Quietly Hiding that I am a Man chapter 63- Fake Guild

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In front of the checkpoint leading into the Uros District, two lines stretched out.

The left line was filled with carriages, animals, and merchants, while the right line was packed with students in academy uniforms, waiting for their turn.

While the left line moved relatively quickly, the right line’s inspection dragged on.

This was because there was always the possibility that a fake student might be among those wearing academy uniforms.

“Wait, this is wrong! Do you know how much I spent on this permit? Let go of me!”

Watching the man in front of me being dragged away, I suddenly felt a wave of anxiety.

Of course, Duke Michael would have taken care of everything, but the fear crept in—what if my admission permit was somehow mishandled as well?

‘Surely, I won’t be kicked out before even getting in, right?’

A guard at the checkpoint reached out with a stern expression.

I swallowed nervously and handed over the admission permit I had been gripping tightly.

Flashing a smile at the guard who was checking the permit with a fierce look, I spoke.

“Take your time. I know it’s tough work.”

The guard flinched upon seeing my face.

His previously harsh demeanor vanished, and he fumbled to quickly verify the permit.

Unlike the other students who were held up for 30 minutes of interrogation, it took less than three minutes for my permit to be stamped.

“Open the gates!”

With a deep rumble, the gates swung open on both sides.

Thankfully, it seemed that my permit wasn’t a fake.

Relieved, I gave the guard a slight nod.

“Thanks.”

The guard, whose face had turned beet-red, cleared his throat and looked away.

Humming a tune, I started walking.

‘Being good-looking does come in handy sometimes. I might as well use the one ability I have whenever I can.’

With Jeanne, the world’s most beautiful woman, and Ji Eunsoo, whose flattery skills were maxed out from dealing with loan sharks, there was nothing to fear.

Bermut, who had been following me with luggage in tow, sighed in admiration.

“Wow, this is some incredible privilege. A district reserved solely for Mages?”

“Mages are one of the key resources that revived the Kaisar Empire, so they created a special district just for their protection.”

The magical special district of ‘Ouroboros,’ also known as Uros District, was the main setting of the original novel. It was a land reserved only for Mages of at least the 3rd Circle and above.

The size of the district was comparable to a large metropolitan city, and even the currency was different.

Here, instead of the empire’s common currency, ‘Gallonde,’ they used ‘Carat.’

If you wanted to use Gallonde, you had to exchange it for Carat at a currency exchange.

‘Now, where was the currency exchange again?’

I pulled out a map from my pocket to check.

Bermut, who had been looking around excitedly, asked with a curious voice.

“But you don’t have any magical talent at all, do you? How on earth did you get admitted?”

“In any world, if money can’t solve something, it’s usually a problem that requires connections instead. Oh, we’re going the wrong way.”

After tucking the map away, I changed direction.

Bermut, his eyes sparkling with admiration, exclaimed in awe.

“Ah, as expected of my master! You’re as underhanded as always!”

After exchanging Gallonde for Carat at the exchange office, I checked the time with the pocket watch hanging around my neck.

There was just enough time to make it to the entrance ceremony.

“What? Why is Jerome over there?!”

“What? Really?”

Startled, I whipped my head around, and Bermut reached for the money pouch on his waist.

Just as I was pinching the nose of the treacherous dragon, a nearby conversation caught my ear, as if they were speaking just loud enough for me to hear.

“That’s the adopted daughter of the Duke of Efilia, right? She’s as gorgeous as the rumors say.”

“What good is beauty, though? I heard at the social gatherings that she’s so dumb she had to buy her way in.”

My hand, which had been pinching Bermut’s nose, froze.

Bermut, holding his reddened nose, gave me a resentful look.

I didn’t need to turn around to know—they were all pretending not to care but were clearly watching Jeanne.

Snickers and laughter followed.

“Of course. A noble who spends all her time on her appearance couldn’t possibly have gotten into the academy any other way.”

“Isn’t it convenient? Skipping all the hard steps with money. Shouldn’t she at least feel guilty around those of us who passed the entrance exam fairly?”

As the conversation became more heated, I left without a word.

I couldn’t start a bloodbath on the first day of school.

To be fair, they weren’t entirely wrong.

Jeanne had skipped the academy exams thanks to Duke Michael’s influence.

But I had my reasons too.

When Jerome goes berserk, the world might as well end.

That’s why I used Maya’s Bow to temporarily seal Mephisto within Jerome.

To put it bluntly, the world’s continued existence owes a lot to Jeanne.

‘Not that it justifies a crooked admission. But what choice do I have? I have to find the divine beast somehow, and Jeanne has no magical talent whatsoever.’

The whole reason I came to the academy was to find good party members, after all.

As I climbed the stairs leading to the auditorium, I stroked my chin thoughtfully.

‘Let’s see, which supporting character from the original would be the most useful…?’

Bermut, who had been struggling with his luggage, let out a yelp as he tripped.

A boy rushing up the stairs quickly turned around.

“Oh, sorry! I’m just in a hurry.”

“That little runt!”

I stopped Bermut, who looked like he was about to breathe fire, and hesitated.

Sunlight hit the boy from behind, making his silhouette glow.

The sound of footsteps echoed as another child hurried up the stairs.

“Rhea, wait up!”

Two young beastkin boys, about ten years old, laughed and held hands.

Judging by their ears, one seemed to be a Dwarf Rabbit, and the other a Lop-Eared Rabbit.

I couldn’t help but part my lips in surprise at the unexpected sight of beastkin siblings.

‘Right, this feels right.’

A wind, as if pushing me forward, blew from behind.

With a lighter step, I climbed the stairs.

Behind me, Bermut called out energetically.

“Take care, master!”

The bell from the academy’s central clock tower rang, signaling the start of the entrance ceremony.

A faint smile crossed my lips.

‘This is why I love being inside a story.’

---

Even during the entrance ceremony, I couldn’t take my eyes off the beastkin brothers.

They weren’t sitting in the seats reserved for new students but among the upperclassmen, and even in an academy with a wide age range, they stood out as being particularly young.

The brothers whispered to each other, exchanging shy smiles.

Their rabbit ears twitched adorably each time they laughed.

‘And the younger one is even missing a front tooth. Well, they’re still at the age where their baby teeth haven’t all fallen out.’

Remi and Rhea. The twin brothers from the East who appeared in the second part of the story.

As the last members of the ‘Luna’ Guild, which was on the verge of being disbanded due to a lack of numbers, they eventually joined Luke after merging with the Flare Guild.

The brothers had unique abilities—Rhea had a random buff ability, and Remi had a random debuff ability.

As I recalled the original plot, images of their roles flashed before my eyes.

---

“Luke, please! At this rate, Remi will die!”

Seeing Rhea about to run to his brother, Luke grabbed him tightly.

It was his mistake for not realizing that the Banshee had a reflection ability.

“We can’t. The plague debuff has already started. If we touch Remi now, we’ll all die.”

“Remi!”

Remi’s skin started to distort, surrounded by black mist.

The debuff he had tried to place on the Banshee had backfired. Remi, trembling in fear, drooped his ears and turned his head.

“Brother…”

The Banshee, its mouth wide open, absorbed Remi’s soul.

Rhea, who had been staring blankly, suddenly bit down hard on Luke’s hand.

Startled, Luke let go of Rhea and cried out in despair.

“Rhea, no!”

Rhea, grabbing the dagger that had fallen to the ground, charged at the Banshee.

The Banshee, draped in a black cloak and resembling a dead soul, let out an eerie wail as it spread its arms wide.

Rhea disappeared into the darkness in an instant.

That was the last anyone saw of Rhea.

---

‘In the middle of the second act, both of them end up dying because of the heretic Banshee. I remember that many readers quit at this episode, as those two were basically mascots.’

Although it was an unavoidable choice for the sake of the plot’s urgency, the comment section was flooded with insults toward the author that day.

I made a half-hearted vow to never recklessly kill off characters in my next work.

‘Even though they’re young, those two are geniuses. To recruit them, Luke deliberately orchestrated the downfall of the Luna Guild.’

Of course, Luna Guild was already a declining guild on its last legs, so joining the Flare Guild was, in the end, more beneficial.

But the Rabbit Brothers were so deeply attached to Luna Guild that it was hard to say Luke’s decision was truly the right one.

‘The Luna Guild, huh…’

I crossed my arms and fell into deep thought.

Knowing what I did about the Luna Guild, it was a troubling matter for me.

While I was lost in thought, the entrance ceremony was wrapping up.

[Now, we will move on to the guild selection, which is the highlight of the entrance ceremony. Freshmen, please move to the back.]

The freshmen, looking excited, stood up.

Blending into the crowd, I moved to the back where the representatives of each guild stood, holding signs with their guild’s symbol.

I glanced indifferently at the students running eagerly toward the top guilds.

Of course, choosing a guild now didn’t mean immediate membership.

The higher-ranking the guild, the more stringent the requirements were, and competition for guilds like Flare and Jupiter was intense.

Even so, I bypassed the long lines for the top guilds and headed to the end.

“Huh?”

Rhea looked dazed as he stood in front of the Luna Guild, where not a single person had lined up.

Remi, too, stood with his mouth hanging open.

I alternated my gaze between the two, who were twitching their ears nervously, and narrowed my eyes.

“What? Is there a problem?”

“N-no!”

“Where’s the application form?”

When I held out my hand expressionlessly, Rhea hurriedly handed me one from the mountain of application forms.

His younger brother, Remi, also eagerly passed me a pen.

‘Of course the pen’s shaped like a carrot… how fitting for rabbit beastmen.’

Rhea gave me a puzzled look as I filled out my personal details with the carrot-shaped pen.

His expression clearly showed he couldn’t understand why I had chosen the Luna Guild.

Rhea spoke carefully.

“Uh, why did you choose our guild? I mean, we have a small guild house, not much money, and the only members are just the two of us…”

“Yeah, and we can’t offer you much support. We don’t even have a supply officer in our guild…”

The two boys seemed visibly deflated.

Indeed, compared to the other guilds, which were flashy and grand, Luna Guild’s signboard was shabby and worn out.

After a brief pause, I spoke in a monotone.

“But you two are here, aren’t you?”

With that, I handed in my application form.

For some reason, I flashed a sly smile toward the rabbit brothers, whose eyes were now filled with admiration.

“To me, you two look like a pair of SSR cards.”

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