Vol 2 Chapter 1 (1/2)

Part 1

After school,

I was on my way to the school's infirmary, as usual

'As usual' were the key words It e day at that point consisted of taking daily trips to the infirmary, and it wasn't because of so It was my duty At the end of each day, I had to sneak pastfor company, and then weave into the sparsely populated routes to avoid attention, eventually reaching the infirmary

Having done that for the last many days, I felt like I'd become some sort of a superhero who protects the school from the shadows

Why did I do this? It was because there was a certain place-- no,for me at the infirmary after school

What was this 'certain place', and as this 'certain girl'? If I brokethe infirirl would be after eful spirit-- and if this certain place wasn't approached in a stealthya whole neorld of problems and pain

The girl had my phone number, knew my address, and was constantly ready to co, didn't want to see her glowing like amicrowave that's about to explode on me, I had to maintain my daily schedule at that point

”Aw, man”

Now that I think about it, this is just a repeat ofit, I brought backat the prospect that I'd be living this way again! If it weren't for that girl

I ht me to this disastrous state of my life

I stopped, having found myself in front of the infirmary, and then I looked around to

CreakcreakBANG!

What kind of ono, then a person entering, and then the door closing, all in a single, swift motion!

”Phew-” I sighed in relief, having successfullyin But it wasn't the tithan they can handle, the infir screens between them I had toon those beds; I walked around the infir past each screen's obscuration

Alright, let's see if there's anyone crazy enough to be hiding at the infirmary this late Nope Okay no witnesses today, either

With a liberating, fuzzy feeling in ed myself to another door within the infirmary

Click

Upon lifting the cover to the door locking mechanism, a keypad revealed itself While a normal person would ask why an infirreater tas that the keypad was, in fact, fake The real security system was the inconspicuous mic that was attached next to the keypad

One, two--

”Moe, moe Kyun”

Pi-ro-ri--!

With a loud click, the door was unlocked

Pretty cool, huh? I hate my life

I- I know, it's e at me like that, it's not what you think! This passasn'ton a password that was far worse than this one!

”Ugh”

It's not like I enjoy saying so like 'ned to open! What do you want me to do? I'm serious

I fell to the ground into a brace position, feeling et hot in embarrassment

After recovering, I noticed an uncomfortable lack of sounds from within the room It seemed that I was the first one there Oftenti within, but she had been unusually absent ever since the voice-locking ested that she ca and entering

Unfortunately for irl

With that thought, I turned the door handle and pushed, and on the other side--

There was a girl who I had never seen before

”?!”

A girl who I had never seen before

Beneath her long, raised eyelashes and past her round glasses were her wide, staring eyes, and her htly dropped open to complete her surprised expression She had short, brown hair that barely touched her tense, quivering shoulders, and her legs were shaking just the saether, she resembled a small animal; maybe a surprised squirrel, or a hale palm-

There was such a girl, standing in front of me, who I had never seen before

”Huh?”

MyI didn't think it was possible to be so surprised that I could neither think nor move

I wasn't surprised because I'd previously expected the room to be empty And the fact that she was pretty cute had even less to do with my surprise

The ier

Who is this girl?

If I were to describe a single person who I'd never seen, heard, or known about before, a person as absolutely nowhere within the deepest parts ofin front of le 'Huh, wait, maybe I did meet someone who looks like her before' It was most definitely the first time that I met her

And so, only one question naturally came to my mind-

In our Clotaku Club, the secret club of the closeted Otakus, as there a girl that I, a nize?

”Uh”

”Ah”

In this land, the Otaku paradise, where every corner was filled with anies, I was faced with a er-

And I, Kang Injin, a freshh School, Class 7-1, could only think of a single word-- 'doomed'

”So, what happened?”

Thirty minutes later,

A tiny, black-haired girl sat cross-legged on a couch opposing ation

”She ran away” I answered honestly

”Bethe Five W's”

”A stranger was in the rooo, then I found her, and then she ran away screa What do I say for 'why'?”

”You idiot--!” With a loud 'bang!' her tiny fist struck the cupboard that stood between our couches She abandoned her brief, cal herself up frouy! What kind of a irl? What were you thinking?”

”Wait, no, uh, you know”

I was going to stop her fro away, but she was a lot faster than she initially appeared By the time I came back to my senses and ran out of the infir down the hallway! I couldn't chase her dohen she had that big of a head start, more so because the room's door was left wide open What was I supposed to do?!

”Shut up! You stupid, idiotic fool! You ham-fisted, shrimpy fruit!”

”Sorry” It see myself were futile; Yeonji's only responses were insults that were, in retrospect, appetizing I apologized before she did actual dae to the cupboard from her repeated punches

I'd known, however, that her anger wasn't baseless I should have tried to prevent her froardless of whether or not I knew I could do it Considering the ht ruin for all of us

”Humph!” She scoffed in her patented, conte her violent abuse to the cupboard, and leapt back on her couch into a sprawl

If it's not too late for introductions, her name is Seo Yeonji, the (self-proclaimed) president of this club-- the club for the closeted Otaku, the Clotaku Club Our club was otherwise ordinary; we didn't have any aliens or ti the Da Hour It was a regular club created by some hobbyists anted to keep their business to themselves

If I must explain what made our club different, maybe the fact that we basically broke every rule in the school to start our club?

We honestly had no say in that h School, a school for the nation's elites They had noto find a place to waste tio the school's rules and leave our club unregistered and unofficial

But that wasn't an issue for us, because-

Q: If you had the chance to steal a et aith it, would you do it?

A: Oh, of course, definitely!

--And that would be Yeonji answering Even if ere at a school with a laissez-faire attitude to its students, our club's unlawful history would remain the same under Yeonji's presidency

From the school's perspective, our club was nohere within the protection of its rules We were technically crially-created club er had entered, witnessing the extent of our criminality!

That was our situation

crap

Yeonji had all the reasons to be furious, and I hadn't a single excuse to explain myself

This roooods, as if they were laid out for display I couldn't ilance around the rooerous ideas about the club

”Oh no”

A terrible, dark thought spun in'Hey, did you hear about that creepy room at the infirmary?'

Yeonji was distraught, her eyes shi+fting left and right in rhyth issue An intruder? This can't possibly end well for us! Maybe the student council sent a spy after us, after finding out about my plan to conquer this school!”

”I really doubt that” If the student council knew, I'm sure they'd send a demolition crew instead of a spy Also ”Plan to conquer this school? You're still sticking with that?”

”I'll never give up! I' started!”

”Sounds the last panel in a sports a”

Just getting started, huh? Truthfully, we hadn't accolorious established to do was sit around and play games every day

”Nyuu-t” Yeonji grumbled, unable to face the uncoh faults of my own at the time

Her 'plan to conquer this school' was, as Yeonji claioal of our club-- to transform our society into one that won't look down on the Otaku

I the public's opinion of us was, of course, completely contradictory to our existence as closeted Otakus,the point by maybe a billion parsecs Yeonji's counter-explanation was as follows:

1 I don't like how the people of this country treat the Otaku!

2 I'm sure that the Pubtaku (Otakus who aren't afraid to publicly show off their hobbies) are scaring off the non-Otaku people! Those bastards

3 Then, all Otakus eneral public's aversion to the classes of this nation!

4 And then, once the Otakus fully doovernment, we can convert the entire nation to the Otaku culture and get rid of their negative thoughts about us! We'd have a real Otaku nation! Yay!

Finally, since the Eunsung High School was responsible for the upbringing of this nation's elites, converting this school to the Otaku group was our first step-- and that summarizes Yeonji's takeover plan

What a scary thought The summary alone puts any Resident El plot to shame

I'm sure that I've said all I needed to explain what kind of monster Yeonji was, and how every ele how serious she was about her plan, shefound out

It did not take long for Yeonji to break out of her nervous silence, and explode with the fury of a kitten whose paere fondled with for too long ”Argh--! I don't even know anymore! Who the hell was that? Wait, actually, didn't we install a new door lock few days ago?! How did she get in without the password? Hey, dumb blonde, why don't you do your duty as the treasurer and shed soht on this?”

Yeonji stopped flailing her arlare wasn't directed at ed to this club

”Hmph”

In response to Yeonji'sshout, the 'dumb blonde' turned her attention away from the 82-inch screen that displayed an animation She dralancing at Yeonji with cold, blue eyes

”I believe I have told you, several tiatory term, little miss How many times must I repeat myself until you cease your rude mannerisms, Miss Seo Umji?”

”It's Seo Yeonji!”

The blue-eyed girl scoffed, shrugging off Yeonji's shout, while gently and calolden hair She replied, ”Yes, I personally saw through the process of installing a new door lock Did you finally find the manners to thank me for my kind efforts?”

”You want h the crappy lock? Are you sure that thing isn't broken?!”

”Broken? It's a product of our Eunsung Electronics! The quality of the hardware cannot be at fault-- you should be more careful with your words”

”Then how do you explain the intruder?!” screaer at me Hey it's rude to point at people in their faces, you know?

”Hmph, why must I explain for a stupid peasant? Perhaps his mind is heavily corrupted with such-and-such, that he saw an illusion of a cute girl, alone and defenseless in this isolated room”

”What are you saying?!”

I think I was happier with only one rude girl around

The golden-haired girl glared atinsect ”H It is much more probable that you are a deluded sociopath who cannot tell apart reality and i Electronics would release a faulty product”

”That's a really unhealthy level of pride in your family's business, you know that?!”

I'uy, thank you veryin delusion, when she had been watching an aniirls just a second ago!

”Sh-shut up! Admit that you've merely deluded yourself Would that not resolve this conflict with haste?”

”But I'd end up as the crazy one! Even if I sacrifice myself and plead insanity, it still won't solve our actual problem-!”

Yes, yes, I really hope that what I saas a ghost, too, but running away fro to help us!

”Haze still trained on me

I suppose I should introduce her, too Her nahter of the CEO of the nation's largest corporation, the Eunsung Corporation Sih a cheat code

Her presence in our club unfortunately meant that she was also an irredeee way of speech froirls, which ended up in the mess that we've seen so far

She used to be the notorious 'Pubtaku Queen' and the president of the 'Moe Research Club', a club that began all the way back in her middle school years The club had coe match that occurred between it and the Clotaku Club After an unexpected er of the two clubs, she had come to embrace her fate as the treasurer of our club

Yerin's position was the result of what could be interpreted as Yeonji's rare kindness, seeing how that allowed Yerin to stay in our club after our dispute Though this decision was based upon the presu Electronics selling off so many smartphones', and that she should 'use some of that money to help out the tea to pay up for the club on a frequent basis

Even the new voice-locking h Yerin's donation, after Yeonji's endless bickering that we needed an a security measure for the door to the club (Yeonji's initial plan was to have a erprint scanner, then a retinal scanner, and then afroainst it due to ical reasons Thankfully)

However, the security system failed, and an intruder had made it inside We had a mystery on our hands

”Why must we be afraid of the intruder? Under my kind protection, the lowly peasants of this school are powerless against us! If an ungrateful peasant dares to start a rumor at our expense, then they shall face the swift ha? Mister Yujin?” Yerin sly She see less like a treasurer and ent of the Korea Coency

And

”Yes, of course, madame Once we activate the hidden mic installed in every classroom, we should be able to track down the source of any rumors There should be no problem”

”As you said We will take action as soon as we have a lead Have no fear, madame”

The ever-s butler and the ever-expressionless maid replied

They stood closely beside Yerin, ready to take her orders like obedient servants The robot-faced girl in a -sunbae, and the feminine boy in a butler's outfit was Sul Yujin They had also becoer, but their status as hirelings was unaffected; their jobs were more like their life's purpose at that point

Even when considering that every member of the Clotaku Club had personalities that treaded on the fine boundary between 2D and 3D, the Sul fah-class act was immediately obvious to any listeners, the two servants were, quite scarily, perfectly natural in their roles

”Nyuu-n” Yeonji groaned, biting her lips, when the trio asserted their control over our situation Though she ht not have cared for Yerin's confidence, she was likely convinced by the two servants' reassurance

The o, but it was enough time for the two to showcase how superhumanly reliable they were I didn't need their explanations to share their confidence; they were dead serious with every word that they said, and so their proirl without a single worry in life otherwise, she was then, probably, perfectly content

”But Hey, what do you think about this, Nurse?” Yeonji asked, turning around, and her voice had already shi+fted back to a calmer tone

Our attention then inal owner of this infir teacher of the Clotaku Club, Miss Yu Youngseon She was also a glamorous beauty in her late twenties, and so it sees of an ideal woman -- a respected job, and a more respectable body -- But she was also a visual novel addict

Calling her an 'addict' wasn't a hyperbole; after all, the only reason that ere allowed to use this rooh of an interesting visual novel: our lives in this high school Even as we spoke to her, she was visibly and audibly sleepy, presuht

”Oh , I don't know” The nurse replied, breaking her attention away from the visual novel that played on her coame's uncomfortably lewd noises that weaved between the nurse's slow, droning voice ”Well I don't think it's a problem either If Yerin says we should be fine, aren't we?Fufu ”

Thanks for your input, I guess! Though it was hard to hear, it seeuably, she would suffer the direst consequences if she were revealed to be the one responsible for allowing us to use her room; her status as an adult and an employee would compound the issue that ould share Thus, it meant a lot that she was coreat level of trust in the Suls

”Phew” I deeply sighed in relief, assured by the nurse's confidence She ht look a little slow, usually, but it would be a mistake to overlook the fact that she had once coeted at her If she says everything will be fine, then it must be

”Fine, if the nurse says so too, then well, okay” said Yeonji meekly, in a feeble atteo ”Then we'll end the discussion here If anyone catches her, bring her tothem on the front door as an example to all!”

Such terrifying words did not fit her cute face When did you become one of Ali Baba's Forty Thieves? I don't know if I'd be too fond of aincluded in our story

””Yes, Miss Yeonji We will see to it””

And what are you two doing, obeying her?! Please don't feed Yeonji with ideas!

Encouraged by the the maid and the butler, Yeonji leapt up frohty, then!” and began,

”Let's play the Sangkam's Game!”

She relaxed a bit too much

”Sangkaame?” I asked[1]

Yeonji had a nasty habit of bringing strange toys or ridiculous ideas, and she never failed to make everyone's life miserable with them Naturally,of the devil within the vessel known as Yeonji, so that it would not grow uncontrollably and unleash itself upon us

And so, it was kam's Game” was I actually asked out of fear, not because I was just curious

”I thought about it after reading a book yesterday!” Yeonji stuck her (flat) chest out proudly ”In short, we start by drawing naets to boss people around”

”Huh”

That sounds origina-- Wait, that's just the King's Ga's Gaah it's probably better known by its variations

I alht she came up with another one of her tiresome plays, but it turned out to be a very uninspired-but-thankfully-har how she shaht novels

”Hah, you think it's just another King's Gakam's Game! It's completely different! Much like the difference between a peasant's life in the Koryeo period and the Chosun period!”

”Alright”

She added an extra adjective into the Sangkauish itself fro's Game She hadn't explained much

”Fine, I'll explain it!”

She hurried over to her backpack and retrieved a s the inside, each of them folded in half, and a small stack of cardboard

”What is that?”

”It's for drawing naame”

”Yeah, I got that, but-”

There were far too -- I could see at least fifty, sixty pieces in there Why would she need so le piece with 'King' on it, with enough blanks to match the player count? Even if every ames, ould never need that many draws

Yeonji scoffed when I voiced hts to her ”Heh, I told you it's different fro's Game! See, look at this!”

Yeonji drew a piece of paper, which looked like it was hastily cut to its size She unfolded it, revealing a writing that was done in her round, flowy font

Job title: 'Guard'

Duty: Arrest criminals, maintain peace

Special ability: Would it be ORA ORA?[2] Tie up a cri ”You are under arrest!”

W h a t

I felt

Why did she 's Gale number on it each What the hell is this?

”Fue-heh-heh And that's the ame! I call it: the 'Job System'!”

”Job system?”

It could only get worse from there

”Yes, a job Or, the person's place in the social ladder” Yeonji explained, ”Even the people who don't get the King's position , so that they have a job of their own Not only do they have to obey the King, they also have to act out their own, given roles! Like a historical reenactment!”

”Huh”

It seea's Garession It wasn't so unexpected in retrospect, since her favorite subject in school is national history

But wait, isn't it stillthrown in? but then I stoppedthe question, since it couldn't end well for me if I did

”So, everyone understands what the gain!”

”W-wait!” I halted Yeonji, carrying out o freely, there was no telling what kind of tragedies could be brought upon this club

”Oh, what do you want now? If you're going to coet the rhythreat, too!”

”I, uh You know-”

Her words struck irl Disregarding the thought, I began thinking of a way to stop Yeonji froame

She called it the ”a's Game I did not like it I wanted to avoid it asparty gaest potential to turn out to be the worst event in anyone's lives

Right, let's say, Yeonji becaine what kind of terrible orders would be given out by Yeonji A quick exercise in probability showed , and that aame of Russian Roulette with five bullets in the chamber

With that conclusion, I began, ”Ahem Hey, Miss President?”

”Hmm? What is it?” replied Yeonji as she smiled She appeared to be quite happy that I called her 'Miss President' What a transparent girl

My mind raced to think of a plausible excuse I felt”Okay, how is this going towards the club's second objective?”

”Huh? The second objective?” Yeonji's face briefly froze in confusion

I dove in for the kill ”Don't you remember? The second objective of the Clotaku Club What was it, 'Let's ht we should start doing so around like this, right?”

I was confident that I said the right thing

Like I explained before, Yeonji's master plan was to spread the Otaku infection across the entire school, and then eventually spread the disease to the rest our society, turning this nation into an Otaku paradise though she didn't ress in it She never tried to

Thus, by rekaoal, she could stop herself! As much as she liked to annoy us with her constant oals, she wouldn't want to be a hypocrite by continuing her game!

--That was the thought that zooo It was perfect Even Yeonji's persistence couldn't save her froic!

”Heh heh heh”

--That would have been the thought that zooh my head, if not for Yeonji's quick intervention

”Of course it helps us! Did you really think that I didn't account for our goals?”

”What?” Seriously?! Her ga idea, with extra features thrown in to hide the lack of originality How could she turn this into a plan that helps us conquer this nation?

”Hah Think about it, you idiot This game isn't some random waste of tiame, I already added over sixty-seven different classes into the job systeet a good understanding of how our society worked back in the Chosun period”

”We will?”

”Of course ill! Ultiame is both educational and fun, and it can teach its players about how our country's modern society came to be!”

”Uh Huh”

”Because it's very educational, and because our country is full of nerdy try-hards, the game will spread around the nation like a wildfire! Soon, every kam's Game”

”I don't think that's hoorks”

I thought she wasbut her explanationturn at some point, and now it became forever lost in the Mariana Trench

”Why not? 'As our nation faces tragedies such as the land disputes, and the lack of respect for the country in our younger generations, our new gah a lesson in history!' If we add some blurb like this, any overzealous parents will fall beforewell these days, aren't they?”

”Y-yeah, but”

”While that's going on, we'll encourage online coood review here and there Eventually, everyone in the country will be dying to play the game”

”I have no idea how you went from 'increase in popularity' to 'total addiction'”

” 'Another Sangkaer executed in an overly serious round of the Sangkaone too far?' ”

”That's extre ood!”

” 'P-please-- I can't pay that ame' one oing to die if I don't play it!”

”We don't need a new backstreet drug in this country, thank you very much!”

Did she not realize that she was talking about a gaether?