The Academy's Terminally Ill Side Character-Chapter 42: Escape

That evening, the moment I stepped back into my dorm room after that not-so-pleasant meeting with my so-called father, I was bombarded by questions from Leona Harper.

"Hey, are you some kind of young master?"

"Uh... no?"

"Is your family rich?"

"I think so?"

"What's your family background?"

Now, hold on a minute. What kind of interrogation was that last one supposed to be?

...And since when did she start acting so friendly? Wasn't this the same girl who threatened to kill me in my sleep if I snored too loudly?

"It's not like that," she said, noticing the look on my face. "Don't make it weird. I just think we might have more in common than I thought."

Huh. Well... she wasn't wrong exactly.

As I've mentioned before, in this world, black hair was rarer than blond, or any other color for that matter.

Thanks to the mutations triggered by the dungeon break decades ago, newborns started appearing with increasingly bizarre hair colors. The classic black? It started fading out of the gene pool.

And yet, here we were—me and Leona Harper—both with black hair.

That alone was unusual. But there was more.

She wasn't just anyone. She was the young lady of a noble house. Not that she'd outright tell me that if I asked.

She didn't have to. I already knew, thanks to the original plotline.

A faint, surprisingly pleasant smile tugged at her usually icy expression.

"As expected... I think we'll get along just fine."

And then, unexpectedly, the cross dressing girl offered me her hand.

A handshake.

I hesitated for a second. She was wearing gloves, which wasn't unusual. She hated being touched, after all. In the original story, it took a while before she ever made physical contact with anyone.

But here she was—initiating it.

R𝑒ad lat𝒆st chapt𝒆rs at free𝑤ebnovel.com Only.

So I took her hand.

And she smiled.

No, not a cold smirk. A real, subtle smile.

Well... at least it didn't seem like she was planning to stab me in my sleep. That was progress.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

Later that night.

Lying on my bed, phone in hand, I scrolled aimlessly—until I stumbled across some very unpleasant news.

"...I knew something was off about that main quest."

I mean, sure, this world had all sorts of intense plotlines, but even here, complicated family drama didn't usually qualify as a main quest.

And now, I had confirmation.

[BREAKING NEWS!!!

—Terrorist Kai Foster has escaped from prison and is currently at large.

—Where was security during the escape? The Hero Association is under fire for its failure to respond in time.

—Public outrage grows as the Hero Association takes a massive credibility hit.]

The entire internet was flooded with updates on Kai Foster.

So this was it.

The family drama and the main quest just happened to overlap. The real main event? Kai Foster's escape.

"Shiiiit..."

I'd unintentionally reformed one villain—my dad, apparently—and in return, the villain I thought was done for had made a dramatic comeback.

It was annoying, sure. But manageable.

Kai Foster wasn't stupid enough to charge straight into the academy after a prison break. Not without his magic tools.

Without them, he was basically a slightly stronger-than-average thug.

Yeah, stronger than me. I could admit that.

But not strong enough to take on Leo Taylor, let alone the professors. So how would he even get close to this place?

Still, I wasn't taking any chances.

He would come. Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow—but eventually. And I planned to be ready when he did.

Time to pick a target.

Kai Foster's partner.

The bastard who helped orchestrate the terrorist attack during the opening ceremony—who was still lurking somewhere inside Velcrest Academy, hiding his identity like a rat in the walls.

Because of him, so many people had died.

Because of him, I had almost—

No. He didn't deserve to live.

I'm going to find him.

And I'm going to erase him.

But first—

"To do that, I've got to train."

There were still two weeks left before the semester officially began.

Plenty of time.

And now that I had finally defeated my arch-nemesis—those cursed 15-kilogram dumbbells—I could finally move on to the next stage.

Strength. Speed. Endurance.

I'm not going in unprepared.

I took a deep breath, feeling the familiar soreness in my muscles, but this time it felt... good. Like progress.

This body will be a weapon.

No fear. No hesitation.

This time, I'm the one hunting from the shadows.part

***

The next day hit me like a truck.

Not because I was sore—though, yeah, my arms were screaming from yesterday's dumbbell victory—but because my brain wouldn't shut up.

Kai Foster's escape was all over my feed, and every notification felt like a jab reminding me I couldn't just sit around.

I needed to move, to 'do' something.

So, I did what any semi-rational person would do: I dragged myself out of bed at the crack of dawn and headed to the training grounds.

Leona was still asleep when I slipped out, her face half-buried in her pillow, looking way less intimidating than usual. I didn't wake her.

She'd probably murder me for interrupting her beauty sleep, and I wasn't in the mood to test her. Besides, I needed some time to think. Alone.

The training grounds were quiet this early, just a few overachievers jogging laps or practicing forms in the sparring rings.

The air was crisp, the kind that stings your lungs in a good way. I started with a run, keeping my pace steady, letting my mind wander as my feet pounded the track.

My body which was very pathetic wouldn't able to run like this which I was able to do now.

Of course it's means that I have made progress.

Which was good thing in it's own way.

After continuosly running for around 20 minutes,I stopped and took few minutes of rest.

My body was screaming in protest and unfortunately I had to listen my body this time.

After resting for while I moved again.

This time towards gym.

To face new enemy.

20 Kgs dumbbells.