Chapter 77

Chapter 77: Academy Collapse Event (1)

It felt like I'd been visiting the Academy's Chancellor's Office rather frequently lately.

Today, too, Ryu Jeonga had summoned me.

"I heard Young Cha is working on an interesting paper."

"Where did you hear that? Hardly anyone knows."

"Hoho, what happens at the Academy that I wouldn't know? I have eyes and ears everywhere."

Having eyes and ears wasn't simply a figure of speech.

The Academy was surrounded by a massive Barrier that Ryu Jeonga had created.

The Barrier served a function similar to Ryu Jeonga's sensory organs — through it, she could see and hear what was happening all around.

It could only be used within the Academy, and just opening her senses consumed a fair amount of mana, but it was a useful ability in many ways.

Especially so given that Ryu Jeonga was the Academy's Chancellor.

"Have you also seen the contents of my paper?"

"No. I could force myself to peek if I wanted, but... opening a gift box early takes the fun out of it. Tsk tsk, I was going to check when Young Cha presents it."

Judging by Ryu Jeonga's playful smile, she really hadn't looked.

If she had, she would've at least feigned some surprise, even if she didn't react as excessively as Zhuge Soyon and Lie Xiao.

Ryu Jeonga asked.

"Professor Cha, what do you make of this old woman's premonition?"

A feeling that disaster would befall the Academy soon.

She was referring to the message she'd sent me during the fourth exam.

"I trust you, Chancellor."

"A welcome answer. Is your current work part of that?"

"Well... more or less."

"I'm so glad to have Professor Cha. Just having Lie brought here gives me great comfort."

"That friend's name is Lie Xiao, not just Lie."

Ryu Jeonga answered with a pout.

"Are you lecturing an old woman? Set aside the trivial details."

Ryu Jeonga casually blurted out something that would've sent Lie Xiao himself into a panic if he'd heard it.

Still, she seemed aware it was an embarrassing mistake, as her face tinged slightly red.

"Anyway, I have a feeling something big will happen soon. I truly hope it's just an old woman's needless worry......"

Ryu Jeonga deliberately put on a serious face and changed the subject.

For the sake of my own well-being, I decided to let it slide.

"Do you have any guesses about what might happen?"

Ryu Jeonga shook her head instead of answering.

The same reaction as in the game.

Even though Ryu Jeonga could prophesy that an attack was coming, she didn't know precisely what would happen or how.

Of course, giving an approximate timeframe was more than enough.

"In that case, please take a look at this."

I pulled out the materials I'd prepared the night before.

It was a deployment plan for utilizing the professors as efficiently as possible.

After reading it, Ryu Jeonga was impressed.

"Oh. You've put together something interesting."

"It would be nice if we never had to use it, but you never know."

"You barely had any time, yet you produced something like this. As expected of Professor Cha."

This roster would be far more helpful than Ryu Jeonga could imagine.

In the game's Academy Collapse Event, deploying the professors had always ended in catastrophic failure.

Ryu Jeonga spoke in a wistful voice.

"It would be so nice if nothing happened at all."

There was even a note of yearning in her voice.

Ryu Jeonga's love for the Academy was genuine.

But I knew the future of this goddamn world.

Soon, the Academy would be trampled by monsters and consumed in flames.

Ryu Jeonga would probably be devastated.

This was fundamentally different from the futures I'd changed before — futures that could be altered by human effort.

As long as I lived in this world, this was a problem I'd inevitably have to face.

The best we could do was prepare to minimize the damage.

***

Near the back gate of Florian Academy.

Three third-year students who had gone out during their free period were heading back to the Academy.

"Dammit. No matter how many years I come here, these paths are impossible."

"Heheh. They don't call it the Maze Gate for nothing."

The Maze Gate.

One of the nicknames students used for the back gate.

The paths around the back gate were so convoluted that freshmen didn't even dare use them, and even current students frequently got lost.

As such, Florian had a saying passed down like scripture.

Don't go out through the back gate during free periods.

If you do, you'll be late to your next lecture. Guaranteed.

The male student huffed and spoke to the two female students.

"I told you we shouldn't have come this way. Seriously, you two."

The female students giggled and answered.

"But the mint chocolate burger shop is only at the back gate."

"Yeah yeah. I need to eat a mint burger after class so my head clears up for the next one."

The male student couldn't understand.

Why on earth would you pay money to eat that?

He silently railed against the world.

He hated the tasteless mint burgers, and he hated these nonsensical paths where the Academy wasn't even visible.

So when were they going to reach the Academy?

The back gate should've been coming into view by now......

"Huh?"

What caught the male student's eye was a sign.

On the familiar-shaped sign were the words "Mint Chocolate Burger Specialty Shop."

Wait, isn't that...

The shop from earlier.

"Th-that! Why is that here?!"

"Hm?"

When the male student pointed at the sign and shouted, the female students turned around.

Only then did they, too, realize something was wrong.

"Um... you're right. Why is that here?"

"Did we walk in circles?"

No matter how much they jokingly called it the Maze Gate, none of them had ever experienced walking in circles.

An inexplicable unease crept into the three third-years' hearts.

It felt like something was happening.

One of the female students spoke in a trembling voice.

"L-lecture's going to start soon...... how about we hurry to the classroom?"

"Y-yeah, let's."

They spoke as if they were calm, but inside they were all anxious.

All they wanted was to get out of here as soon as possible.

The third-years moved their legs quickly and ran.

How many minutes did they run like that?

They'd definitely been running toward the Academy.

So why.

Had they ended up back at the burger shop?

"What is this......"

"Why, why is the shop here again?"

The three exchanged silent glances.

Something is wrong.

Something inexplicable was clearly happening to the paths near the back gate and to the three of them.

The male student spoke.

"Could we be trapped in a Barrier? Someone's playing a prank on purpose... or maybe by accident?"

One of the female students nodded at the reasonable guess.

"Th-that's probably it, right? It's not on purpose — maybe someone was practicing magic and accidentally did it?"

"No."

The one who denied it was the other female student.

"I can't sense any mana here at all. If it were a Barrier, this shouldn't be possible......"

At those words, the other two's expressions hardened.

The female student was right.

They'd learned that no matter how well a Barrier was made, a Barrier should cause a change in mana's properties.

But they couldn't sense anything at all about the mana.

The male student cautiously offered an opinion.

"Then... maybe we're being bewitched by a ghost?"

"Eeeek!"

"Kyaah!"

The female students grabbed each other's hands and screamed.

Even in a world with Heroes and monsters, ghosts were terrifying.

"D-don't say things like that! Ghosts don't exist!"

"R-right!"

"But something is definitely happening. We keep going in circles around the burger shop."

"The burger shop......"

The three reached the same conclusion.

If they kept circling the burger shop?

There had to be a secret inside that shop.

The male student spoke.

"Let's go in."

To catch a tiger, you have to enter the tiger's den. To catch a ghost, you have to enter the ghost's lair.

The key to escaping this place must be inside the burger shop.

However, one of the female students balked.

"What?! No way! I am ab~solutely not going in!"

She knew in her head that storming the burger shop was the only solution, but frankly, she was scared.

The female student refused.

She was sure her friends would stay with her.

"I'm going in. It's got to be better than staying here."

The voice belonged to the other female student.

The one who'd said she'd stay was taken aback.

"Y-you're seriously going in there?"

The male student said.

"Then let's head out, just the two of us. You can stay here if you want."

The female student nodded in agreement.

The remaining girl shifted from foot to foot.

She didn't want to go inside the burger shop.

But being left alone was even worse.

"I hate being left alone here even more! Fine, I'll go too!"

In the end, all three agreed to enter the burger shop.

The male student stepped forward, threw the shop door open, and went in.

"Is anyone here?"

The three entered, tense.

"Oh? Aren't you the students from earlier?"

It was the burger shop owner from before.

Seeing the friendly, pretty owner's face, all three felt the tension drain from their bodies.

"Owner......?"

"Back for more burgers? Go ahead and order."

The inside of the shop was perfectly ordinary.

It was exactly the burger shop they remembered from their earlier visit.

The three stared blankly at each other.

What the hell, there was nothing here.

It was all a misunderstanding.

Feeling too awkward to just leave, the male student placed an order.

"Three mint chocolate burger sets, please."

"Order received."

The owner went into the kitchen area to relay the order.

One of the female students smirked and said.

"See? As if ghosts exist. We just got ridiculously lost."

The male student was dumbfounded by her words.

"So that's why you were whining about not going in? You were the one who was scared out of her mind."

"Aaah! Why bring that up? We're inside now, so what does it matter?"

"Oh, is that right? A minute ago, you looked like you were about to cry."

"Ugh, stop it."

"Heuzmeulrg~."

"You're really—!"

"Students, what are you all chatting so happily about?"

The owner, emerging from the kitchen, asked.

The male student answered with a playful grin.

"Well, you see, we got lost on the way to the Academy and passed by your burger shop multiple times. And these two were totally freaking out, thinking we'd been bewitched by ghosts."

"Oh, please. You're the one who brought up ghosts."

"Exactly. Where does he get off making stuff up?"

The students laughed amongst themselves.

The owner asked a question.

"You passed by our shop multiple times?"

"Yeah. We kept going in circles around here. We seriously thought we'd been hexed."

"You weren't hexed. The space around here has been twisted, that's why."

"Ah, I see. The space was twisted, so that's... wait, what?"

For just that moment, the air seemed to turn cold.

The male student forced an awkward smile and spoke.

"Ha, haha... I... see."

"Yes. We have some business at the Academy. It won't take long."

We? Who's "we"?

Cold sweat rolled from the top of his head.

His body tensed so suddenly that he was drenched in sweat from head to toe.

The three's instincts screamed.

'Run!'

All three leapt from their seats simultaneously.

But they couldn't move a single step before their bodies crumpled to the floor.

"Ah, ngh......"

Words wouldn't come out.

They needed to do something — they needed to desperately rack their brains to escape this situation.

But nothing came to mind.

The three slowly lost consciousness.

The burger shop owner, SH operative Amy, spoke.

"Rick, come out."

From the kitchen emerged another SH operative, Rick.

Deep satisfaction was etched on both their faces.

"The barrier's almost complete and nobody noticed a thing."

"Hahaha! So all we have to do is trash this place, and our organization will be reborn?"

"That's right."

The one called Kultung had shown SH's remnants more than enough power.

Kultung was extremely dangerous and simultaneously formidable.

If they followed him, the organization's revival was all but guaranteed.

Kultung's voice echoed in their minds.

【The barrier is complete. Begin the full assault now.】

"Yes."

With this, Florian Academy was completely isolated.

Those outside would have no way of knowing what was happening at the Academy, and those inside would be unable to leave.

The stage was set.

All that remained was the one-sided slaughter of the trapped minnows.