Chapter 18 – Rule 11. The Leader Eliminates the Villain Group (1)

 

Among the destroyed hologram robots, a man was chomping down on raw cultivated meat.

 

A giant over 190 cm tall. A long-haired man with muscles on the verge of bursting.

 

Around him were traces of explosions.

 

Next to him stood a petite female student with her hands in her pockets, wearing a hoodie. They looked like a giant and a dwarf.

 

“Is the test over now?”

 

The girl took off her hoodie and asked bluntly to the man beyond the reinforced glass. The holograms turned off, and the robots’ shapes disappeared.

 

Through the now transparent glass, the man’s appearance became clear. He had a short buzz cut, was dressed in combat gear, and wore a coat. On his combat gear was the logo of Anomia.

 

“Yeah. Still impressive. Lee Ji-Soo, Jang Ha-Moon.”

 

He smiled.

 

“Now, tell me, Chief. Why did you call us here for a test without any warning?”

 

When Ji-Soo asked, the man in combat gear, the leader of Anomia, manipulated a remote control.

 

Beep. A screen appeared on the glass.

 

It was a recently famous video of the Sindo-rim Swordmaster sparring. In the video, a male student in a black uniform was sparring with a truncheon wrapped in turquoise lightning power.

 

Ji-Soo and the giant Jang Ha-Moon watched the video silently.

 

Eventually, the sparring in the video ended. The last person standing in the sparring arena was a male student in a black uniform, the Disciplinary Committee Leader of Ahsung High School, Ahn Woo-jin.

 

The leader paused the video.

 

“So what?”

 

“We’re going to capture him.”

 

Ji-Soo’s face showed confusion.

 

“What!? Are you insane…? That’s the Disciplinary Committee Leader of Ahsung High School, right? Are you trying to poke a beehive? The Disciplinary Committee won’t just stand by…”

 

“This guy anticipated our plan and moved accordingly. He even managed to secretly monitor our activities. And what happened? Our guys got caught in droves, didn’t they?”

 

The leader continued.

 

“We can’t leave someone like him alone.”

 

“Ridiculous.”

 

Ji-Soo snorted in disbelief.

 

“So? Since we can’t figure out how he discovered and monitored our plans, you’re just going to hit him directly? Even if he’s part of a hornet’s nest that could crush us?”

 

“Whether we figure out his methods or not, my conclusion remains the same. Since he’s trying to thwart our plans with such outstanding intelligence skills, we have no choice but to fight.”

 

“Did you ever think about waiting until his term as leader ends?”

 

The leader manipulated the remote control again.

 

The 45th Ahsung High School Disciplinary Committee Leader’s inauguration ceremony video appeared. It was a video available on Ahsung High School’s website. In the video, Ahn Woo-jin was giving a speech in a determined tone, pledging to contribute to maintaining peace.

 

“He’s not just talk. This guy is the real deal. With such meticulous preliminary work and a history of blocking Anomia’s path, do you think he would leave us alone until his term ends?”

 

Ahn Woo-jin’s resolute eyes and cynical voice. His aggressive speech.

 

All of this, combined with his outstanding intelligence skills, instilled strong tension in the Anomia leader.

 

“Moreover, he outperformed the genius Oh Baek-Seo to become the Disciplinary Committee Leader of Ahsung High School. Even Oh Baek-Seo follows his orders as if they’re law. Although Woo-jin may not surpass Baek-Seo in sheer force, it means he has the capability to dominate Baek-Seo in other areas.”

 

An enemy with apparent strength can be planned against.

 

An enemy with unknown strength is terrifying because you don’t know how to counter them.

 

That’s the difference between Oh Baek-Seo and Ahn Woo-jin, and why the Anomia leader highly valued Ahn Woo-jin’s abilities.

 

Therefore.

 

“Before we get blindsided, we strike first. Then, before Oh Baek-Seo can intervene, we withdraw and reorganize. No matter how strong the Ahsung High School Disciplinary Committee Leader is, he’s only ranked 4th level. You 5th level members alone can beat him, and with additional firepower, you can handle any unforeseen circumstances.”

 

Ji-Soo sighed and then chuckled.

 

“Fine, fine. If you say so. So, how do we lure him out?”

 

“Kidnap the secretary. He’s the least useful yet closest to the Disciplinary Committee Leader of Ahsung High School. Wait until he’s out of the police drones’ sight.”

 

“Got it. Taking down the Disciplinary Committee Leader… If we succeed, our notoriety will skyrocket. …Sounds quite fun.”

 

Ji-Soo, along with Ha-Moon who growled like a beast, decided to follow the leader’s orders as Anomia’s officers.

 

……

 

Park Minhyuk, the secretary of Ahsung High School’s Disciplinary Committee, had a hobby he couldn’t tell anyone about.

 

He visited a figure shop wearing round glasses and a raincoat.

 

A bright smile spread across his face as if he had entered heaven. Even the rubbery smell inside the shop was fragrant to him.

 

Looking at the character figures displayed, Minhyuk grinned. He picked up a box of items from the event section and bought it with the money he had saved from his part-time job.

 

Finally, he got his hands on the latest figure of Marina, the iron-blooded girl, which he had vowed to obtain this month. He put the figure box inside his raincoat and hugged it tightly as he left the shop.

 

Thinking about placing the figure at the center of his display shelf in his room made him smile.

 

Worried about running into someone he knew, Minhyuk took a less-traveled path he knew.

 

Eventually.

 

Thud!

 

“Ugh!”

 

A steel rod enveloped in magic struck Minhyuk.

 

* * *

 

The sky outside the window was ash-colored.

 

The light pink cherry blossoms that had been blooming beautifully had all fallen with the spring rain.

 

According to the weather forecast, it was going to be cloudy and rainy all week. It was a relief that the cherry blossom viewing had ended last week.

 

‘Spring rain…’

 

At this time, a thought crossed my mind.

 

“Leader, don’t be surprised. I’m starting my diet again today!”

 

Ignoring Ha Yesong’s 1420216th diet declaration, I thought.

 

‘What is Anomia up to right now?’

 

The subway kidnapping incident that occurred on the first day of this semester’s opening ceremony.

 

In the game, this incident was the catalyst that involved Anomia with the original protagonist, Lee Taesung. Anomia sent officers to retaliate against Lee Taesung for thwarting their plans.

 

“It’s true! Please don’t ignore me…!”

 

The problem was, in reality, I was the one who resolved the subway event.

 

It was only natural that Anomia would target me for their retaliation.

 

However, I hadn’t seen any sign of Anomia’s officers around me. No suspicious circumstances were detected. Despite it being the time when their officers should have already appeared.

 

“Let’s bet again this time! President?”

 

I am the leader of the Disciplinary Committee, ranked number one in Ahsung High School in terms of combat power.

 

It’s not unreasonable to be considered a bigger threat than the original protagonist. They might be trying to approach more cautiously.

 

“Leee..ader…!?”

 

Of course, rather than repeatedly worrying about this, there was also the option of boldly attacking Anomia first.

 

But they frequently moved their base. It was difficult to pinpoint their exact location. Even the base I learned about from interrogating the ones caught during the subway kidnapping incident was empty when we got there.

 

Moreover, there was a significant difference between the map scale in the game and the actual city size. Aside from familiar places, my game knowledge wasn’t very helpful.

 

“…….”

 

So what should I do….

 

“Leader?”

 

While I was deep in thought, someone tapped my shoulder gently. It was Vice President Oh Baek-Seo.

 

Baek-Seo looked at me with the usual gentle smile.

 

“Why?”

 

“What are you thinking about so hard?”

 

“Just thinking about work.”

 

It wasn’t a lie.

 

After all, Anomia was eventually an organization that needed to be captured by the Disciplinary Committee.

 

“But where’s Yesong?”

 

The chatterbox who was in front of me earlier had disappeared.

 

“She just got a call from a friend in the culinary club inviting her to eat chicken, so she left. She thought you were focused on work and didn’t want to disturb you.”

 

“I should have bet with her.”

 

If I had known her diet would fail in just a few minutes, I should have stopped thinking and bet with her.

 

“Shall we wrap up and go home?”

 

Baek-Seo asked as she cleared the empty cup on my desk.

 

I had some free time for a change. It would be nice to leave early and rest well on such a day. Although, calling it ‘early’ was a bit of a stretch considering the time.

 

“Let’s do that.”

 

We quickly organized the documents.

 

Then Baek-Seo asked,

 

“Leader, do you have an umbrella?”

 

“Yeah, I do.”

 

Having caught a cold recently made me cautious about carrying an umbrella. It made me vigilant. Of course, I had recovered from the cold.

 

“If you have two, could you lend me one?”

 

“I only have one. But there are always some umbrellas left by students. Just borrow one of those…. Hm?”

 

Why?

 

There was no umbrella left in the stand except for mine.

 

There were usually several umbrellas left by students whose owners were unknown. Where did they all go?

 

“It looks like the students took them because it’s been raining lately.”

 

“But there should have been at least one or two left…?”

 

“Maybe they took them home.”

 

It didn’t seem right.

 

Given the situation, it was hard to disagree with Baek-Seo.

 

“If you need one, I can get one from the classroom. There should be some spare ones in our class.”

 

“Isn’t it time when there’s no one in the classroom? As a member of the Disciplinary Committee, it’s not proper to use someone else’s belongings without permission.”

 

“?”