The Regular Meeting

"Ah... my head."

I pushed myself up from the bed. Something soft was pressed against my side. Looking over, I found Liliana sleeping naked beside me, breathing in soft little puffs.

Well. She's pretty.

She'd finally graduated from ornamental succubus to a fully operational one. When I brought a finger to her lips, her tongue flicked out to lick it — she really seemed to have rediscovered her succubus nature.

The clock read ten in the morning. I'd been playing with Liliana until dawn, so of course I'd gotten up late.

"Huh? What's this?"

There were unread messages on my smartwatch. They'd come in this morning.

Huh? Mun Su-rin? What was this about all of a sudden?

Figuring it might be urgent, I messaged her back right away.

A chime sounded. However urgent it was, the reply came instantly.

There had been dungeon practical training just yesterday, and a terrorist attack that had actually produced fatalities — and they were calling me, one of the people involved?

"Hrm... something about this doesn't sit right."

By any reasonable standard, it made no sense. Today was a temporary school closure. A terrorist attack had hit the first-year dungeon practical training yesterday, and there had been casualties. The second- and third-years hadn't had dungeon training, so they wouldn't be exhausted — but the first-years on the student council would be wrecked.

Which, granted, was just Elise and me.

"Lucky for them, neither of us is the type to actually be tired."

The fatigue I'd felt during the attack was nothing compared to the fatigue of having sex twice last night. And Elise? Not even worth worrying about.

"Nngh..."

Liliana stirred at the sound of my muttering, shifting against the sheets.

"Haaahahm... Master?"

Still half-asleep, she rubbed her eyes and crawled over to cling to me. She didn't seem able to get her eyes open. She made a small, wordless sound and nuzzled her head against my chest.

"Sleep well?"

"Yeeees... wait!"

I pinched and stretched her cheeks this way and that, playing with them, and that finally seemed to wake her up. She jerked away from me like she'd been burned.

"Y-you... you crazy bastard, what kind of cheap trick is that?!"

"You're the one who came clinging to me. What are you talking about?"

"E-eek!"

Face burning red, Liliana bolted into her room and slammed the door. Maybe yesterday was coming back to her. Well, she'd be fine by the time I got back.

I checked the rest of my inbox. There was a message from Lim Sol.

"She's actually insane."

I was going to have to sit down one of these days and seriously examine why every woman around me was completely unhinged. Her own student gets trapped in a dungeon and she can't even spare a single word of concern?

More to the point — how did Lim Sol already know I'd killed an ogre?

No way.

A faint unease settled over me as I launched Everyday.

Several of the top upvoted posts had my name in them. I opened the one sitting at the very top.

"Who's Ha-yeong noona?"

Thinking back, there had been one woman on the rescue team who'd been complaining the whole time. She'd been pretty cute, actually. So she was an SNS star.

"No, but seriously, how much of this did they just fabricate?"

I hadn't run into three ogres at once, and I sure as hell hadn't awakened. Who had they even heard this from?

"Baek A-young, obviously."

Fair enough — a cadet suddenly beating an ogre to death. You could see how she'd call that an awakening. But she could've at least exaggerated in moderation. I had enough headaches already.

Student council first, then Professor Lim Sol.

"Liliana! I'm heading out!"

"Then go! And don't go dying somewhere!"

What kind of goodbye was that?

I washed up in a hurry, threw on some clothes, and left the dorm. The student council was in the club building, so I got there before long.

Inside the Victoria Academy student council conference room, voices were already raised — holiday or not.

"This doesn't make any sense no matter how you look at it, Student Council President."

A girl who appeared to be the secretary spoke as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing, addressing Mun Su-rin in the seat of honor.

"...I think so too."

"Come on. What's a little dungeon rampage supposed to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mean...? Skipping a regular meeting as a first-year is completely unacceptable."

The girls seated to the president's left and the boys seated to her right were locked in opposition.

"The PR Department was always supposed to operate as an independent body, even if it falls under the student council. I was under the impression that matter was already settled."

"Does that honestly make sense? And it was something the president rammed through on her own while the vice president wasn't even there. We never agreed to it."

"Enough. Vice President. Do you feel the same way?"

Mun Su-rin cut through the shouting and put the question to him directly.

"Not exactly... but if this many student council members are this unhappy, I think accommodating them is also a valid approach, President."

"...Hah."

Anyone could see it was the vice president's scheme, and the fact that he was playing it this way only made it more infuriating.

My head already feels like it's going to split open. Why is he like this?

She had dropped everything yesterday to go rescue Lee Ho-yeon, then spent the entire night cleaning up the aftermath without a wink of sleep. She'd come straight from that to the regular meeting — only for the vice president's clique to sink their teeth in and refuse to let go of why the PR Department members weren't attending.

"It was a terrorist attack. A terrorist attack. And you're going to harass the freshmen who got caught in it, as their seniors? Are you not even embarrassed?"

"It's not like they died or got hurt. Both first-years in the PR Department returned home in perfectly normal condition, so is there actually a reason they shouldn't attend the meeting? That's what I'd like to know."

"Haaah... there's just no getting through."

"That's enough. Both of them replied that they'll attend, so let's drop it."

Unable to watch any longer, Mun Su-rin shut the conversation down.

The president's faction centered on Mun Su-rin and the vice president's faction built around Shin Dong-min had been bitter rivals even within the student council. It hadn't always been this bad — but ever since Shin Dong-min had confessed to Mun Su-rin and been rejected not long ago, these clashes had grown more frequent.

None of that mattered to Mun Su-rin. What irritated her was the situation itself: Lee Ho-yeon, who should have been resting, being dragged in on a holiday.

The paparazzi were multiplying by the day. She'd deleted every SNS account she actually used after they were hit with countless hacking attempts. Every last thing was stressing her out.

"Then we'll start the meeting once the freshmen ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠arrive."

Vice President Shin Dong-min sat there grinning, without the faintest idea what was going through Mun Su-rin's mind.

"Is that Elise?"

I spotted her on the way from the dorms to the club building. She was walking toward me from the opposite direction, staring intently at her smartwatch. I hurried over.

"Elise? Where are you headed?"

"Aaah! You scared me!"

"Ah, sorry..."

Elise looked thoroughly startled. She clutched her chest with one hand and glared at me like I'd personally wronged her. Glaring all she wanted... I'd only said hello.

A map of Victoria Academy was glowing on Elise's smartwatch.

"Are you headed to the student council too?"

She'd said she was attending the regular meeting, so that was probably it.

"How did you... ah. You're on the student council too."

"We're in the same PR Department. Don't you think that's a little cold?"

"Be that as it may. Yes. I was on my way to the student council. You too?"

"Yeah. They said there's a regular meeting. Same direction anyway, so let's go together."

"I won't stop you from tagging along."

With that, Elise started walking in the direction I'd just come from.

"...? Hey, where are you going?"

"To the student council."

She looked at me like she couldn't believe I was asking.

"Just stay right there for a second."

I peeked at the glowing map on her smartwatch.

"Hey. You're going the wrong way. The fountain is back in the direction you came from."

"...?"

Elise stared at the map for a moment, tilting her head.

Did she have a directional disability? I was pretty sure this had happened once before.

"Follow me. We don't have time, so I'll guide you."

"You're not guiding me. We just happen to be going the same way."

"Right, right. Let's go."

About three minutes of walking in the direction Elise had come from, and the club building came into view. How had she walked right past this? It had CLUBS written on it in letters that big.

I glanced at Elise. She was looking back and forth between the map and the building like she'd just witnessed a magic trick.

"Let's get inside."

"Mm. Okay."

Elise and I entered the club building and stepped into the elevator.

"Seventeenth floor, please."

The elevator hummed to life and began to rise.

"Do you know why the two of us got called to a regular meeting?"

In the quiet of the elevator, Elise spoke up.

"...? Because it's a regular meeting, I'd assume."

"Are you stupid? The PR Department has never attended a regular meeting. They said from the start that we're under the student council but operate as an independent body."

Had they? I didn't remember hearing that. Had they discussed it among themselves and just never told me?

"On top of that, they called in the PR Department — which has two first-years — to a regular meeting when school is closed because of yesterday's terrorist attack. Something is definitely going on. It's probably the vice president's side. Stay sharp."

"Uh, yeah. Thanks."

What was this? Was she looking out for me because I'd shown her the way? The sudden concern felt weirdly awkward.

A chime sounded. Seventeenth floor.

The doors slid open, and we arrived on the student council floor. The council office, the president's office, and a lounge were visible; further in, people were gathered in the conference room.

We went in.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Come in."

Mun Su-rin's voice. I eased the door open. There were a staggering number of faces I'd never seen before.

Apparently it was custom here to sit separated by gender — only girls on the left, only boys on the right. Elise glanced around, then went left and sat down.

Should I take a seat on the right, then?

I was just about to move when a sharp voice from that side drove itself into my ear.

"Ah, shit. Of course the first-years are the last ones to the meeting. Kids these days..."

"...?"

Who the hell was that short bastard?