"Leader?"

The window opened.

Ha Ye-song stuck her head out and looked up at me.

The other executives were also at the window with Ye-song.

"Leader, is that...?"

The executives seemed surprised to see the lower-grade goblin in my hand.

I continued talking to the goblin without minding them.

"Moon Chae-yeon's hideout?" [Yes! Got caught! By the white man!]

The lower-grade goblin flailed its small arms.

'The white man... it must be him.'

I couldn't help but know who it was.

If it was someone connected to the Principal, capable of defeating Baek Seo, and referred to as the 'white man,' there was only one person it could be.

The strongest among the Spartoi, Seo Kang-jin.

According to the mind map, Baek Seo had been closely watching Kang-jin.

The moment Kang-jin got involved, it was clear the plan would go awry.

In a game analogy, Kang-jin was like the grim reaper who would inevitably defeat the player or the landmine that would result in game over upon contact.

In other words, if Baek Seo had been defeated by Kang-jin,

It meant my bad premonition had come true.

"Tell me where the hideout is." [Moon Chae-yeon's hideout is in Ma Hyun High School's jurisdiction!] "Ma Hyun High School's jurisdiction?" [Yes! I don't know the exact location!] "......"

Min-hyuk stuck his head out of the window.

His face was filled with fear.

"No matter how you look at it, it seems like a trap...! That's a goblin, right!? One of the six sinners! You can't trust it, Leader!"

Could it be a trap?

"I don't think so."

I leaned towards the side that it wasn't.

Just like any major academy's jurisdiction, Ma Hyun High School's jurisdiction was very broad.

If they were trying to lure me into a trap, would they have answered so vaguely?

In the first place, why would Kim Dal-bi go to the trouble of sending a lower-grade goblin to tell such a lie?

It was a highly unnatural situation.

It meant there was an interest I didn't know about behind this incident.

‘Even if it’s a trap, there's no choice.’

There was no way to find out Baek Seo's whereabouts immediately.

I couldn't refuse even if it was a trap.

After all, I had the ability to teleport. I could escape if necessary.

[Good! Mission accomplished since I told everything!]

Having said everything, the lower-grade goblin shouted joyfully, stretching its arms upwards.

Soon, its body started turning into smoke from the toes up. It was leaving because it had completed Kim Dal-bi's order.

"One more question. Why did Kim Dal-bi send you?" [I don't know...! She said to take Baek Seo.] "What? Wait...!"

The lower-grade goblin completely turned to smoke and slipped out of my hand.

A goblin whose purpose isn't combat cannot be caught anyway. How could I stop it from disappearing?

The night breeze brushed my skin.

Soon, a question surfaced in my mind.

‘Does Kim Dal-bi... wish for Baek Seo to be safe?’

Whether with good intentions or bad,

It seemed that Dal-bi didn't want Baek Seo to face any misfortune.

‘I don't know.’

I couldn't guess the reason at all.

Let's set aside the question that I can't find an answer to.

"Did you hear?"

Squatting on the windowsill, I asked the executives.

“Yes…. Can we trust that?”

Ye-song asked, looking bewildered.

"I’ll go even if it’s a trap. I can escape if something happens.... Hm?"

At that moment, I sensed movement below.

The executives and I looked down.

We saw students setting up an air cushion.

"Hey, Senior!"

A female student cheerfully waved at me. It was Lee Se-ah, squinting her eyes as usual.

On closer look, the students setting up the air cushion seemed to be from the Volunteer Club.

“Hey! Are you planning to make an extreme choice as the discipline committee head?”

“Haha…! If you’re having a hard time, we’ll kindly counsel you…!”

“Hehe…! Jump, senior! If you’re confident in going to the afterlife, then jump! Let’s see who wins!”

What the heck...? What are they doing here...?

Bzzz.

Suddenly, my smartphone vibrated.

Seeing Se-ah fiddling with her smartphone, it seemed she had sent the message.

I checked immediately.

[Lee Se-ah: Senior~ I came to stop your suicide!] [Lee Se-ah: But I think I saw something strange]

[An Woo-jin: It's nothing]

[Lee Se-ah: It seemed like something though?] [Lee Se-ah: Anyway, let's talk about it later] [Lee Se-ah: Are you looking for Baek Seo?]

My whole body tensed.

‘What…?’

How did she know?

‘Did she guess by looking at my state?’

I recalled that Se-ah had found me and informed the executives.

Though I didn't know how she found me, anyway.

I had been a mess earlier, and Baek Seo hadn't been with me for days. Se-ah could have easily guessed.

Se-ah had enough information-gathering ability to find me.

[An Woo-jin: So you’ve been watching me all along]

[Lee Se-ah: Of courseㅋㅋㅋ] [Lee Se-ah: We're stalkers to each other, aren’t we?] [Lee Se-ah: I really like this relationship ㅎㅎ]

[An Woo-jin: …]

[Lee Se-ah: I'll send the kids back] [Lee Se-ah: Should we discuss it?]

......

"Emergency air cushion~. It boasts excellent performance. I often carry anti-suicide tools. You never know when you’ll encounter someone with strange thoughts on the street, right? Though I didn't expect it to be you, senior. It’s really good to be alive!"

"......" "Are you perhaps moved by the junior who cared for your life?"

"No."

The discipline committee's office.

I brought Se-ah and served her tea. She sent the other Volunteer Club students back.

The discipline committee members watched Se-ah quietly. Except for Yoo Do-ha, no one seemed wary.

"She looks like a doll.... No wonder the leader is so into her.... Ouch!"

Ye-song's nonsense was interrupted by Min-hyuk's chop to the back of her head.

"Be considerate...!" "What did I do...!"

Ye-song and Min-hyuk bickered in low voices.

Se-ah watched them with a bright smile.

"Thank you. You are beautiful too, senior." "Me?" "Yes. You're lovely." "Hmm..., hehe. You're saying the obvious...!"

Embarrassed, Ye-song giggled at Se-ah's flattery. She was weak to compliments.

She looked stupid to me.

"......" "......"

Min-hyuk and Do-ha silently glared at Ye-song as if they were dumbfounded.

"So, you ran over when you saw me by the window?"

I asked while sitting across from Se-ah.

I leaned back and crossed my arms.

“Yes. We were having a gathering after finishing our night volunteer work. Our room is right across, so we saw it well.” “I see…. Did I look like I was about to jump?” “You’ve been a mess lately, haven’t you? Someone as perfect as you suddenly falling apart like that, of course, it raises suspicions.”

It was convincing...

“Moreover, I didn’t see Vice Leader Baek Seo, who’s always with you. So, I wondered if there was a serious issue between you two.” “Leader.”

Do-ha called out to me.

It wasn't a nuance of wanting to talk.

Baek Seo's disappearance was the discipline committee's issue.

It wasn't good to inform people outside the committee.

Once you speak out, you can't take it back. Moreover, this incident was very sensitive.

In short, it was prudent not to blab to outsiders.

It could cause unexpected problems.

So, Do-ha was signaling me not to talk about it.

Besides, Do-ha seemed not to trust Se-ah.

From my experience, Do-ha's intuition was never wrong.

It could be correct this time too.

Se-ah was destined to become the villain controlling the Black Market in the future.

‘But….’

Reflecting on past events.

In terms of helping each other, I thought positively of Se-ah.

I also owed her a great debt.

I lightly raised my hand, showing the back of it to Do-ha. It meant I would handle it.

Even if things went wrong, I would take full responsibility.

Se-ah smiled meaningfully and gave Do-ha a glance, then looked back at me.

"Senior, I can help you too." "What?"

That one sentence from Se-ah instantly grabbed my and the executives' attention.

"Let me lightly guess the situation first. It’s just my imagination, and it might be groundless."

Se-ah rested her arms on the table and spoke. Then she raised her right hand and pointed her index finger upwards, starting her explanation.

"Vice Leader Baek Seo couldn't stand it anymore because of the constant involvement of Leader An Woo-jin with the six sinners. She left targeting someone. The first target would be the technomancer you recently fought. The problem is, she left without saying a word, and now the discipline committee is in the dark. Right?"

"That is…."

As Do-ha tried to respond.

"That's right."

“Leader? Wait…!”

I confirmed.

Do-ha was surprised, and Se-ah smiled brightly.

"And the entity you caught by the window was a goblin, right?" "Did you know that too?" "Of course. It's the ability of the six sinners. Continuing my guess, Vice Leader Baek Seo must have had trouble with the six sinners. The goblin must have revealed Baek Seo's whereabouts. Is that correct?"

I nodded.

"But we know little too. We don't know why the goblin revealed Baek Seo's situation. It might be a trap." "Where did it say?" "The technomancer's hideout in Ma Hyun High School's jurisdiction." "How do you plan to find it?" "Technomancer's ability requires a lot of electromagnetic waves. So, there should be an abnormal amount of electromagnetic waves near the hideout. Or a place where there shouldn't be many electromagnetic waves but there are. I'm thinking of looking for such a place."

Se-ah grinned.

"Sounds good. Senior, as I said before, I'm good at finding people. You can trust me."

“Okay….”

Thud.

Suddenly, Do-ha put his hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, leader.... Why did you reveal everything?"

His tone was filled with annoyance.

Of course, Se-ah was an outsider, not a discipline committee member. It was natural for Do-ha to express dissatisfaction.

However, Se-ah had considerable useful capabilities.

As I mentioned before, she had been a great help to me.

If Se-ah had intended to harm me from the start, she wouldn't have made me feel indebted to her this much.

That's why I thought I could ask for her help this time.

Moreover,

“I trust Se-ah.”

To be honest, I just wanted to believe her.

It seemed the psychological barrier between Se-ah and me had broken down significantly.

Of course, it wasn't absolute trust.

I had no intention of lowering my guard towards Se-ah.

She was destined to become a major villain in the Black Market in the future.

If Se-ah ever committed inhumane acts, I was prepared to put a knife to her throat at any time.

"What…?"

Do-ha was startled by my firm response.

“Oh….”

Se-ah opened her mouth in admiration.

It wasn’t just for emotional reasons.

I continued speaking.

“And if Ma Hyun High School’s jurisdiction is the enemy's territory, it’s difficult to use only the discipline committee members. The discipline committee or the student council invading another jurisdiction is a clear violation of sovereignty. We’ll be immediately restrained, and security drones will easily catch us. If we involve Ma Hyun High School in finding Baek Seo, it’ll be complicated.”

“So, you want to ask for help from non-discipline committee members to avoid detection?” “Right. We need to minimize the use of discipline committee members. Just take the core and leave the rest.”

While we were talking, Min-hyuk interrupted.

“What about cooperating with Ma Hyun High School...?” “Min-hyuk, think a little?” “What?”

Ye-song scolded Min-hyuk.

“There’s an urgent situation where Baek Seo might be in danger, and if we ask Ma Hyun High School for help, do you think they’ll respond quickly? We don’t even have proof to request support. What can we say? ‘We heard from a sinner that our Baek Seo is in your territory. So, we want to rampage there.’ Is there anything else to say? If I were Ma Hyun High School, I’d be dumbfounded. It’s not like a child’s tantrum….”

“That’s…”

“Moreover, to request Ma Hyun High School’s cooperation, we need to get approval from the student council here and go through procedures…. It’s very leisurely, isn’t it?” “…….” “Even if things go well and Ma Hyun High School listens to us. They’re the ones we’ve been fighting over jurisdiction issues, remember? At the exchange meeting, we growled at each other showing our teeth. This time, they’ll be the absolute authority. Who knows what attitude they’ll take? We’ll be in agony, and the risk is too high.”

…!

Unbelievable….

“Leader, Do-ha? Why are you so surprised?” “Ha Ye-song thought…?” “I do have a brain, Leader…. Please treat me like a human.”

Even in a serious situation, it was astonishing.

...Let's set that aside for now.

Moon Chae-yeon's hideout would be filled with all sorts of weapons, including chimeras.

It would be dangerous to operate the discipline committee with minimal personnel, but with Se-ah's organization Dohwa Group or at least the Volunteer Club’s help, the situation would improve.

I looked at Do-ha again. He was still seriously staring at me.

“Anyway, I’ll take full responsibility. So don’t oppose it.” “…Tsk.”

In the end, Do-ha clicked his tongue and stepped back.

“Does this mean you need my help?”

Se-ah tilted her head and asked. She still had a sly smile on her face.

“Yes. But, we might end up fighting a sinner.” “It’s okay. You’ll win, won’t you?”

“…….”

I didn’t deny it.

I had to win anyway.

Because I couldn’t afford to lose.

“Got it. Then tell me what you want.”

“Pardon?”

I put my hand on the table and looked at the edge.

I decided to probe her.

“You’re offering to help because you want something from me, right?”

Like a businessman smelling money.

“Oh…, do I have such a bad impression? I need to work harder.”

Se-ah let out a small laugh.

“Finding out that an acquaintance is in danger, how could a volunteer like me stay still? Also, I owe you a big debt. That’s essentially a life debt.” “If you’re talking about that subway incident at the beginning of the semester, forget it.”

Although it was just a feeling, Se-ah seemed to want something from me.

If there was such a thing, it would be good for me.

I could certainly get help.

I also wanted to clear the debt with Se-ah properly in the future.

“Anyway, if you want something later, tell me. I owe you a lot too. I’ll help if I can.” “Really, really~. So that’s what it was?”

Se-ah nodded contentedly.

Her eyes slightly opened, revealing her red pupils.

It was a meaningful look, as if she was trying to see through my intentions.

“How heartwarming.”

Se-ah returned to her squinted eyes and smiled slyly.

“Then, shall we postpone the debt settlement for later?” “Okay.”

Se-ah extended her hand.

“Let’s do this, senior. Cooperation.” “…I’m counting on you.”

I shook hands with Se-ah.

......

The next day.

We finished our preparations.