How to Survive as an Extra

Chapter 94

The arena in Seoul’s District 26.

Magnet Man, having been defeated, returned to the waiting room with a healing potion in hand.

At the same time, the announcer’s voice thundered through the venue….

—Now! The next challenger is the Phantom Thief, who once made everyone tremble in fear!

By the time I realized it, I was already on the stage, gripping a metal pipe and wearing a mask.

A roar like wildfire poured across the stands, but I did not have the leisure to feel its heat.

My head was full of questions about why Lee Eunho had lost.

“A waiting-room mask…. So you came with him.”

Choi Suhyuk recognized me at once.

I looked at him steadily and answered.

“Then you must also know why we came. Rather than wasting time, could you come down from the stage and speak with us?”

“A champion only comes down after he loses.”

“And when do you intend to lose?”

“I do not know. I still have a long way to go before I meet today’s quota.”

“I appreciate the clarity.”

I adjusted my grip on the metal pipe.

In response, Choi Suhyuk lowered his stance.

There was no need for him to look that serious when facing an Investigation Division cadet, but it was obvious that he was mindful of the fact that I belonged to the Special Affairs Division.

Still, why had Lee Eunho lost?

If he had aimed for a status ailment as in the original work, he could have won easily.

Had he been taken down without even managing proper contact?

“…….”

The answer came fairly quickly.

When I used the Demonic Eye, I saw that a specific mana had been layered across the arena floor.

In that case, someone had used an item that interfered with lightning-element magic.

It was, without question, the devoted reader’s interference.

They had wanted Lee Eunho to lose, and for me to go up and clash with Choi Suhyuk.

Did the devoted reader want my victory, or my defeat?

I could not fathom their intentions, yet for some reason, I felt certain I would not lose.

Because the Demonic Eye was reading Choi Suhyuk’s movements in meticulous detail.

“If you have business with me, then drag me down yourself.”

Choi Suhyuk charged at me with two pistols that looked ready to spit flames at any moment.

I tilted the metal pipe horizontally and blocked his attack.

CLANG—!

A clear frictional ring echoed through the arena.

Foreseeing his follow-up, I swung the metal pipe at once, and he skillfully retreated to create distance.

“As expected, you are not someone I can take lightly.”

“Did you insure those guns? They might break.”

This metal pipe was surprisingly sturdy for an item.

Of course, it could not compare to the pistols held by a future powerhouse scouted by Blackcastle, but it was more than good enough to swing.

This time, I rushed in first.

My target was the chronic weakness of gunmen: the inside line.

With skill like Choi Suhyuk’s, he could defend easily enough, but that was only if he could keep up with my speed.

“This—!”

Sure enough, he failed to match the pace of my charge.

One pistol moved in time, but it could not interfere as the metal pipe slammed into his abdomen.

“……?”

I thought he could not manage it, but in an instant the pistol aimed for my brow, and fire burst from the muzzle.

A shot.

More precisely, an impact round meant to shove a close target away in a single blow.

“Urgh!”

Caught in motion without any preparation, I was driven back and tumbled all the way to the edge of the ring.

This, too, was not in the original work.

It was the devoted reader’s ploy.

I sprang to my feet without the luxury of dwelling on the sting at the tip of my nose.

No matter what it was, how could he fire a round at a junior?

The stands erupted, thrilled that Snowman had been forced to shoot.

Though most of them were waving betting tickets and cursing at the Phantom Thief.

“Is this not supposed to be close combat?”

“It is only a recommendation.”

“I understand. So anything goes.”

In the original work, Choi Suhyuk was often ranked as the next strongest after Lee Eunho and Gong Minwu.

In the future, anyway.

His talent was undeniable, but as long as he wielded guns, he could not fully display his greatest ability in this ring.

At best, it would be agile movement and, at critical moments, the use of impact rounds to neutralize an opponent.

It was not that Choi Suhyuk’s close-combat skill was poor.

He had simply met the wrong opponent by bad luck….

I surged forward again.

With the Demonic Eye, I could see his next move would again be an impact round.

He had judged, with experience, that he could not track my instantaneous movement.

Once I closed to a certain distance, I leapt high into the air.

At that moment, I saw the corner of Choi Suhyuk’s mouth curl.

He must have thought that while I was airborne, it would be difficult to escape his firing range….

But my aim was not to strike him in midair.

It was to obscure the lights shining down on the ring.

To hide Choi Suhyuk beneath my shadow.

Both gun barrels lifted to stare into the air.

And the instant his two fingers settled on the triggers, I bound the two pistols with shadow.

Normally, the Bind ability restrained the movement of a target connected to its shadow, but after my intelligence had increased, I could now control it with finer precision.

For instance, extending past Choi Suhyuk’s shadow and applying the ability to the pistols alone.

“……!”

Choi Suhyuk faltered when the triggers would not move.

I did not stop. I compressed the impact rounds loaded inside the pistols with shadow pressure, and a massive explosion erupted between us.

BOOOOM!

The pistols were flung from his hands—or rather, they were simply destroyed.

I did not miss the opening. In midair, I put my weight behind the metal pipe.

My target was Choi Suhyuk’s brow.

“……!”

Then the metal pipe swung down from above with merciless force.

***

District 26, one of the more bustling areas even among Seoul’s outskirts.

Lee Eunho and I faced Choi Suhyuk on the emergency stairwell of a shabby commercial building.

He sat on a landing half a floor above us, looking down, his refined features unrestrained as he scowled and vented his irritation.

“So you are saying you did not call Dispel?”

The moment the Phantom Thief seized victory from Snowman, Dispel had stormed the arena.

Normally, the arena operated quietly by slipping money to a Dispel branch in the outskirts, but in this rare instance, it had been hit by misfortune.

As a result, all betting tickets became worthless scraps of paper, and Choi Suhyuk—upon whom a huge sum had been wagered—treated us as the only variable and pressed us.

“Then why in the world did Dispel raid the arena?”

“I do not know.”

You are standing right in front of me, and you expect me to accept this?”

There was, in truth, one thing that bothered me.

Gwon Chihun.

I had called Dispel for Gwon Chihun, who was being beaten near the arena.

It had largely been a choice to mediate the assault, but it was possible that Gwon Chihun had testified that he had been attacked starting from inside the arena.

Which meant… if we were being strict, it was my fault.

I redirected the topic.

“That is not what matters, is it? The reason we came to find you—do you still not understand?”

“I do. Something happened in the Broadcasting Club, and I am the president.”

“And, additionally, you are the culprit.”

“What?”

Before beginning my deduction, I glanced at Lee Eunho.

He must have had thoughts of his own, yet for some reason he was not speaking up.

As though he were leaving everything to me.

Suppressing a bitter smile, I opened my mouth.

“There is no need to pretend. We already know you stole the mana stone from the Broadcasting Room.”

“Do not accuse the wrong person. Was it not enough that you caused chaos at someone else’s workplace?”

“Chaos? I advised you first, did I not, that we should speak instead of wasting time. And was it not the Broadcasting Club that asked the Mystery Club for help?”

“That was Kim Dasol’s decision.”

“It was something you instructed Cadet Kim Dasol to do.”

“…….”

Choi Suhyuk smiled with deliberate ease.

“Fine. Then let us hear it. Why you think I am the culprit.”

“First, let us point out the culprit’s ignorance.”

“This should be entertaining.”

“Every crime has a motive. In the case of theft, it is the reason one steals. The object the thief touched in the Broadcasting Room was the mana stone. But what is peculiar is that it was an item on the verge of disposal. Why steal something with virtually no commercial value? There are many variables, but the reason I inferred is that it was not because money was needed.”

Choi Suhyuk had not stolen the mana stone for money, yet he was working in the arena for money.

This irony could be understood through the thief’s behavior.

“Also, the thief was not an outsider. If they had climbed the walls, they would have been spotted by the guards, and even if they were skilled enough to avoid them, the Principal would have sliced them in two. Moreover, the mana stone in the Broadcasting Room cannot be dismantled without specialized knowledge. That means there is a high probability the culprit is within the Broadcasting Club, which replaces mana stones every semester.”

“Sorry, but the Broadcasting Room’s CCTV would have been operating perfectly. Twenty-four hours a day, without gaps.”

“Yes. But it was not capturing the device housing the mana stone, the most crucial part. And that point itself is proof that a Broadcasting Club member is the culprit. As I said, if someone is skilled enough to bypass CCTV, knows the school’s situation in detail, and has the ability to cross the walls without the guards noticing, then realistically they would not risk it all for a mana stone on the verge of disposal.”

“…….”

“Then what did the culprit steal for…? It must have been money.”

“What?”

“You are working in the arena while hiding your identity for financial comfort, are you not?”

“Hah. Ridiculous. So it was just forcing things to fit? You said earlier there was no commercial value in the mana stone.”

“Yes. You stole the mana stone to buy time to earn money.”

The corners of Choi Suhyuk’s mouth, which had been lifted in a smile, sank.

I continued with a nonchalant expression.

“Do you like detective novels? In that world, there is a phrase called ‘the cart trick.’ If you do not check what is loaded on a cart passing through the gate, you cannot know whether it carries wine or the lord’s corpse. The bag you had on CCTV in the Broadcasting Room was that cart.”

I pulled out a piece of rubber from my pocket.

“Do you know what this is? I found it under the power device.”

“…….”

“Judging by its material and size, it is a fragment of a balloon. If we are distinguishing color, it is a purple associated with Hero Prep.”

“So what?”

“It means that balloon was what made your bag look bulged. You approached the power device, which was in the CCTV blind spot, and popped the balloon inside your bag. Then you put the dismantled mana stone into the bag. After that, you left while carrying a bag that looked bulged, just as it had when you entered the Broadcasting Room.”

“You seem to be misunderstanding one thing. Kim Dasol would have been there.”

“Cadet Kim Dasol’s presence was the prerequisite that completed the cart trick.”

“What?”

“While you were taking the cart in and out through the gate, the corrupt gatekeeper, Cadet Kim Dasol, had to overlook the cart’s passage and later testify that nothing was wrong. …Unlike the other members who joined the Broadcasting Club to curry favor with you, Cadet Kim Dasol was an individual perfectly suited to help you commit the crime. And she faithfully played her role, as she did today.”

“…….”

“Using the Mystery Club was the same. If the Mystery Club, which has a member with tremendous notoriety and has been involved in many incidents, ‘verified’ the case, then naturally this incident would sink into a labyrinth. Moreover, Vice Principal, your advisory instructor, would dislike anything that tarnished his standing, so it was not even something he would deliberate over.”

That was why I had declared that I would not be able to catch the culprit in the Broadcasting Room.

I continued, speaking toward Choi Suhyuk, who had fallen into thought.

“Then, returning to the motive. Why did the thief, Choi Suhyuk, touch the mana stone? Perhaps it was… because you wanted to leave Hero Prep, was it not?”

“…….”

“Since I declared I could not find the culprit, by now it will have been reported to Vice Principal, the advisor. Therefore, this matter is bound to be quietly buried. It was a mana stone slated for disposal anyway.”

“…….”

“From here on, this is my guess, but as the person responsible for the Broadcasting Club, you intend to voluntarily withdraw from Hero Prep on the grounds that you failed to safeguard the mana stone. And since I have the balloon fragment, it would be a perfect crime unless Cadet Kim Dasol changes her mind. You would be able to withdraw from Hero Prep for a very plausible reason.”

The reason Choi Suhyuk left Hero Prep without finishing his final semester was money.

Even if he could not enter Blackcastle, who had scouted him, because he did not graduate, he needed money immediately.

“Stepping down while taking responsibility looks quite convincing. You do not harm anyone, you do not stain your own honor, and although Blackcastle would filter you out… it would be a very Choi Suhyuk-like exit.”

Choi Suhyuk did not speak for a long time.

Lee Eunho, beside me, had been watching my profile the entire time, and I kept swallowing, waiting for someone to break the silence.

“…So what are you going to do now? Are you going to threaten me?”

Choi Suhyuk’s hoarse voice carried a deep resonance.

No, was it because we were in an emergency stairwell…?

I curved the corners of my mouth as I answered.

“Of course not. What I am interested in is the mana stone you hid.”