I Became the Traitor in an Academy Story

---

“The board game café Yeonhwa mentioned isn’t that far from school.”

It was a shop located in the bustling downtown area, about a 10-minute bus ride or a 25-minute walk.

I wanted to take the bus and get there quickly, but Yeonhwa insisted since it was a monumental day, we should walk instead.

Jinhyeon tends to go along with whatever Yeonhwa wants to do, and since Lapiz was pretty indecisive too, we ended up deciding to walk.

Maybe they just wanted to chat while walking.

However, what Yeonhwa overlooked was that none of us, unlike her, were particularly outgoing or keen on chatting with others.

Jinhyeon was pretty emotionless until about the halfway point, and Lapiz was downright socially awkward.

Honestly, I’m not the sociable type either.

And the result was just this.

“Lapiz, by the way, you were trying to learn abilities from your mom or grandma, right? Do they both have the same ability as you?”

“Mom’s is the same, but… stronger, and Grandma’s is… well, it’s on a whole different level. But, uh, can we not talk about family stuff…?”

“Ah… uh, sorry…”

For twenty whole minutes, Yeonhwa was trying her best to keep the mood light by making conversation.

But every time she tried, the conversation would die out after a couple of exchanges, just like what happened a second ago.

Maybe it was a sensitive topic, or we simply had no clue what to say, or maybe we just didn’t have the conversational skills to keep it going.

None of us were great at keeping the dialogue going, so the conversation didn’t extend much.

The only time the dialogue lasted longer was when she was practically doing a one-woman show.

It was like that battery commercial I saw ages ago, where one person plays ping pong alone.

The difference being that while the battery looked all exuberant, it was kind of sad here.

With every effort Yeonhwa made to lead the conversation failing, even she seemed to be losing energy.

Yeonhwa’s expression was definitely more worn out than when we first started.

“Yeonhwa, you really don’t have to force yourself to chat.”

Seeing her look so pitiful, I decided to lend a hand, and Yeonhwa seemed to be regretting not taking the bus, wishing she had done so instead.

“If it’s because of that just now… that was my fault.”

I figured her efforts to keep the mood up were because of my earlier comment, so I apologized now, fully sober.

In truth, I should be the one apologizing considering I woke someone up from a nap to show them something they didn’t want to see.

“It’s fine, Blanca. What you said wasn’t entirely wrong.”

But the response came from an unexpected place.

Jinhyeon was the one saying it was okay.

Yeonhwa looked at Jinhyeon with a puzzled expression.

Since he’s not the type to step up and apologize, I wondered what was going on.

“Oh, I see.”

Not knowing what had triggered it, I suppressed my discomfort and overlooked it as just a whim.

It was probably just a passing fancy. Nothing more to it, right?

“Hmm, we’re almost there, but where is it…?”

Yeonhwa, feeling awkward in silence, started looking around for the café.

Then she seemed to find something and stared intently at a spot.

“…Um, Blanca. And Jinhyeon. That person on the rooftop over there seems to be staring at us.”

“Maybe they’re just surprised seeing a bunch of academy students together?”

“I don’t know… they’re staring way too intently for that.”

“Er, they’re probably just a weirdo… Come on, Yeonhwa, let’s go…”

Everyone chimed in, glancing at the person on the rooftop.

I’m pretty good with hearing, not so much seeing, so I couldn’t tell what exactly was going on.

Still, I cautiously thought they probably weren’t a suicide entity.

I had no idea if the chat log’s location was here, but it sure felt like it was nearly time to be ambushed.

Just as I thought that, I felt a sensation like someone grabbing my heart.

I had felt this a few times before.

My instincts were ringing alarm bells. If we didn’t dodge, we’d die.

“Get down!”

I tackled Yeonhwa, who hadn’t grasped the situation yet, and we managed to escape the spot.

Lapiz seemed to feel it too as she shifted her body, lifting the ground that was under Jinhyeon and forcefully pushing him out of the way.

Then, the space where we had just been split open, and a group of villains burst out.

If we had just stood still, it would have been like a scorching hunt splitting us in two.

Then that meant the one who attacked us just now was indeed one of the suicide entity’s executives, the Riftsmasher.

“Gate, huh…? Why is the gate here… this is supposed to be a safe zone! Why is the gate…”

Yeonhwa stared at the gate, looking bewildered.

I was equally baffled. This was different from what I knew.

In games, the gate would merely open peacefully.

Villains would pour out from it, and the players just had to deal with them.

There was no mechanic of avoiding where the gate would appear like this.

Moreover, the Riftsmasher himself didn’t possess any physical force to open one; it was said he lacked the stamina to keep an opened one in check, so it should have been impossible for him to have the power to slice through a streetlight like this.

But before I could ponder further, the villains that crawled out from the gate rushed toward us.

“Jinhyeon, back off!”

Yeonhwa quickly ignited the lighter’s flame, creating a wall of fire around us.

“Is everyone okay?!”

While Yeonhwa bought us some time, Jinhyeon quickly stood up to check on everyone’s status.

“I-I’m fine! Yeonhwa should be fine too… and Blanca is… safe!”

“Jinhyeon, call the heroes! And help evacuate the citizens! We’ll…”

But right as Yeonhwa was giving orders to Jinhyeon, a villain hurled itself toward us over the blazing wall.

“Die!!!”

Even engulfed in flames, the villain rushed at us, suppressing the burning flesh with magic, looking like a demon straight from hell.

“You’re the one who should die!!”

Lapiz lifted up a chunk of the pavement and hurled it right at the villain’s torso.

With a scream, the villain was knocked back, tumbling out past the burning wall.

It’s not like the name “suicide entity” was just for show. They had no regard for life or death.

These were lunatics who would do anything to make sure people knew they existed.

“Focus!”

Seeing Yeonhwa’s gaze tremble at the sight, making her flames flicker, I shook her shoulders to snap her back to reality.

“It wasn’t your fault! Those guys are just crazy! Got it? Yeonhwa, listen carefully. Don’t ever extinguish the fire!”

“…Ah, okay, Blanca.”

In the game, there was no one beside her to keep the fire burning.

That was when Jinhyeon showcased his ability. As a result, his name became known, and he met someone who could be called his mentor.

That must be prevented.

“Lapiz, let’s push back anyone coming over the wall!”

“What about me?”

“You just stay still! What can someone who was spaced out do?!”

After sourly retorting to Jinhyeon, Lapiz started dealing with the villains diving into the flames one by one.

These suicide entities truly didn’t cherish their lives, rushing toward us like moths to a flame.

Lapiz revealed a rough side of herself we rarely saw, bashing villains without hesitation, while I responded by kicking or incapacitating them as best I could.

After taking down dozens of them, nothing rushed in toward us from within the fiery barrier anymore.

“…Huff, huff. Did we get them?!”

Lapiz, surrounded by her glowing power, said something we definitely shouldn’t have.

“Is it over…?”

Yeonhwa opened her tightly shut eyes, trembling.

“Probably. Now you can put out the fire.”

As I told her it was fine to extinguish it, she brought down her flames.

Where just moments ago there had been a large crowd, it was now just us left standing.

Looks like all the citizens had evacuated.

“Ugh, ugh… ha… huff…”

Yeonhwa was gasping, staring at the struggling, dark red lumps on the ground.

“Don’t look, Yeonhwa.”

This was something the protagonist was supposed to do, yet since Jinhyeon was doing nothing, I had to step in.

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault. Nothing is your fault.”

She was probably deep in self-recrimination by now.

The Yeonhwa I knew was bold but had a surprisingly gentle side.

She was likely grappling with guilt for involving her friends in this mess for the first time and had harmed someone with her abilities.

She must be thoroughly shaken right now.

Reassuring her that nothing was her fault, I comforted her.

Meanwhile, Jinhyeon stood there doing absolutely nothing.

What a pathetic guy.

Seriously, he’s just standing there.

I thought he’d at least do something.

“Wow, this is something else. You guys really are academy students. I never thought I’d see 80 of you go down so easily.”

“Who are you?!”

“Who am I? The person you saw up there.”

But before we could gather our wits, the Riftsmasher had approached us without us noticing.

“…Did you attack us?”

Finally stepping forward after doing nothing until now, Jinhyeon glared at the Riftsmasher.

“Huh? Ah, well, not exactly. I originally intended to terrorize the citizens, but then I saw academy students.”

“Tell us why!!!”

Lapiz screamed at the Riftsmasher, lifting all the remaining chunks of pavement toward him.

“It’s simple; I want to be famous!”

“For such a reason?”

“Is that all? I mean, for you academy students, it might sound trivial. Ha, ha. Yeah, it really is just that. You guys can just breathe and achieve things, while we have to go to these lengths just to get noticed!!! Ah, I’m so glad I joined the suicide entities!!! I’ll take every one of you out!!!”

Whether it was something I said out of boredom or if it just triggered the Riftsmasher’s inferiority complex, he suddenly surged up, pulling a syringe from his pocket.

A purple substance.

Oh.

So that’s why the portal had power.

This ability amplifier I had distributed in the underground world to fund the Liberators must have made its way here.

Great, now it’s my fault again.

Almost simultaneously, Lapiz hurled all the chunks of pavement at the Riftsmasher.

But the Riftsmasher was a step ahead.

He jabbed the syringe into his own body.

Then he opened a gate right in front of him, not even bothering to block the pavement.

Instead, he was hit and became a bloody mess while sending us flying into the wide-open gate.

“Shit—”

Our words were cut short as we were swallowed by the gate.

 

---