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At the end of the war, discord arrives.

This can be regarded as the aftermath of the war.

“You guys have been suspicious since ancient times! What? A study on the artifact creation method using special functions? You little rascal! You think we don’t know that what you boldly presented is already being used in AI? It’s fortunate we’re in a club; if you had published that as a paper, you’d be beaten to a pulp for plagiarism and kicked out of academia!”

“What? What did you just say? Did you even listen properly to our presentation? You idiot! We didn’t even mention Fourier transforms! Sure, we brought up the Riemann hypothesis, but we only mentioned it as a possibility, you thick-headed fool! Are you a math dropout or something?”

“What? Thick-headed? Math dropout? You blabbermouth…!”

In the midst of the discord, the two wizards grabbed each other by the collar and caused a ruckus.

And this fight began to spread.

The quarrel between the two club presidents quickly engulfed the entire club.

“I always found you disagreeable! A wizard who lists Economics as their first-choice major? Can you still call yourself a wizard, a historian of science?”

“What’s wrong with Economics?! What about you? You, who claims to specialize in artifacts, decided to apply to a lower-tier Chemical Engineering program and then thinks about transferring elsewhere? Instead of diligently studying and building a solid foundation to enter proud and tall, you sneaky little brat deviate into a side path and lecture me about majors?!”

“What?! Sneaky?! You think just because you say something it makes sense? You’ll be the traitor who cuts budgets for science and ruthlessly slashes the magic budget to hinder progress!”

“What?! You punk, a traitor? Ha, sure. Guys like you always end up moving abroad for tech immigration and even change your nationality! A traitor is someone like you!”

“Have you said all you needed to?!”

“I’ve said it all, you scoundrel!”

*CRACK!*

The conversation grew increasingly foul, and the accumulated grievances eventually erupted.

It escalated to a smashing of fists.

A clean, bold straight punch, taught in self-defense class, connected right to the wizard’s jaw, and he stormed back, wrestling the wizard who dared to lay a hand on him, tossing him on the floor, shifting into a pounding stance, relentlessly raining down punches from above.

Elsewhere, some members were swinging thick textbooks at each other while others threw piles of dead ants at one another in a disgusting brawl.

A mess.

It was a complete mess!

At this point, it might have been better to collapse in despair and hopelessness.

At least that wouldn’t have been ugly…

Those who weren’t caught in this chaos could only gawk at the carnage.

But then, at that moment…

“You rascals! Our flowers have been exposed to such terrible sights!”

Those who could tidy up this mess emerged.

They were warriors clad in muscle-made gloves, possessing a powerful strength incomparable to the weak wizards. They willingly rose to protect the education of the flowers they cherished, swinging their fists to prevent the flowers from learning the world’s ugliness and thereby ensuring their proper growth.

*WHOOSH!*

The space split, and the air burst!

With every swing of their fists, at least two wizards would faint, and even when the now-dazed wizards protested that they were regaining their composure, the merciless punches didn’t stop.

*WHOOSH!*

Thus, all the wizards who had caused this chaos were subdued.

By overwhelming muscle.

Thus, the discord came to an end, and peace was restored.

Overwhelming power, the ability to forcibly create peace, brought tranquility back to them…

This surely aligns with the principles of the world.

Perhaps that’s why the school is called a microcosm of the world…

“Tsk. Our flowers are shaken up because of those idiots. Shouldn’t have brought them.”

“Quick! We need to return to the classroom and exercise with the flowers to soothe them… Squats, we need to do squats…”

“President! Let’s go back quickly! Seems like it’s all done! At this rate, we’ll lose muscle! Look! The flowers are starting to wilt!”

“Haha. Got it. My muscles are itching too… Alright, everyone. We’ll be leaving now. If you need our help, feel free to visit the gardening club anytime.”

Truly, if the school is a microcosm of the world.

Then perhaps madness too may be replicated here.

And maybe those who are exercising with flowers are the embodiments of that madness.

Maybe…

* * *

Thus, the chaos of the club ended.

The ants disappeared, the uproarious wizards were subdued, and the muscle-bound figures of madness returned to the gardening club.

However, just because the ants disappeared from the club doesn’t mean they completely vanished from the school.

The ants began to spread throughout the school, showcasing all sorts of harm characteristic of a massive colony.

Gnawing away at leaves or peeling bark to leave the trees bare was just the beginning.

They burrowed into the wooden furniture within the school and even gnawed through plastic, damaging the very buildings.

They crawled into lockers to chew on books and madly devoured snacks the students brought.

It was a sheer chaos… No, an ant catastrophe!

The school’s staff were shocked by the sight of these ants and did their utmost to address this abnormal situation. Using their abilities, they worked hard to exterminate the ants while calling pest control companies and entomology researchers to find a solution to this predicament.

However, even after calling them…

“Wow. This is…”

“Different species of ants? The carpenter ants and outdoor ants are mixed in!”

“This is a ghost ant, this is a sugar ant, this is a fire ant, this is a Japanese queen ant… Wait, is this even an ant?”

“This one has massively developed pincers? Wow, it can eat plastic too… What the heck?”

Even with their calls, they found it hard to identify a proper extermination method.

First of all, the types of ants were all different, and crucially, there were even insects they had never dealt with before. Thus, the pest control company began by dealing with only the ants they knew, while the bizarre, unidentified ants were handed over to the professors.

“Ah. I saw this guy when I went to Africa for research. It’s a type of soldier ant… Wait? It seems a bit different from the one I saw back then. Any professors here who know about this species of soldier ant?”

“From the looks of it, it seems to belong to the Ecitoninae subfamily of soldier ants…”

“Are there only one or two species of Ecitoninae soldier ants? There are quite a few from Africa too… This is tricky, can’t narrow it down!”

“Oh! I’ve seen this in a tropical rainforest! I know what this is. Dorylus gibbosus!”

“Dorylus? You’re talking about driver ants?”

“Yes! That ant! I distinctly remember the guide calling the male ants ‘sausage flies.’ I believe it’s Dorylus gibbosus!”

“Wait… why is that ant here? Let’s pull back from this one for now. If you get bit, it’ll be a headache. It’ll definitely hurt and the pincers don’t come off well either.”

“Oh, right. The locals use those ants for wound suturing. Like staples!”

“Oh, Professor Kim! I’m telling you to back off! What if you get bitten?”

“Oh, it’s fine. They usually don’t bite… AAHHHHH!”

“I knew this would happen. You got stung just like when you were researching wasps…”

“Ah well, it’s pretty standard for entomologists. Getting bitten or stung to realize what’s going on, right? Now, let’s quickly observe how your bite wound is doing, Professor Kim!”

And the professors swiftly succeeded in identifying the true nature of these ants.

The kind of ants that shouldn’t exist in Korea; the driver ant, indeed.

“But really… how are they here? They’re not supposed to be found in Korea at all.”

“Could it have stuck to wood like termites?”

“Wouldn’t there be too many of them for that? The male ants have wings, and it looks like they built a nest and bred somewhere!”

“Maybe they were bred for research or some other purpose and escaped? How could they adapt to Korea’s climate?”

“That’s true. Korea isn’t exactly a hospitable climate for them…”

“Nevertheless, this is strange, isn’t it? Is this going to be on the news? Haha.”

“Looks like I might get to be on the news panel again. I’m okay with that.”

“Exactly. Once that news hits, it’ll be easy to wrangle some research funding from the president. Makes it easier to persuade those budget-cutting bureaucrats from the Economics department.”

“Ugh, that Economics department… Why do they assign those budget cutters to science in the first place…”

And from there, as expected, school was canceled.

With countless ants occupying the school, it was impossible to conduct proper classes.

On top of that, not only were the ants taking over, but the soldier ants that gnawed and destroyed everything only added to the horror.

Soldier ants didn’t just destroy facilities; they could damage advanced equipment such as formation techniques or artifacts designed for training.

Hence, they had no choice but to organize a massive extermination effort.

Additionally, another reason made school closure absolutely necessary.

“…Something feels off, doesn’t it?”

“Yes. Let’s call the experts.”

To investigate this suspicious situation where the ants, particularly the ones that shouldn’t be seen in Korea, suddenly surged.

 

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