CHAPTER 121

On the roof of the main building.

I have to concentrate.

Jae-Hyeok’s expression was serious as he stared down at the crowds of students blocked by the disciplinary department on every street.

This time, he was nervous.

The beastman had infiltrated the school with a clear purpose, and unlike the opponents Jae-Hyeok had met before, the beastman wasn’t a young student, nor was he like those old, arrogant assassins who attacked carelessly because their target was young.

No.

He was a pro, a specialist who’d safely infiltrated Lion’s Castle and waited quietly.

He’s also different from that master of those tamed monsters. Unlike him, a beastman wouldn’t care about the faction politics in Lion’s Castle, so predicting his behavior is impossible.

Currently, the beastman was walking a tightrope to achieve his goal; there was no telling how he would react once his identity was exposed and he was driven into a corner—he might take students hostage and attempt to escape, or he might start killing students simply out of anger.

That must never be allowed to happen.

Lee So-Yeong guessed the beastman was disguised as a faculty member because there hadn’t been any recent student transfers, whereas the faculty and staff were replaced frequently. Of course, the school scrutinized every new employee, but there had to be gaps.

Jae-Hyeok understood this well.

Lion’s Castle was a place where the Foundation, Association, government, and guilds all competed against each other. Every faction wanted as many of their own among the faculty as possible, no matter the job title.

As a capable awakened, the beastman could have easily exploited the competition between factions for more insiders, provided he was aware of it, in order to get a job in Lion’s Castle.

Lee So-Yeong’s reasoning was sound.

Jae-Hyeok also thought she was probably correct. Or rather, he hoped her guess was correct—things would be much more complicated if the beastman was disguised as a student, as that would mean the beastman could either transform like a chameleon or had infiltrated Lion’s Castle a long time ago. Either of which would be a headache.

A monster that had perfectly escaped from the surveillance of the professors and the armed forces... Jae-Hyeok hoped such a threat wasn’t among the students. Perhaps he was thinking too much. Perhaps, Lee So-Yeong had already discovered the beastman by now and easily overpowered it.

Jae-Hyeok shook his head. Probably not. Rarely were things so simple, and the world had never been particularly favorable toward him....

Well, that was an understatement.

The world had taken his parents and forced him to watch his family crumble.

“This?”

As if in reply to Jae-Hyeok's thoughts, the wind carried over a faint stench. An ordinary human wouldn’t have noticed, but players weren’t ordinary, and Jae-Hyeok’s stats were on par with an A-class player’s.

A chill ran down Jae-Hyeok’s spine.

He calculated the direction of the wind and fixed his eyes on two of the thirteen paths leading to the main building.

***

People soon realized it was a wig crackdown, not some communist crackdown on hairstyles. After that, the crowd somewhat calmed down.

“Next!”

The students obediently followed the disciplinary department's orders and stepped forward one at a time. Although no one was happy, the students knew they couldn’t stop the disciplinary members from grabbing their hair.

“How annoying.”

Cheon Hye-Ji felt the same.

She boasted luxurious and abundant blonde hair, and she spent over two hours styling it every morning. But what could she do? It was impossible for an ordinary student to go against the disciplinary department.

Cheon Hye-Ji repeatedly reminded herself to breathe and relax. But when it was her turn for inspection, a vein bulged on her forehead.

The disciplinary member had barely lifted his hand when she shouted, “No, no! Don’t mess up my hair! This is unacceptable. When admiring art, do you use your eyes or your hands!?”

The stone-faced disciplinary member didn’t blink, but he did withdraw his hand. “You have quite a lot of hair, and judging by the fine hairs on the back of your neck, it can’t be a wig. Pass.”

“Kyack! Who are you calling hairy? Do you have a CCTV camera in my room or something?”

“Next.”

The members of the disciplinary department were like machines. No matter how the other person reacted, they only focused on their task. There would be no end to their job if they responded to every outburst. Everyone had different personalities and statuses, and many people weren’t afraid to criticize the disciplinary department at all.

“Can’t you see that this is a buzzcut, you idiot? If I were wearing a wig, would I have picked something like this? Are you trying to start a fight?”

“I will sue you! If you lay a finger on me, I will sue you for sexual harassment! Do you think men can’t be sexually harassed, huh?”

I’m tired.

Why are we here doing this nonsense so early in the morning?

The disciplinary department members were also human. Even they doubted the Student Council’s order to conduct a wig inspection. And the more they suffered the students’ backlash, the more tired they felt.

Of course, they didn’t show it.

The disciplinary department had the power to impose sanctions on students, so naturally, their relationship with the other students wasn’t harmonious. Showing weakness would only encourage more students to attack them, not less.

“Next.”

......

Eventually, the peak of the storm passed.

The members of the disciplinary department looked pallid after hours of dealing with bad-tempered people.

“You’ve been working hard since dawn.”

Just then, a bright-faced, blond-haired boy approached the exhausted disciplinary members. He had abundant curly hair that was so thick it reminded the disciplinary members of that crazy female student who’d cried about CCTVs in her room.

I guess he isn’t wearing a wig either, the leading disciplinary member thought, but he still reached out to the boy’s head. Since the Student Council had ordered them to examine every student, he would.

“Kyack! That gorilla is touching Min-Wu’s head!”

“Stop it now! Can you take responsibility if Min-Wu’s pretty face ends up smelling like your dirty sweat?”

The nearby first-year female students made a big fuss. It seemed this blond-haired boy had a fan club.

The disciplinary member frowned. Great, more yelling. He’d spent all morning being yelled at and was already tired to death.

Just as he was about to touch the blond-haired boy’s head, the boy asked with a smile, “By the way, if my hair is a wig, what happens next?”

“?”

The leading disciplinary member felt something was strange about this boy, but he couldn’t say what. “If so, you will be sent to the Student Council. I heard they are conducting additional tests there.”

“Really?” The blond-haired boy tilted his head. “Maybe I should’ve gone another way.”

“......”

Again, the disciplinary member felt an inexplicable chill down his spine. But the blond-haired boy’s eyes remained as two happy crescents as he asked, “Aren’t you going to test me?”

“Uh? Um... ”

The member of the disciplinary department pushed aside his discomfort and placed his hand on the top of the boy’s head.

As expected, it was thick and soft.

Grab it here and pull... He recalled the manual, gently grasped a tuft of the boy’s hair, and lifted.

Then—

“...Uh?”

“Huh?”

The boy’s blond hair lifted right off his scalp. Even the team member conducting the inspection was stunned. “It’s a wig?”

Many of the surrounding students had wide eyes.

“How surprising... ”

Meanwhile, the girls who were part of the boy’s fan club trembled.

“Noooooooo!”

Everyone’s reactions were different, but all were surprised—the boy looked to be in his early- to mid-teens. No one had expected that this pretty boy would be bald.

The blond-haired boy... no, the bald boy scratched his smooth head in embarrassment.

“There is nothing I can do about a hereditary trait.”

“This... ”

There was a moment of silence as everyone looked down. Not even potions could cure hair loss. It remained a modern-day disaster.

“Min-Wu! We still love you!”

“So what if you don’t have any hair? Min-Wu, you are still pretty! Yes, this isn’t a big deal! You can wear pretty wigs all the time!”

The girls of his fan club tearfully saw off their bald idol as he was brought away by the lead disciplinary member.

***

“Is Lion’s Castle a school or a circus? No... I’m not surprised. When you gather so many ignorant people in one place, of course they become the standard of reason.”

Oh Ja-Ha watched the situation and grumbled.

As always, his twin sister Oh Ja-Du and the short-haired girl Mo Yo-Ah were by his side.

They were all quite dissatisfied with the farce that was blocking their way to class. As the young vassals of the Shinra family, they wanted to flash their IDs to the disciplinary department to be let through as quickly as possible.

However, Shinra Kyeong quietly waited for his turn without complaining. The master was staying quiet, so what could they, the vassals, do?

They could only grumble.

Shinra Kyeong’s eyes glowed gold as he stared at the boy being led away by the disciplinary member.

“...A beastman.”

Oh Ja-Ha was surprised and grabbed the hilt of his sword. “Beastman? Where?”

“Leave it. It has nothing to do with us.”

Shinra Kyeong didn’t know the specifics of the situation, nor was it his responsibility to know. Every incident had a cause. Let those involved deal with it.

The era where nobles shouldered responsibility for everything ended with the fall of the Yaksha.

Noticing Jae-Hyeok moving through the crowd, he thought, Ironically, the Yaksha’s son refuses to acknowledge this fact. Shinra Kyeong shook his head. “How outdated.”

It was almost a sin for someone like Jae-Hyeok to follow the footsteps of the Yaksha.

Jae-Hyeok disappeared into the crowd again while Shinra Kyeong took a step forward.

“Next... Uh?”

The disciplinary member facing Shinra Kyeong was visibly flustered.

There’s no way it’s a wig, right? “... Pass.”

For the first time, the disciplinary department violated the ‘no exceptions’ order issued by the Student Council.

Shinra Kyeong was the heir to South Korea’s greatest family, respected by everyone, and a National Treasure candidate—the disciplinary members didn’t even know how to treat him normally.

***

“There must be a lot of people like me in the Student Council by now, right?” Min-Wu asked as he followed the disciplinary team member.

“Yes, I wonder how many of the thousands of students are bald.”

“I hope there’s lots.”

“Isn’t that a nasty thing to say? Well... I would probably say something similar if I were in your position, but it’s always better to aim for kindness.”

“No, no. I don’t mean it like that. I just meant the more suspects, the better.”

Suspect?

The stunned disciplinary member hurriedly turned around.

It was too late.

Something pierced his belly.