The Devil’s Cage

WHAT?!

Gutti was shocked. She looked up from the carpet at the person who had a rather familiar face. Stunned, a name escaped her mouth.

“2567! You are 2567!” Gutti said with astonished eyes at the desk.

On top of her desk was Kieran’s recommendation letter, and it described him in detail. Gutti read through the contents very seriously, and the conclusion she came up with after she finished was: extremely common.

Thus she was enraged.

Despite the letter having Professor Tyrese’ signature, she thought it was another prank by that unreliable Senile.

Everyone knew Professor Tyrese was a very kind and warm person. Even if he was deceived, a simple apology would suffice. Therefore, from Gutti’s point of view, she thought it was Senile who lied to Professor Tyrese and cheated him for his signature.

But now…

Gutti tried to stand up as she gazed at Kieran in the chair, but she felt as if a mountain was pressed down on her, pinning her to the floor.

Keeping her conscious up was already the best she could do.

As for more? It wasn’t possible for her, similar to how she couldn’t retain the position of Branch Leader.

Theorate Student Council was different from the student councils of other schools. Other than the members being required to possess a certain power level, there was something called the ‘challenge system’.

All common members of the student council had the right to challenge their respective group leader, team leader or even branch leader. As long as the member succeeded in challenge the said person, the position would be theirs.

However, should the challenge fail, the consequences would be miserable: the challenger would become the slave of the challenged and must serve him or her for the entire semester.

The challenged could be challenged twice per semester; the duration of the challenge could range from four to six weeks.

Of course, it was possible to be challenged more than twice or to shorten the duration of challenge; Theorate would not interfere.

It was just the start of the semester, and Gutti, who could be challenged twice, could not reject Kieran, who was already a member of the Student Council.

Even though she could try to squeeze her way through wordplay, the upcoming outcome would not have much change.

Moreover, the proud Gutti would never try to do such a thing, and she didn’t think the man before her eyes could be fooled by mere words.

“I understand. The branch leader position is your,” said Gutti.

As the painful words escaped her mouth, the mountain-like pressure disappeared from her body.

Huuaa!

Without the immense pressure, Gutti finally heaved a breath of relief and looked at Kieran’s calm face again.

Kieran was much more powerful than she expected.

His ability to release and keep his aura far surpassed common teachers’, and he might even be on par with an Elite Teacher or even a Professor.

Therefore, Gutti was convinced. His ridiculous strength overshadowed the fact that he was still a freshman.

‘This is why Professor Tyrese signed the letter?’

With those thoughts in her head, Gutti shifted her gaze and stood up. She helped the unconscious Shela up and readied to leave.

“Wait.” Kieran suddenly spoke.

“Is there anything else?” Gutti turned around.

“You haven’t gotten your Bento for this semester, right?” Kieran asked.

He didn’t try to hide his intention of seizing the position of Branch Leader. It was not possible for him to do so and unnecessary anyway.

He didn’t break any rules by challenging Gutti. Everything was permitted, and no one could wrong him for that.

From a certain perspective, Kieran hoped that more students would know about the challenge for the sake of his upcoming plan.

“Not yet. You can take mine whenever you want.”

Gutti shook her head. She then turned around and tried to leave with the unconscious Shela. She did not care what Kieran was going to do, nor did she feel heartache about her Bento falling in his hands.

Since she was weaker than Kieran, she accepted the gap in strength wholeheartedly. She’d rather strengthen herself to new heights and later return to challenge him.

Get up from where you fall down.

It was the ideal Gutti lived by.

“Wait.” Kieran spoke again.

Gutti once again turned around and looked at him.

“Both of you stay back and finish your job,” he said.

A weak smile appeared on Gutti’s face when Kieran said that. She thought it was Kieran’s way of expressing his kindness, but Gutti would reject it.

Despite losing the challenge, she was still permitted to stay in the council, but Gutti couldn’t accept this kind of mercy. She wanted to return in a more righteous way.

“Stay? Thank you for your kindness, but I…”

Gutti wanted to rejected it with kind words but was interrupted by Kieran right away.

“I am not asking, it’s an order. She and you are still members of the council, and I need both of you to deal with the daily work on my behalf, just as you’ve been doing all this time.”

Kieran had seized the Branch Leader position for the extra Bento class food every semester, not to deal with this trivial stuff.

Therefore, after he gave his order, Kieran stood up and walked out.

Gutti still stood on the spot with the unconscious Shela, looking at Kieran with a dull gaze.

If Gutti still didn’t understand Kieran’s intention by now, she would be an idiot.

Rage rose from within her heart uncontrollably, but it soon faded away.

Just as Kieran said, she and Shela were still members of the council, and to leave the council, the signature of the Branch Leader was required.

It was obvious that Kieran would not authorize her leave.

“D-Damn it.”

The word squeezed itself out of Gutti’s mouth.

Although she wanted to curse more harshly, her background prevented her from those vulgarities.

However, the intention of surpassing Kieran and regaining the Branch Leader position grew stronger.

Kieran’s sharp senses picked up the changes in Gutti behind him. He didn’t care.

Or rather, what he cared more about was the indignant crowd before him.

The place he was in was the branch of E Block Student Council. It has an independant office building, and those who were allowed access were all members of the Student Council.

Normal students were forbidden from accessing the building.

And now, all the members of the Student Council looked at him with resentful gazes.

If a gaze could kill, Kieran would have been sliced into a million pieces.

Kieran knew what caused the members to look at him like this.

A beautiful girl would always win favour from the boys.

It wasn’t just the pursuit of beauty but also the secretion of hormones.

This rule hadn’t changed in Theorate, and coincidentally, Gutti was quite beautiful.

With the addition of her identity as Branch Leader, she was exceptionally charming to the members under her command.

Likewise, these members were very attractive to Kieran too because every one of them represented a Fast Food to him.

Perhaps the food of a Fast Food class had a little distance from a Bento class’. Quantity incites qualitative change.

Therefore, Kieran said, “I’ve just forced Gutti into doing something she didn’t like, and you people here did nothing but stare at me angrily… You all don’t even have the courage to challenge me?”