Became a Dark Merchant in the Academy - Chapter 203



202 – Student Council President Election_6

It was around the time when I was roughly dealing with Yukina, who was persistently clinging to me.

Three men and women entered the candidates’ waiting room.

A neat uniform, with the word “Progress” written in black on a yellow armband near the right wrist.

They appeared to be election workers dispatched by the national election agency and the academy to ensure the smooth progress of the election.

“Please focus. I will convey a small change before the first event of the Laplace Academy Student Council President election campaign and the announcement of pledges.”

At the words of the election official, everyone in the candidates’ waiting room turned their gaze to one place.

It was a natural reaction, as the people here could not have been unaware that those words implied that something had changed at the event.

“???”

Except for Yukina, who tilted her head next to me.

Anyway, since they said it was just a minor change, I guess it wasn’t a big deal.

It’s a big deal, but it’s something they might be trying to downplay.

Any disadvantages that may arise from not listening properly will be your own responsibility.

No one would run for office and then blow their chance by doing something stupid.

“Hmm, the changes are as follows. The number of people in the plaza has increased beyond the expected multiple due to the high mobility of the cadets and the general public. We have judged that an accident could easily occur. After consultation with the Academy, we will limit the time for each person to make a pledge announcement from a maximum of 5 minutes to a maximum of 3 minutes.”

As soon as they confirmed that everyone was paying attention, the woman at the front of the lineup read the document she had brought.

“What did you say?”

“What… What if you decide on your own without consulting or agreeing with the parties involved?”

“That’s right. Three minutes at most. That’s too short.”

“No, then rather than shortening our presentation time, wouldn’t it be better to postpone the event until things calm down?”

Then, all sorts of complaints poured in from several other candidates whose names I didn’t even know.

It’s three minutes.

Up until now, the five-minute time limit has been announced, so you must have prepared your movements, speaking speed, accent timing, and volume accordingly.

That was because the amount was reduced by almost half, so the things we had prepared became useless.

“I’m sorry. We also wanted to get things back to normal as much as possible. But suddenly, too many people came in a short period of time, and they kept coming in, and it was continuously getting out of control. We thought it would be right to end the event quickly…”

The agent kept bowing his head.

“No, but what if you just notify me like this?”

“Admitting your lack of management skills…”

But there was no sign of the discontent abating.

In fact, it was more of a legitimate expression of opinion rather than a complaint.

“Senior, it looks like there really are a lot of people here.”

There was even a carefree man who waved his arms as if he was excited by the crowd.

‘Was the square’s capacity clearly in the tens of thousands?’

I don’t know the exact capacity.

However, unless the process manager is making excuses because he or she doesn’t want to do the job properly, if there is a lack of management and problems arise, it means that there are multiples of that number outside.

That too, in an instant, without stopping.

Otherwise, there would be no way that the management staff would admit to their lack of management ability and incompetence.

‘Was this such a popular event?’

No, it is not.

No, to be exact, it wasn’t an event that was completely unpopular, but at best it was only attended by Laplace Academy cadets and the general public.

In addition, it was an event that was only popular among students who admired Laplace Academy and cadets from other academies.

So at most, there are tens of thousands of people who would be interested in such an event.

And among those who are interested, on average, about one in ten come directly.

Therefore, it was said that the number of people who would come to this event would not exceed several thousand at most.

‘But more than that ship came…’

There are two things to consider.

One thing I didn’t know was that this event was actually incredibly popular.

But looking at the reactions of the other candidates, it didn’t seem like that was the case.

The second is that it is the work of another candidate.

If it was a tactic to sabotage other candidates, I could understand it to some extent.

But if you ask, is this an event that would mobilize that many people? The answer is probably no.

That’s understandable, because hiring people, even for a short period of time, is a surprisingly expensive task.

Unless you have similar abilities to me, it doesn’t make sense to do it in the thousands or tens of thousands.

Even though Laplace Academy has a lot of power for a student council president, that power is limited to Laplace Academy.

Well, it might be possible if you try to catch and retrieve them.

If that happens, we will have to worry about being impeached midway.

‘But there must be something.’

I don’t have a good feel for it yet.

“I’m truly sorry, but this decision has been made for your safety, so I hope you’ll follow it.”

“No, even if it was decided for safety reasons, isn’t this too much?”

“So, can’t we just postpone the event a little bit?”

“Fuck, you little shits are being so noisy like women. If that’s the case, then get out.”

The agents and other candidates who are still struggling despite having been analyzing the current situation for quite some time.

Did you get annoyed when you heard that?

A voice broke between them.

“what?”

“What did you just say?”

“Get out. If you can’t do that for 5 minutes or 3 minutes, then you shouldn’t be here.”

Those who had been complaining turned their heads in the direction of the voice, wrinkled their faces, and spoke in low voices.

Regardless, Lee Won-jun, the owner of the voice, glared at them with an extremely annoyed expression.

“Or what? You memorized the script by heart. You did a great job. Did you want to be praised?”

“You have a pierced mouth…”

“Are you annoyed? If you twist it, try hitting it. I was starting to feel annoyed too.”

And the standoff began.

But there was no movement.

“Here it is. You can hit here, but can’t you do that? You idiot.”

Lee Won-jun approached them as if teasing them, pushed his face in slightly and pointed to his cheek.

There was no one to stop it.

Excluding them and the staff, there were a total of five people in the waiting room.

Among them, the former president just heard the changes and collapsed on the bed.

Tachibana Rie seemed to be leisurely drinking tea, glancing at Yukina and then at me.

Xiaolong seemed intrigued by the fight that might soon begin, but that was it.

Finally, Yukina continued to tease me as if she didn’t care about such behavior.

“Damn.”

“A topic that rushes in only because of connections.”

How long did the standoff last?

The ones who were holding back were those who were venting their complaints.

Their family also seemed to be in a similar situation, but it seemed they had no intention of touching the son of the chairman of the Leewon Group.

“…”

“It’s a legitimate objection.”

Does that mean it’s okay to stay here?

He left the candidate waiting room, citing various reasons.

It didn’t seem like a resignation though.

The candidates’ waiting room became a little quieter.

**

“Don’t push.”

It was hard work.

“Don’t push. I told you not to push. Don’t push!”

Pushed from the front, pushed from behind, pushed from the side.

How many minutes has this been going on?

I don’t even remember now.

Besides, the people who came with me were nowhere to be seen.

I wonder if he was trying to get to the front row to enjoy some kind of luxurious and prestigious entertainment, or if he should have just watched the video broadcast from the outskirts of the square or on his cell phone.

But now I couldn’t back out.

Because so many people came from all over the place, I couldn’t even go out as I pleased.

There, people were bumping into each other like this, and I even felt a strange chill.

But Anten regretted it.

There was no turning back from regret.

“I told you not to push. Don’t step on me.”

That’s why I had no choice but to move forward against my will.

It was still at a standstill.

“under…”

Anten eventually had no choice but to stop.

I gave up in a situation where I couldn’t move no matter how hard I tried.

“Next time I come to a place like this, I’m not human.”

But it wasn’t completely fixed.

It was because my body moved on its own even when I wanted to stay still due to the repeated pushing and pushing.

From noble mtl dot com

How long has it been since I gave myself over to the flow of people like that?

“Wait a minute, don’t push. Someone’s fallen!!!”

Anten shouted loudly.

It was because I saw a person who had collapsed in an unknown place.

“Wait a minute. Stop it!!!”

Judging by the clothing, the person who fell was an ordinary person.

If you’re an academy cadet, you can endure it by strengthening your body with mana.

For ordinary people, it was a different story.

A situation where you could easily get crushed to death.

That’s why I tried to stop people’s movements by raising my voice.

Could it be that the people around him couldn’t hear Anten’s words?

It was just a case of pushing and being pushed over and over again.

“Shit. Can’t you hear me? I told you to stop!!”

Anten, who couldn’t just sit by and watch, drew on his mana to strengthen his body and pushed people away, approaching the fallen man.

How much did he push?

Anten approached the fallen man and urgently checked his condition.

“…”

I wasn’t breathing.

That’s why I was starting to regret it, thinking it was too late.

Anten felt something strange.

It was clear he wasn’t breathing though.

But my heart wasn’t beating.

It wasn’t dead.

“what…?”

Something was strange.

At first it definitely looked like a person.

Looking at it again, it seemed like the person wasn’t a person.

That wasn’t all.

Most of the people here…

[Now, let’s begin announcing the promises for the first Laplace Academy event.]

It wasn’t a person.

“earthly…”

Wonder, question.

I didn’t understand.

A speaker that rings whether you do it or not.

[The first candidate. Number 1. Please give a round of applause to Cadet Park Yul-cheon.]

Inyoung coming up on stage.

In an instant, everyone in the square’s eyes turned to one place.