"10-2. I win."

"...I can't believe this. This gap... it's ridiculous!"

How did I just lose to someone who didn't even participate in the exam?!

Who is this guy?!

"You managed to get two wins though. You and Yulia surprisingly passed and as expected you betted on Sagasuga and Shizuku. Impressive, I honestly thought I would have this whole thing flawlessly, but you took me by surprise and created an unexpected twist."

I don't think Hyunda realizes how crushed I'm feeling right now. It's one thing to have an evenly matched competition, but this was so one-sided that it hurts.

As Hyunda attempts to praise me, in my room, we were analyzing our bets and Hyunda got 10 rights while I only got 2 rights.

At the bottom of my room's floor, I can't believe that I've lost this bet so hard. Then again, I think it's time I got some truth out of him for once.

This unbelievable guy who is getting smug over two pennies that are worth essentially nothing.

"Hyunda... You knew that you were going to lose, right? Arkalee's absence was already something you already knew, right? That's not fair, man..."

"You sure you wanna talk about being fair, dude? You betted on you and Yulia winning even though you two got 8%."

"Ah, do you want to know how we won?"

I wonder if he's aware of it. The second formula.

"Not interested. I already told you. This exam is a filler exam. Boring. Also, I didn't know about her situation. Nevertheless, I was intending on losing either way. That's why I made a bet on my defeat. Not because I had already information regarding her situation, but because that would be the end result either way."

But why would he want to lose though? He says that this exam is a filler exam for the purpose of linking elements of evidence to the traitor, but can he afford to be this lax about it?

Hyunda looks extremely confident in winning though. The fact that he's with his legs spread out while being at the top of my bed, while I am just in my chair means that no matter where he is, he always feels like he's in charge.

"Doesn't that affect you though? You just lost the exam, again. Why aren't you making use of your abilities?"

"I don't have to. If you don't have to do it, then don't do it. I'll fail the upcoming exam too. Because I can. After that, I will win every single exam over and over until it stacks infinitely. Oh no, it won't go on for infinity since this will all end in three years. Then... I'll just have to keep on crushing the exams afterward with the respectable minimal effort. Daniel, spectacular wins are only spectacular if you win in a spectacular way."

Ah, I see. That's another one of his philosophies? The 'If I don't have to, then I won't'? Lazy as hell if you ask me, but he's right to some extent.

Furthermore, he said that he will fail the upcoming exam too... Not that he might, but he will...

Then that means that after the next exam is done, he will have to be minimally serious about it?

"I don't really understand that last line though. Spectacular wins are only spectacular if you win in a spectacular way?"

"All of you are so focused on winning that you forget about how you should win. Not for the sake of victory, but for the sake of sending a message."

"A message?"

What message?

"I'm not one to fuck with."

Hyunda said as he tossed both of the small pennies up in the hollow air, catching them with both of his hands while intercepting them mid-air at the same time.

"That's the message. You're all boring. And that kills me. Winning should have a deeper meaning than just accumulating a positive result. A meaning that transcends just the accumulation of victory. The creation of a dreadful signal to anyone that dares to oppose you. In other words, the message I just said."

Could it be that he craves a greater challenge and that is why he always takes things minimally serious or not serious at all?

No one got 100% in this exam, but if Hyunda was minimally serious about this, could he have prevented Arkalee's situation and furthermore, ace the exam completely?

"Hyunda, you said... um, do you remember when you said that we would become Akimiyashika's dolls in this exam? We didn't though? Weren't you wrong about that?"

Hyunda said that I needed to utilize Rayazaki, otherwise, we would've become Akimiyashika's puppets but that didn't exactly happen.

I couldn't overlook that since I engraved his words deeply.

"I said that before the actual exam was announced. You should've known that those words lost value as soon as this was a pairing contest. Akimiyashika doesn't seem to have control over all girls. Just Hinagiku and Ikkiri and maybe a few more. However, her existence is limited since she's dependant on someone else to excel in this exam. She doesn't go well with other people, especially when those 'others' are weaklings like Susaga. That's why she didn't do anything. She couldn't. Alternatively, she might've influenced Ikkiri and Hinagiku to screw the boys, and would you look at that? Both of them lost the exam."

Ah, he's right... Thus, he's saying that Akimiyashika's power becomes limited once she has to rely on someone else she has no control over?

"But aren't their cases different though? Hinagiku lost because Akihiko is currently wounded. Was that really Akimiyashika's work? Plus, in Ikkiri's case, she managed to screw Tatsu, but would she go that far just to hound him?"

"Only alternatively speaking, as I've mentioned. I doubt that's what actually happened. As a matter of fact, it didn't. I've visited Akihiko already and he really is injured. Apparently he got ganged up."

What?

"What happened to the guy?"

"From what I know, he got in a situation where students from class A started to gangbang him right away. Furthermore, Sana is the main source of this since she broke the rule of interaction. Though, that's all I know. I could have found out more, but it's pretty irrelevant so to say. His case explains Hinagiku's failure, which means that Akimiyashika did not have any control over her. That only leaves Ikkiri, right? I can't tell you why, but I know her case is the real deal."

"And why can't you tell me?"

This immediately bothered me. He's sharing so much but then he just backs off. Was he about to get to a crucial part?

Don't make me this curious and then pussy out.

"It's related to the traitor, believe it or not. If I tell you unnecessary information and the traitor finds out, then he might go into hiding and not over-extend as usual. I can't allow that. In other words, your existence could become a hindrance to my hunt."

Ikkiri's absence is related to the traitor? How though? Wasn't Ikkiri's absence caused due to a stomachache?

How can a natural cause be related to the traitor?

"I won't tell anyone though. You can trust me, I'm serious."

"It's not a question about trust. That's incredibly partial to this. If you are forced to speak or act in a way that you show that you know about the information that I am hiding, it will send the traitor mixed signals. That's simply not an option right now."

Something I've noticed is Hyunda's obsession with this traitor. He reasons that everything he is doing is for the sake of catching him and that losing the exams is something that he is doing on purpose just to make the traitor more comfortable.

"So you are insinuating that I might give the traitor some sort of mixed-signal even if I'm not aware of it?"

"Yes. It's not about you being aware that you are sending it, but the traitor noticing it that you are doing it. You can't prevent it, because the information is relatively intriguing. You're a curious person and that's why telling you certain things will immediately backfire."

Did he just call me a child in a very subtle manner?

"Well, whatever. So Akimiyashika truly didn't have power over us, right? But explain to me, how did you know which of the other pairs were going to win and lose?"

"That's simple. Let's start off with the ones I got wrong. For the record, I didn't bother to think outside of the box, hence my lack of care for the alternative routes of this exam."

Alternative routes? Is he throwing shade that he knew about the second formula?

I don't think it was that obvious. If it was that obvious, then there would be more victorious pairs yet such was not the case.

"You and Yulia should not have won, as a matter of fact, you both lost. However, according to you, you two won. I'll trust you on that. If you are still together with Lus in the next morning then it means it was true."

Truth to be told, I told Hyunda that Yulia and I actually won and he didn't bother to object or argue about my baseless claim.

Frankly, as he said, he can just verify it tomorrow. Plus, he had bet on our defeat, however, he just swallowed my claim.

"I trolled while voting for Sagasuga and Shizuku. I knew they were going to win. I even suggested you think positively of them. Nevertheless, I betted against them in order to give you a compensation win. Rejoice."

"Dude..."

Seriously? Ouch.

"Don't worry, I could afford to give you this many victories. Following that up, I took every other bet with consideration. Although, it wasn't hard, honestly. Quite easy, so to speak. Kan and Kanawari would lose because Kan is too bossy and although Kanawari forms a gentle attitude on the surface, she most likely has a superiority complex. It's not a coincidence that she performed better than Kan. I'm sensing sadism too. It's hardly a coincidence that she allowed Kan to win twice, as Yuka-sensei said. If you allow your partner to win twice but you win thrice, then you are essentially telling your partner that you at least tried, but it didn't actually matter in the first place since you were always going to win anyway. Sadism."

It baffles me how he knows this much even though he was away the whole time. Can he seriously form these annoyingly accurate reasonings just based on Yuka-sensei's words?

Unreal.

"Akihiko didn't show up the whole afternoon before it was announced and you most likely thought he was going to come back. Why though? You already knew that he was going to absent. Why did you bet on their victory?"

"I was too focused on the exam. Sometimes I forget to think about the simple things."

I'm serious. I'm feeling dumb just by remembering.

"I understand. Well, there was nothing you could've done regarding Ikkiri and Arkalee. You didn't have knowledge about them, so you betted on their victories despite that. Ikkiri and Tatsu do not synergize. Perhaps physically, to some extent, but their personalities are complete polar opposites. Though, that has barely anything to do with it. I can't give you my reasoning why I already knew Ikkiri was going to be absent, so you'll have to bear with me on that one."

Midway, I was starting to question Hyunda's reasoning, but apparently, Ikkiri's absence is related to the traitor and since he already knew ahead of time that she was not going to be present, he voted against her win.

"Same with Arkalee. It was only announced that she caught a fever in the morning, prior to our bets. In other words, the only source of knowledge that was completely veridic was Akihiko's absence which would mean that Akihiko and Hinagiku would lose automatically. However, you didn't take advantage of that. Not that it would've mattered either way. Here comes the crushing part."

It's frustrating, but he's right. It wouldn't have mattered if I betted in Akihiko and Hinagiku's favor, my defeat was still visible to him.

"Your table partner, I'm not sure if you have noticed yet, but she's highly competitive, even though she doesn't show it. Your scores are a mess in the exams outside of the special ones. But her scores? They are top-tier, in case you haven't noticed. What does this mean? She hates to lose. If she hates to lose, then would she really just be screwed due to Tsudo's existence? I don't think so. That's why she managed to get on Tsudo's side and made him perform considerably well. How she did it though, I don't know. Though, Tsudo's terrified expression should tell us something."

She's so irrelevant that I never paid any attention to the exams' scores which are partial to the special exams'. Truth to be told, I have to score higher, but it's hard to care for exams that are partial to the main ones.

If Hyunda's correct, then it makes sense. If she truly hates to lose, then she wouldn't allow herself to lose in the first place, right?

My main question is... Just what exactly did she tell or did to Tsudo in order for him to line up?

"Kawahara and Gale. I have no clue how you thought that this pair was going to win. What the fuck went through your mind?"

Now that he mentions it, I did glorify Kawahara a little bit. I just couldn't see him lose despite his proud words of saying that he was going to fail the exam.

In my mind, Kawahara is not someone who could accept defeat like that, but I was wrong. He does; because he's delusional as fuck.

"Kawahara's physique is outstanding."

"And? Gale's physique isn't. Plus, how can you expect an outgoing loud person like Kawahara to synergize well with the biggest introvert of the class, Gale? It wouldn't work, no matter how you look at it."

Since Kawahara has a habit of pulling out acts, I simply considered it a possibility that he might've been lying just to trick me.

"Moving on, Akimiyashika and Susaga. I've told you how Akimiyashika only excels at delivering results or at least from what she has shown us, she does. Though, how far can she go with someone who's entirely useless? She can't do anything. She aced all of the tasks just like Kawahara, didn't she?"

"Yes... Though, how did you know? You weren't present..."

This isn't making any damn sense... His perception can't be this accurate. I refuse to believe it.

"Don't Kawahara and Akimiyashika argue just a little bit too much? Every time they speak, the class is thrown into chaos. That's the result of two colliding forces. Yet, there seems to be more than this. It's as if they are competing against each other outside of their own arguments. Akimiyashika even bothered to protest against Kawahara's wrong point of view. Why did she do that? Because she had something to uphold. Something that would have a relation to Kawahara acing all the tasks. Therefore, a simple relation link would be the possibility of her producing the same feat as Kawahara. It appears I wasn't wrong since you confirmed it just now."

It really is his perception. For example, intuition can form several guesses yet the majority of the time, they barely contain any logic to justify their claims.

Perception is completely different. There is always unknown reasoning that the human being has to achieve in order to perceive it.

"Ryoken and Tateyana won, but that was simply due to the odds."

"Odds?"

"Yeah. If there is a vast number of students that run incredibly fast and then there is also an equal portion that runs slow, then they will be paired up. That's what the exam told you, essentially. However, there will be those that don't necessarily run neither slow nor fast, thus, such abnormalities are paired up together and they form the bare minimum required. The result was 53%, which is basically the minimum."

I failed to think about that. If there are those who run fast and those who run slow, then they will be paired up.

Now, what about those who don't fit those categories? Both Ryoken and Tateyana weren't even contrasts so to speak.

"Rayazaki and Yukishiro, also known as the worst pair. These two would never work and here is why. Yukishiro."

"What about her...?"

I still remember that argument and little drama that both Yukishiro and Rayazaki had, but since Rayazaki usually tries to insist on the person, I thought that they were going to win.

But...

"She doesn't show it, but she's most likely spiteful. Essentially, whoever was paired up with her would meet their demise soon enough. As you mentioned previously, I wasn't there to see it, but for them to get 1%, I'm guessing one of them completely did absolutely nothing?"

"Yeah. Yukishiro refused to do a single exercise, but eventually, she was forced to do them. However, she only did 1 of each in every task."

Rayazaki was fuming through this since he was getting screwed by Yukishiro, but I just can't see why Yukishiro would hate Rayazaki for no reason.

Though, according to Hyunda, anyone would've suffered the same fate.

"That's not all though. Rayazaki hasn't been himself lately. I wonder why that's the case."

As he fiddled with his silver hair, he looked at me with a doubtful glance.

"That's true. Would he be able to win if he was his old self?"

"No. There's no changing this. If you are paired up with Yukishiro, then you will die. She's most likely a living bomb. If you press her switch, you die."

There isn't concrete reasoning about her true intentions, yet Hyunda believes that she is simply spiteful towards anyone and for that reason, she would gladly drown everyone with her.

If that's the case, then she's incredibly dangerous.

"Lastly, to round this up, Kuzan and Sana. They won because they were essentially just like Ryoken and Tateyana. Though, there was another winning factor here. Kuzan's attitude. Don't you think that it's a little too weird that his spirit hasn't been brought down yet? His cards were burned. He was crucified. His hair is gone. His balls are also gone. That's odd. He didn't give up nor has shown signs of his spirit dying, even though the situation always implied that he should just feel sadness and sorrow. Nevertheless, he still continues to harbor high hopes. Therefore, he did not quit on Sana and managed to achieve a grand total of 61%. In conclusion, I solely betted on his spirit and it worked."

It is weird, but I think Kuzan's motivation comes partially due to the words I spoke to him during the invasion.

Either that, or there is something that we are missing here.

No, no way. Kuzan's not intelligent enough to hide a persona. He's addicted to stealing. I refuse to believe that there is more to him.

"That's how I got 10 pairs correct and you only got 2."

His explanation was over, from the looks of it.

Since it was afternoon right now, I had invited Hyunda to my room for us to discuss this and here we are.

Just by looking at this paper, I feel crushed. His force is far too overwhelming.

It's a shame he doesn't do anything with it though.

"What's that look for? You're gonna succumb to depression or something? Cheer up, it was just a silly bet. I won't partake in the upcoming bets."

Huh...?

"You won't? Then how will we keep the system live? Weren't we two going to do it?"

If Hyunda doesn't participate in the bets then won't it just be me? Then, how are we supposed to keep the system from dying?

"We two alone can't do it. The whole point of the betting system is to earn money from it. Remember? This way, we will have money without having to resort to parental aid. But we can't support this system just by ourselves. Not to mention, it would be pretty boring if we are always up against each other. That's why we need to expand! Expansion! New members need to be included! And that's why, I'm leaving the recruitment to you, Daniel!"

Not again...

"Hyunda, you can't keep on doing this. You're just using me at this point."

"What's wrong with that? Isn't it fine to be used if it benefits you along the way? People complain about not liking to be used, but they only truly complain when they are being used and it doesn't benefit them along the way. Don't be like those people. Judgemental stereotypes make my skin crawl. Realize the truth here; by gathering new members, our budget can expand. Furthermore, new members will make this interesting."

It's so typical of him. He uses beneficial points as a way to connect his manipulation with his envisioned success.

"You're manipulating me into doing what you should be doing. Isn't this whole idea yours in the first place?"

When I said those words, Hyunda looked and me and got up from my bed while cracking his right-hand fingers in the process.

"This isn't manipulation. To answer why this isn't manipulation, I'll answer why I'm not taking general charge in recruiting new members, even though I'm the OG creator. Simply speaking, you have more interactions with the rest than I have, which makes it easier for you to approach them. I don't have that. Subsequently, I don't have a very high opinion of anyone in general, so that will cloud my selection skills. You do have a few people in mind, right?"

"Yeah... But still, can't you be a little more proactive?"

"Proactive? How? I can only be proactive when I get my budget, which will be at the end of the month. In the meantime, I'm asking you to recruit members. I still have some planning to do, hence my inactivity. In addition to that, I'll have to do the supply exam, which is still unknown to me."

Hyunda will be busy with the supply exam which is without a doubt unknown thus far and therefore he needs time to do his things.

Given that I don't have to do the supply exam, although I'll still have to attend classes, I should use that time to recruit some members.

That's what he's basically saying.

"How are you going to gather budget though? I'm seriously curious. Are you going to rob a bank?"

"No. I don't have to rob a bank. Know why? I stole something greater than a bank. That something will be useful for a very long time. Until I get tired of using it."

What is he talking about? Is he referring to a certain object?

Bank cards perhaps? That would explain.

"Oh, you mean credit cards or something like that? I see, I see."

Hyunda, in response, laughed at me and sighed swiftly right after, before replying to me in a soft tone.

"You didn't get my play of words. That's fine though. Can you do that favor for me? You said you had people in mind. Make this work. I'm not lazy to the point of overlooking actions that are necessary for the success of my endeavor, I simply have higher priorities and I trust you to fulfill the bottom priorities since I can depend on you."

Play of words? He mentioned how he got something that was greater than a bank. I realize that arguing that credit cards are greater is a bad argument, but in his mind, there is something greater.

Something that he sees use in and will use it until he gets tired of it.

I can't see what he's talking about though...

"Not to worry, I got it. Though, can you guarantee that you will be able to leave school this month? Last time, we couldn't because we were in the middle of the supply exam."

"I don't see your point. I could've gone outside the school at that time if I wanted too. I had the supply exam in the palm of my hand the whole time. Should I've decided to end it, I would've been able to explore the boundaries outside of this school. But why? Why? Why? Don't you think it's a little bit of a waste? This is what I'm talking about. Winning like this is the equivalent of losing. You lose so much more, that you are not even aware of just how much you lost."

Hyunda speaks his words with either a bored tone or an accelerated tone, which was the one he just spoke in, which made me wonder if there was something more to it.

In the end, he stayed in the underground in order to lure out the traitor. I already know this.

He's referencing how everything will have an end goal which is to lure out the traitor.

Isn't this just starting to become an obsession? Hyunda even said that this was a 'hunt'.

"Why are you so obsessed with this guy? Does it really piss you off that he's leaking information? Why are you doing all of this?"

"I can't tell you why I'm doing it. But with time, my actions will tell. It's up to you to know the meaning of them, of course. I'm tired though. Gonna go to my room and sleep like a horse..."

He always does this. Telling me to look forward to things without actually saying them.

This gives me adrenaline since I can't decipher Hyunda. His actions to me are unpredictable. Expectations don't exist.

"Hey, Hyunda, before you go... could you tell me something...?"

"...What?"

His eyes look dead. His cheeks look like they are falling down. Why is he so suddenly drained?

That's the impression he gave me, just as he was about to leave my room, on this fine afternoon.

"Are you better than Kawahara?"

After the exam that had occurred just a while ago, Kawahara went up a lot to me. From someone who displayed this irrational behavior, I'm starting to see him on a whole new light.

Which is why I wanted to ask Hyunda if he sees himself as someone who is better than Kawahara.

"Define better."

...Hmm.....

"Well... If you two were up against each other, in any given scenario, would you win or would you lose?"

"Daniel... Do you realize just how vague your question is...? There are infinite scenarios..."

"No, but in a scenario where you must absolutely win, without a shadow of a doubt, would you win or lose?"

Deeply sighing, with his head connect to the surface of my door, he answered back.

Furthermore, he started to loosen up on his uniform tie to relieve some tension.

"I won't win if I don't want to win. I'm just the type of person you come across in the streets and never see that person again in your whole life. I'm extremely common if I say so myself. I'm also not one in a billion. Not a genius nor anything that can be qualified as out of this world. However, hypothetically speaking, in a scenario where I would want to win, in a scenario where I wasn't just doing what I am doing because I must win, but because I want to win... I would always win, one hundred percent certain."