glanced my way, the corner of her mouth lifting, and came over.

"Tada. Surprised? It's a surprise~."

The way she beamed as she said it was genuinely adorable.