CHAPTER 122

The white-bricked Student Council building had an interior to match—with porcelain-white floors, walls, and pillars. Everything was so white that it felt clinical. Combined with the tall ceilings, any visitor would feel daunted. Sure enough, ordinary students didn’t particularly like the Student Council building. It was entirely unlike the beautiful and well-decorated magic tower, a famous campus landmark.

“What did you call me for? Could it be that you have doubts because the Shooting Club is doing well these days?”

Roh Jun-Yeop looked around the white hall cautiously.

Ban Hee-Yeol glanced at Roh Jun-Yeop, who was clearly wary, and laughed.

“The Shooting Club is still a club of our school. You’ve worked hard to reach second place in the earnings ranking. You should be celebrating, not worrying. As a noble personage and the vice president of the Student Council, how could I interfere?”

In truth, Ban Hee-Yeol had only been interested in the Shooting Club because he hadn’t known who’d beaten Roh Jun-Yeop and taken over behind the scenes.

Initially, Ban Hee-Yeol had thought it was Loren, and a foreign aristocrat occupying a club in Lion’s Castle wasn’t something he could tolerate, which was why Ban Hee-Yeol had been obsessed with revealing the truth and perhaps pressuring Loren.

But that was in the past.

Now that Ban Hee-Yeol knew Kang Jae-Hyeok was the mastermind, the Shooting Club's affairs were no longer his concern.

Ban Hee-Yeol shifted his gaze to Jang Yeon-Ju, who was standing beside Roh Jun-Yeop, and he laughed again.

How unexpected. Jang Yeon-Ju was practically famous for hating Roh Jun-Yeop. I contacted them separately, but they actually showed up together.I guess my little trick was pointless.

Well, he was going to gather them in one place anyway, so things were going well.

Ban Hee-Yeol explained his reason for calling them, “Do you remember the white tiger beastman you met while carrying out Kang Jae-Hyeok’s commission? Well, it seems he dared to infiltrate the school with his subordinates in order to seek revenge against you.”

Jae-Hyeok hadn’t given Ban Hee-Yeol all the information. He’d kept the part about Elder Song and the dragon harpoon a secret. He hadn’t mentioned it to Professor Lee either.

He wouldn’t reveal the treasure Elder Song had tried hard to protect, even if it meant being hostile to the beastmen.

“The Student Council will detain you for the time being. This is for your own protection. Please cooperate... ” Ban Hee-Yeol gave a brief explanation before telling the female secretary, “Please show them to the room they’ll be staying in.”

“You do it. I'm busy,” the secretary replied.

“Isn’t detain a word used for criminals?” Roh Jun-Yeop frowned.

Pushback on all sides... Ban Hee-Yeol hid his sigh behind his fan and stood up.

“Fine, I’ll guide you directly, so feel honored. In addition, let’s correct being detained to being confined. Is that okay?”

“What’s the difference between detainment and confinement... ”

Jang Yeon-Ju and Roh Jun-Yeop grumbled but obediently followed Ban Hee-Yeol since Jae-Hyeok had informed them about the situation beforehand.

They soon arrived in front of a large room.

“This is the duty room. It has a bathroom, a toilet, simple cooking facilities, and even a bedroom. You shouldn’t experience any inconvenience staying here.”

“?”

“?”

Jang Yeon-Ju and Roh Jun-Yeop’s eyes widened, and it wasn’t because the room was so nice—they had plenty of good rooms in the Shooting Club.

“Why is it only one room?” ”Do we have to stay in the same room?”

Ban Hee-Yeol said simply, “You expect us to separate the people we’re protecting? That’s a waste of my manpower.”

Then, taking advantage of their stunned state, Ban Hee-Yeol shoved the two of them into the room and locked the door from the outside.

“Hey! Ban Hee-Yeol!”

Why was the door locked from the outside? Also, why were there steel bars on the door? What the heck?

They unleashed their magic and tried to smash through. However, it was like punishing cotton. The door seemed to be made of a special material that could absorb their mana.

“Isn’t this a prison?”

No wonder that bastard Ban Hee-Yeol had used the words ‘detain’ and ‘confine’.

Ban Hee-Yeol shoved two textbooks through the gaps of the steel bars.

“It’s said that men and women shouldn’t be left in the same room, but I don’t think there will be a problem with the two of you in this regard. Take this opportunity to study. The final exam is around the corner.”

“Study my ass. Do I look like someone who cares about my final exam score?”

“If you were still the manager of the Shooting Club, you might be able to get away with not worrying about your grades. However, now you don’t have that luxury.”

“......”

Attacking gates required a certain level of knowledge; being well-rounded as a player was essential for getting a job in a better organization and being promoted to a higher position. That was why Lion’s Castle held theory classes in the first place.

“...I am so grateful that I’m speechless. When did our great Vice President Ban Hee-Yeol start caring for me so much?”

“It’s a matter of the school’s reputation. If the students who will be sent out next year behave stupidly, it will only hurt the reputation of the school.”

“The school’s reputation?”

Roh Jun-Yeop doubted his ears. Since when was Ban Hee-Yeol the type of person to care about the school’s reputation? He could’ve believed it if Ban Hee-Yeol was doing it for his own reputation, but the school’s?

“Did you eat something bad? Is that why you locked us up in here? Hey, is it even safe here?”

“Rest assured.” Ban Hee-Yeol fixed his topknot with graceful gestures and turned around. “I am the one destined to become the president. The school’s reputation is my own reputation, so I will protect it.”

Flap!

Ban Hee-Yeol’s movements caused his yellow-green robe to spread out in a brilliant manner, briefly blocking Jang Yeon-Ju and Roh Jun-Yeop’s view. Then he disappeared.

“......”

The corridor beyond the bars was empty.

“Um...”

Roh Jun-Yeop and Jang Yeon-Ju stood beside each other and naturally made eye contact.

They were stuck.

One room.

A man and a woman...

They shivered.

“Damn!”

“How annoying.”

Although their relationship had improved, and they no longer considered each other enemies and felt a weak sense of camaraderie for each other, being stuck together like this was an entirely different matter.

They rubbed their arms to get rid of the goosebumps, picked up their textbooks, and moved as far away from each other as possible.

Jang Yeon-Ju sat neatly at the desk, while Roh Jun-Yeop perched on the windowsill. They both kept their backs to each other.

I would rather study than talk to her.

I’ll get higher grades than that idiot.

For the first time, the two of them shared the same thoughts.

Using as much enthusiasm as when they shot a bow, they immersed themselves in the textbooks they had always ignored.

The effect was tremendous.

The Bow Saint’s granddaughter and the self-proclaimed future Bow Saint—their concentration and patience, trained by marksmanship, were unmatched.

Is studying... actually worth it?

In an environment where there was nothing to do than study, two honor students were about to be born.

***

“Where did the disciplinary team member go?”

The Student Council member tilted his head at the bald boy who had come to the Student Council alone.

The bald students unmasked all over the school... no, the beastman suspects were supposed to be escorted under the supervision of the disciplinary department.

The bald boy smiled brightly.

“He’s dead.”

“......!”

If the Student Council member were an ordinary student, he might not have understood the bald boy’s words and questioned him. However, Student Council members weren’t ordinary. They were all elites who had proven their skills in their respective fields. Every one of them had excellent strength or intellect.

The Student Council member drew his sword and slashed, only to stop an inch away from the bald boy’s nose.

“Don’t be so hasty. When you react so aggressively, it just makes you look scared.”

The bald boy squeezed, and the blade that he had caught in his palm shattered.

Beastman. Seeing the boy’s fingernails grow long, the Student Council member felt like screaming. However, his training overpowered his instincts, and he leaped back, aiming for the emergency alarm nearby.

Before he could, the beastman’s hand grabbed his wrist first.

“Humans are so slow.”

The beastman had moved at an insane speed. Before he knew it, the Student Council member felt the beastman’s breath on the back of his neck and trembled. He was an elite student, but he couldn’t overcome his fear of death.

“Don’t worry. I don’t want to kill you yet. If you listen to me carefully, you can save your life.” The beastman whispered to him as he started to tear up. “Seeing that you have prepared such a large-scale operation to catch me, you must know what my goal is. You must’ve hidden Roh Jun-Yeop and Jang Yeon-Ju somewhere here. Where are they? Guide me to them.”

The beastman’s sharp claws dug into the student’s back.

“Of course, I hope you’ll act naturally and not do anything that will get you killed along the way, right?”

The boy from the Student Council hurriedly nodded. The pain in his back and his fear of death emptied his mind of any other thoughts.

“Okay. Great.”

The beastman grinned in satisfaction and gestured with his chin.

The boy from the Student Council didn’t resist. He walked up the spiral staircase and led the beastman to the tenth floor.

The beastman whistled when he saw the long corridor. There was a red carpet and all types of expensive decorations.

“They’re here? En, it looks believable.”

The atmosphere of the tenth floor was different from the previous floors. There was a grandeur and solemnity to the place that gave it the impression of a vault.

“So, you’re saying Roh Jun-Yeop and Jang Yeon-Ju are here, right?”

The boy nodded several times.

“What room is it?”

“...I will guide you directly.”

"Why bother? Just tell me.”

“......”

“Ah, do you think I am going to kill you?”

The beastman smiled an all-too-fake smile. The angle of his eyes was too sharp, and his facial muscles didn’t move enough.

“You’re quick-witted. Okay, this bought you a few minutes of survival.”

“So you will spare me if I listen to you... ”

“Of course. Ah, but unfortunately, you didn’t listen to me when I asked you for the location of the room.”

“P-please forgive me once...”

The boy begged, but it was useless. The beastman had just caught the scent of Roh Jun-Yeop and Jang Yeon-Ju.

“Sigh. Forget it. I don’t need you any longer. A child who doesn’t listen should just die.”

The beastman’s eyes flashed red as his fingernails grew even longer, looking like five daggers.

“Aaaaack!”

The boy’s scream echoed through the hallway.

Blood gushed like a fountain and soaked the red carpet, turning it blue.

Blue?

The surprised beastman looked down at his hand and saw his blue blood flowing freely from a cut.

How?

The moment the beastman looked up, he saw a girl supporting the screaming boy, whose eyes were tightly closed.

The Beastman knew that girl’s face—Professor Lee So-Yeong.

She was one of the faces that represented Lion’s Castle and also the woman that the beastman had been trying his hardest to avoid.

“I’m glad the inspection of the faculty and staff ended quickly. That was a close call.”

The beastman could feel a lot of people on the staircase behind him.

Student Council members were pouring in.

Despite being completely cornered with nowhere to escape, the beastman just laughed. “Ah, it’s Great Master Lee. It seems my opponent won’t be lacking this time.”

He wasn’t flustered at all.

In the first place, he wasn’t the only beastman who had infiltrated Lion’s Castle.

Boom!

Explosions rang out throughout the Student Council.