The Train to the Academy (3): Hijacked by the Binyu Group
In summary, what was happening right now could be boiled down to one line:
—The train heading to Esdinas Academy has been attacked by the Binyu Group.
Correction: 'Binyu Group.' Though part of me wondered if they should just call themselves the Flat-Chests Brigade outright, since their leader's name was Binyu.
To be precise, it was a different name. But that leader had named her organization after herself: Binyu Group. Among players, they went by endless variations like Cliff Brigade, Plains Brigade, Sidewalk Brigade, Gum-Stuck Brigade, Autobahn Brigade, Flat-Chests Brigade, Battery Brigade, or even A3 Brigade.
They were the villains stirring up all sorts of internal and external incidents at Esdinas Academy. The kind who pulled off train hijackings like this and casually squeezed the triggers of their magic rifles on anyone who resisted.
"They're villains, Unia."
I whispered softly, just loud enough for Unia to hear.
"If you're thinking of doing something, consider the consequences."
A warning to Unia. She surely understood what I meant.
'Don't act rashly.'
No matter how urgently we needed to reach our destination today, we couldn't just charge in during a train hijacking. 'The Binyu Group's got numbers everywhere.'
Two Binyu Group members had entered our car No. 4. They wore coats with a military vibe over the academy's winter uniforms, white bandages wrapped around their chests like makeshift armor.
Judging by their combat prowess—'At least C-rank, huh?'
Stronger than expected. On par with third-year academy students.
'Well, with the sky burning blue like that, they seized the chaos to hijack the train.'
Suddenly, a bizarre phenomenon: blue flames blazing across the sky. For the speeding magic train, it was an abrupt stop. But for the Binyu Group's executives plotting the hijacking, it was the perfect opportunity.
A coincidence. The day I fell here just happened to be the day Unia boarded the magic train for Esdinas Academy. And the exact time I arrived was when the Binyu Group executed their hijack.
In other words, this hijacking was an unavoidable event. Not just a game event triggered by conditions—it was one of the annual incidents the Binyu Group pulled off.
Bang! Bang bang!
"Kyaaak!"
"Quiet! Quiet!"
A Binyu attacker fired their magic rifle at the ceiling. Unia narrowed her eyes, glaring at the assailant.
'Reading their mana reactions.'
In this world, everyone drew mana from the mana core in their heart. The core's size determined their maximum mana capacity.
Unia was keenly observing whether the attacker was drawing mana from their own chest or from the mana stored in the magic rifle's magazine.
"If we could just take their magic rifles..."
The attackers were undoubtedly physically superior. But their combat power—especially their 'mana'—came from external sources. The magic rifle magazines. The Binyu Group's bodies had almost no mana of their own. Like something hidden under those bandages.
"They'd be neutralized. But it seems like it's time to quiet down."
I warned Unia and gestured toward the back.
Vrrr.
The door at the rear slid open. Unia's gaze shifted, and her expression hardened.
"What?"
A familiar voice. Rough and gravelly, one I'd heard often in-game.
Thud, thud. Heavy boot steps echoed deliberately, as if she wanted everyone to hear.
"Hey, what're you looking at?"
The woman approaching my side locked eyes with Unia first—
"Huh."
—but then met mine. Black hair, red eyes. Straight locks down to her waist, crammed under a combat helmet like something an officer would wear.
"......"
She flinched upon meeting my gaze but quickly refocused on Unia.
"Who the hell are you? Why're you staring at me like that?"
"You look like an academy freshman. What, in a hurry? Worried you'll miss the entrance exam if the train's late?"
Unia tried to stay composed, feigning nonchalance. But—
"Answer me, you big-mana-capacity bitch!"
The woman's harsh shout made Unia nod obediently.
"Your words are a bit too much."
I stood up.
"W-Who the hell are you?!"
"I'm not here to talk it out or anything, but still, no need for such foul language. Lady."
"L-Lady...?"
The woman recoiled in confusion. Another Binyu attacker aimed a magic rifle at me, but I raised my hands and stepped into the aisle.
"No intention of resisting. But please don't handle us too roughly. Neither me, nor this girl, nor anyone here has harmed you, right?"
"Sh-Shut up!"
The executive yelled at me.
"You're all trying to go to Esdinas anyway! If we can't go, neither can you!"
A lame excuse. She let her true feelings slip in her panic, but it didn't change the situation.
"Yes. Detained like this, looks like enrollment this year is off the table."
"Enrollment...?"
"I'm a freshman too."
"......"
The executive scanned me up and down.
"...Not a grad student?"
"What kind of harsh talk is that."
I nearly swore. 'That gave me more chills than sparring with Chang Yeom.' Never been to grad school, but it reminded me of that moment in college when the professor called me to his lab during my gaming binge.
"Freshman. Seventeen years old."
"......"
"Right, Unia?"
I turned to Unia.
"...Y-Yeah."
Unia nodded awkwardly, and I winked at her while removing my sunglasses.
"W-What are you two?"
"Friends."
"......Fine, friends, so you don't like hearing her called a bitch?"
The executive's face twisted.
"Men are all the same, obsessed with big-mana-capacity types...!"
A subtle hostility toward me bubbled up.
"I don't particularly care about mana capacity size."
"What?"
And that hostility deflated instantly.
"W-What do you...!"
"Don't be swayed, Slendia!"
One attacker shouted at the executive—at Slendia.
"They're trying to charm you, Slendia, so they can sneak off to the academy with that big-mana-capacity childhood friend!"
"U-Ugh...!"
"Then spend three years acting like a couple, graduate, and get married! Just like all men!!"
The attacker's cry carried a hint of pent-up rage.
"Did your crush betray you like that or—"
Bang!
"...Be careful."
A few strands of hair by my ear fluttered down, clipped by the bullet.
The Binyu Group actually had real BSS and NTR victims among them.
"Rifti!"
"Slendia! No need to listen to this pervert anymore! Just, just...!"
Hmm.
It was about time.
"Binyu Group folks? Mind if I ask something?"
"What?"
"Hijacking the train is fine and all, but isn't this like an annual event?"
A question based on game lore, but thankfully, no baffled reaction like 'What nonsense is that?'
"I know you're trying to block everyone heading to Esdinas Academy's entrance exams every year. Me, Unia, or any potential freshmen in other cars."
"So?"
"Won't Esdinas Academy make a move? Sooner or later."
"Ha!"
Slendia scoffed.
"Unfortunately, they're too busy with other things to care."
"Other things...?"
"None of your business!"
No need to know. I already did.
"I see. In that case, may 'we' get off?"
"......What?"
Slendia tilted her head like she misheard.
"What did you just...?"
"Can we get off?"
"......What are you thinking?"
"Who knows. Do you need to know?"
"You little...!"
Slendia grabbed my collar at my sarcasm.
"Can't believe I'm going easy on you 'cause you're younger, and you climb all over me?"
Younger. The Binyu Group was basically made up of those who failed to enter Esdinas Academy—or couldn't even catch the last train.
"I could kill you right now!"
"That'd put a continent-wide wanted poster on you. Murder charge."
"Ha...!"
"What do you think is the reason Esdinas lets this ridiculous hijacking slide every year?"
"Nonsense...!"
"It's a test. Handle crises like this to reach the continent's heart."
In other words—
"The entrance exam has already begun. You're not even officially contracted with Esdinas—you're just being used."
Those who get held up by people who couldn't even enter themselves? Academy says no enrollment for you. Brutal.
"And you charge in hijacking trains, detaining people without knowing that? Pathetic, isn't it?"
"You bastard...!"
"You hijacked the train, so now you're responsible for it, right?"
I subtly pointed outside.
"What about that?"
"......"
"The situation's getting worse than expected."
"W-What, what is that...?"
Slendia panicked. Those peering out the window at the dust cloud rising on the horizon began swallowing hard one by one.
"W-Wait, don't tell me that's...?"
"Hey!! Go to the engine room and tell 'em—run, front or back, whatever!!"
Slendia yelled at her subordinate, who bolted toward the front of the car—the one who'd shot at me.
"U-Uwaaak!!"
Some passengers screamed, realizing what the dust cloud was.
"Monsters!!"
Monsters. What people commonly called monsters.
"That's why I wanted to get off."
I turned to Unia.
"Entrance exam trivia: Magic trains..."
"Run on mana stone fuel, so they're prime targets for monsters after the stones in the fuel car."
Unia answered immediately.
"...Especially in wastelands like this."
"Grk...! What about the mana jamming?! Why isn't it working?!"
Slendia cried out in frustration.
"Why'd those damn monsters sniff out the mana leaking from the magic train!!"
Why? First, the train had stopped for some reason. Second, the Binyu Group's attack delayed maintenance. And third—
"Who knows. Maybe there's some tasty prey on board?"
From the monsters' perspective, the scent alone was drool-worthy: an SS-rank 'boss' with virtually no mana. That was third.
"Even without your hijacking, monsters might've attacked anyway. Haha."
"Y-You...! Why isn't the train moving yet!!"
"Slendia!!"
The Binyu member who'd run to the front returned, face pale, pointing ahead.
"Trolleya...!"
"What about her!"
"She tried opening the engine room door and shot the engineer and co-engineer dead...!"
"......"
3.
"Then."
2.
"The train."
1.
"Is stopped for good?"
"Uwaaaak!!"
"Run!!"
Passengers leaped from their seats en masse.
"Tch...! Retreat for now!!"
"B-But the people...!"
"Those beasts are after the train, not people! Retreat!!"
True to their villainous nature, Slendia and the Binyu Group showed no concern for the mess they'd caused—the very chaos affecting everyone—and tried to flee.
'Typical Binyu Group scum.' Humanity comes from motherhood, after all. Fitting for those lacking it.
Would monsters only target the train? All of them? What if someone inside couldn't evacuate?
"Unia."
I turned to her.
If she were just some unrelated civilian, I'd have said, 'Let's run too.'
—Remember, Phoenix.
But with Unia—
—Seduce all the angel candidates, turn the goddess's power to our side...
Seduce her. Build favor.
"The entrance exam might be delayed. Could be tomorrow before we arrive."
I gripped the wooden staff an old gentleman had dropped on the floor.
"Still, will you help?"
"......That's."
Unia rose slowly.
"What I was about to say."
She was already geared for battle.
"Even if we miss enrollment..."
"I won't let people get slaughtered by monsters right in front of me."
Unia widened her eyes in surprise at my words, but I smiled and extended my hand.
"Shall we, lady? To save people."
"...Yes!"
Unia took my hand and stood.
Unia. Main heroine, title heroine. Unless the protagonist kills someone right in front of her, she'll cooperate and warm up to just about anyone.
'Proves motherhood and humanity are proportional.'
Unia's maternal instinct? Level 100, easy.
...Correction.
'It's 100 now, but I can raise it higher.'
Depending on me, we could go beyond 100.
'Motherhood scales with level and mana capacity, after all.'