Ch.3737 – Freshman Dormitory

<37 – Freshman Dormitory>

Jona received a report from Oknodie.

The round, cute handwriting resembled Oknodie perfectly, making his heart warm automatically.

━━━

*Pre-Entrance Ceremony Preparations

①Uniform Purchase✔

-Received items supported by the foundation!

-The skirt is too short!

②Freshman Dormitory Move-in Application✔

-Successfully moved into Room 111!

-Be careful not to enter Room 111.1 even by mistake!

③Prohibited Items Application✔

-Application list: compass, luminous stone, candy pouch, stone pouch, wide thick cloth, rescue mirror, knife, shovel, metal rod, rope, notebook, wire.

-Approved list: candy pouch, stone pouch. Rest rejected.

④Support items to request from the foundation✔

-None.

━━━

One item made him sigh as soon as he saw it.

Stone pouch.

Has she still not broken that habit?

‘She’ll attract attention.’

The foundation’s scholarship students receive attention at the Academy.

There have been numerous incidents, and they understood through experience.

The danger of the Wiheomhae Foundation.

The fate of scholarship students who can no longer develop.

Professors who become attached to Academy students are always forced to make choices.

Either endure watching the child’s growth stagnate while being swayed by harsh directives.

Or forcibly push them to continue growing and elevate them to higher positions.

It’s a vicious hostage situation.

They create disciples with outstanding talent, then use the disciple’s growth and future to subtly force cooperation.

Which professor will be entangled in the foundation’s trap and bleed this time?

‘It’s already out of my hands.’

Jona closed his eyes.

The memories of his former mentor.

The incidents that occurred between his teacher, himself, and the foundation.

He closes his eyes to all of it.

Because there’s nothing good in remembering any of it.

‘If I need to pay attention to something, it’s this.’

④Support items to request from the foundation

-None.

Usually children try hard to request as much support as possible.

She’s afraid to ask for help.

No, she pathologically refuses it.

Oknodie was that kind of child.

A child who rushes as if she must accomplish everything alone, as if she’ll be abandoned otherwise.

When she first started training, such behavior seemed admirable, but now it hurt his heart.

However, this too was beyond his control.

That’s why even more.

He needed to focus on what he could do.

-Be careful not to enter Room 111.1 even by mistake!

Was it sleep-talking?

Or a doodle on the report?

He could dismiss it as a child’s prank, but he didn’t.

Because he knew.

He too was once a freshman at the Academy.

That’s why he could state with certainty.

That there is no such thing as Room 111.1 in the freshman dormitory.

Whatever it was, if Oknodie was anxious about it, it needed investigation.

* *

Gift Academy is located on a remote island.

The Academy was built on an island with high mana distribution for students’ rapid growth.

Without a <Dimensional Gate>, reaching the island by conventional means is extremely difficult.

It’s located in a danger zone that can’t be accessed without considerable skill.

For this reason, it’s nearly impossible for the many countries of the continent to pose a physical threat to the Academy.

So organizations interested in the Academy thought:

-If invasion is difficult, wouldn’t it be better to plant spies and at least gather information?

That’s why numerous spies roam the Academy.

One of them was a spy for the Wiheomhae Foundation.

‘A directive.’

April, a spy who communicates with the outside only at designated places on designated days through special methods.

She thought this directive was quite strange.

“Confirm the reality of Room 111.1 in the women’s wing of the freshman dormitory and report any dangers.”

To investigate without arousing suspicion, she needed a plausible reason to approach the dormitory.

Fortunately, spy April had a cover identity prepared for such occasions.

“A cleaner? Great. Please change the sheets in my room too.”

“Ma’am, please throw this away on your way out.”

The ill-mannered freshmen were annoying, but she could tolerate this much.

“You there, woman. Come serve as my attendant in my room for a while.”

“??”

“I grant you the opportunity to receive the favor of Yeltsin Brownie, eldest daughter of the Brownie family.”

This kind of line-crossing was troublesome.

A noble family’s eldest daughter with an eye for women.

Setting aside how unpleasant it was, she wished they’d recognize it was somewhat shameful.

The foundation’s spies had guidelines established for such situations.

-When a student bothers you, say this.

Recalling her superior’s advice, April opened her mouth.

“I am an employee affiliated with Gift Academy. If an Academy student interferes with an employee’s duties, I have the right to report to superiors and exercise disadvantages.”

“…I meant that you’re attractive. I wasn’t really trying to interfere with your work. Ahem. The part about serving as my attendant was just a joke.”

They say you can feel like a magician without magic.

The effect is truly outstanding.

<Freshman Dormitory>

<Same Building – Women’s Section>

<Room 111>

The dormitory has 20 rooms per floor.

The first floor, with the best convenience, has all single rooms.

They clearly receive differentiated benefits compared to the standard quad rooms from the second floor up.

‘Could there be a problem in this special floor where the Academy focuses on supervision?’

Personally she was skeptical, but that’s what she was dispatched to find out.

Knock knock.

“Are you in?”

Unlike typical freshmen who leave their rooms to wander around, the resident of Room 111 was quietly inside and opened the door abruptly at the knock.

A head peeking out tilted like a wagtail, expressing curiosity.

“New event?”

“I’m the cleaner.”

Is this some code word used by kids these days?

Setting aside her confusion, she entered the room under the pretext of cleaning.

“There’s a stain on the wall.”

“Eek! I didn’t do it!”

“I didn’t think you did. Don’t worry.”

The question is what’s beyond this wall.

Between the 11th and 12th rooms, there’s a small empty space.

About 0.5 pyeong in area.

It’s a space with walls supporting the floors, designed with load considerations.

Press press.

Knock knock.

Even pressing with her hand and lightly tapping, it feels like just an ordinary wall.

Knock knock.

As if hearing the knock from the next room, there’s a responding knock.

The room’s resident seems somewhat restlesss, but there’s nothing particularly unusual.

“Are there any problems with living in this room?”

“None at all!”

Her guard is high.

There’s no information to be gained from this child.

After finishing cleaning, she visited Room 112 next.

“Cleaning? I don’t mind.”

Again, April changed the sheets and used the wall stain as an excuse to investigate.

Knock knock.

Knock knock.

Apart from knocks returning in response to knocks, nothing significant happened.

“Heh. That’s cute. Is it the kid living next door?”

Did she find the knocking amusing?

Hestia, the resident of Room 112, smiled warmly.

April thought she was cute too.

“I think it’s a response to earlier.”

“Earlier?”

“You knocked back when the next room knocked earlier. I knocked then too, just like now.”

“I didn’t knock though?”

“?”

“Ah~ I get it. You’re playing a prank because I’m a naive freshman? Haha. I’m not falling for it. We had this culture in the mercenary corps too.”

April spoke seriously to the wall.

“Miss Oknodie. Can you hear me?”

“……”

“Can you hear me?”

After a moment.

A faint “I can hear you” came back.

“What? So it was a prank after all.”

Hestia, the resident of Room 112, tried to act nonchalant.

“…I’m very sorry for startling you. There was a momentary misunderstanding.”

“It’s fine. It was exciting, made my heart race.”

“From now on, please refrain from talking to the next room in the dormitory, as we aim to create an environment conducive to studying.”

“But you just did it plenty.”

“Please understand it was an unavoidable procedure for confirmation.”

“Alright. I’ll stay quiet.”

April left the room.

She quietly stroked her forearm.

The goosebumps still hadn’t subsided.

‘I clearly heard it and remember.’

The answer that just came from the wall.

It wasn’t Miss Oknodie’s voice.

Between Rooms 111 and 112.

Standing in the hallway, April stared seriously at the space between the rooms.

A space ridiculously narrow for a person to live in.

What on earth could be in there?

The ominous imagination wouldn’t stop.

She couldn’t suppress her fear.

“Ugh.”

April turned and hurried away in terror.

She failed to notice.

The fact that other residents on the same floor were watching with interest, wondering what had frightened the cleaner so much.

* *

Whew, I thought I was going to be caught.

The wall between Rooms 111 and 112.

In Room 111.1 lives an entity unknown to residents and Academy staff alike.

<Responding Wall>

A wall that responds when interaction is attempted.

And this wall commits a very audacious act when midterms arrive in the first semester.

The resident of the next room, Hestia.

It awakens her as the first main boss.

<Berserk Hestia>.

The circumstances are simple.

Throughout the first semester, she realizes that no one actually lives in the next room she’s been conversing with, and from a certain day, she goes insane.

Hestia, who was already a berserker class, goes completely mad, resulting in a catastrophe.

Dozens of classmates are injured, and some even die in the major incident.

How do players who know this secret respond?

Pure spring waters get scared and immediately report to professors to remove the <Responding Wall>, but stagnant waters never do such a thing.

‘If I just match the responses like I did, it’ll be fine, right?’

Then Hestia won’t go insane.

Plus, the <Responding Wall> remains intact.

In the original game.

If midterms begin that way.

-Tell me Professor XX’s past exam questions and expected answers for this midterm.

-Okay.

This helpful wall assists with studying.