Despite the negative opinions of the high-ranking officials, it was ultimately an order that came from above, even if it was a remark casually thrown out during a meeting.
Since that day, various materials, including space debris and supplies for monsters with weak physical structures, arrived for the monsters.
From a human perspective, these were very basic tools like shovels and pickaxes.
Even that was better than having nothing.
The monster combatants who received the news were momentarily left speechless, unable to find words.
In the past, they had been dropped to Earth without any intelligence, told to fight to the death, and now they were being instructed not to fight and instead create a base.
What on earth did this mean?
The high-ranking officials, who couldn’t understand such thoughts, added a few words from their respective departments after receiving an explanation.
“Our high-ranking officials feel the same as you do; you must be wondering what kind of nonsense this is.”
“No, not that much….”
In front of countless combatants, Shield Lion’s act of insulting a superior made even the monsters in the cabin momentarily bewildered.
They were simply surprised by the unfiltered anger displayed by the official before their eyes.
In truth, their thoughts were not much different from his.
After all, an order is an order, and they were in a situation where they had to follow it.
Holding the announcement and looking at it, Shield Lion scratched his forehead with the edge of his shield hand and got to the point.
“Um… so, I was thinking of slightly modifying the attire and transmission guidelines for going to Earth.”
Attire for heading to Earth.
For the monsters, who lacked consistency in form, what on earth did this mean?
“Combatants who think their physical capabilities are unsuitable for mining and construction must definitely carry the tools for base construction and go to the transmission room.”
Tools for base construction.
In fact, calling them by such a grand name was embarrassing; they were primitive tools.
It was a situation that could hardly be referred to as a hidden camera level prank.
However, in the serious atmosphere, the murmurs of the monsters grew as they realized that this was no joke.
“What are they saying… how are we supposed to build a base?”
“I don’t know, it’s not like we can help it.”
“Uh, and next is the transmission guidelines….”
Ignoring those murmurs with effort, Shield Lion continued speaking.
The transmission guidelines had existed to fulfill the existence of a quota seen as a sin.
However, for the purpose of base construction, it had become very unusual for the quotas assigned to each area to be adjustable according to the transmission guidelines.
The eyes of the monsters, who had been sullenly checking their surroundings, widened at this point.
They could adjust the quotas assigned to each area?
Does that mean they could skip areas they didn’t want to go to?
Whether that expectation was reflected in the expressions of the monsters, Shield Lion assessed the atmosphere and added words that dashed those hopes.
“Ah… just to let you know in advance, only some combatants will be randomly selected and sent for the base construction work, so don’t get your hopes too high.”
“Ah.”
As disappointment spread among the monsters.
The strategic advance of the monsters equipped with attire and transmission guidelines for the construction of their outpost.
The name of the place where the monsters were to be transmitted, which would become the great first stepping stone to world domination, was…
“Isn’t this just the frozen land?”
“Seriously, how are we supposed to build a base in this freezing cold?”
It was the Arctic, covered in white ice and glaciers.
Although many monsters were bewildered by the sight, the most astonished was the jelly-like monster, which began to freeze from the bottom where the ice touched.
It was so ridiculous that this monster, treated as the weakest among them, was the first to voice his concerns.
“Is it really right to send me here?”
“Hey, you’re already freezing up!”
“Damn….”
The jelly monster, cursing with words learned on Earth.
Even though he was selected at random, how could such a cruel twist of fate exist?
Although it was a land chosen specifically where people do not live, for some monsters, that location itself was more grueling and arduous than fighting against magical girls.
[On the 30th, the global appearance rate of monsters sharply decreased… is this good news or bad news?]
[Do monsters also have holidays? The nationwide decrease in monster appearances on the 30th.]
A day later on Earth.
Some of the monsters that were supposed to appear in various regions had been redirected to areas without people, resulting in a sharp decrease in the overall appearance rate of monsters.
Related articles slowly began to surface.
As they viewed those articles, Mary and Shiyeon walked steadily along the asphalt road.
“What could be happening?”
“Who knows.”
A vague answer slipped from Shiyeon in response to her question.
It was inevitable that she would answer ambiguously; after all, she wasn’t a monster.
Today was April 1st, April Fools’ Day.
Every site was thoroughly soaked in the spirit of April Fools’ Day.
On the webtoon viewing site, every work had its cover playfully altered, and the game homepage within the same company was switched around as well.
Here was a prank, and there was another.
Light lies to lighten the atmosphere; it’s not a holiday, but it is, for now, a commemorative day.
The school subtly adopted this atmosphere too, and a few active students prepared for April Fools’ Day events.
“Are they all pulling out different textbooks?”
“Hey, let’s all pull out math books!”
The teachers likely knew about April 1st and were aware of all of it, but they still played along harmlessly.
It was good that it wasn’t overly extravagant like the photos online.
You know, like turning all the desks around or taking the classroom chairs outside to the playground.
Such pranks are fun when done but tough when it comes to cleanup.
Things like simply taking out a different book were just joining in the fun.
“…?”
With a clatter, the Korean language teacher walked in through the front door of the classroom.
Looking over the cluster of math books with bright blue covers on the desks, he stepped up to the teacher’s desk with a somewhat awkward demeanor.
The student seated at the front barely had a chance to stand before the Korean language teacher firmly said.
“You won’t fool me, you rascals.”
“Aw—”
The jeers expressing disappointment echoed, thinking that it wouldn’t hurt to be fooled once.
But the teacher, who had to cover the syllabus, was infinitely cruel and merciless.
The time dragged on, sharply contrasting the steady progress of the lesson.
By the time the bell rang to end class, a few students were nearly slumping in their seats.
Among them, Shiyeon was no exception.
The classroom, lulled to sleep by the lullaby-like voice of the Korean language teacher, fell to a pitiful state.
As she dragged her weary body awake, stretching and glancing around the classroom.
She spotted Shiyeon, who was face-down on her desk, as soon as the break began.
“Wow, they’re completely wiped out.”
The trio of boys she usually chatted with during breaks had completely conked out as well.
Every student sprawled across the classroom seemed to share a single thought at that moment.
When a student in the front row turned off the light in their effort to nap, those by the window covered it with curtains.
Thus, the classroom darkened completely.
Getting up silently to avoid making noise with the chairs, I arrived at the vending machine on the first floor, suffering from thirst, and grabbed two canned drinks.
One can was apple juice, the kind I usually drank.
The other was orange juice, which Shiyeon liked.
With my enlarged nails, I pried open the top of the drink can and returned to the classroom.
I placed one orange juice on Shiyeon’s desk.
Then, gripping the can of apple juice in my left hand, I popped it open with a “click!” and gulped it down.
In an instant, one can was emptied.
I tossed the empty can into the trash and returned to Shiyeon’s desk, clutching the full orange juice can.
Although it was a different type of prank unrelated to April Fools’ Day, I gently held the cold orange can against Shiyeon’s cheek.
“Ah!?”
With Shiyeon’s brief scream, the students who had been sprawled across the classroom and not totally asleep lifted their heads to look in her direction but quickly realized it was nothing serious and returned to their resting positions.
I faced Shiyeon’s startled expression with a playful grin.
“I brought juice.”
“Ah… you scared me!”
“Click!” This time, the sound of Shiyeon opening her orange juice can resonated.
The subsequent “gulp” of juice swallowing was distinctly audible in the dark classroom.
Even though she was startled, she was drinking it?
Perhaps I had taken too long at the vending machine, as it felt like ten minutes had easily passed.
The class bell rang, and in the pitch-dark classroom with the curtains drawn, the science teacher entered.
In silence, he pressed the light switch with his finger, and in an instant, the classroom brightened.
“Hey, are you all children of the dark?”
After turning on the lights in the classroom, he placed a thick textbook on the teacher’s desk with a thud, producing the familiar sound.
Oh, they’re still using that phrase.
“Ahhhh….”
“Ughhh….”
“Class is over; get up!”
Appropriately calling students “children of the dark,” when the lights turned on, the once-slumped students groaned, men and women alike.
School life continued on, unaffected by April Fools’ Day, with nothing particularly different from usual following a small prank.
Just like that, I returned home without even holding Shiyeon’s hand.
As I walked in step with Taehyun, who was heading the same way, we leisurely made our way to the apartment.
“Yawn….”
Having not napped during break, a yawn slipped out belatedly.
Covering my gapingly open mouth with my palm while yawning and then closing it…
“Speaking of which.”
It was as if Taehyun had been waiting for my yawn to end; he started talking beside me.
With half-closed eyes, he looked over at me as if to ask if I was curious about something and tilted his head.
“Yeah?”
“What do your parents do? I feel like I’ve never seen them…”
“Our? They aren’t around.”
Taehyun’s expression instantly flooded with surprise.
There, once more, Taehyun blurted something that didn’t need to be said, thinking perhaps.
“Wait, is this an April Fools’ joke?”
“No, they’re really not around.”
His expression was akin to that of a character in some movie saying, “Sounds like a name from a prostitute, where did you get that from?”
Why am I suddenly being asked about it?
In that fleeting moment, a simple question-and-answer exchange took place.
Had I ever told him I didn’t have parents?
“Oh, I hadn’t mentioned it.”
Thus, it became an accidental coming-out about my parents on April Fools’ Day.
