Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: 7. Is Your Back of the Head Safe? (5)
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# 58
#7 Their Circumstances: Some Student Council President's Circumstances
“The devil shows up at exactly 1 p.m.”
“Damn it, if we don’t break through the academy in 30 minutes, the devil comes for us?”
“Breaking past Professor Muam alone is gonna take more than 30 minutes.”
“Doesn’t matter. We have to break through in 30 minutes, no matter what it takes.”
“Damn it, night self-study would’ve been better.”
“Vacation? You call this a vacation?”
The next day was filled with nothing but despair and lamentation.
The moment we arrived at the academy, we huddled together to brainstorm countermeasures for after classes ended that day.
But there were no countermeasures.
“Each floor has to be cleared in 5 minutes solo, then we bust through Professor Muam and get out of the academy in 25.”
“You think that’s possible? Really?”
“We have to make it possible.”
No matter how much we racked our brains, it was an impossible mission, but we had no choice.
If we didn’t solve it, the devil would come knocking.
Of course, it wasn’t all peaceful talk.
“If every student in the academy rises up, even the professors couldn’t handle that, right?”
“Yeah, this is a matter of survival! Let’s all fight together!”
But.
“If the devil comes to crush the uprising, it’s the same damn thing, isn’t it?”
We’d already tried every trick in the book during night self-study.
Nothing had changed.
I didn’t expect vacation to make any difference.
“Is there... really no way out except escaping the academy in 30 minutes?”
“What we’re learning is that giving up isn’t an option!”
Frustration and sighs.
This probably wasn’t just the student council’s mood.
Anyone who’d felt that terror at the academy yesterday was surely sharing the sentiment.
Lady Aris’s silhouette, screaming at the setting sun on the horizon, was still burned into our minds!
“We have to hold out until the Imperial Tournament...”
“That’s too far... three months until the Imperial Tournament!”
“Three... months? We’re stuck in this hell for three months? For real?”
“No, there has to be a way. There has to be! If gods exist, the world can’t be this unfair!”
Not long after the meeting started, we began denying reality one by one.
“It’s not over yet. Hold onto hope! Professor Muam will take vacation too.”
“But then Professor Harian might show up.”
“Still, he’d be easier than the King of Water Spirits.”
“No, he’s the God of Wind. Could be even tougher.”
We tried sparking hope with our words, but counterarguments flew right back.
Honestly, Spirit King or God of Wind—both were nightmares either way.
Just as my own momentum started to flag.
“Why do we even go home from school?”
Risen muttered seriously, his face like a enlightened priest, just like Lady Aris yesterday.
“Because school’s over, obviously.”
“Then why does school end?”
“Because classes are done?”
We all looked at Risen pitifully as he spouted weird questions.
The despair had finally broken someone.
Mocking our pity, Risen shouted with an enlightened grin.
“No! There’s only one reason we go home: because we came to school!”
“Well, yeah, that’s obvious.”
“So if we don’t come to school, we don’t have to go home!”
“That doesn’t even make sense...”
“Does leaving the academy on vacation make sense?”
“...That kind of thinking!”
Right! It’s vacation now! The academy told us to get out, our families allowed it—vacation anyway!
“So we just don’t leave the school!”
“Ooh!”
This guy really was a genius.
Academy grades? Who cares.
If parents or family show up? Who cares.
Life’s more precious than anything!
And so, the next day, the entire student council skipped school.
***
“Whoa, didn’t see that coming.”
“As expected of the student council—they’re geniuses, Master. They always defy even your predictions!”
After first period, a professor came by to say one second-year student hadn’t shown up.
Well, humans aren’t always in top shape, so I got it.
Especially folks at schools, academies, or the military—always something wrong with them.
Weirdly, I never got sick at those places, so I always missed out.
Lost in old memories, more professors dropped by with similar news.
When the professor handling the fourth-year classrooms—packed with student council execs—reported ten absences, it was basically confirmed.
And sure enough, every single no-show was a student council member.
“A group boycott of school.”
Skipping school is dangerous.
If this keeps up, they’ll realize not coming to the academy is way easier than going.
“Isn’t that obvious?”
“That’s why the students haven’t tried it.”
Miss a day, two days of school, and your precious students turn into shut-ins.
“That’d be a big problem.”
Shut-ins being popular only happens in novels.
If they hole up in their rooms forever, avoiding people, they’ll shun high society later, end up spineless bachelors or old maids, and become family headaches. How sad would their parents be!
“So what’re you gonna do, Master? The longer you think, the worse it is for the kids.”
“I’m just taking responsibility as their teacher.”
As a teacher, I can’t let students become social misfits.
That’s why!
“For what?”
“I’ll use what I learned from the Evil Organization to save the students!”
Shoeppata grimaced and tilted her head at my words.
“You learned how to save students from the Evil Organization?”
“Oh, definitely.”
“What is it?”
A technique from the Evil Organization to save kids from becoming shut-ins?
“Infiltration, abduction.”
“As expected of my master! My brief hope was my mistake!”
Alright then. Shall we go save the students?
#8 Their Circumstances: Karen Rel Legrena’s Circumstances
“Mm...”
Did I sleep too long?
The dorm bed felt a bit harder than usual.
But I didn’t want to get up.
I’d played so hard yesterday for the first time in ages—I was a little tired now.
Sure, as student council vice president, following Risen’s lead to skip school felt kinda embarrassing.
But it couldn’t be helped.
My daily routine: up at dawn every morning.
Women take longer to get ready for outings than men, but academy attendance is at 8 a.m. sharp.
Some days I skipped breakfast to make it, and it was wearing down my sanity.
And now, to leave early, we had to fight professors?
With the rule that failing in 30 minutes means we’re done for?!
No choice.
I knew my viscount family—without much clout—had high expectations since I became vice president of Yuglasia, one of the Imperial Four Great Academies.
I knew, but! Human life comes first, right?
That was my answer.
This proper vacation was sweet.
Met up with friends from other academies still in the capital, had tea at a café.
Shopped for summer fashions.
Headed back to the dorm at sunset, bards singing in the streets!
Things I took for granted last year around this time—and now they made me so happy. I finally got it.
Only those who’ve lost normalcy know its value. Now I understood why that’s a famous saying.
Any guilt about skipping school? Gone.
See? Risen wasn’t an idiot—he’s a genius!
“Mm...”
Drifting in happy bliss with eyes closed.
‘Huh?’
Was that groan... me?
Weird. Didn’t feel like it.
And...
“A man’s... voice?”
I forced my heavy eyelids open to check.
“Eek!”
There it was: a total mess of a face.
Slightly puffy, gray hair all matted.
But unforgettable.
Risen’s face—the vice president I clashed with daily in student council.
“Mm...”
“A dream?”
Did I like this guy? Enough to dream of him?
-No?
My other self answered honestly.
Then, a nightmare?
“Mmm...”
“Wh-what...”
This time, a voice from behind.
I finally grasped reality.
“What the—why are you all in my room!”
“Huh... what... yeah?”
“Who’s yelling so loud... huh?”
My sharp scream woke them one by one: student council execs, no doubt.
Main roles, clerks, aides—all stirring.
And I, awake first, realized first.
“No way my room fits all these people...”
This wasn’t my room.
I’d fallen asleep in my bed, but woke up somewhere else.
“Kyaaah! What is this?! Pervert!”
“Gah?! Why are you in my room?!”
Other council members’ screams echoed—they hadn’t clocked it yet.
My scream woke them; theirs woke others.
-Zzt... zzzt... zzt!
Then, static from the video magic tool in the corner.
“What’s that?”
Someone nearby approached; the screen flickered gray.
And soon.
-Zzt... Greetings, my students.
A man in a clown mask appeared on the gray screen.
“Professor Niserwin’s voice...”
Professor Niserwin, voice unchanged, just wearing the mask.
-You all skipped school without permission. The professors are heartbroken over such students.
-To think our students don’t cherish attendance! This is our failure as teachers!
-Attendance is such a blessing, and you don’t even know it.
-So. To teach you ungrateful souls how blessed attendance is, we’ve prepared something.
Pre-recorded, apparently—the awkward static cuts left us speechless.
Why does this professor spout nonsense every time?
Why didn’t we cherish school?
Because dismissal was hell—we hated going!
-Now then. Let the game begin. Escape from there.
The video died.
“He says that, but open the door and professors’ll swarm us, right?”
Risen stood, yelling at our dazed stares at the dead screen.
“So we’ll escape differently!”
Summoning his clown scythe, Risen smashed the wall and leaped out.
“W-we don’t even know what floor this is!”
“I’ve got Loki’s Shoes! Aaaaah!”
Confident start, screaming end—was it a bad landing?
I worried a bit, but instinct screamed not to look outside.
And.
Creak.
“Ungh.”
“Eek!”
Was this made by the Black Anvil Clan too?
As the wall slowly reverted, the sole door creaked open—someone entered.
Dragging Risen’s limp legs like a corpse.
The silver devil tossed him to us.
“No cheating allowed?”
“Yes, sir!”
And just like that, we lost our right to attend school.