Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 30: I Swear Those Two Are Crazy!

The icy rejection from Cissel and Ricky hung in the air like a localised blizzard that John expected. He had spent the walk from Nikolas’ office racking his brain for a way, a bribe, or even a subtle threat to lure them in.

’Then it’s settled,’ John thought, watching their dismissive glares. ’I’ll have to use Nikolas as my blunt instrument.’ It was the only fail-safe plan. They might despise him, but they wouldn’t dare ignite the wrath of their class lead master—especially when the reputation of the entire year was at stake.

"Forget about those two, pick me!" Luke’s voice broke the tension as he jumped up, hooking an arm around John’s neck in a familiar, boisterous gesture. "Besides, you mentioned perks for students taking part in the training. What exactly are we talking about?"

"Oh, it’s nothing much, actually," John said, gently prying his friend’s arm off his neck. "We get official leave from all classes until the competition is over. No lectures, no homework. And most importantly, we get a formal exemption from the night curfew rule to allow for the special training sessions Teacher Nikolas personally drafted for us. About that training schedule..."

John recalled that he totally missed explaining this point in great detail, so he planned to take the chance and explain everything.

He was barely about to start his explanation when he felt a shift in the room’s atmosphere. A movement from the side caught his eye. When he turned to look, he was stunned to see Ricky walking straight toward him. The arrogant boy had a strange gleam in his eyes—a flicker of intense excitement that he barely masked the moment he spoke.

"Add me to the team at once!" Ricky commanded. There was no trace of his earlier straightforward rejection. "I’ll secure us the victory in my individual match, and I’ll be the anchor for the team match. No one else in this class has my level of durability."

"What?!" John blurted out. He wasn’t the only one; a wave of frantic whispering erupted across the classroom.

"Add me too." Cissel hadn’t even bothered to come to him. She simply raised a hand with a bored expression, as if she were volunteering for a burdensome task. "When do we start? I have things to do, so let’s not waste time."

"You two..." John stammered, his mind racing to find the hidden catch. This shift was too fast, too inconvenient, too sudden. "This isn’t a joke. I’m taking these names directly to Teacher Nikolas today. Once they’re on the list, there’s no backing out. You’ll be under his thumb for the next week."

"Who said I was joking?" Ricky didn’t wait for permission. He reached out, snatched a pen and a piece of paper from a student sitting nearby, and began writing. "I’ll write down the names myself to save you the trouble. How about that?"

John stood frozen, watching the surreal scene play out. Ricky wasn’t just signing up; he was taking charge of the recruitment. He scrawled his own name in bold letters, then Cissel’s, then Luke’s—the latter only after Luke began pestering him with high-pitched enthusiasm. Ricky even turned to the rest of the class, shouting with a commanding authority, asking if anyone else had the guts to join the fray. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

After a few minutes of this bizarre performance, Ricky shoved the paper into John’s hand. It contained nine names—ten, including John’s own. John didn’t ask any more questions.

He exchanged a long, silent gaze with Ricky, then pivoted his eyes to Cissel, who remained as unreadable as a locked file. Without a word, he turned on his heel and headed back to Nikolas’ office to hand over the roster.

"Agh! I swear those two are crazy bastards!"

The moment John returned to his dorm and bolted the door, he finally snapped. The silence of the room was shattered as he let out all the pent-up frustration, confusion, and lingering anger. He paced the small area, trying to get the head or tail of what just happened.

"Ricky must have been enticed by the exemption from the night curfew," John muttered, forcing his brain to calmly study the incident. He replayed the scene in the classroom like a digital recording in his mind. He recalled the exact moment Ricky started to act—it was right after he mentioned the curfew exemption.

He remembered seeing Ricky sneaking around the garden, acting suspiciously. "He needs that legal cover to do whatever he’s doing in the dark," John realised. "And Cissel... She didn’t give me the feeling she cared about the perks at all. She only raised her hand after Ricky volunteered to join."

He paused, a bizarre thought crossing his mind. "Is she in love with him?" He tried to imagine the cold, lethal Cissel harbouring a crush on the arrogant Ricky, but he immediately shook his head to clear the ridiculous image that appeared in his mind. "No, that’s not it. She joined to follow him. It’s like... She’s closely watching him. She’s monitoring him."

He recalled the first time he had tracked Cissel. She had been heading toward the garden—the exact same location where he later spotted Ricky. "What if she wasn’t going to the garden for her own sake? What if she’s been tailing him this entire time?"

The theory pushed an excited grin over his face. If a Dual-Ability user like Cissel felt the need to secretly monitor Ricky, then he was right all along! Ricky’s hidden secret was even far bigger than he had initially imagined.

Before he could process the implications further, something suddenly happened that halted his thoughts and jolted him awake in shock!

[Ding! Part 3 of the serialised quest is here!]

[Ding! Secure the big win and get closer to your two suspicious friends!]