Chapter 28. Plan (2)

Chapter 28. Plan (2)

“It’s been a while, everyone.”

Dr. Kang Hyo-rin, a genius in dungeon and monster research, stood before the class.

It was the first time seeing her since she had disappeared, citing an urgent matter.

“Something bad happened in my family… so I’m only now returning to class.”

Dr. Kang Hyo-rin must have been through a lot, as her dark circles stretched deep under her eyes.

“But let’s push through and continue! I haven’t finished grading the pop quiz from last time, so today we’ll be doing Strategic Chess instead.”

“Ah…”

Sighs spread among the cadets.

Strategic Chess was a complex practical exercise that most cadets despised.

“Alright, finally, Strategic Chess!”

“…?”

Since joining the same club, I had gotten closer to Lucy and Lumi. They weren’t seated right next to me, but rather in front of me, sitting side by side, while I sat alone behind them.

I couldn’t see their faces, but the subtle scent they emitted constantly distracted me from the lesson.

I was puzzled by Lucy’s enthusiasm because she wasn’t the type to excel in academics.

Not all mages were strong in studies. While there were aspects like magic circles that had to be memorized, most things were left to talent in the world of mages.

Lucy was always the one clutching her head and groaning during theoretical classes—so why was she so confident now?

Especially in something as difficult as Strategic Chess.

The holographic monitors mounted on each individual desk lit up, forming a chessboard-like field.

‘Wow, it’s been a while. For real.’

Strategic Chess—one of Victoria Academy’s practical exercises. In this game-like system, I played the role of a strategy commander leading a raid team to clear a dungeon.

‘I used to wish exams were like games~.’ I had thought that a lot as a student, but games were only fun when played for enjoyment.

If failing at a game meant not getting into a good university or getting nagged by my mom, I’d probably say, ‘Ugh, I’d rather study instead of playing games.’

Strategic Chess was no exception.

It was a turn-based game like chess, where I moved my units one by one to defeat all enemy monsters and claim victory.

Even in the original game, Strategic Chess had a notorious reputation.

Strategic Chess had three key components:

The dungeon serving as the background.

The monsters playing the opposing role.

The raid team under my control.

Each of these had over fifty different patterns, operating randomly.

The difficulty ranged from Easy to Extreme.

Since it was the first time, they would likely give us an easy scenario—but given that Dr. Kang Hyo-rin had previously assigned an Extreme difficulty pop quiz just for fun, I couldn’t be sure.

“Alright, let’s begin the exercise~.”

As Dr. Kang Hyo-rin spoke, the hologram before my eyes began to shift.

My dungeon: [Jungle] Opponents: [Two Crimson Blood Monkeys] My raid team: [10 Melee Warriors, 5 Curse Mages, 5 Support Mages]

“What the hell is this?”

The synergy wasn’t great, but honestly, it wasn’t a difficult scenario.

Crimson Blood Monkeys were boss-type monsters—strong, but not intelligent.

By placing melee warriors in front and stacking curses with the mages, I could take them down with minimal casualties.

“What? This is super easy.”

“Yeah, seems like the professor adjusted the difficulty since it’s our first time.”

“Lumi, I’ll go first and show you an example, so watch carefully, okay?”

“Mm-hmm, good luck.”

‘Hmm.’

Judging from the professor’s expression during the last pop quiz, I wasn’t so sure.

Just then, another cadet raised their hand and spoke up.

“Huh? Professor, my raid team isn’t following my commands!”

Dr. Kang Hyo-rin grinned as if she had been waiting for this moment.

“It’s fine. The theme of this challenge is ‘cowardly troops.’ Unless you devise a plan that feels completely safe, they won’t obey.”

“H-Huh? But there’s no such thing as a completely safe plan!”

“That’s for you to figure out.”

“……!”

“Well, this is all to test your creativity and leadership, so don’t stress too much. It’s about the process, not just the result. Just give it a try~.”

No matter how reassuringly she said it, it was still a massive burden on the cadets trying to solve the problem.

“You probably won’t clear it anyway, but for motivation—I’ll give extra points to anyone who succeeds~.”

Did she really just say that with a straight face?

‘By the way, this is definitely Extreme difficulty.’

Even in the original game, minimizing casualties in the main force was the key.

Higher scores came from fewer losses, which meant a lower chance of expulsion.

Moreover, to follow Elise’s route, I had to outperform her in exams—making things even more intense.

“Ugh? Why aren’t they listening to me…?”

The once-confident Lucy was now struggling to command her unresponsive troops.

“Argh! If you just charged in, you could’ve taken them out, so why aren’t you?!”

The other cadets were facing the same frustration.

As I watched them scream and restart over and over, Dr. Kang Hyo-rin leisurely sipped her coffee, looking a bit terrifying.

Honestly, she seemed like she had a bit of an S-side to her personality.

I calmly analyzed my own scenario.

In the god-awful eroge ‘Sex Academy,’ you had to clear Strategic Chess at least five times to progress through the story.

Everything changed each time, so memorization wasn’t an option.

But I had cleared every route, and I had mastered Strategic Chess countless times.

I knew the Crimson Blood Monkey’s characteristics inside and out.

They always appeared in pairs as mates.

Since their main food source was bananas, they were highly protective of their banana trees.

Their nest contained young offspring.

But touching the young was a no-go. If the babies died, the Crimson Blood Monkeys would enter a berserk state, making them far harder to defeat.

“Hmm… this should be doable.”

After analyzing my raid team and the enemy monsters, I moved my units.

Since my troops refused unsafe orders, I had five melee warriors attack the banana trees from a distance.

They initially refused, but when I ordered each to cut down only five trees and then immediately retreat, they finally obeyed.

I took the remaining melee warriors, support mages, and curse mages toward the monkeys’ nest.

Each support mage could shield three people, ensuring some safety.

We silently observed the nest. As expected, the monkeys dashed out to eliminate the intruders damaging their banana trees.

By then, my melee warriors had already retreated.

While the nest was empty, I had my remaining troops enter and stack non-lethal, paralyzing curses on the baby monkeys.

Then, we quickly escaped.

“Now I just need to fast-forward three times.”

The curse would gradually spread to the parent monkeys.

These creatures were overly nurturing, so they’d stay with their paralyzed offspring until they, too, succumbed.

Once immobilized, my troops could move in and finish them off.

The key to this strategy was patience.

91. The key to this strategy is patience. After setting it to triple speed, I just had to wait.

For over thirty minutes, I had to do nothing but move sideways repeatedly, ensuring the monkeys stayed in their nest and were gradually contaminated by the curse.

It took a long time, so my score would take a slight hit, but this was the only surefire and casualty-free method.

“Ahh!”

Startled by the scream in front of me, I looked up to see Lucy clutching her head and groaning.

“I practiced Strategic Chess all last week! How could this happen to me?!”

“…”

“Ughhh, it’s all ruined.”

“D-Don’t cry, Lucy… It’ll be okay.”

While a melodramatic scene unfolded up front, my raid team decapitated the immobilized monkeys.

Victory!

The words appeared on my holographic screen, marking the end of Strategic Chess.

“Huh? Someone already cleared it?”

Dr. Kang Hyo-rin sounded surprised.

Other cadets also looked at me in amazement.

“Well, a promise is a promise. You get one bonus point.”

Dr. Kang Hyo-rin smacked her lips as if reluctant to give the reward.

Feeling a bit awkward from the attention, I stayed quiet, but then Lucy, who had been pretending to cry, suddenly whipped around.

Her eyes widened as she saw the victory message hovering in front of me.

“H-How?!”

“I got lucky. It was an easy problem.”

As long as you understood the Crimson Blood Monkey’s traits, it was an easy clear. Of course, knowing that they would keep holding their offspring even while cursed wasn’t common knowledge.

“Give me some tips—no, wait. This isn’t the time for that. I just need to work harder!”

Lucy, who was about to ask for tips, flinched when she met Dr. Kang’s gaze and quickly refocused with determination.

Thirty minutes later.

“It’s impossible! Who designed this damn thing?!”

“Ughhh!”

Watching Lucy collapse onto her desk in despair, I thought to myself—

‘Good thing her bad-at-studying setting didn’t change.’

*

After class, Lucy headed to the clubroom of the ‘Let’s Play’ club.

She had insisted that Lee Hoyeon attend today to welcome new members.

- Sorry, I have something urgent to take care of. I’ll come by after I finish.

With that message, he had rushed off to the dormitory.

Meanwhile, Lumi had run out of cookies and went to the bakery to restock.

“Aww, I’m so bored.”

Lucy had always been an active person who loved to move around.

That’s why she had founded a club, but since no one ever came, she had been feeling lonely—until today, when a new member was finally joining.

Knock, knock.

“Yes? Who is it?”

“Uh, it’s Felix.”

“Ah! I’ll open the door now!”

When Lucy opened the door, a platinum-haired boy with innocent eyes stood there.

“Not everyone’s here yet, so let’s sit and wait.”

“Y-Yes.”

Felix still seemed awkward in the environment, his eyes darting around nervously as he carefully sat on the sofa.

With her friendly nature, Lucy immediately started chatting and taking care of the shy Felix.

“Mhm, our club consists of me, my little sister Lumi, and a guy named Lee Hoyeon.”

“Lee Hoyeon? Is he… the one from the Student Council’s publicity department?”

“Yep! Our club has a student council officer, you know.”

She puffed up her chest proudly, even though it wasn’t much of an accomplishment.

“Ah… so that’s why no one joins… uh.”

“What was that?”

“N-Nothing!”

“No, I heard you loud and clear. Do you know why no one joins our club?”

For once, Lucy’s eyes turned serious as she looked at Felix.

Realizing he had slipped up, Felix hesitated before sighing.

“You have to keep this a secret, okay?”

“Of course! What is it?”

“Actually… there are a lot of bad rumors about Lee Hoyeon.”

“…Bad rumors?”

“Most of them involve his relationships with girls. There are rumors involving the Student Council President, Professor Im Sol, and even Elise from the publicity department.”

“…”

“Some even claim he was seen going to a motel with a fellow cadet.”

Lucy wasn’t the type to judge people based on rumors. She only believed what she saw for herself. Although her first impression of Lee Hoyeon had been an accident, she knew him to be a kind and diligent cadet.

But what if that accident wasn’t really an accident?

What if Lee Hoyeon touching her chest back then wasn’t unintentional?

“Now that I think about it… most of the people around Lee Hoyeon are girls.”

Lucy had some male friends, but aside from Kim Younghan, she had never seen Lee Hoyeon talking to other guys.

“Right? I think that’s why female cadets avoid this club.”

“…Maybe.”

Since founding the club, plenty of guys had approached them because of Lucy and Lumi’s looks, but no female cadet had ever tried to join.

“Well, none of it is confirmed, so it’s just gossip. But since I’m in the same club as Lucy, I hope it’s all nonsense.”

“Yeah… me too.”

If Lee Hoyeon had heard this conversation, he would have exploded in frustration.

Ding-

At that moment, Lucy’s smartwatch notification went off.

“I didn’t expect those kinds of rumors… Anyway, both Lumi and Lee Hoyeon said they’d come, so wait here! I’ll go meet them.”

“Okay.”

As Lucy rushed out, Felix, now alone, wiped the smile off his face and frowned.

“So they’re not dating…”

Felix had assumed Lucy and Lee Hoyeon were at least romantically involved. Since they weren’t, he had personally spread false rumors and delivered them to Lucy.

But contrary to his expectations, Lucy’s attitude didn’t change much.

Felix clicked his tongue and took a sip of the drink on the table.

“There’s still plenty of time. I’ll take it slow.”

Lucy.

She was the girl who had caught Felix’s eye at first sight.

The one who had driven him to infiltrate the academy, despite the risk.

Even being here now was dangerous, but if it meant making Lucy his, that risk didn’t matter.

Thud, thud, thud.

At that moment, footsteps sounded outside.

Felix quickly put on his innocent face, set down his drink, and sat nervously on the sofa.

“Oh, it’s cleaned up nicely.”

Lee Hoyeon looked around the clubroom.

“You’d be surprised how hard Lumi and I worked to clean it up.”

“You should have called me to help.”

“Lumi absolutely refused, so what could I do~.”

“Well… If it weren’t for you, our club wouldn’t even exist.”

“Geez, don’t make me feel guilty now.”

190. As soon as they entered, they naturally engaged in friendly conversation.

Felix had gone through the trouble of spreading rumors, but nothing seemed to change.

He felt like his insides were churning, but he held it in and turned to watch.

“Oh, right! We’re recruiting a new member this time, so I wanted to ask for your opinion. What do you think? He seems nice, right?”

Lucy introduced Felix to Lee Hoyeon.

It was the first time Lee Hoyeon and Felix recognized each other.

The two locked eyes, and Lee Hoyeon gave a slight smile.

Lucy saw that and naturally expected a positive response, but what came out of Lee Hoyeon’s mouth was completely unexpected.

“I don’t like him.”

Chapter end