Villain Takes Over The Academy

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[Translator - Peptobismal]

[Proofreader - Max]

Chapter 28

"I didn't mean to do that."

Seo Su-kyung muttered to herself, sitting alone on the dormitory sofa.

What happened last night was purely an accident.

***

Yesterday evening.

Seo Su-kyung, returning to the dormitory, finally decided to take action.

She had no choice. She had just thrown Seo Su-cheon to the floor in the banquet hall.

'That damn bastard will surely go around blabbing.'

It was clear that Seo Su-kyung's position in the family, already that of an outsider, would become even more precarious.

To escape this crisis, there was no other option than to truly claim the top spot in the overall Masterclass rankings. Reaching the pinnacle of the world's best military academy was the only way to silence those Seo family members.

'Nam Kang-ik... If only that idiot had done his job properly.'

In this situation, the news of Nam Kang-ik's failure was like pouring oil on the fire.

To raise her ranking, she needed to take over the Deconstructionist Department first, but that Professor D was different from the pushovers she had played with so far.

The reactions of the professors Seo Su-kyung had approached with a friendly attitude were usually one of two types.

They either pretended to dislike her while liking her, or they pretended to like her while disliking her.

In any case, most of them were just putting on airs because of their pride, even though they were thrilled.

'But why is that man looking at me like that?'

Seo Su-kyung couldn't forget the look in Professor D's eyes when she first met him in the garden.

A look as if he was seeing something utterly disgusting, a look that seemed to see right through her...

Seo Su-kyung, who had never received such a look in her life, felt a sense of foreboding, and that foreboding came true in the first lecture.

"That's a surprisingly stupid answer. Minus 3 points."

Professor D spat out those words in the classroom, filled with sarcasm. The message was clear.

He didn't need a student like her in his class, so she should get out.

'Don't make me laugh. Why should I?'

It was an absurd notion. How dare he look down on Sword Saint Seo Su-kyung.

Seo Su-kyung was someone who had to achieve any goal she set, and her goal this semester was to take over the Deconstructionist Department.

To achieve that goal, she needed to deal with Professor D first.

Although the plan to use Nam Kang-ik to obtain an oath contract had failed, Seo Su-kyung had many other ways to bring people to their knees.

"I didn't want to use this method if possible, but..."

One of them was Voodoo.

A spell with powerful effects, but if the curse failed, it would rebound on the caster.

Therefore, when using voodoo, she had to find a way to maximize the success rate. That was why she chose the Deconstructionist Department classroom as the location for the spell.

"The probability of failure decreases significantly if the spell is cast in the target's living space."

Seo Su-kyung, having made up her mind, took action.

She meticulously prepared, choosing a day when there were few people in the annex building where the Deconstructionist Department classroom was located.

She even found out the time when the security cameras were temporarily deactivated due to the security system update.

A darkened classroom.

A magic circle made of candles filled with the blood of a live black goat,

A straw doll embedded with the target's hair...

The preparations were perfect. Now all she had to do was recite the curse and drive the stake into the doll...

"This is unbelievable. What is all this?"

But just before she could cast the spell, an unexpected visitor appeared. Arche, who had suddenly barged in, stared at the scene in disbelief.

Seo Su-kyung glanced at Arche and said coldly, "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing? You're really shameless. How can you say that after doing this?"

"Do you even know what I'm doing?"

"Don't underestimate me. Even if I haven't taken a Voodoo Department class, I know the items used in curse spells."

Arche pointed at the straw doll and stake in Seo Su-kyung's hand. Even someone who knew nothing could tell how bizarre it looked.

Seo Su-kyung let out a chuckle. Even she had to admit that her actions were indefensible.

"So what?"

"What?"

"This is Masterclass. A curse spell? You think that's a problem in this academy?"

"This is unbelievable. Are you serious?"

"Stop pretending to be innocent. You think you're any different? Have you ever thought about how many students you've trampled on to get to your current ranking?"

Arche was momentarily speechless.

Seo Su-kyung's words weren't wrong. That was the nature of Masterclass.

To survive here, you had to be cunning and cruel. This was a academy where playing fair only taught you the coldness of the world.

Arche had also reached her current position through such a process.

"...Yes, I'm not innocent either. But at least I haven't crossed the line like you."

"Oh really? So what are you going to do about it?"

Seo Su-kyung still had a nonchalant look. Her composure stemmed from the confidence that Arche couldn't do anything to her with her level of ability.

Arche knew that too. That's why she didn't come here empty-handed.

"You're only acting so arrogant because of your family and Shin A-sol, aren't you?"

"...What?"

"Because that softhearted Shin A-sol protects even someone like you, by calling you a comrade. I know you're taking advantage of that."

Indeed, Shin A-sol didn't pursue this Professor D attack incident. It was a choice she made because she sensed Seo Su-kyung's involvement behind the scenes.

"But that's over now."

As if taking out a secret weapon, Arche pulled out her phone from her pocket.

And she played a video file.

"This is the video from the student council room last month. Remember?"

As the video played, Seo Su-kyung's expression gradually hardened. The video was footage from the security camera in the student council room.

It was during the time when the academy was in an uproar over a series of theft incidents.

In the video, Shin A-sol, having finished her afternoon training, was lying face down on the desk, catching her breath.

"That day, Shin A-sol stopped by the student council room to change clothes. And she hid her gym clothes somewhere no one knew."

Shin A-sol, who couldn't be bothered to go all the way to the locker room, often changed clothes in the student council room. Since the student council members rarely visited, it didn't seem to be a problem.

That day as well, she stored her changed gym clothes somewhere, but it wasn't clearly visible because it was out of the camera's view.

Just then, Seo Su-kyung entered the student council room, exchanged words with Shin A-sol, and then they left together. The video ended there.

"And this is the next day's video. The day the gym clothes disappeared."

The student council camera captured Seo Su-kyung entering the room. For some reason, she appeared with a bag, and like Shin A-sol, she disappeared from the camera's view, only to reappear and leave a while later.

"At first, no one suspected you. Everyone thought it was part of the serial theft incidents."

Arche had also assumed the same. With items disappearing one after another at the academy, it was natural to think that way.

But her thoughts changed when the Phantom Thief was caught.

"Most of the stolen goods that the Phantom Thief had stolen from this academy were found at Senior Hyun Suk's house, but there was one thing missing. You know what it is, don't you?"

It was Shin A-sol's gym clothes.

Why were only the gym clothes missing?

Arche, finding it strange, found this CCTV footage and reached a conclusion.

"The premise that the Phantom Thief stole the gym clothes was wrong in the first place. A-sol hid her gym clothes in a place only she knew, so no one else could have stolen them."

There was someone else who could have stolen the gym clothes.

Someone like Seo Su-kyung, who happened to see where Shin A-sol hid her gym clothes the day before the incident.

"...Stop talking nonsense. Why would I steal someone else's gym clothes?"

"Why? Because Shin A-sol's ranking is higher than yours."

At first, Arche was also puzzled by Seo Su-kyung's motive for stealing someone else's clothes.

But the moment she realized that Seo Su-kyung was once a student of the Voodoo Department, the question was quickly resolved.

"Clothes worn for a long time make excellent materials for curses, right? You must have thought when you saw A-sol secretly storing her gym clothes, 'With this, I can cast a perfect curse on Shin A-sol.'"

Arche could vividly imagine the expression on Seo Su-kyung's face when she got her hands on Shin A-sol's gym clothes.

Seo Su-kyung's obsession with becoming number one in the rankings.

No one in this academy was unaware of it. Many people saw Seo Su-kyung and Shin A-sol as friends, but not Arche. In Arche's eyes, Seo Su-kyung was someone who was always looking for an opportunity to bring Shin A-sol down.

"What do you think will happen if I tell A-sol about this?"

Until now, Shin A-sol had protected Seo Su-kyung because of their childhood connection.

But what if she found out about Seo Su-kyung's wicked plot?

Even the kind-hearted Shin A-sol would no longer turn a blind eye.

"...That I tried to curse A-sol? By stealing her gym clothes?"

Seo Su-kyung was so dumbfounded that she didn't even scoff.

“Do they teach novel writing in the Summoning Department these days? Even if you want to frame someone, there's a limit. Even an elementary school student wouldn't make such a ridiculous claim..."

...Seo Su-kyung was about to retort sarcastically.

But she couldn't finish her sentence. Arche played another video on her phone.

It was a video from the same time as the student council room video she had just played, but there was a difference. In this video, the inside of Seo Su-kyung's bag was clearly visible.

"It seems the vice-principal was really angry at the Phantom Thief. To think that stingy guy added the expensive Clairvoyance spell to the camera."

This was information known only to a select few in the academy, and Arche had also learned about it by eavesdropping on the teachers who were cleaning up after the library incident.

Oh Ji-sung had installed the Clairvoyance spell on several security cameras in the academy.

The student council room was included among those cameras, and thanks to that, the inside of Seo Su-kyung's bag was clearly visible on the screen with the Clairvoyance function activated.

Empty when she entered, but with the gym clothes inside when she left.

"It's been a while since I've seen you make that face,” Arche said leisurely, having found the perfect evidence.

As she said, Seo Su-kyung couldn't control her expression at all. She couldn't even deny it.

Stealing Shin A-sol's gym clothes was a huge secret she thought she would never be caught for.

'The Clairvoyance spell?! Since when was that there?'

It was a trap she hadn't anticipated at all. No one would have imagined that the stingy vice-principal would spend that much money just to catch a thief.

'And to be caught by that country bumpkin from the island...!'

For the first time, Seo Su-kyung felt nervous in front of Arche. If this were to become known, her hidden shame would be revealed to everyone.

"...What do you want from me?" Seo Su-kyung asked, trying to remain calm. She calculated that it was better to appease Arche, even at a high price, than to try to deny it clumsily.

But what came out of Arche's mouth was a price far beyond her calculations.

"It's simple. Leave this academy, Seo Su-kyung."

"...What?"

"Leave by tomorrow and never come back. Then I'll make sure you don't lose face."

"You..."

Seo Su-kyung glared at Arche with murderous eyes.

'How dare a country bumpkin make such an offer? To me?!'

But Arche turned her back without even waiting for an answer.

"Remember. By tomorrow."

With those last words, Arche waved the phone in her left hand.

Watching her leave the classroom, Seo Su-kyung grew anxious.

'No! I can't let her go like this...!'

How could she give up after coming this far?

She had to get that phone back at least.

Panicked, Seo Su-kyung couldn't help but move.

She grabbed the stake in her hand and lunged at Arche's back with terrifying speed.

***

"...Stupid girl."

Seo Su-kyung muttered to herself, sitting on the dormitory sofa.

No matter how much she tried to recall what happened yesterday, she couldn't remember the details.

But when she came to her senses, Arche was dead, a stake embedded in her chest.

"I didn't mean to do that."

She had only wanted to take back the phone.

So when Arche summoned her Dragon Armor, Seo Su-kyung immediately cast a spell.

The X-Mark spell.

Although the success rate was extremely low because she hadn't learned it long ago, she desperately hoped to find a weakness in the Dragon Armor.

But she never expected the spell, which she had never used before, to succeed so perfectly.

Perfectly enough to kill Arche in one blow.

"...She shouldn't have interfered."

Seo Su-kyung rationalized her actions. It was Arche's fault.

"That annoying professor too."

He must be locked up in prison now, waiting indefinitely for his life to end. If he had just obeyed her, he wouldn't be in this situation.

Yes, it was all their fault.

Everything was...

"...But why do I feel so disgusted?"

Seo Su-kyung rose from the sofa and, with a vacant expression, walked to the closet. Her hands moved deftly, rotating the second hand of the clock hung on the closet.

Click-click-click-beep-

At that moment, a mechanical sound echoed, and the closet partially opened, revealing a doorway just wide enough for one person to enter.

This hidden room was a secret space that even the construction company that designed the dormitory didn’t know about. It was a space Seo Su-kyung had personally planned and constructed.

Only the secrets she absolutely didn’t want anyone to know could exist in this room.

“...Why did I even steal this?”

Among the scattered clutter in the hidden room, Shin A-sol's neatly folded gym uniform caught her eye.

Last night, Arche had made one critical mistake.

Seo Su-kyung never had any intention of cursing Shin A-sol. Even if she cursed every other student in the academy, Shin A-sol would remain an exception.

“...Why would I curse her of all people?”

When Seo Su-kyung first came to this academy at the age of 14, no one welcomed her. Everyone regarded her with caution, hostility, and indifference.

After all, having the heir to an International Group around wasn’t exactly in anyone’s best interest.

The only person who extended a hand to her back then was Shin A-sol.

“So, you’re Su-kyung? You’re younger than me. Call me ‘unnie’ from now on, okay?”

With that earnest plea, Shin A-sol treated Seo Su-kyung like a real younger sister, taking her everywhere.

At first, Seo Su-kyung assumed there had to be some hidden motive behind Shin A-sol’s kindness. Up until then, everyone around Seo Su-kyung had been eager to exploit her background.

It didn’t take long for her to realize she was wrong. Shin A-sol never ignored someone who was being left out.

No matter their background.

No matter their abilities.

She always reached out first to be their friend.

“Seriously? What is she, Anne of Green Gables?”

At first, Seo Su-kyung found it irritating. In an academy where everyone was a competitor, such behavior seemed like hypocrisy and contradiction.

Sure enough, the whispers criticizing Shin A-sol among the students grew louder. Her emphasis on fair competition made her a thorn in their side.

One day, Seo Su-kyung couldn’t hold back any longer and confronted Shin A-sol.

But Shin A-sol looked genuinely confused by her frustration.

“Why would competing mean you have to bully or ostracize someone? That’s just wrong.”

Those words shocked Seo Su-kyung. She had never once thought such behavior was strange.

From that moment on, Seo Su-kyung began observing Shin A-sol more closely. She was certain Shin A-sol would eventually realize how naïve she was and regret her actions.

But years passed, and Shin A-sol never showed an ounce of regret.

There were times when she became the common enemy of the student body.

She was betrayed by students she had once helped.

But Shin A-sol never broke. No matter how hurt she was, she always bounced back, resilient like a spring.

Unlike the others, she came from a humble background, with no extraordinary natural talent.

Yet her ranking steadily rose year after year. By simply practicing longer and training harder than anyone else, she clawed her way up from the bottom.

Gradually, even the students who once mocked her began to follow her.

“...What kind of person even is she?”

To Seo Su-kyung, Shin A-sol seemed like a hero straight out of a movie or comic book. She couldn’t believe such a person actually existed in the real world.

That amazement turned into admiration, and admiration gradually grew into possessiveness. Greedy Seo Su-kyung wanted to keep Shin A-sol by her side.

But Shin A-sol was surrounded by too many people.

Seeing her laugh and chat with others filled Seo Su-kyung with jealousy. When idiots like Okamoto hovered around Shin A-sol, she felt an overwhelming urge to chop them into sixteen pieces.

“Am I really losing my mind?”

Seo Su-kyung didn't understand her own actions either. When she saw Shin A-sol hiding her gym clothes, she unconsciously took them, and her confusion only deepened.

“...Ah.”

Seo Su-kyung hugged the gym clothes and took a deep breath.

She felt calmer as she smelled the familiar scent.

Her confused mind felt at ease.

The only person on her side in this academy, perhaps in this whole world.

Just smelling that person's scent had the power to soothe her heart.

"...But this is strange, no matter how you look at it."

Seo Su-kyung grew increasingly worried about her state. Even she found her actions embarrassing, but she couldn't stop.

If these perverted tendencies were to become known, it would truly be the end.

Not only would she never see Shin A-sol again, but she would also be excommunicated from the Seo family...

Thud-

"Aargh?!"

A sudden noise from the living room.

Seo Su-kyung, her hair standing on end, rushed out to the living room.

Creak... creak...

As she came out to the living room, the terrace door was half-open, swaying in the strong wind.

"Oh my god... that scared me."

Confirming that the source of the noise was the wind, Seo Su-kyung slammed the door shut irritably.

Well, there was no way anyone could enter the top floor of the dormitory, which was over 50 floors high...

"This house is too big to live in alone."

A voice suddenly came from behind her.

A chill ran down her spine, and she turned her head to see Professor D standing there.

All sorts of thoughts flooded Seo Su-kyung's mind.

Why was he here when he should be in prison?

How did he get in here?

No, why did he come to find me in the first place?

Does he know something?

"Why are you so flustered? Did you see a ghost?"

"...What are you doing? Are you crazy?"

Seo Su-kyung tried to appear as calm as possible. No matter what Professor D knew, he couldn't have any evidence that would put her at a disadvantage.

"A person imprisoned in jail, not only escaping but also trespassing into a female student's house. You're the worst kind of person, as the rumors say."

As always, Seo Su-kyung became more defiant in the face of a crisis. That was how she overcame them.

But Professor D just chuckled as if she were insignificant.

"Speaking of rumors, there's one that comes to mind."

"What rumor...?"

"The rumor that there's a shameless murderer in the academy who kills people and frames others, have you heard of it?"

"!!"

Seo Su-kyung's heart sank.

Nevertheless, she tried to act nonchalant.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"...I don't know what nonsense you're talking about."

"I wonder if you'll still think that after seeing this."

Professor D took something out of his jacket and showed it to her. Seo Su-kyung recognized the plastic-wrapped object at a glance.

It was Arche's phone, the one she had thrown away with her own hands.

***

After realizing that the culprit had taken the phone from Arche's hand, I immediately left the morgue and headed for the annex building.

The reason I went to the annex building was simple. If the phone contained important evidence, the culprit would have tried to get rid of it immediately.

"How would they have tried to get rid of the evidence? They wouldn't have initialized the phone or broken it. Even you know that it's not difficult to recover data."

There was a perfect place if the culprit had disposed of the phone immediately after taking it. The lake next to the annex building.

"It's a wise decision. That lake is vast and deep, so there's no chance of it being found."

The annex lake was over 50 meters deep, making GPS tracking impossible. Seo Su-kyung, who had sent me that last message pretending to be Arche, must have dreamed of the perfect crime as she threw the phone into the lake.

It almost worked. If it weren't for me... no, Do Jin-hak, whom she tried to frame.

"You might think I wear these glasses for show, but that's not the case."

The Identify Reality spell and the D-Scanner.

The combination of Do Jin-hak's signature spell and his invention made it possible to detect even the radio waves flowing 50 meters below the water.

Thanks to that, I easily found the phone at the bottom of the lake, dried it, and was able to unlock it with fingerprint authentication when I returned to the morgue where Arche was.

"The last app you used was the video app. The one with you in it."

When I checked the video and realized that Seo Su-kyung was the murderer... I was honestly surprised. Because the X-Mark spell she used on Arche was that perfectly executed.

"It was hard to believe it was the work of a beginner who had been learning for less than a month... But after thinking about it, I realized you could do it. Especially you, when cornered."

It was something impossible for other students, but it was possible for Seo Su-kyung when she was cornered. Because Seo Su-kyung was the possessor of the most troublesome trait among all the characters in Military Chronicle.

It was Crisis Evasion 5.

This trait, which allowed the possessor to display miraculous abilities when driven into a corner, was the power that had saved Seo Su-kyung countless times in previous playthroughs where she faced crises.

"Arche cornering you ironically became an opportunity for you to master the spell."

"..."

Seo Su-kyung didn't say anything while listening to me. No, it seemed like she couldn't. Looking at her tense face...

Step, step, step-

I walked past Seo Su-kyung and entered the secret room. Then I picked up the gym clothes on the desk and...

Sniff-!

"S-stop it...!"

Seo Su-kyung shouted urgently as I pretended to sniff them.

Seo Su-kyung, finally reacting...

As expected, these gym clothes were her Achilles' heel.

"Were you that afraid? Of Shin A-sol finding out the secret of the gym clothes?"

Seo Su-kyung's eyes were now shaking, and even her hands and feet started to tremble.

Honestly, it was hard to believe at first. I never dreamed that the Sword Saintwould have such a hidden secret.

'She's someone who never showed any weakness...'

When I witnessed her sniffing the gym clothes in Mist Form earlier, I immediately understood how she was able to cast the X-Mark spell so perfectly.

More than simply being expelled from the academy, more terrifying than being hated by everyone.

The situation where her true identity would be revealed to Shin A-sol.

***

He knows everything.

Professor D has seen everything.

'...No, calm down, Seo Su-kyung. How did you get this far?!'

People think that life is just happiness if you're a member of a chaebol family.

But that wasn't the case. People born with everything that others desire end up wanting things that others can't even imagine.

The Seo family bloodline was something Seo Su-kyung could never have, no matter how hard she tried. Living with a dream that couldn't be fulfilled was just painful.

Shin A-sol, who appeared during those painful days, was a ray of sunshine.

She couldn't lose that light too.

"...What do you want from me? If you want something, just say it. I'll do anything."

As if he had been waiting for those words, Professor D snapped his fingers.

"It's rare for you to say something sensible. Honestly, I'm in a very difficult situation because of what you did."

"T-then I'll help you. Anything."

Seo Su-kyung said hurriedly. Unlike with Arche, she saw a glimmer of hope in Professor D's attitude.

'Yes, it's not over yet.'

Buying time was important. As always, there would be a way to escape this crisis.

If necessary, she could even kill the professor when he let his guard down...

"To think you'd offer to help with anything, that's a bit touching."

Professor D suddenly said that while Seo Su-kyung was busy calculating inwardly.

"What is?"

"I didn't know you were such a cooperative student. It makes me feel a bit embarrassed for preparing this."

Professor D took something out of his pocket.

A spell scroll covered in tape.

It was hard to recognize its original form because it was pieced together from being torn to shreds, but Seo Su-kyung could tell what it was at a glance.

It was the oath contract she had given to Nam Kang-ik to use on Professor D.

"Someone gave me this a while ago, and it's quite a valuable spell scroll. To think its effect hasn't disappeared even though it's in tatters like this."

Seo Su-kyung was speechless. She never dreamed that this spell scroll would appear at this timing.

Professor D held out the oath contract and said, "Now, hurry up and swear the oath. You have a mountain of things to do for me."

-

[Translator - Peptobismal]

[Proofreader - Max]