Ch. 93 - Mandatory Club Event

Once we got into the kitchen, I gave Senior Yihan a quick rundown of the situation.

So naturally, Senior Tang moved on from the topic almost immediately.

“Yuehan, you’ve been at the Witch School for a while now, right? Even though the semester hasn’t started and we still don’t have the real school atmosphere, what you’re experiencing now is basically the normal day-to-day life here—minus the classes.”

“Yeah… it has been kind of overly peaceful.” I nodded. These days, my routine is basically: help out at the bakery in the morning, then practice flying in the afternoon. A very monotonous, three-point routine.

“And do you like this kind of life?”

“Uh… I wouldn’t say I love it, but I wouldn’t say I hate it either.”

For a moment, I wasn’t sure what she was getting at. I mean, I did enjoy the peaceful and easy life, but if this continued for too long… it was a bit dull. Not exactly the intense, transcendent world I imagined.

“You actually like it even a little? You know, everyone who enters the Witch School counts as a trainee, and witches are the type that can’t sit still for long.” Tang Yihan chuckled. “Want to switch things up? Being part of the bakery club doesn’t just mean handling the register and baking. Ever heard of club activities?”

“Club activities? Of course I’ve heard of them.”

At the mention of that, I woke up immediately.

Each club had its own unique style of events—sometimes boring, sometimes exciting. Like the flying-license training club, whose activities included teaching flight techniques, hosting flight competitions, events, and all kinds of things.

Some meaningful or interesting events could even get the school to sponsor them.

Could it be… that our tiny club with only a handful of people also had some exciting activities?

“Senior… does our club also have interesting activities?” I put down my tools, my eyes full of anticipation.

“Well, I wouldn’t go as far as calling them interesting.” Senior Tang was brutally honest. “The store manager organizes them whenever she’s free. When we didn’t have many members before, we mostly ignored her. But now it’s a new semester, and recruitment has started, so she’s at it again.”

“Oh… that sounds boring already.” My excitement instantly died.

If even Senior Tang didn’t bother with it before, how was I supposed to like it?

And as for new members… if I remembered correctly, we only recruited two? Tan Han probably wouldn’t have time to play along with the manager’s whims. If this event really started, wouldn’t it basically be me carrying everything?

The seniors would at best help a little on the side.

“It really isn’t that interesting,” she admitted. “But we still have to do it. And well… the store manager is filthy rich and offered some pretty good rewards. Mana cores and spell books.”

“…Ahem. Actually, I think this kind of event sounds very meaningful.” I immediately switched sides.

Rewards? Why didn’t she start with that?!

Mana cores and spell books—those meant higher mana capacity and new spells! I could widen the gap between the new students and me before the semester even starts! Who wouldn’t want that?!

“Senior, I think I’m very suitable to participate in this event. Could you tell me more? What exactly do we have to do? As long as it’s nothing insane, I can do anything!”

“Freshman orientation,” Tang Yihan said, straight to the point.

“…Huh? What now?”

“Freshman orientation,” she repeated. “Before the official semester starts, a bunch of seniors go around snatch… let’s call it 'unregulated recruiting.' Because of that, a lot of first-years arrive without completing the proper check-in steps. Some don’t even pick up their room cards. Every year we get a handful of kids literally sleeping on benches or sidewalks…”

“Hold up—what? And the Academy just lets that happen?” I interrupted, staring at her. Calling that whole snatching-newbies thing “unregulated recruiting” didn’t make it less shady.

And this kind of chaos was normal?

“They’re cracking down,” she said with a shrug. “But cracking down still means someone has to actually go out and deal with the mess.”

“That’s basically cleaning up after irresponsible seniors!” I shot back. And the worst part? I’d literally done it myself. If I hadn’t helped that unlucky girl, Quan Xiuzhu, she really would have slept outside that night.

“But there are rewards,” she added calmly.

“Ah… I…”

Yeah. That shut me up fast.

Mana cores. Spellbooks. Both insanely valuable.

I swallowed. “So… are you going?”

“Nope.”

She was very decisive, “And I doubt Ying Shiqian will go either.”

“What about Tan Han?” I asked carefully.

“That girl? The Academy practically showers its top scorer with benefits. Mana cores, spellbooks—you name it. She doesn’t care about these small rewards.” Tang sighed. “Honestly, she’s on a completely different level.”

“...Right.”

For a moment, I could feel the gap between us mortals and geniuses.

Then it hit me.

“Wait—if none of you are going… that means I’m the only one left? Why is the club even running this event?!”

“It’s a required event for every club on campus,” Tang explained. “A yearly obligation. If we skip again this year, the store manager’s going to get in trouble. But don’t worry—you only need to meet the minimum quota. Our club’s tiny, so the quota isn’t high.”

She patted my shoulder like she was preparing me for war. “If it feels unfair, I’ll make the manager give you extra compensation. Worst case, I’ll go begging her for you.”

“W–Whoa, it’s not that serious!” I grabbed her sleeve quickly. Imagining her crying to the manager on my behalf was way more terrifying than doing the actual work.

“Then it’s settled.” Tang clasped my hands dramatically. “Yuehan, you are the last hope of this club.”

And just like that, she sealed the deal before I even had time to reconsider.

At least she told me the pay would be counted as full-time hours during the event.

Honestly… fair enough.

The orientation shifts could start as early as tomorrow. Today too, if I really wanted. The whole thing would run until the official registration day, when all incoming students were required to follow the proper steps, instead of today’s wild west.

To be honest, the Academy brought this on themselves.

They could’ve easily fixed most of these issues by updating the system: make “snatching” students go through the official onboarding steps before anything else.

But nooooo.

Apparently, the upperclassmen doing special recruiting didn’t even care about the rewards. Some did it to spite rival academies. Some simply enjoyed kidnapping new little boys and girls like it was a sport.

And honestly?

If those recruiting missions actually did give huge rewards, the Witch School would’ve turned into a full-blown kidnapping battleground. The Big Threes would definitely react, and I’d be caught in the crossfire.

So the number of “special recruits” was actually pretty small—way smaller than I thought.

When I first arrived, I had shown up right when offer letters went out, during the period when loads of students voluntarily came early. It made the campus feel crowded.

But now?

New faces were few and far between. When I took Dongli Yiren to pick up her four-piece dorm set, we barely saw any other freshmen. The senior in charge of handing out uniforms looked completely relaxed, sipping tea like she hadn’t worked in days.

Comments