The Tough Guy Hides the Villainess

008 – Fools Are Happy Just Seeing Each Other’s Faces #2

008 – Fools Are Happy Just Seeing Each Other’s Faces #2

“The main building has conducted operations in various regions. There were many crises. What do you think was my most reliable support during those times?”

It was said that Kang Cheol-min, the homeroom teacher of Class D, was a veteran who had rolled through battlefields around the world as a member of some special forces.

He often appeared on entertainment programs, so everyone knew him as ‘Captain Kang Cheol-min.’

He shouted, a person who seemed more suited to the title of instructor or ‘Captain’ rather than teacher.

“It’s comrades. Comrades you can trust to watch your back! Comrades who can carry you and run when you’re in danger are more important than any equipment or tactics.”

The intention behind the Captain’s story was clear.

It was to form good groups for the upcoming practice training.

“I’ll give you five minutes to form your groups. Begin!”

Groups of five with close friends, six groups in total.

The problem was that I had just transferred and didn’t have any close friends.

“Class president! Join our group! Okay?”

“Jin, if you join, we’ll have exactly five!”

The atmosphere was like a bustling market.

I looked around, hoping there might be kids who would call me, and a few did make eye contact with me.

“Is there one person left? How about the transfer student? It might be fun.”

“Fun? Do you want to suffer all day? We need skill, not fun!”

“True, we don’t even know what concepts the transfer student has.”

Even the kids who seemed interested in me during the debate ended up forming groups with other kids.

This naturally led to the formation of leftovers.

The kids who are left behind when forming teams, like leftover food losing its shine!

“Tae-seong, you were left behind too! As expected, my friend!”

I waved to Geum Tae-seong, who was standing awkwardly in the corner while the kids were forming groups. I thought he would be popular because he seemed sociable like me, but surprisingly, he seemed to be an outsider.

“Ha, I figured it would turn out like this. So, the leftovers will form a group again.”

Geum Tae-seong shrugged his shoulders and approached me.

He slowly gazed at the leftovers that had bounced out from the group formation.

“Namjin must have been bounced out because he’s a transfer student. ‘Artist’, ‘Miss Fortune’, ‘Silence’… Well, these are faces I always see during group practice, so it’s not surprising.”

“Artist?”

“In practice training, we call each other by call signs instead of names. It’s like a nickname. The guy with messy hair over here is ‘Artist’. The quiet girl here is ‘Silence’. And…”

“Eek!”

Baek Yeoul was started when Geum Taesung’s finger pointed at her.

“Your partner Baek Yeoul here is ‘Miss Fortune’. When you awaken your concept and enter the special class, the instructors or senior students give you a call sign based on your characteristics. For reference, I’m ‘Reversal’.”

Reversal.

From noble mtl dot com

It was a fitting call sign for Geum Taesung, who, despite being a delinquent, diligently listened to classes from the front row.

The other call signs must also be fitting names, right?

“Namjin, if you perform well in this practice, you might get a call sign too.”

“Oh, me too?”

Reversal, Artist, Miss Fortune, Silence-.

They sound cool, like game characters, don’t they?

Since I’ve joined Class D of the special class, I might get a nickname like that soon.

If my call sign becomes famous?

If I get a call sign like ‘Brad Pitt’ thanks to my handsome looks?

The chances of approaching Seo Gaeul and saying, “Ahem, I’m the famous ‘Brad Pitt’ these days,” would increase.

I started to feel motivated.

“So, what exactly is this practice?”

# # #

The reason why the Hero Academy was established in City D instead of Seoul, the capital of South Korea, was because of a mysterious facility that appeared deep underground in City D.

“Seven years ago, two construction workers inspecting the sewers of the university site were the first to discover and report what lies beneath our feet, the ‘Great Labyrinth’. It’s a place where countless concepts are intertwined.”

According to Captain Kang Cheolmin, the mysterious facility called the ‘Great Labyrinth’ appeared beneath our feet at some point.

Exploring that place, discovering new things, and conducting research would be the main tasks for Hero Academy students in the future.

“The Great Labyrinth itself is an ultra-lawful structure imbued with countless concepts. And it is filled with mysteries that will contribute to the advancement of humanity. These are objects imbued with ‘concepts’.”

Objects imbued with concepts?

Suddenly, I became curious.

“Captain, I have a question.”

“Call me teacher, not captain. Anyway, transfer student Han Namjin. What question do you have?”

“Can concepts also reside in objects? Weren’t concepts a superpower given to people?”

“You might not know this well since you’re a transfer student, but concepts can reside in all things. The inspection machine you saw today was also an object imbued with the concept of inspection.”

Swoosh-.

Captain pulled out a pen from his pocket.

“This is a ballpoint pen. But it’s an object imbued with the concept of ‘cutting.’ What do you think will happen if I bring this pen to this glass cup Amazingly, the cup will be cut in half.”

Snip-.

I couldn’t help but marvel at Captain Kang Cheol-min cutting the glass cup in half with a ballpoint pen. Are there so many amazing objects in the labyrinth?

It was only natural that my heart, which had lived as a scavenger in the junkyard, was ringing with excitement.

“Captain! Where can I buy that pen?”

“This is a special tool of the main building. It’s a Grade 3 managed item, dangerous yet convenient. If you want to obtain such an item, you should explore the labyrinth yourself.”

“oooh!”

“But the labyrinth doesn’t only have such beneficial tools. Many dangers are lurking. That’s why you are eating expensive meals and enjoying good benefits at this academy, learning the best of everything. Now, let’s head to the practice field!”

Following the D-class kids out of the classroom and heading underground on this vast school campus, I remembered that this practice was a joint class with F-class.

A perfect opportunity to meet Seo Ga-eul.

I had to stay sharp, as I didn’t know when such an opportunity would come again if I missed it now.

After walking down a white corridor that looked like a research facility for a while, we arrived at a white room where a woman was sitting calmly.

Was she in her mid-twenties?

She was dressed like a researcher but had her eyes covered with a blindfold for some reason.

“Captain, you arrived right on time as expected. F-class has already moved to the practice field. I’ll let the D-class students enter one by one. Starting with the prepared group over here-.”

Swoosh-.

As the five prepared students stood around the woman, they disappeared with a swoosh, as if they had boarded a warp device from a movie.

What was happening on earth?

While I was surprised, the captain approached me and kindly explained, handing me something.

“This is Moon Hyun-ah, a first-generation graduate of this academy and an active explorer in the field. The concept imbued in her is ‘door.’ She can send people anywhere as long as it’s a place in her memory. Just like a real door.”

“Instructor, I can’t send people just anywhere. It’s not that convenient. The backlash is severe. That’s why I can’t leave this city.”

Hoohoohoo-.

As the blindfolded woman laughed elegantly, I looked at the items the instructor had given me.

“Han Nam-jin, these are your smartphone and smartwatch. They will measure your condition in real-time and provide good guidance. Never lose them. They’re expensive.”

Before I knew it, it was our group’s turn to move to the practice field.

Standing in front of the woman wearing an eye mask, she smiled as if she had caught a whiff of my scent.

“You said you were a transfer student. What’s your group’s name? The group name.”

“Our group? ‘No Leftovers Day.’”

“No leftovers? That’s an interesting name. So, if you could travel, where would you want to go?”

“Huh? “What do you mean─whoooa!”

A feeling of my insides being mixed from top to bottom tore through my body.

When I couldn’t react to the sudden event, someone patted my back, and I came to my senses to find myself sprawled on what seemed like a cliff.

# # #

Whooosh-.

It was literally a cliff.

The wind blew so strongly that it was cold.

“What the, where is this?”

As I was dazed by the unfamiliar experience, Geum Taeseong, who had been patting my back, helped me up and said,

“We’re inside the labyrinth. Judging by the location, it’s the worst. On top of a cliff. How many meters is this? If we’re not careful, we might spend three hours here.”

Tick-tock-. Tick-tock-.

The smartwatch we were given made a sound as it operated.

「02:59:57」

「02:59:56」

…

..

.

“Countdown?”

“The exercise is to wander around this labyrinth within this time. If you find and acquire an item imbued with a concept or defeat a monster, you can earn a lot of points. You don’t have to do that and can stay put, but you won’t earn any points.”

It’s literally an adventure and exploration.

I’m confident in finding useful items, but this cliff is strange.

“I thought a labyrinth would have cold stone walls and moving skeletons.”

“Outdoor dungeon.”

Someone answered my thoughts, and my ears perked up.

It was a girl with her face completely covered by long bangs, making her identity unknown.

I don’t know her name, but I know her call sign is “Silence.”

You know those girls in class who are so quiet that you might hear their voice once a year, if at all?

One of those girls mumbled in a small voice.

“…A labyrinth isn’t always just a structure. In manga, you sometimes see ice zones, volcanoes, and forests inside buildings. Spaces that are twisted…”

So, to summarize, this cliff and the forest below are part of the “Great Labyrinth”?

And somewhere in there is Seo Ga-eul from Class F, who entered first.

Swoosh.

Geum Tae-sung rubbed his forehead.

“The starting point is often random. But to end up on a cliff… That’s really unlucky.”

Soon, Baek Yeoul mumbled in a small voice.

“…Sorry.”

Sorry? Why?

Why is Baek Yeoul apologizing in this situation?

As I tried to understand, a boy with shaggy hair, “Artist,” spoke up.

“I had a feeling, and it turns out I was right. Whenever I’m paired with Yeoul, it’s always like this.”

What’s with his tone? Did he step out of a historical drama?

His concept was amazing.

So that’s why he’s called “Artist”? Artists are usually a bit strange.

But it seemed interesting, so I watched with interest.

“Since we have nothing else to do, how about we introduce ourselves? There’s a transfer student too. Let’s reveal the concepts we each possess.”

It seemed like a good idea.

We need to know who is who and what abilities they have, right?

But Baek Yeoul started trembling like someone who had a loan shark come to their house.

“I, I… not really…”