The thieves’ club room was located in a very remote area.
Although they ranked in the upper-middle tier in terms of size and performance, the problem was their frequent violation of school rules.
In addition to individual demerit points and disciplinary action, club-level sanctions were also applied quite frequently.
This included cuts in the club’s budget.
As evidence, the interior of the room was remarkably shabby.
The leather on the sofas was completely peeled off, and the chairs picked up from who knows where were mismatched in appearance.
There, sitting on an old wooden table that also seemed to have been scavenged, was the president of the thieves’ club.
She was a tall beauty with long black hair that fell to her waist.
Even though she was just sitting expressionless and doing nothing, her charisma seemed to radiate naturally.
Perhaps this was only natural, given that she was running a club.
“We’re here, noonim…”
“.…..”
The club president silently flicked her index finger.
As Shin Byeong-cheol hesitantly approached, a white hand roughly grabbed his buzz-cut hair.
“Did I or did I not tell you to be careful?”
“Ow! Sister! Not the hair! Not the hair!”
“It’s important! Listen and don’t get distracted! I told you so!”
“I’m sorry! Oww! Stop! I’m going to go bald!”
Every time the club president tightened her grip, Shin Byeong-cheol was pitifully dragged around.
This farce seemed to have cost Shin Byeong-cheol a handful of hair if not more.
The club president released his head and gave him a final slap on the back of it, making a loud ‘thwack!’ sound.
“Can’t stand the sight of you. Get out.”
“Yes, I’m sorry.”
Shin Byeong-cheol massaged his aching head and made his exit, leaving just the two of us.
As the club president shifted her gaze towards me, I immediately bowed my head.
“Hello, senior.”
“I’m Dang Gyu-young. You probably already know, but I’m the club president here.”
“I’m Kim Ho.”
“Let’s get straight to the goods.”
Dang Gyu-young looked to be a very straightforward person.
From my perspective, it was more comfortable to just exchange formalities and get straight to the point rather than beating around the bush with meaningless chatter.
I pulled out the [Cube of Life] from my inventory and showed it to her.
Dang Gyu-young stared at the densely packed prohibited items inside and then picked one to examine it.
“…It’s real. Honestly, I was half in doubt until just now. An item that can deceive the ban wave, it just sounds too false to believe.”
“The world is vast and items are plenty.”
“So it seems. I thought I had seen all kinds of items, but it looks like I still have a long way to go. Hey, can I steal this?”
Her gaze was 20% playful and 80% serious.
And as the president of the thieves’ club, stealing an item from a freshman would be a piece of cake if she set her mind to it.
Of course, I had considered this possibility as well.
“You’ll be caught quickly. Even though it looks like this, this is a magic engineering item.”
“What?”
Dang Gyu-young scrutinized the cube more closely.
It was hard to notice at first glance since it was covered with various plants and flowers, but traces of the 10x10x10 blueprint could be seen here and there.
“What’s this? Is it a magic engineering item? I’ve never seen anything like it. Who made it?”
“I did.”
“Hey, you’re pretty skilled with your hands?”
Dang Gyu-young realized the situation and let go of her desire to take it.
The theft prevention mechanism of a magic engineering item was more complex than that of a regular magic item.
It can be deeply embedded during the manufacturing stage, making it difficult to find and bypass.
Of course, I hadn’t actually done that but bluffing alone was enough to deter her.
If what I said was true and she was tracked, she’d be completely trapped.
“Tch, anyway, you must want something from me; that’s why you didn’t pass things to Byeong-chul and came directly to me, right?”
“You got it right.”
“As you can see, we’re quite poor here. If this had been stolen too, we would have ended up in deficit this month.”
So, there isn’t much I can offer you.
is what she meant to say.
I knew it was an exaggeration, but I didn’t point it out.
After all, I hadn’t come for a material reward.
“You’ll be able to do what I’m about to ask of you.”
“Let’s hear it. What is it?”
I paused for a moment before speaking.
“The temporary storage.”
“……!”
The moment I mentioned “temporary storage”, Dang Gyu-young’s face turned cold and stiff.
The shadow at my feet began to wriggle and my own shadow clambered up my legs uncontrollably.
The presence of Dang Gyu-young that was right in front of me gradually faded.
It was a situation where a battle could break out at any moment.
“Let’s talk, senior. I’m scared, you know.”
“You didn’t even flinch. Were you sent by the disciplinary committee?”
“No. I’m not on good terms with them.”
“Then where are you from?”
“I came here on my own.”
“And you expect me to believe that?”
“Why would I lie about something that’s so easily exposed?”
A little investigation would quickly reveal my affiliation.
Such a trivial lie would bring more harm than benefit.
Dang Gyu-young stared at me intently, trying to gauge my true intentions, while I calmly deflected her inspection.
Soon, the wriggling shadows returned to normal.
“Fine, let’s assume you’re unaffiliated for now. How did you know about the temporary storage?”
“I deduced it on my own.”
In truth, it wasn’t deduction but experience.
With a single ban wave, hundreds of prohibited items were confiscated from the entire student body.
But was this ban wave during the semester a one-time event?
Absolutely not.
It was triggered just when the students started to forget about it, just to instill a sense of vigilance in them.
So where did all those numerous prohibited items go?
There was a storage facility for confiscated items.
Even I, a veteran among veteran players, didn’t know exactly where it was located.
Its location changed frequently.
Moreover, even if one managed to discover its location, penetrating it would be virtually impossible.
For example, some principals used huge sub-spaces as storage for confiscated items.
To enter, one had to defeat the principal who was a former great hero. Ironically, if one had the capability to do so, obtaining the items inside became meaningless.
However, this was just the location of the storage.
Before moving the prohibited items to this storage, they underwent a short period of sorting and verification at a different location.
This was the temporary storage.
“I guess you will probably go there tonight or tomorrow night.”
Once this weekend passed, the temporary storage would be completely emptied.
The biggest concern for the thieves club right now was whether they could raid that place before it was cleared out.
Waiting until Sunday would likely be too late, so Friday or Saturday night seemed ideal.
As my intentions became clear, Dang Gyu-young’s face took on an expression of disbelief.
“So, you’re saying… you want to hitch a ride now?”
“Not exactly hitch a ride. I’m paying a fare here.”
The fare, of course, was the recently saved prohibited items.
Perhaps due to my confident attitude, Dang Gyu-young let out a sarcastic laugh.
She flipped over the [Cube of Life], spilling its contents, and handed the empty cube to me.
“Junior, Kim Ho, I truly appreciate your help in retrieving these items. I’m even willing to pay a fair price for them. But this deal puts us at a loss. Do you know how much effort we put into this? Just to have you add a spoon to a table we’ve already set? That’s not acceptable.”
“I do see your point.”
“So, forget about the temporary storage and suggest something else. Anything else.”
Even with the combined value of the prohibited items I had saved, it wasn’t enough to earn a spot on the bus to the temporary storage.
To the thieves club, that place was akin to a treasure trove.
Dang Gyu-young might have expected me to request something else at this point, but I had no intention of changing my demand.
Instead, adding just one more item to the scale would complete the trade.
I started.
“The temporary storage. It’s guarded by the disciplinary committee, right?”
“Needless to say. It’s like a fortress.”
The ban wave had been triggered countless times even before I enrolled.
Each time, the thieves club eyed the temporary storage, and each time, the disciplinary committee mobilized all its members to defend it.
It would be the same this time.
“It is not only difficult to break in, but also hard to escape after the job.”
“If anything, the latter is harder.”
Entering unnoticed and leaving the same way would be perfect, but the likelihood of being spotted by the patrol during the process was quite high.
The disciplinary committee was the strongest force of power in Dragon Slayer Academy.
Maybe a few from the four major powers could stand a chance, but the thieves club was no match for them.
A direct confrontation would lead to them getting instantly overpowered and being caught during the escape meant game over.
All the painstakingly gathered items would have to be relinquished.
The condition I was about to propose was related to this very issue.
“If I can solve the latter for you?”
“Come on, be realistic. Even we can’t do that, but you… wait a minute.”
As I casually opened the [Cube of Life], Dang Gyu-young’s eyes widened.
“…Right. Why didn’t I think of that? Just gather the important things and put them in…”
“And we can bring them out surely.”
A hidden piece that could avoid the detection of the ban wave and the crystal orb.
Even if every member of the thieves club who broke in was caught, the items stored in the cube would remain undetected.
She can’t possibly refuse this.
Of course, I understood Dang Gyu-young’s position.
Given the immense effort put into their project, it must be frustrating to have an outsider jump in at the final stage.
But she would hate it even more if the project fell apart at the last minute.
Not gaining anything at all would be the worst outcome.
By accepting my proposal, they would at least ensure some profit.
And not just any profit, but items of high value in the storage.
Dang Gyu-young seemed almost convinced.
Yet, still slightly uncomfortable with the situation, she tentatively made a counteroffer.
“Hey, how about just giving me that box, or rather, lending it to me? Just for one night.”
“No way.”
It was a preposterous suggestion.
“Ah, why! If there are good items, I can just bring them to you!”
“I need to see and choose them myself.”
What Dang Gyu-young considers good items and what I consider good are clearly different.
I had to see with my own eyes to judge what was useful to me.
“Are you going to do it?”
“……”
“If you really don’t want to, then it can’t be helped.”
“……fine, I’ll do it! Happy now?”
“Then we’ll go together.”
“Tch.”
Dang Gyu-young reluctantly accepted the deal.
She stared at me with a stern expression on her face and then asked.
“Hey, be honest. You’ve repeated a year, haven’t you?”
“How could I repeat a year here? If you don’t get good grades, you’re expelled right away.”
“I have a good intuition. You just don’t seem like a freshman to me.”
“…You caught me. I’m only telling you this, but actually…I’ve graduated over 200 times from this academy.”
“…. haah, I should’ve just kept my mouth shut.”
Dang Gyu-young’s face soured.
She shook her head and then stood up.
I was telling the truth though.
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