Chapter 78
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Lesson 17. How to Clear the Trick Room - 3
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On Sunday afternoon, the Rebellion members had gathered in the doorless classroom, including even Professor Yumina.
They were holding a reflection meeting on their third exploration.
"From now on, let's just leave everything to Ban Yu-won."
In the heavy silence where no one spoke up, Dokgo Yeon suddenly spoke in a sullen tone.
In Room 23, the witch hunt... no, the trial had resulted in seven more NPCs dying, and among them were three murderers, allowing Ban Yu-won to earn Judgment 3 and Stigma 0.3.
The problem was not knowing how many more murderers they needed to kill to end it all.
'Around that point, people got too scared, making it hard to continue the trials.'
That was exactly when they had exited the tower.
In the end, they hadn't broken through Room 23.
At least they hadn't retired, so they could continue the challenge next Friday...
Ban Yu-won tilted his head and asked her.
"Is that really okay? Honestly, I was pretty sympathetic to your point about improving the party's crisis response skills."
"It was overreaching."
Dokgo Yeon replied curtly, glaring at the other two party members—Lucelle and Light.
Yeah, he could quickly grasp what had been overreaching.
During the consecutive trials, Lucelle and Light hadn't been helpful at all.
You need at least some will and aptitude to grow abilities.
But sensing Dokgo Yeon's gaze, Lucelle narrowed her eyes and shot back.
"From now on, I'll stick right by Yu-won. I do want to fill in what's lacking for him, but..."
"You won't stick your neck into things Ban Yu-won can handle himself?"
"Yes. And I don't have the ability to anyway."
Ban Yu-won felt embarrassed even for himself at Lucelle's resolute statement.
"Dokgo Yeon, I think I know what you were thinking this time, but... wasn't it a pointless effort? I'm worried you'll trip and fall."
"You beast...!"
Dokgo Yeon and Lucelle exchanged silent glances.
Ban Yu-won couldn't understand at all why "pointless effort" came up there.
As the master of language manipulation powers, why were their conversations sometimes incomprehensible?
Ban Yu-won turned to Light with that thought.
His expression was half-rotten.
"I don't particularly want to stick with you forever, but I don't want to go through hell doing things you can handle yourself! Especially not something like this!"
"Compared to those two, you're refreshingly honest, at least."
"It was insanely tough on me! Emotionally!"
While Lucelle had simply deferred all judgments to Ban Yu-won in Room 23, Light had been uncooperative with the trials from start to finish.
Even knowing they were fake, he couldn't accept judging the innocent.
"I hate overthinking or harming innocents. If I'd just drawn the holy sword, we could've smashed through the trick room in one go!"
"Last time, the guy who charged in with his holy sword drawn retired in the trick room, and he's talking big."
"This is hilarious. How do you come up with such novel explorations..."
As the Rebellion members bickered as usual, Yumina, who had been reviewing the footage Tike captured, chuckled and said that.
"Huh?"
"I never expected a frontal assault here. How did you even think of that?"
"Because there were no other options..."
"There were plenty. Inciting the citizens to hold trials— no one but you, Ban Yu-won, could've come up with that."
""""...Uh?"""
The group's eyes turned to Ban Yu-won in unison.
Yumina, unable to stop laughing at the amusement, shared the model answer she'd confirmed from the footage.
"In a restricted trick room, you need to meticulously check every discoverable element. That way, you'd definitely find clues to clear the room. But you all charged into the small town without even searching properly?"
"Well, that seemed the fastest and simplest... Ah."
Only after hearing Yumina did Ban Yu-won make an "oh no" face.
He finally realized his mistake midway through her words.
'I said I'd leave it to the party members, but I brought up the mafia game and ended up guiding them my way. And I didn't even confirm Room 23 was based on that!'
What if he hadn't mentioned Earth's games to Dokgo Yeon?
The exploration would've naturally involved searching Room 23 thoroughly with the party to find progression clues.
If he hadn't stirred discord among the people upon entering the town, the ridiculous witch hunt of hanging people outright wouldn't have happened...
Of course, it would've taken much longer, but that's how other climbers normally cleared rooms!
"Wow, this was totally my screw-up..."
"Screw-up? That's what made it more fun. No other students could've imagined such a clever approach."
Even after hanging so many innocents on the spot, she called it fun.
As expected, Yumina saw NPCs as just NPCs.
"Even devising a 'trial' to bypass the trick room's restrictions was brilliant. If you'd had a bit more time, you could've cleanly cleared it with that absurd trial. That's the only regret."
"But that wasn't the right answer, and forcing it like that—"
As Ban Yu-won tried to say more about his mistake, a heavy thud echoed.
Dokgo Yeon had slammed her head on the table.
"Agh, aaah...!"
"Dokgo Yeon...?"
"See? Pointless effort."
Ban Yu-won and Light stared wide-eyed, uncomprehending her action.
Only Lucelle covered her face with one hand, laughing lowly as she teased Dokgo Yeon.
Rarely, Dokgo Yeon became Lucelle's teasing target and could only groan without proper retort.
"To stand at the top and make such a foolish mistake..."
"Dokgo Yeon? This seems more like my mistake than yours. I said I'd leave it to you all but stepped in too much."
"No, it's mine. I lost normal judgment from being swayed by your casual words and actions, forcing a frontal charge..."
Yeah, that was surprising.
Dokgo Yeon charging toward the town like a bulldozer gave no time for anyone to stop her.
She'd even incited the witch hunt with Ban Yu-won.
But regretting now was too late, and judging by Yumina's reaction, uploading the footage as-is wouldn't be bad, so Dokgo Yeon didn't need to blame herself that much...
Thud! Dokgo Yeon slammed her head on the table again.
"A perfect failure. I shouldn't have been swayed like this. That mercenary... I'll tear him apart someday...!"
"Huh? Mercenary? What mercenary?"
"Yu-won, play dumb. Sometimes women need you to just watch quietly."
"Uh, okay..."
Lucelle's smiling eyes were oddly seductive, making him flustered as he nodded.
But Dokgo Yeon either ignored it or lost the courage to face Ban Yu-won or Lucelle—she fiddled with her pendant and vanished from the spot.
She'd run away.
"Listening quietly, yeah, Dokgo Yeon really is the fool here, right?"
"Even so, you're not much better."
"What—?!"
Ban Yu-won scolded Light, who dazedly tried to tease Dokgo Yeon too, then let out a short sigh.
"Then next week in the tower, we should look for hints. We can't act in the city at night anyway, so we'll move outside then."
"You can't enter the tower next week, Ban Yu-won."
"Huh?"
Yumina, still enjoying the footage, said as if it just occurred to her.
"It's midterms week. Next week and the week after. Expect a flood of written assignments and practical exams."
"That's the last thing I wanted to hear... Isn't it too soon?"
This was week 4 (they skipped last week for special activities, so third actual entry), and midterms ending in week 6 meant...
If finals were the same, week 12.
A semester was only three months.
"Finals are a bit longer, up to week 14. Our academy has special activities and tower climbs during breaks, so we make breaks longer."
"Ah, so we can climb during breaks. Then..."
"Not the entire break, of course. But prepare for a solid two-week expedition."
Hearing the record was 561 rooms, even weekends-only seemed tight until graduation.
Extended climbs during breaks changed things.
"Ah, midterms..."
"Yu-won, believe...!"
Beside Ban Yu-won, eyes sparkling at the thought of break, Light and Lucelle shuddered at "midterms" like it was trauma.
Ban Yu-won flicked their foreheads with his fingers and stood.
"Dokgo Yeon ran off, so let's end this reflection here. We'll discuss role assignments later with her."
"Ban Yu-won, before that, something to say."
"We're having dinner together tonight anyway, right?"
"Hehe, of course~"
Lucelle glared at Yumina laughing with petal-like hair swaying, like a wolf eyeing prey's weakness.
Of course, Yumina ignored her and continued.
"Before uploading this footage, something to note. You probably guessed, but the sanctification in Room 17 absolutely can't be shown."
"Right. Then the sponsorships from those two constellations...?"
"Edit it to look like from Room 9. Same constellations anyway."
Yumina sighed anew.
"How do you always pick the most outrageous stunts? Getting two unconditional sponsorships from constellations."
"Uh... will it cause a stir?"
"Less attention since not combat-related, but two at once."
Ban Yu-won was confident these abilities from the two constellations beat mediocre combat ones but didn't mention it now.
"Unconditional sponsorships are greater than contracts in some ways. You get that?"
"Yeah, somewhat."
"It might shut up students and professors who didn't acknowledge you. Still... I'd prefer hiding it if possible."
Yumina pouted her pale pink lips.
"Chancellor and Professor Xenon will notice for sure..."
"Yeah, probably."
Can't hide, so better act boldly.
Showing off publicly would deter fools like Ortima from attacking.
"Anyway, we'll discuss over dinner. Good work, everyone. Rest up."
"...Professor, can I join dinner tonight?"
Lucelle's bold remark at that timing.
Since returning from special activities, she'd viewed Yumina as a perfect enemy.
The kind with love prefixed to enemy.
"Oh my."
Yumina's gem-like eyes sparkled as she smiled.
"Sorry. Like I said, I have private constellation talk with Ban Yu-won tonight."
She brushed Lucelle off lightly.
"Dinner next time. With Light and Dokgo Yeon too. I'm looking forward to it."
"......"
"......"
But her words only deepened Lucelle and Light's suspicions.
Ban Yu-won tilted his head at the odd tension between the women, but of course, no answer came...
Constellation [Clock of the Toy Legion] delights in an unexpected scene and munches on popcorn.
Constellation [Breath of Life] is satisfied, saying you truly have the talent to birth life.
These bastards' timing is goddamn perfect!