Late at night.
In the busy district.
Hwang Dam-bi stood on the rooftop of a tall building, staring out into the distance.
At the end of her gaze sat one of the two temporary storage facilities—and the disciplinary committee club mbers standing guard.
Mak Dae-ung, who had been staring at the sa place, curled his lips upward.
“Even if they’re on alert, this is all they’ve got. The disciplinary committee club isn’t what it used to be. We could sweep them away and still have energy left.”
“.......”
Hwang Dam-bi didn’t agree, but she didn’t bother to argue, either.
Even if they were in the sa boat for now, personally, °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° she didn’t like him. Unless it was absolutely necessary, she had no intention of mixing words with him.
The rebuttal ca from sowhere else.
“I told you over and over—don’t overestimate your own skill.”
Mak Dae-ung frowned and turned his head toward the back.
Then he spoke to the figure standing in the shadowed corner.
“What’s wrong with having confidence before we make our move?”
“Excessive confidence is poison. You need to be objective about yourself.”
“You want to hear that we’re inferior to the disciplinary committee club?”
“I’m telling you not to forget the real purpose.”
“.......”
The two n glared at each other in silence for a while.
Then Mak Dae-ung let out a snort of laughter and lowered his tail.
“......Of course I haven’t forgotten. ‘Sweep them away’ was just sothing I said.”
“The disciplinary committee club’s fortress is sturdier than you can imagine. It wasn’t built in a day, so the idea that you can topple it in one strike is arrogance.”
“Well, sure. I understand this is nothing more than laying the groundwork.”
“Fortunately, the thieves made a crack for us. All we have to do is widen it.”
Only the Black Blade faction and the Archery Club had taken action, but countless other clubs would be watching with their antennae raised.
So their role was to show possibility.
If two clubs allied and achieved half a success?
Then what about three? Four?
The more winnable it looked, the more clubs would gradually join in.
And once that happened, what could the disciplinary committee club do?
They’d have no choice but to step down from the top.
‘If it’s the Swordsmanship Club, they’re more than qualified to take the vacant seat.’
If it ca to that, the Black Blade faction—who’d led from the front and earned the credit—would see their standing expand beyond asure.
The sa went for Mak Dae-ung himself.
He’d be able to land a satisfying punch on the people he’d always found unpleasant.
Mak Dae-ung wiped the sly smile from his face and said,
“Let’s begin.”
“.......”
Hwang Dam-bi answered with a small nod, then laid down what she’d been carrying on her back—sothing like a guitar case.
She opened the lid and started manipulating several parts.
CLACK.
A machine tower rose up to taller than a person, then unfolded wide like a fan.
A siege weapon.
A Ballista.
Hwang Dam-bi settled herself at its center and made minute adjustnts to the angle, factoring in the distance to the target, the elevation difference, wind strength and direction, and more.
At the sa ti, the other archers generated magic arrows and set them to their strings.
With multiple Skills and Traits stacked, the arrows’ length and thickness were practically at the level of pillars.
When Hwang Dam-bi finished her final adjustnts, she drew the string—and released.
THWUNG—!
Right after firing, she drew again and released again.
In sync, the club mbers loaded new magic arrows with perfect coordination.
A barrage that didn’t leave room to breathe.
THWUNG—! THWUNG—! THWUNG—! THWUNG—!
After pouring arrows out like a storm, Hwang Dam-bi suddenly stopped. She folded the Ballista back up and said,
“Moving.”
KWA-KWA-KWAAANG—! KWA-KWA-KWA-KWAAANG—!
The bombardnt was raining down like a downpour.
So on the temporary storage facility building, and so on the disciplinary committee club mbers stationed nearby.
KWA-KWA-KWAAANG—!
Kang Dae-san, a third-year, raised his tower shield halfway and had to step frantically left and right.
“My head’s completely empty.”
The Ballista’s destructive power was not sothing an individual could absorb.
Even he—a third-year knight class—would only maybe manage it after heavy preparation and layering defensive Skills.
But if he got pinned down in one place like that, there was no point in standing guard. So he had to give up on blocking and focus on dodging like his life depended on it.
How long had he been forced into this unwanted tap dance?
The rain of arrows finally cald.
Only then did he check the temporary storage facility.
The layers of defensive and alarm magic wrapped around it were all smashed to pieces.
So of the disciplinary committee club mbers hadn’t dodged in ti and took injuries—big and small.
Kang Dae-san spoke in a flat voice.
“They’ll be coming in soon.”
“Yeah.”
Another third-year mber answered, resting a massive blade on their shoulder.
Sure enough, both of them turned their gaze in the sa direction.
A single female student stood there.
She wore a black martial uniform, a face covering, and a wide conical hat. In her hand, she let a black longsword hang low.
Similar-looking swordsn dropped down to either side behind her.
Seeing that, Kang Dae-san and the other third-year each tossed out a line.
“Do they think we won’t recognize them if they dress like that?”
“They’re just trying to get in the mood for once.”
“Yeah. You don’t get many chances to wear your ‘going-out clothes.’”
Even at words bordering on provocation, the girl didn’t answer.
She only lifted the sword she’d been letting hang and pointed it straight at them.
SWISH.
With the sound of fabric brushing, the swordsn in black martial uniforms rushed in.
The disciplinary committee club mbers had already ford their lines as well.
Standing at the center, Kang Dae-san slamd his tower shield into the ground with swagger.
THUD!
“Co.”
THUD...... THU-THU-THUD.......
The distant sound of bombardnt reached us, and Dang Gyu-young and I exchanged looks.
“Looks like it’s started.”
“Yeah. Let’s move.”
We were fully prepared, too.
Each of us had a single earpiece communicator on. The mont Chae Da-bin, Oh Sehun, or the disciplinary committee club pinpointed the Ballista’s location, it would be shared imdiately and we’d converge.
We also had a small totem—about the size of a finger—hanging at our throats.
A [Mimicry Totem], ant to conceal the fact that Inferno Fist and the Thieves’ Club were involved.
THU-KWUNG.......
As we moved quickly, the bombardnt grew less frequent.
They were probably relocating to minimize the risk of being caught.
I tossed Dang Gyu-young a light question.
“Where should we head?”
“Hmm...... Today I’ve got a feeling this way.”
“Works for .”
With Chae Da-bin in the field, finding them was only a matter of ti anyway.
If we got lucky and found them first, great. If not, whatever.
Dang Gyu-young grinned and asked,
“Isn’t Seo Ye-in good at this kind of thing? Picking and hitting.”
“She’s basically a master.”
“Should we have brought her?”
“I thought about it, but relying on her too much isn’t great.”
We could handle this fine without the Lucky Charm radar.
And speaking coldly, Seo Ye-in’s skill was a bit lacking for shining here.
This was a battlefield where second- and third-year disciplinary committee club mbers, plus Swordsmanship and Archery Club students, would be running wild.
Better to let her rest than drag her in.
Dang Gyu-young nodded like it made sense, then continued.
“Oh! Speaking of her—she decided to co to the main family with , too.”
“How did you co to such a generous decision?”
“Hey. I’m naturally broad-minded!”
“You were really looking forward to it, though. Just the two of you hanging out.”
“Honestly, I am a little disappointed.”
Dang Gyu-young’s tone turned slightly serious.
“......But I kind of get it, from her side. How much would she have to hate being away from you to do that?”
“.......”
“And the other way around—if I’d seriously asked her, I think she would’ve accepted. So I’m bringing her.”
I nodded slowly.
“I’m glad you two seem to be doing well.”
“We talk things out between ourselves. So don’t go expanding the group at random.”
“Should I just fill one bus?”
“Kim Ho. Do you see this?”
Dang Gyu-young asked in an absurdly gentle tone, then grabbed sothing in midair and yanked outward with no rcy, left and right.
“What are you trying to indicate?”
“Your future cheeks.”
“So if you stretch at random, you end up like that.”
“Yeah, you little brat.”
Dang Gyu-young glared with murderous eyes.
Holding her gaze, I tossed back playfully,
“Is there a cutoff line?”
“Cutoff line? Huh. I’ve never thought about it.”
Dang Gyu-young thought for a mont, then pointed at the totems on her neck and mine.
“Even if you’re disguised with sothing like this, you’ve gotta get it in one shot.”
“Not easy.”
“But I did, right?”
“You did.”
The first ti we’d borrowed and used a [Mimicry Totem] was when the Witch of Corruption tore through the dungeon building.
Back then, Dang Gyu-young saw through instantly and spoke to like it was nothing.
Maybe rembering it now, she puffed up and kept going.
“This is the minimum for —and the others—to acknowledge .”
“Didn’t Sho-sho notice, too?”
“She didn’t at first!”
We kept bickering as we moved, when—
In the one o’clock direction, I spotted familiar light brown hair.
‘Song Cheon-hye.’
She looked a little bored, which didn’t match the mood of the night at all—probably because her assigned role wasn’t very important.
First-years just weren’t strong enough to throw into combat, and it was awkward to put them on a Ballista search team, too.
If they tried to tail soone, they’d get caught imdiately.
It looked like Gwak Seungjae and Oh Sehun knew that.
But you also couldn’t just leave club mbers idle at a critical ti, so they’d spread them out and assigned them to patrol.
Just in case of a tiny variable.
‘Anyway—work hard.’
I sent my silent encouragent as we passed.
Then Song Cheon-hye’s eyes turned this way.
She stared at closely, then seed to realize sothing—flinching as she shouted,
“Hey! Wait a second!”
Of course, there was no reason for us to stop just because she called out.
We kept our pace and left the area.
As we did, I asked Dang Gyu-young,
“Think she nailed it? In one shot.”
“What do you an? She just called because we looked suspicious.”
But then a ssage flew in like the final nail.
[Song Cheon-hye:That was you just now, right?]
[Song Cheon-hye:It was you.]
[Song Cheon-hye:What are you doing here?]
[Song Cheon-hye:(suspicious hedgehog emoticon)]
“......Cutoff line passed?”
“Hey—hey! No. This isn’t it. The totem’s broken. I’m gonna go yell at Oh Sehun.”
“What did the club president do wrong? We borrowed it from upstairs.”
“I’m telling you, this makes no sense!”
“Heh. It’s hard if you keep saying two different things with one mouth. Kim Ho bus vroom vroom~”
“You little—! Shouldn’t you stop right there?”
But the scuffle didn’t last long.
As if we’d agreed, we both shut our mouths at the sa ti, our expressions hardening.
A little distance away—near a building—several human silhouettes ca into view.
Dang Gyu-young whispered in a voice as low as it could go.
“......That’s them, right?”
“Looks like it.”
“Call the others?”
She brought a hand to the communicator like she was about to contact the disciplinary committee club imdiately.
I thought for a second, then said,
“They’re going to move before anyone can converge.”
“Then what?”
“Let’s hit them once.”
When I clenched my fist to show her, Dang Gyu-young seed to catch what I was about to do.
We covered ourselves in shadow to strengthen the stealth effect, then approached the black silhouettes together.
“!”
One of them sensed sothing off and widened their eyes—
But by then, my black-burning fist was already swinging out.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA—!
A firestorm surged toward the enemies.
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