There Is No Hidden Villain in This Novel Chapter 8

Despite being hit with shit thrown by Ryuseong, I, who hadn’t lost my positive circuit, was moving with a beaming smile to participate in the dormitory assignment ceremony.

The entrance ceremony auditorium of Area Academy was in an area accessible to outsiders, but outsiders were prohibited from entering the school grounds, so I was walking around with a much more comfortable and lighthearted attitude.

After all, I didn’t need to bring the useless guards from my family with me. Although it seemed like people around me were having seizures at the sight of my smile, but oh well.

‘It’s not like I can go around with a straight face just to make people less scared of me, right?’

Actually, I don’t give a damn! Whether anyone is scared of me or not!

“L-look over there. What kind of scheme must he be thinking of to be smiling like that……”

“Shh! Shut up. Don’t run your mouth so carelessly. They say your tongue could get cut off for speaking rashly about ‘him.’”

“……!”

…At this point, should I care?

I had a vague idea that among the cadets, it was I, not my family, who was like Voldemort, but I didn’t know such vicious rumors were circulating, huh?

No, wait a minute……. Let’s try to think of it differently, just in case.

‘What if that rumor is true?’

If Cassis really did cut the tongues of cadets who gossiped about him, then I would need to do something equally crazy to avoid arousing the family’s suspicion.

The three bastards next to me would act all sweet and gentle in front of me, pretending to be on my side like a tongue in one’s mouth, but in reality, they were guys who had attached themselves to Cassis after seeing the de Millang family’s prestige, so I always had to worry about information leaking to the family head.

Just a single word leaking out, like ‘the young master has been acting strange lately,’ would put me in a difficult position.

But still, isn’t this too much.

‘Having to cut a tongue!’

Ah, truly, a tragedy.

‘I’m a person who doesn’t even eat grilled beef tongue because it grosses me out!’

To find out the truth, I suddenly stopped dead in my tracks. At that, the surrounding cadets let out a gasp and followed my lead.

Those who were walking ahead also briefly turned back when their surroundings became abruptly quiet, then turned pale and slowed their steps, walking in silence among themselves before gradually coming to a halt. All the way to the people in the very back, every single one of them…….

‘No, you guys don’t have to stop too.’

With terrible timing, the wind blew, and the hem of Ryuseong’s durumagi, which was slung over one of my shoulders, fluttered with unnecessary artistry. I felt like I was going to die of embarrassment from having created a scene like something out of a makjang drama, but because of that, I had to get things over with quickly and decisively.

I called out to the scion of Esteban with a sweet smile.

“Logan, how many times have I cut a person’s tongue?”

At that moment, the friends who had spoken rashly seemed to lose the strength in their legs and collapsed right there on the spot.

My, how fainthearted.

My heart softened, and I walked straight toward them to help them up from where they had collapsed on the dirt ground. Why did they have to run their mouths about a grand noble.

“As far as I know, you have never cut one, not even once.”

“So he says.”

I leisurely bent down. They had their heads bowed and were trembling, so in order to meet their gazes, I had to place one knee on the ground and lower my body.

I grabbed a shoulder with my other hand.

“Has the misunderstanding been cleared up?”

Their shoulders were trembling so pitifully that I patted them a few times.

“Yes, yes. It-it has been cleared up.”

It looks like your tongue is the one that has been loosened.

“Ne-never, again, I won’t do it again, ugh. Huuuhuuuk.”

Well, look at you, you’re actually crying?

I raised an eyebrow, feeling a little baffled. At that, they covered their own mouths with their fists and stifled their sobs with gasps.

How should I put it, disgustingly pitiful, or pitifully disgusting.

Anyway, it was a bit much to just watch, so I put my hand in the upper pocket of my uniform jacket. At that, the two of them started shaking their heads like they were in a choir competition, making sounds like squealing pigs, and thanks to that, I succeeded in achieving an effect similar to washing their dirty faces without having to move the handkerchief.

“Kkeuheo-eok…… eok, uh uh. Huh?”

“Keep it or throw it away.”

After clumsily wiping their dirty faces, I threw the tear and snot-covered handkerchief onto their kneeling laps as if discarding it and straightened up.

I stood up straight, and while I was at it, I even took off my tuxedo gloves and threw them to Dietrich Winkel. He caught the gloves with his quick reflexes and then smiled in a bewildered way.

“Should I throw this away as well, my kind master?”

His tone of voice somehow sounded like he was suppressing laughter. Of course, since I was of a status where I didn’t have to hold back, I took out a new pair of tuxedo gloves from my pocket, broke the seal, and chuckled.

“Roast them or boil them, do as you please.”

“Then I shall cherish them in my bosom.”

“I’m changing my order, you arrogant wild dog. Throw it away.”

“Yes, I shall obey faithfully.”

Anyway, the misunderstanding was cleared, so that’s that.

With a refreshed mind, I walked toward the main building of Area Academy where the dormitory assignment ceremony would take place. In every path I took, everyone remained silent, their mouths shut and their eyes lowered, making way for me.

So, was it burdensome? Not at all.

‘Power is the best!’

Surprisingly, I am a person who enjoys sucking on the sweet nectar of power. Burdensome, my ass! On the contrary, it’s a huge bonus since I don’t have to walk squeezed in a crowd.

And so, having arrived at the dormitory main building more comfortably than anyone else, as soon as I opened the door and entered the main building.

“Kyaaaaaaak!”

“Kkeueo-eo-eo!”

“Waaaaaaah!”

I ended up hearing all sorts of screams.

Although I had expected it, I was so momentarily surprised that my smiling face froze and my thoughts stopped.

The expressionless staff members were all, without exception, urging us to go down to the basement—which, what’s more, had a structure where you had to go down a slide! It was so dark that you couldn’t even see inside—where the screams were coming from.

“You can go this way. Please hurry, as you need to go through the assignment ceremony.”

“Kkuaaaaak! Save meeeee!”

“I don’t wanna!”

“Let me out, mom! Daaaaad!”

“……”

Is the school crazy, or am I crazy.

Hearing screams like this, which cadet would go down there……?

‘That would be me, you son of a bitch.’

While all the cadets who entered the main building were hesitating, I, pretending not to be shaken in the slightest, stepped forward with a confident stride.

And after silencing Capone, who said he would go first as it might be dangerous, with just a pat on the shoulder, I, for the sake of my image, rode the slide while being mindful of my appearance from behind.

‘Expressing it like this doesn’t sound cool at all, though.’

Anyway, this is the perfect moment for me to stand out. Because I am the only person who knows what will happen when I go down to the basement.

And so, darkness enveloped me.

*

When I opened my eyes, Ryuseong was in front of me. He, with his sword drawn towards me, said.

“From now on, I will eradicate your hideous conspiracy to destroy the world.”

I will now summarize the situation briefly.

Area’s strictly confidential dormitory assignment ceremony is based on each individual’s trauma. The assignment ceremony, which is protected even by imposing a confidentiality seal, originates from a very old magic, but fortunately, the trauma revealed during the assignment ceremony is not disclosed to anyone.

It’s just that the old magic determines the cadet’s dormitory based on the way they deal with their trauma.

So what that means is,

‘My trauma is this sly little bastard, is what you’re saying?’

…It seems I really, really don’t want to be killed.

‘I mean, who would want to die. Even if it’s between the final boss and the protagonist.’

To safely finish the dormitory assignment ceremony, I have to show the process of confronting the fake Ryuseong. Because I have to get past the trauma in some way to be able to rush to the exit.

A quick note here, I don’t know what trauma Cassis faced. The story purely centered on Ryuseong as the protagonist, and the other characters were like satellites revolving around him.

However, the way I confront my trauma was, fortunately, the same as the way to get to Cassis’s dormitory.

Because I am a person who would gladly kill my trauma.

But before I could kill the fake Ryuseong, something strange happened.

“Huh?”

I thought it was supposed to be one trauma per person, but another trauma was appearing before my eyes.

That is, other than Cassis.

“Great-grandfather?”

My, ‘Jeong Ian’s,’ trauma, that is.