1 Second Invincibility in the Game

It was a moment of deep consideration about the enemy.

An enemy is not just someone who can be defeated through brute force.

There are those like Ders, who use their wits and can strategically win over others for mutual benefit, and there are those who can be ignored if not provoked.

But what about these guys?

They are not enemies to be defeated.

I never thought of winning them over, but in some ways, they could be seen as allies supporting me.

I didn’t provoke them in any way.

There was no malice felt from them.

Yet, why are they ruining every method to save the academy, rising up and inciting action?

But they were a type of enemy I couldn’t understand, which made me fear them.

“I will now expose the wrongdoing of the student council!”

Without a chance to stop him, Emeric spread out documents and pointed at a group.

“Do you know why the Archaeology Club was disbanded?”

The addressed men and women asked in bewilderment.

“Hmm? Wasn’t it because the documents were stolen?”

“Right. They said it was meaningless if it didn’t produce results…”

Emeric sneered.

“That sounds reasonable at first, but the truth is this.”

Emeric continued, and it was quite the spectacle.

All the records collected by previous members of the Archaeology Club had been destroyed under the direction of the student council.

The names of those involved were listed in the documents, as Emeric began to point them out one by one.

“Aphil, Roland, Agdel. Was it your doing?”

The three men denied it as they sweat profusely.

“What are you talking about?”

“Us? Don’t make baseless accusations.”

“Yeah, right. It’s not like students could just unlock the club room locks. Especially not us from the Büerger Hall.”

The audience nodded in agreement.

Emeric narrowed his eyes and ventured a guess.

“You three were in touch with them the day before the Archaeology Club’s documents were stolen, weren’t you?”

The former members of the Archaeology Club eyed the three men suspiciously.

“Yes, that’s right. They said they had become interested in archaeology.”

“Right, they asked about joining the club.”

“Was that it? You bastards…”

Emeric smiled in satisfaction.

“That was probably to figure out how the locks worked. Once they knew that, all they needed was to figure out some trick to make it seem locked.”

The three men sweat more as they argued back.

“That’s just baseless speculation.”

“Yeah. Have you been listening? Do you even have evidence?”

Emeric tapped the documents.

“While it doesn’t detail everything, it mentions your names and the amount of coins paid relating to the Archaeology Club incident.”

That was enough.

The rest would be for the witnesses of their luxury to stand up.

“Right. Suddenly you started flaunting having money?”

“Yeah, and there were unusual items piling up in your room.”

“And you were splurging at the restaurant too.”

To restore Frost Heart, it was necessary to draw in the church’s capital, which meant maintaining Ders’s regime.

I wanted to shut that devil’s mouth right away, but the audience’s interest was already on him.

“We’ll interrogate them later. For now, the main instigator is the student council. So I ask, Ders, why did you disband the Archaeology Club?”

Ders shifted his gaze from Emeric to my face and scowled.

Emeric kept on talking regardless.

“If you don’t want to answer, I will. It must have been a problem related to the church, right? The only god you people worship would have been irritated by archaeology, a study that digs up ancient gods.”

If things continued, more dubious cases would pop up.

I’d have to ask if it had anything to do with the student council, complicating Ders’s position even further.

I had no choice but to whisper to Ders in an attempt to divert the topic.

“Hold on, Emeric, is there any suspicion regarding the literary contest winners?”

“Now it’s my turn to ask. About this club’s budget, it doesn’t make sense. Our department is performing well, so why are they getting less than them?”

“Hmm. Keep the order. There’s plenty of time to discuss.”

In this situation, stopping Emeric’s nonsense with my own words was impossible.

This matter was something that only Ders, the student council president who was being directly attacked, should handle.

Although I couldn’t openly take his side, I judged that I could at least cooperate from behind to prevent this situation.

Of course, I wouldn’t do something immature like smiling to show that I had no hostility.

Smiling with this face would only lead to unnecessary misunderstandings.

Therefore, I approached him with a calm face, showing genuine intent.

However, he trembled and flinched.

***

Ders glared at Hersel with suspicion.

‘He was after my position.’

At first, he thought he just wanted to eliminate Rockefeller’s treatment and use the church’s capital to restore Frost Heart.

If that was the case, they could have just talked behind the scenes.

Yet, he chose to participate in a highly visible debate, which he assumed was just for entertainment.

But it wasn’t.

‘The words he spat out in that place were to prove his leadership qualities and to draw me out.’

His statements at the debate would have sounded realistic to those with rational minds.

They were filled with constructive discussions rather than emotional decisions.

And Ders was convinced that all of this was going according to his plan.

‘That expression without even a hint of doubt… How long had he been scheming? Since the start of the second semester? Or perhaps, right from the moment he enrolled?’

Then, Hersel approached and whispered in his ear.

“What are you standing around for? Argue back.”

“What?” He asked incredulously, and Hersel replied in a calm tone.

“Don’t worry. There’s a way. No matter the crazy things those guys do, you have this, don’t you?”

“…I do?”

Ders swallowed his saliva and listened intently.

“Money. If it’s a significant amount of money, it can silence all complaints, no matter what the student council has done.”

It was a moment when veins popped on his forehead.

‘Yes, that was it. This bastard has been seeing me as a fool from the start. Just a toy suitable for playing around. To him, I was just that…?’

After having a knife at his neck and then coming to an agreement, now he openly demanded more money.

Ders gritted his teeth and let out a murderous voice.

“If you’re going to take my position, just take it. But to insult me like this… indeed, you were the scoundrel the rumors said.”

Hersel’s mouth half-opened in surprise as he blinked.

‘What is he talking about?’

Seeing Hersel’s confused face made Ders even more enraged.

Meanwhile, Emeric kept talking.

“The pastry club. Was there any friction with the student council?”

“Hmm. There wasn’t exactly friction, but there was an incident. There’s a bread that we can only make 10 of per day because it’s hard to get the ingredients. One day, a student council member asked for it, but we had sold out…”

“And then?”

Ders sighed as he looked at the former pastry club president.

“Well, I told them we were sold out, but a few days later, Kerndel came and made a scene, right?”

The revelations would likely continue into the night, and there was no proper solution.

Because, the student council members, who might have supported him, were worried about getting in trouble…

“Kerndel did that?”

It was just moronic Kerndel.

“Kerndel. Let’s hear more about the pastry club incident from you.”

When Emeric asked, Kerndel stood up with his arms crossed.

“Hmph. Foolish.”

“Your attitude is poor. Know your place, Kerndel!”

Despite Bernthal’s sharp reprimand, true to his foolish nature, Kerndel failed to read the room and started spouting off.

“I just called foolish things foolish. These foolish people. Because, it’s a tradition passed down through generations.”

Ders, growing weary, held his forehead.

“Since the Church’s Order took over the student council, all who sat in this position did the same. It’s kind of a tradition. So, isn’t it natural to receive it?”

Ironically, despite usually being seen as powerful, the students thought he was a moron, so the reprimand was relatively mild.

Everyone thought, ‘Ah, it figures.’

“After all, would that brat have stayed quiet? He must have gobbled up all the under-the-table money.”

“Right? I was just surprised because it was associated with the student council.”

In the end, Ders couldn’t help but smirk.

“It’s all over.”

Just as Hersel said, if he brought in a substantial amount of money, he might be able to mitigate the situation.

However, this was nothing more than a trick.

He’d just be exploited for money, toyed with here and there, and ultimately, he’d fall into ruin.

If the outcome would be the same, he preferred not to give them the money at all, with a mindset of letting them eat their words, and instead, just drop everything quickly to end the criticism.

That made him smirk even more.

While Emeric was answering the students’ questions, even he stopped talking as his laughter filled the debate hall.

“Hahaha.”

“What’s so funny?”

“Why waste time unnecessarily? Everything that came out there is true.”

The students gasped in surprise and their eyes widened.

“What are you staring at? Why? Did you think I was some kind of saint? Fools. That’s why you get manipulated and squeezed later.”

Ders’s lips curled up, but tears streamed down his cheeks.

Emeric looked down with pity.

“…Has he lost his mind?”

“Yes, that’s right. Honestly, how could I not go mad? I’m already ruined, so do whatever you want with me.”

Ders turned around with a face much relieved.

“I’m tired. I’m not going to waste my time on this anymore. I’m going inside.”

Then he glanced at Hersel’s face.

He was just standing there stiffly, not moving at all.

Ders snickered and shrugged.

“Don’t expect any money from the church or anything like that, Hersel ben Tenest. I’m not such a fool to be swayed that easily.”

Hersel stared blankly at Ders’s back as he walked away from the debate hall.

***

Ders had self-destructed.

The reason was unknown.

So I asked Donatan, ‘Why did he suddenly act like that?’

‘How would I know, Hersel?’

Rockefeller approached as I stood dumbfounded.

“Everyone you contact seems to go mad.”

A deep sigh escaped my lips.

Well, that’s how it is, but what matters is the restoration of the academy.

Praying that Rockefeller might have a way, I asked him.

“Do you have a way to restore the academy?”

“There was one. But, you ruined it.”

Rockefeller also stared blankly at the departing Ders.

I frowned at the soft muttering of his voice.

“If only he had been stable, we might have expected some capital from the church…”

It irked me that he thought the same as I did.

Somehow, it seemed like he had allowed himself to be manipulated by Ders for his own purposes.

I made an ostentatious display of taking care of whatever I could gather.

“Anyway, you should know that you survived thanks to me. How about teaching me some magic?”

It was just something I said.

A person who wouldn’t bother to save a life.

I had just hinted in advance for later manipulation.

“Hersel ben Tenest.”

“What?”

As expected, his response was just as I had predicted.

“I do not acknowledge you as a magician.”

Already tired from running into a dead end.

To prevent my energy from being drained by raising my voice needlessly, I moved on.

But then, Rockefeller said something meaningful.

“You’ll understand once you learn. Even within the same unique category, there’s a gap.”

“Hmm?”

I looked up, and he looked at me seriously.

“When the academy is running normally, I’ll call you. Then come to me with your staff.”

I blinked in disbelief.

Rockefeller had left without paying any attention to my reaction.

Was he really going to teach me magic willingly?

***

Several days had passed since the debate ended.

To sum up the events, the student council had collapsed.

If you were a zealot now, you’d be stoned, and Ders, who had been their core, holed up like a hermit in a hut with no thoughts of coming out.

Kerndel, who had always maintained a close relationship with them, just went about as usual, shamelessly strutting around.

The student council was effectively disbanded, but since the positions of authority were merit-based, he wasn’t stripped of his position.

Consequently, the treatment of the faculty naturally faded into obscurity.

As the target of their anger shifted, the students began to understand the faculty’s efforts with cooler heads and recognized that more professors had died in the spirit wars.

They temporarily prayed for the souls of the departed professors in front of the makeshift tombstones they had erected.

There was only a week left until Elder Arental was to arrive at the academy.

As I pondered how to secure a substantial budget with Frost Heart now a barren wasteland, an unexpected woman showed her face.

“Weren’t you supposed to have left?”

“Did I ever say that myself?”

Freed from the oppressive armor that had bound her, the Dorosian woman laid down a sack she had levitated with psychokinesis.

The ground thudded as if filled with heavy metal.

“Cough!”

I dusted off the dirt and asked Dorosian, “What exactly is that?”

“It’s platinum.”

“Platinum? That’s more valuable than gold bars… Is that sack full of it?”

“Yes.”

I narrowed my eyes and asked her, “Looks like you’ve robbed a bank.”

“There are ways to do that, but why bother when there’s more money at home?”

Her response cleared my mind as I visualized how she had acquired the money.

“Blackmail…?”

The circumstances that led Dorosian to Frost Heart began to unfold.

Her father, Duke Dorosian, had drugged her and bound her in oppressive armor before exiling her to Frost Heart.

It seemed unlikely that she, harboring such ill feelings, would have meekly begged for money.

As expected, my prediction was correct.

“I did give him the option to watch his mansion burn down or just hand over the money willingly.”

Given the family’s fame as a magical lineage, their house was filled with irreplaceable ancient tomes and artifacts akin to magical tools.

If I had been forced to make such a choice and there was no other way, I probably would have paid as well.

“So you didn’t come here just to show off your money, what’s going on?”

Her unexpected course of action surprised me.

“To prevent destruction, shouldn’t we start by resolving the situation with Frost Heart?”

“Huh?”

“You have your reasons for being here, don’t you?”

I felt a chill run through me.

I knew she wouldn’t just wallow in despair or waste time as she always had.

I had made efforts to accelerate the process that would typically come later.

Yet, I blinked in astonishment.

I hadn’t expected her to cooperate to this extent.

“You’re being quite proactive.”

“Do you dislike such a woman?”

“No… I quite like it.”

I inadvertently responded and fell into deep thought.

Both Rockefeller and this woman had changed.

Honestly, it was frightening to see such a shift in people not known for it…

“But was this incident supposed to happen originally?”

“Hmm?”

“You would know, wouldn’t you? If you’ve seen various futures.”

I was momentarily speechless.

Indeed, I had once said to Dorosian:

-Run once, and it’s easier the second time. Do it twice, and a third time follows. That’s how this world will end.

It was a remark that could be misconstrued as coming from someone who has experienced multiple lifetimes, although in reality, I knew many paths from playing games.

Telling her that would likely make her even more skeptical.

Thus, I nodded along with her biased assumption.

“To be honest, this has never happened before.”

I didn’t feel the need to lie.

Rather than creating a sense of security to make people complacent, it’s better to reveal a lack and induce active help.

Yet, a variable that was utterly unpleasant for me began to shift a bit in perception due to Dorosian’s new perspective.

“Should I view this as a positive phenomenon?”

“Why?”

“If the same things keep repeating, wouldn’t the same outcomes occur?”

Suddenly, I found myself staring silently at her face.

It reminded me of a future version of Dorosian I had once envisioned.

***

The phantom demon Irte turned into a wisp of smoke, grabbed by Dorosian.

“Cough! You wretch! Dare you disturb the peace of the Myne?”

The Myne wander the world even in death, merely drifting asleep.

“It was hard finding you, you fool, Irte.”

Irte looked at Dorosian’s hand, which was pointing with a diamond-shaped necklace indicating what her master desired.

“You wretched woman! Did you even recover that to torment me?”

A slap flew across Irte’s cheek.

Smack!

The sound echoed, and Dorosian, removing her glove, spoke,

“Do I look like I have that much free time?”

“But why discard the glove?”

“I touched this thing that has been inside a monkey for thousands of years. It’s disgusting, isn’t it?”

Irte calmed down her anger.

Having suffered much, complaining was pointless since her body was just a soul.

“And why did you wake me up?”

“Out of spite, perhaps? To show you something special? Or, um…”

Despite the vague answer, Irte accepted it.

She had always been a difficult woman to understand, and albeit reluctantly, she acknowledged that her plan had failed.

“Cough. I admit failure, Dorosian. As you said, the paradise of dreams has failed.”

Irte swallowed her pride, her voice losing its earlier force.

Though adversaries, her goals had aligned with Dorosian’s.

“So what about you? Has the future turned out as you hoped?”

Dorosian, smiling slyly like a fox, shook her head.

“Didn’t I say? I’m not a prophet. It only seemed so to you because I came from the future. There are clear limits.”

Irte was taken aback.

She could travel back in time but not forward.

From her perspective, even the current era was the past.

Furthermore, the current timeline was filled with variables.

Even if there were a way to travel to the future, it would be to a different timeline, rendering it meaningless.

“Time theory is always so complicated.”

Irte scratched her head in frustration and rephrased her question.

“So, is the flow alright?”

Dorosian tilted her head and responded, “Who knows? The academy has been destroyed, and things have deviated from the scenario in many ways.”

“What?”

“I just acted impulsively. Hoping for the best.”

Irte, enraged, exploded, “You dared to do such a thing to the king while being so reckless!”

But her next words made him speechless.

“I trust him.”

… Dorosian confessed with a deep look in her eyes, “I was worried this might be more than I could handle. But he managed it.”

Irte shrugged and smirked.

“Of course. He’s a great king. A mere trifle for him.”

But Dorosian’s next words made him doubt his ears.

“Just for a second though.”

“Huh? A second?”

“His power. He can only use it for a second.”

Irte looked at Dorosian incredulously.

Then his mouth slowly fell open in astonishment.

To read Chapters ahead 👇

CH 196-200 (The King) $3

CH 201-205 (Field Trip) $3

CH 206-210 (Troublemaker Vs Troublemaker) $3

CH 211-215 (Graduation) $3

CH 216-220 (Integrated Academy Tournament) $3

CH 221-225 (The Underdog) $3

CH 226-230 (Who am I?) $3

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