How to Survive as an Extra Chapter 69 : Chapter 69

Chapter 69

Jeong Harin spoke.

“Just in case, I will ask. You do not think I am the culprit, do you?”

“No. If you were the culprit, you would not have co to confirm the key like this.”

“The key… so you found it in that brief span of ti.”

Instead of answering, I nodded.

She approached the flowerbed and checked whether the key was there.

Naturally, she did not touch it, only looked.

“Then… shall I start by asking how you learned about this place?”

Before I answered, I gauged her mood.

Perhaps because she had confird the key’s whereabouts, she looked calr than I had expected.

“I was lucky. I overheard your conversation with Senior Jeon Sohye, and I thought you might not normally carry the key.”

“That alone is not enough.”

“There was sothing that had been bothering even before that. Gong Minwu’s painting. If you are a first-year cadet, everyone knows that Gong Minwu spends an enormous amount of ti training.”

“Cadet Gong Minwu’s diligence is sothing everyone at Hero Prep already knows.”

“Yes. He arrives at the training ground earlier than anyone and finishes his training the latest. It is hard to believe that soone like him painted sothing of that caliber during club activities, which only happen on Fridays. Was it not practically a finished piece?”

“It was finished. Until dawn today.”

“Well, in any case, for Gong Minwu, who devotes himself to training without gaps all day long, the only ti left to invest in painting is dawn. But by regulations, use of the annex at dawn is restricted. Inevitably, Gong Minwu…”

Jeong Harin cut in.

“Cadet Gong Minwu needed a spare key, and he ca to asking to borrow one.”

“Yes. But you could not have lent it to him every ti without it becoming troubleso. It would also an the advisor instructor was breaking the club rules. So you must have felt the need to create a specific place shared only between you and Gong Minwu. Sowhere you could use the excuse that it had been lost, if necessary.”

“Excellent. But how did you realize the key was here?”

With my eyes, I indicated the park beyond the flowerbed.

“If you cut across the park behind the Hall of Protection, and step off the walking path by the large plum tree, you can reach the annex grounds faster than if you use the campus sidewalks. Would soone who has to paint in secret deliberately choose to be seen by others? Thinking that way, the Hall of Protection was the first place that ca to mind. It was an ideal location for Gong Minwu, who finishes training late at night and then stops by the annex.”

“I understand how you found the area. But how did you find the flowerbed? There are many other fixtures around here.”

The flowerbed…

I opened my mouth with an utterly innocent air.

“I never said it was a flowerbed.”

“…?”

“I only guessed it would be sowhere behind the Hall of Protection where it borders the park, and waited. A mont later, you proved the key yourself.”

“Cadet Ji Seokhyeon… that is a sly thod.”

“I was lucky.”

“Let us move past this topic. I would like to know who the culprit is.”

Jeong Harin had folded her arms.

It was the posture of soone preparing to evaluate a cadet’s presentation with severity.

“I will say this in advance: it is not Park Jeongchan. He has neither the nerve nor the justification.”

“He has neither, yet he is being driven as the pri suspect.”

“That is proof the culprit is one of the mbers. It ans they know that Park Jeongchan, the Art Departnt’s youngest and its only first-year in the Investigation Division, is always the one who returns the clubroom key.”

“If soone had been watching nearby, they could still recognize that Cadet Park Jeongchan handled the key.”

She was right.

If you were a cadet active in the Second Annex, you could notice it easily.

“No. There is one more piece of evidence that the culprit is a mber. The color mixture of the X drawn on Gong Minwu’s canvas.”

“The mixture?”

“The scribble was a gray almost identical to the painting’s background. Unless you have an interest in art, it is difficult to mix oil paint into a color that closely matches the background.”

“Are you saying the color was intentional? What if there was a palette nearby that Cadet Gong Minwu had left behind?”

“No. That assumption is aningless. If their purpose was to prevent Gong Minwu from submitting his work, they would have torn the canvas without hesitation.”

“…”

“In other words, they needed to interfere without fully ruining it. For example, to make Gong Minwu spend more ti on preparing the submission.”

To grasp the purpose of this incident, there was no need to peer into the culprit’s thoughts.

“It is probably the end-of-month evaluation. There are not even ten days left.”

Jeong Harin stared at .

No, rather than staring, it was a careful gaze, as though she were dissecting with her eyes.

“Then that ans the culprit is a Combat Division cadet. An Art Departnt mber, and a Combat Division cadet…”

I smiled bitterly and agreed.

“Neither you nor Gong Minwu would have gone around telling people where the key was, so the culprit must have learned the flowerbed’s location by sticking close to Gong Minwu. They would also know what ti he goes to the clubroom at dawn, and when he takes breaks. As far as I rember, there is only one such person. Cadet…”

“Choi… Minsang.”

Gong Minwu’s right-hand man, Choi Minsang.

She likely had guessed it herself as well.

Even if she had not realized it imdiately in the clubroom, she would have noticed quickly from the fact that the key hidden under the flowerbed looked different from the usual one.

That was why she had co here in the first place.

Jeong Harin lowered her head slightly and fell silent in thought.

She seed to be pondering why Choi Minsang would do such a thing.

If he had not been a character I had written into the setting, I would have had no idea either.

Could I have ever imagined that a friend I had known for years would try to sabotage the end-of-month evaluation?

Watching her for a mont, I spoke quietly.

“Jealousy.”

“…?”

“He refused to spare any ans to defeat soone he had never been able to surpass.”

It might not be imdiately understandable, but this place was the Hero Preparatory School, where the greatest talents of each generation gathered.

In simple terms, even a cadet stuck at the bottom had once been considered exceptionally talented in their hotown.

That was why the cadets were not accustod to losing.

Not accustod to accepting that the self they had thought special was rely a supporting role.

Not accustod to disappointing those who had praised them.

Perhaps this act was Choi Minsang’s own desperate struggle.

It was certainly a misguided choice, yet ironically, in awakened society, far worse intrigues were rampant.

“I see… Then why did you not reveal the truth in the clubroom?”

“Because Gong Minwu did not want it. That applies to you as well, does it not, Instructor?”

When Jeong Harin nodded silently, I continued without pause.

“He probably had a vague suspicion as well. That is why he did not let it beco a big matter. There will be rumors on campus for a few days, but if there is no result, it will fade away like other gossip.”

“…I respected his choice, but I could not understand the reason for that choice. Simple friendship could not explain it.”

Choi Minsang acted out of jealousy.

Then why did Gong Minwu cover for him?

As the original author, I could say: Gong Minwu had not covered for him.

He had simply insisted on doing things his own way.

“At first, Gong Minwu would have found those who plotted against him and crushed them. But wherever he went and whover he t, he must have realized that most people envied him. That he was very, very special compared to others. …After that, he likely concluded that he could not simply reject everyone around him. No matter how outstanding a hunter is, he must cooperate with allies. Above all, he must have judged that he could not entrust his back to trust born of forceful submission.”

The thod Gong Minwu adhered to was to turn jealousy toward him into reverence.

To break through crises born of jealousy head-on, until those who envied him gave up on envying him at all.

To make them submit of their own accord, without directly forcing them.

Gong Minwu was one of the loneliest characters in this world.

His past and his family’s story had not even begun yet.

“…It seems you truly are acquainted with Cadet Gong Minwu.”

Jeong Harin nodded as though she accepted it imdiately, rely from my speculation about his character.

Perhaps she did not wish to understand more deeply than that.

In any case, the chain of this incident was roughly revealed.

Now it was ti to claim my due.

I dropped my serious expression and shrugged as though it were nothing.

“No. To be honest, we are not very close.”

“…What?”

“I kept the secret in the clubroom, but honestly, I just did not want to get on his bad side.”

“That ans…”

I took out my smartphone.

“It ans I can open Incrystal anyti and spread this anonymously.”

“….”

“For example, that you gave special treatnt by lending a key to a certain cadet. Or that you tried to conceal an act of vandalism to avoid deductions in your instructor evaluation… You have to remain a good advisor in your mbers’ eyes too, do you not?”

It was not a thod I liked, but there was no more effective choice than this.

What I needed right now was support for the joint club.

To begin with, the reason I played along with Choi Minsang’s disgusting stunt was to seize the Art Departnt’s weakness.

If the people involved had not been main characters, I would have identified the culprit long ago and taken the Art Departnt’s agreent form.

It did bother , what image I would leave in Jeong Harin’s eyes…

But choice always left regret behind.

I watched Jeong Harin’s expression.

And her expression was unusual.

It looked as though she were desperately trying to hold sothing back.

Sure enough, a short laugh escaped her.

“Pfft…”

“…”

What was this, in this context?

“Ahem. I am sorry. I laughed suddenly.”

“I do not know what has put you in such a good mood, but I would like an answer to my proposal first.”

“Ah. The proposal… Fine, I will accept it. On the condition that you do not reveal this matter, the Art Departnt will participate in the joint club.”

Her tone still carried laughter.

“That aside, Cadet Ji Seokhyeon, you should practice lying a little more.”

“What do you an by that?”

“Hm, so…”

“…?”

Jeong Harin hesitated, as though weighing her response.

Then a rather deflating answer ca out.

“Because I do not want to tell you.”

“….”

“Then I will see you at the next lecture, Cadet Ji Seokhyeon.”

With that, she turned her back to .

Just what had she seen in to say I was bad at lying?

Early thirties was not even an age to claim so grand seniority, and in the first place, I was around the sa age, so there was no difference in perspective.

“One more person whose thoughts I cannot read.”

***

A ssage from Yu Hyeonjeong arrived shortly after.

Along with the good news that she had persuaded the Engineering Departnt and the Theater Departnt, she told to gather again at the Hall of Justice.

She also said that Yun Jeongseop, who had been out on business, would be attending as well.

I headed straight for the Hall of Justice.

But for so reason, Cha Yeri was standing in front of it.

When I approached, she spoke as though she had been waiting.

“Where did you go?”

Cha Yeri’s voice was quite calm.

I expected her to snap at because of what happened earlier…

“And you? Did you persuade the other departnts?”

“No. But I heard the Art Departnt contacted them and said they would participate, for whatever reason.”

“Oh, really? That is fortunate.”

“…”

Was that too indifferent an answer?

It was an unexpected success, so an exaggerated reaction would have been more appropriate.

I parted my lips again.

But Cha Yeri spoke first.

“This is a different matter, but… earlier, what happened to the brush in the end?”

“The brush? The one used for the vandalism?”

“Yes.”

Not a guess about the culprit, but suddenly, a brush.

“Well, the culprit might have taken it, or washed it imdiately afterward.”

“What do you think?”

“I do not know… Perhaps they painted over it with a different color. And then stuck it back among the other brushes. As if nothing happened.”

“As if nothing happened…”

For a mont I almost asked back, What do you think? But I stopped.

Because she looked as though she had sunk into a deep thought, as though expecting an answer from her would be pointless.

Just then, a System ssage descended.

[The episode has been completed.]

[The influence of the sub-character, ‘Ji Seokhyeon,’ increases.]

[The setting intervention rate of future episodes increases by 3.141%.]

The episode had completed at a strangely tid mont.

Even after I spoke with Jeong Harin about the incident, it had not completed, so I had been quietly anxious.

“If you are not going in, I am going first.”

“…I will go in. I just do not want to move with you.”

“Oh, sure.”

I passed Cha Yeri with the lightest steps.

As I reached the lobby and waited for the familiar elevator, one question ca to mind.

Why had Cha Yeri been listed among the characters of this episode?

She did not seem to have had any particular presence…

I thought about it briefly, but could not find a convincing reason.

“…”

Well, I did not need to understand every intention of a devoted reader.