Acquired the Scam Rune in the Academy

Chapter 185 – End of 2nd Semester (3)

Monday evening, Academy student hall.

The circle room of <Anti-Villain>. 

Familiar faces that I haven’t seen in a while were gathered.

Starting with my classmate Lee Hyun-ho, seniors from 2nd grade that I haven’t seen in a while, and senior Yoon Ji-ah who’s preparing for graduation.

They weren’t as close friends as the other 4, but they were all precious circle members to me.

After exchanging glances with them one by one.

I slowly grabbed the microphone in the middle of the meeting room.

“Hello everyone.”

Hello-  

A quiet echo rang out.

Despite being a meeting called during exams, most of the members’ expressions were bright.

That must have been because of the peace and safety that came to the Academy…

And because the purpose of the circle has been achieved.

“It’s been almost two months right?”

Nod nod-

At my casual question, the members nodded in affirmation.

After the villain sweep operation day…

Anti-Villain has only met temporarily once, never properly.

That’s because I temporarily declared a halt to the circle’s activities.

Through the joint operation, <Villain> has been completely swept.

Although remnants of V<Villain> clan members are left, the roots of the problem have all been pulled out.

Because of that, the purpose of the circle has been achieved much earlier than expected. Extremely speaking, the very reason for the circle’s existence has disappeared.

‘The circle activities just disappeared.’  

In fact, that wasn’t just about our circle.

Since the entire Academy went through such a big incident and was in turmoil, other circles couldn’t continue proper activities either.

This 2nd semester wasn’t a time suitable for circle activities.

So I had time to reset the direction of future circle activities.  

It was a temporary halt in activities for that. And today was time to explain the results to the members.

“First of all, thank you for attending despite it being exam period. Everyone’s time is okay right?”

Kim Chae-eun and Park Jin-woo answered that question for me.

“No problem-!”

“Oh, I gave up on exams a long time ago.”

“Puhaha.”

Hearing the two mood makers’ answers, most of the members burst into laughter.

Despite meeting after a long time, there was no awkwardness between us at all.

I also smiled faintly and said.

“Then I’ll start the circle meeting. Before the meeting, there are two good news. First…”

My gaze turned to the member sitting to my right.

The only 3rd year among the members, and the circle vice president.

It was Yoon Ji-ah.

“Our circle vice president miss Yoon Ji-ah, who’s been helping our circle, has finally passed the Judgement of Fire clan Test. Congratulations, senior.”  

“Wow.”

“Wow….”

The top 3 clans are always the object of admiration for Holders.  

A clan that everyone wants to enter, the best clan.

And someone who just graduated from the Academy entered one of them. It was certainly surprising news.

I heard she’s the only one among all the 3rd year mages too.

As the members’ admiring gazes poured on her, Yoon Ji-ah smiled shyly.  

“Thank you everyone. I think my activities in Anti-Villain influenced my final acceptance. It’s a circle I’m thankful for in many ways.”

At her brief words, all the members applauded loudly.

Despite being busy, they were sincerely congratulating the vice president who had done her best for the circle.

No matter how much resentment she held against <Villain>, her scope of activities was tremendous.  

She practically managed Anti-Villain’s administration alone, participated in the circle’s main activity ‘Dispatch to Japan’, and even joined the final sweep operation as an Academy member.

Managing all that while preparing for Judgement of Fire’s entrance exam interview, her activity level was simply monstrous.

“With senior Yoon Ji-ah’s graduation, the vice president position has become vacant. We’ll discuss this part again in the main meeting. And the second good news is…” 

I stopped talking for a bit and looked around at the members.

Then I smiled and continued.  

“Our Anti-Villain circle has been selected as the official circle of the year for the Academy award this year. We achieved this feat just 3 months after the circle was formed, surpassing all the other major circles.”

“…What?”

“Fo, for real?”

Everyone was surprised and asked back hearing my words.

The ‘Circle of the Year’ selected by the Academy every year.

An award given to the circle that showed the most passionate activities and noteworthy results that year.  

Additional funding for the circle, plaque, president’s letter of recommendation…

It was the pinnacle of benefits you could get for circle activities in the Academy.

Our <Anti-Villain> circle received that glory of award right before the 2nd semester ended.

I, the president of the circle, got contacted first about this yesterday.

Starting tomorrow, posters about this will probably be put up on the student hall bulletin boards and each department buildings. 

“Yes. I definitely got contacted. So you should all be proud. The Academy directly acknowledged our circle’s contributions regarding the villain clan sweep.”

Even though the circle’s goal disappeared too quickly, the performance our circle has shown in 3 months was by no means small at all.

Just the circle’s establishment itself made the <Villain> clan leadership feel a sense of crisis, making them hastily bring forward the assault that would happen.  

Afterwards, with the direct support of <Judgement of Fire> and <Royal>, we demonstrated the driving force to attempt collaboration with a major clan for the first time among Academy circles.

Especially, the ‘unauthorized warp gate’ found during the Japan dispatch blocked <Villain> clan’s main source of income, and in the main sweep operation, many circle members participated and led the operation to success.

‘…This is beyond the circle level.’

Although it’s only been 3 months since the circle was formed, no circle in the Academy could match our activity results.  

It was a natural prize in a way.

“Oh, so what’s good about getting that?”

“There’s too much to say everything. Read the benefits yourself later.”

“Just tell me the most important thing.”

“You can apply for the ‘Group Battle Room’, ‘Private Battle Room’ in the training ground. It’s a free pass.”

“…That’s really the best benefit.”  

After telling him the benefit Park Jin-woo would like the most, he murmured with a blank face.

Since it’s a circle prize you can only get once a year, there were quite a lot of benefits that could help the individual members.

After chatting and sharing the joy of winning the award for a while.  

We soon composed ourselves and entered the main discussion.  

“Then I’ll start the main meeting. As you all would expect, today’s agenda is about our circle’s existence.”

Hearing the important topic, everyone looked at me with tense faces.  

Despite being selected as the ‘Circle of the Year’, <Anti-Villain> was like a circle with time limit.  

Now that the ultimate goal of the circle disappeared…

There was really only the process of dissolution left.  

Today’s meeting was also to wrap that up.

“To conclude first, dissolution of the circle is confirmed.” 

“Ah….”  

“Hmm.”

Hearing my cold words, small exclamations could be heard.

There were voices that seemed to have expected it, feelings of disappointment, nonchalant reactions…

It was a complex mix of elements hard to convey in words.

“The Villain clan has already reached the stage of collapse, and at this point of regained peace… Continuing our circle’s existence is no different from shadowboxing. Just like when I first formed the circle and you approved my reckless plan, I felt I should also respect your free will after achieving the goal.”  

I nodded my head a couple times and continued.

“So our circle has decided to stop at the most honorable and beautiful moment.”

Dissolution of the <Anti-Villain> circle.  

Despite the results we’ve achieved in 3 months that no other circle could, since we were made with short-term goals, we now had to head towards a new path even if reluctant.  

Most of the members seemed to agree on this point as well.

But…

“However, I’d like to postpone that timing to next year.”

Delay of dissolution.  

Hearing my sudden words, the members’ faces filled with puzzlement. 

With a slight smile to those members, I said.

“As you all know, there are still many Villain clan members that haven’t been caught in Korea. With the numbers gathered during the last operation being less than half, there are at least over 100 Villain clan members scattered around.”

Although the leadership has mostly been caught, the small fries still wander around.

If you leave those guys as they are with their Villain habits intact, they’ll eventually fall into becoming other criminals.  

They were probably guys that would lightly skip over being an ‘Outholder’ and become a real nuisance.  

“So our circle plans to catch those remaining Villain clan members from now on. You might ask why the circle has to step up and do this… But isn’t seeking something we don’t need to do and stubbornly keep going part of circle activities?”  

At that, all the members nodded.  

Among the people gathered here.  

No one had come to the circle by force.

“The activity period is until next year before the new member recruitment. Anti-Villain will dissolve in next year’s 1st semester summer break. So those who want to continue activities together can stay, and those who want to leave can freely leave any time. It was the same when we started, the choice is up to you guys. I will just steadily go on with my planned actions. Please decide freely.”

That’s how I wrapped up today’s main agenda.  

Dissolution of the circle is confirmed.   

But the grace period is until next year’s summer.  

Freedom to withdraw from the circle anytime within.

They were decisions I had thought over for a long time.  

And…

“Ahem-”  

“So when are we electing the vice president?”

“You’re talking about uninteresting things for so long.”

The circle members making jokes and laughing.  

Among the members, not a single one left the circle after this decision.

***

Ippotranslation

***

After the meeting ended, whether it was long or short.

I was left alone in the circle room.

I was resetting the direction of the circle for the future.  

In fact, it was not in my expectation that all the circle members would stay, so I needed to change the direction of activities more actively to match that.

“What are you so busy with?”

“Huh?”

But it seemed I wasn’t alone after all.  

At the sudden voice I heard, I turned my head to see Kim Chae-eun smiling and looking at me.

“You didn’t leave?”

“Yeah. I went to the bathroom and came back.”

“Don’t you have to study for your exam?”

“Haha, you’re not doing it either.”

“That hits the mark.”

A smile unconsciously forms at the corners of my mouth.

I lowered the corners of my mouth with effort and faced the plan I was writing.

Kim Chae-eun sat next to me and threw all kinds of chitchat at me.

“They secretly liked it a lot.”

“Liked what?”

“That the circle isn’t being dissolved right away. Even if they pretend otherwise, they all seemed to regret it. They put in a decent amount of effort.”

“I know right. This is a scenario I didn’t expect.”

A full withdrawal was not in the plan.  

I thought most of the second year seniors would withdraw, but it felt strange yet nice that not a single one withdrew.

It means the circle I’ve been leading isn’t a group that can be decided on a whim.

“Especially Lee Hyun-ho liked it a lot.”

“Lee Hyun-ho?”

“Yeah. He pretends to be curt but his expressions give it all away.” 

I roughly guessed the reason why.

It must be because of Hwang Seong-yeon.

Lee Hyun-ho is a character who lost his mother because of Hwang Seong-yeon.

No matter how much they say <Villain> has been suppressed, as long as Hwang Seong-yeon has not been caught, his chase will not end.

‘It’s the same for me too.’

Although not as much as Lee Hyun-ho, Hwang Seong-yeon has become a goal for me as well.

A Holder who ruthlessly kills innocent citizens without a care.  

The man who brutally murdered the academy people.

If you had to pick the worst criminal in the country, it would definitely be Hwang Seong-yeon.

One day I wanted to find him myself after he escaped and catch him with my own hands.

To do that, first I would also need the skills of an S-grade Holder.

“Jae-hyun.”

“Yes?”

While briefly lost in thought.

At Kim Chae-eun’s voice calling me, I turned my head.

She was staring straight at me, biting her lower lip.

An expression that seemed like she had something to say. 

And that hesitation didn’t last long.

“I was wondering… Do you have any plans this Christmas?”

Ah.

Here it comes.