Chapter 5 - The Daring Firefly (1)
Yes. The headmaster interview. Definitely a problem.
It wasn’t that there were no solutions. But right from the start, those solutions ran into a wall.
As proof, Ruin narrowed his eyes at the scene before him.
“Gahk!”
“Aaagh!”
People were screaming and collapsing to the ground.
Right in front of Haven’s front gate—a massive archway that resembled a triumphal arch.
Well, the gate itself had been there since Ruin bought this house, but the difference now was the addition of that damn Hero’s filth—No, the Haven emblem: the double-wing insignia.
And then…
[You are unworthy!]
‘...That’s a new feature.’
Ruin glanced up at the triumphal arch. There, a suspicious-looking statue stood—its eyes moving like it was alive.
Around it, about twenty people were collapsed in tears. Some were covered in blood, some stripped bare, others pounding the ground in despair. They’d clearly been stopped by that statue.
But watching people wasn’t the priority.
‘My precious retirement fund is past that gate.’
Just as Ruin ignored the chaos and started walking toward the gate—
“Stop, friend! Don’t go near it!”
Someone nearby grabbed him. Ruin looked at them with mild disdain.
“I’m here for the headmaster interview.”
Seeing the bandages over his face, people had taken him for some random nutcase and were glaring.
“Well, so are we!”
“!”
The battered interviewees huffed in frustration.
“You passed the document screening too, huh?”
“We all got suckered by Haven!”
“They didn’t tell us there’d be a practical test before the interview!”
Ruin tilted his head.
“Practical test?”
The statue above the gate let out a creepy chuckle.
[Indeed. Professors are those entrusted with retrieving the 'Wishing Stone'. Anyone without strength has no right to teach at Haven. Turn back.]
Ruin narrowed his eyes.
‘Wishing Stone.’
It was a mysterious phenomenon that had recently appeared amid the ever-escalating cold war between Union and Pride.
The Wishing Stone was said to grant any wish—an ultimate artifact that could shift the tide of war.
Naturally, obtaining one was no easy feat.
You had to kill a certain number of enemies for one to spawn.
Even that was just a theory; researchers still hadn’t confirmed the exact creation conditions.
Some believed it required “offering up a million souls with a unified desire.” Others thought “when a side’s population dips below a certain threshold, one spawns in the enemy’s camp automatically.”
The only clear rule was:
You had to kill, but couldn’t afford to lose too many of your own.
So Union and Pride stopped throwing troops away and instead focused on raising elite heroes capable of fighting alone.
And the ones training those heroes—professors—enjoyed extremely generous benefits.
Naturally, the applicants had come gunning for that prestige.
“Damn it… Is this really how the famous Haven tests you?”
Given the chaos, the test’s difficulty was clearly brutal. There were even decapitated corpses lying around.
This academy… Was it trying to be insane?
Sensing his gaze, a woman nearby offered an explanation.
“That man tried to force the gate open and got struck down. That axe fell from the sky out of nowhere… judging by the force, I’d say that statue is Haven’s guardian.”
Ruin narrowed his eyes.
Guardian?
Guardian, my ass.
He knew that design looked familiar.
‘That’s the lock system from my house.’
How did he know?
‘Because I’m the damn owner.’
It was a security system embedded in the house when he bought it. Even the manual had details.
“Hidden Spell No.199: Gatekeeper Summon.”
It wasn’t even that hidden. You could activate it by reading the ancient script carved on the door.
The problem was the side note:
The Gatekeeper was obsessed with money and had absurd maintenance costs.
Ruin had opted out of summoning it long ago, since it cost a fortune every month.
But now it was active?
‘That Hero bastard. Who wakes up something like this?’
Rich idiot. Must be nice to have all that money.
Whatever. If Haven was letting interviewees be assaulted at the gate, then this must be part of the interview process.
If you got scared off by something like that, you had no right to be a professor at Haven.
That’s why Ruin stepped forward.
“You’re the Gatekeeper, right? So how do I get you to open the door?”
The statue sneered.
[Open the door? Hmph. I wouldn’t know. No one’s ever passed.]
“No one’s ever passed?”
[Yeah. Of all the professors at Haven, none entered through this gate. Oh, except the Hero—but he’s not a professor.]
“Then how did the others become professors?”
[They all lost a bet with me. I let them in through that dog door.]
Dog door?
Ruin turned his head. Sure enough, there was a small door on the wall beside the gate.
The problem was…
[It’s a demon detector.]
Ruin sighed.
“A detector? Then why not just go through that from the start?”
[Oh, you can! But that door charges an entry fee. Just pay and you're good to go. Simple, right?]
As if that were simple.
The crowd exploded.
“Simple?! It costs a whole year’s salary! And there's no guarantee you even get hired!”
“…I mean, I could afford it, but still!”
Ruin scoffed.
Sure, the demon detector was an issue, but the real problem was…
‘I don’t have a single damn coin.’
Seriously, if I had any money, would I be here doing all this to reclaim my retirement fund?
Still, best to be cautious. Even if I can guess how the detector works.
“So. What’s this ‘bet’ you mentioned?”
As Ruin stepped up, the other candidates tried to stop him.
“Don’t! If you challenge it, you’ll die!”
“Die?”
The Gatekeeper’s eyes gleamed. A die fell before him.
[To pass through the gate, you must beat me in a game of dice. A pure test of luck. Simple rules: if your number is higher than mine, you win. You get ten rolls. Win just four, and the gate opens.]
So this was the bet.
[But—every time you lose, you must forfeit something you own.]
Ruin understood.
No wonder everyone was half-naked. He’d assumed they were just beggars.
Naturally, the interviewees shouted in disgust.
“His luck is insane! No one wins against him!”
“He lost all ten rounds! They even took his underwear!”
Ruin interrupted them, annoyed.
“What if I don’t have enough items to lose?”
[Then I’ll take your organs.]
Ah. That’s why people die here.
[Of course, if I take your organs, I’ll let you in for free. So you can always give up now and take the small door. Or try your luck… But lucky you—]
The statue grinned.
[You only have about ten things on you.]
No need to guess what that meant. Ruin frowned.
‘Organ-harvesting loan shark, huh.’
The statue’s gaze scanned Ruin’s body like a predator.
But Ruin wasn’t the type to back down.
‘Luck, is it.’
He gave a cold smirk.
“Fine. Let’s do it.”
[Now that’s the spirit! I’ve had my eye on those pretty gold eyes of yours—I'll take them first. You go first!]
With that, the first die was cast—flung high into the air by Ruin himself.
It spun through the sky.
Tumble, tumble… thunk!
The result:
<2>
The onlookers sneered.
He ignored all the warnings, so they assumed he was confident.
And yet he rolled a pathetic number like 2?
‘Two?’
‘He’s lost.’
Everyone assumed Ruin was done for.
The statue always rolled at least a 5.
Sure enough—
<1>
Huh?
The statue lost.
The crowd blinked.
“A 1?!”
The Gatekeeper frowned in confusion, then let out a laugh. Well, randomness happened—even with high luck, there were always outliers. A statistical anomaly. A “natural disaster,” if you will.
[Lucky fluke. You’ll be crying next round.]
The statue rolled again.
Tumble!
And the result—
<1>
<2>
“Huh? Wha—?”
Another loss for the statue.
[Back-to-back anomalies? No way. Again!]
Dice soared again—
<1>
<2>
[WHAT THE—?!]
The statue screamed. The crowd gasped, speechless.
Only Ruin was smiling.
“One more win, and the gate opens.”
[Grrrrgh…!]
The Gatekeeper's eyes blazed in fury. The dice spun once more—
<1>
<2>
[NOOOOO!]
Ruin won all four rounds.
Everyone stared at him like it was impossible.
“He… he won all four?!”
“And in a row!?”
Even the statue was stunned.
[This… can’t be… That lunatic Hero was the only one who ever passed…]
The Hero.
The Gatekeeper would never forget him.
The Hero who summoned him at great cost, and said:
‘You're a decent gatekeeper. So tell me—can you make me unlucky?’
Even with his eyes closed, he rolled sixes—every single time. Ten rounds. All perfect sixes.
He had luck like no one else. Even standing near him raised the luck of everyone around.
Yeah, I heard he was Union’s strongest.
And now… To meet another like him here?
Sure, Ruin had won with the lowest possible numbers instead of the highest, but winning at all was shocking enough.
It was that same feeling again—the same pressure he’d felt only once before.
The crowd murmured, eyes on Ruin. Wrapped in bandages like a mummy—who was this lunatic?
“Wait. Could he… actually have luck equal to the Hero?”
The candidates were stunned.
After all, everyone here was elite. You didn’t get invited to a Haven interview unless you were practically a hero already.
In other words, they never lost in luck contests.
“…But how?!”
[Impossible. You must have cheated…!]
Ruin’s eyes went cold. He glared at the statue.
“You’re the one who cheated.”
[W-What did you say?!]
