How to Survive as an Extra

Chapter 78

A Monday when the end-of-month evaluation for the marksmanship lecture was underway.

The cadets could not focus on the evaluation. Instead, they were blindly chattering about a single issue.

“I get that he is an investigator in the Special Affairs Division. But what is a probationary investigator supposed to be?”

“What do you think? He is not old enough, so they pinned him down under a plausible pretext.”

“Then is it like how Senior Choi Suhyuk got scouted by Blackcastle last year?”

“It is similar, but… the problem is that since the Great Rift, this is the first time the Special Affairs Division has publicly announced an investigator’s identity. And it is a cadet who has not even graduated.”

“So it is an exception on top of an exception? I still do not understand.”

“Think about it. A Special Affairs Division investigator has enemies everywhere. If his identity leaks, there will be an assassination attempt within a week, no doubt. And yet they still announced it. That means… you could say there is absolutely no threat to his continued survival.”

“…So he is strong as hell. But he did not look like it…”

“Ha… I know.”

A shooting range filled less with gunfire and more with murmuring cadets.

Cha Yeri, waiting for her turn, quietly listened as the female cadets around her gossiped about Ji Seokhyeon.

“Then was it an effort to avoid standing out, the way he always looked so incompetent?”

“Probably. It would have been meaningless for him to aim for high scores in the academy.”

“Then he endured everyone pointing fingers at him in silence. Oh my, how pitiful…”

“Perhaps he even enrolled as a social care beneficiary to conceal his identity. A Special Affairs Division investigator’s family would be targeted too, after all.”

“Exactly! He must be from some prominent clan! Maybe even the blood of a Great Rift hero.”

“But honestly, did he not look rather attractive? Not outstandingly so, but he has a certain aura…”

A certain aura.

At that point, Cha Yeri silently bared the corner of her mouth.

‘Aura, my ass. He is just an irritating man.’

When Cha Yeri first heard the issue surrounding Ji Seokhyeon, unlike the other cadets, she remained calm.

No matter how much becoming a Special Affairs Division investigator was said to be harder than joining a top-tier Hunter guild, the Ji Seokhyeon she knew had more than enough qualifications to enter the Special Affairs Division.

‘Maybe the Special Affairs Division is the one operating the Phantom Thief.’

If that were true, every question she had held about Ji Seokhyeon would be resolved.

Facing the mafia, facing the escaped prisoner from Muspel—those were not things an ordinary student of the 4th Scholastic District could do.

Even so, Cha Yeri felt a kind of frustration she could not explain.

It was not simply inferiority at a fellow cadet getting ahead of her.

After all, it was not an emotion she had felt toward Lee Eunho or Gong Minwu.

‘Betrayal… something like that?’

Ji Seokhyeon had indeed been deceiving everyone with a double identity, but betrayal did not fully explain the feeling.

If anything, it was closer to anxiety.

Like how, as a child, she had trembled at the thought that her parents might confiscate the toy gun she had hidden inside her pillowcase.

“More importantly, Yeri, you knew, did you not?”

Lost in her turbulent thoughts, Cha Yeri blinked wide at the question from another cadet.

For once, she showed a flustered expression that did not suit her.

“Ah… I am not sure.”

“Oh my, how modest. The reason you were doing club activities with him all this time was because you were secretly helping him, was it not? We understand perfectly why you did not tell us.”

“T-that is not… In the first place, we did not even know each other before enrollment.”

“Really? So you and him… you have no relationship at all, right?”

Cha Yeri lifted her chin slightly, about to nod, but then froze before she could.

The cadet’s question was true, yet for some reason she did not want to affirm it.

And that was because the cadet before her was staring at her with eyes she had never shown before, desperately searching her face.

Cha Yeri knew that look far too well.

As Hyeonseong Group’s heir, she often encountered such expressions.

The problem was that they always coveted what she possessed.

And in this case…

“……”

With a stiff expression, Cha Yeri parted her lips.

But at that moment, the shout of the shooting instructor, Oh Hyeokmin, rang out.

“Next! Next cadet, Cha Yeri! Stop fooling around and get on the firing line!”

***

Several days after the video leaked—no, after it was publicly announced that I was a Special Affairs Division investigator who possessed a Demonic Eye.

Every media outlet mentioned my name at every opportunity.

Guilds I had surely heard of at least once somehow tracked down my number and contacted me, and cadets whose voices I had never even heard before came up to speak to me.

Naturally, the Bureau contacted me about an ability information update.

Fortunately, thanks to Baek Dojun’s influence, there was no punishment for the omission in the update, but even this time I did not report my dark attribute.

I spent frantic days, as though I had become the protagonist of a novel overnight.

If I had not revealed my affiliation with the Special Affairs Division as Baek Dojun advised, if I had not responded to the private meeting with Kim Shinwoo, I might have suffocated under attention I did not need.

“Excessive attention is poison for someone who is not even a main character.”

At least, because the end-of-month evaluation overlapped with everything, there was no major uproar within Hero Prep.

Only my Agility 20 hearing nearly drove me insane, constantly catching my name being spoken across the campus.

Even within the Investigation Division, they whispered my name openly, but that was no different from before.

Previously it had been contempt and ridicule. Now it was jealousy and fault-finding.

Among them, the most conspicuous change in attitude came from Gwon Chihun.

He treated me with a sullen indifference, as if I had taken what should have been his place.

In truth, it was an understandable reaction.

Because his goal was to become a Special Affairs Division investigator.

And now I—whom he had considered insignificant—had been publicly announced as Special Affairs Division.

How could that not twist his guts?

As an aside, in the original work, Gwon Chihun had no connection to the Special Affairs Division.

“Well, people are allowed to dream big.”

I had been more worried about Do Minyeong’s reaction than Gwon Chihun’s.

With the conflict from the Spring Scholastic War resolved and the video leaking at the same time, I feared our relationship would grow distant again.

But Do Minyeong behaved more or less as she always had.

As usual, she sat beside me, occasionally asked questions about written subjects, and half ignored me as she always did.

If there was a single noticeable change…

“It is that since that day, she still avoids my gaze.”

Had she begun to take interest in me beyond friendship?

No, that was extremely unlikely.

Her resolve to transfer to the Combat Division was still unwavering, and her relationship with Lee Eunho—the only person she opened her heart to in the original work—was, for some reason, still stagnant.

“This must be because Lee Eunho’s personality differs from the original work.”

In any case, Friday arrived, and the chaotic end-of-month evaluation finally ended.

I—no, the Mystery Club—set out on a two-day, one-night investigation together with the mystery clubs of other academies.

It was an external activity at a strangely abrupt time, but it was a pilot joint activity meant to justify the united club.

And in the first place, it was also the same development as in the original work.

As always, the meeting place for Hero Prep’s members was the front gate.

And as always, Lee Eunho was the first to arrive and wait.

When I approached, Lee Eunho only flicked his eyes over my face, then turned his head away.

A blatant reaction that said he did not want to associate with me.

To gauge his response, I tossed out a casual remark.

“I wonder if things are going well.”

“Mind your own business.”

As expected, the answer came back cold.

A few days ago, Lee Eunho had told me he would independently dig into the secret of the incident from thirteen years ago.

I did not know how far he had progressed, but for some reason, he felt as though he was gradually becoming different from the Lee Eunho I first met in this world.

As though he were drawing closer to the Lee Eunho of the original work…

After I stood with him at a measured distance for about five more minutes, Yun Jeongseop and Cha Yeri arrived at the gate.

Lee Eunho greeted the two with a friendly expression, as if he had never worn that cold face at all.

As usual, I only dipped my head in a blank expression, then hoisted the large duffel bag I had set down onto my shoulder.

A bus waited at the gate to take us to the investigation site.

Its destination was Mount Wol-dal in Chungcheong Province.

Starting with Hero Prep, it would stop by eleven academies in turn, pick up students, and then leave Seoul.

More academies were participating than I expected, but since mystery clubs were a fringe interest, the number of students was noticeably small.

At most, about ten per academy.

While I was loading my baggage into the side of the vehicle, I overheard Yun Jeongseop and Cha Yeri speaking.

“So you are saying you cannot get on the bus?”

“Yes. If you do not mind, I was wondering if I could travel separately to the destination.”

“Let me hear your reason.”

“That is…”

The last time she went to the exhibition in District 8, Cha Yeri had traveled by private vehicle rather than the tram.

The bus, where she would have to ride with other students, would not be an exception.

In truth, the reason she disliked such transportation was that since childhood, she had faced multiple terror threats in confined spaces like vehicles.

It was certainly a reason one could accept for Hyeonseong Group’s heir, but the prideful Cha Yeri would never reveal such a weakness.

“It is just that I feel a bit burdened by the attention.”

“I do not think you need to worry about that. These days, there is someone who is drawing far more attention.”

Yun Jeongseop let his eyes drift toward me.

Those lazy eyelids were irritating no matter how many times I saw them.

“And considering the meaning of this activity, it is hard for me to accommodate only your convenience. It is a united club. If a rumor spreads that we only catered to the convenience of Hero Prep cadets, it will become quite troublesome.”

“…Is that so.”

“Then, in that case.”

Lee Eunho cut into their conversation.

“Could she not sit with the seat beside her left empty? If we stack some luggage, no one will be able to sneak glances at her.”

It was a fairly plausible solution.

And if she still felt uneasy, she could sit beside Yun Jeongseop.

With a half-resigned face, Cha Yeri let out a silent sigh.

Then, abruptly, she turned to me and said something I did not expect.

“If I must ride, I think it would be better if I sat beside Cadet Ji Seokhyeon.”

“Huh? Me…?”

“Yes, Cadet Ji Seokhyeon. And I will sit in the front, near the door.”

An unsettling turn of events.

Before I could add anything, Yun Jeongseop nodded.

“Then it sounds fine. Let us get on.”

***

Seated by the window, Cha Yeri looked subtly tense from the moment the engine started.

She tried to look out the window, but instinctively she kept fidgeting with the MA6 strapped at her waist.

Sitting on the aisle, I found myself growing restless as well.

It would take at least two hours to reach Mount Wol-dal. I could not let her suffer helplessly the whole time.

I slipped my hand into my pocket and pulled out caramel candy from my inventory.

“Here. Take this.”

When I held the caramel in my palm and offered it, Cha Yeri tilted her head in confusion.

“I do not eat candy.”

“I know. But when you are tense, nothing works as well as something sweet. And this is a secret, but whenever I eat caramel, my mind settles.”

“Was that not carbonated coffee?”

No, that was simply preference.

“When I was young, if I had to go far from home like a kindergarten field trip, I often cried.”

“…Liar.”

“Believe it or not. But one day, my mother pressed a few caramels into my hand and told me to eat one each time I wanted to go home. So one before the kindergarten bus departed, one at the rest stop, one when I arrived… I ate them all in half a day, leaving only one caramel.”

“Why did you leave one?”

“Because… if I ate them all, I felt like I would not be able to go back.”

“……”

“Then I came home with that last caramel still in my pocket, and the next day it went straight into the washing machine and I got chewed out badly.”

“Pfft.”

Cha Yeri’s mocking snicker.

I continued, unfazed.

“After that, whenever I went anywhere, my mother always put caramel in my bag. Like a charm. Or a magic potion that guaranteed I could come home. Anyway, on a day when I have to ride a bus reeking of air freshener, eating caramel makes me feel at ease. I do not know if it will have the same effect on you, Cadet Cha Yeri.”

When I finished, Cha Yeri cautiously picked up the caramel from my palm.

It looked as though she would pop it into her mouth immediately, but for some reason she kept glancing between the caramel and me, her expression strange.

It was an expression I had never seen before.

It was clearly different from the image of Cha Yeri I had described.

If I had to name it, it was a guileless expression she might have worn as a child.

Soon, Cha Yeri put the caramel into her mouth.

“Well… it is not bad… yes.”