Academy Delinquent in Charge – Chapter 43
Seol Hayun recalled the sensation of the hand that had enveloped her ear, and she touched her own ear.
‘It was warm.’
It was a cozy, warm feeling—so much so that she thought her body might melt away.
Seol Hayun buried her face in her bed. Her ear, peeking out between her hair, was burning red like a ripe persimmon.
Before she knew it, it was already past bedtime, yet sleep would not come.
‘What was I thinking, saying those things earlier?’
Had she needed someone to lean on? Or had she simply wanted to pour out troubles she couldn’t tell anyone to someone?
The moment she saw that it was Baek Iljin who had covered her ear, she had poured out her story to him like a soliloquy. From the circumstances of the Ice Palace to the reason she was so obsessed with martial arts.
He, who had listened in silence, answered briefly.
‘You’ve had it hard.’
She didn’t know why, but having let everything out, she felt as comfortable as if she had completely emptied her stomach. Seol Hayun closed her eyes, the corners of her lips drawing a gentle curve.
‘I think I’ll have a good dream tonight.’
* * *
Baek Iljin neatly straightened his bedding and lay down. The Cheonma Sword asked him.
—Why did you do that?
“What do you mean?”
—Earlier. You used the Cheonma Qi to regulate that woman’s energy. Was there any need to go so far?
‘So what? It’s not like it wears out.’
He said that, but even Baek Iljin himself didn’t know why he had acted that way. He had simply wanted to.
* * *
At the Cheonma Sword’s loud, noisy shouting, Baek Iljin gently opened his eyes. The sunlight streaming through the curtains stung his eyes.
‘Ugh… I slept well.’
If not for the Cheonma Sword, he wouldn’t have been able to wake up on time.
Sitting on the edge of his bed, he picked up the remote on the nightstand. When he pressed the button, the curtains opened and bright sunlight poured in. Squinting at the daylight for only a moment, he slowly rose to his feet.
—Why do you not use qi circulation to dispel your fatigue?
‘Because I wanted to sleep.’
—Inefficient fellow.
‘And I don’t really want to.’
—Why?
In truth, Baek Iljin hated performing qi circulation. It was something he had forced himself to do every evening to suppress the pain that came to him at dusk. He found it bothersome to explain all that, so he answered briefly.
‘Just because.’
He twisted his ring and used a cleaning spell, then opened his subspace, took a loaf of bread in his mouth, and left the house.
‘Now that I think about it, Charles and Soojung aren’t here.’
That aside, the atmosphere on the way to school was different from usual. The students walked in quietly with their eyes cast downward, not speaking.
When he reached the front gate, he understood why. The officers of the Four Major Clubs were showing off their power in front of the school gate.
Even with only the officers gathered, there appeared to be roughly forty or more of them. Among them, he spotted a few familiar faces.
‘Senior Ye Jawon was an officer too. But what’s that guy doing over there?’
Behind Ye Jawon stood Namgung Jongsu, wearing the Hero’s Headband—the symbol of a Jeongmudan officer—across his forehead, looking majestic. Namgung Jongsu was not a bad-looking fellow, so it suited him quite well.
‘He bragged about getting bread as a gift from Senior Ye Jawon, and now he’s ended up over there.’
He wasn’t interested. What did it matter where anyone went?
Baek Iljin passed through them and entered the school gate.
Baek Iljin looked around after entering the classroom. It seemed the Hwangbo twins hadn’t arrived yet.
He briefly met eyes with Seol Hayun, but only nodded awkwardly before plopping down into his seat.
Just then, Hairin, who was in the next row, turned her body to look at Baek Iljin.
“Um, Baek Iljin-nim.”
“……?”
“Have you perhaps seen Elia?”
“I haven’t.”
“Sigh, then where did she go? She didn’t even come back to the dorm……”
“She didn’t come back?”
Perhaps Baek Iljin’s words were the spark; Hairin began pouring out words in rapid succession.
“Well, a few days ago she joined the baking and pastry club saying she wanted to learn how to make bread. After that, she started coming back late, and yesterday she didn’t come back at all.”
Baek Iljin made a puzzled expression after hearing Hairin out. It seemed she wasn’t done yet, for she continued.
“But, that baking and pastry club is affiliated with the Central Faction. And the club that represents that faction is Blue Rose……”
Since Hairin had also been involved in that incident, she knew that Baek Iljin had eliminated Blue Rose. So when she spoke of this part, she gauged Baek Iljin’s reaction and slowed her words.
Baek Iljin nodded. He roughly pictured the situation in his head.
“With Blue Rose gone, the Central Faction has weakened?”
“Yes, that’s what they say. So other factions are trying to consume the Center.”
“And Elia, who joined the baking club, is caught up in that?”
“Yes, probably.”
Just then, Hwangbo Cheolsu, Hwangbo Soojung, and Elia entered through the front door. Hairin shot up from her seat and shouted at Elia.
“Hey, Elia! What have you been doing, coming in now!”
“It’s nothing, I’ll tell you later. I’m tired.”
Elia waved her hand dismissively and slumped over onto her desk to sleep as soon as she sat down. Hwangbo Cheolsu was in the same state.
“Soojung, what’s going on with Charles?”
“I’ll explain in a bit……”
“Let me get just a little sleep right now.”
Less than ten minutes after Hwangbo Cheolsu fell asleep, Decant entered.
“Tch, sleeping again after coming to school.”
Decant clicked his tongue as soon as he entered and fired an electric shock spell at the slumped-over Hwangbo Cheolsu.
“Uaaack—”
Startled, Elia and Hwangbo Soojung also woke up. The students laughed as they watched them.
Just as Decant was about to use his spell once more, Wonjin began the greeting.
“Attention, salute!”
“Hello.”
“Tch, tch.”
Decant, having picked up a pen with telekinesis, wrote the topic on the board. Sighs flowed from the students who saw the topic.
[Understanding Internal Energy and Mana]
“Page 57. When using anything, one must pay an equivalent price. This is the greatest concept. To buy something, you must pay money; to make money, you must use gold. And does gold simply appear out of nowhere?”
“No, it does not.”
“Then what price is paid to create the ‘Qi’ that we call mana and internal energy? Some say that ‘Qi’ is the one thing given without a price. But I disagree. I believe that even ‘Qi’ is not given without a price.”
Fitting for his name, the Silent Decant, his class was quieter than a library—except for Hwangbo Cheolsu, who occasionally fell asleep breathing roughly.
Even the Cheonma Sword spoke with a fed-up voice.
—That guy is really boring.
Baek Iljin nodded. Baek Iljin agreed as well. Decant’s class was so effective that it seemed more potent than most sleep-inducing magic. Moreover, with Hwangbo Cheolsu next to him bobbing his head as he dozed off, an unbearable drowsiness washed over Baek Iljin too.
‘I’m dying of sleepiness.’
—Just burn away the fatigue with qi circulation. What are you foolishly doing?
‘I don’t want to.’
—So stubborn.
In the end, Baek Iljin’s eyes gradually closed, unable to resist.
Just then, Decant, seeing Baek Iljin like that, twitched the corner of his mouth. And he pointed straight at Baek Iljin.
“You there, student.”
—Wake up, Baek Iljin! He’s calling you.
At the Cheonma Sword’s shout, Baek Iljin reflexively stood up from his seat.
“……Yes, this is Baek Iljin, number 200.”
“Very well. Can you tell me what I just said?”
Decant intended to corner Baek Iljin. That was why he had deliberately not woken him even when he was half-asleep.
But that thought of his went beautifully awry. Because Baek Iljin recited his lesson word for word without a single mistake.
“In the flow of the world, every beginning occurs because there is inevitably some cause, and something newly begun becomes the cause of another end.”
—……That is the rule of the world, namely the Law of Causality. That is all.
“That is the rule of the world, namely the Law of Causality, you said.”
“……Well done. Sit down.”
“Thank you.”
In truth, as Decant had thought, he was intoxicated with drowsiness and not listening to class. He had simply repeated word for word what the Cheonma Sword was telling him.
Baek Iljin, having sat down, expressed his gratitude to the Cheonma Sword.
‘Thanks. I’ll buy an artifact and feed it to you this time.’
—Now you’ve gone and started using me as a recorder.
Even the hellish class that had seemed like it would never end had a punctuation mark. As the time to wrap up approached, Decant closed his book, swept back his hair, and came out in front of the podium.
“This Law of Causality also applies to life. Life is originally like planting a seed. Your lives will change depending on what you plant. Always remember and live by the fact that there is no output without input. Class ends here for today.”
Even though class had ended, the class president did not stand up, so Decant tilted his head.
“Class president?”
“…….”
There was no answer even though his eyes were clearly open. Wonjin had been sleeping with his eyes open.
“Senior Brother.”
“…….”
Wongak nudged Wonjin awake with his elbow. Wonjin woke up with a start, his body convulsing.
“Senior Brother, class is over.”
“Hrrrngh, attention! Salute!”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
* * *
After class, the Hwangbo twins and Elia hurried out again, saying they had to go to their club. Hairin, who had been squinting and watching them sneakily, approached Baek Iljin and spoke in a whisper.
“Shall we follow them too? We need to find out what’s going on.”
“Hmm……”
Nod—
Baek Iljin, who had paused for a moment, nodded.
Hairin and Baek Iljin secretly followed them. The building with the baking and pastry club room was right across from the dormitory.
“They’re going in. Let’s hurry too.”
Around the club room, members of the Four Major Clubs stood watch as if keeping each other in check. Passing them, Hairin and Baek Iljin entered the building.
“It’s over there.”
The hallway was filled with the savory smell of butter and the sweet scent of bread. Having arrived in front of the door before they knew it, Hairin pressed her ear against it.
Inside, they were in the middle of a heated debate, though the subject was unclear.
“……How about requesting mediation from the student council or the disciplinary committee?”
Hwangbo Soojung’s voice was heard.
“The student council officers all come from prominent clubs. The inside is also split by factions, so it would be difficult to request help. The disciplinary committee absolutely does not intervene in such matters.”
“Then wouldn’t our faction be among them too?”
“No. That’s also why Blue Rose wasn’t treated as a prominent club.”
Just then, a familiar voice reached Hairin’s ears.
“Then we have to fight! Are we going to become puppets like this?”
‘It’s Elia! But what is there to fight about in a baking club?’
Hairin gripped the doorknob as if she would go in right away, then turned her head to look at Baek Iljin.
“Shall we go in?”
“Let’s.”
Having obtained Baek Iljin’s consent, Hairin flung open the club room door. The faces of those in the middle of their debate stiffened instantly.
“Who are you!”
The club members, who had clumsily drawn their weapons, stopped when they saw them.
“H-Hairin? How did you get here?”
“Iljin, what’s going on?”
The flustered Elia, Hwangbo Cheolsu, and Hwangbo Soojung approached Hairin and Baek Iljin respectively.
“We came because we thought something was going on.”
“Something going on…… nothing’s going on.”
Hwangbo Cheolsu said, scratching the back of his head. He had tried to brush it off naturally, but it only amplified their suspicion.
“Something is definitely going on.”
“Elia, speak properly.”
“Ah, I don’t know. It’s none of your concern, so go back to the dorm.”
Hairin glared at Elia with venomous, snake-like eyes and growled.
Just then, Berrypan, the president of the baking and pastry club ‘Patissier,’ stopped Hairin.
“Excuse me, are you Elia’s friend?”
“Yes, hello. I’m Hairin.”
As Elia kept trying to avoid talking, Hairin asked Berrypan directly.
“Excuse me, but may I ask what is going on?”
“Hairin!”
“I told you to be quiet!”
“Hmm……”
After a brief moment of thought, Berrypan brought over a document and placed it on the desk. It was an official letter sent from ‘North Wind,’ the representative club of the Northern Faction.
The contents were simple. They would push the baking and pastry club Patissier to become the Central Faction’s representative club.
“Isn’t it a good thing to become a representative club? You can receive monthly dues and all.”
“Sure, but……”
The problem was the conditions. In exchange for pushing them as the representative club, all the dues collected from the clubs within the faction would have to be brought to them. Moreover, the dues were set at a level more than twice as high as before.
“In short, become representatives as puppets?”
“The tribute ratio is absurd too. They take the fruit and make us take the blame.”
“And doubling the dues is insane too.”
Hairin grabbed her forehead, her head throbbing.
‘If this happened because Blue Rose disappeared, is it partly my fault?’
She knew it wasn’t, but somehow it felt like her fault.
“So, when is North Wind coming?”
“Today.”
“What? Today?”
Elia, who had been watching Hairin’s expression, spoke in a voice as small as an ant crawling.
“I’m sorry…… I couldn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to get involved.”
Hairin glared at Elia, her eyes raised sharply. At her fierce gaze, Elia slightly averted her eyes.
“Elia, wasn’t it you who said to talk first if something was wrong?”
“……Sorry.”
Hairin whipped her head around and looked at Berrypan, the president of Patissier.
“I’ll join here too.”
“Huh?”
“Hey, Hairin!”
“Elia, you be quiet.”
Berrypan made a gesture of raising both arms as if to say there was nothing he could do.
“But are you really okay with this? You might have to stand against a prominent club.”
She wasn’t okay with it. How could she be? But she knew a way to make it as okay as possible.
Hairin’s gaze turned toward Baek Iljin.
“It’s fine, right?”
Baek Iljin nodded impassively.