There Is No Hidden Villain in This Novel Chapter 56

I don’t have the slightest clue why people are reacting like this. So, to naturally sound out Shin Myohan, I decided to first untie the cadets who were trussed up like a string of dried corvina.

When I nodded at Ryuseong, telling him to release them, he didn’t so much as lift a foot from where he sat. He spun the knife used for cutting steak in his hand and then swung it through the air. And then— thud, thud, thud.

“Gasp!”

The red rope was cut. The cadets’ bodies didn’t have a single scratch on them, yet only the rope had been severed. This meant that Ryuseong had imbued the dull knife with his inner energy and sent it flying through the air without losing control. As a result, even those who were freed couldn’t make another move and just stared blankly at Ryuseong. However, Ryuseong simply raised an eyebrow and asked back.

“Is there a problem?”

There shouldn’t have been a problem, but a huge one had arisen in my mind. It was Ryuseong’s growth rate, which was absurd compared to the original story.

‘No, there’s no way this bastard could be this strong at this point in time.’

Could it be that he got stronger because he became my roommate and a permanent fixture in the training hall every single day? Did he level up?!

‘Then how am I supposed to beat this bastard?!’

My head ached. But that was only for a moment. A grand and imposing rumble echoed from the stomach of Hae Yuna, who had been pretending to be asleep. At this point, if I didn’t feed them, the Korean spirit would wail in sorrow, so good-natured me had no choice but to motion with my chin for them to go get some food.

“Ryuseong, please watch them so they don’t fight.”

“…”

“What if they bash someone’s head in with a tray?”

At my last words, Ryuseong stood up as if he had no choice. Among the cadets who shot up as if they had been waiting and grabbed their trays, the most conspicuous person was, by far, Hae Yuna.

She was dashing madly, piling food onto her tray. Only then did Lee Hyang, realizing that she had been pretending to sleep on her shoulder, belatedly get angry and chase after her.

Around that time, I called Shin Myohan over separately.

Myohan, who had been about to join the running procession, approached with wide eyes at my gesture.

At that, Logan, who was on his way to get food, and Ryuseong, who was monitoring them, also tried to come my way, but I held up my palm to stop them.

Meanwhile, Shin Myohan clutched her starving stomach, feigning sadness.

“What is it? Are you trying to starve just me? Is this the life of an outcast?”

I completely ignored her words and said what I had to say.

“I’m thinking of entrusting the disciplinary committee armband to Ryuseong.”

“Is it okay to just hand that thing over to anyone so casually?”

“Am I not Cassis de Millang?”

While Shin Myohan slapped her own forehead and cackled, I leaned my upper body forward and whispered furtively. An amount of volume that others couldn’t hear. To be precise, it was a faint voice that would surely be completely drowned out by the noise spewing from those wild, tomboyish cadets who were fussing with their trays.

“But I was concerned that the cadets might get on my nerves. Didn’t you just see their insolent behavior a moment ago?”

“Ah…”

I shrugged my shoulders as if I had no idea why they were acting that way. Now that I’ve laid this much groundwork, isn’t it about time you explained why they’re like that, Ms. Shin Myohan?

And Shin Myohan granted my wish.

“Because you used the expression that you would be ‘together,’ not that you were giving an order.”

“Ah, but it was an order…”

“Still, you know how nuances can make things sound completely different. I think everyone was surprised, thinking, ‘Wow, you must really love Ryuseong a lot.’”

“…”

“I’m just glad that you seem to have found a good partner and family…”

“What impudent nonsense.”

In that moment, I couldn’t help but burst out laughing. I want to sleep with him, not exchange any real emotions or feel anything remotely human. It’s one thing to be deluded, but isn’t this taking it too far?

“Don’t you ever say such things again.”

I was about to add, before I snap that tongue of yours.

Clang—!

A tray struck the crown of someone’s head, letting out a sharp, clear sound. When I looked back in bewilderment, a fuming Hae Yuna was raising the tray that had knocked Logan down for another strike. Ryuseong, whom I had sent to stop them, was instead holding back Dietrich and Capone as they tried to rush Hae Yuna… oh, for crying out loud!

Someone, please tell me it’s just my imagination that the armband on my bicep suddenly feels heavy!

“Are you all afflicted with a disease that makes you lose self-control when I’m not around?”

I drew out my concentrated mana and crushed them, practically overwhelming them with my aura. As I pressed down hard enough to collapse their lungs, weak whimpering sounds like those of a sickly chicken escaped.

I do think it’s a shame that I even applied the pressure of my aura to the already-fallen Logan, but I was pissed off because Ryuseong stood there with his head held high, regardless of whether I was crushing him or not.

What is he doing when I sent him to stop them?

So, as a member of the disciplinary committee, I decided to give them their punishment.

“Fifty laps around the field.”

“What?”

“The person who finishes last gets an additional ten laps.”

“What?”

Around that time, the quick-witted Dietrich started dashing off. Patter, patter, patter.

I gestured with my eyes toward the exit.

“Aren’t you going?”

At that, screams of “Aaargh, get out of the way, everyone get lost!” erupted as they all started to run. Good grief. If you were going to do this, why did you even fight?

I’m not curious about why they fought, nor do I have any intention of resolving it. I don’t want to get involved in the drama of their convoluted lives. Their lives and their emotions are their own business.

I am merely trying to teach them that there are risks involved when you express your emotions at inappropriate times in front of others.

Leading them? Teaching them and guiding them?

That’s ridiculous.

‘My personality may be good, but what are they talking about? I despise troublesome things!’

The unconscious Logan was left pitifully abandoned, but after finishing my meal, I hopped over him and walked briskly to the classroom.

‘I have to go prepare for and review my lessons!’

Oh, and the performance assessment, too.

‘I need to get it out of the way beforehand…’

But…

‘The-there’s no time…’

In this novel, there is a secret trick that evil professors pull out when midterms are just around the corner. Its name is the performance assessment!

‘I’m busy enough just studying for exams!’

Performance assessments began to be assigned haphazardly in order to drastically lower grades!

‘Still, it’s a relief that aside from the main exam, the performance assessments are theory-focused…’

The first-year, first-semester midterm performance assessments are theory-focused, but things change starting with the first-year, first-semester finals. That’s because just when you think you can catch a break with the school trip, the class-versus-class battles immediately follow.

The class-versus-class mock battle training performance assessment, which counts for a whopping 50 percent of the final grade.

‘It’s not like we’re meeting monsters, but they make us practice with interpersonal combat almost every time.’

There is one reason why prospective hunters who must face monsters have to put effort into interpersonal combat. It is because those beings, called monsters or named ones, are in fact indistinguishable from humans. Not just in intelligence, but in appearance as well.

‘That’s what’s so scary about monsters that can take human form.’

The fact that the enemy might be among us. That possibility alone could cause people to have internal conflicts. It’s nothing new, but the reason Ryuseong’s no-kill policy could be maintained amidst the countless tragedies in the original story was that the things he killed were mostly named ones. The cases that did not fall under “mostly” plunged Ryuseong into a hellish self-loathing.

‘Is that why Ryuseong asked if I knew the weight of killing?’

But Ryuseong at this point in time has never killed a human by mistaking them for a named one.

‘Then, could it be because of the guilt from his days of wandering the wilderness and scavenging corpses?’

If not that, then…?

I didn’t know what it was, but in any case, the school was unsettled with exams approaching.

The upperclassmen were practically living in the training halls without coming out, and sometimes they even occupied the first-year training halls, so Ryuseong would occasionally go to the training hall only to come back to my side empty-handed. An unexpected gift from the upperclassmen, I suppose?

But the professors consistently gave us nothing but trouble. We had to do about five group projects with the same team, and the exams were a week away.

So, I racked my brain like crazy and decided to freeload on all the remaining theory group projects. I did this by abusing the power of the disciplinary committee.

“I will not intervene, so please prove that you have become true friends through these group projects.”

“Is that really necessary? We’ve been getting along really well lately.”

This was what Lee Hyang said through clenched teeth. Goosebumps were popping up all over the arm she had slung around Logan’s shoulder. Logan, too, looked as if he was about to say something.

“Tha-that’s right. We’re getting along… uurk.”

“Hey! You think I don’t want to throw up?!”

When Logan shoved away the arm Lee Hyang had around his shoulder and dry-heaved, Lee Hyang screamed shrilly as if it was unfair.

However, their resistance was, in fact, futile. My goal wasn’t to torment them, but to secure my own study time.

“I will not accept any objections. However, if you all manage to get a perfect score on every group project.”

“If we do?”

“I will plead with the principal that you all seem to have become good enough friends.”

“…!”

That was the end of that. I am the god of freeloading. Seeing Ryuseong look at me with a twisted expression, it seemed he had caught on to my true intentions, but what do I care? What’s he going to do about it? I have to study.

‘Seriously, does it make any sense that I have to get at least second place in subjects I’ve never seen before in my life…?’