Chapter 177

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Translator: penny

Chapter: 177

Chapter Title: The Demonic Trial

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But no matter how much I thought about it, the fact that my infamy shot up just from deflowering a bunch ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of girls was pretty damn hilarious.

Ah... but from the perspective of those dickhead juniors eyeing the pretty female rookies' virginities, I must be on the level of a public enemy of the martial world, right? ...Yeah, if I weren't the one who did it, I'd probably want to spear the bastard myself. Heh heh heh.

'Heh heh heh. Hah hah ha! Kekeke. Fuck, this is hilarious. I've already popped the cherries of pretty much every hot girl in this graduating class, you losers. Kekeke. Go fuck the ugly ones if you want.'

I could clearly picture the panicked, furious faces of the senior guys who were hoping to snag the virginities of those pretty new female recruits.

I never went to college or the army myself, but from what I've seen in dramas and movies now and then, it felt something like this.

Like, this is college-level: you come back from the army, reenroll, and start hitting on the hottest freshman girl to take her V-card, only to find out she's already some guy's fucktoy and not a virgin anymore.

So you move on to the second prettiest one and make your move... but she's already lost her virginity to the same guy and become his fucktoy too.

And then the third, fourth, fifth—same shit every time.

All that's left are the ugly bitches.

That's when the rage boils over.

I could vividly imagine all those guys with dicks seething with jealousy and inferiority, cursing me and hating my guts.

The only women left with their virginities would be ones so ugly you wouldn't touch them even if offered, which would only fuel their fury even more.

The more they realized I'd deflowered every pretty girl in this graduating class, the more pissed they'd get.

And thinking about those fuckers raging made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

"Kekeke. Keh heh. Hah ha! ...Ah, just imagining it is fucking hilarious."

"...?"

As I cackled to myself, Jang Jeok-ho, who was standing in front of me in line, glanced back curiously before facing forward again.

A few seconds later, he turned around again and spoke to me.

"Phew, Number 1999. Or... Lustful Demon... uh, mind if I just call you Lust by name?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Alright, Lust. ...Aren't you nervous at all? I'm freaking out right now—feels like my heart's gonna explode."

"Huh? Why?"

"...? Dude, don't you know this is the 'Demonic Trial'?"

"I know. That's why I'm standing here bored out of my mind waiting. Fuck, when's this line gonna move? They're not even going forward."

"...? ?? You do know this is the 'Demonic Trial,' right? The one with a 1-in-5 survival rate? This ain't a restaurant queue. If you're confused..."

"I know, asshole. I'm in line for the 'Demonic Trial' here. You think I wouldn't know that?"

"...O-okay. Sorry. ...I just saw how chill you were and..."

"Kid, don't pussy out. What's a man's life? Short and thick, right?"

Of course, I'm here because of the infinite coin version.

Otherwise, no amount of money could make me stand in this line.

Time trickled by, and the line started shrinking.

Once it got going, it felt like it was vanishing fast.

From the building up front that looked like some medical facility where they administered the Demonic Trial, screams mixed with agony and groans kept bursting out nonstop.

"Uwaaaagh!!!!"

"Gah! Save meee! Stop!! Aaaaagh!!!!"

'Hm...'

Some of the people waiting in line for the trial turned pale at the endless screams and gave up, walking away.

No one tried to stop them. Taking the Demonic Trial was their own choice.

"Keuk! Kraaaagh!!!"

Before long, more than half had bailed, faces ashen white.

Thanks to that, Jang Jeok-ho and I were suddenly right up near the front.

"T-t-tremble."

Jang Jeok-ho was shaking so hard he was making trembling sounds out loud, like a leaf in the wind.

He was quivering like a madman—looked like he had epilepsy or something.

"Number 1999. ...N-no, Lust. ...Y-you're not shaking at all?"

"Eh, not really."

"...!"

Struck by my nonchalance, Jang Jeok-ho seemed inspired, steeling himself as he circulated his inner energy or whatever to forcibly stop his trembling.

"Yeah. A real man doesn't back down. ...Honestly, I was about to quit just now. But seeing you gave me courage. I'm gonna do it."

"Do it or don't..."

A bit more time passed.

Finally, it was our turn.

Jang Jeok-ho, who was ahead of me, went into the building first for his trial.

Not long after, his screams rang out.

"Uwaaagh!!! Kraaagh!! Aaaaagh!!!!"

After about a gak (15 minutes) of waiting, a doctor-like guy in white clothes splattered with blood came out and called me in for my turn.

"Hm, looks like you're the last one today."

I glanced back—no one there.

A few people had lined up behind me while I was chatting with Jang Jeok-ho earlier... guess the screams scared them off.

I entered the building for the Demonic Trial.

It resembled an ancient Eastern medical hall, but somehow gave off more of a torture chamber vibe.

There were several frames like medical tables where you lay spread-eagled in a shape, arms and legs bound.

Jang Jeok-ho was strapped to one of them.

He had foam at his mouth like a corpse, but was flopping around like a dying fish to prove he was still alive.

Honestly, couldn't tell if he was dead or alive.

Near Jang Jeok-ho, on the floor beside him, lay numerous corpses that looked long dead.

As I stared at Jang Jeok-ho, the doctor asked if he was an acquaintance.

"Hm? Is this fellow a friend of yours? He's lucky. Nine straight failures, and he barely survived."

"Is that so? Not a friend, though—just a fellow trainee."

"I see. Well, good for him anyway. Hope luck's on your side too. Lie down here."

I lay down on the rigid, solid iron frame he pointed to, spread out in a .

Then other doctors bound my arms, legs, torso, and neck with thick leather straps.

Finally, they secured me with wire and heavy chains over the straps, making sure I couldn't move an inch.

"Once we start, there's no turning back. Still want to go? This is your last chance to cancel."

"Just do it quick."

"Good. I like the spirit. Let's begin."

The doctors brought wooden syringe-like things that looked straight out of primitive ancient China.

The wooden syringes were filled with some unidentified black substance.

In their other hands, they held sharp scalpel-like things... medical knives, basically.

No way they're gonna slice me open and inject that shit, right?

'Fuck.'

My worst fears were confirmed.

They sliced into my body with the knives and jabbed the syringes into my arms, legs, torso—places where veins ran.

At least they didn't hit arteries—should I be grateful?

"...Grrk, fuck, this hurts like hell. Wait, hold up. No anesthesia or anything?"

"Anesthesia? ...Ah, you mean numbing? It drops the survival rate from 20% to under 10%. Experiments proved it's actually worse."

"No, fuck. You primitive chink shits... without anesthesia... Kraaaagh!!!! Aagh!!! Fuck! Injecting weird shit into veins without numbing...! Aaaaagh!!!!"

"Not just veins. We'll administer different substances to the nerves and meridians. That's what completes the 'Demonic Trial.' It's like forcibly inducing a body transformation to get as close as possible to the 'Heavenly Demon Physique' from the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult...! That's the 'Demonic Trial.' Hahaha!"

"Graaaaaagh-!!! You fucking bastard-!!!! Stop this now!! Kraaaaaagh!!!!!"

It hurt like a motherfucker.

This was a hundred, a thousand times worse than any pain I'd ever felt in my life—enough to make me pass out and wake up over and over.

It was so excruciating I couldn't even think straight enough to tell the system I wanted to leave this floor.

I must've ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠blacked out.

It wasn't just one doctor jabbing syringes and pumping black drugs into me—several hit me all at once: left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg, lower belly, side, chest, neck, head, etc... I lost track.

And then, suddenly, the pain vanished.

I could see a familiar translucent window floating in front of my eyes.

'No.'

A brief spike of intense pain hit, then faded.

The familiar translucent window changed to new text.