Volume 1 Chapter 4.2
Honey Traps are the Ultimate Entertainment After School for
Scoundrels Part 2
Translator : PolterGlast
That day, Rudy Beumer
had a frustrating morning.
He woke up 30 minutes
later than usual because his alarm clock had malfunctioned, and he had to leave
the house in a hurry before he could eat breakfast. He had to take a different
bus than usual because of a slight delay in his commute, and while he was
waiting at the bus stop, he ran into a debt collector.
Although he managed to
somehow get out of it on the condition that he would come up with 30,000 els by
the end of the day, there would be no way he could come up with such a sum in a
hurry. He has put all his savings into gambling, and his payday is still a long
way off. There is no system in place at the academy to allow him an advance
payment of his salary.
While giving a history
lecture, Rudy kept thinking only about how to get the money.
It doesn't even
matter. In a school that emphasizes actual combat, no one would take a lecture
like this seriously.
"Huh, my wallet
is gone!"
Shortly after the
hour-long lecture, a female student raised her soft cry, which Rudy didn't
miss.
A red-haired girl with
strikingly black eyes.
Rudy could not
remember many of the students' names, but she strangely left an impression on
him as she continued to listen to the tedious lecture with serious eyes.
The red-haired girl's
friend called out to her with a worried expression.
"Kate-chan, is
everything all right?"
"No, it's not all
right at all. I was planning to go shopping this weekend, and I left about
30,000 els inside my wallet......"
"Thirty thousand
el!? L-Let's go look for it together! Do you remember where you dropped
it?"
"Hmmmー....... I still had it when I went to the store at the
back of the classroom building, so I think I dropped it when I came back to the
classroom. It's a light blue-colored long wallet."
"L-Let's hurry
and look for it!"
30.000 els─ , the amount of money was the same as the amount of
money he had to pay to the debt collector by the end of the day. Is it possible
for such a coincidence to occur?
From what he
overheard, the girls were going to split up and search along the route from the
classroom building to the store.
─I have to hurry.
Rudy, flatly
dismissing all reason, followed the path to the store at a brisk pace.
"............What
was I planning to do?"
When he reached the
vicinity of the store, Rudy finally came to his senses.
No matter how urgent
the situation, it was unbecoming of an instructor to steal a student's lost
wallet. No, it would be unbecoming of a human being.
Anyway, it would be
impossible to have the 30,000 els ready by the end of the day.
The debt collector
would be upset, but it was the same company from which he borrowed money for
the first time three months ago, and the overall amount was not that big.
Apologies were his forte. So he believed if he did what he always does, it
wouldn't be too serious.
Furthermore, there
will be a <Ability Assessment> tomorrow morning. It's a much more
nerve-wracking job than the usual lectures, and he'd better go home and get
some rest.
Just as Rudy was about
to turn on his heel, someone called out to him from behind.
"Rudy-sensei. Are
you on your way back to the instructor's office now?"
─Nina Stingray.
Even Rudy, who was
usually negligent in his duties, knew about her, who was feared for her psychic
abilities and was called the <Queen of Calamity>. Her clear azure eyes
are beautiful and at the same time seem to radiate an inexplicable pressure.
And even if Rudy is an
ex-military man, it would be impossible for an ordinary student to get this
close to him without alerting him to her presence.
Rudy tried his best to
hide his agitation as he squeezed out a response.
"Y-Yeah. I have a
meeting to attend. There's still time, though......"
"If that's the
case, then please take care of this one for me."
Nina handed him a
light blue-colored long wallet.
He recognized it at a
glance and knew the student who had lost a wallet with the exact same
characteristics as this one.
"I found it near
the store there just now. I don't know who dropped it, so, may I leave it with
you for the time being?"
"...... Sure,
I'll see if I can find the owner."
As Rudy watched Nina's
back walking away, a conflict was raging in his brain.
Did Nina see
the contents of the wallet?
No, she must
not have seen it. She said she had found the wallet only [just now].
Inside were
three 10,000-el bills and some coins. If someone pulled out the 30,000 els,
would anyone be able to tell that I am the culprit?
No, I simply
had to testify that there was no money in the wallet when it was delivered to me.
Since the school does not know about my gambling addiction and debt, it is
impossible for me to be suspected.
This way, he would no
longer face remorse in his conscience.
Rudy walked to the
back of an unpopular street and pulled the bills out of the wallet while
keeping a wary eye on his surroundings.
"......Thank God!
You saved me! Seriously, you saved me!"
Guilt? To hell
with it.
The worst
thing that could have happened to someone is to be so stupid as to lose his or
her wallet in the first place. I did the right thing by giving her a lesson.
He walked toward the
building where the instructor's office was located, trying to hold back the
laughter that was rising within him.
On the way there, Rudy
noticed a strange feeling that he could not ignore.
─Don't tell me, am I being followed? By who?
"Sensei, there's
something I'd like to ask you."
When he turned around,
as if he had been hit by a bullet, standing there was a young boy who appeared
to be an immigrant from the East. Through a gap in his unkempt black hair, he
looked like a bird of prey lurking in the forest at night.
He was one of them,
Rudy thought.
Gamblers who frequent
gambling dens, fraudsters who approach with the scent of money, debt
collectors, brawlers, and other underworld denizens - how could a boy like this
have the same presence as them?
Still wrapped in a
whirlpool of questions, the boy smiled fearlessly.
"What on earth
are you planning to do with the 30,000 els that you just stole from that
wallet?"
"Wha......."
What is this
guy talking about?
When I took
the money out of the wallet earlier, I made sure there was no one around.
Could it be
that he was using some kind of psychic ability to see? It would take more than
just good eyesight to be able to accurately guess the amount of money.
"A light blue
colored wallet. You have it in your coat pocket right now, don't you?"
"Y-Yeah. I was
about to take it to the lost and found now."
"You can't fool
me with that kind of random lie. Well, putting that aside......."
The pressure emanating
from the apparently powerless boy made Rudy completely stiffen.
"How are you
doing on your debt repayment, Sensei?"
"W-What are you
talking about......?"
"There's no use
in playing dumb. I can read people's minds. There are a lot of conditions,
though. Right, please check the admission documents for more details."
"You brat ......
what the hell do you want?"
"Wait, wait, you
misunderstand me. Do I look like the kind of guy who would threaten people? Do
I?"
The boy turned around
and put on a cheerful smile.
Rudy had no idea what
he was thinking. This made him feel more and more uneasy.
"......Ah! But
from Sensei's point of view, it must be worrisome. A student knowing about your
gambling, debt, and theft habits is surely not something you'd be comfortable
with. And who knows, maybe I'll accidentally tell someone."
"Damn it, don't
get carried away-......"
"Huh, did you say
something?"
Rudy kept his mouth
shut in a panic and let his thoughts run wild.
Who in the
world would believe the testimony of such a lousy kid?
Now that the
mechanism of psychic abilities has not been fully solved, there is no way to
verify the truth of what a mind-reading psychic is saying.
Let's shut him
up with threats of expulsion from the school.
By the time Rudy
thought of this, it was already too late.
Nina Stingray, who had
just entrusted him with the wallet, was standing behind him with a blank
expression on her face.
"Is what he just
said true, Rudy-sensei?"
Clad in despair, she
looked so unstable that she seemed ready to destroy everything at any moment.
"......Y-Y-Y-You've
got it all wrong! This kid is just spouting bullshit!"
"Then, may I see
the wallet I just handed to you?"
"L-Look! I still
have it!"
"Still?"
"Ah,
no......."
"Huh? Where did
the 30,000 els that were in here go?"
".......Ugh."
"Now, allow me to
check your pockets."
"Awawawa........."
All possibilities
collapsed with a resounding crash.
The Stingray family is
a well-known family that has a strong connection to the upper echelons of the
academy. Even if he were not crushed by the psychic ability, it would be
obvious that his head would be on the chopping block.
Rudy found himself
kneeling on the ground, pleading.
"All right!
I'll-...... I'll do anything you want, just don't tell anyone about this!"
"Whoaa~, I knew
you were used to apologizing. I'd give you points for your artistry."
For a really brief
moment, Rudy saw the boy's mouth twisted into a crooked smile.
It was a smile, like a
hunter staring at his prey caught in a trap.
"...... Now, why
don't we discuss this in a quieter place, Sensei?"
◆
By the time they
returned to their usual fountain after a peaceful discussion, the sun was
almost setting.
After all, deceiving
people never felt good, no matter how many times one did it.
In contrast to Nina,
who let out a sigh, Jin had a big smile on his face.
"I'm glad it
worked out. It was a pretty primitive kind of scam, though."
"...... Really,
what a scoundrel you are. That's definitely not the kind of expression one
would have after having scammed people."
"No, no. He did
feel grateful to us in the end, remember?"
Nina thought back to
their discussion in the back of the deserted building.
Jin, as originally
planned, had secured an appointment to cheat in the <Ability Assessment>
that would begin later in the week.
Rudy had tampered with
the personnel list and the evaluation sheet, and now the two of them did not
have to worry about their true selves being discovered at the <Ability
Assessment>.
What was most
frightening was that Jin had never asked Rudy to do so.
He cleverly
manipulated Rudy's mind and made him tell us the idea of cheating from his own
mouth. Rudy even expressed his gratitude, perhaps because we were more than
willing to go along with his idea.
Of course, Rudy did
not even suspect that the two were actually not psychics.
"But you know,
Nina is the real villain here."
Jin laughed as he held
out a paper bag he had hidden behind the fountain. Inside were an elaborate wig
and makeup kit.
"Thanks to you
playing a double role, this whole plan is a success."
"............ugh."
Nina could not say
anything back.
She began by
transforming herself into Kate at a time that would not look suspicious to the
other students, then controlled her presence during the lecture to bring
herself to Rudy's attention and make him listen to her fake story about
dropping her purse.
Once she parted ways
with Emma by lying, she would then revert back to Nina Stingray and contact
Rudy. ──
Not only is she not
qualified to criticize others, but she is now the main culprit.
"By the way, your
acting is getting better and better. You really were having fun, weren't
you?"
"T-That's not
true! Stop being so delusional!"
"Amazing, the way
you deny it doesn't even look like acting......!"
"I-I'm not
acting! Gosh, if you start talking like that, I'm not going to let you get away
with it!"
"What are you
saying? You kept deceiving people with your acting even before you teamed up
with me."
"Ugh......!"
It was impossible to
win an argument with this man, after all.
In order to turn away
from the unpleasant fact, Nina forcibly came up with a question.
"......Anyway,
how did you even know how much debt Rudy-sensei had?"
"Oh, of course,
it's something I planted!"
"Planted......?"
"The businessman
who blackmailed that man to prepare 30,000 els by the end of the day is one of
my friends."
"Wha......."
While Nina was still
in shock, Jin slowly explained how he had done it.
"I already had my
eye on him even before I enrolled here. I think it was three months ago that I
approached a buddy of mine at a gambling den and got him to borrow 100,000 els
from me at a low-interest rate."
"T-That
long......"
"The greater the
time interval between [planting] and [collecting], the less likely the other
party will suspect it. If you want to fool people perfectly, you have to work
out a long-term plan."
"Every single
time, you do something that takes such a lot of time and effort....... What
drives you so?"
"That's because I
enjoy deceiving people, of course."
"......You fiend!
Inhuman! Scoundrel!"
"Those are all
compliments to me. Oh, are you saying those because you already knew?"
"What? Do you
feel invincible now......!?"
"I'll make you
regret it someday for sure!" Nina uttered a cryptic line and left the
place.
As she walked down the
pathway leading to the girls' dormitory, Nina thought.
Although she doesn't
know what his background is, Jin's way of thinking is clearly different from
that of his peers.
He has a completely
crazy sense of ethics, he's unusually prepared, and even though he's not a
psychic, he's more confident than anyone else......
Seriously, why did he
decide to enter this academy?
With all those skills,
it would have been easy to rake in the money through illegal means. For
example, this time, he could have blackmailed Rudy-sensei and made a lot of
money out of him.
As she was repeating
these thoughts in a roundabout way, the girls' dormitory came into view.
Around here, Nina had
to switch her persona.
She must return to
being a monster with hidden uncontrollable power, rather than a schoolgirl
being pushed around by an unruly fraudster.
From here on out,
there is no accomplice who knows her secret.
".............Alrighty."
Just as she managed to
impersonate "Nina Stingray," her azure eyes caught sight of a figure
ahead of her.
A tall boy with an
all-encompassing smile and the elegance of the upper class - Bennett Lohr, a
member of the same entrance exam exemption group as Nina - walked toward her
with his hand raised slightly.
With an atmosphere
that was the complete opposite of Jin's, Bennett handed her something.
"......I've been
waiting for you. This is your brooch, right?"
How careless of her.
When Kate reverted
back to Nina, she remembered being quite flustered because she didn't have much
time to spare. Surely the pin must have been poorly fastened at the time.
"T-Thank
you......"
A brooch adorned with
gemstones should fetch a good price if it were to be sold off.
It gave her chills to
think that if it had been someone with a cunning mind who had picked it up, she
would have been in deep trouble.
"Don't thank me,
I just happened to find it", Bennett interrupted with a sincere smile.
"I only found it by chance. By the way, Nina, there's something I wanted
to talk to you about."
End of Chapter 4
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