I Became the Traitor in an Academy Story

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It seemed I had a rough idea of why Im Changwon kept bothering me.

That guy pretended to be uninterested in others while being the most nosy person ever.

Whenever he decided to take an interest in someone, it was because he thought they had something better than him.

If he thought anyone was superior in any way, he’d approach them, ask for guidance, and once he learned everything he could, he’d drop them and ignore them again.

He claimed it was efficient, but really, he just grew up in a chaotic home with bad parenting.

So, there was some room for sympathy.

If he never received proper treatment as a person, it wouldn’t be easy for him to extend the same courtesy to others.

Thus, I had to endure with the mindset of the Buddha, suffering under the temptation of the demon at the Bodhi tree.

The urge to punch that guy until my fingers broke was hard to suppress.

After all, it’s always satisfying when the protagonist gives him a good beating.

“…I hope our next meeting will be more beneficial.”

Following me all the way to the school exit just to spout his nonsense was classic behavior for someone raised like a practical orphan.

No, it was worse than an orphan. At least orphans had a bit of awareness.

But that guy probably couldn’t pick up on cues due to his background, making him both rude and oblivious.

As I stared disdainfully at Changwon leaving, Lapiz crept up and stuck by my side.

…Life at the Academy was quite painful.

You couldn’t just shove away what you didn’t like.

“Those weirdos… they’re students, yet they act like adults…”

Lapiz was the one who really didn’t have to worry about social cues.

The student council positions could be swapped out anytime and were filled with substitutes…

But Lapiz was an irreplaceable member of our little family.

It was okay for Lapiz to be a little more unruly and lively than now. No, it should be allowed.

…Given what happened in her childhood, it’s not hard to understand why she feared people and kept her distance.

She had been kidnapped after all.

“It’s not weird; that’s just rudeness. You shouldn’t become like that.”

As I ruffled Lapiz’s hair, I let loose some gripes.

“If you have to be like anyone, be like Fukukin.”

No, he was a guy who got beaten up and finally came to his senses.

Just be adequately rude without needing to mess people up too badly.

Lapiz playfully swatted away my hand that was messing up her hair, but she didn’t seem to mind too much, as her grip didn’t tighten.

Yeonhwa said she was heading to visit Jinhyeon with Maria, who she had just become friendly with, so naturally, the walk home was just me and Lapiz.

I wanted to go alone, but she insisted on following me, rarely expressing her desires.

So, I ended up keeping her company.

I intended to stop somewhere today, so spending too long hanging out was a little inconvenient.

“Um, B…Blanca. If you’re free this weekend… um, would you want to come over to my house?”

“Your house?”

“Uh, yeah. Mom and Dad want to treat the one who saved me to a meal or something…”

That was a place only accessible after the original protagonist won Lapiz’s affection.

But, going there? Me? Now?

Only a week after joining, when Minho hadn’t even gotten a chance to connect with Lapiz?

I had to decline.

But saying no didn’t feel like an option either.

She could completely shut her heart off, which wasn’t something I wanted to risk.

Lapiz’s mental state was already fragile.

If someone like her crumbled like sand and decided to distance herself from everyone, it would be a problem.

Even if she didn’t break, it was obvious she considered me a friend, tightly bound to her heart.

We had crossed a perilous dungeon together, after all.

Ah, dammit. If only I had stopped Yeonhwa from involving Lapiz back then.

“…Well, I don’t have anything specific to do anyway. But it feels a bit off for me to go alone, so would it be okay if Yeonhwa and Jinhyeon came along?”

My only option was to pull in Yeonhwa and Jinhyeon as a fallback.

Distributing the focus that could have been solely on me and casually befriending Jinhyeon and Yeonhwa in the process.

It can’t be helped if Lapiz gets closer to them, easing her loneliness…

But what can I do? I need to figure out how to connect Minho and Lapiz.

It’s silly how someone trying to interfere with Minho is ironically defending the original story…

But what can I say? I’m his fan.

Aim to intervene but in a way that allows for recovery. That’s my goal.

Sorry to the Boss, but I’m not planning on changing this no matter who shows up.

“Those two? Great, great! I wanted to say something…”

So she had the plan to invite them anyway.

Inviting Lapiz into the group chat created with Jinhyeon and Yeonhwa, I asked those confused by her invitation if it was okay since she had been through the same ordeal.

Fortunately, they happily agreed.

“Done. You can say whatever you want now.”

“Thanks…!”

Even after that, we exchanged some casual conversation, and I waved goodbye to Lapiz as she left for a different line.

…Sigh.

Feels like everything I plan goes sideways.

At this rate, it seems like one screw after another is loosening in my life.

Is it my fate to be in the same department as Ageha? I’m starting to feel a bit down.

Speaking of which, Ageha is also an issue.

She was supposed to get attached to Minho after bothering him. But you see, that attention ended up on me.

Ah, my head.

Once I got on the subway, my mind was spinning.

Was it due to someone recognizing me as the girl from the news, or was it the already tangled mess of human relationships?

– – – –

In a narrow alley close to midnight.

From afar, the cheap music of the red-light district and the sounds of delinquents bickering echoed.

Somewhat closer, the sounds of nameless rats bartering over knives or goods floated around.

To me, this filthy air felt oddly comforting.

With my gloved hands getting a bit clumsy, I struggled to push the door lock button to open the locked door and stepped into the desolate warehouse.

As I took off my double-layered hood, my pressed-down cat ears perked up.

I thought I was going to suffocate.

If only my heart wanted to, I would have thrown off my mask too, but I couldn’t leave any trace of myself.

I wasn’t trying to avoid detection by a Hero or the police.

I was quite skilled at fooling those guys.

But… Villains were a whole different breed.

If there’s a chance, even if I didn’t want to, I felt the itch to act now or never.

“So… where was it again? It should be nearby.”

As I groped along the bricks in the wall, one of them pressed in lightly like a button.

With a clicking sound, the floor split open, revealing a secret door.

Every time I see this, I can’t help but feel satisfied.

And if you’re curious about where this is, it’s my hideout.

To be exact, it’s not so much a hiding spot as a place where I keep various things stashed away.

You can’t store sulfuric acid or hydrochloric acid, or other toxic substances in the house.

This is my personal storage space, set up with quite a bit of expense.

There’s no real need to hide it here, but it just looks cool.

Every guy secretly wants a base of operations, right?

Turning on the light to dispel the darkness, a fairly spacious underground area filled with various liquids in containers came into view.

Everything was stuff I had procured whenever I found time.

It always comes in handy to have some things set aside.

I could sell them through Hanchō’s underlings or use them when interrogating someone…

The biggest reason was to hide my own abilities.

Before, while moving in the shadows of society, it was sometimes fine to use my powers without worry.

But now, I couldn’t do that in the light.

If someone died from poison gas suddenly, I’d be the first one suspected.

However, using stuff I had prepped in advance greatly reduced the chance of exposure.

Even if I got suspected, the culprits would only be those who had dealt in these kinds of goods recently.

As for today… just some concentrated sulfuric acid will do.

Grabbing a container with a sticky liquid and a hand axe hanging on the wall, I threw my hood back on and left the hideout.

Since the place I was heading to wasn’t too far, I didn’t need to hit the main road with this suspicious look.

I arrived at my destination without encountering anyone.

As expected, it being the early part of the story meant there was only one guard present.

And that guard was sleeping blissfully.

Quieting my footsteps, I sneaked closer and swung the empowered hand axe imbued with magic to swiftly sever the guard’s neck.

I cushioned the falling body to muffle the sound and poured a bit of sulfuric acid on the cut surface to stop the blood from flowing.

Once I took care of the body, I picked up the severed head and brought it to the biometric recognition device attached to the tightly sealed warehouse entrance.

With that, the heavy iron door swung open with a deep rumble.

Gathering the body and head, I stepped inside, where an unbelievable sight unfolded for a warehouse in the city.

Giants tanks almost filled the inner building like some immense cultivation facility.

These were all the Modified Humans that Class A would soon encounter.

It was also the very moment Minho would awaken his abilities under pressure.

Wow, there’s so many. Seriously.

How do they abduct people and keep them hidden without getting caught?

It’s hard to believe they only sourced them from the back alleys; they even snatched up regular people.

But that was a concern for later; I had business to attend to.

I carelessly tossed the guard’s body and head into a nearby tank, then gradually poured the sulfuric acid in.

It was time to reduce the numbers a bit.

 

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