Correcting the Villainess of the Academy - Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Dream’s Boundary (8)

“Ow… it hurts!”

The more I tightened my grip, the more the girl struggled. Judging by the badge on her jacket’s lapel, she was a second-year senior.

I applied just enough force to nearly crush her wrist, then used my weight to shove her to the opposite side of Yeon Minha.

“Kyaaah…!”

“Harina, are you okay?”

“You…!”

Her friends rushed to check on her as she lay on the ground. Then, three pairs of hostile eyes turned toward me.

“Who does this brat think she is…? A freshman dares to lay hands on a senior?”

The girl, who had gotten up and brushed off the dirt, glared at me, gritting her teeth. The wrist I had grabbed had turned a deep, dark red.

“The one who tried to lay hands first was you, senior. Senior Yeon Minha has a mentoring group meeting scheduled. Please step aside.”

“Hah, what a joke… Yeon Minha, so you really did get yourself a dog?”

The girl ignored my words, sneering. That sneer made blood rush to my head, and my fists clenched and unclenched involuntarily. I had tried to let her go nicely, but this was infuriating.

Th i s w a s c op i e d f r o m k in g m t l. or g
I took a step toward the girl. The height difference seemed to intimidate her, and her expression turned to one of panic.

“Hick… what, what are you doing?”

“I asked you to move. Or should I…”

T h i s w a s co p i e d fr o m k i n g m t l . o r g
“Stop! Stop it!”

A loud voice suddenly came from behind. Yeon Minha walked out from behind me, her face still wearing its usual arrogant expression.

“Hey, Chun Harin. I’m busy, so get lost. This is beneath your level. The name of the Myungwon Chun family is being disgraced.”

“You… you…!”

“You didn’t hear me? If you have a complaint, request a duel. Or should we settle it here? Maybe this time I’ll scar your face to teach you a lesson?”

“Ugh…”

The girl instinctively touched her cheek. Her face was filled with fear. It seemed she was more afraid of Yeon Minha, who had humiliated her before, than of a freshman.

“Harina, we should leave…”

“Hah, birds of a feather. You really suit each other, Yeon Minha. Don’t think this is over.”

With the situation now 2:3, the girls’ confidence had noticeably waned. Eventually, they left, unable to withstand the urging of their peers. They left, glaring at Yeon Minha as if she were their sworn enemy.

Only then did I turn my attention to Yeon Minha.

Her haughty expression crumbled the moment our eyes met.

“What, what…”

“…It’s nothing. But why did you step in?”

“If you cause trouble here, it’ll only complicate things… If you want to crush them, do it in a duel… I was just going to scare them off or accept a duel challenge…”

Yeon Minha’s thoughts echoed my own. We had been mistaken, thinking the other would act first.

It was somewhat surprising to see she had such clear standards. Perhaps that’s why she had managed to escape unscathed despite ruthlessly trampling her opponents in duels.

“You’re not mad I interrupted, right…? I didn’t do it on purpose… it’s just…”

“Who would get mad over that?”

“…”

She was silent, giving me a questioning look.

A brief silence passed, and we started walking in the same direction without anyone saying who should lead. After all, Yeon Minha’s presence here was to attend the mentoring group meeting she was to preside over.
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“It wasn’t me…”

“…?”

As we walked through the annex’s corridors, Yeon Minha spoke quietly from behind.

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t start it… they picked a fight first…”

Only then did I realize what Yeon Minha was worried about.

Despite the contract, our daily lives hadn’t changed much. I now slept in the room next to hers, spreading the barrier overnight, and left the beech dormitory early in the morning before anyone noticed.

T h i s w a s c o p ie d f r o m k i n g mt l . o r g
Even though I had formally stated her obedience, the demands I made were minor things like not picking fights first or avoiding derogatory remarks that might provoke others.

“Did someone say something? I can tell. And didn’t I say it’s fine to respond to provocations?”

“Y-yes…”

“But what was that about fingers?”

“That… during a duel, I cut it off… It wasn’t intentional, I couldn’t control my strength in my rage…”

No wonder her hand felt odd when I grabbed it. I realized now that her pinky finger was missing.

“In a rage, huh?”

“That… that girl… she insulted my parents… I got angry…”

“I see. You did well.”

“Wh-what…?”
T h i s w a s c o p i e d f r o m k in g mt l . o rg

Yeon Minha’s reaction didn’t seem excessive. It was enough to make anyone angry. And since it happened during a duel, it was justifiable. It felt like poetic justice…

“Who were those girls?”

“The girl earlier was Chun Harina… she’s the heir of the Myungwon Chun family… part of the 27 Magic Families… Our families’ businesses overlap, so we constantly clash… And she’s close to Baek Seoyeon, which makes it worse…”

“It seems you really don’t get along.”

“How could anyone like that hypocritical bitch… And…”

“More importantly, how are your nightmares these days?”

“Wh-what?”

I shifted the topic, feeling disheartened by the subject matter.

“It’s better. I don’t have any nightmares… I don’t see shadows… no hallucinations…”
T hi s w a s c o p i ed fro m k i n g mt l . o r g

Yeon Minha’s fear of me was still evident. But alongside that, there was a hint of satisfaction.

Leading the way, I turned slightly to look at her.

Her skin looked fresh, and her hair had a healthy shine. The fatigue that had once marked her face was gone, replaced by her natural beauty.

Since signing the contract, I had learned more about Yeon Minha’s condition.

The so-called “Curse of the Spirit Summoner” was actually referred to as mental contamination.

Yeon Minha suffered from severe mental contamination proportional to her extraordinary talent. Despite the pharmaceutical company owned by her maternal family deploying every resource, they made no progress.

Yet, her mental fortitude was truly impressive. She had spent over a decade balancing on the edge of reality and hallucination.

Recently, she had reached her limit, but if I were exposed to the same conditions, could I have maintained my sanity for that long? I couldn’t easily answer.

It was fortunate she had room for recovery. In hindsight, it was a good decision to take a firm approach when I first approached her.

She had high mental strength and pride. Lesser methods wouldn’t have been enough to establish control as I had.

“You said you saw strange things during the day. How is it now?”

“It’s fine. I don’t see anything. I hear nothing…”

Even though I didn’t spread the barrier during the day, the restoration of her mental strength overnight seemed to have positive effects throughout the day.

“That’s good. Perhaps we can adjust the timing a bit. Since we don’t know the exact duration yet, we can try reducing it gradually…”

“…What?”

Her eyes filled with fear at my words.

It was as if she couldn’t bear the slightest chance of reliving those illusions.

“I misspoke. We’ll keep things as they are for now. Just forget about what I said.”

T h is w as co p i e d f ro m k i n g m t l . o r g
“O-okay.”

Yeon Minha nodded slightly, visibly relieved.

She quickly reverted to her usual arrogant and confident expression.

We soon reached the door to the small meeting room. I opened the door for her, letting her go in first. She flinched but naturally took the lead.

I followed her into the meeting room, where about twenty students were already present. Roughly half were second-years, and the rest had badges like mine, indicating they were freshmen.

Despite the number of people, it felt insignificant compared to the influence of the Jeokhwa Yeon family.

There seemed to be no personal bonds between Yeon Minha and the others. Half of them seemed sycophantic, while the rest only appeared to be there due to unavoidable circumstances.

Yeon Minha naturally took the empty seat of honor, starting the meeting without any formalities.

***

“So… what do you think?”

“About what?”

“This assignment…”

As we left the annex after the meeting, Yeon Minha asked.

“Does my opinion matter?”

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“Well, if you say no, it’s a no anyway…”

She glanced at me as she spoke.

The upcoming second assignment was the topic of today’s mentoring group meeting. The assignment Yeon Minha brought was a B-level routine task: escorting a large-scale grain shipment from a southern agricultural company.

Because the shipment was so large, one mentoring group couldn’t handle it alone, so she gathered everyone under her influence to jointly take on the assignment.

“Honestly, I’m not very keen on it.”

From what I knew, the south wasn’t a peaceful place.

Rumors about Southern rebels had reached me even in my village. If it was well-known even there, it must be significant.

The People’s Liberation Front, or PLF.

The leadership comprised powerful dark mages, unlike the usual dark mages hiding in the shadows. They were actively involved in terrorism and rebellion, even conspiring with demons to overthrow the state.

They were growing in numbers, seducing and misleading the poor, and rumors said they even had operatives in the capital.

After joining the 66th Squadron, I encountered the PLF firsthand. They had established a branch in the northeast, attempting to breach defenses to connect with demons beyond the barrier through terrorism and assassination.

We spent considerable effort on the “Northeastern Flattening Operation” to eliminate them and demon spies. Coordinated purges occurred in other regions, and now, their once-strong presence was in a lull.

However, the south was once their stronghold.

There seemed no need to venture into such a place.

“Wh-why…? Now that I think about it, you’re from the south, right? Do you know something…”

Yeon Minha quickly covered her mouth, realizing her slip. She turned pale and watched my reaction.

My forged identity did list the south as my origin. It seemed she had done some background checking.

“…”

Regardless of what she found, her investigation didn’t bother me. Background checks were routine in the Cradle, and I had no right to complain about them.

“Th-this is…”

Seeing her terrified expression, I decided to change the topic.

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“Never mind. Isn’t the south where the rebel forces were strongest? And I heard the destination, Yongju Jinryeong, is the southernmost point. Why did Hoseo Hanong choose that location?”

“The Masada metropolitan area is already overpopulated and too cool for large-scale food production. The eastern development plan was scrapped years ago due to the Five Calamities. The southern agricultural district was a national project to address this crisis.”

Yeon Minha continued her explanation, still watching my reaction.

The Republic faced a chronic food shortage, and to resolve it, they planned a massive agricultural district in the warm and spacious south.

Hoseo Hanong won the bid for this project, and they were one of the few companies still closely allied with Jeokhwa.

This made it practically a designated task, and accepting it carried significant implications for her as the heir of Jeokhwa.

Though this mission was a B-level task, escort missions typically had higher actual difficulty due to the risk of ambush, making it closer to C-level difficulty.

Moreover, using the designated route meant there was almost no risk of an ambush. The large-scale military operation years ago nearly annihilated the rebel forces, so any threat would be limited to low-grade beasts in the south.

“And even if all these risks materialized, the heir of the Five Families being scared and rejecting the task would be a laughingstock for a hundred years.”

“…”

Her reasoning seemed sound. She had a broader perspective I lacked.

Given Yeon Minha’s explanation, this escort mission was more significant than its difficulty suggested. Successfully completing it could help restore her status.

Moreover, with her recent recovery, she was showing enthusiasm in various activities at the Cradle.

Considering my objectives, there was no need to dampen that enthusiasm.

“Alright. Let’s proceed as you wish.”

“…!”

Her eyes sparkled with excitement, though she quickly tried to maintain a serious expression.

“…Hmm.”

“I’ll be going now. I have some errands. See you later.”

With the meeting attended, I had someone to meet.

I was about to leave to get permission for an outing, but Yeon Minha’s face quickly filled with fear.

“W-where…?”

“You said it’s fine during the day, didn’t you?”

“Th-that’s true, but…”

“I told you, I don’t use my power during the day. Nothing will happen, so don’t worry about it.”

“Who’s worried…!”

“I’m just stepping out briefly. I’ll be back before it gets late.”

Yeon Minha seemed about to argue, but my words made her lower her head.

“…Okay.”

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Yeon Minha trembled. It made me feel a bit uneasy.

Her dependence tugged at my heart, pulling me back to that no-longer-existing village.

No matter how hard I tried to shake it off, the vivid memories still clung to me.

Seeing her with her head hung low, someone kept overlapping with her image.

End of Chapter