Chapter 3: Thief, But With a Side of Terminal Illness (3)

The worry about ‘the image of me that’s spread throughout the academy. Is it okay as it is?’ had been a headache for me for the past two months.

Because my death would happen because of this.

Of course, it wasn’t the direct cause.

However, this perception of being ‘the worst cadet’ played a decisive role in providing the cause.

In the main story of ‘Heroes of Frey,’ Gerard was caught stealing on the spot, entered combat, and died.

But in truth, the suspicion that Gerard was a thief had existed long before.

Being caught on the spot was merely the period that concluded those suspicions.

A predetermined bad ending.

To escape from it, I had to completely eliminate these damned labels that were the root cause.

Ghost, recluse, wreck, the shame of the 888th batch, and so on…

The funny thing was, these images were originally something Gerard had deliberately crafted.

For work. In other words, to make stealing easier.

Naturally, he couldn’t have been a failure from the start.

The entrance exam itself was designed so that only a select few talented individuals could pass.

So, at first, Gerard was a capable and outstanding talent like any other cadet.

Until that incident happened.

The mid-term evaluation in the first semester of the first year.

There, Gerard orchestrated an accident and voluntarily became a victim of it.

Afterward, he pretended to have gained trauma, cutting himself off from the world.

He stopped attending lectures, participating in events, or engaging in any activities, and gave up on assignments and grades entirely.

He hid his strength and deliberately played the role of a socially deficient troublemaker.

Thus, he naturally fell behind.

It was an obvious outcome.

Cadets and faculty.

The entire academy lost interest in Gerard.

The stage was complete.

A thief’s stage where he could steal comfortably without worrying about anyone’s attention was set.

It’s easy to understand if you think of the cliches often seen in spy movies or games.

You know, that movie.

Great and Secret?

Like how a North Korean spy comes to South Korea and pretends to be the neighborhood idiot.

It’s not for nothing that protagonists induce such disregard and indifference.

It’s the textbook scenario for stealth.

Thus, Gerard finally managed to secure the image of the worst cadet in academy history, just as he wanted.

But there was one thing Gerard hadn’t considered: the place where he was carrying out his activities was none other than Frey Academy.

The Frey Empire, one of the two powers dividing the continent.

And Frey Hero Academy was a place where the brightest geniuses and talents of such an empire gathered.

Would such people fail to notice this thief’s methods?

“No. Of course they’d see through it.”

By the time Chapter 4 rolled around, the faculty were already suspecting cadets, and Gerard’s name was high on the list of likely suspects.

A stage he had spent two years building like a dog.

But that stage turned out to be the grave he’d lie in.

And now, I was the one about to lie in that grave.

Knowing this and doing nothing would make me an idiot.

I needed to cover it up as soon as possible.

So far, I had completed six requests from the cult.

Fortunately, the academy hadn’t yet realized the severity of the situation, but since I had ‘worked’ on ‘Might of the Giant’ yesterday, that too was now only a matter of time.

Soon, the academy would become aware of my existence and start pursuing me closely.

There wasn’t much time left.

That’s why I came here today.

To completely cover up the grave I had dug for myself in the past.

To erase that shitty image.

In front of the academy’s main gate.

As I approached the crowd gathered there, a young man who had been staring at me from a distance shouted.

“What the? Isn’t that Gerard?”

At that, the people around turned to look at me, murmuring.

Wide-eyed shock and gaping mouths.

Unbelievable reactions followed.

“For real?”

“Huh. He’s alive?”

They were the 888th batch, entering their third-year curriculum this year.

In other words, my peers.

This kind of intense welcome and attention was a first in my thirty years of life, so I scratched my cheek awkwardly and stood in a corner.

Hmm. I was somewhat of a celebrity.

Of course, in a bad way.

“But what’s he doing here?”

“Yeah. It’s been like a year since I last saw him.”

“You too? Same. Honestly, if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have recognized him. Forgot his face.”

“It’s been a year and a half for me.”

Wow, and an exclamation burst out among my peers.

That’s how surprising my presence here was to them.

No wonder I had the nickname ‘ghost.’

“Really? I saw Gerard yesterday.”

“Where? I heard he occasionally shows up at the basement cafeteria in the dorms. Did you see him there?”

Shows up, huh.

They’re treating me like some wild PokXmon or something.

“No. I saw him running laps at the training field. Been doing it for a while, I think?”

“Huh?”

“For real? That Gerard?”

“Yeah.”

My peers glanced at me with surprised eyes.

“But why’s he here?”

“Maybe for volunteer hours?”

“Well, he’s gotta graduate somehow. Guess we should be grateful.”

“You idiot, grateful? For this? After all the crap we had to clean up because of that guy, you’re grateful for this?”

“Oh, right. Cancel! Cancel!”

At this point, a question arose again.

What kind of person was Gerard, exactly?

This might be a tougher job than I thought.

A bad feeling washed over me.

The grave seemed deeper than I expected.

“Hm.”

Yeah.

Thinking I could cover up an image built over two years with just this one event was wishful thinking.

I didn’t expect it to be that easy.

Slowly and steadily.

If I kept at it, maybe one day,

‘You, you’re Gerard? You were the thief? No way! I can’t believe it!’

‘I’d rather not believe it. I won’t believe it.’

Maybe a day would come when they’d trust me infinitely like that…?

Yeah. Even I think that’s a ridiculous hope.

Just let me run my happiness circuit for a bit.

I can at least imagine it, right?

While I was busy running my happiness circuit internally, it happened.

“Hey, everyone! Attention!”

Suddenly, someone appeared in front of us and shouted loudly.

Baron Tesda, the student affairs officer.

He was the one in charge of leading us, who would act as the temporary safety team for the three-day entrance festival.

“Is the entire 888th batch here?”

“Yes!”

“Hm. It seems this year’s entrance festival is expected to draw the largest crowd in history. Naturally, with so many people gathered in a limited space, the likelihood of various accidents increases. For reference, my bad feelings have never been wrong, so you’d better brace yourselves.”

Baron Tesda explained with a stiff, hardened face.

A tense atmosphere settled around us.

My peers swallowed hard, and some glanced nervously at the tightly shut main gate of the academy.

Beyond the still-closed academy gate.

A massive crowd was already gathered, waiting for the gate to open.

It was hard to estimate how many there were.

Judging by the cheers and heat seeping through the gate, all I could think was that we were screwed.

Then, like a general before a desperate battle, Baron shouted to my peers.

With a voice full of resolve.

“But! This professor believes in you. Why? Because I know the effort you put into attending safety training all day for this! So, I won’t waste time with unnecessary words and say just one thing.”

“Yes, sir!”

“For the three days of the entrance festival, do not allow any accidents in your assigned areas.”

“…!”

“Understood?”

“Yes, sir!”

“That’s all. Now, disperse to your assigned areas!”

In a flurry, my peers scattered across the campus, wearing safety team badges labeled ‘Helper.’

Baron, left behind, watched their retreating backs with anxious eyes.

The resolve from moments ago was nowhere to be seen in his expression.

As he let out a deep sigh and turned around, it happened.

His gaze met mine, the only one left, and he flinched in shock.

His expression was as if he’d seen a ghost.

“You… aren’t you Gerard?”

The same reaction as my peers.

But in his eyes looking at me, a strange surge of emotions was vividly rising.

“…What are you doing here?”

I answered casually.

“Came to help. Safety team. You’re short on people, right?”

For the record, I hadn’t received any prior notice or explanation about the current situation.

Naturally, I hadn’t attended the preliminary training my peers had, nor did I know any manuals for handling accidents.

But I had a clear grasp of how things were going.

The grand entrance festival, held at the academy for three days starting today.

The academy had the duty and responsibility to manage and handle all its events, but naturally, it was hard to manage the massive crowd coming from across the empire with just any manpower.

So, the academy’s solution was this safety team.

The third-year students, who had the most flexible schedules among all the curricula.

Every year, the academy gathered these students as temporary slaves under the name of the safety team.

This year’s slaves were my 888th batch and I was excluded from this group.

Why?

Not because I was special, obviously.

Because it was obvious I wouldn’t have shown up even if they called me. That’s why.

But since I voluntarily showed up like this, it wasn’t surprising that my peers and now Baron were shocked.

“Really, Gerard?”

“Yes.”

“Why? Why the sudden change of heart?”

“Just… because it’s the right thing to do? I also remember being helped by seniors when I was a freshman.”

Baron looked at me with a peculiar gaze as I spoke glibly.

As if trying to see through my intentions.

In response, I faced him with the most innocent expression I could muster.

Baron was a middle-aged man approaching forty.

But the wrinkles around his eyes and the occasional white hairs made him seem older than his years.

In the official setting of ‘Heroes of Frey,’ Baron was described as a typical tough-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside character, strict on the surface but deeply caring for and thinking of the cadets.

He worried about the cadets’ issues as if they were his own and put his heart and soul into everything.

When Baron was a first-year advisor, his last student was none other than me, Gerard.

Since this wasn’t covered in the main story, I don’t know exactly what happened between the two.

But I do know this.

Until he moved to the student affairs office, Baron tried to look after Gerard until the end.

The deep regret and sorrow in his eyes looking at me now were probably due to this history.

How much of those wrinkles were my share?

A faint, wistful laugh from Baron followed.

“I see. Well, every year during the entrance festival, we do form this safety team. Really. It’s rare for you to have a good idea.”

But contrary to his words, his expression held no particular expectations.

“Here. This is your safety team badge. Since we’re short on time, I’ll briefly explain the manual.”

Afterward, I received a crash course from Baron and headed into the campus.

* * *

Wawawawa──.

Wow.

There really are a lot of people.

They say it’s half water, half fish.

I don’t know if that’s accurate, but no other metaphor seemed fitting.

That’s how enormous the crowd was that flooded into the academy grounds the moment it opened.

Yeah. They literally flooded in.

Like a dam releasing water.

It felt like all the citizens of the capital had come here.

The vast, sprawling academy grounds felt unusually cramped today.

With this many people, accidents were practically guaranteed.

Our safety team was the minimum measure to prevent those accidents from escalating into major incidents.

The task given to me, a last-minute addition to the team, was simple.

Roam the grounds freely, monitor the festival’s atmosphere, and prevent any potential accidents.

It’d be great if I could resolve them, but Baron said he didn’t expect that much.

Just please do the observing properly.

That was his final request and that attitude lit a fire under my pride.

No. Image improvement aside.

He was underestimating me too much.

“Now I’m motivated.”

From then on, I moved nonstop.

As expected, issues popped up all over the festival, and I dealt with them without noticing the time pass.

It was a mystery.

How did petty accidents keep happening wherever I went?

Fights breaking out over arguments were common.

People asking me to find lost items, or parents losing their kids—why were there so many of them?

But helping someone was indeed rewarding.

Before I knew it, I had forgotten my original goal of ‘image management for survival.’

I was more immersed in this work than in my ‘jobs,’ and I was getting addicted to the thank-yous I received from people.

Then, during a brief moment of rest, I sat on a bench.

I took off the badge hanging around my neck.

Out of habit, I rummaged through my pocket, but what came out wasn’t a cigarette but a candy.

“This is…”

When I found the parents of a boy who was crying after losing them.

The candy that boy gave me as thanks.

I unwrapped it and popped it into my mouth.

As the sweet glucose spread over my tongue, the frantic flow of time gradually returned to normal, and a warm, fuzzy feeling slowly spread in my chest.

Feeling that deep satisfaction, I blankly looked up at the sky.

“Peaceful.”

A clear blue sky.

White, feathery clouds drifting leisurely through it.

Warm sunlight and a cool spring breeze.

People laughing and chattering happily within it.

It was a good day.

A day that somehow made me think of cotton candy.

I want some cotton candy.

Back in Korea, I never once thought about cotton candy.

Strange thing.

“It’s always the things right next to you that you don’t look for.”

A bittersweet smile formed on my lips.

Could I go back to that time?

Would a day come for me when I could be happy without any worries, like them?

I don’t know.

I’d have to struggle hard.

To reach that day without worries or concerns, I stood up from the bench immediately.

Peace was as short and fleeting as the candy that had melted away.

I recalled my original purpose.

Let’s move.

That’s the only way I can erase even a bit of this dishonor written on me.

There’s no time to rest.

It was time to run again.

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