Became a Traitor in an Academy

Let’s Be Friends

When Yeonhwa still didn’t know what was happening. Jin-hyeon instantly covered her, protecting her from the villains’ attack.

“Ugh…! Jin-hyeon…?! Behind you!!”

Yeonhwa, naturally pinned under Jin-hyeon, was still seemingly dazed with a reddened face, but then screamed with a pale face after belatedly noticing the villain targeting them from behind.

Bang! There was a sound that seemed unbelievable for a metal pipe hitting a human. However, Jin-hyeon, who took the hit, didn’t seem particularly bothered.

…So that level doesn’t even leave a wound, huh. I was hoping it would at least leave a scratch. Seems the villains were much weaker than I thought.

“Wh-what… weak you say… Gahk…!”

Not missing the villain’s moment of confusion, Jin-hyeon turned around with all his might and punched the villain’s face, pushing him away.

Even then, Yeonhwa still seemed somewhat dazed.

However, when Jin-hyeon called her name, she finally came to her senses and took out a lighter from her pocket to light it.

And just before the villains could reach them, a wall of flames appeared surrounding them.

It was an impossibly large flame to have come from a lighter, but that was precisely her ability.

Pyrokinesis. The ability to control flames.

The villains who nearly got engulfed in flames instantly barely managed to stop, avoiding becoming charred lumps.

“They fight well. As expected of protagonists.”

Watching a fight from afar is indeed the most entertaining, and this was quite thrilling. But I wasn’t satisfied. I wanted Jin-hyeon to struggle more, but he was too unscathed.

It was right to have ill feelings toward the game’s protagonist. I really hated Jin-hyeon.

I didn’t particularly hold any ill will toward Yeonhwa, but she got caught up in this inevitably because she hung around him and was infatuated with him.

If it weren’t for that guy in the first place, I wouldn’t have ended up in this situation. I wouldn’t have this body either. So, he should suffer at least as much as I have.

The flame wall quickly died down, then changed shape into a snake, menacingly floating around Yeonhwa.

“Leave it to me now, Jin-hyeon! Let’s just hold these villains until a hero arrives!”

It was an enviable ability every time I saw it. Being able to create such flames from just a lighter. How cool.

Of course, as impressive as its advantages were, its weaknesses were also clear.

Pyrokinesis’s weakness was that its power drastically decreased when the body got wet.

Her pyrokinesis grew stronger the more easily her body could catch fire. Conversely, under conditions where fire couldn’t catch easily, its power severely diminished.

This was implemented as Yeonhwa’s passive even in the game.

With annoying but certainly character-defining traits like ‘70% power reduction in waterfront areas, rainy fields, and humid places’ and ‘power reduction up to 70% proportional to lost health’.

The health-proportional power reduction was supposedly because she’d get more blood-soaked as she lost health.

And I had told those guys about her weakness beforehand.

One of the villains threw a bucket he was holding toward Yeonhwa. Seeing this, Yeonhwa tried to deflect the bucket with her flame snake.

However, its physical force was at best like a wind, so it was impossible to deflect the heavy bucket full of something.

Instead of being thrown away, the bucket that the flame snake swept past spun in the air and thoroughly drenched her with water.

“Ugh…! Wa-water?! Why do these guys have…!”

The flames that had been like a great snake shrank pathetically to the size of a worm after she got soaked.

“I-it was true! That crazy bitch wasn’t lying!!!”

The ones calling each other brother rejoiced with vulgar smiles when the fire disappeared. Sorry to Yeonhwa, but it was an unavoidable measure. She’s too strong against these lowly pawns.

Even though she hadn’t awakened yet, even flames released for self-defense without the resolve to harm others were enough to instantly turn such guys into charcoal.

However, Yeonhwa didn’t retreat behind Jin-hyeon, seemingly intent on fighting even with her pathetically shrunken flames.

Jin-hyeon, even at that moment, seemed to be experiencing intense internal conflict about whether he should step in or not.

For a guy, watching from behind while a girl who likes him is in danger. It wasn’t incomprehensible.

After all, he had power that hurt both himself and others, power whose manifestation he couldn’t control, let alone its strength.

How could something like that be the protagonist, and why did Yeonhwa fall for such a guy? I sighed.

“Don’t worry, Jin-hyeon. A hero will come soon…!”

It was utterly pathetic. Seeing that sight gave me some sense of fulfillment. But if you listened carefully, a hero really was coming from far away.

They came faster than I expected. I thought they’d be later.

If those guys got caught by the police and happened to mention my name, it would obviously become troublesome.

…Though regrettable, it was time to clean up this playground. I didn’t really intend to harm Jin-hyeon. If I could have, I would’ve done it long ago.

I stood up and dusted off my stockings and skirt.

The purpose of orchestrating this attack was, after all, to create an incident to build a connection with them.

Now it was time to build that connection.

From rooftop to signboard. From signboard to streetlight. From streetlight to sidewalk.

After coming down quietly and swiftly, I ran across the cars that had stopped to watch the fight on the sidewalk.

Therefore, it didn’t take long to reach between Yeonhwa and the villains.

“An academy uniform…?!”

“Y-you, why-“

Yeonhwa was confused seeing my uniform while wondering who I was, and the villains seemed to recognize me as they stammered asking why I was here.

“It’s dangerous, step back.”

I wasn’t going to answer either side right away, so I sprayed dense smoke from my palm. The eerily spreading smoke instantly engulfed everyone around.

The villains whose vision was blocked thrashed about screaming, but I was faster, snatching Yeonhwa and escaping outside the smoke.

However, even while being pulled along powerlessly, Yeonhwa weakly resisted while worrying about Jin-hyeon.

“W-wait! Jin-hyeon is still in there! If the villains are targeting him then I…”

“Can you protect anyone in that state?”

How could she protect anyone with a flame as precarious as a candle in the wind?

When I pointed this out, Yeonhwa fell silent, seemingly aware it was impossible. Then, as if noticing something strange, she spoke to me.

“…Wait, more importantly, how did you know about my weakness-“

“Later. That boy’s name is Jin-hyeon? I’ll get him out, so stay safely here.”

Yeonhwa hesitated for a moment, all of this seemingly sudden, but then nodded, prioritizing Jin-hyeon.

“…Then, I’m counting on you! I don’t know who you are… but help Jin-hyeon! And, who you are-“

She probably wanted me to tell her. I vaguely acknowledged and jumped back into the smoke.

The drug seemed to be taking effect, as the villains visible in the thinning smoke looked quite grotesque.

Blood flowing from their noses and ears, their bloodshot eyes barely looked human.

It was natural. How could a drug that enhanced powerless people to fight against ability users have no price?

“Uu, uwaaaaah, uwaaaaagh!!!”

The villains were beating Jin-hyeon while screaming in pain and anger, but Jin-hyeon appeared completely unfazed.

How pitiful. I secretly approached the villains focused on beating him, covered their faces with my palm, and sprayed anesthetic.

“Kheugh, khak…! What… is…”

The concentration was just light enough for self-defense purposes.

Not lethal and leaving no after-effects, but enough to make them collapse unable to endure right now.

When their comrade collapsed, the remaining underlings looked around confused about what was happening until they met my eyes.

And they fell before me in pairs, one after another. Thanks to them stupidly just staring at me.

After subduing all the villains, I turned to Jin-hyeon. Besides the dust from getting hit, there wasn’t even a trace of having fought.

“Ha! Are, are you okay?! Are you hurt anywhere?! I’m sorry, because of me…”

When I silently stared at him, Jin-hyeon, oblivious to my thoughts, blanked out before saying what I should have said.

The guy who was being attacked until just now was worried about the person who instantly took down his attackers.

The guy who should be thanking me for helping.

While it was amusing, anger boiled up from deep inside my heart.

Who does he think he’s looking down on?

“…Seeing as you have the energy to say such things, you seem fine. Walk out on your own feet.”

Forcefully suppressing the raging fire in my chest, I escaped the smoke. Then I saw heroes running toward the smoke.

Before they could ask if everything was okay, I informed the heroes a beat faster that I had already subdued all the villains and no one was hurt.

“…I-is that so? Indeed, you’re a student of Heros Academy. Amazing skills. It wouldn’t be strange if you were already active in the field?”

The heroes spoke as if judging me to be a second or third year at the academy after seeing my body.

“I’m an incoming student.”

“Oh.”

Thanks to Yeonhwa and Jin-hyeon earnestly explaining the situation, there wasn’t much for me to do. Just testifying that I was passing by and helped when I saw a fellow academy student being attacked.

And pretending to be surprised at seeing the gang of villains suddenly die from qi deviation was all.

The police who arrived later than the heroes wanted to accompany me to the station to investigate the circumstances, but that could be avoided thanks to Jin-hyeon’s passionate argument.

Something about how it would be terrible to be late for the academy entrance ceremony, and so on.

Still, I had to tell them my ability, name, address, and such right there. While I was prepared for that much so it wasn’t particularly unpleasant, it was so irritating that Jin-hyeon helped me.

“I see… so you’re Blanca! That’s pretty. It’s a pretty name, Blanca!”

“Stop it, Yeonhwa. We just met them…”

“And they’re also our benefactor! This must be fate?! Jin-hyeon, you’re too timid!”

And so, I naturally accompanied them to the academy.

Since we were all first-years at the same academy and shared the same experience, Yeonhwa clung to me saying this must be fate.

“My name is Yeonhwa! Lee Yeonhwa. This is Seo Jin-hyeon! Nice to meet you, Blanca! Let’s be friends!”

Yes. Let’s be very, very good friends.