How to get on the protagonist’s flower path

“Why are you here… oh, you said you transferred to the academy.”

“What? Did you forget? I’m hurt~”

The fox pouted and flicked my leg with its fluffy tail.

Seeing our friendly interaction, Choi Borim looked surprised.

“Do you two know each other?”

“We’re friends.”

“Yep. We’re friends.”

The fox hugged my shoulder as if to flaunt our friendship and then greeted the other members with a smile.

“Hello, I am Mihael Valder. Nice to meet you. Well, it’s not our first meeting, is it, young master? I was just about to contact you, but you came to find me instead.”

“Valder?”

“It’s the name of the family I was adopted into.”

The fox was adopted by the Valder family? I widened my eyes in surprise.

The irregular that Nayuhan mentioned in the introductory part… a fox beastman hybrid was indeed a fox.

It seemed that Nayuhan and the fox already knew each other, as they exchanged words in a friendly manner.

“Why are you already here? How do you know Nahyun?”

“My master asked me to go ahead and investigate a few things. He also asked for your support, so just let me know if you need anything. And as for our personal connection, I don’t think I need to mention that. I’ll consider it an unnecessary question.”

“…Why you, of all people?”

“Because I’m the most capable? You can’t deny that.”

Feigning innocence, I blinked my eyes and asked, “Do you two know each other? Is the friend you helped the fox… Mihael?”

“Huh? Oh, I didn’t help Mihael, but rather someone else from the Valder family.”

“Thanks to that, you’ve become the fiancé of the head of the Valder family.”

“Fiancé?”

According to the setting, I was just now learning this fact.

So I acted shocked as if I had just heard that the person I liked had a fiancé, putting on a face like I was about to cry.

“Oh, I see… Nayuhan has a fiancé…”

“He has a fiancé, and he did that kind of thing…? Is he trying to get himself killed?”

“Calm down, Kang Yu.”

“Argh—”

It seemed like Siwoo was holding Kang Yu back from running toward Nayuhan.

Calm down, Kang Yu.

Nayuhan seemed truly flustered, stumbling over his words to explain.

“No, this is just a simple business relationship for cooperation! It’s not like we got engaged out of love or anything!”

“Still, since you’re engaged, it’s best to fulfill your duties as a fiancé. Like not leaving room for other women.”

With Siwoo’s nonchalant addition, Nayuhan’s mouth opened and closed as he tried to find the right words.

The fox… Mihael… no, let’s just call him the fox.

The fox looked back and forth between me and Nayuhan, then let out a thoughtful “hmm” and pulled my shoulder closer.

What’s this all about?

“Yah!”

“Ah!”

Crack!

In the chaos, it seemed like Siwoo lost his grip on Kang Yu’s arm, and Kang Yu bolted like lightning and bit Nayuhan.

Nayuhan screamed as his hand was bitten.

How did he escape?

I had to rush out to tidy up the chaos.

Anyway, after that commotion, I was finally able to get to the main point with the fox.

Seeing my disheveled state, the fox laughed heartily, which annoyed me.

“By the way, fox, or rather, Mihael, do you have the lucky letter with you? I actually came to warn you that it’s a dangerous item.”

“Oh, this letter? I’ve long figured out that it’s a conditional cursed item that hides its curse. However, I think I can do something with it by utilizing its property of vividly showing something in a dream once the curse is removed.”

“What can you show in a dream?”

“I’m researching a method to show the past in dreams.”

“I see…”

“That’s why I kept it over there to hold onto it until the curse activates.”

I looked where the fox pointed.

There was nothing there.

“There’s nothing here?”

“Impossible… there must be.”

“…No way.”

“…It seems the curse has activated?”

Nayuhan, who had been rubbing the bitten area with his hand, interjected with a serious expression. He lifted his device, which began to beep loudly.

“It seems letters have appeared for everyone. We need to gather the targets quickly. They’ve been instructed to bring any issues to us, so they shouldn’t damage the letters.”

“Oh, I have one too! I’ll get rid of mine right away! If this is the main body, we can resolve the incident immediately!”

“No, don’t just tear it—”

Before Nayuhan could finish his sentence, Choi Borim ripped her letter apart.

Nayuhan’s expression turned to one of shock and dismay.

Simultaneously, a fierce wind began to swirl around the Research Department, centered on the torn letter.

Whoosh—!

“What… what’s happening?!”

Choi Borim quickly stepped back from the letter fragments.

Nayuhan gritted his teeth and shouted.

“Everyone capable of combat, get ready! Researchers, evacuate outside the classroom! Monsters will be summoned soon!”

“Monsters? Indeed. Are they monsters created based on curses? Since it’s a conditional curse… Hmm… The more hands the letter passes through, the stronger it might become.”

“You need to get out now! You’re the primary target!”

Nayuhan summoned a flag and shouted towards the fox.

However, the fox didn’t seem inclined to leave. It shrugged its shoulders slightly, took off the research gloves it was wearing, and put on a new pair made of sturdy leather that looked like combat gear.

“Well, I don’t have a hobby of trembling in fear from behind.”

“I’ll help!”

There was no suitable spot to establish a sniping point from afar. I summoned my dual pistols.

In that brief moment, everyone seemed to grasp the situation and readied their weapons.

Choi Borim stammered before saying she would assist in the evacuation and stepped back.

Before long, black powder started to swirl around the torn letter, forming the shape of a mounted knight.

The powder knight silently pointed a massive halberd at the fox and charged forward.

“Guardian Shield!”

As Nayuhan swung his flag and activated the skill, the massive halberd struck the shield that had just formed.

Clang—!

A sharp metallic sound rang out.

Fortunately, the shield managed to withstand the halberd.

The knight, glaring at the shield, frowned and ran its hands over its body. As a result, the knight began to shrink, and the powder that fell off it was absorbed into the halberd.

The now larger and stronger halberd swung down again toward the shield.

Clang—!

This time, the shield shook.

“Ugh….”

“I’m going in!”

I fired a mana bullet at the knight.

According to the system, attacks from members registered as part of the same ‘party’ would pass through. My mana bullet seamlessly penetrated the shield and rushed toward the knight’s torso.

And then it passed right through the knight’s body.

The knight’s body momentarily turned to powder and scattered, but there was no other change.

What’s going on?

“The main body! We need to burn the fragment of the letter completely to turn it to ash! That’s what acts as the core!”

“Got it!”

“Why didn’t you say so sooner?”

“You seriously need me to say it! Anyway, if you try to attack the main body, it’ll target the attacker first, so keep that in mind!”

Clang—!

Nayuhan glared at the slightly cracked shield and irritably shouted at the fox.

Currently, the letter fragment was floating in the air, surrounded by a strong wind barrier, making it difficult to approach easily.

With a smirk, the fox turned to Choi Sujeong and Nayuri.

“Choi Sujeong, I’m sure you can dispel that much wind, right?”

“Of course!”

“Nayuri, I believe you can burn it down easily.”

“Yes!”

“Why are you giving orders…? Well, I was going to ask them anyway. Sujeong, Nayuri! You two dispel the wind barrier and burn the letter! We’ll do our best to hold off this cursed monster!”

“Don’t worry!”

“Let’s wrap this up quickly!”

Nayuhan lightly waved his flag and shouted.

“Min Jaeyun! Come over here and absorb this knight with your curse absorption skill! Prevent the attacks from bouncing off!”

“Okay!”

“Gangyu, Park Siwoo, and Senior Hana, protect the researchers! Nahyun and Shinbaran, stay by my side and protect me. If you imbue your attacks with holy attribute mana, we should still be able to deal some damage!”

“Got it!”

“What about me?”

“You can just test the waters and deal damage as you see fit!”

Creeeak—!

The cracks in the shield slowly widened, and soon gaps began to form.

Just as the shield was about to shatter helplessly, Nayuhan shouted.

“Ally Summon! Min Jaeyun!”

Min Jaeyun, summoned right in front of Nayuhan, charged toward the knight, cloaked in his own curse.

The knight swung its halberd, trying to make him move aside, but Min Jaeyun casually grabbed the shaft of the halberd.

Swoosh—

Just as Nayuhan said, the knight’s body began to turn to powder and was being absorbed by him as he used the curse absorption skill.

The knight, realizing it couldn’t pull the halberd free, gave up on it and began to retreat.

At that moment, the wind that had been swirling around began to calm.

The knight flinched and tried to look back, but Shinbaran and I shot holy attribute attacks to keep it in check.

Damage started to appear on the knight’s body.

It seemed that the knight, feeling cornered by Min Jaeyun’s approach and our holy attribute attacks, attempted to retreat.

“Nowhere to run.”

However, a radiant thread of light had suddenly formed behind it, blocking its escape route.

The fox smiled leisurely and waved its hand.

As a result, the threads began to tighten around the knight.

It started to struggle, but in front was Min Jaeyun and behind was the holy attribute threads.

There was nowhere to escape.

As the knight gradually lost strength, like a butterfly caught in a spider’s web, a brilliant flame erupted.

“I burned it!”

As the flames soared, the once-formed black powder knight scattered like ashes from a letter.

Great!

I clenched my fist in joy.

With this, it seemed the issue of the letter of fortune… or rather, the letter of curse had come to an end for now.

I was relieved that no one was seriously injured.

Just as I let out a small sigh of relief, applause rang out from behind.

What’s with the applause?

We turned around in confusion.

“I heard there was some commotion, so I came to check it out. Impressive!”

“Senior?”

It seemed Shion had arrived, drawn by the commotion, clapping his hands.

He appeared blissfully unaware of what had happened due to his presence, clapping cheerfully, which was really… how should I put it…

“It’s a bit irritating…”

Shinbaran muttered under his breath, and I almost nodded in agreement without realizing it.

It would have exploded someday, even without Shion’s presence. Still, it felt like a matter of human thought.

We went through all this trouble, and he was just there wondering what was going on.

…No, that was a pointless thought. I was just glad it ended well. I brushed aside my distractions.

However, what Shion said next threw me back into confusion.

“After all, first-year students…”