Chapter 22

Chapter 22

“Shit!”

All eyes were on them, thanks to that freshman who was causing a scene in the gym.

A freshman who didn’t even know fractions had issued a ‘challenge’ and was trying to use this opportunity to raise his club’s profile.......

‘It’s dangerous.’

Yes, it was indeed dangerous.

They didn’t expect him to be able to fight so well against the members of their club.

I mean, he’s a freshman! How is he so strong!?

[Get in here now, asshole, if you don’t want to get your ass kicked].

His voice booms from the loudspeaker connected to the training center.

He’s speaking to anyone who will listen and taking shots at their ‘Fund Investment Club’.

‘He’s provoking me!’

It was clear that he was betting on a fight against them.

How the hell did we get to this point?

The outline for the “International Trade Club” raid was perfect.

They would buy off the recruits from the International Trade Club, let them attack first, save face, and use the people they’ve already prepared to counterattack! Then they’ll bring the International Trade Club under their umbrella and use their financial power to monopolize distribution in the school!

With this plan, their club would have a solid foundation.

But that freshman was the problem.

What, he’s claiming ownership of the International Trade Club, and he’s even brought in a bunch of bystanders?

It’s like they were being backstabbed!

Also,

“Wow, even a non-combat club can lose to a freshman?”

“I guess the Fund Investment Club didn’t deserve freshmen.”

“Wow, there’s a lot of interesting stuff going on today.”

It just so happened that today was club recruitment day.

‘Damn it, why are you looking at me like that? Don’t look at me like that!’

The meaning of the stare was very clear.

The greedy, sneering glances that said, “Huh? They weren’t as tough as we thought they were, and if they can do this, we can do it too.”

At this rate they would be eliminated before they could act against the International Trade Club.

The first thing he needed to do was to turn the tables.

He wiped the sweat off his face by pretending to run his hands through his hair, then pulled the corners of his mouth up.

For now, he tried to keep his face as nonchalant as possible──

“──You must be the president of the Fund Investment Club.”

“Um?”

Hearing the voice calling him, he turned around and saw a guy wearing glasses with a blunt expression. Judging from the color of his name tag,......he must be a first-year.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t have time for new students.”

“......My president told me to give you this.”

“What?”

The guy with the glasses says, and hands him a briefcase.

“And he said that if you don’t get in the arena right away, he’ll release this to everyone in here.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’ve told you everything the boss told me to tell you, so I’ll leave you to it.”

“What? Wait!”

He said what he had to say, then turned and walked away.

Puzzled by his identity, he opened the briefcase to reveal the paper inside.

“Huh?”

He looked at the contents and immediately closed the envelope again.

Wait, why is this here?

“President, what’s wrong?”

“.......”

“What the hell did he give you?”

The other members of the club muttered something, but he couldn’t hear them.

How the hell am I supposed to tell him that what’s in the envelope is proof that we’ve been embezzling investors’ money bit by bit all this time! What the hell, what the hell is this.......

And there it was, all organized in his head.

Why are all these students gathered here in this great hall?

Why did the guy who handed him the ledger just now call that freshman in the arena his president?

Why is he looking at them now, as if he’s very relaxed?This chapter is updated by nov(e)(l)biin.com

“You fucking......”

He’d been trying to set up a situation where he could spill the beans in front of everyone, a situation where they had no choice but to do as he said.

But it’s not all over yet. It’s only a check, not a mate.

“You ...... asshole.”

His face crumples at my words.

I snap my fingers at him as he grips the handle of his unique weapon even tighter.

“Let’s get this over with, it’s lunchtime soon.”

Because I’m starting to get hungry.

* * *

“No, how can a man wipe out that many people and not break a sweat?”

Jin-woo, who was about to hand me a towel as I walked out of the arena, gave me a wry look.

“That’s what clerical clubs are supposed to do. Even you could have done it.”

“Eh? I don’t think so. Besides, aren’t those guys stretched out over there mercenaries?”

Jin-woo shrugged as he looked at the group stretched out in the arena.

“Judging by their skills, they’re probably cheap labor in the mercenary circles. Maybe they figured they didn’t need to spend that much money to deal with me in the first place.”

“...... Then they made a complete mistake, didn’t they?”

“Well, yeah.”

I look past Jin-woo to the male instructor standing at the stall in the arena.

“Since I seem to have won the challenge, may I have the Gold Agreement?”

“Huh? Uh, yeah. They just happened to leave this with me before they entered the arena. Here, take it.”

“Thanks.”

By taking the Gold Club’s consent form from Instructor Nam, I had fulfilled all of Ji-hyun’s requirements.

“Instructor, I’ve fulfilled all of your requirements. May I ask for the next one?”

“Ha, you’re crazy. I never thought you’d actually do this.”

Ji-hyun takes the agreements from me, waves them around, and smiles broadly.

“Okay, since you kept your promise, I’ll keep mine, too. I’m going to go talk to the student council guys, so go eat your lunch.”

Ji-hyun leaves the room, fanning herself with the precious agreements.

I was relieved that it was finally over when I saw the back of her head.

Buzz, buzz, buzz.

The cell phone in my pocket began to vibrate violently.

“......?”

[Hidden Quest Complete!

[One Night Circle]

[You have succeeded in creating a club in a single day for the first time in the history of the Academy, and this history will be recorded in the Academy forever]

[Reward: Smart Lens]

“As expected, an event of this magnitude has a hidden quest, eh, Smart Lens?”

At the same time, I began to feel a stinging pain, as if I had put a cleaning solution in my eyes.

I closed my eyes tightly and endured the pain for about 10 seconds and just when I thought the throbbing in my cornea had subsided, I opened my eyes to see a new landscape.

(NEW) Main story now available!

[You’ve brought new life to the Academy! By founding a new club, you’ve written your own history! Lead your club to success and upgrade it to Silver rank!]

[Achievement condition: Complete 5 club requests!]

[Number of Requests Completed: 0 / 5]

[*Achievement rewards may change depending on the results]

“Boss, are you okay?”

“......Yeah.”

As if I was in a VR game, the notification window that I could only see on my smartphone was translucent and floating in the air.

There were multiple interface windows and numbers in the corner of my vision.

The interfaces are perfectly reproduced, as if the phone is floating in the air.

It was quite annoying to feel like I was being looked at strangely whenever I was looking at my phone in front of other people, but with this display, I didn’t have to worry about that anymore.

First and foremost, the most noticeable change is the new Main Story.

I was worried that the main story hadn’t opened since Desert Island, but apparently I was on the right track.

“But how do I turn it off?”

I rolled my eyes and thought about turning off my smartphone’s screen, and the windows in front of me disappeared.

Luckily, I could turn it off and on at will so I won’t have to worry about it interfering with my vision in battle.

“This is really over! We can start a club now, right?”

Se-ah and Young-jae, who had been watching the battle from the bleachers, came up to me.

“Yeah, the instructor said she’d take care of the rest, so now we just have to wait.”

Based on the main quest I had just seen, the creation of the club was a foregone conclusion.

Now all that remained was for Haru to crush the Fund Investment Club in the club competition.

It shouldn’t be difficult with her abilities, as this battle would not only destroy the Fund Investment Club’s reputation, but also its value.

────♬

The academy bell rang, signaling the end of the club tour and the start of lunch.

It was as if the sound signaled the end of a short battle for the agreement form.