Time flew by, and it was a weekday just one week away from the end-of-semester ceremony.
Under the official pretext of participating in a competition, we all packed our bags after the first period and left the classroom together.
Other students looked at us with envy as we skipped class right after school started, while Janghoon, the Class President, and Chaerin, the Vice Class President, waved at us and offered words of encouragement.
"Lee Joon, come back victorious."
"Come back victorious~ Bye"
Janghoon saw us off with a warm smile, and Chaerin cheerfully waved her hand.
Since we weren't particularly close to begin with, we usually just thanked them and left, but cheering us on when we were going out for an official activity like this was definitely befitting of school leaders.
"Hey kids~ Did you pack everything?"
As we stepped out to the main entrance, Teacher Jang Hwaeun was already waiting for us, changing her shoes.
"Yes, we've packed everything."
"You brought the magnetic hinge model,right?"
"Yes, here it is."
"Good. Let's go!"
We headed to the parking lot with the Teacher to get into the car.
"Oh. Teacher, your car looks different from before."
"I rented this with the school budget just for today~ I figured my car wouldn't fit all six of you."
"Good thing."
This time, instead of the Teacher's usual cramped Matiz, we could settle comiortably into seats with plenty ot room in a large midsize van.
We went over a quick briefing during the ride to our destination, the Seoul Science Exhibition Hall.
The Seoul Science Exhibition Hall, where the preliminary rounds were to be held, was located right next to Seoul National University and about three subway stops away from Nakseong High School, so the time available for discussion was quite tight.
"Got it? Just do it the same way we did at school. But this time, Gyeongwon is going to do the entire presentation. I have other things to take care of... You know what I mean, right?"
"Yes."
The club members nodded.
I glanced at Teacher Jang Hwaeun in the front seat.
She was driving along cheerfully while humming a tune.
From the back seat, I lowered my head toward the members and whispered cautiously.
"...As you know, I have to plug a USB into a judge's phone."
"Don't worry, Club Prez."
Gyeongwon nodded in assurance.
"Just leave it to me."
"Alright. I'll trust you."
Even if I failed to mess with the judge's
phone, I could just go back a few times and do that.
But Gyeongwon winning first place with the presentation was a completely separate matter.
Because for him, every time it looped back, it would be his first time all over again, so he couldn't possibly do any better each time.
'...No need to drag things out. I'l get it done in one go today without dying.'
i touched the USB IN my pocket and steeled my resolve.
Today was not a day for dealing with ghost stories.
But
in order to carry out the missionperfectly, I would utilize every ability I possessed.
Lip Reading, the Perfect Student. And even Life Design, which I would be using after a long time.
In order to succeed in one go, I left the cliché ability behind in the clubroom for the time being.
Of course, I suspected the Demon King might take advantage of this opportunity, but I had already asked my club members to kill me immediately if the situation seemed to
get even slightly off.
'If I can die immediately in an emergency, then the vulnerability of not having the cliché ability can be compensated for to some extent.'
But leaving one special ability slot empty at all times just in case of some unforeseen scenario always felt like quite a loss to me.
***
"We've arrived~ Get off~'"
As soon as we got out of the car and entered the building, we scanned our surroundings.
It was to find out where the judges were staying.
'...Lip Reading, activate.'
I stared intently at the mouths of the people passing in the distance, especially the adults in suits.
Fwoosh-
["Oh my, you've arrived,Thank you for coming all this way....]
["It looks like Seoul Science High School is going to win another award."]
["...There are a lot of regular student too...."]
"Joon, that person looks suspicious..."
"It's the cleaning lady."
After calming Sunah down, I glared once more at the mouths of the people passing by.
["Where's the restroom here?"]
["Look, it's those Science High kids. The
atmosphere is different right from the start."]
["Please take this to the judges' room."]
I turned my gaze back to where the conversation about the judges' room had been mentioned.
There, a female employee was receiving a document envelope from her superior.
'That person!"
I patted the backs of the team members and whispered quickly.
"If we follow that person, we can get to the judges' room!"
"Wh-who? That woman?"
"Yeah, I'm going to follow her. Just one person should come with me. Who will it be-"
I turned to look at the members and thought for a moment.
In a situation like this, if I had to take Just one person with me, who would be the best choice?
I paused for a moment with my finger raised, then eventually pointed at Hayoon.
"Let's go. With me."
Hayoon nodded once and followed me out.
"You guys wait here and prepare for the competition with Gyeongwon."
"Okay."
"Kids~ Where are you going~"
The Teacher was coming this way, holding a dinosaur puzzle that was being handed out at another booth.
I made up a quick excuse and chased after the female staff member with Hayoon.
"Just going to the restroom."
"Okay~ Hurry back and let's prepare for the competition together-"
"Yes."
***
The female employee pushed through the bustling first floor crowded with students and went up to the relatively quiet second floor.
We also followed her up the stairs, keeping a little distance and moving carefully.
"....She stopped. Wait a moment."
At my gesture, Hayoon naturally ducked into a corner of my field of vision.
As expected, with Hayoon, there was no need to explain anything twice or keep an eye on her when we worked together.
It wasn't that I was pulling her along out of concern that she was doing well;
rather, she understood my intentions perfectly on her own.
"....She went in. That's the room."
Hayoon nodded.
I walked briskly toward that spot, reviewing the plan in my head.
"Before I bluntly ask for the phone, I first need to make sure the target is Correct."
According to what I checked in advance through the official documents. there were three judges in that room.
Among them, if we picked just anyone,the probability that they were a judge from Clover was exactly 33%.
The Perfect Student ability activated over 10%o or higher probability, so there was still some leeway left.
33% - 10% = 23%.
This meant I could add one more condition within that 23% margin.
'Momentum is everything!"
For the plan I was about to carry out, the probability would increase only if i stepped forward confidently and persuasively.
I grabbed the doorknob of the waiting room.
At that moment.
Pop-
[Special ability Life Design has activated]
[Enter in 6.5 seconds]
Flinch.
"6... 6.5 seconds."
Flustered, I blurted that out, and Hayoon immediately placed her hand firmly on top of mine, which was gripping the doorknob.
She then stared straight ahead with a serious gaze, as if concentrating.
A brief moment passed.
"Now."
At Hayoon's words, I grabbed the doorknob and flung the door open, then blurted out whatever I wanted to say right away.
"Hello,We are students participating in today competition. We have created a USB drive that speeds up performance by havinga chip perform calculations for you simply by plugging it into a mobile phone. We don't have enough time to let you experience it right away during the presentation, and since the competition is still has a little while to go, if one of you could plug it in and use it starting this morning and share your——thoughts during our presentation, it would be helpful—"
[Special ability The Perfect Student has—activated!]
'The probability that a judge from Clover Headquarters will happen to like this and accept this proposal!'
Pop-
[100%]
"...?"
...100 percent?
Only then did I pause and take a moment to look around the waiting room I had barged into.
There were a total of four adults in the waiting room; three middle-aged judges sitting in chairs, just as per the official notice from the competition had indicated.
And one female employee, the one we had just followed there.
The four adults were staring at us with their expressions and movements completely frozen, and I soon realized the reason.
'...A wad of cash?'
The female employee was actually in the middle of pulling a bundle of cash out of the document envelope and handing it to one of the judges.
And we had completely caught them in the act by waiting 6.5 seconds and entering at the perfect timing.
"..."
"....."
"..."
"......"
"....."
"....."
And so, the female employee stood there holding the wad of cash, and the judge stood there receiving it.
And I stood there holding the doorknob, a moment of silence followed.
"..."
Soon, the judge in the center, who had been frozen stiff, came to his senses and slowly withdrew his hand from the wad of cash.
Then, he tapped the employee, who was still frozen in place.
"...You should get back to work."
"...Ah, yes, yes...."
The female employee hurriedly bowed, gathered the document envelope again, and brushed past us.
Soon, the judge who had been receiving the wad of cash looked at us quietly and cleared his throat, ahem.
"...Uh, right. Give it over here. An invention? You said you came to test it early, didn't you?"
"...."
"Uh... Sure, give it here. I'll do it. Um...it's fine, right? Everyone?"
"Uh, huh?"
When the judge in the middle asked, the judges on either side jumped in surprise.
And they quickly nodded their heads again.
"Yeah, well, it's fine, no problem...."
"Uh, give it here, let's take a look, then."
The judges on either side also hurriedly agreed, and the man in the middle reached out his hand toward us.
'..So this person in the middle is the judge from Clover.'
Since the probability showed 100%, it I deliberately kept my mouth shut, and with a stiffened expression, I slowly pulled the USB from my pocket and handed it over.
"Ah.. this is Type-C."
"Uh, yeah, right.... it seems like this was made to plug into a phone...."
The judges just nodded and muttered whatever came to mind.
I deliberately glared at them with an angry expression.
But inwardly, I quietly counted.
'...16, 17, 18, 19, 20.'
The hacker's instruction was to plug the USB for 20 seconds.
And just as I mentally muttered 20, Hayoon from behind gave my wrist a firm squeeze and then let go.
It seemed she had been counting to 20 in her head as well.
I glared at the judges and muttered quietly.
"Excuse me. You know. Just forget it. Give it back."
"...Uh, huh? What?"
"The winner is already decided anyway, right?"
I deliberately put on an angry face.
The judges look flustered.
"Just give it back. There's no need to have you try it out, anyway."
"....."
"We stayed up all night working on this, you know."
The judges expressions graduallyhardened.
I swiftly reached out my hand and took back my hacking tool.
When I turned around, Hayoon was holding her smartphone in One hand, as if she had been recording from the very beginning.
'She's reliable as always.'
I nodded in approval, tossed out a remark, and left the waiting room.
"Evaluate based on the content. If the—results Come out and it seems a team with nothing to offer has won an award, I'm going to report this video right away."
"....."
**
"Good job, everyone~!"
As soon as Gyeongwon's presentation
ended, Teacher Jang Hwaeun welcomed the members.
Since Hayoon and I had said we made a USB, it would have seemed odd if we went up on stage together with the magnetic hinge team, so we deliberately stayed off stage. We waited đown below, and applauded Gyeongwon and the other members for their hard work.
"Everyone worked hard. Especially you, Gyeongwon, for the presentation."
I clap my hands.
"What did I do... I just repeated exactly what the Club Prez presented at school."
"Hey, are you sure we're going to win an award?"
"Don't worry. If we don't win, who will?"
Fortunately, from what I could see, there didn't seem to be any team better than ours.
The judges had also maintained stern expressions throughout, so the evaluation seemed like it would be fair.
We enjoyed delicious beef for lunch that day and parted ways, and a few days later.
The results were announced on the website.
(Evaluation Result)
Based on the results of the city preliminary rounds, the following teams have been selected to represent their respective cities and advance to the finals.
The selected teams will be contacted
individually through their supervising
teachers at a later date. We extend our gratitude to all teams that participated.
Busan
Korea Academy of Science and Technology, 'If You're Poor and Your Dreams Are Poor Too, You're a Piece Trash' - Congratulations on advancing to the finals.
Daegu
Daegu Science High School, "The Vanished Broadcasting Club' - Congratulations on advancing to the finals.
Incheon
Incheon Haneul High School, 'SHCUP'- Congratulations on advancing to the finals.
Gwangju
Gwangju Science High School, 'SWET
- Congratulations on advancing to the finals.
Daejeon
Daejeon Science High School 'Yours Truly' - Congratulations on advancing to the finals.
Ulsan
Cheongun High School 'Only Science' -
Congratulations on advancing to the finals.
Seoul
Nakseong High School 'Ghost Story Club' - Congratulations on advancing to the finals.
"Wooooah~! Isn't that our name! we really did pull it off-!"
"...Oh my god. We really are the representatives of Seoul, Joon...."
"Kyaaaak~! Congratulations, ids~~!"
"Wow, isn't it so weird that a crappy school like Nakseong High is mixed in with all these prestigious names?"
"This is amazing, seriously.."