How to Survive as an Extra Chapter 90 : Chapter 90

Chapter 90

This week passed in a blur.

All of the cadets devoted themselves to the end-of-sester tactical evaluation, and the instructors, mindful of the cadets, kept their lectures brief.

Naturally, an atmosphere even more intense than the end-of-month evaluation settled over Hero Prep.

“At least the tactical evaluation is done by grade. If every grade participated, it would have been practically a war.”

I was not in a position to sit back either.

Tactical evaluation was one of my weak points, my assigned teammates were the worst possible, and above all, the fact that Do Minyeong was not on the sa team as Lee Eunho ant the episode had beco tangled.

“It would have been easier to prepare if I had even one reliable Combat Division cadet.”

For example, Gong Minwu. Or Gong Minwu. Or Gong Minwu.

In any case, after a busy stretch that did not distinguish between day and night, Friday arrived.

Even the schoolwide holiday that encouraged club activities was replaced with tactical evaluation preparation, no different from an ordinary weekday.

Most clubs canceled their schedules, though so used the ti to share plans among their own mbers or ask seniors for help.

“Well, there is no advice more useful than the experience of seniors.”

The Mystery Club was an exception.

A small storyline from the original work, worthy of being treated as a sub-episode, had been prepared.

Title: The Missing Mana Stone

Characters: Ji Seokhyeon, Lee Eunho, Choi Suhyuk

On failure: Status decreases

By the ti I stepped into the Hall of Justice classroom for Mystery Club activities, Lee Eunho and Cha Yeri had already arrived.

They sat with three or four desks of distance between them, and to anyone watching, they did not look close.

More precisely, without as a connecting point, they looked like a purely businesslike relationship that did not even have a topic to discuss.

“You are here already.”

My formal greeting was cleanly ignored.

Lee Eunho glanced at once and then stared out the window as if I did not exist, while Cha Yeri avoided my eyes from the beginning.

It seed the incident from that ti was still catching at her heels.

As usual, I naturally perched myself on the wide desk.

Yun Jeongseop, the Mystery Club’s advisor, was absent again today.

He was busy until the Hunter Association club was properly established, and in any case, the original work did not even ntion him in this episode.

“Um…… if you do not mind, may I co in?”

At last, the scheduled guest opened the classroom door.

It was Kim Dasol, a first-year top student in the Support Division and a mber of the broadcasting club.

Beside her, unlike the original work, Do Minyeong had co along as well. When I gave her a questioning look, she imdiately said she had co in place of Student Council President Yu Hyeonjeong.

……But Kim Dasol was also part of the Student Council, so did she really need to co along?

More importantly, she should have been fighting for her life to prepare for the end-of-sester tactical evaluation.

“Nice to et you. I am Mystery Club President Ji Seokhyeon. We ran into each other quite often during tactical training, did we not?”

As the nominal president, I welcod them at a nearby desk.

Then I handed Kim Dasol a drink can I had pulled from the first-floor lobby, and Do Minyeong—who was taking a seat—looked at with startled, rabbit-like eyes.

“Huh? What about mine?”

“I did not know you were coming.”

“There is one on that table.”

“Ah, that one is mine.”

“…….”

Until now, the only person who ever visited this classroom was Yu Hyeonjeong, who was practically a fourth club mber.

So I had never even thought in terms of “hosting,” but it ca to mind today, so I brought sothing.

The flaw, if there was one, was that out of habit I had picked carbonated coffee.

Kim Dasol twisted the ring pull open the mont she received the can.

“Thank you. I really like this.”

So there was another human being who liked carbonated coffee.

I had assud she would not even touch it and would leave it behind……

For so reason, Kim Dasol’s comnt drew the attention of both Do Minyeong and Cha Yeri.

“What?”

“Excuse ?”

The two of them reacted in surprise at the sa ti.

Seeing their faces, I could tell at once how strange they had always considered for drinking carbonated coffee.

But was that worth reacting like that?

Ignoring them, I spoke.

“I received advance notice from the president. Sothing happened to the broadcasting club?”

“Ah, yes. I am sorry for troubling you when you must be busy preparing for the evaluation.”

“No, you do not need to feel burdened. The broadcasting club helped our Hunter Association club a great deal.”

After it beca known that I belonged to the Special Affairs Division, cadets frequently began bringing minor and major incidents to the Mystery Club.

Soone had spread rumors, and because word that the Mystery Club helped with cases traveled across the club grounds, it had beco common.

Until now, everything had been rejected at the level of Advisor Yun Jeongseop, but the broadcasting club had helped the Mystery Club more than anyone in preparing the Hunter Association club, so I made ti for them.

“Then let us hear directly from you what happened.”

“Yes.”

Kim Dasol explained that soone had stolen an item from the broadcasting room.

What the thief stole was the mana stone that supplied external power for the broadcasting club, an expensive item that could only be purchased through auctions with other guilds.

Because it contained enough power to last almost an entire sester, it was about the size of a soccer ball, and it was heavy as well. Naturally, it was vulnerable to impact, so if handled poorly it could even lead to a large-scale mana explosion.

So regardless of its monetary value, it was an item extrely difficult for an outsider to steal……

“Did you check the CCTV?”

“Yes, there was no record of an outsider approaching. There were no unusual traces inside the broadcasting room either.”

“Then that ans soone among the mbers might have had bad intentions.”

At my question, Kim Dasol firmly denied it.

“No, that cannot be. Since last weekend, we have suspended broadcasting activities to prepare for the tactical evaluation.”

Lee Eunho, who had been listening quietly, cut in.

“Then the broadcasting room was empty the entire ti?”

“Ah, at least a minimal number of people visited in turns to inspect the mana stone.”

“So in the end, only broadcasting club mbers went in and out of the room.”

“Yes…….”

After sending a silent look, Lee Eunho stopped speaking.

At so point, he had begun not to take the lead and instead push the responsibility onto .

If this had been the old him, he would have already run to the broadcasting room in a burst of zeal.

“Um, then when did you realize the mana stone was missing?”

That question ca from Cha Yeri.

Kim Dasol answered at once, as if she did not even need to think.

“Yesterday evening. The club president discovered it had been stolen.”

“The broadcasting club president would be…….”

“Senior Choi Suhyuk from the Combat Division, third year.”

Choi Suhyuk.

The Combat Division cadet who had advised Lee Eunho during the last Countdown.

And a talented fighter who, in his second year, had been scouted by Blackcastle, one of the top hunter guilds.

At the na Choi Suhyuk, Cha Yeri subtly narrowed her brow and fell quiet.

Well, soone described with words like “a pretty leech” was exactly Cha Yeri’s least favorite type.

I looked back to Kim Dasol and said,

“Then let us go to the broadcasting room without delay. ……Ah! But where is Senior Choi Suhyuk right now?”

***

We headed for the First Annex, where the broadcasting room was located.

The annex was so quiet that it was hard to believe it was a school holiday.

It felt like staying behind at school after classes in childhood.

In its own way, it had a cozy charm.

“So this is the device where the mana stone was installed. It looks expensive even at a glance.”

The power supply device located outside the broadcasting booth clearly showed the empty space where the mana stone should have been.

Because the ceiling CCTV cara was aid at the booth, the device itself was not perfectly visible, but with only one entrance, it seed physically nearly impossible to steal it.

Even for an awakened being.

While I examined the device and the area around it closely, Kim Dasol was being scolded by other broadcasting club mbers from a distance.

“Kim Dasol, you should have just reported it to the Vice Principal.”

“Dragging this out will not do any good. It is already stolen. How are we supposed to find it?”

“Senior Suhyuk told you to handle it, but he did not an like this.”

The reason the broadcasting club mbers were upset was obvious.

The tactical evaluation would begin in three days, and they had been dragged here to waste ti over an unpleasant incident.

I understood, to be fair.

The broadcasting club’s mana stone was one they used for an entire sester.

In a few days, it would be discarded and replaced with a new mana stone anyway.

That did not make this incident light, but to cadets facing an imdiate evaluation, it was undeniably a waste of ti.

Ignoring their situation, I continued to scrutinize the area around the device.

When nothing obvious stood out, I slid my fingers into a narrow gap beneath the device, and soon I pinched up a thin piece of rubber.

The rubber was a dark crimson-purple, the color symbolizing Hero Prep.

I discreetly slipped it into my pocket and stood up.

When I turned around, Lee Eunho, Do Minyeong, and Cha Yeri were watching from a step away.

At a glance, it looked normal, but instinct told this was dangerous.

Because Lee Eunho and Cha Yeri—who should have been actively solving this incident—had let go and were rely observing.

Which ant the main characters had lost interest in the episode.

“…….”

It was clearly one of the side effects caused by my involvent.

If they were simply thinking about sothing more important than this incident, that would be one thing, but the more episodes that passed, the more frequently situations like this would happen.

Even so, if soone asked whether it was right for to interfere with the episode, I could not answer with certainty.

My plan had always been to hold onto the episode only until I could keep myself alive on my own.

The main characters in front of might be “my kids” only outside the novel. In this world, they were strangers without exception.

“Are you done checking?”

“Ah, well…….”

At Do Minyeong’s question, the broadcasting club mbers turned their eyes to .

The scolding expressions they had just worn vanished, replaced by faces waiting for my conclusion.

They must have recognized I was from the Special Affairs Division.

I accepted their expectation with an unshaken posture and dropped onto a nearby chair.

Then I began reviewing the broadcasting room’s CCTV footage on the prepared monitor.

The footage began from the day before the mana stone disappeared.

I fast-forwarded until Kim Dasol and Choi Suhyuk appeared on cara, then paused the video.

“Cadet Kim Dasol, on this day, was the mana stone still in place? It looks like it was one day before it was stolen.”

“Ah, yes. I checked it together with the club president.”

“Mm.”

As she said, nothing in the footage looked unusual.

Except for the suspicious bag Choi Suhyuk was carrying.

“Is that bag sothing he usually carries around?”

“Yes, I think he brings it even to lectures.”

At Kim Dasol’s answer, the other mbers nodded as well.

More importantly, the bag bore the symbol of Giant Needle, the guild that supplied cadet uniforms.

In other words, it was a luxury item.

It was clearly the sort of bag an influencer like Choi Suhyuk could carry without looking out of place.

Still, sothing was bulging so prominently that its outline was visible.

Since the outline had been visible from the mont he entered the broadcasting room, it was not, in itself, proof of anything……

Still, for , it was oddly interesting to see the original work’s description rendered like this.

Perfectly concealed.

In any case, I was finished with what I needed in the broadcasting room.

Now all that remained was going after the culprit.

I rose without hesitation and said,

“Was the broadcasting club’s advisor instructor Vice Principal Park Cheolyeong? I think it would be best to report everything to the vice principal as it is.”

“What? What do you an?”

Kim Dasol looked flustered.

Not only her, but every cadet in the broadcasting room wore a puzzled expression.

In particular, the broadcasting club mbers looked disappointed, as if to say the Special Affairs Division was only this capable.

Without aning to, I had sared the reputation of the Special Affairs Division, but from the beginning, this case was an impossible perfect cri.

No, more precisely, the Mystery Club had been used to create a perfect cri.

“Then I will head back now. We are both busy, are we not?”

“Um, excuse , Cadet Ji Seokhyeon?”

“I am sorry for bothering you without being any help. But there is nothing to deduce unless sothing looks suspicious. Anyway, I will be going now.”

“Huh……?”

Leaving those words behind, I exited the broadcasting room.

I went straight to the elevator, and it happened to be on the sa floor.

—The doors are opening.

As I stepped inside, Lee Eunho, Do Minyeong, and Cha Yeri rushed in after .

—First floor. The doors are closing.

Like the broadcasting club mbers, the three of them stared at with puzzled faces.

The first to question was Do Minyeong.

“Are you really going to end it like this?”

“As if. I am going to catch the culprit now.”

“What? Then why did you act like that……? Wait, do you know who it is?”

I stared calmly at the indicator panel. The mont the elevator stopped, I finally spoke.

“Yes. The culprit is Senior Choi Suhyuk. So I suppose you could call it a staged incident.”