School Festival #10
School Festival #10
"Hoo-! That crazy bastard Kim Geun-cheol!"
Sizing up the situation, Woo Yu-ri fled the auditorium at once. She felt she couldn't possibly handle what was about to happen in there.
Kim Geun-cheol was definitely going to spout some bullshit in public to scold Leona. Just imagining it made a shiver run down her spine and her face flush.
So this is what they call secondhand embarrassment?
"He's a maniac, I swear."
Sorry to Leona, but she couldn't possibly take that cringe in the same space. With that, Woo Yu-ri considered calming herself down by grabbing a drink from a vending machine, but then—
She stopped.
"Huh? Wait...?"
Something came to mind and she halted in her tracks.
"Wait... doesn't this vibe feel exactly like that...?"
As soon as that hit, her heart started thumping faster and an indescribable feeling gnawed at her chest.
Just earlier, Kim Geun-cheol had been setting a mood. She'd fled thinking he was about to spout something crazy to scold Leona, but this was... more like a public confession. That whole vibe of using the festival stage to confess in front of everyone. Wasn't it?
"Wh-What the fuck!"
The moment that thought landed, a strange anger bubbled up and her fists started trembling. She also started to feel like something had gone terribly wrong. She wasn't sure why.
Should she go? Should she go back and see what Kim Geun-cheol was saying? The thought was there, but her feet wouldn't budge. She felt like walking away without looking back.
As she agonized over it—
"Gyaaaah!"
"Huh?"
Kim Geun-cheol and Leona's voices came from behind. She saw the two of them bolting out together, hand in hand.
'A lovers' elopement...?'
She stared blankly, watching them from a distance, thinking just that.
But then.
"Raaaagh!"
"Kyaaaaah!"
"Oooooooh!"
Suddenly people started screaming and pouring out of the auditorium. If anything, the sheer surrealness of it snapped her back to reality. This was clearly an abnormal situation.
—Rumble!
And she saw a group of armed upperclassmen charge into the auditorium.
"What the fuck is going on?"
She felt confused by the bizarre scene, but Woo Yu-ri's heart had become considerably lighter.
She didn't realize it herself.
* * *
"Aaaaaagh!"
Hearing the madman's roar, I felt my mind crumbling!
"Calm down, calm down! Kim Geun-cheol!"
"Ah— Leona!"
Only when I heard Leona's voice did I manage to snap back to my senses. What I saw was Leona's face and the blue sky. Ah, so that's it. I finally escaped that hell...!
"Phew! I'm alive! Thanks, Leona! I made it out thanks to you!"
"Have you calmed down? Whew, we got out safely with no problems."
Leona brushed her hair back and helped me up. The instant I stood, I dusted myself off and stretched.
"Seriously. Getting out of that hell in one piece? It's almost unbelievable."
"A miracle, truly. No, more importantly— Kim Geun-cheol! What did you even do on stage?! You suddenly pulled so much aggro I thought I'd die of embarrassment! Who told you to give praise like that?!"
Leona made a fuss, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me. Seeing her face flushed red, I felt a sense of accomplishment. Good thing I did it.
"Heh heh, well, whose idea was it to make me participate?!"
"Even so! Suddenly pulling public aggro and giving a thank-you speech like that...! I can't tell you how humiliating that was! I kept signaling you to stop!"
"Signals? I thought you were shooting X-beams."
"X-beams my ass! You are such a jackass!"
She must've been ridiculously embarrassed, but hey— you can only feel things like this because you're alive. So be grateful we made it out of that hell.
"And because of the crazy stuff you said, Kim Geun-cheol, a massive disaster happened too. Good lord, really. I don't even know what this is. I'm so stunned I can't find the words. Honestly."
"Ah, that."
Same here.
"To think that kind of maniac was our student council president... I can still hear his voice, making a public confession on stage!"
"Kyaaaaaaaaa!"
—Fwish!
Instantly, Leona and I clasped our hands together and screamed!
"Stop saying scary things! You'll jinx us!"
"Sorry. I won't do it anymore. I was saying it on purpose to forget the fear, actually."
Like those war PTSD patients who talk about what they went through as if it were nothing while struggling to forget.
Anyway.
"Kyaaaa!"
"Aaaaagh!"
"Somebody save me!"
Even at this very moment, panicked spectators were streaming out of the auditorium. Thud! Boom! Explosions followed. Clearly those brave Lightning Team upperclassmen were subduing the mad student council president.
But then, a thought occurred to me.
"Wait. Leona."
"Yes?"
This—
"Are we really allowed to run? There are still civilians in there. Leona. Is that okay? We have to go in and stop him too! We're heroes!"
"That's...!"
Leona's eyes flew wide open at my words. We'd bolted on reflex because the situation was just too terrifying, but we're Hero cadets. What we need to do now isn't cower in fear—it's head back to the scene!
"You're right...! My goodness! For someone of Leona Kainus's standing to forget her duty! How shameful! Let's go rescue people right now, Kim Geun-cheol!"
"Yeah!"
"We'll hear the dance evaluation after that!"
"R-Right... yeah!"
That's scary too!
"Then let's go!"
"Yes!"
Just as we were about to storm back into the auditorium—
"Wait, first-years!"
—Shhk!
A group of upperclassmen appeared and stopped us dead. From the looks of it, they were armed to the teeth with armor, helmets, and all.
"Upperclassmen?"
"You don't need to go! Subduing that thing is a job for us upperclassmen!"
"But still!"
Must be a support squad!
"Do you think we'd foist our burden onto you?! The ones who made that monster the student council president are none other than ourselves! So we're the ones who have to resolve it!"
An upperclassman in a green helmet and verdant armor stared at me and Leona as he spoke.
"But sir! You could use extra hands here! It’d be better to combine our strength...!"
Sacrifice!
This man was trying to sacrifice himself right now! But I absolutely couldn’t let that happen. I argued to join them somehow, but the upperclassman shook his head.
"Rest easy. We're not so weak that we need help from first-years. The president going berserk... it's certainly dangerous, but we can handle it! So wait here! We'll stop it and come back! Move out, containment squad! Subdue the president and protect the school!"
"Containment squad, deploying!"
"Containment squad, deploying!"
"Containment squad, deploying!"
So this is what it means to be an upperclassman!
"How are these guys so cool?!"
—Thud-thud-thud!
The armed upperclassmen charged resolutely into the auditorium. All Leona and I could do was clasp our hands and gaze wistfully at those heroes.
"Leona."
"Yes, Kim Geun-cheol."
"Even after hearing all that."
"We can't just stand here and watch."
"In that case."
"Let's go!"
—Fwish!
Without either of us needing to say it first—taking a big step forward together, Leona and I plunged into the auditorium.
And what we saw was—
"Aaaaagh!"
"Aaaah!"
"Save me! Save me! Mommmyyyy!"
The upperclassmen who’d charged in so bravely moments ago had all their clothes blown off, were flung up to the ceiling stark naked, and hung there like laundry!
"Upperclassmen!"
No fucking way that many people got taken down that fast!
"Ah, ah! Aaaaah! Soo-jin, Soo-jin...! I curse the day I confessed to you! I was a fool, drunk on myself, ruining the festival! Ah, uwaaaah! I can't forget that dayyy!"
All the upperclassmen had long since been knocked out. The remaining audience members were slumped on the ground.
"Where the hell are the instructors at a time like this?!"
The people who handled things quickly when the Gate Incident broke out last time aren't showing their faces at this crucial moment!
"Worrying about that won't help now! That madman! He's beaten all challengers, so now he'll head outside! If that happens, this country is finished! We have to stop that calamity before it destroys everything!"
"But can just the two of us do it?!"
"Just the two of us?"
The moment Leona said that—
—Shhk!
"What the fff...!"
"Geun-cheol! We're here to help!"
"Oh...! It's terrible! An auditorium hijacking incident!"
Familiar voices came from behind. In that instant, I felt a surge of emotion rise in my chest. You bastards came...!
"Hey, fuck! What's that guy doing?! I left earlier, I don't know anything!"
Yu-ri, who had fled as well, came back and shouted at the top of her lungs, and I clenched my fist.
"To be honest, I don't really know what's going on either, Yu-ri!"
"Damn it, just what happened in there...!"
My friends!
Led by Yu-ri and Si-hoo, the first-years were all lined up behind us! And on top of that, I could see some Mage Class kids mixed in too.
"This should be enough. Now, you all know the situation! We have to subdue that insane maniac!"
Leona shouted with a commanding voice.
"Ooooooh!"
"Raaaaagh!"
The warriors answered with a war cry.
And then—
—Boom!
We all kicked off the ground at once.
"I'll take the front! Leona and Yu-ri, the flanks! And Geun-cheol, circle around and cover the rear!"
"Got it!"
"Yeah!"
Reasonable orders. We scattered according to Si-hoo's instructions to plan a pincer attack.
"Yeeees! Annihilate the enemy-yo!"
"I'll save the world with my rap!"
"Act crazy, and you become a true madman! I'll put him to sleep with the power of music!"
Brian lunged in with an aggressive headspin, Mun Min attacked while rapping, and then Ken played his shamisen and buffed us.
—Boom!
"Noooo!"
"Aaaagh!"
"My shamisen!"
Of course, they were all sent flying in one hit. Brian and Mun Min went airborne, windmilling through the air.
And so, using those guys as sacrifices, we were able to occupy the student council president's four cardinal directions.
"You behind me— Kim Geun-cheol! You dare return to this hell?! I dirtied my own hands to grant you salvation... and yet you repeat your folly! Do you not know that the price of foolishness is death alone?! No— your folly is worse than death! It would be better to die, so I shall stop you! To prevent you from committing such folly, I will erase you on this spot!!!"
To the president, speaking with his back to us, I had only one thing to say!
"You're the one who needs to disappear, you Stage-Confession Fiend!!!"
"Now, Geun-cheol!"
"Kim Geun-cheol! While we hold him, hurry!"
—Fwish!
While Si-hoo, Leona, and Yu-ri attacked in concert, I drove a powerful punch into the completely defenseless back of the student council president.
—Boom!
With that—
"Guhk!"
—it was over.
He’d exhausted himself fending off the upperclassmen’s assault alone, so there was no way he could block a blow from me with all the support my first-year friends had given.
—Thud!
At last, the president toppled.
"Waaaaaah!"
"Aaaaah!"
"We wonnnnn!"
With this, was the president's curse finally lifted?
In that moment of victory, I looked up wistfully at the ceiling and spotted Soo-jin, the upperclassman from earlier. She was strung between the ceiling frames like a drying pollack, sagging limply. Though she’d fainted, for some reason it looked like she was saying thank you.
'Thank you.'
"Don't mention it."
There will be no more pain now.
"Yahoo! It's our victory! We saved this country! So come on, let's celebrate this win!"
"Yeah!"
And so we first-years surrounded the downed president, grabbed each other's hands in a circle, and shuffled sideways while singing.
"Round and round, oh!"
"Spinning around, let's dance!"