How to Survive as an Extra

Chapter 68

Indoor club activities, including the Art Department, took place in the annex.

The annex was divided into three buildings, and we had now set foot in the Art Department clubroom of the Second Annex.

“So I am telling you, that bastard was the last one to leave!”

“I, I was the one who locked the door and left last night, yes, but… it was not me! I swear!”

“Everyone, calm down. Gong Minwu has not even arrived yet.”

“How am I supposed to stay calm? Submissions are next week. How can we sit still after hearing there is some loach in here ruining our work?”

“But if that is your logic, should not the person who opened the clubroom door today be suspected too?”

“Say something that makes sense. On campus holidays, the club president is the one who opens the door. …Wait, do you mean Jeon Sohye did it? Because she opened the door?”

In an instant, everyone’s gaze poured onto Jeon Sohye, the Art Department’s club president.

But she calmly turned her eyes toward the door and spoke.

“It looks like the instructor has arrived. Is she not the most knowledgeable person about matters like this? Since she is an investigation instructor.”

“Ah…!”

The members’ attention followed Jeong Harin as she entered.

Cha Yeri and I came in two steps behind her. The members occasionally shot us glances, then quickly withdrew their attention.

I had expected that Cha Yeri’s presence alone would draw considerable interest, but it seemed this incident had hit the Art Department quite hard.

Jeong Harin spoke calmly to the members.

“I understand how you feel. But fighting among yourselves without any evidence is only a waste of emotion. First, we should calmly examine the scene.”

As expected, a crisp, decisive tone.

As she approached Gong Minwu’s canvas, the members stepped back three or four paces from her.

Gong Minwu’s work seemed to depict a street in Seoul’s outskirts.

The uneven road surface, which looked in urgent need of repairs, and the texture of drizzling rain gave the viewer a sense of reality, as though one were looking out through a window. And the streetlights—one of the outskirts’ defining features—were almost extinguished, shrieking as if snuffing out hope.

…The place in the painting was Outroad.

A slang term used by the outskirts’ residents to refer to a scene where it would not be surprising for a crime to occur at any moment.

Even to an untrained eye, it was a well-painted work, yet someone had ruined it by drawing an X across it.

As the members said, if it had to be submitted to the exhibition next week, then for Gong Minwu, it was a fire under his feet.

But… why had they not destroyed it completely?

If the purpose was to prevent submission, tearing it apart would have been more effective than such a lazy X…

And it bothered me that the two lines forming the X had been drawn with gray paint.

A gray that felt nearly identical to the painting’s background, at that.

“This incident does not appear to involve Cadet Jeon Sohye. You can tell by examining the surface of the overpaint. Because of the nature of oil paint, it will take several more days to dry completely, but it was not painted within the last one or two hours.”

“See? I told you, it was that bastard Park Jeongchan!”

At Jeong Harin’s words, one member who had been fuming from the start pointed at Park Jeongchan and shouted.

“I, I really did not do it! I am innocent!”

Park Jeongchan was a first-year cadet in the Investigation Division.

Neither part of Gwon Chihun’s group nor the Social Care Beneficiary group, he was a powerless middle sort among second-generation awakened beings.

If I recalled correctly, he had openly laughed at me in the classroom when I failed to fit into any group.

Since then there had been no particular friction, so he was neither more nor less than a fellow cadet of the same division whose face I saw daily.

Of course, he was always the first to step up when it came to gossiping about me behind my back, but there was practically no cadet in the Investigation Division who did not insult me anyway, so it was fair to call it an ordinary relationship.

The members began to corner Park Jeongchan.

He looked even more shriveled than when he had to pass by Gwon Chihun in the classroom. When his eyes met mine by chance, he threw me a meaningless look, as though resentful.

What, was he clinging to a straw?

In the meantime, Jeong Harin spoke again.

“First, let us find the brush that was used. Whether the culprit is an insider or an outsider, they would not have committed the act with bare hands.”

Jeong Harin’s words cooled the clubroom’s heat, which seemed ready to erupt at any moment.

Club president Jeon Sohye followed up.

“Everyone heard her, right? Before suspecting others, we find evidence first. Open your personal lockers and take out your belongings.”

At her words, the members moved in unison.

If they showed any dissatisfaction, they would look suspicious, so they intended to cooperate as much as possible.

Then Jeon Sohye approached Jeong Harin.

“Instructor, should we not also check the storage room?”

She was asking whether they should examine the supply room across from the clubroom as well.

Jeong Harin hesitated for a moment, then put on a deliberately agreeable expression.

“We should. But I came in a hurry, so I did not bring the storage room key.”

“You will have to go to the first-floor management office, then.”

“Yes, please.”

She did not bring the key…

I narrowed my eyes slightly at Jeong Harin as she watched Jeon Sohye leave the clubroom.

The clubroom keys were managed by the management office of each annex.

If you were a member registered in the system, you could obtain a key simply by tagging your smartwatch at the management office.

The reason Park Jeongchan was suspected earlier was that there was a record showing he was the last to return the key yesterday.

In other words, if you did not obtain the key through the management office, it was difficult to access the canvas inside the clubroom.

However, not all keys were entrusted to the management office.

Cha Yeri beside me seemed to have found Jeong Harin and Jeon Sohye’s exchange suspicious as well. She discreetly tugged at my clothes and whispered,

“Do advisors not usually keep a spare key separately?”

Cha Yeri used honorifics in case someone overheard.

I shrugged once.

“I do not know. I have never been assigned a clubroom.”

“So…”

Cha Yeri started to speak, then stopped, and quickly tapped on her phone.

She probably decided she could not keep whispering in my ear.

-So the only person who can access the clubroom without leaving a key rental record is Instructor Jeong Harin.

“If I truly set my mind to it, breaking into an annex clubroom is not difficult. There are no separate security devices, and as for the building’s CCTV, you only need to learn the blind spots in advance and slip in.”

-Then who do you think the culprit is?

“Hm…”

I did not know.

This was not in the original story.

Given the circumstances, Jeong Harin or Park Jeongchan seemed most plausible, but with such vague clues, it would only amount to catching an innocent person.

“We need more precise clues. For example… a motive. Someone who would hold a grudge against Gong Minwu…”

Suddenly, the room began to murmur.

I cut myself off and followed the members’ gaze.

They were looking toward the clubroom’s back door.

There, Gong Minwu stood on the threshold, staring at his ruined canvas.

“Minwu!”

“So you are here.”

Beside Gong Minwu stood Choi Minsang, an Art Department member and his right-hand man.

Unlike Gong Minwu, who calmly took in the situation, Choi Minsang immediately strode up to Park Jeongchan and seized him by the collar.

“They say you did it? Are you insane? How dare you ruin Minwu’s work?”

“N-no…! It was not me! Seriously! Do you think I am crazy enough to lay a hand on Minwu’s things?”

“Oh? You were the last one to lock the clubroom, right? Are you going to deny it on purpose because there is a record, and try to wriggle out of it?”

“No, I really…”

Jeong Harin intervened.

“Cadet Choi Minsang, we cannot declare anything yet. Release Cadet Park Jeongchan.”

“You cannot declare anything? Hah. It is not as if it is the first or second day that Investigation Division bastards envy the Combat Division. Obviously he could not stand seeing Minwu doing so well in the Combat Division.”

“I will not say it twice. I will deduct points.”

“No, I am telling you, it is obvious. It is clear this bastard did—”

At that moment, Gong Minwu stepped over the threshold and entered.

“Stop it, Choi Minsang.”

“M-Minthu?”

Gong Minwu approached his canvas, touched the still-wet vandalism with his fingers, and spoke quietly.

“I can paint over it again. So stop worrying about it and focus on preparing for the exhibition.”

It was an unexpected statement.

Every member looked at Gong Minwu with puzzled expressions, and only Jeong Harin nodded as though she understood what he meant.

“You mean… you do not want to know whose doing it was?”

Gong Minwu answered by taking up his brush instead.

Then the member who had been shouting in a high voice yelled,

“Hey, Gong Minwu! The problem is that there is a lunatic here trying to ruin our work!”

“If anything happens to the other works, I will take responsibility.”

“…What?”

“So let us stop it. Making such a fuss.”

From the standpoint of an observer, it was difficult to understand his attitude.

Several members pressed him with more questions, but he half ignored them, remaining silent as he began scraping away the oil paint that had been smeared on.

In the end, it was Jeong Harin who brought the situation under control.

“Let us consider today’s club activity schedule canceled. Of course, members who have not finished the works they plan to submit may work freely. As for this matter, I will speak separately with Cadet Gong Minwu. …Cadet Jeon Sohye and Cadet Gong Minwu, please visit my laboratory after this evening.”

“Yes.”

“…”

The clubroom’s atmosphere felt like looking at embers whose fire had not yet gone out.

If I had been an Art Department member, I would have been too dumbfounded to speak.

Even so, the outline of this episode had revealed itself to some extent.

The culprit, the motive, and the reason Gong Minwu was taking such a stance.

Now all that remained was to confirm it directly.

Having reached that conclusion, I grabbed Cha Yeri by the wrist and slipped out through the Art Department’s confusion.

Cha Yeri only shook my hand off once we reached the emergency stairwell, where there were no eyes on us.

“What are you doing right now?”

“Because you were just standing there. It seemed like you would not move if I only told you.”

“…Are you saying we should give up like this?”

“Yes. We already heard the refusal, and there is no need to concern ourselves with their affair. To begin with, do you even have confidence you can persuade the instructor?”

“You cannot know unless you try.”

Ah. That remark from Cha Yeri was somewhat irritating.

It was the sort of tone used by those born with so much that they had never experienced failure.

“If you insist on persuading a department that already expressed refusal, then go find a department that is easier to deal with. Better if it is one where you can use your status.”

“You are talking like it is someone else’s problem. You have not forgotten who insisted on this plan in the first place, have you?”

“Yes, that is why I am saying it. We do not have time as it is, so there is no need to cling to a slim possibility.”

“Do you know that sometimes talking with you makes me want to scream?”

“Oh, really? Another talent to add to your meager gifts, then. Anyway, I will report to the President that persuading the Art Department failed. You do whatever you want.”

“Ugh…!”

I spoke negatively, but of course I had no intention of letting the culprit pass unnoticed.

I simply needed to move separately because I had to use knowledge from the original story.

I did not know what role Cha Yeri had been assigned in this episode, but rather than forcing her to accept the plausibility of my actions, it was far better to move alone.

I went down the stairs by myself.

As I left the building, Cha Yeri’s sharp gaze kept stabbing at the back of my head the entire time.

“If that counts as killing intent, then…”

***

After Ji Seokhyeon left the Second Annex, what Cha Yeri did was follow him.

Ji Seokhyeon said he was giving up on persuasion, but she did not believe him.

Because if he truly intended to give up so easily, he would not have followed Jeong Harin all the way to the Art Department clubroom.

But what further stoked her suspicion was the fact that he was the Phantom Thief.

‘Every single action is suspicious…’

From the moment the images of Ji Seokhyeon and the Phantom Thief began to overlap, Ji Seokhyeon’s actions started to irritate her, like a tiny butterfly perched on the bridge of her nose.

Perhaps this instinct could be called curiosity. At times it exaggerated meaningless actions, but this time it proved properly that her suspicion was justified.

Because the Ji Seokhyeon who claimed he was going to report to Yu Hyeonjeong began heading not to the First Annex, where the Engineering Department was, but toward the Hall of Protection.

‘I knew it.’

Ji Seokhyeon moved to the rear of the Hall of Protection grounds, where there were relatively few people.

Soon he approached a flowerbed there, then crouched down and examined it.

The flowerbed was surrounded in layers by wooden planks set in a straight line, and Ji Seokhyeon carefully lifted the bottom edge of one of the planks at the outer rim.

A small, glossy object was revealed.

A key. Presumably the Art Department’s, given the context.

Even from where she watched at a distance, Cha Yeri could clearly make it out.

‘A key… how did he know to find it…?’

As though he had known from the beginning, Ji Seokhyeon found the key at once.

It was an action she could not accept at all.

Ji Seokhyeon did not touch the key, lowering the plank back into place.

Then he moved a short distance away and leaned against the building wall, facing the flowerbed, looking as though he were waiting for someone.

‘…Is he waiting for the culprit?’

About ten minutes passed like that.

Just as Cha Yeri’s patience was nearing its limit, a familiar figure appeared from the passage on the opposite side.

That person’s direction was unmistakably toward the flowerbed.

But the figure quickly spotted Ji Seokhyeon and stopped awkwardly with a startled expression.

“Is this a coincidence? I did not expect to find you here, Cadet Ji Seokhyeon.”

“Rather than a coincidence, let us call it inevitability, born of the fact that we both know who the culprit is.”

An investigation instructor, and the Art Department’s advisor.

“Hm. That is a frightening thing to say.”

It was Jeong Harin.