How to Survive as the Academy Student Council President

Rize and I followed the old man’s lead and arrived at a reception room deep inside the government building.
Unlike the overly lavish hall, it was neat and old-fashioned in a way I rather liked.
Having gotten this far, my plan was for all intents and purposes a success.
All that remained was a private audience with the true branch chief who symbolized this western branch.
But unlike me, who could finally exhale, Rize clung to me and trembled as if still terrified.
I handed Rize tea and sweets to reassure her.
“Be at ease. You’re safe now.”
“I-I’m sorry. I can’t relax.”
Sitting on the sofa with the fidgeting Rize beside me, we waited a moment, and soon voices drifted in from the corridor outside.
First came a nervous woman’s voice.
“What is it, Alfredo? Do I really have to go?”
“Yes, young lady. There is someone who wishes to see you.”
“I told you to handle it. Annoying. If it’s nothing, you’ll pay.”
Clack-.
The reception room door opened, and the same old man brought someone in.
A tall beauty with a fairly delinquent look on her face.
Her red eyes and long hair swaying like seaweed left an impression.
She had shown up in comfortable activewear; she was the branch chief who oversaw the entire western sector of the underground city.
“Rebecca Schofield.”
Privately, she was also the granddaughter of Big Brother, the head of the Panopticon.
At present her existence was classified; even within the Panopticon, almost no one knew Rebecca existed.
In her stead, the butler Alfredo handled all outward-facing business of the western branch.
Entering the reception room, Rebecca yawned wide as if everything was a chore, then flopped onto the sofa.
Then, pointing at us with a slender finger, she asked,
“Is it them? The ones who said they wanted to see me?”
“Yes. They say they brought something the young lady needs.”
“How would he know what I need?”
“……”
She then pointed at my mask and spoke with clear displeasure.
“And I don’t deal with people who cover their faces. If you won’t take off the mask, get out now.”
Rebecca shot sharp words at me, her face twisted.
Knowing her background for disliking masks, I obediently removed mine.
With their level of intelligence-gathering, they would soon learn my identity anyway; there was no need to force the issue by hiding my face.
And I had already proven my ability to get this far.
At this point, my identity was secondary.
“Phew.”
When I took off the mask covering my face, my vision cleared and breathing was easier.
Once the mask was off, life returned to Rebecca’s eyes that had looked dull like murky fish eyes.
“……What, you’re handsome.”
“……”
Was this woman a face-fetishist? I had no such info.
“If it’s words from a sickly pretty boy, they’re worth hearing. But are you ill somewhere?”
“I’m not particularly ill.”
I only looked gaunt and tired due to the penalty from my infamy and Gu-eum Jeolmaek; nothing hurt right now.
Rize, too, widened her eyes with curiosity when she saw my face without the mask.
Click-.
I set the mask down and drank the tea set on the table.
Perhaps due to Loen’s body’s conditioned reflexes of enjoying black tea, the warm drink made me feel more at ease.
“What nerve brought you all the way here? Let’s hear it.”
Rebecca leaned on the sofa’s armrest and looked at me.
I got straight to the point.
“For a deal. I will give you what you need, and you will give me what I need.”
“What will you give me? I have plenty of money.”
“I know.”
Rebecca was the Panopticon’s western branch chief.
Just the western sector of the underground city under her rule produced wealth beyond that of most high nobles’ territories.
Ruling like a king down here, she undoubtedly enjoyed tremendous luxury.
But even she had needs.

“What I brought is ‘information.’ Information you absolutely need right now. And—”
Tok-.
I placed a hand on the shoulder of Rize, who was hunched beside me.
“Talent. And quite useful at that.”
“Talent? This little brat?”
Rebecca raised one eyebrow at Rize in disbelief.
“Yes. If you take her under you and raise her, she’ll become something great. She has excellent discernment and appraisal ability.”
At the word appraisal, a peculiar light flickered through Rebecca’s eyes.
However, as if uninterested in appraisers, she pointed toward the outside of the building and said,
“If it’s appraisers, we’re swimming in them inside the organization. Pick any one of the appraisers out there on the market floor; they’ll be under the Panopticon’s protection.”
“You can never have too much talent. And Rize is beyond those random nobodies by comparison. A raw stone that hasn’t seen the light yet. In a word, a genius.”
“Uuugh.”
The more I praised Rize, the more she shrank in proportion.
“Oh? A genius? What kind of ability does she have?”
“Give her anything in her hand right now, and she’ll analyze it precisely on the spot. Any grade of artifact.”
“W-what are you saying! How without a magic tool…?”
Rize startled.
I quietly whispered in her ear.
“Rize, don’t hide it—prove your skill. An opportunity like this won’t come twice.”
A mere alley stall girl ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) would rarely get a chance to display her talent before a high-ranking figure like Rebecca.
“Until now, Rize pretended to appraise using magic tools to hide her talent from others.”
But her true talent did not require any magic tool.
The reason she had used appraisal tools up to now was to hide her ability from others and protect herself.
Rebecca showed a spark of curiosity at my words.
“She can appraise without magic tools? Alfredo, give her anything you have.”
At Rebecca’s order, the old man took a pocket watch from his breast and handed it to Rize.
“Try this.”
Though worn with use, it radiated a luxurious golden sheen.
Rize took it, closed her eyes, and began to control her mind.
“Hoo… Just, just a moment. I’ll focus.”
“Don’t be nervous. If you trust yourself, it’s easy.”
“Yessir.”
With firm resolve, Rize began to concentrate.
When she calmed her mind and opened her eyes, her silver irises began to shine.
Staring straight through the pocket watch in her hand, Rize soon spoke.
“……This is a kind of key. If you adjust the second hand, minute hand, and hour hand appropriately to match certain angles, it generates a key imbued with special mana. It isn’t simply for opening locks… it seems like something that allows entry into a specific zone or room.”
“!”
“Alfredo.”
When Rebecca asked as if to confirm, the old man nodded with a surprised face.
“……Correct. She truly is capable of appraisal without any magic tool. She must have a ‘Blessing’ related to appraisal.”
“Is it rare?”
“Yes. As far as I know, there are no appraisers who could appraise my pocket watch in such a short time. And without an appraisal tool. Even our organization’s best appraiser would need days.”
“So it’s just an ability to appraise things quickly? Then waiting a few days more doesn’t sound much different.”
“No. This is not a mere matter of time. This pertains to the very capability of an appraiser.”
“Capability…”
“Yes. Artifacts, by the maker’s intent, vary infinitely in ability and structure, and even through appraisal it’s difficult to analyze an artifact perfectly. Even among artifacts whose identities are ‘known’ out in the world, not many have had their abilities and performance perfectly analyzed.”
Pointing at the golden pocket watch in Rize’s hand, Alfredo continued.
“For example, this pocket watch is actually…”
At that moment, Rize cut him off.
“A twin artifact, right?”
“!”
Alfredo was startled once more.
Rize didn’t stop there and added,
“Combine the two and you can make yet another key. As for the artifact’s maker… someone named Tioneraf.”
“…Is that true?”
At Rebecca’s question, Alfredo wiped the sweat beading on his forehead with a handkerchief and said,
“Yes, young lady. That is a twin artifact made by my ancestor and handed down in our family for generations. Precisely correct. Remarkable.”
“No wonder the old man treasured it. I didn’t even know it was that kind of item.”
Alfredo didn’t stop there and whispered something quietly into Rebecca’s ear.
Even as he spoke, he kept glancing at Rize—as if extolling her outstanding talent.
He likely had never seen an appraiser who, after touching an artifact briefly, could discern its original function, its hidden function, and even its maker.
But of course.
“Rize is a top-tier supporting character with the only Epic trait in the game, [Demon Eye of Duplication].”
This wasn’t merely being good at appraisal.
Appraisal was a secondary effect of [Demon Eye of Duplication].
Given materials and time, Rize had a broken ability to analyze and replicate any artifact.
That trait was the essence of Rize’s power and one of the keys to her success as a magic-tool merchant.
There was a reason I sought Rize as soon as I came to the underworld.
Having heard Alfredo’s explanation, Rebecca nodded readily.
“She’ll definitely be useful. Fine, I’ll take the brat in as an organization member and raise her. I’ll even give her a private shop and dispatch guards to protect her.”
Rebecca turned her gaze and glared at me.
“But why hand over such talent to me? Is there some special reason?”
Instead of answering, I called Rize by name.
Then Rize laid out her current situation in a steady stream.
“So, you see…”
After listening to Rize’s story for a while, Rebecca smacked her lips, looking sheepish.
“Tch, rough. But common enough in an underground city. Fine, the Red Hound bastards won’t lay a hand on you anymore. I’ll take responsibility and protect you.”
“Thank you!”
“No need to thank me. Thank the handsome friend next to you.”
“Thank you, Loen-nim.”
Rize smiled brightly. It was a good smile to see.
“Good. Work hard to repay the favor from now on.”
“Yes!”
I had to recoup my investment.
With this, Rize’s safety was secured, and the foundation for her to grow into a special-shop merchant was laid.
Under the Panopticon’s protection, she could unfurl the wings of her talent without restraint.
Along with massive financial support, she would quickly grow handling the countless artifacts traded in the underworld.
Just when I thought the matter was wrapped up, Rebecca broached something lightly.
“But listen. Since this brat is their target, there’s some risk for us to recruit her too, right? Hm?”
“……”
“So I’ll need compensation for that risk as well. You said you had information I need? We’ll call it even with that.”
I knew it the moment she slid into that tone.
Rebecca tried to filch free intel without even blinking, but that wouldn’t fly with me.
“Don’t be unreasonable. I’ll be charging separately for information.”
Trying to eat a flea’s liver, are we. What else are you trying to rip off.
When I flatly refused, Rebecca clicked her tongue as if she’d only prodded on a whim.
“Tch, not going down easy.”
“……”
“Fine, I’ll hear the information first and pay its price. I won’t pretend I never heard it—don’t worry. I swear on the underworld’s name.”
Though she usually acted like she had a screw loose, if she invoked the underworld’s name, she could be trusted.
She wasn’t the type to swindle others in the first place.
“Very well. Come closer.”
I quietly whispered into her ear the information I knew.
Big Brother, ruler of the underworld.
After his illness had worsened, the fierce internal struggle within the Panopticon over the succession structure.
I handed over useful information for that time.
“!”
As soon as I delivered the intel, Rebecca sprang up in place like a startled cat.
“Really? But how would an outsider like you know that?”
“There’s a way to know. So how much will you pay for it?”
After pondering, Rebecca nodded.
“For information at this level, I’ll grant anything I can. What do you want? Money? Fame? Women? Or… me?”
“Not necessary.”
“……”
A bit wounded by my resolute answer, Rebecca.
“Take this.”
I handed Rebecca an item list I had prepared in advance.
It was a document organizing the alchemy materials and artifacts I needed right now.
Not only materials and experimental tools to neutralize and process Bell’s Extreme Flame magic orb, but also combat-use artifacts I immediately needed.
As I passed it over, I added,
“Supply the alchemy materials and experimental tools at the lowest price, and deliver the artifacts directly to me via Rize’s appraisal as soon as you procure them. And—”
I pointed upward with my finger.
“I’m going to open a new passage that connects the surface and the underworld. Those are my terms.”