I Became the Academy’s Hidden Skill Master – Chapter 2

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Shio
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Knowledge poured into my head.

The environment Seok-Hyun had lived in, basic knowledge of Final Destiny, etiquette, society, etc.

All the elements necessary to live in this world were forcibly injected.

‘Lee Seok-hyun.’

That was the name of the character I transmigrated into.

He had the same name as me, and as described earlier, he was a trash character whose everything was decided randomly.

But the issue was that these weren’t the only reasons Seok-Hyun was a trash character.

‘The worst early growth route.’

Many characters existed in Final Destiny, and they had to solve their personal stories before entering the academy.

Usually, the personal story before entering the academy was called the prologue, and after the academy, the main story.

Most characters received numerous privileges and grew during this prologue part, but not Seok-Hyun.

‘Just like the game.’

Had I really entered the game?

When I opened my eyes and checked my surroundings, I had to forcibly accept reality.

In an underdeveloped space, reminiscent of an anthill, children were lying in a line on the ground.

“Quickly get up, you trash bastards!”

This was the first line that popped up when you chose Seok-Hyun and started the game.

An unforgiving environment that milked seven year olds for labor.

Without delay, a terrifying man entered the room full of orphans.

“You dog-like bastards! If you don’t meet the quota, you know I’ll kill you!”

He was a brutal supervisor who heartlessly whipped and treated them like livestock.

From the beginning, Seok-Hyun had a staggering 63% probability of death, making him a character with the highest chance of dying in the prologue.

Such a figure was hopeless when compared to a majority of the other playable cast, who had almost a 0% chance of death.

‘Ant dormitory.’

That was the name of the dormitory where the children lived.

“Hey, you bastard! You’re still lying in bed, are you crazy?!”

Thud thud thud.

The manager seemed displeased with me resting idly and walked over, snorting.

Seok-Hyun started the game with a scene that touched the supervisor’s nerves.

If this situation was in the game, options would appear, but this was reality, not a game.

So I spat out the most ideal answer here.

“I’m sorry. I was mistaken for a moment. I’ll make sure this never happens again, so please let it slide just this once.”

Apologizing like crazy while crouching in case I got hit was the most correct option.

At first, the manager said he would kill us without batting an eye when he entered the room.

This wasn’t a simple threat but a kind of hint given by the game.

‘If you touch the manager’s nerves, you really die.’

Seok-Hyun was a character who could die easily like a mayfly in this prologue.

In the very early stages, the probability of dying at the hands of the manager exceeded 50%, leaving me with no choice but to apologize for now.

“You bastard…! Hmm…What, you’re Seok-Hyun? Know that I’m letting it slide this time because you’re a model prisoner!”

“Thank you. I will work hard.”

“Hmm, good, that’s how it should be….Huh? What are you bastards looking at! Quickly change and go to work!”

This was the only main character-like privilege that Seok-Hyun received.

He started out with an excellent reputation among the faculty and the manager; he was a model prisoner.

‘What nonsense.’

They gave me a reward after I escaped the situation.

It was exactly like Final Destiny.

‘…So this isn’t a dream.’

I had no choice but to acknowledge it.

I had entered Final Destiny.

And transmigrated into the trash character Lee Seok-Hyun at that.

‘…Whew.’

Then my goal was as good as decided.

To escape this game without dying.

‘I will definitely escape.’

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Lunchtime started as soon as the morning work was finished.

I hurriedly ate my meal and went to my room in order to organize my thoughts.

‘They say if you keep your wits about you, you can survive even entering a tiger’s den.’

Well, this was an anthill, not a tiger’s den, but anyway.

The meaning was the same.

‘Yeah, maybe it’s not the absolute worst.’

The only unfortunate thing was that I transmigrated into Seok-Hyun.
The fortunate thing was that I was the very person who had studied Seok-Hyun until becoming an expert.

‘The top priority is to escape from here.’

The place Seok-Hyun was in was called the anthill.

A trashy place that gathered orphans with nowhere to go and exploited them for labor.

All facilities were outdated and lacking, so most orphans died before turning ten.

‘It’d be fortunate if the anthill is the same as the game.’

The problem was how to escape.

In the anthill orphans woke up at 6 AM, ate from 12 to 1 PM, worked in the afternoon, had dinner from 6 to 7 PM, and worked at night until midnight..

Needless to say, holidays didn’t exist.

In other words, except for mealtime and sleep, it was all work, and the main labor consisted of mining mana stones.

When a dungeon was cleared, mana stones would bloom in that spot, and the kids were forced to mine them.

‘Those who find a dungeon cleared 10 years ago and mine very small mana stones to make a day’s living.’

They were called ants and absolutely hated that title, calling themselves ‘guards’ instead.

They brainwashed the children from a young age, telling them that they were atoning for their parents’ sins.

And sadly, due to this brainwashing, some children in the anthill really believed that they were sinners.

‘This isn’t what’s important right now.’

It wasn’t the time to be caught up in trivial sentiments.

Since FD was a roguelike game, a single mistake directly led to death.

So the key was to stay sharp.

For now, I decided to focus on what I could do immediately.

First, my stats.

“Status window.”

A line that would be treated as 8th-grader syndrome if said on Earth.

But what if it was inside a game?

A proper status window would appear like this.

‘The initial start is the worst.’

As mentioned, Seok-Hyun was an all-random character whose all stats were set completely randomly.

In other words, it meant that sometimes, Seok-Hyun could start off even stronger than the main character.

But such a possibility was fed to the dogs, and I rolled the worst possible stat distribution.

‘…The skills are…huh?’

Even the main and sub skills were blank.
Wait, the main skill was sealed?

‘…? Is this for real, it’s crazy.’

This made no sense.

Since when was there a character in FD whose main skill was sealed?

There was a big difference between not using something you had, and not being able to use it in the first place.

Main skills were crucial for any main character in FD; they had to have one.

But why the hell?

‘I can’t figure out why it’s sealed.’

That skill I used only twice while nurturing Seok-Hyun for 4 years.

I wasn’t going to use it anyway, but the ability to use it or not was a core element in the game.

‘Could it be that time?’

I remembered the message before entering the game.

The system window said that [Find DingDongDaeng] had given a hint.

What if [Find DingDongDaeng] was a one-time skill and activating it sealed it?

‘At first, when I tried to use it, the activation conditions just weren’t met… And once it does activate, it only works that one time and then it’s over?’

This was a real problem.

If this was the case, it would be hard to be active in the main story even after escaping and completing the prologue.

‘No, let’s not look too far ahead.’

I hadn’t even escaped the prologue yet, and I was already thinking about the main story.

It felt like I was overusing my happiness circuit.

Anyway, Seok-Hyun’s prologue didn’t require the main skill, so it didn’t matter for now.

‘It will really become a big problem later.’

Anyhow, now that I roughly knew the information, it was time to navigate the situation.

Many people had suffered a lot while researching Seok-Hyun.

Because the difficulty of nurturing him was on a different level compared to other characters.

But was the reward even enormous? It wasn’t.

‘Seok-Hyun has to go through very practical and realistic stages.’

If it was the main character in this situation instead of Seok-Hyun, he would have probably led the orphans, defeated the guards, and started a cool rebellion.

He would have conquered the anthill like that and gained tremendous fame at a young age, raising his popularity.

But Seok-Hyun was different.

‘This is the key point from here.’

Joining forces with the orphans and doing something was crazy.

Expecting anything from kids who didn’t even have the strength to mine mana stones and dig dirt with their teeth was a suicidal act.

Then what should be done and how?

That method was none other than,

“Manager, shall I give you a massage or something?”

“Huh? What’s with you all of a sudden?”

“You looked very tired, so I came to ask if I should give you a massage or something, hehe.”

Kissing up to the guard’s ass.

I didn’t have to kiss up for long, just briefly, like taking a knee to gain momentum.

But the problem was that the manager was very paranoid.

When I did something I didn’t usually do, he glared at me suspiciously and,

“You bastard…”

Gulp.

“Is it because of what happened this morning? As expected, a model prisoner is different no matter what. Okay, give it a rub.”

Phew.

Thanks to my status as a model prisoner, I fortunately avoided the crisis.

“Yes!”

As I rubbed the manager’s shoulders, I slowly reviewed the situation in my head.

For now, since I couldn’t use skills right now, I had to get hidden skills in order to escape the anthill.

‘If I just get hidden skills, I can really beat them all up.’

I could become an early-game gangster when the time came, whether dealing with guards or anyone else.

However, now was the time to bend my knee, even if just for a bit.

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[Shio here~!

I’m superrr curious what “hidden skills” Seok-Hyun’s going for.

Since his stats are so horrendous, I wonder if he’d go the psychological route and try to manipulate the guards / faculty until he gains the strength to confront them. What are yall’s thoughts?]