The Awakening of Ambition - The Mob Character Who Woke Up!

Wing L, Room 616

The dormitory room was completely quiet.

Kaizen lay in the darkness, staring up at the ceiling with unfocused eyes.

It had been a long walk back from the infirmary. Actually, calling it a walk was generous. It was more like a parade of shame that stretched across the entire campus.

He had tried to slip away quietly. He had tried to tell both Leo and Klaus that he was perfectly fine and could make it back to his room alone. But naturally, neither of them listened to a word he said.

Leo insisted on personally escorting his wounded best friend for life back to safety. Klaus insisted on securing his roommate and ensuring he arrived without further injury.

They walked on either side of him like professional bodyguards protecting some kind of VIP celebrity. Every single student they passed in the hallways stopped whatever they were doing and stared with wide eyes. Multiple people pulled out their phones to take pictures. The academy forum was probably exploding with new posts and speculation right now.

Leo kept making loud declarations like, "Do not worry, my best friend! No villain will dare touch you while I, your best friend, here protecting you!" while giving a thumbs-up gesture so bright and shiny that it physically hurt to look at directly.

Nurse Jenny had actually fainted from blood loss right as they were leaving the infirmary. Kaizen genuinely hoped someone went back to check on her and make sure she was okay.

But why was a nurse suddenly collapsing with bleeding from nose? He doesn't know at all. The world was getting tougher even for kind nurses.

Once they finally reached the dormitory building, Leo had given him a five-minute goodbye speech about the bonds of friendship before reluctantly departing. Klaus had retired to his coffin-like bed without saying another word.

Now it was two o'clock in the morning and Kaizen could not sleep.

He tossed and turned restlessly under the sheets, which felt scratchy and uncomfortable against his skin.

'My entire plan is completely dead.'

Kaizen felt his chest tighten with anxiety.

'Avoid the Main Characters? Live a peaceful, quiet life in the background?'

'That dream died the exact moment I sat down in that ceremony chair next to Leo.'

He replayed the entire day in his head like a horror movie highlight reel.

The Opening Ceremony where he accidentally sat next to the undisputed protagonist of this world. Demon king candidate as a roommate. The corn dog incident that spiraled out of control. The brutal fight in the alley. The chaotic scene in the infirmary.

Every single step he took to avoid the main plot just dragged him deeper into the quicksand. The harder he struggled to escape, the faster he sank.

'I cannot keep doing this anymore.'

'I cannot just react to things as they happen.'

'If I keep stumbling around blindly and hoping for good luck, I am definitely going to die in some horrible way.'

He remembered Cedric's ice-cold eyes staring down at him with pure disgust. Pathetic. He remembered the Goon's mocking laughter before the fight. He remembered the helpless feeling of being completely powerless while D-Rank students casually flared their mana around him like it was nothing.

'I need to get stronger. Much stronger.'

The thought was not just a vague wish anymore. It was an absolute necessity for survival.

'I cannot rely on random glitches in the system. I cannot rely on Leo coincidentally showing up to save me.'

'I need real power that I can control myself.'

He sat up slightly in bed, propping himself up on his elbows.

He knew this world inside and out. Well, not entirely and how much he knows about this world was disputed but he knew a great deal of it anyway.

He knew where all the hidden items were located in the starting area. He knew the cheat codes and secret mechanics. He knew the optimal grinding spots for ranking up quickly.

At least, he knew everything about the early game chapters. Beyond that, his knowledge got fuzzy for some reason.

Even with the game lore injected to his mind, he only knows certain things and doesn't know other things.

'I need to use every advantage I have. All of it. The plot can go ahead and break if it wants to. If the story falls apart, let it fall apart.'

'I am not going to be some background character who dies for dramatic effect in someone else's story arc.'

He clenched his fist tightly in the darkness.

'I will be selfish about this. I will steal the hidden upgrades that were meant for Leo to find. I will take the powerful grimoires that were supposed to go to Klaus. I will do whatever it takes to survive.'

But then a cold, unsettling thought struck him out of nowhere.

'Wait. Who am I even doing this for?'

In the game, all the major characters had detailed backstories. They had motivation. They had families waiting for them at home.

'Do I have a family?'

He racked his brain desperately, trying to access the memories that should belong to Kaizen Renji Asahina.

Nothing came up. Just empty static.

But he remembered his mind had skimmed through some memories when he woke up, but he can't remember it now for some reasons.

He tried to picture his parents' faces. Static interference. He tried to remember his home address from before the academy. More static.

He could remember the game lore perfectly with crystal clarity. He could remember exactly where hidden items were buried. But he could not remember his own mother's face or the sound of her voice.

'Do I even exist outside of this campus?'

A deep chill ran down his spine. It was a genuinely terrifying thought. Was he just spawned into existence at the academy gate this morning? Was his entire supposed history just a corrupted file that never loaded properly?

'Stop it.'

He told himself firmly, shaking his head to clear the dark thoughts.

'Do not go down that rabbit hole. Not tonight. That is a problem for Future Kaizen to deal with.'

He exhaled slowly and deliberately, pushing the existential dread back into its mental box and slamming the lid shut.

He carefully lifted his head and peered over the edge of his blanket toward the other side of the room.

Klaus was asleep in his bed. The Demon Prince lay perfectly straight on his back with his hands folded neatly over his chest like a corpse arranged in a coffin for a wake. He did not snore. He barely even seemed to breathe at all.

He sleeps exactly like a vampire from old horror movies, Kaizen noted mentally.

Satisfied that his demonic roommate was not currently awake and casting some kind of surveillance hex, Kaizen reached over to the bedside table.

He grabbed his sleek black phone from where it was charging.

The screen lit up immediately, blinding him for a second until his eyes adjusted.

He tapped on the Zenith TeaScroll icon with his thumb.

The application loaded slowly. The logo, which showed a decorative scroll wrapped in magical vines, spun around for a moment.

Chapter 16 - The Awakening of Ambition