There Is No Hidden Villain in This Novel Chapter 13

This is the first time I have seen a jawbone split wide open so graphically. As I was thinking it was a bit grotesque, a roar of laughter burst out of the principal’s mouth. In a word, his jawbone opened even wider, making a clattering sound.

“……”

Clatter, clatter!

I wanted to scream and was about to step back, but the skeleton grabbed my shoulder tightly. To act out my character setting of having a pathological aversion to contact, I tried to shake him off, but he would not let go. Instead, he just tightened his grip.

“Master? Are you that unwilling to admit defeat? If so, you may declare that my side has lost. How could losing to Teacher Damyeon be anything to be ashamed of? It is the principal losing to a cadet that is shameful.”

I tried being sarcastic as hell, but regardless, the principal just kept laughing his head off by himself.

“Is this man doing this because he is ashamed, or has he lost his mind? Mr. Ryuseong. What do you think?”

“Aren’t you the one who’s lost his mind? And I think I’m about to lose my mind because of you.”

“Please do not blame your own madness on me.”

“……”

While we were politely having this conversation, the principal suddenly stopped laughing. And he spoke to me.

“From where did you plan this?”

He meant, where exactly did the psychological warfare begin? Teacher Damyeon must have realized I had used him, so he was asking. So I, too, replied kindly.

“To think you fell so helplessly for a mere cadet’s stratagem to provoke a general. That was your first misstep.”

“So you intended this from the very beginning?”

“Yes, that is correct. How could I possibly face the principal one-on-one with my physical strength alone? Therefore, I had no choice but to use my brain. Didn’t you always emphasize it? Strategy is the tool of the weak. And……”

“Compared to the Gates, we were absurdly weak. We must not be complacent just because we live in an era of abundance, and therefore, to stand against the strong, we must not be picky about our means or methods.”

“Thus, I acted according to your teachings.”

“……”

“How was it? Did this student satisfy you, Master?”

Now, how was that?

Fucking cool, right?

“……Just full of yourself.”

The principal finally took his hand off my shoulder and turned his body away with a whoosh. Yes, yes. I am sure you would say that, sir, as someone who despises the de Millang family. But the cadets’ eyes were truly filled with admiration.

“A-amazing……”

Right. This is exactly what I wanted. To implant the perception in the cadets’ minds that Cassis de Millang is fucking awesome.

‘Human relationships are all about establishing dominance right at the start!’

Boasting of my wicked personality only in my head, I spoke to Ryuseong with a cynical smile on my face.

“There was no need for you to help, but I am grateful, Mr. Ryuseong. Thanks to you, I was able to draw their attention.”

“……Ha.”

He had an expression that looked like he was hit hard by a reality check. But whatever. When they announced the principal’s speech was starting, I sat down and looked at him with a knowing yet unknowing gaze,

‘Why does Ryuseong seem so suspicious?’

I thought.

Why, after shuddering at the contract relationship proposal, does he keep trailing after me, I wondered.

‘What could be the reason?’

These days, there were more than one or two suspicious things about Ryuseong. Him coming to the White Tiger dormitory was one, and Ryuseong jumping into the principal’s “let’s have a go” suggestion was also a development that was not in the original story.

Once I started finding it strange, things I had previously overlooked, like the roommate issue or the incident during the entrance exam, also began to feel bizarre. The Ryuseong offered to be Cassis de Millang’s roommate? The Ryuseong clamored to have a go with Cassis de Millang during the entrance exam?

Not only were both of these developments absent from the original story, but they were not things a character like Ryuseong would do. There must have been some kind of change of heart.

‘It can’t be because I took his dalgona…… can it?’

I tried to uncover it step by step, but I could not avoid my thoughts becoming complicated. In the midst of my troubled mind, the principal yelled at me.

“Hey, top student over there! What are you doing, not paying attention!”

“……What a hurtful thing to say. I was paying attention.”

“Then tell me what I was talking about!”

My head was about to explode and I was in no mood to be spoken to, so I just answered with a ‘whatever, I’ll just wing it’ attitude. I do not know what you were saying, but the right answer must be in here somewhere.

“There are a total of four dormitories. They are divided by the Four Guardian Gods: the Blue Dragon, the Vermilion Bird, the White Tiger, and the Black Tortoise, and their respective symbolic colors are blue, red, white, and black. The school uniform is standardized for all, with a white jacket, a white shirt, and navy pants or a skirt, and the training uniform is standardized in black. The dormitories are distinguished by the color of the durumagi, which is modeled after the symbolic color. The symbolic Five Elements are written on the back of the durumagi.”

“……”

“The symbolic Five Elements here are, in the order of Blue Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise: Wood (木), Fire (火), Metal (金), and Water (水). The dormitories were divided according to how each person responded when facing their trauma. The Blue Dragon, like a tree (木) created in harmony with earth and water, persuaded and reconciled with the enemy to head for the exit; the Vermilion Bird, befitting of fire (火), fought and defeated the enemy; the White Tiger is the dormitory for those who killed the enemy with metal (金); and the Black Tortoise is the dormitory for those who evaded the enemy like flowing water (水) to head for the exit.”

“……”

The explanation was getting incredibly long, but the principal did not cut me off.

What is this. Is he telling me to continue?

“Each class will have seven to eight members from each of the four dormitories. A minimum of twenty-eight and a maximum of thirty-two. Class assignments are made in order of academic performance, and therefore, changes will occur each semester according to the combined ranking of midterm and final exam scores……”

“Enough. It seems you could be a teacher yourself. Blabbering on your own about things I haven’t even told you. Yes, you’re so great.”

Ah, you could have told me sooner if you did not need it.

“You flatter me.”

I was the one who wanted to get annoyed, but the principal, who was getting annoyed with me in a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black, announced that since that guy had explained everything, he would just announce the class and dormitory assignments and end the first day’s lecture.

Upon his declaration, staff members came out and handed out assignment sheets to everyone. I offer my condolences for how much the staff must have been ground down, for the assignment sheets to come out so soon after the dormitory assignments. No, wait. Would it be easy if they have magical Excel?

Anyway, becoming roommates with Ryuseong was a foregone conclusion as there had been some behind-the-scenes talk, and as for the class, since I was the top student, it was naturally Class 1.

Which means from now on, I have to struggle and try fucking hard not to fall out of Class 1.

“In this entrance exam, the White Tiger dormitory has produced the 1st and 2nd place students in Class 1. This means it holds both the top and second-top students of the entire school. The other dormitories should strive to surpass the White Tiger, and I expect the White Tiger to continue achieving good results, with as much spirit as its top and second-top students.”

“……Haha, there is no need to have such expectations.”

“When it comes from you, even humility is arrogance, you bastard.”

……Shit, I am telling you, really do not have expectations. My head feels like it is going to explode just thinking about Ryuseong.

Oh, did that just turn into a romantic statement?

Thump-thump?

*

And so, the hectic in-person class ended. I thought it was a relief that I avoided the utter humiliation I would have suffered according to the original story. Well, just as expected, a professor informed me that the head of the de Millang family had paid a visit.

‘That’s faster than I thought. I expected him to summon me, but for him to lift that heavy butt of his and come here in person.’

And from the moment I met the head of the de Millang family—to be precise, from the moment I opened the door to the chairman’s office to meet the family head and greeted him—the battle of wills between two prideful geniuses began.

“It has been a while, Grandfather.”

“I have never been your grandfather. Address me as Family Head, Cassis de Millang.”

The family head swung the first bat. But I had no intention of just taking the hit.

“In that case, Family Head, you must also address me as the Young Lord.”

If you are the Family Head, then I am the Young Lord, you son of a bitch.

“……Please be seated, Young Lord.”

“Thank you, Family Head.”

Having exchanged one blow each, we looked at each other with benevolent smiles.

Haha, hoho.

“What brings you here?”

“Are you asking because you do not know?”

“I am concerned that I might offend you, Family Head, should I make an assumption about a matter you have not spoken of.”

The de Millangs are a genuinely aristocratic family. So their conversations proceed not in spoken language, but in a literary style. Fortunately, I too was the youngest son of a chaebol family. I had a knack for archaic conversations.

“Are you perhaps thinking of marrying into the Hanra faction?”
(Interpretation: Hey, if you are going to get married on your own terms, you know you have to give up the position of heir before you go, right?)

“What wind carried such a rumor to you?”
(Interpretation: You are the great head of the de Millang family, and you cannot even tell the difference between nonsense and what is not?)

Such was our truly heartwarming life.