Chapter 31: Eavesdropping School Nurse

There was nothing new to glean from the hearing. Ruah had experienced it firsthand.

It was simply a tedious administrative task of organizing the incident and recording it in official documents.

—However, one question lingered in Ruah’s mind.

‘Why did this happen?’

Within the game “Hunter Hunting Academy,” there was no event where monsters escaped during class. There wasn’t even an indirect mention of such an incident in the dialogue.

‘There are two differences between the game and this place.’

The absence of the protagonist, and Ruah’s actions.

Of these, the protagonist’s absence was being naturally covered up by the storyline. Events that should have happened were still happening, and while the outcomes were slightly different, the major timeline remained intact.

‘At least, not to the extent that a major incident, which never existed in the first place, occurs like this.’

Then the cause must be Ruah.

Ruah had tried her best not to interfere with the original causality, but she must have made a serious mistake somewhere without realizing it.

‘Did my mistake snowball into such a big incident…?’

If she knew what the mistake was, she could correct it, but the problem was that she had no clue when it happened or what it was.

At this rate, she might even hasten the Great Calamity, which was still about nine months away, or cause another serious situation. She needed to identify where she made the mistake and take preventive measures to prevent it from happening again—

“—Nurse Han Ruah.”

“Yes? Y-Yes!”

Ruah quickly came to her senses and raised her head. The chairman and the surrounding teachers were focused on her.

“…….”

A cold sweat instantly ran down her back.

“I asked if student Hoshikawa Himari’s statement was correct.”

Ruah hadn’t actually heard what was said, but she nodded vigorously.

“Yes, th-that’s right!”

“Good.”

As if telling her not to be distracted, Chairman Pyo Younghan glanced at Ruah and looked back down at the documents. Ruah froze, unable to even wipe the sweat from her forehead.

“Aside from the oversight in the verification process, there were no issues with the class itself. Then we have no choice but to trace the source of the monster.”

Pyo Younghan spoke to the Hunter from the operations team sitting at the very end.

“Team Leader Park Haengsin.”

“Yes.”

The Hunter adjusted his posture.

‘He looks rather sloppy.’

That was Ruah’s impression as she peeked at his profile. With his goatee and hood, Park Haengsin seemed far from diligent or upstanding.

“First, please explain your assigned duties.”

“As the Team Leader of the Felix Academy Operations Department Team 1, I am in charge of securing teaching materials for classes.”

The answer flowed smoothly. He didn’t seem nervous even under the hawk-like gazes of Pyo Younghan and the teachers.

“The slime used in this monster research class, was it directly captured by Operations Team 1?”

“Yes.”

“Please explain the process in detail.”

“Hmm, it’s a bit long….”

Park Haengsin said so while readjusting his posture. When no one answered, he grinned and shrugged.

“Ah, just kidding. I’ll tell you.”

“…….”

“Usually, we receive the request two weeks before the class. They tell us which monster to capture and bring, and what the preferred conditions are.”

The Hunter began to speak calmly.

“The team members gather for a meeting. We decide on the location for the capture, finish preparations, and then travel by helicopter or land route.”

“Where was it this time?”

When a teacher suddenly asked a question, Park Haengsin turned to him and answered naturally.

“It was near the truce line, by the river. A Gate that occurred in a deserted area overflowed, and the riverbank was teeming with slimes.”

“Was the capture operation smooth?”

“Yes, it was business as usual. The tank drew aggro in the steel cage, and we waited for them to enter and captured them.”

“Hold on.”

A teacher raised his hand and interrupted Park Haengsin.

“I think the mistake was made during that process. Did you mistakenly bring a B-rank instead of a C-rank?”

It was a sharp observation. Everyone’s piercing gazes were focused on Park Haengsin, but he calmly took a sip of water.

‘He’ll obviously say no.’

Even Ruah thought so, but—

“—Yes, I think so too.”

The words that came out of the Hunter’s mouth were unexpected.

“I think I made a mistake back then. I think I brought a B-rank without properly checking whether it was a C-rank or not.”

“What!”

“It was a kind of complacency. I do similar work all the time, so I thought it would be okay and didn’t follow the regulations. It was my fault.”

Park Haengsin shrugged.

Murmurs arose among the teachers. Pyo Younghan whispered something to the teacher next to him.

But the commotion didn’t last long.

—Thump!

“Hunter Park Haengsin.”

The chairman slammed the desk, bringing the room to order.

“Can you swear on your conscience and professional ethics that your statement is true?”

“It’s true, Chairman. There’s no need for me to lie when admitting my mistake.”

“Then, very well.”

The chairman straightened the documents in front of him and tapped them.

“There are no contradictions, and it all adds up. Since the truth of the incident has been revealed, let’s decide on the level of disciplinary action for the person responsible.”

“I’ll accept it willingly.”

Park Haengsin bowed his head.

Ruah glanced at his profile. It was a situation where he should be asking for forgiveness, but his face held the same lightness as before.

‘This is strange.’

“Teacher Kim Inhwi, in charge of the monster class, is hereby sentenced to a two-month suspension of salary according to Article 124 of the Felix Academy regulations.”

“Ugh… I understand.”

The teacher bowed his head, clutching his trousers. Yes, that was a normal reaction.

“Team Leader Park Haengsin of Operations Team 1, you are also sentenced to a five-month suspension of salary according to Article 124 of the regulations.”

“I have nothing to say.”

He said so, but there was no change in his expression, as if it were someone else’s affair.

However, the chairman and the other teachers, sitting a little further away, didn’t seem to notice Park Haengsin’s strangeness.

“Student Hoshikawa Himari, you may leave now. Please go back to class.”

“…Understood.”

At Pyo Younghan’s words, Himari rose from her seat. But before that, she didn’t forget to whisper to Ruah, “I’ll be waiting.”

—Click!

As the door closed behind Himari, Pyo Younghan continued.

“I have a word of caution for the faculty members.”

“…….”

“This morning, I received a call from the Hoshikawa family. As you all know, they are the family of Hoshikawa Himari, who just left. The head of the family expressed his concerns about the safety of the school.”

Ruah recalled the face of Himari’s father, Hoshikawa Toshio, whom she had seen in the game. He was against his daughter studying abroad, so it was natural for him to be worried after an accident occurred at the school.

“He overlooked it this time for my sake, but he said he would take immediate action if such an incident occurs again.”

The teachers all lowered their gazes.

“This is a matter related to the prestige of our Felix Academy. Such an incident must never happen again.”

Chairman Pyo Younghan raised his voice.

“The Sports Festival, one of the two major events of the Academy, is just around the corner. Everyone, please re-examine the tasks you are in charge of from beginning to end and thoroughly reflect on whether there are any areas you have neglected. Do you understand!”

“Yes, Chairman!”

The teachers’ response was almost military-like.

“Teacher, shall I escort you to the infirmary?”

“Oh, no. I can go alone, so Himari, go to class.”

“I apologize. Even though I’m the ‘moon’ who should always be by your side….”

Ruah soothed the apologizing Himari and sent her back to the classroom.

Since it was only an hour or two until she got off work anyway, she planned to continue the incident analysis she couldn’t finish earlier in the infirmary and then go home.

‘It’s better not to tell Himari about her father calling.’

Their relationship wasn’t very good because of the study abroad issue, so there was no need to add fuel to the fire.

Ruah stopped by the store, bought a chocolate bun, milk, and a bag of butterscotch candy, and headed to the infirmary. After all, she needed sugar for her brain to work properly.

“—?”

Walking down the empty hallway during class time, Ruah spotted someone’s back at the far end of the corridor.

It was Hunter Park Haengsin, whom she had seen at the hearing. He seemed to be on the phone with someone.

“…….”

His face, which hadn’t shown much emotion despite the disciplinary action, flashed through her mind.

‘I need to check this out.’

The incident had been concluded as his mistake, but it was necessary to retrace the steps from why he made such a mistake in the first place. To prevent the snowball from rolling again.

—Stealthily.

Ruah placed the food she bought from the store on one side of the hallway and tiptoed towards Park Haengsin. He was on the phone at the stair landing, so Ruah could observe him by leaning slightly over the railing.

“…Yes, that’s right. There will be no further action.”

His expression was still lighthearted. Stroking his goatee, he assured the person on the other end of the call.

“Yes, it ended with a five-month suspension. It wasn’t intentional, it was a mistake, so what can you do?”

“……!”

As expected, Ruah’s intuition was right. It was a call related to the incident.

“You said you’d deposit the deducted amount as well? Yes, yes, oh, suspicion? I’m just grateful.”

‘They’ll compensate him for his suspension?’

That meant—

“—Switching slimes is easy. Since only our team was on site, there’s no worry about getting caught.”

It wasn’t a mistake.

Park Haengsin had deliberately brought a B-rank slime to the school instead of the requested C-rank. Probably as requested by the person on the other end of the call.

‘And, he decided to conclude the matter as his own fault….’

If the unknown counterpart compensated for his suspension, he could finish the job without any loss.

“Yes, then I’ll wait for the deposit. Please feel free to contact me if you need anything like this again next time.”

Park Haengsin’s laughter echoed in the stairwell.

“Oh, you already have a plan.”

At his next words, Ruah held her breath.

“You mean at the Sports Festival?”