Final Exam Celebration (Baek A-young's Turn)

The Pandemic conference room was dim and oppressively dark, yet furnished with an unmistakable air of luxury.

Rebecca, one of Pandemic's executives, surveyed her surroundings in silence.

"…"

She had been to the organization's hideout more times than she could count, but the first day she set foot here after her brainwashing had been lifted, the place had shaken her to her core.

Things she had never noticed while under the spell, she could perceive with perfect clarity now.

Aaaargh—

S-stop…

Human screams echoed from every corner of the hideout. Sounds she had never heard until now.

She still couldn't quite understand how she had failed to notice noise that loud, but one look at the other executives' faces and it made a certain kind of sense.

"What's wrong, Rebecca?"

"…Nothing."

Rebecca glanced at the burly white man sitting beside her, then turned her head away. They were still under the brainwashing. That much was certain.

"Rebecca. Come to think of it, could you help me with something?"

"With what?"

The white man sitting next to her was named Reinhardt. A guy saddled with a righteous-sounding name, wasting it on this kind of filth. Pathetic. His combat ability was decent enough, though.

"What else? A terrorist attack. If I want a high body count, I'll need your cooperation."

"…I'm busy. Can't do it."

Before, maybe. But now that the brainwashing was gone, Rebecca had no desire whatsoever to cooperate with something like that.

"That so? Shame."

Reinhardt turned away immediately, as if he hadn't expected anything in the first place. That suited Rebecca just fine.

A short while later, the measured click of dress shoes echoed through the room as Maestro, the boss of Pandemic, entered the conference room. He'd probably been off performing some prayer for the eradication of humanity, or whatever it was he did.

The moment he appeared, the noisy conference room fell dead silent.

"It's been a while, everyone. I've been so busy lately I haven't been able to hold our regular meetings."

Maestro sat politely at the head of the table and launched straight into the meeting. Talk of terrorism, kidnappings, and the like. It was all useless information as far as Rebecca was concerned, but she sat through the entire session without letting it show.

This wasn't the time to betray Pandemic. She was in too deep already. If she wanted out, she needed to wait for a sure opportunity.

There were advantages to remaining hidden within the organization, too.

The Apostles' special transportation technique…

Just as planned, she had been able to gather information on Centaur. Currently, Apostles used a type of mana similar to that of Demons, yet distinctly different. If she could identify that mana, she would be able to find a way to deal with them. It wasn't a foolproof solution, but it was better than nothing.

"Our last item of business is Victoria Academy…. That's tomorrow, actually. Well then, Reinhardt?"

"Yes, Maestro."

Rebecca tilted her head as Reinhardt, sitting right beside her, shot to his feet.

"We've prepared Demons for this attack. I'm expecting great things from you."

"I will produce results…!"

"Good. Go coordinate with your team and get ready immediately."

"Understood!"

Clenching his fist with resolve, Reinhardt bolted straight out of the conference room.

I should've said I'd help…

The terrorist attack was targeting Victoria Academy, of all places? Why the hell didn't he mention that? That crazy bastard.

"Haa."

Rebecca sighed as she stared at Reinhardt's empty seat. She didn't have his contact information, nor any way to reach him. There was nothing she could do.

Still, this was pretty important intel. She'd have to tell the baby's daddy.

Hope he likes it.

He was a good person. He'd definitely be grateful. A faint smile tugged at the corner of Rebecca's lips as she nodded to herself and turned her attention back to the meeting.

Thursday morning. I got out of bed thinking about the celebration that was now just one day away.

"Mmph, nom… nom."

Liliana was lying next to me. It had been a while since we'd woken up ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in the same bed like this. I watched her smacking her lips in her sleep — dreaming about food, apparently — then headed out to the living room, where the fragrant aroma of coffee drifted over to meet me.

Nam Da-eun was at the table, brewing a pot.

"You're up."

"Yeah. Pour me a cup too."

I was a little dizzy. Probably from overdoing it yesterday. This was exactly what coffee was for. The cup Nam Da-eun poured me cleared my head right up.

"Thanks. Hahh…"

"Don't mention it."

Nam Da-eun stirred her coffee with a faint smile and went on.

"You must've been pretty tired yesterday."

"…Things just kind of happened."

I took a sip. Was this how a boyfriend felt after getting caught sleeping with another woman? Well, the comparison wasn't quite right… but the guilt felt similar enough.

"Ahem. Should we head to class?"

I had no choice but to change the subject.

"Sure. Let's go."

Fortunately, Nam Da-eun smiled and played along. She didn't seem genuinely angry.

"Unnieee… hurry up."

"Alright, Daehee."

While Nam Da-eun got Nam Daehee ready, I talked with Scarlet.

"I'm heading out, Scarlet. Take care of Liliana when she wakes up."

"Understood."

Scarlet had been acting a little strange yesterday, but she was back to normal today. Was it because the sex had been too intense?

"Let's go, Daehee. Bring your unnie too."

"Okay, oppa!"

"No running, Daehee. Hold Hoyeon's hand."

I left the dormitory with the Nam sisters in tow. Stalls and booths were already being wheeled onto the grounds, no doubt for tomorrow's Final Exam Celebration.

"This is basically just a festival."

"Yeah."

Nam Da-eun looked around with open curiosity. Come to think of it… at the last festival, she and I hadn't been anywhere near this close. She'd helped me during ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the survival exam, so we hadn't been on bad terms — but we hadn't been close, either. And Nam Da-eun, who had no friends besides me, would never have come to a festival like this on her own.

I should look after Da-eun too.

From everything I'd seen so far, it wasn't that she disliked having fun. She just never had the time, always taking care of her little sister.

Can I even manage that?

I already had more than one or two people to look after. I wasn't sure I could pull it off… but I had to try.

"Unnie, unnie. I wanna go over there tomorrow. Let's go together."

"Sure. Want to go together?"

As if answering my worries for me, Nam Daehee grabbed her sister's hand and locked in their plans. I secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Having this many women around really made life this hard. A harem was a long and treacherous road.

I dropped Nam Daehee off at the affiliated middle school first, then entered Class A separately with Nam Da-eun. In here, we were nothing more than classmates.

"Morning."

"Good morning, Hoyeon."

"Good morning! Perfect timing."

I sat down next to Rumi and Lucy, who were already greeting me, and Lucy immediately locked eyes with me like she'd been waiting for this exact moment.

"What are we doing tomorrow? Hm?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah. The Final Exam Celebration."

This again. At this rate I was worried they'd try to hold a full group meetup at the celebration. Last festival hadn't been this complicated. This was the side effect of accumulating more women.

"…Well, I don't know. I haven't checked what's actually fun yet. I should take a look first."

I tried to stall somehow.

"I figured you'd say that, so Rumi and I put together a list yesterday."

"That's right. Lucy said she was so excited she worked really hard on it."

"Ru, Rumi…!"

"…"

Escape was no longer an option. I gave up resisting and listened to Lucy and Rumi's plans until the professor arrived.

Honestly, it did sound pretty fun.

For ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Lee Ho-yeon, lunch period was free time. Using Baek A-young's treatment as an excuse, he could slip away no matter who he was with. Of course, since he visited her almost every day, whether that really counted as "free" was debatable. But free it was, nonetheless.

Today, unlike usual, he had even prepared a surprise gift. A gift to improve his relationship with Baek A-young. Not that their relationship was bad enough to need improving. He just wanted to make it even better.

Good enough that she'd forgive me even if I played around with other women.

Hoyeon made his way to the nurse's office with practiced ease. The staff had been properly trained this time — no one tried to stop him.

Knock knock—

"I'm here, Nurse."

"Come in."

He couldn't call her darling where other people might hear, so he always announced himself that way. Hoyeon slowly opened the door to the nurse's office.

Inside, as always, sat Baek A-young in a white dress shirt and a black miniskirt.

"How have you been, A-young?"

"We saw each other yesterday. Of course I've been fine."

Hoyeon sat down in his usual seat, and Baek A-young naturally brewed coffee before taking the chair across from him. Normally they would chat for a bit, quickly finish having sex, and go their separate ways.

But today was different. Hoyeon pulled out the tool he had prepared.

"A-young. I brought something."

"Hm?"

Baek A-young was sipping her coffee when she noticed a coin dangling from Hoyeon's hand.

"What's that?"

"It's a hypnotism tool, actually. An expensive one, so it should work well. I wanted to try it on you."

"Really?"

Looking at the coin Hoyeon had brought, Baek A-young smiled inwardly.

He still has such a childish side.

Maybe she'd play along a little. She didn't believe in hypnotism, but if her darling wanted to do it, she was happy to indulge him. Watching Hoyeon prepare so earnestly, Baek A-young decided she should at least pretend to fall under. Just this once.

"Alright, I'll give it a try, so focus right here."

"Okay, okay. Got it."

Baek A-young smiled and focused on the coin in Hoyeon's hand. To her, the whole thing just looked adorable. Whether it was bringing a coin like that or telling her to concentrate — all of it was cute. Of course, the fact that Hoyeon was the one doing it accounted for a fair share of that.

"Ahem. Now then, your eyelids are growing heavier and heavier…"

Meanwhile, Hoyeon felt a little ridiculous putting on such a serious performance. But it was a necessary sacrifice.

No matter what she was thinking, he had to endure it.

After about five minutes of swinging the coin and reciting tedious lines, Baek A-young had her eyes closed.

"Now, when I snap my fingers, you will open your eyes and obey my every word…"

The corners of her mouth kept twitching upward. Anyone could tell she was just playing along, but it didn't matter. He already knew exactly how Baek A-young would react.

"…"

"Did it work?"

Hoyeon studied her for a moment, then — snap — flicked his fingers.

At the same instant, Baek A-young's eyes flew open. The vacant way she stared into space… if it weren't for the status window, he might have actually fallen for it.

"A-young. No — darling. Are you hypnotized?"

"…"

Baek A-young didn't answer. She just kept staring into empty air.

She's really committing to the act.

Time to go for it.

"Darling."

"Yes."

Baek A-young answered blankly, as if she were truly under hypnosis.

"Take everything off."

"Yes. …Yes?"

For a split second, Hoyeon saw Baek A-young's eyes flicker.