How to Survive as an Extra

Chapter 80

The main building of Hero Preparatory School, the vice principal’s office.

Vice Principal Park Cheolyeong and Student Council President Yu Hyeonjeong were absorbed in their work, stacks of documents piled up around them.

“So, what happened to the documents we sent to the Bureau?”

“Not yet. Still, they said they would reply within today, so we should get an answer soon. Of course, I do not know what stance the Bureau will take.”

The two of them were racking their brains even on a school holiday to make the united club a reality.

Most academies had already been persuaded, and all that remained was approval from the Director-General of the Bureau, the true administrator of the 4th Scholastic District.

There was no reason the Director-General should object to a united club meant to promote the academies, but Yu Hyeonjeong was uneasy because the Director-General had not watched the Spring Scholastic War even once throughout the term.

What would a Director-General with no interest in culture think of the Autumn Arts War?

Would such a person readily allow massive tax spending on the Autumn Arts War, which did not even have spectator revenue like the Spring Scholastic War?

Whether he knew of Yu Hyeonjeong’s worries or not, Park Cheolyeong remained calm.

“There is no need to worry. The Director-General’s term is seven years, and there are not even two years left until it ends.”

“…What does the term have to do with anything?”

“It means it is time to begin putting on quite a show for reelection. If he hosts a large-scale event on the level of the Spring Scholastic War—setting aside the financial aspect—he will gain considerable votes.”

“Ah, that is certainly not an element we can ignore.”

“More importantly, what happened with the pilot activity?”

“If you mean the joint investigation, they already left Seoul this morning.”

“Hm? That is fast. Well, the semester ends soon, so it is good to hurry. So where is the location?”

“Mount Wol-dal, located on the border between Chungcheong Province and Gyeongsang Province.”

“Mount Wol…dal?”

“Yes. I heard it is a place where ghosts appear… It will be an ideal location for a mystery club that pursues the supernatural.”

In an instant, Park Cheolyeong’s face turned pale.

He followed urgently with another question.

“Yun Jeongseop. Do not tell me the investigation instructor went along as well?”

“Yes. It is a two-day, one-night itinerary, so they will probably arrive around tomorrow at noon. But why? Do you have instructions for him? If it is not urgent, you can instruct me instead—”

Yu Hyeonjeong stopped mid-sentence.

Because she realized that nothing she said was reaching Park Cheolyeong, who was staring blankly at a framed photograph standing on the desk.

Park Cheolyeong remained motionless like that for a minute or two, then spoke without taking his eyes off the frame.

“W-who selected the location? Who did it?”

His voice was raised as though he were about to erupt in anger.

Only after repeatedly checking her memory did Yu Hyeonjeong answer carefully.

“I believe it was decided by drawing lots.”

“……”

***

After the daytime investigation ended, we held dinner to commemorate the first joint investigation.

“It is an honor to participate in such a meaningful gathering! For this moment, let us cast off the shackles of the academy and enjoy ourselves as an investigation party gathered for the sake of mystery!”

I had no idea how they managed it, but in the center of the lodge grounds there was now a whole monster laid out for barbecue.

In the shade nearby, crates of alcohol had been set down, and the students looked close enough after only half a day to speak without hesitation.

Naturally, Lee Eunho—who always monopolized everyone’s goodwill—took the center of the group like the protagonist of the expedition.

Cha Yeri, too, was surrounded by female cadets as she was at Hero Prep, and the advisors from each club had already settled in from early evening, projecting a hearty atmosphere.

Of course, a great deal of attention had been directed at me as well, but it seemed the students quickly sensed my outsider temperament and naturally shifted their focus back to Lee Eunho and Cha Yeri.

For me, that was more comfortable, but…

Somehow, only a self-mocking laugh slipped out.

The once quiet lodge grounds had become a place thick with the scent of youth.

The sight of awakened beings equipped with grim superpowered gear was nowhere to be found, and fresh-faced college students filled the space instead.

A secluded lodge in the forest, students chatting with carefree faces, and a dusk atmosphere that was hard to find in Seoul…

Watching that scene, I felt the illusion, for a moment, that I was not in this world at all.

But when my eyes caught that grotesquely shaped monster barbecue, a curse rose from my mouth on its own.

“This is damn ridiculous.”

I spent time blankly, like a wedding guest who had dropped by for an acquaintance he was not close to, and when the sun had fully set, I went inside the lodge.

Because within twenty minutes, an unforecast downpour would fall.

A rainfall so extreme it would have been unprecedented in decades.

This was the original story’s development.

A setting meant to isolate this area, and to restrict the movement of Lee Eunho, whose attribute was lightning.

There was still some time before the rain began, but I needed to check Yun Jeongseop’s condition once, since he had been shut in at the lodge since midday.

Whether he was hiding for the same reason as in the original, or whether the intervention rate had introduced a variable.

I headed to a small room on the second floor of the lodge.

The room’s only window was covered with multiple layers of tarp, and Yun Jeongseop had pulled a blanket too thick for summer up to the crown of his head.

Naturally, it was a blackout room with no lights—not even candlelight.

Considering that he had scolded Cha Yeri that morning, saying there were no exceptions to group activities, it was almost comical.

“It was not in the forecast, but it looks like rain is coming. I can see storm clouds over there, Instructor.”

“…Ah, is that so.”

“So are you going to lie there until tomorrow morning? Are you actually sick?”

“Mind your own business. Why do you not go outside and mingle with the students?”

“I told you, it looks like rain. And if an awakened being is sick, that seems dangerous.”

“…Did you forget that this joint investigation is also part of club activities? If you do not want points deducted, stop sticking your nose in.”

A threat with a vicious edge.

It felt like I was dealing with a sulky adolescent.

“All right. Rest, then.”

I said that and left the small room.

Judging by his state, it did not seem he was affected by the intervention rate.

Then how was the nearly twenty-four percent intervention rate going to act upon this episode?

I sat on a sofa on the second floor and focused my thoughts, looking down at the dinner gathering below, where the mood was ripening.

How long did I stare at the monster barbecue that had been stripped down to bare bones?

Suddenly, I realized Lee Eunho was not in sight.

With my Agility 20 senses, I could feel Lee Eunho’s presence in the nearby forest.

He was not simply stepping away to deal with his drinking.

Because I had sensed the presence of an outsider who was not participating in the joint investigation.

Reflexively, I used Stealth, left the lodge, and moved into the forest Lee Eunho had headed toward.

In the meantime, Lee Eunho went deeper into the woods, and when his silhouette came into view, an unfamiliar voice rang out clearly.

“Meeting a cadet from Hero Prep is this much trouble?”

A man’s voice I had never heard before.

When I checked with the Demonic Eye, I saw the distinctive mana flow of a Ghoul within the man.

“I do not have time, so I will get to the point. I do not want to deal with your lot for long.”

“Hm. You are more impatient than I heard. Do not press so hard. I am only doing what I was told.”

Unfortunately, since this situation had not been described in the original work, I could not tell whose Ghoul this was.

At least one thing was clear: the Ghoul carried no weapon at all.

It was a reckless decision, considering his opponent was the greatest talent of the 4th Scholastic District, but in this case, there was no need to be armed.

Because that Ghoul was destined to disappear once he had served his purpose.

“First, I want what I demanded in advance.”

“…Prove first that you actually have proper information.”

“Ah, that much is easy. As I said before, I will tell you about the Witch’s tool Hyun Jaejun was sealing thirteen years ago.”

The Witch’s tool…?

As expected.

It was clear the two had met to dig into the part I feared most.

The Gangneung incident from thirteen years ago.

“The tool’s name is the ‘Cone Hat of Pride.’ You have probably never heard of it. It is information your Bureau of Superpowers has kept secret until now. Since you have already experienced the Shard of the Mirror of Greed, you would not doubt that the Witch’s tools truly exist, would you?”

“A cone hat… A witch’s hat, then. What kind of power does it have?”

“Now, now. If you want to know more, hand over what we asked for first.”

“……”

What the Demonic Being had demanded from Lee Eunho beforehand.

For a moment I weighed several possibilities, but what emerged from Lee Eunho’s possession was a beverage can with a familiar shape.

I recognized it at once.

It was carbonated coffee—the one I had just drunk to wet my throat during dinner.

Of course, it was possible someone else had drunk it, but among people with normal tastes, it was safe to say almost no one drank carbonated coffee.

Lee Eunho tossed the can to the Ghoul and said,

“As agreed, it is an object with his saliva on it.”

The Ghoul immediately shoved the can into his mouth.

GULP.

I had no idea how it passed down his throat, but the Ghoul spoke as though satisfied.

“Good work. Our master will surely be pleased.”

The meaning behind those words—our master would be pleased.

The moment I heard that sentence, I realized who the Demonic Being controlling the Ghoul was.

The one who could freely change his appearance by consuming a specific being’s mana… Gen.

It had to be him.

Swallowing the can was to absorb my mana.

Awakened beings possessed unique mana.

So even within my saliva, not yet dried inside the can, there would be traces of mana.

“…I do not want to know things like that. Give me the information.”

“Hmph, you are impatient. You asked about the cone hat’s ability, did you not? Whoever wears it can dominate beings that lack intellect.”

“Dominate…?”

“Yes. If the user desires, whether it is a monster, a lesser race, or even a magical beast that is a monster subordinate to a Demonic Being, it can all be brought under the user’s control.”

“T-then what about thirteen years ago? Did he use it to dominate the monsters living in Gangwon-do and destroy Gangneung?”

At some point, Lee Eunho’s voice had begun to tremble.

The Ghoul savored his reaction.

“Hey, how could that be? That would be the same conclusion your Bureau announced. I told you when I contacted you beforehand. The incident from thirteen years ago was fabricated.”

“……”

The Bureau’s announced story of the incident from thirteen years ago was that Hyun Jaejun, blinded by the Witch’s tools, lured monsters into Gangneung and brought about the city’s ruin.

That was, naturally, a false claim.

“The fate of the Hyun clan, starting with Hyun Yuyeol, Hyun Jaejun’s father, was to seal the Witch’s tools. The world was certainly told that. But… does it not strike you as strange? Gangwon-do. Even if the Bureau built a barrier and isolated Gangwon-do, is it not suspicious that only Gangneung remained safe in Gangwon-do, which became a field of monsters after the Great Rift?”

“Do not tell me…”

“Yes. From the start, they were not sealing the Cone Hat of Pride. More precisely, they were using it. To sacrifice Gangwon-do and imprison the remnants of the Great Rift.”

“…T-that cannot be.”

“Now, then, a question. If the system had been maintained for decades through the Hyun clan’s sacrifice, why did it lead to Gangneung’s destruction? Was it truly because Hyun Jaejun made the wrong choice?”

“Does that mean there is a being that benefits reflexively from Gangneung’s destruction?”

“Well, I am sorry, but if you want the answer, you will have to fulfill another condition this time too.”

“What?”

“I will deliver the details later, by the same method. In any case, that is beyond what I have permission to say from our master.”

With those words, the Ghoul abruptly collapsed onto the dirt.

His body shuddered, and then a very different voice burst out compared to before.

“S-save me! Please! Get me out of here!”

A frantic scream.

Lee Eunho rushed forward, but strange-colored flames burst from the Ghoul’s body and began to burn the flesh in an instant.

“…!”

Even Lee Eunho could not rashly touch the Ghoul’s body.

Because before he could do anything, the body was burned to ash.

The flames did not leave even the Ghoul’s bones behind.

They burned everything.

As though nothing had ever existed there in the first place.

“……”

Lee Eunho sank to his knees before the ash that still held warmth.

It was not to honor the Ghoul.

It was only another lamentation over his own powerlessness.

I quietly turned away from him.

At the same time, a heavy raindrop fell onto the bridge of my nose.

In that instant, I understood instinctively.

“……”

That a more spiteful wind than I expected had begun to blow.