Don't Feed the Professor! - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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[Person on 12th Floor: At least in the Fortress, college life is nothing like it. LOL]
[Cart Collector: Ugh, I hate it]
[Cart Collector: Those professors there are so gross]
[Cart Collector: Rather than sitting through lectures staring at those things every day, I’d rather just live in a warehouse at the supermarket :(]
‘Gross,’ she said?
[Person on 12th Floor: Still, if you tough it out just at the beginning, college life becomes pretty sweet later]
[Cart Collector: That’s the problem—the beginning!!]
What did that mean? I had just set my fingers on the keypad.
Ding.
[48: Anyway, if there’s anything you don’t know, feel free to ask anytime! ♡⁺◟(●˙▾˙●)◞⁺♡]
[48: Us survivors gotta stick together! ฅ(๑•̀⩊•́๑)ฅ]
I hesitated for a moment.
Logically speaking, it seemed unlikely the Fortress would assign the same role to two people. If that were possible, I wouldn’t be trembling at the threat of being replaced on the spot.
But I couldn’t exactly insist that I really was Amelie either. In an atmosphere like this, I was bound to be treated as a troll if I was the newbie speaking up.
Yet I couldn’t simply hide my identity indefinitely. If I stayed silent, the other person would too.
The moment they sensed I had no intention of revealing myself, the information they offered would be limited.
‘Then…’
Let me ask the most important question I need answered within this limited time. For instance…
[Goldilocks: How do you all make money?]
For a moment, I thought the screen had frozen.
[Cart Collector: Oh wait]
[Cart Collector: Is this a joke?]
[Goldilocks: ?]
[Person on 12th Floor: No]
[Person on 12th Floor: Does this person seriously know nothing?]
The atmosphere shifted strangely, and I stopped typing.
Then, after a moment, someone who had been silent for a long time spoke up.
[Bibi: You]
[Bibi: How many days in?]
How many days in? Did they mean how many days I’d been drifting?
I was hesitating over how to answer when—
“Amelie?”
I turned my head somewhat late at the unfamiliar name. Gwon Tae-hyeon was descending the staircase, and something—or rather, someone—was following behind him.
Actually, it was legs. A pair of legs in knee-high boots and a knit skirt. The problem was that these legs were nearly as tall as Gwon Tae-hyeon himself.
Step by step, as Gwon Tae-hyeon and those legs came down the stairs, the rest of the upper body hidden by the landing came into view. Long black hair cascading past the shoulders, a sharply featured face.
A striking beauty. She appeared to be at least 250 centimeters tall, so standing out was only natural.
“Ah… hello, Team Lead…”
I smiled casually in greeting, though I couldn’t help letting my eyes drift sideways.
Of course… it could just be that she was a tall person, right? But if not… should I pretend I hadn’t noticed?
“Oh, this is So Hui. She’s the student council president this semester.”
Fortunately, Gwon Tae-hyeon introduced the tall woman. At this simple introduction, my heart eased, and I offered a friendlier greeting than usual.
“Hello, I’m Amelie. Would it be okay to call you senior?”
I offered a social smile and asked. The student council president didn’t answer. She just stared down at me with eyes that had less white showing, then leaned toward Gwon Tae-hyeon and said something in a low voice.
“…?”
Then she turned on her heel and left the Student Council Building.
What? I raised my eyebrows and looked at Gwon Tae-hyeon, who made excuses somewhat awkwardly.
“Ah… she’s not exactly the friendly type.”
“What did she just say to you in that whisper?”
“Well, that was…”
“She was insulting me, wasn’t she?”
Gwon Tae-hyeon rolled his eyes and let out a sigh.
“She says you have a smell.”
“Wow, that hurts…”
Now that I thought about it, that undergraduate earlier had acted like she’d caught a whiff of garbage too.
I pressed my nose against the inside of my elbow and sniffed. But I couldn’t smell anything at all. I’d even showered this morning—what smell could possibly be there?
“Oh no, not that kind of smell…”
Gwon Tae-hyeon stopped me.
“Apparently humans can’t detect certain scents. You must have picked up something somewhere, but it should fade in a day or so.”
“Then why didn’t you just say that instead of ‘What smell?’—that’s so embarrassing…”
While speaking to him, I glanced at the screen, which had gone quiet. I’d check it again later, I thought, and pocketed my phone.
It was information I didn’t particularly want to share with Agency personnel, hotline or otherwise.
“Ah, but I was asked to pass this along to you.”
What Gwon Tae-hyeon handed me was an ordinary bundle of disposable band-aids. On the packaging, “Gwangryun University” was printed in small green letters.
“The Medical Office said to give it to you.”
The Medical Office? How did they know I was injured? Without thinking, I reached to open the package, but Gwon Tae-hyeon cleared his throat.
“…Why?”
“If it were me, I wouldn’t use it.”
“Is something… wrong with it?”
“Quite the opposite, actually.”
“…?”
“I’ve seen five of those save someone whose organs were pouring out.”
“…Yes…?”
“I’ve heard there are serious side effects, so it’s only used when absolutely necessary. But as far as I know, the current market price is 4 million won each. On the black market, it’d be over ten million.”
‘…What?’
I quickly counted the band-aids in the bundle. One, two… five pieces. At 4 million each, that’s 20 million won, isn’t it?
So that’s what it meant when they said entering the Fortress turned into money.
“But why would something like this end up in my hands…?”
“Who knows. Who would have thought Amelie needed this?”
“…”
I carefully stowed the band-aids in my pocket. I’d almost wasted precious supplies. Just on a wound that would’ve healed fine on its own.
“Um, Team Lead, is there any way I could convert this to cash? Truth is, I’m completely broke right now. I’ve been starving since yesterday.”
“Hmm… unfortunately, that’s not something I can advise on according to regulations.”
“What? Why?”
Gwon Tae-hyeon touched his chin awkwardly.
“If the Agency started openly talking about ways to make money inside the Fortress, what would happen?”
“Well…”
“The number of Stray Persons deliberately diving into the Fortress would multiply several times over. People at rock bottom, desperate for cash over their lives. Bad actors who’d try to profit by pushing others in to take a cut.”
‘They’re already doing that anyway…’
“But there aren’t only Exploration Team Members in the Fortress, right? Is the Agency just turning a blind eye to all of them?”
“Well, this isn’t an official answer, but even though it’s technically illegal to stay in the Fortress past a certain period, enforcing it is practically impossible in reality. There are special cases like yours, after all.”
“I suppose…”
“And sometimes those Stray Persons end up providing unexpected assistance.”
And Gwon Tae-hyeon looked at me silently for a moment.
“…”
That look in his eyes. The look that gauges my usefulness.
‘Usefulness…’
The loan sharks used to say that only maniacs or psychopaths voluntarily dive into the Fortress.
Gwon Tae-hyeon wouldn’t want the newly assigned Amelie replaced by an unverifiable lunatic.
If I could prove my value as Amelie, wouldn’t Gwon Tae-hyeon be more inclined to help my survival?
But how do I prove that?
“Team Lead, didn’t you say last time that Stray Persons have no obligation to report what they see and hear in the Fortress?”
“I did.”
“Then even if I obtained some useful information and provided it to the Agency, I’d get nothing in return?”
Gwon Tae-hyeon’s expression shifted to one of slight surprise.
“That couldn’t be further from the truth. The Agency is always waiting for new information about the Fortress. It’s just that Stray Persons have no reason to choose that option. If they went to dealers in the real world, they could make far more money.”
“But I can’t exactly leave the Fortress freely right now. Which means, in other words, I can move around inside more easily.”
The Agency’s goal is to understand the Fortress. Though I haven’t received formal training, the Fortress has chosen me, so I must have advantages in information gathering.
“I know that Exploration Team Members receive differential compensation. I’ve also heard that the condolences the bereaved receive depend on the quality of information their dead member brought back.”
“Where on earth did you hear something like that…”
“There’s quite a bit of useful information on the Student Council Building bulletin board.”
Of course, it wasn’t stated directly, but it was something you could infer from the rulebook.
It said that if someone died after entering an unmapped sector, their designated heir would receive compensation proportionate to that discovery.
That also meant the more valuable the information a member brought, the more compensation the heir received. Otherwise, there’d be no reason to mention those sectors at all.
“If I promised to pass information exclusively to you, Team Lead?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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