I Became the Traitor in an Academy Story

---

And not long after, I regretted having to admit that even if it gave off a slightly bad impression, I’d go all the way to the Academy.

“I see…! So that’s it! To think you figured out my weakness just by observing for that brief moment. Truly, Heros Academy is on a different level…?! N-no one else has observation skills like yours, right!?”

Yeonhwa was a fiery girl in many ways.

Bright, gentle, and radiant, but also a bit overwhelming to get too close to.

“Hehehe, that’s why I kinda dislike summer. When it gets hot and I start sweating, the flames weaken… I mean, isn’t it funny that I hate the heat when I handle fire?”

A little too much, trying hard to get closer.

You could compare her to a dog that keeps licking your face.

“Sorry. I’ll apologize on behalf of Jinhyeon. He’s just a bit reserved. It’s not that he dislikes you! He just tends to avoid people…”

Though dogs do this out of goodwill, if you let them keep licking, it gets awkward, and you have to push them away.

I wanted to push her away a bit too.

“Ah. By the way, the police said they might contact us later. Ugh, sorry for our sake… W-what if there’s a red line drawn against us…?”

In the midst of that, she shuddered while talking about what had just happened.

“It’s not like someone died because of me, so it should be fine. They’ll probably just want a detailed explanation of the situation.”

Even if they analyzed the signatures of the villain gang, there wouldn’t be any evidence that it was me.

The cause of death would likely turn out to be internal bleeding due to the side effects of illegal substances.

I used my abilities in self-defense and unfortunately crossed paths with the timing of their imminent demise, so I’d end up misunderstood during the investigation.

This sort of ability use was generally accepted in society.

Even if a civilian killed a villain in order to survive by using their abilities, the worst they’d get would be a fine in this society.

It was indeed a hard world for villains to survive in.

Among heroes, there was even a world where you could get a license to kill and instantly dispose of dangerous criminals on the spot.

“I-I see… That’s a relief, but still, going to the police station is scary. I hope they don’t contact us, Blanca.”

Yeah, me too. More than that, could you not show a little less interest?

It was a funny thought, considering that I staged a self-made act to get closer, but I really did wish she’d show a little less interest.

After all, it was already a pretty equal relationship, and I wasn’t good at dealing with peers in the first place.

But with her constantly approaching me, the mental fatigue was no joke.

I couldn’t treat her like the other trash and, moreover, being unable to act aloof with a main character made it even more burdensome.

I wished she’d stop talking. Just a little space would be nice.

Having her cling to me with those sparkly eyes made me seriously consider inserting Jinhyeon between us to create some distance.

In times like this, I couldn’t help but resent Jinhyeon for keeping quiet. At least he could say something to redirect the attention a bit.

But that blockhead seemed to be completely oblivious to my wishes.

He was just staring blankly at the Academy in the distance.

“Blanca, what’s your ability? Smoke emission? Anaesthetic spray? Or both? What’s your system? Transformation? Emission? Enhancement? Or…?”

It was surprising that he was asking that only now.

I thought he’d ask me right when we met and had been waiting for it. But now he asks.

I was going to tell him anyway.

It’s not something you can hide, and since we’d be in the same class for a year, it was inevitable.

Most importantly, we had to get closer.

“Special type. There’s no set name, but… should I say a walking chemical factory?”

“A walking chemical factory…? More importantly, special type?! You’re just like Jinhyeon?! What can you do?!”

“I can create various compounds from my body. Most things, really.”

As long as there were enough substances and magic power in my body, and I knew the structure of the molecule I wanted to create, I could basically make anything inside me.

Of course, I couldn’t make compounds that needed elements not present in my body.

It meant I couldn’t just pull out gold or silver.

And if the molecular weight was too large, that was problematic.

It’s not that I couldn’t make it, but the bigger it got, the exponentially longer the synthesis time took, which drastically reduced efficiency over time.

Hormones might be the upper limit I could practically use.

“Wow… what is that? That’s amazing?! You could jump into the field right away! No, what’s ‘field’? You could aim for the rankings immediately!?”

“That’s a bit…”

It might be pushing it to aim for the rankings… No. Maybe I could just barely scrape into the top 100? If I genuinely put in the effort.

Of course, I had no intention of becoming a hero.

After that, Yeonhwa continued to pester me.

Of course, she did it out of pure goodwill.

If it were enmity, I could just brush it off with a calm smile. But I was starting to feel a bit nauseous.

Yet, as if there was no end to it, by mingling with her, I eventually found myself at the entrance of the Academy.

In both the novels and games, as soon as you stood at the entrance of the Academy, it described a pressure that was almost overwhelming.

This was no exaggeration.

I truly felt minuscule. It felt like entering the entrance of a colossal ancient temple.

The campus, large enough to fit about two small towns, and all its buildings strangely reminded me of ancient Greek architecture, enhancing that feeling even more.

“So this is… Heros Academy.”

Even the quiet Jinhyeon, who had been keeping his mouth shut, seemed overwhelmed by the view of Heros Academy and finally spoke up.

“Yeah! We’re finally at the starting point…!”

He didn’t suddenly open his mouth or bolster his resolve. But one thing was true.

We had finally reached the starting point. The days of tiptoeing in darkness were over.

…Until we let the world know about the Liberators, it wouldn’t be long now.

That solemn atmosphere shattered when Yeonhwa, seeing the clock tower, began to flail like a cat spotting a snake.

Since the clock hands were pointing to 8 o’clock by then.

“Ah, we’re going to be late! W-where’s the auditorium?! Is it this way?!”

“Not that way, it’s over there, Yeonhwa.”

“Oh, I see!”

As I pointed her toward the right direction while she was flustering and about to go the wrong way, she quickly thanked me and headed the correct route.

In the game, during the entrance ceremony, the original protagonist would sit next to them, so there was no need to go out of my way to meet the original hero.

And naturally, I intended to get close to the original protagonist as well.

There were reasons tied to my plans, but the pure admiration and fan feeling were stronger.

Upon arriving at the auditorium and taking a seat, I looked around. And I quickly spotted the original protagonist. Minho.

I quickly sat down right next to him before Jinhyeon or Yeonhwa could.

It didn’t matter that those two sat beside me.

My favorite character was sitting right next to me.

Yeah. The protagonist should look like this.

Not some floppy guy next to me, always giggling regardless of what he does.

But rather someone sleek, strong, and solitary. That’s how it should be.

Though if we’re judging by normal standards, both Jinhyeon and Minho were good-looking.

Jinhyeon had a friendly, puppy-like vibe, while Minho looked trim and agile like a wolf.

Minho still seemed to think he was in the exact world as the novel he had read.

…But sadly for him, this world was nothing like the one he knew.

Because now besides the game’s protagonist, I was here too.

Staring at him while lost in thought, Yeonhwa chimed in.

“…Are you perhaps interested in that guy?”

“A little.”

Yeonhwa seemed to jump to conclusions and squealed, but I had no intention of opening my heart to anyone.

Especially since he was a guy. That was the biggest reason.

But the next biggest reason varied by person.

With Minho, I didn’t want to inflict a wound that would break his heart, while with Jinhyeon, it was purely out of disgust.

“Oh, Blanca. By the way, which department did you apply for? Hunter department? Hero department? We’re in the hero department! It’d be great if we could be in the same class!”

“I’m also in the hero department. What a coincidence! I wonder if we’ll be in the same class too? After seeing your skills earlier, it might just happen.”

I didn’t come here with the intention of becoming a real hero.

Well, the story is complicated, but my goal for coming to the Academy was to demolish it.

The ultimate goal was to turn Heros Academy upside down and announce the Liberators to the whole world.

In doing so, it would also significantly damage Heros Company’s reputation.

My personal goal was to completely crush Jinhyeon and turn him into a wreck, but that wasn’t something that could take precedence over the organization’s objectives.

Maybe more like a side quest.

Hiding those ulterior motives, I answered Yeonhwa’s question nonchalantly.

“That’d be great! It’d be nice to know someone in class!”

Yeonhwa didn’t seem particularly anxious, glowing brightly even in this moment.

She had absolute confidence that she’d make it into Class A.

While information about admissions would come only after scoring the entrance test, the same couldn’t be said for class allocations.

Class assignments would be sent out in one go via text after the entrance ceremony.

So even if the candidates had made it through, they couldn’t relax just yet.

Making it through didn’t ensure you wouldn’t end up in Class E.

Even though being placed in Class E could be seen as trivial, no one would be satisfied with merely passing the entrance exam to Heros Academy.

But I was confident I’d be in Class A of the first year. I was the overwhelming number one.

The performance I displayed during the entrance exam contributed to this.

I modeled it after the original protagonist’s exploits in the game.

During the entrance ceremony, I had created an incident by charging headfirst through a trap designed to make us avoid it.

So I also pulled off a big stunt.

Of course, I wasn’t planning to create a story before coming to the Academy; thus, I avoided the day when they all took their entrance exams.

Heros Academy was a fiercely ability-oriented organization.

There was no way they’d miss someone of my caliber, even if I pulled off such stunts.

“I hope so too. Ah, it’s starting!”

As Yeonhwa said that, the lights in the auditorium went off, and the entrance ceremony began.

At that moment, I was ready to unleash deadly venom from my fingertips at any given moment.

Of course, Minho was doing the same, gathering magical energy and prepping to jump into action.

At the entrance ceremony of the Academy, it was common sense that something would go wrong.

 

---