I got into school for nothing - 63
I got into school for nothing (63)
Lesson 14. Rebel Force - 1
When the one believed to be the strongest in their party, the one they never had to worry about, burst out spitting blood and with a pale face, anyone would have been utterly terrified.
And yet, while he himself was facing a mere minion like Irekto (though, of course, without Rucell and Eve, he wouldn't have been able to defeat even Irekto or Farrell), he heard that Dokgo Yeon had faced not only Ortima but even a Constellation, all by herself. Ban Yuwon couldn't stand how pathetic he felt in comparison.
No, he'd even gotten preparatory lessons from the Chancellor on how to contend with Ortima, and this is what it came to!
“The Chancellor did that much for you? You're unbelievably favored, it's absurd.”
“Hmph, if that's the case, he should have properly stopped that bastard Ortima in the first place. ...What does he even take people for?”
At Dokgo Yeon's flabbergasted remark, Ban Yuwon retorted gruffly, then checked her complexion once more.
After eating the Candy of Life he had given her (a life elixir condensed into candy), her complexion had dramatically improved, but that didn't mean her internal injuries were fully healed, nor did her external wounds look light.
Of course, Dokgo Yeon had scoffed, claiming she was already fully recovered.
“I'm sorry, Dokgo Yeon. Honestly, I thought you'd be fine no matter where you were, so I didn't worry much...”
“Being worried about by you is already humiliating, so quickly put away that strange face. You look best when you're being sly.”
He was certain that was an insult.
Ban Yuwon, with a displeased expression, was about to retreat when he turned his gaze to the woman still attending to Dokgo Yeon right beside her, Anneri Dedota.
He heard that she had appeared to save Dokgo Yeon, who was being attacked by Ortima and the Constellation 'Wandering Lamp of the Night'.
...It could also be said that she had saved Ortima, who was on the verge of death at Dokgo Yeon's hands, thus de-escalating the situation.
“So, what were you, in the end? Be honest. You're definitely not an enemy... but you're not from Gellas, either.”
“As expected, you noticed. You're very sharp.”
Did she seriously think he wouldn't notice?
As Ban Yuwon stared intently at her, Anneri, a little embarrassed, opened her mouth and spoke.
“Aren't you curious how I, someone not even from Gellas, could be assigned as your guard, Ban Yuwon-nim?”
“I thought Ortima had pulled some strings.”
Of course, that hypothesis had proven to be wrong.
So, what was the real answer? It was something that truly made Ban Yuwon's head spin.
“I'm not with Ortima... I'm actually a mercenary hired by Professor Yumina.”
“What?”
Anneri made an awkward expression and pulled something out from her pocket.
It was the very same flower ornament Yumina had put in the Rebellion members' hair on the first day of the special activity.
That was the moment it was proven why Yumina had maintained such a relaxed attitude, even while watching the extremely suspicious-looking guides.
“I was tasked with guarding you from the shadows and also with preventing the situation from escalating. Though, thanks to this damn dungeon, I couldn't do much properly.”
“...No.”
No, then she should have just shown them from the start!
As Ban Yuwon glared at her, Anneri spoke in a defensive tone.
“I had to deceive the enemy, so I couldn't tell you openly or cooperate directly. Instead, I tried to approach from a different angle and give you hints...”
Approaching from a different angle, huh...
A few things came to mind.
And how, without fail, Rucell and Dokgo Yeon had interfered every single time.
...What must this woman have thought of Ban Yuwon each time?
“It seems my attempts tended to provoke the wrath of the other party members.”
“Haa... Did you really have to choose such a method?”
Ban Yuwon sighed, pressing a hand to his forehead.
Rucell made an expression as if she wanted to crawl into a hole, covering her flushed face with both hands, and even Dokgo Yeon cleared her throat with a quiet 'ahem'.
And Light was looking at all three of them with a strange gaze.
Anneri chuckled and spoke honestly.
“Of course, the method was my choice, but I just wanted to do it that way.”
“This woman is something else.”
“Well, I'm a fan, so I couldn't help it...!”
“A fan?”
A fan of what?
“Why, a fan of Rebellion, of course.”
“Rebellion?”
The moment she mentioned Rebellion, her demeanor immediately brightened.
“The Rebellion channel is very popular in other dimensions too! It's the hottest thing right now. Even in the mercenary industry I'm in, its popularity is just off the charts...”
Incidentally, a long explanation followed about that mercenary industry, detailing how dimension mercenaries travel between various dimensions on dimensional warships, performing dispatch missions, and so on and so forth.
“Other dimensions...?”
At the words he had never imagined, Ban Yuwon felt his mind grow distant.
What did that mean?
Rebellion was known even in other dimensions?
“Why are you so surprised? Uni-tube, which is based on the Union Net, is a video site that services all dimensions, isn't it?”
Here, Uni-tube was the name of the affiliated site of the external channel where Ban Yuwon's videos were broadcast.
Ban Yuwon listened to her continued explanation, learning the shocking fact that the Rebellion channel's videos were spreading even across communication networks in other dimensions, and grasping the true nature of the interdimensional integrated communication network—the Union Net—that made it possible.
“So... our channel's videos were actually spreading across all dimensions...?”
“To be precise, it's all dimensions that can access the Union Net. You can access it even here in Gellas, though access is limited to certain people.”
He checked, and it was true.
Not only could he access Uni-tube, the site where videos were uploaded, even here, but he could even upload videos after a simple procedure!
“Residents of Union, the highest-ranked dimension, all have full membership to the Union Net, so accessing it anywhere is easy. And isn't that one of the rights granted to Union Academy students?”
“...I naturally assumed network access would be restricted in lower dimensions.”
But upon careful thought, no one had ever told him that he wouldn't be able to access the network if he went to Gellas.
In fact, from the point where they could communicate using mirrors, it should have been obvious that they could access the network in some way, but like an idiot, he hadn't realized it!
At this point, it was probably so obvious that no one bothered to tell him... Ban Yuwon felt shame for the first time in a long while.
“No wonder there were top-ranking channels with billions of subscribers. It wasn't that Union had a large population, but that it was interdimensional in scale, was it...?”
“It's also thanks to that I was able to contact Anneri Dedota and give her the request. She's a member of Rebellion's fan club, you see.”
Just then, Yumina opened the door and entered, speaking.
“Professor Yumina!”
“I'm glad everyone is safe. Anneri, you worked hard too.”
“Haha... I don't think I was much help, though.”
Yumina, who entered with a very tired expression, casually scanned the room (though her gaze lingered on someone in particular) then perched herself on a nearby chair.
He heard that she had confronted the Exodus fleet almost single-handedly until they retreated.
Whatever they had gone through in the dungeon, could they possibly be more exhausted than her?
He wanted to let her rest, but Ban Yuwon simply couldn't hold back from asking.
“Professor, our channel had a fan club?”
“I made it.”
He never would have thought she made it herself!
On the platinum card Yumina pulled from her pocket, "Rebel Force - No.0" was written.
Rebel Force would be the fan club's name, and No.0 meant she was the president...
A thought suddenly struck him, so he turned his head and saw Anneri, with a shy expression, pulling out a golden card from her pocket, on which "No.7" was written.
Even an early member!
That's how she could communicate with Yumina, after all...!
“I accepted Professor Yumina's request because I really wanted to see the Rebellion members in person. Oh, before I met you all in person, I liked Light-nim the most, you know? But after actually meeting him, Light-nim isn't that impressive, and instead, Ban Yuwon-nim is quite a...”
“No, there's no need to say that much.”
“You vulgar female...!”
Rucell, who didn't care one bit whether she was a Rebellion fan club member or not, bared her teeth, openly wary of her.
Yumina saw that, chuckled softly, and then spoke.
“The matter is more or less concluded. Even if they had prepared an escape route beforehand, bringing in Exodus was a truly foolish act. Since the Principal is currently speaking with representatives from the other Ten Great Families, no matter how great the Ortima family's influence, they cannot help but be intimidated. At least within Union.”
However, she said, making a displeased expression.
“I don't think we can press the issue any further. If possible, I would have wanted to expel them... but this incident won't surface. For better or worse.”
“I never expected it to, from the start.”
It wasn't a matter of evidence or justification.
It was the Rebellion members who suffered the incident, but it was the Chancellor and the other Ten Great Families who would use this incident as leverage to pressure Ortima.
They would gain something else in return for not expelling Ortima.
The saying 'the bear performs the tricks, the human earns the money' certainly wasn't wrong.
At a conclusion he understood but couldn't quite accept, Ban Yuwon was making a sullen face.
“Expel him? I can't express how fortunate it is that they won't.”
Dokgo Yeon said, chuckling softly.
“Only by killing that worm myself will I be satisfied. So, shouldn't he be kept where I can see him?”
“...Student Dokgo Yeon?”
Yumina sent a reproachful glance, but Dokgo Yeon dismissed it with a snort.
If there was a next time, that would truly be the moment she took Lusein Ortima's head.
“Anyway, we can assume that from now on, he won't interfere with us, right? Whether he lost an arm or an eye.”
“It's already been concluded that he was injured fighting monsters in the dungeon. It's truly unfortunate, but since he faced monsters contracted with Exodus's Constellations, his injuries were unavoidable.”
Yumina said, shrugging.
So that was the conclusion.
A hollow laugh escaped him.
Public opinion manipulation in Korea was nothing compared to this.
“Then, of course, Irekto and Farrell will also be treated as if they never existed, right?”
“Yes. However, the Chancellor is interested in the fact that Farrell was originally part of Exodus, so I don't know what will happen regarding that. There might even be more individuals within the Academy connected to Exodus...”
Only after hearing that did Ban Yuwon realize he had made a huge mistake.
“I should have captured him alive and extracted information... I'm sorry.”
“Even if you had captured him alive, the Ortima family would have retrieved or killed him somehow, so it was probably better this way. And any information you could get from such a low-ranking individual would have been negligible anyway.”
“Hearing that only makes it scarier.”
“It's fine. From now on, you all just need to focus on your own growth and not worry about this matter.”
Perhaps that was what she, as their supervising professor, truly wanted to tell them.
With that, the discussion seemed to be over. Yumina let out a deep sigh, "Huuuh," and leaned back in her chair.
Then, suddenly, she half-opened her gem-like eyes and sent a signal to Ban Yuwon.
“I'm exhausted and tired from all these matters. I feel like having something sweet and warm.”
“Ahem, that's a good idea. Warm sweetness melts frozen bodies and souls, after all.”
“Dokgo Yeon, you really change when sweets are mentioned.”
As Dokgo Yeon chimed in with Yumina's words, Rucell, as if she had been waiting, grabbed his sleeve, and Light subtly shot him a glance.
Ban Yuwon chuckled, pulling a thermos from his pocket, and by then, even Anneri was looking at him with a sparkling expression.
“Is that, by any chance, Ban Yuwon-nim's special hot chocolate?”
“How do you even know that?!”
Even now that he knew her true identity, he didn't particularly want to befriend her, but since she had secretly protected them under Yumina's request, he couldn't just treat her harshly.
Ban Yuwon, unable to refuse, poured hot chocolate for Anneri as well, then turned his gaze to the last person remaining in the room.
“So? Do you want some too?”
“...Mm.”
Aire, the girl who had followed them from their escape from the dungeon to this very place and remained silent throughout, subtly nodded her head.
Ban Yuwon, having poured a total of seven cups of hot chocolate, distributed them to everyone.
“Huuuh... Wait.”
Light, who had taken a sip of hot chocolate and let out a pleasant sigh, suddenly sobered up and shouted.
“But why is *she* here?!”
“You brought her, you lunatic!”
“Why did you spill all those things you shouldn't have, in front of an outsider?!”
Well, his words were certainly valid, but since Yumina didn't seem to mind, Ban Yuwon simply couldn't stop them!
Then Aire cleared her throat, "Ahem," and opened her mouth.
“Can I speak now?”
“Go right ahead.”
“Then first... Ban Yuwon, I'm sorry.”
As if Ban Yuwon's special hot chocolate pleased her, Aire held the cup tightly with both hands and bowed her head to Ban Yuwon.
Light and Yumina, seeing that, made surprised expressions.
“I hope you'll forgive my arrogance. I'll pay whatever price you ask.”
Arrogance, she said; Ban Yuwon simply laughed.
In fact, when his magic was interfered with, rather than feeling bad, it had felt more like a showdown, and he had even received an apology directly from her...
“You helped Light in the dungeon, didn't you? That's enough.”
“...Thank you. And...”
This time, Aire turned her head towards Yumina and, just as before, bowed respectfully... and made a request.
“Professor, as I've mentioned before, I still wish to transfer to Class 11.”
“Transfer...?”
“Meaning change classes? From the Special Class to the Special Admissions for Lower-Rank Dimensions class...?”
Rucell and Light tilted their heads, muttering.
Indeed, was it because such discussions had been taking place that Yumina hadn't seemed to mind Aire's presence?
Ban Yuwon also understood and nodded, but Yumina, having emptied her cup, said with a smile.
“Of course not.”
Well, he supposed that made sense.
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