After the incident was more or less settled, we were summoned by the Chairman.

It had been a while since we visited the top floor of the clock tower in the main building.
There, we met Lina again.
She was tapping her fingers with her arms crossed, with a subtle expression on her face.

“Jin Yuha. I heard you stopped a student from becoming a Demon at the Academy.”
“Yes.”
“To be honest, I want to praise you first, but there is a procedure, and I can’t just acknowledge it recklessly. We need to confirm the circumstances first.”
“Yes, I understand.”

I nodded at her words.

“Then I will ask the questions. How did you know that Choi Ah-ram would become a Demon and how did you deal with it?”

I had anticipated this question, so I was prepared.

“This morning, I went on a practical Gate training with two people here and Choi Ah-ram.”
“…That’s right.”

Lina herself had confirmed it, so she nodded.

“And during the Gate sweep, I discovered Choi Ah-ram’s abnormal symptoms.”
“Hmm, then. Why didn’t you report it in advance at that time?”

She narrowed her eyes and asked suspiciously, and I calmly took her gaze.

“Chairman. Do you remember the incident where I was suspected of being a Demon before I entered school?”

Then Lina’s face hardened.

“I think that when a student is suspected of being a Demon, it must be thoroughly verified.  Otherwise… there may be innocent victims like me.”
“… .”
“I’ve already been through that, so how could I have said that I suspected that my senior was a Demon?”

As I pointed out this part, she cleared her throat as if she had been stung.

I laughed inwardly at the fact that my plan worked.

“So, I didn’t jump to conclusions rashly and just harbored some suspicions. It was during this time that I received a message from Lim Ga-eul senior here.”

I gestured towards Lim Ga-eul, who was standing behind me.

“Choi Ah-ram contacted senior. She asked her to come alone to the abandoned training ground.”

“…I felt something was off and accompanied her. And there, we found Choi Ah-ram already undergoing Demon transformation. That’s the story.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Upon pondering this, Lina nodded, seemingly deeming it reasonable. There was no room for misunderstanding. After all, she had overseen the beginning and end of the practical gate training earlier today.

“Well done…”

Hmm, but why does she look like she received a Kumon workbook (Korean educational materials) as a Christmas gift while praising?

“Then, as a reward for resolving this incident, I’ll give recognition. Firstly, Lim Ga-eul, who contributed, will naturally be included as your party member, right?”

Lim Ga-eul seemed momentarily surprised at this statement, but well, if you’ve come this far, you might as well go all the way.

“Yes.”

I nodded.

“Well, then, I suppose we should give additional spatial tattoos to both Lee Yoo-ri and Lim Ga-eul, as mentioned earlier.”

For a moment, my eyes narrowed.

‘What’s this little trickster up to now?’

“Just a moment.”

I interjected.

“…What is it?”

“No, it’s just… it sounded a bit strange as I listened.”

“…What, what is it?”

Subspace tattoo?
Of course, it’s good.

First of all, in the case of Lim Ga-eul, it can be considered a reasonable compensation.
But the rest is not.

“First of all, I acknowledge that the subspace tattoo is a fair compensation for Senior Lim Ga-eul. If it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t have found the Demon.”

I said to her, counting on my fingers one by one.

“But the one for Lee Yoo-ri is something I earned from Instructor Baek Seol-hee’s class. Should I talk to the instructor about this in private?”
“Th, that’s–!”
“And if that’s the case, my other party members won’t be able to benefit from the compensation at all, will they?”

I countered her by pointing out each of her words, and Lina bit her lip.

“I don’t like smart brats like you.”

Lina frowned and said.

‘Honestly, aren’t you the brat?’

The words came to the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed them.
Before she could read my expression and react, I continued.

“Honestly, I think the compensation is too small for successfully containing the Demon student without any casualties.”
Then the Chairman, who had been watching me, opened her mouth.
“… Tell me what you want.”

I cheered inwardly.
Yes. I succeeded in bringing it to this point.

The reward for completing this tutorial in the original game was the ‘Character Support System’.

In other words, after defeating the tutorial boss, users would be able to give gifts to each character and put various items and growth resources in their pockets.

‘But according to what I found out through Shin Se-hee, there were no sponsors with growth resources like the users.’

So I thought about how I could make the most of this opportunity.

At the end of the long contemplation, it struck me.

‘The Chairman’s assistance.’

I understand why she doesn’t step forward.

But even so, I decided that it would be more beneficial for her to intervene at least once.

‘Because of that bastard whom we can never beat.’

The Academy would suffer considerably because of that Demon as a result of that incident. And the Chairman’s authority, having not intervened, would plummet endlessly. Consequently, it would become a world where demons and monsters flourish even more.

I looked at Lina and spoke up.

“Later on, please lend us your strength just once when we need it.”

Her eyes shook as if in an earthquake at my unexpected request.

“T-That’s…!”

Rina stumbled with a flustered expression.

“Director. Just once. I promise that we won’t ask for direct assistance from you after that.”

“…”

She bit her lip and looked at me.

There was a moment of silence.

Lina looked up at the ceiling as if it were miles away.

“The damn sense of Déjà vu seems to have disappeared…”

“…”

“Perhaps this is the right answer…”

Then, she turned her head towards me.

She nodded as if she had made a big decision.

“Fine. I understand. I’ll lend my assistance when you need it. Just once.”

“Thank you.”

“And while you’re at it, you might as well get the spatial tattoo procedure done. Everything’s ready for it.”

Rina let out a deep sigh, her face showing signs of exhaustion.

.

.

.

As all party members emerged from receiving their spatial tattoos, the surroundings were already shrouded in the darkness of night.

“Ouch… It hurts.”

Yoo-ri, who was the last to undergo the procedure, gently rubbed her palm against the throbbing pain. A small geometric tattoo in blue was now etched on the back of her hand. She no longer needed to carry around a heavy shield wherever she went.

Phew…

She let the wind blow on her hand before turning her gaze towards me.

“Jin Yuha.”

“Yeah?”

“I couldn’t ask earlier because of the Director, but is it true that you gave this to me as a reward for your performance in class?”

She extended her hand, showing the tattoo on her palm.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Yoo-ri’s smile faded slightly, perhaps feeling a burden in her heart.

“Don’t make that face. I earned it just by working hard in class.”

I chuckled and reassured her.

“But still! This is really precious! Why would you give it to me… You could have received something better.”

“Well, at that moment, it was the best thing for me. Because it’s for you, Yoo-ri.”

She looked momentarily taken aback, then bit her lip.

“If you have it, you’ll be able to protect me better in the future, right? Isn’t that true?”

“You…”

“So, please take care of me from now on.”

I chuckled and patted her shoulder. Yoo-ri nodded gently, lowering her head.

After sorting out the situation, I glanced around at my party members.

Yoo-ri, Kang Do-hee, Shin Se-hee, and Lim Ga-eul.

“Hmm, we still haven’t met a healer yet, and we’ll need to rotate characters according to boss resistances, but…”

Still, since we’ve defeated the tutorial boss together, now they truly are my party members. Perhaps we’ll be together for a long time from now on.

“Now that we’ve finished the party formation ceremony… It feels a bit anticlimactic just to send them off.”

Looking at my party members, I spoke up.

“Are you all available right now?”

“Hmm? Yeah, I’m good.”

Only Shin Se-hee responded, but the lack of any objections from the others suggested that the timing was indeed suitable.

“Well, since we’ve all worked hard today, how about we grab a meal together? It’s late, and there may not be any restaurants open at the moment…”

I chuckled.

“Why don’t we have a little gathering in my room?”

At my suggestion, everyone looked surprised.

“…In your room?”

“Little Fool, in your room?”

“You want to have a party in Jin Yuha’s room…!?”

In the midst of this, Kang Do-hee raised her hand with a stiff expression.

“What’s going on? Is there something urgent?”

I thought, but what she said next was completely unexpected.

“Little Fool, you’re not planning to cook, are you?”

‘Huh? Why is she calling me Little Fool?’

For now, I decided to set that aside.

“Actually, yeah.”

I nodded with a smirk.

Now that these newly minted adults were here, it was time to show off my ten years of cooking experience as a bachelor.

“I’ll cook for you guys.”

“…Is that so. Perhaps it could be fine. Or maybe it’ll be an even more sinister combination. I should mentally prepare myself.”

“Do, do you mean Jin Yuha cooking…? And… kimchi!?”

Kang Do-hee’s face was filled with anticipation, as if preparing for a boss battle. And Yoo-ri, who was standing next to her with her head bowed, seemed equally surprised.

“Why on earth?”