Received an award from a high-ranking official at the police station and promoted to Knight Brooch!
That means I'm qualified to access the 「Treasure Hall」 and borrow tools semi-permanently!
I heard that the 「Treasure Hall」 is full of bizarre treasures acquired and collected by Awakened seniors while exploring the 「Grand Labyrinth」.
Since I can only choose one treasure, I have to be careful in many ways.
‘What kind of items are waiting for me?’
While my heart was pounding with anticipation, the classroom door opened with a squeak- and someone wearing a police cap entered the classroom.
It was a woman wearing funky short hot pants, a white t-shirt, and dizzyingly high heels.
Several handcuffs jingled at her waist as if they were fashion key rings, and all the male students were speechless and captivated by the appearance of this flashy woman.
Including me!
“Hiya, it's been a while since I've been in this classroom. Nice to meet you. I'm a 3rd-generation graduate, your senior, and a 3rd-grade ability user, but well, let's skip the details and have the students who received awards today come forward!”
Her tone is very light.
Is this noona the ‘important person’ from the police station who came to give us the certificates of commendation?
“Then, Monster Ha Nam-jin! You're first! By the way, Monster? What kind of callsign is this?”
“Yes, I am DiCaprio Ha Nam-jin.”
“Thanks to you guys, we succeeded in subduing a part of the troublesome group 「Villainerz」! The problem is that this morning, Sa Ma-jun and Yeom-hun were slaughtered by the 「Judge」!”
...Huh? What? Didn't I just casually hear something incredibly important?
While everyone was buzzing, the female police officer took a paper out of her bag and handed it to us.
“Blah blah, blah blah blah- hereby commended! Anyway, you guys are amazing? You subdued a 3rd-grade ability user and his underlings even before graduation! Honestly, I got goosebumps! Everyone, applause-!”
Clap- Clap- Clap-
At the police noona's playful encouragement, all the students clapped, Clap- Clap- Clap-, as if they had forgotten, or were trying to forget, the surprising remarks from just now.
Honestly, it always feels good to be the center of attention.
It's always thrilling!
“What should I do! It's been so long since I've received such applause!”
“Ho-Honestly, I'm a little embarrassed.”
“...I want to hide...”
Unlike me, who was happy to receive attention, everyone in 「No Leftovers Day」, who fought together, couldn't honestly rejoice and were embarrassed.
They’re still young.
“But it was still dangerous. Thanks to that, we're reconsidering the actual combat deployment of Hero-mili School students? Supervillains are too dangerous, so don't approach bad guys carelessly anymore, okay?”
If they're starting to reconsider the actual combat deployment of students, it means that the future where Yoo Yeo-reum is fatally injured or killed during actual combat is a little further away.
More than that, is it true that Sa Ma-jun and Yeom-hun were slaughtered by the 「Judge」?
But before I could even ask about it, the policewoman poured out a storm of words.
“And this morning, a missing person report was filed for Seo Ga-eul, a student in Class F.”
“Missing?”
“What are you talking about?”
Murmur- Murmur-
The atmosphere is shaking again.
The more surprising story followed.
“And I, Superintendent Jin Ri-hyeon, believe that the mastermind behind Seo Ga-eul’s disappearance is in this Hero-mili School. What I want to ask is, please don't turn yourself in. Let me beat you half to death and arrest you myself.”
Crack-. As the woman cracked her knuckles and smiled, revealing sharp canine teeth, the name Superintendent Jin Ri-hyeon suddenly came to mind.
Chief Kim Jang-dong once said, “There's someone among my subordinates who's incredibly good at spotting lies. It's not easy to hide my preferences from them.”
A 3rd-grade ability user who can spot lies.
For me, a being who is nothing short of a disaster has barged into my school life?
It’s truly a woman problem!
Because of whom am I so unlucky?
“Nam-jin! What tool should I get from the Treasure Hall! Huh? When I go home today, I should brag to my mom that I received an award! I've been depressed lately because all the furniture was seized, but a certificate of commendation is totally lucky bikini!”
# # #
“At that critical moment, I changed the bills into chocolate! I think my concept will soon reach Grade 2 since it's entered the application stage.”
“You caught a 3rd-grade wanted criminal with chocolate? I really can't believe it.”
“They even said Deok-hee played a very important role? Deok-hee, is that true? How did you do it!”
“......”
When break time came, the kids who were interested in the news that I caught a 3rd-grade special criminal as a student flocked to Team 「No Leftovers Day」 and made it noisy like a marketplace.
Many kids also flocked to me.
“Nam-jin, I heard you stalled a 3rd-grade ability user by yourself! How did you do it? Did you show your underwear again this time?”
“What kind of underwear are you wearing now? Show me.”
“Hey, Kim Jin! What are you saying now! Asking him to show his underwear! Kuhuhuk!”
Squeal-. The girls' laughter was very pleasant.
They say that every man experiences a peak of popularity at least once in his life, and I wonder if I'm experiencing it right now!
“It-It’s too noisy to sleep! Get away from me!”
Whir- Whir- At that moment, Baek Yeo-ul, who was lying face down next to me, lifted the frying pan 「Unlucky Stick」 and swung it towards the girls.
“Ah, what the, Baek Yeo-ul.”
“You should just sleep. Why are you suddenly freaking out?”
Buzz-. Kim Jin and her posse, who looked like delinquent noona, seemed surprised by Bangdeng-i’s ferocious aggressiveness, clicked their tongues and stepped back hesitantly.
Bangdeng-i, not satisfied with that, said to me.
“Ha Nam-jin! You said you liked Seo Ga-eul! You even made a wedding invitation! To be flirting with other girls when Seo Ga-eul is missing, is that all your heart amounts to?”
I can't believe Baek Yeo-ul hit a nerve.
It was uncertain how Seo Ga-eul’s disappearance, which had become widely known, would change my daily life.
Especially that police noona walking around the hallway is the biggest variable.
“...Superintendent Jin Ri-hyeon is a 3rd-generation graduate, and her callsign during her school days was... Six... Six Sense. They say she has exceptionally good intuition...”
Lunchtime. We gathered on the playground and ate lunch with bread from the school store, and Deok-sun-i, who knows a lot about everything, boasted about her knowledge of the police noona.
A woman with good intuition─.
Indeed, the police noona asserted that the culprit behind Seo Ga-eul’s disappearance was at Hero-mili School, right?
“Is it really true that Yeom-hun and Sa Ma-jun are... dead?”
Bangdeng-i tilted her head. Chang-sik then held up Hero-mili School’s custom-made smartphone, searched for some information, and shook his head.
“There seems to be nothing about it online. It might be under an embargo or something.”
That Yeom-hun is dead.
Yeom-hun was a guy who deserved to die, but in the distant future, in a ruined world, he single-handedly rekindled the flames of a collapsed thermal power plant, saving people from the harsh winter cold.
I don't know why he acted so altruistically, but even I admitted that many people survived because of him.
In other words, the reason I didn't kill or cripple Yeom-hun was because I thought he deserved the eternal punishment of ‘human coal’ instead of the death penalty.
I was also thinking of meeting him from time to time to beat him up.
To kill such a guy?
I didn’t like that the 「Judge」, whoever they are, frequently interferes with my plans. Clap-.
At that moment, Geum Tae-seong clapped his hands.
“Let’s stop the gloomy talk. More than that, aren't you guys going to choose your 「Treasures」 this afternoon? There’s one thing I wanted from the Treasure Hall. Ah, I should have skipped my part-time job. I’m so jealous.”
Geum Tae-seong was our teammate, but he couldn't join this operation because of his part-time job. Honestly, I was very disappointed.
If Geum Tae-seong, who has the concept of ‘Reversal’, had been there, our operation itself would have been different.
“T-Tae-seong, is the one you want perhaps 「World」?”
For some reason, Deok-sun-i’s voice was loud, so everyone’s attention was drawn to her. Then Deok-sun-i, with a very red face, added in a flustered manner.
“Ah, no, it’s nothing.”
# # #
A very large auditorium was built in the basement of Hero-mili School. To be precise, it would be better to call it a bunker, a nuclear fallout shelter.
However, what was inside was not an evacuation facility.
“Don't stay in there too long. It's a place where all sorts of concepts are mixed, so it's not good for the mental health of Awakened ones like you. You can only take one item out.”
Following Captain Kang Cheol-min's words, we trotted into the 「Treasure Hall」. Would it feel like this to enter a huge library?
“It reminds me of when I went to the British Museum on a family trip a long time ago...”
Bangdeng-i Baek Yeo-ul showed her unique analogy.
Is the British Museum in England? To have gone to such a place on a family trip, as expected, Bangdeng-i was a born bourgeois.
I suddenly feel resentful.
“Ouch! Why are you pinching my butt!”
“Just because.”
As Bangdeng-i glared at me and fumed, I saw a doll kept in a glass case.
A ceramic doll that a little lady in a romance fantasy would love.
There's a note attached to the shelf.
【Caution! - Doll D-107 imbued with the concept of 「Possession Lv.2」】
Creak- Click-
The doll is waving at me.
“What a cursed doll.”
The Treasure Hall was full of such items.
I really wanted to look around, but since before entering the Treasure Hall, I had only one type of 「Treasure」 in mind, so I didn't want to waste time.
I hope there’s an item imbued with concepts like 「Trickery」, 「Lies」, 「Disguise」, etc. That way I can escape the investigation of the police noona with good intuition in many ways.
As I was wandering around the Treasure Hall with that in mind, I came across a familiar item.
【Caution! - Sword W-002 with unknown concept】
A sword with an unknown concept.
It was a short Japanese sword.
The reason this item caught my eye was that the maple leaf pattern decorated with mother-of-pearl lacquer on the scabbard reminded me of Seo Ga-eul’s waist from when I met her at the shantytown.
This is Seo Ga-eul’s sword. To be precise, it's the sword that the future Seo Ga-eul carried.
“Unknown concept...”
Does that mean that even the tools that reveal concepts couldn’t figure it out?
I wondered if I could figure it out with my ‘Appraisal’ eye, so I stared at it for a while, and letters appeared.
「Name: Maple - Wakizashi
A sword crafted by a legendary master craftsman. All owners of this sword met a terrible death.
Possessions: 《???》 - Your Appraisal level is insufficient to peek at this. 」
So this is how it feels.
Seo Ga-eul also had the concept of 《???》. It’s probably because the grade of the concept is higher than my 「Appraisal」 level that I can't confirm it.
Nevertheless, that sword was definitely a good tool.
That’s why the future Seo Ga-eul must have been using it.
“But pass.”
It’s not what I need right now.
It was while I was wandering around for a while.
“Ugh-. Just a little more─.”
I saw a big Bangdeng-i.
To be precise, I should say that I could see up Bangdeng-i Baek Yeo-ul's skirt as she was reaching for a high object while climbing a ladder.
“Bangdeng-i, so it’s white today?”
“Yaaak! Don't looook─”
Clatter- Clang-
Baek Yeo-ul, struggling to cover her butt, seemed precarious and eventually fell off the ladder.
Thud- Crash- Clatter-
It was quite a chaotic situation.
I, who was underneath, also got unlucky and was crushed by Baek Yeo-ul’s butt.
“Guuaaak!”
“Gasp! So, Sorry! But at least it didn't get completely messed up! Lucky!”
What lucky. All the coins that were in the 「Storage」 jars here spilled on the floor.
“So unlucky.”
“It’s... your fault!”
As I got up, dusting myself off, and picked up the coins on the floor,
Something was caught in my hand instead of a coin.
Clink-
Something round.
It was round but hollow in the middle, so it wasn't a coin.
In the first place, it was so transparent that it was almost invisible.
What is this?
As I frowned at this strange phenomenon, letters appeared.
「Name: Seed - Ring
The ring that the Fairy King of the Grand Labyrinth tried to hide until the very end. It does not easily reveal itself.
Possessions: Expand to view details ☜
《???》 - Your Appraisal level is insufficient to peek at this.
《Deception Lv.2》 - Secretive like a clown. Adds a touch of chaos to the owner’s words and actions. 」