Vice Monitor

Ngọc Anh took a deep breath and rehearsed the safest possible words in her head.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Ngọc Anh, the new demon who enrolled today. I’m just an ordinary demon. No particular hobbies. Nice to meet you all.”

This is her ultimate defense. A painfully boring introduction that revealed absolutely nothing about her. Normally, introducing yourself to a new class was your chance to make an impression and show people who you were. But the ones listening weren’t people!

The students below barely reacted. Some even looked bored.

Perfect.

Ngọc Anh would become an invisible little demon, attract no attention, and disappear from this place as soon as she found the chance.

Unfortunately, the teacher looked dissatisfied. She clicked her pen while staring at her notebook.

“Anything else?”

“That’s all, ma’am...”

Please let her sit down…

The longer Ngọc Anh stood here, the greater the chance she’d say something stupid. The teacher spun the pen between her fingers.

“How many humans have you killed?”

“Huh...?”

Ngọc Anh’s mind went blank.

Was that seriously a question you asked a new student?

Demons probably did hurt humans. But the problem was the number. Too low might look suspicious, but too high could be just as bad.

Maybe something in the middle then.

“A-a few...?”

Several students looked at her more closely. Even the teacher raised an eyebrow. Ngọc Anh swallowed. Was that the wrong answer?

The teacher leaned forward, suddenly interested.

“What about scaring humans?”

“I think... maybe a few dozen?”

The teacher’s eyes widened. She shot to her feet, both hands trembling against the desk.

Oh no. Definitely the wrong answer…

She asked another question.

“Your grades... how are your grades?”

Ngọc Anh blinked at this normal question.

She answered honestly. Her grades were high in every subject. She had gotten into this school on a scholarship, after all. Two streams of tears slid from the teacher’s dark-ringed eyes, which surprised Ngọc Anh.

The woman sniffled and wiped her eyes, then jumped for joy.

“This is it! This is the one!”

Metal clattered and the teacher vanished. Ngọc Anh flinched when two hands landed on her shoulders from behind.

“Look at her, all of you! This is the model demon you should be learning from!”

Ngọc Anh’s mouth twitched.

Was this good or bad?

She had wanted as little attention as possible, yet somehow she’d been shoved straight into the spotlight. And in a room full of demons, “spotlight” could turn into “snack” very quickly.

“You lot! Fighting! Skipping class! Repeating grades!”

The teacher jabbed a finger toward the room. “You keep me sleepless at night, and now they’re docking my salary too...”

With every berating word from the teacher, more eyes turned toward Ngọc Anh.

The girl who had been sleeping in the middle row was awake now. She glared at Ngọc Anh and clicked her tongue. The two pairs sharing desks whispered among themselves, malicious smiles curling at their lips.

Please stop talking, Teacher…

The woman slapped Ngọc Anh on the back.

“All right! Why don’t we make Ngọc Anh the academic vice monitor? You can help this lot improve their grades!”

Ngọc Anh spun around in horror and waved both hands.

No. Absolutely not. Who looked at a classroom full of demons and decided the helpless new girl should become one of its officers? Was this teacher always this casual about appointments?

“What’s there to be shy about? Those blockheads desperately need a good example.”

The teacher kept pouring oil onto the fire. The girl in the middle row stopped clicking her tongue. Now she was smiling. One finger dragged across her throat.

Thanks to the teacher, Ngọc Anh had made an enemy on her first day. Worse, the girl looked exactly like the kind of delinquent who bullied everyone else. Both feet rested on the desk. Her shirt hung untucked over her skirt, sleeves rolled to the elbows while everyone else wore the uniform neatly.

She is definitely the resident thug. And worse yet, a demon thug!

The teacher nodded, pleased with herself.

“No objections? Then it’s settled. From now on, Ngọc Anh is the class’s academic vice monitor.”

“Yes, ma’am...”

Ngọc Anh sighed. She couldn’t stay here. The second recess arrived, she was getting out before that delinquent decided to make good on the throat gesture. The clock showed only fifteen minutes left. She could survive fifteen minutes.

“Ah, right,” the teacher said. “I’ve got something to take care of. Manage yourselves for a while.”

Chains clattered, and she vanished again.

Ngọc Anh frowned. Someone this irresponsible was allowed to be a homeroom teacher?

She walked back toward Mê Linh, hoping to disappear from everyone’s attention. Halfway there, something swept hard against her ankle.

Ngọc Anh hit the floor. Pain shot through her knees and palms. She looked back and found the delinquent girl smiling at her. The teacher had barely left, and trouble had already started.

Mê Linh rushed over and helped her up. “Are you okay?”

“Fine, fine. I’m okay.”

At least Mê Linh was still on her side. Thank goodness she hadn’t taken the teacher’s scolding personally.

The other girl laughed.

“That’s it? You’re just some weak little demon. And that old hag wants me to learn from you?”

“Apologize to her!”

Mê Linh stepped between them, fist clenched so tightly the tendons stood out beneath her skin.

Ngọc Anh wanted to stop this before it became a fight. Unfortunately, a mosquito like her had no business stepping between two demons.

“What’s it got to do with you, you albino bitch?”

That girl’s mouth seriously needed soap. Insulting Mê Linh was bad enough. Dragging her condition into it was worse. If the girl weren’t a demon, Ngọc Anh would have slapped her already.

Suddenly, coldness flooded Ngọc Anh’s body. It was so cold that her muscles could not move. The chill seemed to be pouring from Mê Linh. Long white claws grew from her fingertips.

Hey, hey. If they were going to fight, couldn’t they at least wait until she got out of there first?!

The delinquent lifted her chin.

“You really want to fight?”

“Shut up, you noose-addicted freak!”

Ngọc Anh had no idea what that insult meant, but it clearly hit a nerve. The other girl’s face hardened. Something flickered around her neck, the shadow of an object wrapped tightly there.

Every eye in the room fixed on the two demons. The atmosphere was tense. This was Ngọc Anh’s chance to get away!

She tried to move but the paralysis didn’t let her. Her legs would barely move even a step.

A violent gust of wind burst between Mê Linh and the delinquent. They launched themselves at each other. Then an invisible force stopped them cold.

A school desk screamed through the air and slammed Mê Linh into the wall, making scary cracking sounds. The other girl flew backward into the blackboard hard enough to leave a deep human-shaped crater.

Ngọc Anh stared at the girl in glasses at the front desk who had risen from her seat.

She let out a tired sigh.

“No fighting during class. Don’t disturb me while I’m reading.”

So she was the one who kept order when the teacher wasn’t here. Ngọc Anh looked at the desk pinning Mê Linh to the wall. Blood was already running down beneath it.

The girl in glasses walked over at an unhurried pace.

“Calm down yet?”

“C-class monitor, I wasn’t actually going to fight... haha.”

Mê Linh’s voice came from behind the desk.

Ngọc Anh almost sighed in relief. She had thought Mê Linh had been crushed under it.

The desk lowered, revealing Mê Linh beneath it. Her shirt was soaked with blood, but the wounds underneath were already closing.

She clicked her tongue.

“Now I have to wash my uniform again.”

That was the first thing she worried about?

Crack. Crack.

The sound made Ngọc Anh turn toward the board. The delinquent girl climbed out of the crater, grimacing as she forced her bones back into place. Ngọc Anh winced just listening to it.

So injuries like that weren’t enough to kill the demons here. That was not reassuring.

The class monitor turned toward the girl at the blackboard.

“What about you? Still want to fight, Thanh Vòng?”

Thanh Vòng laughed.

“I was only teasing the new student. That dog decided to stick her nose in.”

“Do whatever you want. Just don’t do it in front of me.”

The class monitor returned to her seat and opened her book again. Ngọc Anh waited until she was safely out of the way, then hurried over and slung Mê Linh’s arm over her shoulder to help her back to their desk.

There would be a next time. No question about it. Ngọc Anh needed to get out of this place as soon as possible.

Chains clattered outside. Their homeroom teacher was back.

Her voice exploded from the hallway.

“Heaven and hell! Which one of you punched a person-shaped hole through my blackboard?!”