Steven looked strangely at Nathan and asked in confusion,
"What are you doing?"
Nathan hummed, then took out the oven tray and showed it to Steven.
"Look, I made charcoal."
Steven was confused as he looked at the black circles inside the tray.
Then he asked Nathan awkwardly,
"Is this cookies?"
Nathan widened his eyes in surprise.
"That's amazing, how did you know? If I were in your place, I would've believed I made charcoal."
Steven sighed as he looked at the chaotic state of the place, where sugar, flour, butter, and chocolate chips were scattered everywhere.
"Why are you trying to make it?"
Nathan spoke while shrugging.
"The diary girl made it to make up with her friend."
Steven raised his eyebrows and asked,
"Do you want to make up with David?"
Nathan shook his head in resignation.
"Hm, maybe I'll drop it, it doesn't matter."
Steven thought for a bit, then spoke.
"Do you want me to help you?"
Nathan tilted his head, then smiled.
"That's good."
...
David sat annoyed, looking at the two empty seats.
'Why are they both late?'
Kai looked at David, then asked Leonard,
"Leo, does David look annoyed, or is that just my imagination?"
Leonard shook his head lazily.
"Hm, looks like he fought with them."
Kai tilted his head.
"Fought with them?"
Leonard was lying lazily on the desk and nodded toward Kai.
"It's obvious, he was coming back to our apartment annoyed, something clearly happened between them."
Leonard lived in the same dorm as David, so he could see David's mood changes more clearly.
A few seconds before the lesson started, Steven and Nathan entered, then behind them entered the teacher of dungeon studies.
The teacher was large-built with bronze skin and deep brown eyes, and his black hair hung messily down to the end of his neck.
Teacher Logan stared at Steven and Nathan, who were the only ones standing because of their late arrival, and spoke in a deep voice,
"Sit in your seats."
Nathan raised his eyebrow slightly, then smiled.
"Yes, teacher~"
Teacher Logan's eyebrows knitted slightly, but he turned to write something on the large screen in front of the students.
Steven shook his head and pushed Nathan forward, and they sat in their seats.
David was looking at them sharply. Nathan laughed and leaned toward Steven to whisper,
"He's very annoyed."
Steven nodded, but suddenly he heard a clap that filled the entire classroom.
The teacher stood comfortably in front of the students and spoke in a calm voice that everyone could hear,
"I don't want to hear any sound during my lesson."
Nathan calmed down and sat bored, looking toward Teacher Logan.
"Today we will take dungeon types."
"Does anyone know what the common type is?"
Elisa, Kai, Evelyn, and some students raised their hands.
Teacher Logan looked toward the students, then chose a student in the middle row named Vivica.
Vivica stood and spoke respectfully,
"The common type, teacher, is the natural type. This dungeon contains a specific type of monsters and specific terrain suitable for that type, and this type can be found in most dungeons."
Teacher Logan nodded for Vivica to sit.
"Yes, good. So does anyone know the other type?"
Several students raised their hands, including David and Elisa.
Teacher Logan pointed toward David.
David stood.
"There is a type called the puzzle type, where what's inside the dungeon is mysterious and requires thinking to deal with it, and what's inside can never be predicted because it's not fixed. This type requires intelligence to handle."
Teacher Logan nodded and said,
"So do you know what the last type is?"
This time, no student raised their hand except Elisa.
Teacher Logan nodded toward Elisa.
Elisa stood and began to speak,
"In the two previous types, you only needed to defeat the dungeon boss, and then the dungeon would close forever. So humans intervened in some dungeons and experimented on them until they were able to keep the dungeon existing even after killing the boss."
Logan nodded for Elisa to sit and began explaining,
"Yes, and this type is called the artificial dungeon, although it isn't really artificial, but that's obvious—anything humans put their hands into is called artificial."
"Now we will begin explaining in detail some dungeons and how they were dealt with."
Teacher Logan began explaining, and all the students listened and took notes.
After the lesson ended, Teacher Logan announced to the students before leaving,
"Next week, our lesson will be practical."
The noise and discussions were loud in the classroom after Teacher Logan left.
This noise wasn't of interest to Nathan or even Steven.
Steven stood from his seat and spoke to Nathan,
"Aren't you going?"
Nathan looked toward David, then stood and picked up the small box that was under his desk.
"Tch, I'm going."
Nathan stood in front of David's desk. David looked at him in confusion.
"What's wrong with you—!!"
Nathan slammed the food box onto David's desk, cutting off his words.
David's confusion increased as he looked at the box in front of him.
Nathan smiled and spoke cheerfully,
"This thing is for you."
David's eyebrows knitted slightly, and he took the small box in front of him, opened it, and looked inside.
Inside were cookies. David asked Nathan awkwardly,
"What is this?"
Nathan looked at him like he was looking at an idiot and spoke,
"Can't you see it's cookies?"
David's eyebrows twitched in anger.
"I know it's cookies, but why are you suddenly giving it to me?"
Steven answered before Nathan could speak—Steven was sure that if Nathan spoke, another fight would start.
"He wants to make up with you by giving you cookies. He made them himself."
After hearing this, David smiled and raised his head proudly.
"Yes, you should've said that from the beginning."
David picked up a cookie and ate it.
"Alright, fine, I'll forgive you."
Nathan raised his eyebrow, then shrugged and sat on the desk in front of David and smiled at him.
"So, aren't you going to give us cookies?"
David frowned, pulled the box of cookies, hugged it to his chest, and looked at Nathan sharply.
"They're mine."
Nathan raised his eyebrows in disbelief.
"What?! But I'm the one who made them."
David shook his head.
"No, they were given to me, so they're mine."
When Nathan found that David was determined not to give him even one, he quickly reached out trying to steal one, but David stopped his hand fast.
"No, you won't take any."
Nathan smiled teasingly.
"What, do you think you can stop me?!"
A small fight broke out between them, and Nathan managed to steal two cookies from David.
David gritted his teeth in anger, but Nathan ignored him and looked at Steven, offering one of the two cookies to him and smiling with his teeth showing.
"This one's for you."
Steven looked at the cookie for a moment, then took it.
'... I don't like sweet things.'
Agnes had been watching them for a while, then suddenly stood from her seat and walked toward them.
The first to notice Agnes approaching was Steven.
'Is she coming toward us?'
When she got close, she turned toward David, greeted him, and smiled.
"Hi."
David tilted his head and pointed to himself in confusion.
"Me?"
Agnes laughed lightly and spoke,
"Yes, and I wanted to tell you something."
Nathan raised his eyebrows and looked suspiciously at David.
David asked in confusion,
"What is it?"
Agnes looked at David and offered him a box of strawberry milk. She smiled gently.
"I wanted to thank you for saving me and Leonard before."
David stared in amazement at the bright blue eyes in front of him and the kind, smiling face, to the point that he forgot to take the milk carton from her hand and just stood stiffly.
When Agnes saw that, she tilted her head in confusion.
Nathan smiled mischievously as he looked at David, stepped closer, and nudged him slightly.
"So, aren't you going to take it from her?"
David snapped out of it, his face turning red like a tomato. He quickly took the strawberry milk from Agnes's hand and spoke loudly,
"Th-th-this is nothing, I didn't do anything."
Agnes looked at him slightly surprised, then laughed.
"Anyway, thank you."
Then she turned and went back to Ira.
Ira asked her,
"Why did you give him milk?"
Agnes thought while tilting her head.
"It's just thanks."
Ira asked in confusion,
"Thanks for what?"
Agnes didn't tell Ira that she almost got killed by that octopus so she wouldn't make Ira worry about her more.
She was already enduring Ira's intense protectiveness after they left that place, so she didn't want to make her worry more and become even more protective and unbearably annoying.
Nathan smiled slyly and spoke to David,
"Look at you, you didn't even make a grateful expression for the cookies I made with my own hands."
"Tch, looks like you like girls more than your friends."
David gritted his teeth and raised his fist toward Nathan, but Nathan dodged it while laughing.
Steven looked toward David, and his eyes darkened.
'Will he fall in love with her like in the novel?… Their ending was extremely bad.'
Steven shook his head and pushed his thoughts away.
'Maybe it'll change this time… I hope so.'
Somewhere in the classroom, dark eyes were watching them.
...
After the second lesson ended,
Several students approached Nathan, Steven, and David.
Steven was confused by their approach, then suddenly the students looked toward Nathan nervously, then looked at Steven and bowed, speaking at the same time,
"We want to join your group."
Steven looked at them blankly.
'... My group?!'
Steven turned his gaze toward Nathan, who was standing indifferently.
Nathan felt Steven's look, raised his eyebrow, and smiled.
"So, will you accept them, boss?"
Steven put his hand on his head tiredly.
'Did you form a gang, Nathan?'
Steven spoke to the students,
"What's the reason for you joining?"
The student in front stood and spoke nervously with some admiration,
"You… you ordered the dog—I mean, the son of the Anderson family and the son of the Fabian family—to save the students, and we were among those who were saved."
Steven frowned and spoke,
"And you want to join us just because of that?"
The student nodded seriously.
When Steven was about to turn them away, Nathan spoke,
"Alright, you can join, but…"
Nathan smiled an amused smile.
"If you cause trouble, I'll take care of you myself."
The students trembled slightly.
After seeing their expressions, Nathan turned toward Steven and spoke,
"Leave them to me, boss."
Steven looked at Nathan with a frown.
'He does whatever he wants… and since when am I the boss?'
---