[We didn’t lose them. They never came to the dungeon at all.]

Yang Len’s voice came over the receiver.

Oh Sungcheon’s face turned crimson with rage, a thick vein bulging on his forehead as though ready to burst.

[And one of my men says that after meeting with Ahn Hyunggi, they went into a dungeon with All Around’s Abel and came out at eight. It’s obvious they figured out the plan. That kid’s brain works like a damn machine, I swear. Hah.]

‘You think this is the time to laugh, you idiot?’

Sungcheon barely restrained the curse that rose in his throat.

“So, Len—those brats didn’t go into the Arcane Armory at all?”

[Right. You might not know this, Boss, but the place they went was an independent dungeon. Once they enter, unlike the open ones, there’s no way to follow them in.]

“Click!”

He clicked his tongue hard.

[That’s why I have an idea. Send them into a dungeon again tomorrow. But this time, assign an academy supervisor to keep them from straying anywhere else.]

“Do it. And this time, I trust you’ll make sure those brats die.”

[Of course.]

Sungcheon ended the call, leaned back in his chair, and rubbed his forehead.

Seconds later, he slammed his hand down on the desk.

Bang!

“Damn it! Why do they piss me off so much? They’re nobodies!”

It wasn’t only Nam Yein’s group giving him headaches.

Just a few days ago, a disguised outsider had infiltrated the Bucheon laboratory.

That outsider had been with the test subject they’d lost—codename Chimera.

Chimera and his accomplice.

The prey had walked straight into their lair.

But then everything had spiraled in a direction Sungcheon hadn’t expected.

For some reason, the Peacekeeping Force and the mayor himself had shown up in Bucheon.

In the end, not only the dispatched Black Hound unit but also Chimera and his accomplice had been seized by the Peacekeeping Force.

‘Of course, even if Cheon Jiweon knows the truth about Chimera, he can’t lay a finger on us. We supply sixty percent of the electricity for Seoul.’

Crossing Forward meant the death of civilization itself.

But from now on, free rein over his experiments would be gone.

‘That hypocrite will do everything he can to block us from completing the research.’

Sungcheon snorted.

‘Not that it matters now. The real problem is figuring out how to deal with the captured hounds and Chimera before they spill too much.’

Then, suddenly, Nam Yein’s face flashed through his mind—along with the news that he’d met Ahn Hyunggi, and his ties to All Around.

Sungcheon’s instincts always sharpened when it came to threats. That sense had been one of the keys to climbing this high.

And ever since the HAUT closing ceremony, that instinct had been warning him about Nam Yein.

“I’ll kill him. No matter what.”

Muttering to himself, he picked up the phone again.

“Ah, Chairman. It’s me. About tomorrow…”

----------------------------------------

“…”

“…”

“Uh, uh…”

The counseling room on the first floor of Gwangcheon Academy’s main building.

With no real counseling specialists at the academy, this room was usually reserved for disciplining troublemakers.

And now, Lumina and I sat across from our homeroom teacher, Jeong Yeongyeong.

That morning, she had entered the classroom with a grim face. The moment roll call ended, she brought us here.

“Yein.”

“Yes, Teacher.”

“You didn’t go to the Arcane Armory dungeon yesterday.”

“No.”

When I looked straight into her eyes and answered, she flinched.

“Why not?”

“Teacher… do you know what happened on Sunday?”

“…Yes.”

So she did know.

Even if Forward silenced the staff, there was no way to stop the students who had seen it from their dorm windows.

“That’s the reason.”

“…”

Dark clouds settled across her face.

I hadn’t said it to hurt her.

On the contrary, Jeong Yeongyeong was one of the few teachers—alongside Kim Sang-sik—who genuinely cared about her students.

I didn’t want to lie to someone like that.

I glanced sideways.

Lumina sat with her head bowed, her face filled with guilt.

“…An external instructor will be coming today,” the teacher said.

“Your squad will receive another special assignment, and that instructor will lead you into a dungeon.”

“I see.”

“…”

Her gaze, which had been fixed on me moments ago, shifted away into the distance.

“Teacher.”

I looked at her profile.

“Thank you. I’m glad I met someone like you here in Gwangcheon.”

She whipped her head around.

“Yein? What are you saying all of a sudden?”

Her wide, startled eyes reminded me of a rabbit hearing a hawk’s cry.

“Yesterday, our squad talked it over. With things like this happening again and again… would staying at the academy really help us?”

I pulled an envelope from my pocket.

“And this is our conclusion.”

Her hands trembled as she took the plain white envelope and opened it.

“…A withdrawal form?”

“Yes. Mine, Lumina’s, Meiling’s, and Seo Yui’s. All of them are inside.”

“…”

Silently, she read through the forms we had written.

Her hands still shook, but her face was solemn.

‘Not the reaction I expected. I thought she’d panic, try to stop us, or beg us to reconsider.’

After a moment, she folded the forms and slipped them back into the envelope.

“…Alright. I’ll take these to the principal.”

She gave a bitter smile.

“I’m truly sorry to you two. It should’ve been my job to counsel you before it came to this, to help however I could. But you’ve handled everything yourselves.”

Her voice wavered.

“Teacher…”

Lumina’s voice cracked, her eyes watery.

“…We’ll leave the academy right away, then.”

My chest ached, but I spoke firmly and stood.

“And one more thing, just for you, Teacher.”

Puzzled, she looked up at me.

“This isn’t the end. We’ll meet again.”

“…What?”

“Let’s go, Lumina.”

I pulled her to her feet, and together we bowed.

Then we stepped out and contacted Meiling and Seo Yui.

Ten minutes later.

The four of us walked out the academy gates, each with a trunk or backpack in hand.

“This is kinda funny,” Meiling said.

“I left home because I couldn’t stand it, and now I’m leaving the academy too.”

“Are you sad?”

“Didn’t you hear me? I said it’s funny.”

Meiling shot me a sidelong glare.

Obviously, when she said it was “funny,” she didn’t mean it was actually funny.

“My parents are going to be shocked…” Lumina murmured weakly.

“Just yesterday, I told them we were joining All Around.”

“But wouldn’t it have been easier to just go to Crystal instead?” Meiling asked.

“That won’t work. Our goal isn’t to truly leave Gwangcheon. It would be the same with any academy—once you join, it’s nearly impossible to turn back. They’d think we were using them. No need to make enemies for no reason.”

“So it’s fine to make an enemy of Forward?”

“They’re the ones who targeted us, not the other way around.”

Forward was everyone’s enemy by nature anyway.

“Yein, where do we go now?” Seo Yui asked.

“Our first stop will be Yeouido,” I said with a smile.

“They tried to push us. Now it’s our turn to push them back.”

Let’s see who falls off the cliff first.

----------------------------------------

“Dropped out?”

Oh Sungcheon stared blankly, as though he’d misheard.

From the receiver came the sound of someone swallowing nervously.

“They… they really submitted withdrawal papers?”

[Y-yes. Principal Im Seongyeon just contacted me. All four of them have filed to withdraw.]

“Hah.”

He let out a disbelieving laugh.

“Where are they now?”

[Uh… right after submitting the forms, they packed their things and left Gwangcheon…]

“Are you insane!? Who just sits back and lets that happen!? Are you completely brainless!?”

Sungcheon’s furious shout shook the receiver.

On the other end, the breathing went silent.

“Submitting withdrawal forms doesn’t make it official right away! You know that, don’t you!? Or are you telling me I know more about this than you, the principal!? Do you want to be out on the street by tonight?”

[N-no, sir!!]

“Find those brats and drag them back to Gwangcheon! Tie them up, knock them out, I don’t care—just don’t let them leave!!”

[Y-yes, sir!!]

“Ah, goddamn it!!”

Sungcheon hurled the phone, not bothering to hang up first.

The flimsy device smashed against the wall and shattered.

“Hah… hah…”

His face beet red, he gasped for air.

“Damn it… I put an obedient fool in charge, and he turned out to be a complete moron!”

He kicked the desk drawer hard.

“Khrrk!!”

Then collapsed, clutching his toes in pain.

The luxury desk drawers were built far sturdier than his foot.

At that moment, there was a frantic knock on the door.

Sungcheon ground his teeth, forced himself upright, and dropped into his chair.

“What is it!?”

“Sir, it’s Rijing. I have urgent news.”

One of his aides.

“…Come in.”

He scowled deeply. If this was some trivial report, she’d be out of a job immediately.

The woman in a suit stepped in cautiously, her face pale.

Even before seeing her expression, Sungcheon’s gut clenched with dread.

“What is it?”

“TBC has just released an emergency bulletin.”

The moment he heard the name, he felt the urge to spit.

TBC—the station owned by Crystal, a thorn in Forward’s side.

“What bulletin? Just say it.”

“It’s… about the HAUT winning team. They reported that Forward threatened their lives.”

“What!? Ngh—!!”

He sprang up so suddenly he toppled over.

“Sir!? Are you alright!?”

His aide rushed to him in a panic.

“Aghh…”

Still clutching the foot he’d injured earlier, Sungcheon groaned, forcing himself to ignore the pain as he glared at her.

“Turn on the broadcast. Now!”

“Y-yes, sir!!”

She tapped the controls on his desk.

A holographic projection lit up in the air.

[Once again, we bring breaking news. The HAUT winning team, who claim they were threatened with death by Forward, have said they will directly present their account. TBC will air their statement as soon as they are ready…]

“….”

Sungcheon’s eyes shook violently.

Seconds later, the screen shifted.

Nam Yein and the other three appeared, seated at a table with microphones before them, each wearing a different expression.

The green-haired girl looked terrified.

The black twin-tailed girl glared defiantly with arms crossed.

The pink-haired girl half-closed her eyes, staring at the mic.

And—

‘Nam Yein…!!’

Sungcheon clenched his teeth.

The silver-haired boy calmly flicked on the microphone in front of him.

----------------------------------------

“Good evening, citizens of Seoul watching this broadcast. We are here today to tell you what has happened to us. My name is Nam Yein. I was a student at Gwangcheon Academy, and a member of the winning HAUT team.”

I looked straight into the camera.

Behind it, TBC staff watched us nervously.

“Last Sunday, we were abducted by Yang Len, commander of Black Hound, who came to Gwangcheon Academy. He assaulted the security guard and forced us into a vehicle, threatening to kill us if we touched our phones.”

The TBC staff flinched at my words.

“In the underground of that building, more than a dozen Black Hound members were waiting. They attacked us because we rejected President Oh Sungcheon’s offer to join Black Hound.”

I continued recounting everything.

The attack by Black Hound.

How All Around helped us escape.

The unnatural ‘special assignments’ the academy forced on us yesterday and today, and the suspicions we had.

“In the end, we submitted our withdrawal papers and left Gwangcheon. We came straight to TBC to reveal this truth to all of you.”

My voice trembled slightly.

“I know some of you may doubt us, but everything I’ve said is true. We need your help. Against Black Hound and Forward, the strength of just the four of us is far too small. Please, help us stop further victims from falling to Forward’s tyranny.”

I rose from my seat and bowed deeply.

The others followed, bowing their heads or their bodies.

Now then—

Oh Sungcheon.

Let’s play.

(End of Chapter)