Disciplinary Punishment (2)

The road to the Dungeon Hall.

As Han So-mi had requested, I was reenacting my brief battle with Oh Se-hun, complete with elaborate hand gestures.

"So the hammer comes flying at me like this, spinning the whole way."

"Yes, yes! And then?"

"And then I barely dodge it. But here's the thing—it doesn't just whoosh off into the distance. It circles around nearby and comes flying at me again."

"Ooooh—"

Han So-mi kept gasping and chiming in with admiration at every beat.

Oh Se-hun preferred to leave most of the fighting to his committee members rather than step in himself. Which meant that even though Song Cheon-hye and Han So-mi had been quite active as Disciplinary Committee members, they'd never once laid eyes on him in actual combat. So when he'd suddenly decided, out of what whim, to challenge me and Dang Gyu-young to a wager that night, it was only natural that all three of them were burning with curiosity.

"And then? And ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠then?"

Han So-mi kept badgering me for the next part, of course, while Song Cheon-hye pretended not to listen even as her ears stood at full attention, and even Shin Byung-cheol, who never stopped chattering, fell silent and just listened.

My story continued.

"—I'd finally managed to pin down Dang Gyu-young, and then she just vanished."

"Huh? Where'd she go?"

"Pop—right above my head. She used Blink."

"Blink! What happened next?"

Han So-mi's eyes were sparkling bright.

I mimed slamming a hammer downward.

"Next, obviously, was a boom."

"A pop and then a boom!"

Her reactions were so good that telling the story was a genuine pleasure.

By the time I'd finished the whole tale, the Dungeon Hall was already quite close. Just as I was about to open my mouth again, Song Cheon-hye slipped into the conversation.

"I need a quick word."

"Suit yourself."

Figuring there was nothing to lose, I gave a slight tilt of my chin, and Song Cheon-hye turned to Han So-mi.

"Go on ahead and wait a bit."

"What are you gonna talk about?"

"It's a secret."

"A secret talk? I wanna hear too!"

"It's an important talk."

"An important secret talk? Me too!!"

Curiosity beams were shooting out of both of Han So-mi's eyes. Even so, Song Cheon-hye shook her head firmly.

"Not this time."

"Then later!"

"……We'll see."

Judging by Song Cheon-hye's vague attitude, though, whether any such talk would actually happen later was doubtful.

Once the backs of Han So-mi and Shin Byung-cheol were a decent distance away, Song Cheon-hye spread her mana wide around us to block out the noise. She was even accounting for the possibility of someone eavesdropping.

She seemed ready to bring up her topic, so I asked first.

"So? What is it?"

"……Have you decided?"

"Decided what?"

"What you're going to do with the Wish Ticket. Tell me."

The Wish Ticket in question here was not the small one I'd obtained through the mentoring wager, but the Major Wish Ticket I'd won in the magnifying glass wager.

While I hadn't set any explicit limits on it, there was almost nothing I couldn't demand from Song Cheon-hye—even outright violations of academy rules. Which meant the ticket was a massive anxiety for her, one she'd want cleared away as quickly as possible.

A better-taken-lashing-now-than-later mindset.

But I had zero intention of giving her what she wanted.

"Is there any need to use it right now?"

"If you don't use it now?"

"I was thinking of letting it mature a while."

"……How long?"

"Oh, until maybe your third year?"

With Song Cheon-hye's future as bright as it was, the value of the Wish Ticket could only climb higher and higher. Right now she was merely a first-year Disciplinary Committee member, but who knew what she'd be by her third year? She might be running the Topaz Magic ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Tower. She might be Disciplinary Chief, or even student council president. The wider her authority grew, the wider the range of wishes I could demand—so there was no reason to waste it now.

Perhaps it was the answer she'd never imagined, but her voice began to tremble bit by bit.

"Wh-where would such a thing exist?"

"It exists right here."

"Th-that's right. That thing has an expiration date. An expiration date."

"The expiration date is three ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠years."

"I never agreed to that!"

"Of course you didn't. You should have, beforehand. Before the wager."

The proper way to handle details was to negotiate them in advance, before the wager was struck. If you failed to do that, the winner decided everything. That was simply how it went.

Song Cheon-hye's face turned gradually paler. Finally, resorting to pure stubbornness, she cried out with a shaking voice.

"N-no! D-do you really think I'd do that? Only once I'm a third year—"

"That's up to you. It's not like we signed a contract."

"……Really?"

"Yep. Don't want to, don't do it. But……. wouldn't Gwak Seung-jae be disappointed if he heard?"

"That's……!"

The magnifying glass wager had taken place with Gwak Seung-jae watching. And after the winner was decided, he'd hammered it home repeatedly:

To disregard such a Wish Ticket was to disregard Gwak Seung-jae himself. For someone of Song Cheon-hye's character, absolutely impossible.

"……!"

The moment she realized there was no escape, Song Cheon-hye shivered slightly where she stood.

And there I tossed out, in a passing tone:

"There is one way to get rid of it, though."

"……What way."

"Another wager. Stake the Wish Ticket on it."

"If I lose, it becomes two tickets?"

"Isn't that just how it works?"

Song Cheon-hye spoke in a tone that could not have been more resolute.

"I'm not doing it."

"Really not?"

"Absolutely, absolutely not."

"Fair enough—only a fool would take another one. So you've finally learned something."

"G-goodness."

Song Cheon-hye snapped her head away as if the conversation wasn't worth another second. But the way she kept sneaking glances at me told me her anxiety had only amplified.

For my part, nothing had changed, so I replied with perfect composure.

"If you're done talking, let's go. The kids are waiting."

"……Fine, let's."

We quickened our pace and rejoined the others up ahead.

"What'd you talk about? What'd you talk about?"

Lightly brushing off Han So-mi's curiosity beams, Song Cheon-hye ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hurried ahead and stepped onto the spiral staircase. Then, as we descended, she began briefing us on what we were here to do.

"The first-year teams will be cleansing F-rank dungeons."

A dungeon list printed itself in the air, scrolling line by line. We didn't yet qualify for E-rank, so it was all F-ranks. Recently cleared dungeons were excluded as well—once a dungeon reset, any Oublek inside vanished along with it.

That left the numbers a little sparse, but since there were simply vast quantities of F-rank dungeons to begin with, the list stretched far down below.

Shin Byung-cheol already looked exhausted by the prospect.

"Hey, this is way too many. We couldn't do all these even if we worked all weekend."

"That would be true if we were clearing them one by one. Our goal is to check whether each dungeon has a Dark Oublek in it or not."

"And after we check?"

"We use these."

Song Cheon-hye held up a bundle of magic scrolls from her inventory.

A magic scroll that, when torn, opens an exit whether or not the dungeon has been cleared. When we raided the Black Snake Gang, we'd swiped the boss chest clean and used one of these to get out.

Normally they'd have to be purchased from the student shop, but given the nature of the situation, the academy had apparently provided them.

"Oh, then that makes it a bit better."

Shin Byung-cheol seemed slightly relieved that he wouldn't need to clear all these countless dungeons. Then another question occurred to him, and he asked:

"……But what if there is an Oublek?"

"We kill it. Obviously."

That was the whole point of the four-person party composition, with two Disciplinary Committee members included. We were entering F-rank dungeons, but the moment a Dark Oublek appeared, it was no longer F-rank.

On top of that, to bring the thing down with minimal damage, we needed a margin of force that might even look excessive.

In the end, there was no dodging the fighting—Shin Byung-cheol's face fell right back into sulkiness. But there was nothing he could do about it at this point. If he wanted to live, he had no choice but to participate diligently.

Before long we left the spiral staircase and turned into a corridor. Passing countless dungeons waiting with their mouths agape, we reached our first destination.

Standing before the teleport portal, Shin Byung-cheol spoke in a resolute tone.

"Hmm……. I'll take point on scouting here. I'll go in first."

"Huh? We're going in right away too though!"

When Han So-mi asked with a tilted head, Shin Byung-cheol barked softly.

"Ahem! That's what the words mean, the words! Count thirty before you come in."

And with bravado right up to the end, he entered the dungeon.

Barely a single second after Shin Byung-cheol vanished, Song Cheon-hye stepped forward.

"No time for jokes. Entering now."

"Still, give the kid some face. Say, twenty seconds at least."

"……Ten. Not a second more."

Then she counted exactly ten seconds and stepped through the teleport portal.

I looked at Han So-mi.

"No flexibility whatsoever, that one. Right?"

"But Cheon-hye's suuuper nice!"

"She is. The problem's just that she has no give. Shall we go in too?"

"Yep! Departure!"

We stepped through the teleport portal one after another.

The first thing to catch my eye was a long, stretching tunnel. Lighting was installed sparsely, the path forked multiple ways, and nothing could be seen at the far end. Rails ran along the floor, along with assorted mining equipment including mine carts.

So this was one of the cleansing dungeons.

The rules of Cleansing: roam the mine and dispose of monsters—giant moles, bats, insects, and the like. Searching a complex, sprawling mine was somewhat tedious, but the overall difficulty ranked among the easier ones.

However, what greeted us next was—

"Heyheyhey! Help! Help!"

Shin Byung-cheol, sprinting so hard his soles had to be on fire.

And behind him, a black mass—impossible to say whether liquid or solid—gave chase.

The Dark Oublek, no less.

At Winterhalt Fortress it had worn the form of a mix between the ice witch and a golem; now it had taken on the shape of a giant mole. Because its form was determined by whatever monster it had devoured.

Of course, on top of the mole body it also sported bat wings and insect forelegs.

He really did sample from the whole menu.

I exchanged a glance with Song Cheon-hye.

"How'd it pop out right from the start?"

"It actually works out well. Let's deal with it."

Song Cheon-hye pulled on her black gauntlets, and Han So-mi, beaming ear to ear, smoothly drew the sword at her hip.

Even in the middle of it all, Shin Byung-cheol kept running for his life and screaming.

"QuickquickhelpsaveMEsenior! It's gonna get me! It's gonna get me!"

Soon the two Disciplinary Committee members moved a step forward—but I raised my hand and stopped them.

"Hold on a moment."

"……?"

Then I planted the sapling on the ground and reached forward.

A thick wall of ice burst up between Shin Byung-cheol and the Dark Oublek. Unable to brake its full charge, the thing slammed its body straight into the ice wall.

— BOOM!

The crash echoed through the mine as clods of dirt rained down in wisps.

Had the two committee members jumped in, prying the thing off Shin Byung-cheol would not have been easy. In fact, with so many tangled together in one heap, cutting them apart with an ice wall would only have grown harder—which was why I'd held them back for a moment.

Excellent performance, as expected.

B-rank indeed—the wall generated swiftly, and its durability was substantial. The Oublek had rammed it at a dead sprint, and rather than shatter, the wall hadn't even cracked.

Just then I felt a gaze and turned my head slightly to find Song Cheon-hye wearing a thoroughly sour expression.

"What?"

"……It's nothing."

Song Cheon-hye brushed it off as if it were nothing at all.

But her hand was slowly rubbing her own forehead.