Conquering the Academy with Just a Sashimi Knife (Novel) - Chapter 89 - Playing Catch the Thief (2)

Chapter 89 – Playing Catch the Thief (2)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The day before the final exam.

After school, Ryozo gathered the club members, including me, in the Rang class. Once everyone had assembled, she dumped a stack of papers out of her backpack.

“…You already finished all this?”

I looked back and forth between Ryozo and the documents with bewildered eyes.

“Yeah, but I only had time to print it out, so I haven’t reviewed it yet either. We have to check it now.”

She shrugged. Letting out a low hum, I lowered my gaze back to the stack of papers.

‘She didn’t just bring the list.’

Detailed personal information on the staff, comparison copies of the rosters, even neatly organized notes on the movements of suspicious individuals. It was hard to believe this was work she had put together in less than two full days.

‘I knew she could pull through when she had to.’

Standing in front of the promised reward, Ryozo looked like a completely different person. What kind of favor was she planning to ask for that she was working this hard? A chill brushed past me for a moment, but she had said it wasn’t anything material.

“…But President, is this really okay?”

Weapon, who had been looking through the stack of papers, hesitated and continued.

“I mean, even if the goal is to root out villains, this is basically straight-up crime… And Ryozo, aren’t you taking this a bit too far? What, you even wrote down how many times people go to the bathroom in a day? What about these people’s human rights?”

“It was already a crime from the moment I hacked it in the first place, so why are you acting like that now?”

“Hey! There’s such a thing as degrees! This is way too vicious!”

“Yeees, yeees, look who showed up, Saint Weapon-”

Weapon’s expression twisted mercilessly at Ryozo’s sneering tone. I set a hand on his shoulder and shook my head.

“The more information there is, even trivial information, the better.”

“Nngh, well, if you’re saying that, President…”

I understood Weapon’s reaction too. Morally speaking, this was clearly wrong. But there wasn’t much time left for us to be picky about the means.

‘Still, it’s because we had a club member like Weapon that we could at least keep some kind of minimum line.’

Honestly, among the club members, everyone besides Weapon and me had a rather faint sense of where the moral boundary lay.

Chloe being a former assassin was one thing, but Ryozo too had a cold streak where she matched her means to her .

As for Hana senpai, she spent her time quietly reading alone or enjoying tea, so I couldn’t tell what was in her heart.

Even when she saw something immoral, she neither stopped it nor encouraged it. She merely pushed up her glasses and watched with a strange smile.

Objectively speaking, the girls in the club, excluding Weapon and me, all had personalities that lay outside common sense. Patting Weapon on the back, I spoke as if trying to calm him.

“Once this is over, we’ll shred all of it. So don’t worry too much. Right, Ryozo?”

I asked for Ryozo’s opinion with a jerk of my chin. She readily nodded too. Only then did Weapon let out a sigh of reluctant acceptance. I smiled in satisfaction.

“Anyway, as Ryozo already told you, our travel club needs to move during finals in order to root out villains. Anyone have questions?”

“I do.”

Hana senpai suddenly raised her hand high. The lenses of her glasses flashed once, and then she asked in a quiet voice.

“Could I know where this information came from?”

“……”

The moment the question ended, doubtful gazes all gathered on me.

‘So she went straight for the thing I was trying to gloss over.’

But that didn’t mean I could reveal Choi Seol-ah’s existence. She had lost her magic, but if I revealed that I was in contact with a villain like her, there would be more things to explain.

That would be a pain, and more than anything, Chloe, who had been quiet lately, looked like she might flip straight into yandere mode.

Her insides were rotten, but if Chloe found out I was using a beauty like Choi Seol-ah as my errand girl… I might become a departed soul under a pink box cutter. I stole a glance at Chloe before speaking again.

“I can’t tell you right now, senpai. But I can tell you at least this one thing, that it’s a source I can trust.”

“Heeh.”

There was admittedly something off about calling her `trustworthy,` but after having the mark of the broodmare taken from her, there was no way she would feed me lies. Choi Seol-ah herself understood perfectly well what would happen if she harbored other intentions.

“If the opportunity comes later, I’ll tell you who the source is. But not now.”

“Well, all right then.”

I looked at Hana senpai as she gave a loose nod. With her lenses hiding her eyes, she was the sort of opponent whose intentions were hard to gauge. At a glance she looked like a quiet model student, but every now and then she acted a bit mischievously.

‘Out of all the club members, she’s the one I know the least.’

Ryozo, though she didn’t show it, kept a wary eye on Hana senpai too.

When I stared at her, Hana senpai only smiled with her lips. Holding a calm smile around her mouth, she propped up her chin. Suddenly, a sense of familiarity washed over me.

‘Damn it, she looks like someone, but I can’t remember who.’

I forcibly calmed my train of thought. The mood suggested that everyone was waiting for me to speak. Their gazes were filled with trust. I took in those looked once before finally opening my mouth.

“Then let’s begin the travel club’s first meeting.”

* * *

“Whew…”

I let out a long sigh. Then I wiped away the beads of sweat gathered on my forehead.

It was my first time running a meeting like this, so I had been a little nervous. Still, my intention seemed to have been conveyed properly, because the club members were discussing the agenda among themselves.

“Hey, hey, Ryozo. What about this person? They weren’t on last month’s staff list, and their route of movement looks a little suspicious too.”

“Just mark anyone with suspicious circumstances for now.”

“Okey.”

Even Weapon, who had seemed hesitant at first, was actively offering his opinions now. His pencil moved busily as he did. Unlike a few days ago, when he had been preparing for the written exam, his eyes were burning with enthusiasm.

‘There’s nothing more fun than messing around instead of studying during exam season.’

From a short distance away, I watched the club members discussing things. They could handle the kind of labor that involved using their heads. My role had ended at explaining the agenda. That was probably the privilege of being club president.

At that moment, Chloe came up hesitantly. Then she gently held out a bottle of water.

“G-Geom-ma, good work. Here.”

“Oh, thanks. My throat was dry too.”

“N-no, it’s nothing.”

As I drank the water, I glanced sideways at Chloe. There was gloom hanging over her face, and she looked as though her energy had wilted. I alternated my gaze between Chloe and the other club members.

‘Mm, so that’s what it was.’

I casually tossed out a remark to Chloe.

“You don’t need to worry about it so much, Chloe.”

“Yes?”

After swallowing the last drop of water, I continued.

“Ryozo and Weapon have always liked this kind of thing, haven’t they? They’re the kind of people who enjoy wracking their brains over stuff like this in the first place.”

“Even so…”

“Chloe, you can do the things they can’t. Back in the Buffalo Dungeon and during this festival too, if you hadn’t been there, the club wouldn’t have functioned.”

She too was a valuable asset to us. Even in the Buffalo Dungeon, if Chloe the assassin hadn’t been there, things might have ended with an unpleasant aftertaste.

‘It was because Chloe dealt with the gatehouse staffer that we were able to wrap things up cleanly.’

Her excellent ability to detect presences and the sharpness of her hands would surely be useful again in the future too.

“R-really?”

“Of course.”

Chloe’s complexion brightened in an instant. Soon she turned sparkling eyes toward me.

“If Geom-ma says that… then! I’ll work even harder from now on!”

Chloe made her resolve with both clenched fists drawn to her chest. I nodded to her. Then, all of a sudden, she muttered something softly with a flushed face.

“…For this exam too… I wish I were in the same team as Geom-ma…”

Just then.

Rollin.

The moment the message alert sounded, I pulled out my phone. It seemed I wasn’t the only one who’d received a text, because the club members all checked theirs at once.

===

[The group members for Cadet ‘Kang Geom-ma’s’ first semester final exam for the year 2034 are as follows.]

◉ Please note that third-year cadets were excluded from this exam, which would be held jointly across all grades, due to entrance exams.

–⌜Team Members⌟–

San Hana – Second-year, Beom class.

Kang Geom-ma – First-year, Rang class.

————-

–⌜Team Leader⌟–

……

……

===

The moment I lowered my eyes slightly, my eyebrows began to twitch.

“Ah, fuck.”

With a vacant expression, I spat out the curse.

===

–⌜Team Leader⌟–

Rachel de Muir – First-year, Seong class.

————-

[※ Once assigned, teams cannot be changed.]

===

I had ended up on the same team as the person I most wanted to avoid.

* * *

Before the club meeting had even fully ended, Kang Geom-ma left early, saying he was tired. Chloe stared at the spot where Kang Geom-ma had been for a long while before speaking.

“Geom-ma looked really pale… I guess he’s very worried about this exam.”

Weapon, who was beside her, nodded.

“Makes sense. Rachel’s the team leader. President’s probably going to have a hard time again this time.”

“…That bitch, I mean, that blonde fox lady…”

The poison rose sharply in Chloe’s eyes.

Grinding her teeth viciously, she pictured Rachel’s face. That shameless woman who had drooled while looking at Geom-ma. And the owner of that wild-horse-like voluptuous body.

Suddenly, Chloe lightly brushed her own chest. She frowned, then soon shook her head.

‘Geom-ma said he liked small chests.’

Silence fell for a moment. A complicated atmosphere swept through the classroom.

Weapon gave an awkward smile and broke the silence.

“Well, they were in the same team during the midterms too, so it’ll probably be fine. Hana senpai’s in the same team too. What kind of trouble could happen? And honestly, there isn’t much more pointless than worrying about President.”

“…That’s true.”

Chloe sent her gaze toward San Hana. It was a look filled with many emotions.

San Hana smiled softly.

“Don’t worry, Chloe. I’ll keep a good eye on him so he doesn’t get distracted.”

Only then did Chloe let out a small sigh of relief. Meanwhile, on one side, Ryozo was still flipping through the documents diligently. She furrowed her brow slightly, then suddenly spoke in a low voice.

“Since the president is gone too, let’s end the meeting here for today. The exam starts tomorrow. I need to go back to the dorm and prepare too, so let’s call it a day.”

“What, Ryozo, you actually do exam prep too?”

Weapon’s eyes widened into circles. Ryozo didn’t even bother to answer, wearing only a face that said she found the question absurd.

At that reaction, Weapon scratched the back of his neck awkwardly and began gathering his things. Starting with him, Chloe and San Hana each cleaned up their own places as well.

“Do well on the written tomorrow, everyone!”

“G-good luck!”

Weapon waved his hand as he headed out. Chloe then gave the remaining club members a crisp ninety-degree bow and moved off as well. That left only Ryozo and San Hana in the Rang class.

“……”

Ryozo stared straight at San Hana’s glasses. Arms folded, she shot a hard gaze at her. The lenses of San Hana’s glasses gleamed in the sunset as she returned the look. An uncomfortable silence flowed between the two women.

“I should get going too.”

San Hana, who had been receiving that chilly stare, tried to leave her seat.

“Hana senpai.”

“Hm?”

But Ryozo’s voice stopped her in place. San Hana answered with an unconcerned smile.

“Do you still need something?”

“……”

Ryozo clicked her tongue softly, then lifted her eyes.

“…What exactly are you?”

San Hana tilted her head. A question mark practically seemed to appear above her head. Tapping the papers on the desk with her index finger, Ryozo asked.

“Why is your name on the staff list, senpai?”