The Tough Guy Hides the Villainess

“The headquarters has carried out operations in various regions. There have been many crises. What do you think was my greatest support in those times?”

D-Class homeroom teacher Kang Cheol-min was supposedly a veteran who had served in a special forces unit, having rolled through battlefields all over the world.

He frequently appeared on entertainment shows, so anyone would recognize him as ‘Captain Kang Cheol-min.’

A person more suited to the nickname ‘Captain’ or ‘Instructor’ than ‘teacher’ shouted loudly.

“It’s comrades. Comrades you can trust to watch your back! Comrades who will carry you on their back in times of emergency are far more important than any equipment or strategy. They are your lifeline.”

The point of the Captain’s story was clear.

It was a message to form good teams for the upcoming practical training.

“You have five minutes to form your groups. Begin!”

Six teams, five people each, formed with friends.

The problem was, I had just transferred, so I didn’t have anyone I was particularly close to.

“Class president! Join our group! Please?”

“Jin-i, we only need you to make five!”

The atmosphere was lively, like a bustling marketplace.

Hoping that perhaps someone would invite me, I looked around, and a few students did make eye contact with me.

“Are we missing one more? Then how about the transfer student? It might be fun.”

“Fun? Do you want to suffer all day? We need skill, not fun!”

“True, we don’t even know what concept the transfer student has.”

Even the kids who had shown interest in me during the debate had already teamed up with others.

This naturally led to a situation where the leftover students, like uneaten leftovers, gathered together.

“Tae-sung, you got left out too! As expected, my friend!”

I waved to Geum Tae-sung, who had been standing awkwardly in the corner as the other students formed their teams.

I had thought he was popular because of his sociability, but it seemed he was actually the type to drift away from the group.

“Hah, I figured this would happen. Looks like the leftover kids will form a group again.”

Geum Tae-sung shrugged his shoulders as he walked over to me.

He glanced over at the leftover students.

“Nam-jin, you were left out because you’re a transfer student. And there’s ‘Artist’, ‘Miss Fortune’, and ‘Silence’… Yeah, it’s always the same faces during group practicals.”

“Artist?”

“In the practical training, we use call signs instead of names. It’s like a nickname. That guy with the messy hair over there is ‘Artist’. The quiet girl is ‘Silence’. And…”

“Hick!”

Baek Yeoul, startled when Geum Tae-sung pointed at her, flinched.

“And this is your seatmate, Baek Yeoul, who’s called ‘Miss Fortune’. When someone awakens a concept and joins the special class, the instructors or senior students give them a call sign based on their abilities. My call sign is ‘Twist’.”

‘Twist.’

It was the perfect call sign for Geum Tae-sung, who, despite his delinquent appearance, sat diligently in the front row of class.

The other call signs must suit their owners just as well.

“Nam-jin, if you perform well in this practical, you might get a call sign too.”

“Oh, really? Me too?”

‘Twist’, ‘Artist’, ‘Miss Fortune’, ‘Silence’—those call signs sounded cool, like game characters.

Since I had joined the special D-Class, it seemed I would get a nickname like that soon.

If my call sign became famous?

What if I got a call sign like ‘Brad Pitt’ because of my handsome face?

Then I’d have more chances to approach Seo Ga-eul by saying, “Hmm, I’m the famous ‘Brad Pitt’ these days.”

My motivation surged.

“So, what exactly is this practical training?”

# # #

The reason Yeongsa High School was built not in Seoul, the capital of Korea, but in D City was because of a mysterious facility discovered deep beneath D City.

“Seven years ago, two workers inspecting the sewers at a construction site on the university campus made the first report. What they found under our feet was the ‘Great Labyrinth’, a place where countless concepts are interwoven.”

According to Captain Kang Cheol-min, a mysterious facility known as the ‘Great Labyrinth’ had suddenly appeared beneath us.

Exploring it and discovering new things within was the main task that Yeongsa High School students would have in the future.

“The Great Labyrinth itself is an architectural structure imbued with countless concepts. It holds countless mysteries that will contribute to the advancement of humanity. These are objects imbued with concepts.”

Objects imbued with concepts?

I was suddenly curious.

“Captain, I have a question.”

“Call me teacher, not captain. Anyway, transfer student Han Nam-jin, what’s your question?”

“Can concepts be imbued into objects? I thought concepts were supernatural abilities given to people.”

“You might not know this as a transfer student, but concepts can reside in anything. That inspection machine you saw today was an object imbued with the concept of ‘Inspection’.”

Schwip—

The captain pulled a pen out of his pocket.

“This is a pen. But it’s imbued with the concept of ‘Cutting’. What do you think will happen if I bring this pen near this glass cup? Amazingly, the cup will be sliced in half.”

Snip—

As Captain Kang Cheol-min sliced the glass cup in half with the pen, I couldn’t help but be impressed.

Were there tons of amazing objects like that in the labyrinth?

No wonder my heart, having lived as a scavenger in the junkyard, was beating with excitement.

“Captain! Where can I buy that pen?”

“This is my exclusive tool. It’s a third-grade controlled item, dangerous yet convenient. If you want to get something like this, you’ll have to explore the labyrinth yourself.”

“Ooooh!”

“But the labyrinth isn’t just filled with these useful tools. There are many dangers as well. That’s why you eat well, receive great benefits, and learn the best of everything at this academy. Now, let’s head to the practical field!”

As I followed the students of D-Class out of the classroom and into the vast underground area of the school, I remembered that today’s practical training was a joint class with F-Class.

It was the perfect chance to meet Seo Ga-eul.

I had to stay sharp, as I didn’t know when such an opportunity would come again if I missed it now.

After walking through long, white corridors that resembled a research facility, we arrived at a white room where a woman was sitting calmly.

The woman looked to be in her mid-twenties.

She wore an outfit resembling that of a researcher, but for some reason, she was wearing a blindfold.

“Captain, as always, you’re right on time. F-Class has already moved to the training area. I’ll start sending D-Class students in order. The prepared groups, please come this way.”

Shh—

As the first five students approached the woman, they suddenly vanished with a soft swoosh. It was as if they had entered a warp device from a movie.

What was happening?

As I stood there in surprise, the captain approached me and kindly explained while handing me something.

“This is Moon Hyun-ah, a graduate of the first class of Yeongsa High School and a current active explorer. Her concept is ‘Gate’. She can send people anywhere they remember, just like a real gate.”

“Instructor, I can’t send people just anywhere. It’s not that convenient. The backlash is severe, so I can’t leave this city. That’s why I stay here.”

Hahaha—

The woman with the blindfold chuckled gracefully as I looked at the item I had received from the captain.

“Han Nam-jin, here’s your smartphone and smartwatch. They will measure your condition in real-time and provide good guidance. Don’t lose them. They’re expensive.”

It was now our group’s turn to move to the practical field.

As I stood in front of the blindfolded woman, she smiled softly, as if she had sensed my presence.

“You’re the transfer student, right? What’s your group’s name?”

“Our group? ‘No Leftovers Day.’”

“Leftovers? That’s an interesting name. So, if you could go anywhere on a trip, where would you want to go?”

“Huh? What do you mean—whoa!”

A sensation of my insides being twisted from top to bottom stirred my body.

Before I could react to the sudden event, someone patted my back, bringing me back to my senses.

I found myself lying on a cliff somewhere.

# # #

Whew—

It was literally a cliff.

The wind was so strong that it was cold.

“What the heck? Where is this?”

As I struggled to process the unfamiliar experience, Geum Tae-sung, who had been patting my back, helped me up and spoke.

“We’re inside the labyrinth. Looks like the location is terrible. A cliff? We might have to spend three hours stuck here.”

Tick— Tick—

The smartwatch I had been given made a sound as it activated.

「02:59:57」

「02:59:56」

…

..

.

“Countdown?”

“The task is to explore this labyrinth within this time. If you find and acquire a concept-imbued object or defeat a monster, you’ll earn plenty of merit points. You can just stay put if you want, but you won’t earn any points that way.”

It was literally an adventure and exploration.

I was confident in finding useful objects.

But something about this cliff felt odd.

“When I heard ‘labyrinth’, I imagined cold stone walls and moving skeletons.”

“Outdoor-type dungeon.”

Someone answered my thoughts, making me perk up.

It was a girl with long bangs covering her face, making her identity unclear.

I didn’t know her name, but her call sign was ‘Silence’.

You know how there’s always that one girl in class who’s so quiet that you might hear her voice only once a year?

She muttered in a small, mumbled voice.

“…A labyrinth doesn’t always consist of structures. Even in manga, there are places like ice fields, volcanoes, or forests inside buildings. The space is distorted….”

So this cliff and the forest below it were part of the so-called ‘Great Labyrinth’?

And somewhere in this place was Seo Ga-eul, who had entered earlier with F-Class.

Schwip—

Geum Tae-sung rubbed his forehead.

“Starting points are usually randomized, but we got stuck on a cliff? We really have no luck.”

Then, Baek Yeoul mumbled in a small voice.

“…Sorry.”

Sorry?

Why?

Why was Baek Yeoul apologizing in this situation?

As I tried to understand, a boy with shaggy hair, ‘Artist’, opened his mouth.

“I had a feeling. It always ends up like this when I’m teamed with Yeoul. Always something unlucky.”

What was with his tone?

Did he just step out of a historical drama?

His vibe was incredibly strong.

Was that why he was called ‘Artist’?

Artists are supposed to be eccentric, after all.

But I found him amusing, so I kept watching him.

“Since we have nothing else to do, why don’t we introduce ourselves? We have a transfer student here, and it would be good to share what concepts we have.”

It was a good idea.

We needed to know who everyone was and what abilities they had.

But Baek Yeoul began trembling as if a debt collector had come to her house.

“I-I’m not… really….”