How to Survive as the Academy’s Villain

Chapter 54

‘Is this a place where people live? Or a pigsty?’

The hallway was a chaotic mess with trash scattered everywhere, evidence of the ignorance of fools who knew nothing about sorting waste.

It was a sight so unbelievable that I could hardly believe my eyes.

“Hey, you’re supposed to sort the trash by type! Why is it all piled up in one place?!”

Although I knew no one was listening, the frustration rose up inside me and burst out.

“Ah, seriously.”

I sighed shortly, shook my head, and immediately started focusing on sorting the trash. Paper, cloth, glass, and scrap metal all needed to be separated. I wasn’t sure about the recycling practices in this world, but at the very least, they should separate what can be burned from what can’t be.

Wow, they even threw away food?

“If I catch whoever did this, I’ll kill them.”

After sweeping and cleaning the trash-filled hallway and finally sorting the recyclables, the fourth-floor hallway felt significantly cleaner.

“Phew, now it looks like a place where people live.”

In my past life as Kang Hyunsoo, I wasn’t obsessed with cleanliness or crazy about cleaning. But at least I kept my living space decently tidy.

‘There, done. What’s the point of talking?’

Those who don’t clean wouldn’t change even if I nagged a hundred times. How do I know? Because I’ve experienced it many times. Whether it was living in a gosiwon (a small, cheap room for students) or sharing a room with a roommate, it was always the same.

“What the… this place is clean? These bastards…”

Surprisingly, the rooms themselves were quite clean compared to the hallway. There was even a pleasant scent, indicating some effort towards cleanliness and management.

“Why is the common hallway such a mess then, you damn bastards?”

The second room was dirtier than the first, but it still showed signs of some level of upkeep.

“Seriously, so selfish. So selfish.”

Is this why there’s a big cleaning every semester? Muttering curses at the unknown room owners, I slowly swept and cleaned the floor, ceiling, and window sills. According to the students, the inspection was just a formality and they usually let things slide, but…

‘Do you think I’d fall for that? I won’t leave any room for complaints. I’ll do it right the first time.’

If there’s no inspection, I’d have just cleaned thoroughly. But if there is an inspection, cleaning properly would be beneficial.

There were six rooms in the B section of the fourth-floor hallway. After finishing the first and second rooms and the dirtier third room, I said to myself,

“Three left.”

If I worked quickly, I could probably finish the remaining three within the time.

With that thought, I entered the fourth room.

And then.

“Huh, what?”

I felt a vague sense of discomfort as soon as I opened the door and instinctively looked around quickly.

The room’s owner seemed to have obsessive-compulsive disorder; everything was perfectly aligned and organized in place…

“Is this person a symmetry freak?”

Everything was almost perfectly symmetrical, even more spotless than the first two rooms, without a speck of dust.

It was a space that made me feel like I never wanted to get involved with the person living here.

“Rond Malion Galera?”

I saw the name written on the desk and figured that must be the room’s owner.

“Well, there’s nothing to clean here.”

Seeing the room’s immaculate state, I thought there was no need to do anything and was about to leave when…

Thud!

“Ouch!”

I accidentally hit my leg on the shelf above the bed.

And then…

“Huh?”

One side of the shelf, which should have been aligned, was slightly protruding, revealing a thin drawer.

Instinctively, I reached for it and opened the hidden drawer at the head of the bed.

“Photos?”

Inside were dozens of photos.

“What… is this?”

They were pictures of various people attending or residing at Flance Imperial Academy.

There were photos of Dean Elmon, Professor Phelan, Kyle, Princess Francia, Student Council President Elik, Diana, Chelsea, and even…

“Is this… me?”

There were photos of Kamon Vade before I possessed him, from before the princess assault incident.

‘Judging by the angles, it looks like these were taken secretly rather than willingly.’

The photos had an obvious paparazzi-like quality. I quickly put the photos back into the drawer and closed it.

‘I don’t need to get involved. It’s probably just some paparazzi or an obsessive otaku.’

Though I felt a bit creeped out, I swiftly left the room, sensing the presence of a true ‘weirdo’.

I then quickly finished cleaning the fifth and sixth rooms and headed to the maid supervisor on the first floor.

“I’ve finished everything. Please check.”

“I’m done too.”

“Me too.”

“Can we leave now that we’re done?”

The maid supervisor smiled slightly and nodded at the students’ questions.

“You’ve all worked hard. Now, let’s proceed with the inspection.”

“What?”

“I-Inspection?”

The students’ faces stiffened at the maid supervisor’s meaningful words.

“Yes, I mentioned it earlier. Once you finish cleaning, you need to get it inspected.”

Clap!

With that, she put on white gloves she took out from a drawer, her expression resembling that of a well-versed demon.

And…

‘I knew this would happen.’

I internally cheered while maintaining a nonchalant expression.

* * *

“There’s quite a lot of dust, isn’t there?”

“Are you sure you really finished cleaning?”

“Clean it again.”

“Again.”

“Again!”

The more the inspection that began on the first floor continued, the shorter the maid supervisor’s words became. Simultaneously, the expressions of the students watching turned pale or hardened coldly.

“……”

“What the heck, didn’t they say there wouldn’t be an inspection?”

“They said it was a bluff. Couldn’t we have just done it roughly?”

The students, bewildered by the totally unexpected situation, whispered among themselves, but it was too late to turn back now.

“Sigh… really…”

As the maid supervisor let out a deep sigh, all the students under inspection held their breath and watched her. With a broad smile on her face, she nodded and spoke.

“It seems that the students assigned to this major cleaning lack a clear concept of what major cleaning entails. Before you start cleaning again, those responsible for each section need additional training.”

“A-Additional training?”

“Yes, additional training. Isn’t that better than getting demerits?”

The maid supervisor’s expression, speaking in an even tone, appeared more chilling than ever.

‘She really looks pissed off.’

Anyone could see that she was coldly expressing her anger, which had reached its peak, making the students extremely tense and cautious.

“Then, students responsible for the 1st and 2nd floors, please go down to my office first. We will proceed with the training afterward. Now, shall we go up to the 3rd floor?”

“……”

At her sharp yet cold tone, the students responsible for the 1st and 2nd floors hung their heads and started down the stairs. The students responsible for the 3rd floor wore expressions as if being dragged to their execution.

Thud!

The maid supervisor, who had already changed gloves several times, smirked as she looked at the dust covering her fingers once again.

“I don’t need to tell you what to do, right?”

As she spoke to the students responsible for the 3rd floor, a few of them, like criminals who had committed a grave sin, bowed their heads and descended to the lower floors.

‘Tsk tsk, they should have done it right the first time.’

After inspecting the entire 3rd floor, the maid supervisor slowly began climbing the stairs to the upper floor.

“Now, let’s check the 4th floor.”

With those words, the maid supervisor started inspecting row A on the 4th floor. But soon,

Thud!

Taking off her gloves, now blackened, her expression remained unchanged.

“It’s the same here.”

Muttering to herself, she soon turned her head to look at me.

“So, is it now row B’s hallway?”

Step, step.

With only a few students left to be inspected, the maid supervisor finally headed to the area I was responsible for. She slowly began checking the state with her newly changed white gloves.

“……?!”

Soon, she paused and stared intently at her gloves. For the first time, she seemed slightly flustered by the gloves that had not changed color.

“What’s this, why is there no dust?”

“Did he really clean it all?”

“Wow, what’s going on?”

I could hear the whispers of the students secretly watching from behind. Then,

Scrape, swoosh!

Noticing the difference from the previous dusty hallways, the maid supervisor’s movements changed. She diligently checked the fine parts under the columns, the gaps in the doors, and the windowsills, but…

“There’s no dust?”

Naturally, her gloves remained pristine white. As everyone, including the maid supervisor, stared at the gloves in astonishment,

“If you go over there, I’ve sorted all the trash, so please check that too.”

I said nonchalantly.

Tap tap tap.

Hurriedly moving to the end of the hallway, the maid supervisor stood dumbfounded, looking at the meticulously sorted trash.

“……”

Seeing her like that, I approached her quietly and asked in a low voice.

“Is the inspection over?”

“Oh, yes. It’s over.”

Snapping back to her senses at my voice, the maid supervisor hastily muttered and then turned to look at me.

And then,

“You’ve done an excellent job cleaning, Mr. Kamon.”

Despite her smiling as she spoke, her expression was extremely distorted and twisted.

‘Hey, if you’re going to compliment someone, do it properly. Otherwise, it sounds like a mockery!’

I muttered inwardly and shrugged lightly as I replied.

“I’m not that good, I just know a bit.”

“I see. Well, you worked hard, Mr. Kamon. Since the inspection is over, you may go in.”

“Oh, really?”

For the first time since the inspection began, the maid supervisor told someone to go in, leaving the surrounding students dumbfounded.

“Did Kamon Vade really do the cleaning?”

“He even passed the inspection.”

“Wow.”

Satisfied with the expected result, I enjoyed the reactions of the surrounding students and nodded.

“Then, I’ll be going now. You too, take care.”

“Yes, I understand. Please be careful… as you go in, Mr. Kamon.”

As the maid supervisor hesitated and spoke ambiguously, radiating displeasure, I felt a strange sense of victory, clenched my fist, and nodded.

‘Heh heh heh. I did it! I got her good!’

Screech, thud!

Having descended from the 4th floor and returned to my sanctuary, I quickly threw myself onto the bed.

“Sigh, I feel great.”

I didn’t think the maid supervisor had intentionally targeted me. However, she had played minor pranks and made unreasonable accusations against me before, so it was enjoyable and satisfying to retaliate properly this time.

“Well, there wasn’t much she could do but make those ambiguous expressions. Heh heh.”

Relishing the memory of the maid supervisor’s flustered look, I glanced around my cleaned room.

“Hmm. Well, at least the room is clean.”

Though most had done a shoddy job under the guise of a major cleaning, the person responsible for my room seemed a bit diligent, making it feel quite tidy.

“It even smells good. Heh heh, nice.”

Whether it was because I was in a good mood or due to the effects of the major cleaning, I didn’t know. But lying on the bed in a cleaner, more pleasant room, I felt more comfort and coziness than ever, slowly drifting into a peaceful sleep.