Chapter 113: Chapter 111
Open Grounds
"Your activity for today will be Stealth Class Infiltration," Dmitri announced.
Beside him stood four other instructors, including the one who kept laughing with him during the sparring evaluations. I still didn’t know his name, but I already classified him in my head as Instructor Menace Number Two.
Meanwhile, I was busy fighting for my life.
Against sleep.
I yawned again, eyes watering slightly as I forced myself to stay standing.
Beside me, Sebastian glanced down. "You stayed up late again, Bella?"
I nodded weakly, too exhausted to answer properly.
Ever since the carving presentation, orders had been flooding nonstop.
Apparently, wealthy students saw one emotional phoenix sculpture and collectively decided I was the next legendary artist of the century.
Even after raising my prices, the commissions kept increasing.
Worse, resellers had started messaging me too.
[I’ll buy your work in bulk.]
[Can you produce ten pieces by next week?]
[Limited edition sculptures sell better.]
Absolutely not.
I had standards.
...And weak wrists.
So yes, I ended up staying awake until almost dawn carving energy stones like an underpaid goblin fueled purely by greed and survival instincts.
"Why?" Sebastian asked lazily. "Did you stay awake thinking about me?"
I opened one eye just to glare at him before closing it again.
Even arguing felt physically exhausting.
My head kept bobbing dangerously forward every few seconds.
At this point, gravity was my strongest enemy.
Then suddenly—
A hand lightly steadied my head.
Before I realized it, I was leaning against something warm.
I slowly opened my eyes.
Sebastian.
He had casually shifted closer so my head rested against his shoulder like this was completely normal behavior.
"It seems you really need sleep," he said, sounding amused. "You’re not even threatening me today."
"Too tired," I muttered honestly.
"Should I feel honored?"
"No."
He laughed quietly.
I adjusted my head slightly against his shoulder.
"...Wake me up when the activity starts."
"Mm. Sure."
Around us, several students were already staring.
"Sebastian’s charms really work wonders."
"Damn, he hooked another one."
"Poor Blanca. New victim alert."
"I’ll bet 1,000 IC she cries by Monday."
"2,000 IC they break up today."
"Make it 3,000 IC she gets replaced by lunch."
"...Is she his 1309th victim?"
Honestly, I should’ve been offended but I was too sleepy to care.
Sebastian tilted his head slightly. "Are you listening to them?"
"Unfortunately," I muttered.
As much as I wanted to mute them, my ears kept twitching from the surrounding murmurs as I let out a small, tired chuckle.
"Hey, Seb," I said lazily, tilting my head against him. "Are you sure you don’t have a girlfriend right now? I don’t want to end up getting dragged by my hair in the hallway because of some misunderstanding."
"I don’t do relationships," he replied without hesitation. "Every girl I’ve been involved with knows that."
"That sounded worse than I think you intended it to."
He laughed under his breath.
I squinted at him. "You don’t have any contagious diseases either, right? Because I’m one step away from kicking you away from me"
"I do weekly medical checkups," he replied, completely unbothered. "So relax and sleep. For someone tired, you sure talk a lot."
"I talk at a perfectly reasonable amount," I muttered.
"You’re mumbling aggressively."
I huffed, then slowly let my eyes drift half-closed again.
The thing was, the more I interacted with Sebastian, the more I realized something irritatingly inconvenient.
Everyone painted him like some cold, untouchable disaster disguised as a pretty face.
He wasn’t what everyone said he was.
Not the heartless playboy.
Not the walking disaster with a charming face.
Not even the "serial heartbreak generator" people kept dramatically whispering about like he came with warning labels.
He was... annoyingly normal.
Annoyingly considerate, even.
My thoughts drifted back to the times I was coincidentally present in the same general direction as wherever he happened to be.
The time he’d pulled a girl away from slipping on a wet corridor without making a scene.
The time he quietly handed over his jacket so a girl could hide a blood stain on her uniform without being humiliated.
The time he stepped in front of a flying ball during practice and didn’t even complain about it afterward.
Even the time he took the blame for a late submission when it clearly wasn’t his fault, just because arguing would’ve made things worse.
None of it fit the story people liked to tell.
And then I remember hearing about girls always confessing their feelings to him only to end up crying after he turned them down.
It wasn’t because he insulted them, it was because he didn’t give them what they expected.
He didn’t lie or lead them on.
He simply said no... and offered something casual instead, because that was the boundary he set from the start.
But of course, people never liked honesty when it didn’t come in the shape they wanted so they turned him into a villain.
I exhaled softly through my nose, staring ahead while my head still rested near his shoulder.
It wasn’t like I cared about him. It was just... annoying how people easily decided who someone was without actually looking.
"...You’re really misunderstood," I muttered under my breath.
Sebastian glanced down at me. "What was that?"
"Nothing," I said immediately, closing my eyes again. "Just thinking you’re loud."
"That’s not even related."
"Sleep," I ordered.
He chuckled once more, but didn’t press further.
For someone everyone called a disaster, he was strangely careful in the ways that mattered.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
"—Bella, wake up."
I blinked awake as Sebastian lightly shook my shoulder.
For one horrifying second, I thought class had ended and I missed dinner.
I immediately looked around.
Students were already moving around, fixing their uniforms, checking weapons, talking amongst themselves.
"...Are we done?" I asked hopefully. "Can we go back to our rooms now? Can I sleep peacefully?"
Sebastian looked amused. "No. We’re just about to start."
My face instantly fell.
So cruel. This academy truly hated peace.
He gently pulled me closer toward our classmates as the instructors gathered near their own class.
"It seems Instructor Grant still has something to say," he added.
I nodded absentmindedly while trying to wake my brain up manually.
Unfortunately, it refused to cooperate, I don’t even remember the rules or what we’re supposed to be doing today.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing entered my brain.
I looked at Sebastian for help only to find him grinning as if he’s already expecting that I would look at him.
"I didn’t listen either, Bella."
I stared at him in betrayal then I looked around for another source of information, but everyone else looked weirdly focused and prepared like responsible students.
Disgusting.
"Are there any more questions?" Dmitri asked loudly.
Silence filled around us.
Then suddenly—
"Yes, Mister Grimm?"
I slowly turned around to see Sebastian had his hand raised proudly like an honored scholar instead of someone who hadn’t heard a single thing.
The traitor even looked completely shameless.
"Can you explain everything from the start again, Instructor?"
Several students gasped.
Someone even whispered, "He really asked that..."
Dmitri stared at him with the exhausted fury of a man reconsidering his career choices then he slowly dragged a hand down his face.
"...I’ll repeat it one last time," he said with the exhaustion of a man questioning his profession, "just so neither of you blames me later for not explaining the rules properly."
I immediately looked at Sebastian with gratitude, tears in my eyes. "I promise to treat you better from now on," I whispered dramatically.
"Including becoming my girlfriend?" he whispered back with a grin.
"Anything but that," I replied with the exact same grin.
He clicked his tongue in disappointment. "Cruel."
Meanwhile, Dmitri rubbed his temples before continuing.
"We’ll be holding a competition called Stealth Class Infiltration inside a modified tower."
The giant hologram behind him shifted, revealing a massive tower layout filled with corridors, stairways, and marked zones.
"Five Master Classes will participate. Four classes will enter first and act as Rogues. The remaining class will infiltrate the tower without alerting the Rogues."
At the word Rogues, several students immediately looked excited while I suddenly became more awake. Mostly because this sounded dangerously troublesome.
"The infiltrating class must locate and reach the chosen target point as quickly as possible," Dmitri continued. "Meanwhile, the Rogues must stop the infiltrators by eliminating them and preventing them from advancing."
He pointed towards the glowing armbands currently being distributed.
"If your armband is taken, you are eliminated and escorted outside immediately."
"Ohhh," Sebastian muttered beside me. "So we can bully people legally again."
"Focus," I whispered.
"You weren’t even listening five minutes ago."
"...That’s not the point."
"Can we steal the Rogues armbands too?" someone asked excitedly.
"Yes."
The entire atmosphere instantly became violent.
Dmitri continued speaking while glaring directly at our area now.
"You are allowed to be separated from your teammates if necessary. Survival, infiltration speed, and the number of remaining teammates will all affect your final score."
"Time limit: two hours."
A collective groan spread through the grounds.
Two hours of running around a tower while being hunted by four entire Master Classes?
I already wanted to go home.
Students immediately started discussing strategies.
"Should we prioritize stealth?"
"What if we split immediately?"
"Who’s good at detection?"
"We’re doomed."
Meanwhile I slowly raised my hand.
Dmitri narrowed his eyes at me instantly like he already regretted acknowledging my existence.
"...What now, Miss Frostine?"
"Soul weapons are allowed, right?" I asked.
"Yes."
A few students instantly looked relieved.
Meanwhile, several others looked terrified after remembering what happened during the sparring match.
"One more question," I continued. "If you reach the target point, Rogues can’t target you anymore, right?"
"Yes," Dmitri answered patiently. "But you’ll need to remain there until the two hours are over."
I nodded slowly.
Okay. So technically, you just needed to survive long enough to reach the safe zone.
I raised my hand again.
Dmitri inhaled deeply through his nose.
"...Final question," I said carefully. "So basically, this is just advanced hide-and-seek with violence?"
The Open Grounds went silent.
Even the other instructors looked away to hide their laughter while Dmitri stared at me for a very, very long time.
"Miss Frostine," he said calmly.
"Yes, sir?"
"Shut up."
Sebastian immediately bent over laughing beside me.
Meanwhile, Instructor Menace Number Two—the laughing instructor—was slapping his own knee like this was the funniest thing he had heard all week.
"You really have an interesting student roster, Dmitri!" he wheezed.
"I know," Dmitri answered flatly. "It keeps me awake at night."
I placed a hand over my chest in fake offense. "Instructor, I’m trying to participate academically."
"You are the academic problem."
The students burst into laughter while Dmitri dragged a tired hand down his face.
