Chapter 17
I didn’t know exactly how, but I had managed to get my hands on the classified documents.
‘For now, I’ll just be satisfied with this.’
I didn’t care how the vault had opened. That could wait for later.
Right now, the important thing was handling these documents properly.
I quickly closed the vault and began reading through them one by one.
‘Looks like… a historical record of Garam Academy.’
The documents listed everything that had happened at Garam Academy since it was founded 500 years ago—right up until the end of last year.
Honestly, just from looking at the contents, I couldn’t tell why this was considered “classified.”
It felt like the kind of book you could put on display in the library under the name History of Garam Academy.
Ten minutes later, while skimming through the pages, I finally found the section I had been looking for—the principal’s secret.
[Black Night. And Jeiraon begins to move in earnest.]
That was the first line on the page.
‘This is long…’
The principal’s secret took up three entire pages. Summarizing those pages:
[I am the last remaining dragon, the Guardian of Balance. I cannot interfere in world affairs unless attacked first.]
[The only thing I can do is defend. If someone harms my territory—Garam Academy—I will deliver divine punishment.]
In short, the principal could only counterattack.
They were bound by a “restriction” that prevented them from making the first move.
This meant that as long as you didn’t mess with Garam Academy, you would never have to fight the principal at all.
‘So if they’re an unbeatable monster but can’t move unless attacked… there’s no point in fearing them.’
From then on, Black Night stopped being cautious and began moving to take over the world.
‘This can’t fall into Black Night’s hands.’
If they learned about this weakness, it would be dangerous.
I tore out the three pages describing the principal’s limitation.
Sure, it would be obvious that something had been removed, but I didn’t have any magic to erase text without leaving a trace.
After tearing them out, I created fire and burned the pages to ash.
BOOOOM!
Suddenly, a huge explosion sounded from outside—like a bomb had gone off.
It seemed Yodala and Lionel’s fight had gotten even fiercer.
‘Time to get out of here.’
I had to leave before the instructors returned from stopping the monster outbreak.
I tucked the remaining classified documents into my clothes, exited the secret vault, and carefully reset all the traps and decorations to their original positions.
‘Yodala. I have the classified documents.’
‘Draw their attention for one more minute, then pull out.’
I sent a telepathic message to Yodala as I ran out of the faculty building.
‘Please, no one be near the exit…’
A few minutes later
I escaped without being caught.
Thanks to Yodala drawing all the attention, there had been no one near the exit to spot me.
If she hadn’t distracted everyone with flashy magic, I’d never have made it out.
“Master!”
As I was thinking this, strange energy gathered in my room and Yodala appeared—this time in her true form, not the maid disguise from last night.
“You came to help at the perfect moment! I’m seriously touched!”
She hugged me tightly.
“Breaking through that kind of security in ten minutes… as expected of you, Master.”
She seemed genuinely moved.
…Was she finally dropping all suspicion of me?
“The instructors are heading for this building now,” she said, narrowing her eyes.
“That ugly guy isn’t with them, so they probably aren’t tracking my position… If they’re coming now, it’s probably for a headcount.”
“Yeah, seems like it,” I agreed.
With a sigh, Yodala stepped back from me.
“Too bad. I’ll have to save expressing my gratitude for later. Master, can you give me the documents?”
“Here.”
I handed them over.
She frowned the moment she touched them.
“This is definitely the original. I can feel the principal’s disgusting energy all over it.”
She looked at it like it was a bucket of sewage.
Knock knock.
While I was wondering how much she hated the principal’s magic, there was a knock on my door.
“Jian, you in there? The instructor says there’s a headcount. Come out.”
It was the voice of a boy from the next room.
Yodala looked at the door, then smiled at me.
“Then I’ll head back for now, Master. See you next time.”
She whispered quietly, turned into magic energy, and vanished.
“Jian? Not in there…?”
Making sure her presence was completely gone, I opened the door.
“What? You were here? You could’ve answered…”
“I was getting dressed.”
“Oh, right.”
Ignoring him, I headed toward the stairs where the other students were gathering.
“As you all know, there’s been a bit of trouble outside. We’ll be doing a headcount. Answer when your name is called. Galarof.”
“Yes!”
Hearing the roll call, I let out a breath of relief.
‘Phew. That was close.’
That could have jumped straight to “Act 3” in the storyline, but I managed to keep it under control.
Meanwhile
“Reaper. I’m back.”
Yodala returned to Black Night’s hideout with the documents in hand.
“You’re twenty minutes later than planned. Did something happen?”
“There was… an incident.”
She tossed the documents onto the table and explained what had happened.
“Hmm… Lionel, the commander of the Mad Tiger Knights, moved?”
Reaper’s expression turned cold when she finished.
“At least our plan wasn’t leaked. Only you, I, and the Master knew about it.”
That made Yodala smirk bitterly inside. Reaper didn’t suspect the Master at all—only her. It made her feel like the only villain in the room.
“Probably just a coincidence,” she said.
But then she added, “No… that ugly guy seemed sure an attack was coming.”
“If you think so, then I believe it,” Reaper replied.
“That would mean someone figured out our plan and sent Lionel.”
“Is that even possible? It’s one thing to guess that the monster outbreak was a diversion—but to know the real target was the faculty building? That’s just ridiculous.”
“It’s possible. If they knew there was a secret vault in the faculty building, they could guess.”
Reaper flipped through the document… and then noticed the missing pages. Three of them.
“This is…”
A thought flashed through Reaper’s mind.
“…I see. So that’s what happened.”
Back to me
‘The world must really hate me.’
One crisis over, and another began immediately.
“Jian. How did you know Black Night’s officer would target the faculty building?”
Princess Aris stared at me with serious eyes. Lionel was sitting next to her, covered in bandages from his fight with Yodala.
“Answer me, Jian. How did you figure out Black Night’s movements?”
To stop Yodala, I had needed Lionel’s help—and to get that, I’d had to tell him about “Black Night.”
Now I was getting interrogated.
‘I can’t tell them the truth…’
I needed an excuse. And then it came to me.
“I’m extremely sensitive to magic.”
“Hmm. I thought so,” the princess nodded.
“I could see it. The strange energy filling the rampaging monsters’ bodies.”
Her eyes widened in shock.
“You saw the magic inside the monsters’ bodies?”
“Yes.”
“That’s…”
She looked truly surprised. I didn’t get why—it wasn’t that rare a skill.
“Jian… you can see not just the magic outside, but inside living beings?”
Apparently, that was a big deal.
“That means you can see their weak points as well.”
…How did she reach that conclusion?
“I get it now. Your eyes don’t just see magic formulas—they see the essence of magic itself.”
She looked like she’d just solved a huge mystery.
“I’ve heard of this… Eyes that see the essence of magic. The Dragon’s Eyes… only dragons possess them.”
“Are you… a dragon?”
It was the same question Rozarin had asked me yesterday.
Yesterday I’d immediately scoffed, but now… I wasn’t so sure.
After all, when I’d opened the principal’s vault earlier, the system had confirmed my biometric code.
That meant I had a dragon’s biometrics.
Meaning… I might really be a dragon.
“No… impossible. Dragons went extinct long ago. Forget I said anything,” Aris shook her head.
(Not extinct, actually. The last dragon—the principal—is still alive.)
“Then perhaps you have an eye equal to that of a dragon… Whatever the case, it’s impressive.”
She nodded in admiration.
“So you saw strange magic inside the monsters, followed it, and found the person controlling them in front of the faculty building. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“I see. So it wasn’t some secret information network.”
She seemed satisfied, though a bit disappointed, and fell into thought.
‘Alright, the excuse worked.’
Now there was only one problem left—figuring out what connection I actually had to dragons.
‘Am I really a dragon?’
Thinking about it… my status window listed my race as [???].
If I were human, it would just say “Human.”
Maybe it was hidden until confirmed?
When I opened my status window again, the race field made me go speechless:
[Dragon, ???]
‘…Huh?’
I really was a dragon.
