Chapter 51
Chapter 51
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 51
Chapter Title: Pillar (1)
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No, what...
How much time had passed for it to already be the third Unique Storyline?
'What is it this time?'
Of course, it wasn't a bad thing.
Quite the opposite. It was good.
'Unique Storylines have always brought me gains.'
That made his heart race with anticipation and excitement,
but it didn't mean he wasn't anxious.
In fact, he couldn't even tell if the pounding in his chest was from thrill or dread.
'...It's coming too fast.'
He knew full well that his actions had only strayed just a tiny bit beyond the normal range.
Still, even so, you weren't supposed to unlock this many Unique Storylines.
How absurd was this?
The most he'd ever gotten by the ending was exactly three.
And now,
not even weeks after enrolling in the academy—let alone reaching the ending—the third Unique Storyline was opening.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Unique Storyline 'Host of Demons' has opened! 📜 HOST OF DEMONS 📜 Classification: Unique Storyline You are the one who can define the forms of all sorts of ghosts and goblins. Hold them in your heart, envision them, and complete your own 'Demon (鬼)'. Bi-hyeong's reaction to this long-awaited third Unique Storyline was always the same.
'What the hell is this nonsense?'
Sure, it was dressed up with some fancy-sounding words,
but in the end, it still hadn't revealed what the ability actually was.
'Only the first Unique Storyline ever showed its ability outright...'
...Huh?
'Wait. The second Unique Storyline was definitely the "Initiator"...'
The moment Bi-hyeong's thoughts reached that point,
he excused himself from Mi-na and borrowed the training room.
Once inside and checking the details,
the same message from before appeared.
Legends accumulate with every step.
'No way... Is this ability related to folklore?'
Until now, he'd thought they were just tied to Main or Side Storylines.
And understandably so—
in Solitary Chronicle, as far as he knew, Storylines were only the quests handed out.
But not anymore.
'Folklore. Oral traditions passed down through the ages.'
The names varied.
Tales. Legends. Or,
'...Myths.'
The root of it all was simply "stories."
Now he saw it—the foundation of the second Unique Storyline lay in "folklore."
"Argh... How the hell was I supposed to figure this out!?"
In the end, if he hadn't cooperated—no, even if he had, if he hadn't picked folklore, this ability wouldn't have shone until after the ending?
He'd gone through hell to earn this Unique Storyline, only to nearly waste it until the end?
For Bi-hyeong, it was enough to make his neck stiffen in shock.
'...Well. Now that I know, I can make better use of it.'
Stories build with each step, so he'd have to tread carefully.
One slip, and he might end up with legends of evil spirits or demons.
'...Main Storyline performance rewards will now fuel my folklore, right?'
Combined with the Initiator's effects, he'd pull far ahead of everyone else.
The true "Main Storyline" those who summoned him to this world had in mind—after the ending.
He had to prepare for it.
'...No. That's still in the future. For now, focus on the Storylines I know.'
Worrying about some uncertain point years away could leave him burned by immediate threats.
Bi-hyeong calmed his mind and stepped out of the training room.
"Thanks, Mi-na. You must've been exhausted nursing me all this time."
"Mm. It was nothing."
Huh?
Why did "exhausted from nursing me" get that response?
'...What's going on?'
Why were Mi-na's eyes gleaming with that same eerie, bewitching glint from when she'd unleashed her nation-toppling beauty?
Bi-hyeong shuddered with an inexplicable sense of crisis.
Looked like
he'd have to sleep in the dorm from now on.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Leaving Mi-na behind—smacking her lips with unexplained regret—
Bi-hyeong returned to his dorm.
On the way, the dorm warden grabbed him, asking if his body was alright,
proof of just how frantically Mi-na must've spread the news.
'Guess that means she was really worried.'
Bi-hyeong swallowed a hollow chuckle, nodded appropriately to the warden, and entered his assigned dorm.
My room after three days.
Feeling an inexplicable comfort, he released all the Hundred Ghosts members from the shadows.
"Phew! Elder! Are you alright now!?"
"Boss. You scared us collapsing like that."
Eoduk-i and Dueok-i rushed over first with those words,
and behind Dueok-i, the other three goblins watched him with worried expressions.
"I'm a bit better. Seems like backlash from my technique."
Bi-hyeong smiled brightly at Dueok-i.
"Not your fault, so no need to mope."
"...Understood."
Dueok-i apparently thought his collapse was because of the aura he'd wrapped around him.
Of course, there had been some backlash from that,
'But compared to the yin-yang crossroads, it's a drop in the bucket.'
If the clash of yin and yang was like getting hit by a dump truck,
Dueok-i was just a bicycle bumping into him?
Hmm... Both hurt.
"Anyway, I'll be resting and healing my internal injuries for a while."
Dueok-i nodded vigorously in agreement.
"Wise decision. A superior must be healthy for his subordinates to sleep soundly. As the master of Hundred Ghosts, please take care."
"Yeah, yeah. You're learning fast."
He ruffled Dueok-i's childlike hair and headed into the training room.
Dueok-i yelped in shock.
"Didn't you just say you were resting!?"
"Healing internal injuries is the point of resting, so isn't this resting?"
"Qi and blood don't improve just from circulating energy a lot. You need proper rest for resilience to build and natural recovery to...
Are you even listening?"
Despite Dueok-i's worried words, Bi-hyeong sat in lotus position.
A boss should heed loyal advice from his subordinates,
but Bi-hyeong had something urgent to check.
'Lower dantian, Demon Core.'
This Unique Storyline's awakening was thanks to the souls dwelling in the Demon Core.
So, surely 'Host of Demons' was connected to it somehow?
'It's my body. I need to investigate.'
Considering the yokai's temperament, it might see his injuries as the perfect chance.
...It tried to take over before, right? Better be prepared.
"Just give me a moment. I'll just observe."
With that, he sat in lotus position and focused his mind on his lower dantian.
Within the flow of the celestial realm, he saw a space like a dark night sky.
And there, pale clusters of light floated like fireflies.
Nothing else unusual.
The yokai's temperament was quiet, the surrounding energy serene.
'Tch. This isn't like it. What's going on?'
Come to think of it, something had been off since the negotiation table.
Its presence had suddenly surged alone, showing signs of being subdued—or perhaps impatient.
'What is it? Does it have something urgent too?'
It had been the same when it tried seizing control in the library monstrosity's domain.
Hasty, with a firm goal.
That's why this current stillness felt like the calm before the storm.
'Whatever. I won't yield control.'
Whooo─!
Suddenly, an eerie wind seemed to blow through the dantian's landscape.
Now it felt like the yokai he knew. Bi-hyeong smiled faintly.
"Well then... You're the new friends living in my body, right?"
Ignoring the subdued yokai temperament, he turned to the newly arrived soul lights.
Floating energies like fireflies.
The wills and minds one might call children's souls had departed, leaving pure energy.
"Not quite yin energy—it's warm."
Yet too cool to call yang.
Bi-hyeong sent spiritual power into one of the soul lights.
Woooong.
It resonated warmly, glowing bright crimson.
'Now yin.'
With yokai power, a chilling sensation amplified, frosting it blue.
'I see. Energy belonging to neither side.'
Yet it responded to either yin or yang energy sent its way.
The moment Bi-hyeong defined this energy,
"Hup."
he lifted it to the sky etched in his dantian.
"Like stars."
Beautiful stars shining in that dark night sky.
The current time was yin-filled night, cool to the touch,
but infusing spiritual power to shift to day amplified the warmth.
'Through these energies, the efficiency of my own energies increases.'
Bi-hyeong imprinted that imagery into the colorless formation building his lower dantian.
Circulating yang energy through his body, it nurtured his qi and blood with even denser activation than before.
The same went for yin.
'If I use this right... I could recover from my internal injuries in three days?'
These newly acquired stars.
Putting them to full use, Bi-hyeong immersed himself in cultivation.
Thus, three days passed.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Kuhhh...!"
Three days later, loosening his stiff legs, Bi-hyeong rose and stretched grandly.
Crack!
"Ow. Look how stiff I am."
How did they do closed-door training with such mental fortitude?
In the game, exorcists sat in meditation for a year or two until enlightenment.
"It's not a method suited to yokai."
Bi-hyeong turned at Dueok-i's voice.
The goblin had sat in lotus position beside him, regulating his energy.
Their eyes met, tinged with alarm.
"Yokai inherently prioritize activity. That's the way to erode the boundaries between Demon Core and body, activating them further."
"I see."
"In other words, Boss is different from ordinary yokai. You wield both yang and yin freely."
"Because I'm a half-demon?"
"What kind of nonsense..."
Dueok-i shook his head in disbelief.
"If every half-demon in the world was like that, they'd have conquered it by now."
In reality, they were awkward existences belonging nowhere.
That's why the boss before him was so fascinating.
"Recovering from internal injuries this fast—even famed yokai couldn't match it."
"Got lucky. Thanks to what I gained this time. I even considered using the panacea."
True story.
Internal injuries counted as status ailments.
The panacea could handle it somehow.
'Plus, I'd gain some resistance to them.'
It lingered in the qi and blood as a special property,
hardening to protect against future injuries.
He'd debated it at first,
but stopped as his body improved on its own.
'If my body is this exceptional, better to get something else.'
Besides, this was his first internal injury, from his own attack.
'Any future ones will probably be from my own attacks too.'
The yin-yang crossover's power was beyond mere resistance.
Higher resistance tiers might change that, but who waits that long?
'Repeat this a few times, and resistance will build soon enough.'
He could acquire it naturally, so why waste the one-time panacea?
Thus, Bi-hyeong escaped his injuries on his own.
"So, classes starting tomorrow?"
"Yeah. But first, something to do."
"Something?"
"The warehouse."
Bi-hyeong summoned the Goblin Club and emptied all its contents.
"Last chance, so time to shake it down completely."
Time to feed the club.
'And since it's the last chance.'
That pillar he hadn't seen before.
He'd find it no matter what.