"Senior, come on, it's really inconvenient to meet like this! The orphanage is fine. The orphanage. That's where we should meet. Do you think I became a regular donor to your orphanage for no reason?"
"It's urgent."
"Sigh... I know it must be urgent for you to come here like this. But why did you have to hit those kids again? Really. You could have just delivered the message."
Dmitri grumbled as he led Ivan to a nearby café.
The second floor of the café near the university was bustling with numerous citizens waiting for the entrance ceremony to end.
Of course, that was just how it appeared.
As soon as Dmitri led Ivan through the stairs to the second floor, the noisy café fell silent in an instant.
"Ah, everyone carry on. Act normal."
When Dmitri casually waved his hand, the agents filling the café returned to their roles as citizens. In the center, a single table remained conspicuously empty, cleverly positioned out of sight from both the window and the staircase.
"Have a seat. Hah, this was a prime spot, but now we can't use it anymore. Do you know how difficult it is to set up a safe house right in the middle of Pritzenkaya?"
"I apologize."
"It's fine. So, what did you bring that's so important?"
When Dmitri smiled and extended his hand, Ivan pulled out three small explosives from inside his coat.
Instantly, all expression vanished from Dmitri's face. As soon as Ivan saw his hand smoothly moving into his sleeve, he said:
"I removed the detonators."
"You should have said that first!! Geez, I nearly had a heart attack!"
"If you're going to be that suspicious, you shouldn't have hired me in the first place."
"Why so hurt? In my profession, I have to be suspicious even of my own parents."
Dmitri shrugged and examined the explosives. As he rummaged through them, a deep smile gradually appeared on his face.
"Interesting. From inside St. Yansk University?"
"Yes. They were professionals."
"I can tell. Three of them. Looking at the magical energy, they're not meant for building demolition or assassination. This looks like a diversion, doesn't it?"
"Yes. There was probably an infiltration team."
"We haven't missed anyone on our side. It's definitely not the Prince's faction. We've got them under tight surveillance."
Dmitri grinned and clapped his hands.
Soon, an agent disguised as an ordinary middle-aged woman approached.
"Send this to the Magic Department at headquarters."
"Yes, Lieutenant Colonel."
"And the item? Is it ready?"
"Yes."
She pulled out a thick bundle of documents from her shopping basket. Dmitri took the documents, quickly skimmed through them, and pushed them toward Ivan.
"Here's what you asked for, senior. I really sweated preparing this on such short notice. If His Excellency wasn't so serious about supporting you, whew."
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it. Oh, His Excellency mentioned he'd like to meet you sometime. Would that work for you?"
"That would be difficult for the time being."
Ivan gathered the documents and stood up.
As he turned to leave with the documents tucked away, a voice called from behind him.
"Senior."
"Hmm."
"Your eyes look different. You know that?"
"..."
When he turned around, Dmitri was looking up at him with a serious expression.
His eyes gleamed sharply from beneath the shadow of his hat, staring directly at him.
"Relax. This isn't a battlefield."
"...Hmm."
"Well, I feel a bit awkward saying this after bringing a retired person back for a job, but... loosen up a bit and try to look around you. Neither Her Royal Highness nor I expect you to be perfect."
Ivan responded with a slight nod and turned to leave.
Dmitri chuckled and tilted his head.
"That's why people need romance. Staying cooped up without seeing the sun makes you so gloomy. Right?"
"Lieutenant Petrovich... truly 'Little' Ivan. His reputation is well-deserved. Impressive."
"I nearly wet myself the first time I saw him too. How can someone who's been idle for four years be like that? Anyway."
Dmitri tapped the table and continued.
"Put someone on him. Don't leave that senior alone."
"Should we stop him if his actions cross the line?"
"What are you talking about? Do you want to die? Just observe. And do it from very, very far away."
Well, how far could he really go?
Whatever made him angry, he's probably just going to personally track down the agents who planted the explosives.
At most, he'd just intimidate a few students, nothing more. There was no need to provoke an angry "Ivan."
While Dmitri was thinking this,
Ivan was taking out an axe and a healing potion in the headmaster's office.
I can't tell anyone.
The fact that this world might actually be some kind of game, running on an elaborate system.
So I have to do this myself.
Ivan truly believed this as he spread out the reports he had received from Dmitri on the table.
-Faculty roster.
-New student list.
-Complete personal information of undergraduate students.
This year's incoming class had about 300 students. Since St. Yansk University was a three-year program, the total undergraduate population approached a thousand.
Adding faculty, professors, teaching assistants, security, administrative staff, admissions office, and so on.
Then including the unfortunate undergraduates who went on to graduate school and those who delayed graduation due to leaves of absence.
Total: 1,733 people.
"Plus one more."
He needed to examine the student "families" who had access to the entrance ceremony.
Anyone with sufficient plausibility to set foot on the university grounds on the day of the entrance ceremony could be included in the suspect pool.
That is, considering dignitaries from various countries and each student's family members. Total: 2,429 people.
"I know you're in here."
Ivan pressed heavily on the piles of documents he had laid out, categorized by section.
"I don't think it will be easy to find you."
Arrogance is the sharpest dagger that kills an agent.
"But it won't take long. I promise."
Transmigrators in academies can never spend their school lives quietly.
This is "common sense."
They will fend off attacks, monopolize opportunities, and acquire secret arts from somewhere.
The academy genre basically follows a standard platform called "pat-pat." It has to. Who would enjoy a story about someone attending school normally and graduating?
Therefore, if this person knows the [original work],
They will certainly imitate the protagonist's path from the original. All transmigrators live that way.
Even Kim Seon-woo's first thoughts upon transmigrating were "monopolizing opportunities" and "introducing modern culture."
So all transmigrators are terribly selfish, full of variables, and it wouldn't be strange no matter what impulsive actions they take.
After the fierce war that NPCs fought had ended, they probably wanted to peacefully enter the "academy" and enjoy a fun game transmigration story.
They wouldn't want to know or understand the lives of countless people who were merely passing lines in the background setting.
They would just enjoy it. It would feel like enjoying a well-made theme park.
He already understood that this might just be venting anger, that it was hatred with nowhere to go, that it might even be base jealousy.
-What's that, Santa Claus?
Just a casual remark, but that one comment clearly revealed how they treated others.
Not even hiding the fact that they had transmigrated, just enjoying themselves with that mindset. That one comment had tangled Ivan's heart.
That one remark that seemed to view others as mere "objects."
-Lieutenant Colonel! Did you see? Wow, I was really awesome. Right? There were seven dragon generals, but I blocked them all.
-Don't talk.
-Hahaha, I feel like I could do it again if asked. It's a shame. I should have angled the shield more to the right then.
-Cherenovika. Keep your mouth shut.
-Then I might have been able to save Sasha, that idiot too. It's really a shame, Lieutenant Colonel. Really.
-We're almost there. Almost there. Just hold on a little longer, just a little longer.
-I'll just get hit by Sasha when we get there. But at least I won't be lonely. We've maintained good connections in both heaven and hell, haven't we?
-Please. Quiet. The blood is cooling faster. Cherenovika. Please.
-Lieutenant Colonel, live a long life. Come as late as possible. If you come early, I'll rebel.
Their stories are not just background settings.
Ivan was having a nightmare among the scattered files.
It was a memory from long ago.
-Do not mourn those who have gone before.
-For I too stand in the same ranks as they do.
Their stories are not just background settings.
-I survived in place of the finest men of this era.
-We all did.
Their history is not just a scenario.
It shouldn't be.
In his nightmare, Ivan slowly muttered.
While listening to Kim Seon-woo's voice patting his back.
-Kimchi stew, tteokbokki, nachos with cheese dip, spicy pork stir-fry, raw fish rice bowl, Sokcho cold fish soup, warm ramen.
-Hometown, home, Korea, Seoul, rooftop room, parents.
-Subway station, convenience store, night streets, hometown, I need to go back. Stay determined, don't waver, look straight ahead.
-It's okay. We're not alone.
Randomly gathering things to calm his mind.
Until the night ended.
After the semester began, Asidis found herself in a very awkward situation.
No one wanted to eat with her. In this school where nobles from all over the world gathered, the title of "royalty" naturally couldn't be a reason for being ostracized.
However, if you saw her royal bodyguard (middle-aged man, muscle-bound, carrying an axe) always glaring with both eyes, it would be quite intimidating for students barely in their twenties.
"Uncle, you're really ruining everything for me!!"
"How is that my fault? Isn't the problem those boys trying to hit on my niece?"
"Then why are you blocking the girls too?!"
"Your uncle has already heard those wenches badmouthing our niece behind her back."
"Aaaaargh... My college life... My life.... Dad... I hate you...!"
The strongest music student in history, ostracized on her first day of school, ran away sobbing.