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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: Reward
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The Director of Velvet Hunter Academy.
The [Magic Emperor], Rina.
Among all the non-playable characters, perhaps no one garnered as much attention or accumulated as many nicknames as she did.
Just off the top of my head:
[Magical Girl (Elementary Schooler)], [Magic Kid], [Crybaby], [Shrimp], [Pint-sized Brat], [Legally Adult], [Brat]...
And so on.
Despite her limited appearances in the game, she consistently stole every scene she appeared in.
Of course, this was only natural, as she was the officially recognized strongest individual in the world of Velvetsura.
Because of this, users endlessly requested, pleaded, begged, and even threatened the developers to make Rina a playable character...
[Day 565 of praying for a new character release: Director Brat 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏]
└ Velvet School Life! GM: Director Rina is too powerful and would break the power balance, so it's impossible!
The developers' answer was always a swift, firm refusal.
However, there was something a little strange about this.
The question was, if she was the strongest in the world, why didn't she step forward when the academy, and the world, were in crisis?
Even when fiends infiltrated the academy and turned it into a wasteland, or when a demonic beast powerful enough to swallow an entire city tore through a gate and appeared in Korea,
She never left her director's office.
Regarding this, users, fueled by a mix of frustration and curiosity about the unreleased Director,
ridiculed her, questioning if she was actually an incompetent figurehead Director and merely the 'World's Strongest (supposedly)'.
But the answer to that question was neatly resolved in the PV released for Velvet School Life's 3rd anniversary.
It showed the worldline where the world was destroyed if the user didn't act as a benefactor, titled 'You're Our Only Hope.mp4'.
In that world, the Director appeared as a much more mature beauty.
She demonstrated her role as the 'Emperor of Magic', slaughtering various monsters and fiends with god-like power.
However, even she reached her limit, eventually glaring at her enemies with a blood-soaked body and lamenting.
—Haa, an enemy this powerful... The Law of Causality! Ahh! So, it was my fate not to step forward from the beginning! As expected, hope lay with the academy...
Just as a meteor fell from the sky and the world's destruction was imminent,
She gritted her teeth and cried out.
—It's not over yet! I will cast Regression Magic, at the cost of my time and memories!
And then, a magic circle encompassing the entire world manifested, and the world rewound once again.
Right to the point where Velvetsura began.
She was the one who returned, having lost even her age and memories due to the aftereffects of the Regression Magic,
but retaining only the strong will not to step forward.
That was Director Rina.
As I gazed intently at her, recalling information about her internally, Rina looked up at me and spoke.
Her height, seen in person, was even shorter. She barely reached my sternum.
"You must be Jin Yuha."
"Yes."
"I really wanted to meet you."
"...Me?"
I asked back in a bewildered voice.
Because I couldn't understand why she knew me.
'Jin Yuha wouldn't have been involved with the Director before, so... did she realize I'm a transmigrator?'
I gave her a wary look.
"I heard you're the one who got Seol-hui to open her swordplay class. She refused everyone else who asked her to teach."
"...Ahem."
Baek Seol-hui cleared her throat awkwardly beside me.
Ah.
I hadn't known, as the Director herself was such a secretive person, but it seemed she and Instructor Baek Seol-hui had a deep relationship.
Rina scanned me up and down with an intrigued gaze.
Then her eyes stopped at mine, and she frowned deeply.
"By the way, you. Your gaze is quite disrespectful."
"...Pardon?"
"S-surely! You're not thinking, 'This tiny thing is the Director!?' are you!"
Rina bristled as if she'd been unnecessarily provoked.
"Now you're even *more* disrespectful! S-surely you're not thinking about how tall I am, are you!? I'm still 140! I can reach 140!"
'...This... is really the world's strongest?'
A speech pattern utterly devoid of dignity, truly like a brat.
She supposedly lost all her memories when she regressed, but I wondered if she'd lost even the essential qualities of a human.
This time, I couldn't help but look at her with a truly disrespectful gaze.
"I-Igh—!"
Rina, biting her lip and about to throw a tantrum, seemed to have noticed.
Unable to watch any longer, Baek Seol-hui interjected.
"Director. You need to confer the reward."
"Ah, I know. I'll do it properly. D-don't look at me like that! Seol-hui, when even *your* expression hardens, it's terrifying!"
Rina replied, glancing nervously at her.
Ahem.
She cleared her throat and then spoke in a more authoritative voice.
"Though I didn't witness your activities directly, I heard you achieved excellent results. The quota system. I will commend you for that much."
*Pat! Pat!*
Rina reached out to pat my shoulder, but her hand barely reached my forearm.
When I lowered my shoulder slightly, she flinched in embarrassment and withdrew her hand.
"So, originally, I intended to only present a trophy and prize money... but this time, I intend to confer a more special reward."
A special reward?
For me? Even if she's close with Instructor Baek Seol-hui, isn't that a bit strange?
"Why go to such lengths...?"
"Because you're the quota student, aren't you? Thanks to you, I can boast to those old hags at the Management Bureau."
Rina said, a mischievous smile playing on her lips.
Ah, come to think of it, I had heard that Velvet Academy had been quietly pressured by the Hunter Management Bureau regarding the quota system.
It seemed to have been a significant issue.
"I will imbue you with a Subspace Tattoo."
My eyes widened.
'A Subspace Tattoo!'
It was one of the absolute must-have items from the gacha system.
If characters had this, it freed up a slot in the party composition.
Originally, I would have had to recruit a separate porter character, and porters were quite troublesome.
They were responsible for supplying items, so they had to be protected, but most of them had terrible stamina and combat abilities.
'I'm getting something here that I gave up on getting when trying to pull Alice's equipment!?'
As expected, someone who's the world's strongest is truly in a league of their own.
The Director let out a pleased chuckle, as if she'd read my surprised expression.
"You seem to know its value. To put it simply, this is a bribe."
"A bribe?"
Rina nodded.
"A bribe for your future cooperation. The more you, a quota student, achieve, the fewer troublesome matters I'll have to deal with. And, since you're also a student who will become Seol-hui's disciple, I'm taking care of you."
This is the first time a male quota student has seemed appealing.
And it seems the Instructor's influence was quite strong.
Connections really are everything.
"However, due to fairness issues, I cannot grant you a large space right now."
She spoke in a firm voice.
But for me, it didn't matter.
Even getting the initial permit for a subspace tattoo was a challenge in the first place,
but once you had it, you could upgrade it later when the opportunity arose.
I nodded.
"How large is the space?"
"It's large enough to carry five weapons."
Five weapons, huh...
It's not bad.
Ah, I wonder if that's possible too?
From her words, it seemed that imbuing a subspace tattoo itself wasn't particularly difficult for her.
In a world without gacha, I couldn't miss this opportunity.
I had to at least ask.
"...Just a moment, Director Rina."
"Hmm?"
"Would it be possible to reduce the space for my tattoo to the size of a single weapon, and instead imbue other students with one?"
What I had in mind was imbuing other people with subspace tattoos.
Since acquiring them was a feat in itself, it was better to have many characters possess smaller subspace tattoos than to have one character with a large one.
"Hoo."
Rina's eyes widened, then curved into a pleased smile, as if I had done something praiseworthy.
"Hmm, indeed, only taking care of you would cause problems. In truth, it goes beyond the scope of the given reward..."
Then the Director swept her gaze over those who had come with me, standing behind me.
"Hmm... That child, and that child, are possible. However, those two children are not."
She pointed a finger, indicating Kang Do-hee and Shin Se-hee were possible, but refused for the two quota students.
***
Imbuing a subspace required a few days of preparation.
After Rina said she would call them when the time was right, Jin Yuha's party left the Director's office.
"W-we're fine! Don't worry about it! They said our magic power isn't enough to handle a subspace, so there's nothing we can do!"
"Th-that's right! We didn't do anything anyway! Thanks to you, we got the prize money and the winner's trophy! This is enough! We can brag to our parents!"
The two quota students were rambling incoherently, telling Jin Yuha it was fine.
Shin Se-hee scoffed internally, watching them.
'Mr. Jin Yuha, honestly, I don't think he intended to give those two subspace tattoos from the start...'
Since they couldn't receive them anyway because their magic power couldn't handle it, he seemed to be letting them misunderstand and moving on.
He probably intended to give the subspace tattoos to Kang Do-hee, and that strange female tank.
It must have been those two.
However, since a special reward given to the winner couldn't be given to someone who lost, Kang Do-hee received it, and she herself received it as a bonus.
Jin Yuha roughly accepted the quota students' greetings and approached Kang Do-hee.
'...It seems he's going to offer Kang Do-hee a party invitation.'
Jin Yuha and Kang Do-hee shook hands with serious expressions.
'Why... only me...? Only me...? Was I just not possible from the start?'
Shin Se-hee bit her lip hard.
Her pride was severely wounded.
She wanted to leave this uncomfortable situation immediately.
However, she still had something she wanted to ask him, so she couldn't leave.
Soon, Kang Do-hee departed.
Shin Se-hee took a long, deep breath.
Then she approached Jin Yuha.
*Click-clack—*
"Mr. Jin Yuha."
"Ah, yes."
His face turned towards her.
Truly an unbelievably beautiful face.
Her desires were ceaselessly stimulated, and a thirst arose.
A possessive urge surged up from deep within her, but Shin Se-hee pressed her nails into her palm, trying hard to endure it.
"...Why did you show me such favor? In truth, shouldn't you have given it to that woman instead of me?"
Then Jin Yuha gazed intently at her.
"...Shin Se-hee."
"Yes."
"Honestly, I'm still not sure if I'm doing the right thing."
He let out a deep sigh and scratched his forehead as if troubled.
"Tsk, let's just make one promise first."
Jin Yuha unexpectedly proposed a promise to her.
'A promise...? About what?'
For now, Shin Se-hee intended to accept whatever his proposal was.
She had incurred a debt at a time when she needed to cut off her interest in him.
A Subspace Tattoo.
Even Shin Se-hee couldn't acquire that easily.
'I can't live with a debt hanging over me from this person.'
Debts are not incurred; they are imposed.
It was her ironclad rule.
"You, always be honest in front of me. If you ever try to deceive me, even once, it's over between us that day."
"What? W-what do you mean...?"
Shin Se-hee's eyes widened.
"No. Let's include all our party members. As for other people who aren't in our party... well, I won't interfere with your peculiar hobbies outside of that."
"...Huh?"
Suddenly, what was this about?
"You said you wanted to join my party."
"...Are you... considering accepting me?"
Shin Se-hee felt her voice tremble miserably, but she couldn't help it.
"Of course, strictly speaking, you won't be a party member, but... I'd like to assign you the role of party manager for our group. Can you do it?"