༺ Face-to-Face ༻
“Does this make any sense?”
“How can you guys not have taken countermeasures against people destroying the flags?“
“How can there be so few new students? That doesn’t make any sense!”
Within the academy, many students were gathered and were dangerously close to rioting.
The reason—the results of the entrance exam.
“How can there only be twenty new students?!”
“One hundred and fifty students were admitted last year, so how could it change so drastically!?”
“Shouldn’t you redo the entrance exam?!”
With only twenty students passing, it was an unimaginably small number of new students.
Normally, due to the consistent number of flags, 150 people consistently passed each year.
“That… Academy policy dictates the number… and the flags were made out of a very strong material so we…”
In response to the rioting students, the girl speaking looked rather small. It seemed clear she wasn’t prepared to respond to their queries, only being able to give a weak answer.
“You still need to provide an explanation about that man who went on a rampage!”
“Th-That’s right. Because of that black fog, I couldn’t find any of the flags!”
“Doesn’t that mean someone broke into the exam site?”
Hearing her reply, the students only got angrier.
It was natural. Someone had definitely broken into the arena and gone on a rampage.
Even from a logical standpoint, this situation didn’t make sense.
‘Why won’t they admit them?’
As I watched the chaos from afar, I asked myself this question. It would have been beneficial in many ways to admit more students and subsequently exploit them.
If I were the chairman, I would have definitely hosted a retest.
Why, then, are they so adamant about keeping them out? Well, whatever. It’s better for me.
Due to my fight with Professor Park Ki-yeol, I hadn’t been able to destroy all of the flags, but I had succeeded in destroying most.
In addition, Seo-ah and Lee Hyun-a had found flags on their own, so I didn’t need to help them.
“Please let us see the chairman!”
“That’s right! This is unfair!”
They continued to voice their grievances.
While they wanted to see the chairman, all they would find if they met him would be a dummy.
A few of the students glared at me resentfully, but I didn’t pay them any mind.
Just looking at the system message, it didn’t seem like they were likely to confront me.
‘Well, I’m sure they’ll find a solution. For now, I should leave.’
Seeing how they were acting, they probably wouldn’t change the number of admitted students.
And the truth was that even if they did, it wouldn’t matter.
What I did in the final exam was just creating an inconvenience for the chairman. I had other ways of getting what I wanted.
Right now, it would probably be best to leave and plan for the future.
Because, regardless of what I do, it won’t matter. Just a little longer…
If my prediction was correct, the reason the chairman hadn’t appeared was for a different reason.
I didn’t know if I could prepare for that reason, but I had to give it my all.
But besides that, why was she still here?
“Ha-eun, shouldn’t you go?”
“No! I’m the Dark Flame Dragon! If you don’t take me as your disciple, you’ll regret it!”
“My god…”
Ha-eun stuck to me like white rice. Why was she doing this to me?
***
‘I’m going insane.’
I had expected it, but this was really annoying.
“How’d you do that? Teach me!”
Even when I went to different places, she kept following me.
It was likely due to the power I had shown when I used [Magi Manipulation].
Because I looked strong, she found me attractive. She even bowed as she asked to become my disciple.
However, it would be troublesome.
‘Still, I can probably find some use for this.’
The reason Ha-eun was acting like this was because she couldn’t regain any of her memories from before I regressed.
Normally, I would have given up, but Seo-ah could remember everything, and so could the chairman.
‘There must be a way. Some sort of condition must likely be fulfilled to allow her to remember.’
The people who remembered their memories had likely met that condition.
If Ha-eun and Lee Hyun-a remembered everything, a lot of problems would disappear.
If I accepted her as a disciple, I could experiment with some potential triggers.
That wasn’t all, though.
‘Right now, she’ll be useful for many things.’
She was troublesome, but Ha-eun attaching herself to me would be incredibly helpful right now.
If I died, or if I looked like I was about to die, she would go on a rampage.
For those reasons, I accepted her request.
“You want to be my disciple?”
I set the tone, exuding an aura that Ha-eun would like.
I was just pretending, however, using [Mana Control] to scatter mana around me.
As long as it works, right?
The scattered particles were very similar to a naturally exuded aura, so my plan went well.
“Yeah!”
Ha-eun loved it.
‘That should be enough, right? Hopefully.’
[Ah, ah, mic test!]
As I was about to give her a task, a sudden noise could be heard from the academy building.
But because I knew what the broadcast was for, I hurriedly turned to the girl next to me.
“Ha-eun.”
“Yeah!”
“You want to be my disciple, right? You’re a drag- Well, am I right?”
“Yeah!”
Watching her energized response, I was encouraged. From now on, Ha-eun and the other heroines’ actions would become key.
“Good. Can you do something for me?”
“Just tell me what to do!”
“If I don’t emerge after seven minutes, bring Seo-ah and the dude you saw in the final exam, Lee Hyun, to the chairman’s office. If you can’t do that, your master will die.”
“Huh…?”
Ha-eun, who was always positive, hesitated before she spoke, as if questioning her hearing.
‘At least I made it clear for her.’
Currently, Ha-eun knew Seo-ah but not Lee Hyun-a. Still, since she had seen him before, she would probably be able to explain the situation and bring him along.
‘Actually, I hope I won’t need their help, but…’
Because I couldn’t turn back time, I hoped I wasn’t putting them in danger.
I didn’t know what would happen, so I had no choice but to put my faith in them. This was my only insurance in case something went wrong.
An announcement flowed from the loudspeakers.
[Park Si-woo, report to the chairman’s office immediately.]
The chairman was calling for me.
It was a chance for me to find out more, but my life could be in danger if something went wrong.
And now, the man threatening my life was calling for me.
***
“Come in.”
I entered the chairman’s office.
The chairman, who was still a mystery to me, sat calmly in front of me.
‘I can’t let my guard down.’
It was not the same as when we met during the second exam.
The threat to my life was incomparable.
‘I still need to be certain.’
I needed to know if the chairman was the one who had given Park Ki-yeol such terrifying power.
If that was the case, I had to discover his motivation, but if he was not involved, I had to figure out who was.
‘There might be someone else. Someone with the same amount of strength as that jerk.’
In addition to the chairman being possessed by a devil, I may have to worry about someone else.
Although my regression was most likely to blame, if Park Ki-yeol acquired that terrible strength from someone other than the chairman, it indicated that there was yet another factor that could put me in danger.
Before I entered the chairman’s office, I used a skill.
Spreading my mana out into the room, I tested for any mana traps.
To prevent him from finding out, I used it so quietly that he wouldn’t notice, but it failed.
“I don’t need traps to defeat someone like you. Just come inside.”
He said, peering down at me.
Well, we’ll see who’ll be the ultimate winner in the end.
-Thump.
As the door closed with a loud thump, a large flow of mana began to emanate from the chairman.
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