Overcoming!
Brrrring—
I jolted awake to the blaring of my alarm, heart hammering in my chest.
"Hah—!"
That 1.5-billion-won donation had hit far too hard. It had driven me right to the edge of qi deviation. If not for the last line of defense against being late, I might never have gotten up at all.
"I almost took another sick day…"
Even with my mind clear, the residual shock still had my Magi raging out of control. Barely holding it down, I stripped off my sweat-soaked clothes and stumbled into the bathroom, cranking the cold water all the way open.
Sssshhh—
I stood under the icy spray and chanted the words like a mantra.
…Do not fall to the Heart Demon.
I'd hoped the cold would cool my meridians even a little. Unfortunately, it was about as useful as tossing a single cup of water on a house fire. Meaningless, really.
In the end I roughly shook off the water, sat down in front of the bathroom door, and crossed my legs into a lotus position based on whatever scraps of murim knowledge I'd picked up from novels. The only thing I knew how to do was force my unstable Magi back into line my own way. So I reached for my final resort: deliberately letting Magi flood unchecked through my entire body while locking my mind into the most extreme defensive stance I could manage. Since trying to control it wasn't working anyway, I simply let go.
Right. If they'd branded me an illegal Climber and sent me a repair bill, it would've been at least twice 1.5 billion!
Yeah. With my abilities, I could make 1.5 billion in six months easy—and still have change left over!
I'm the SSS-Class Heavenly Demon. You think I can't earn that much?
Just call it taxes paid in advance!
I leaned hard on sour-grape rationalization—one of humanity's oldest, most sophisticated psychological defense mechanisms—and strained to calm the Magi once more. Through searing, full-body agony, I cycled it again and again, riding a roller coaster of injustice, rage, and self-consolation as the energy thrashed inside me. With any ordinary martial art, I would have coughed up blood and collapsed right there.
But the root of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was human emotion itself—joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure. It was the orthodox lineage of the demonic path, one that grew by feeding on extremes of feeling. And so the Magi began forcibly blasting open the meridians throughout my body.
KWAOOOOOM—!
Every time another meridian tore open, dark crimson Magi whipped through me like a storm. And then—meridians widened, one layer deeper. From the brink of qi deviation, I had wrenched out a leap in martial attainment. Explosive Magi filled every inch of me.
"I've gotten stronger…!"
I wiped the cold sweat from my brow, feeling the mighty Magi roaring through every limb.
"Whoa… I really thought I was done for."
Only now did I understand why the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was called a demonic art. If it weren't, there was no way money alone could push someone to the edge of qi deviation.
"Ugh… Never want to go through that again."
Still, the results were spectacular. The Magi packing my body was proof enough. Even in crisis, I had taken another step forward. As expected of this body.
…Though the fact that money had done this to me was a little embarrassing.
After that morning's complete mess, work time was suddenly approaching. Today I planned to go in early as planned, making up for the Friday I'd missed.
Besides, with how much stronger I'd become, the usual morning workout barely meant anything anymore.
"Ahh, screw it. Just throw something on."
I pulled out some comfortable, easy-to-move athletic wear and started getting ready. Mom had definitely told me to put some kind of stuff on my face every morning, but that knowledge had never claimed any real estate in my head, so it probably wasn't that useful. I just slapped on a mask and a hat and headed for the community center.
My body felt lighter with every step. Each stride launched me forward like a spring. I could actually feel how much this body had grown. Not that I ever wanted a repeat of the process. Absolutely not. Go through something like that twice and it wouldn't be qi deviation—it would be a one-way ticket to the afterlife.
Shuddering at the memory of my body nearly tearing itself apart, I ran in a mindless blur until I was almost there. Before stepping into the community center, I lightly slapped my cheeks to loosen the muscles in my face. I'd already used sick leave, and now I was showing up gender-swapped on top of it—if I walked in looking like a funeral, I'd only make people worry for nothing. I wasn't exactly overflowing with professional pride this late in my service, but after a year and five months of going through everything together, I didn't want to dump useless anxiety on them. So, to cut off any worried looks at the source, I deliberately cranked my energy higher than usual.
I steeled myself and walked on—and there was the Section Chief, already out first thing in the morning picking up trash around the building. Maybe it was the elevated mood, but looking at him always set off my urge to mess with him.
I killed my presence, crept carefully closer, and greeted him at full volume.
"Yo— Section Chief! Hiya!"
He flinched at the sudden voice, the trash in his hands slipping weakly to the ground, and twisted around with a spectacularly warped expression of shock.
"Don't tell me… are you Hyundo?"
"If I say I'm Hyundo, answering would simply be the natural order of things!"
"Oh, shut up! Yeah—that's Hyundo, all right."
He hadn't needed more than a few lines. The speech patterns alone convinced him instantly. As expected of someone who'd shared a year and five months with me.
Then he looked me up and down with a peculiar expression.
"What is this! Sexual harassment?"
"There you go with the nonsense again…! I was just staring because that giant frame of yours shrunk down this small!"
The Section Chief recoiled all over again.
"So do you even have an agent uniform that fits me?"
"Damn it, kid, never mind the uniform—I don't even know what I'm supposed to do with you right now…"
Looking thoroughly baffled, he explained that nothing like my case had turned up in any of the regulation manuals he'd dug through over the weekend.
"But what else am I supposed to do? I can't just not show up because my gender flipped. I've got to come in."
It wasn't as if they were going to rewrite the law for one person. He heaved another sigh and directed me into the break room.
"Oh, the kids aren't here yet?"
"You're the one who showed up weirdly early. Those brats always time it for about ten minutes before."
Apparently, skipping my morning workout had left me with spare time, so I'd arrived ahead of schedule. I yanked off the hat and mask that had been smothering my body.
The Section Chief's face went slack with shock all over again.
"Holy hell…! You're that famous Yeongdeungpo Samaritan?"
"Correct! I am none other than the famous Yeongdeungpo Heavenly Demon!"
There wasn't a shred of embarrassment left in the name Heavenly Demon. I had fully come to identify myself with it. And a Heavenly Demon, by definition, had to possess the flair of an entertainer who could overwhelm the masses.
I raised Magi along my back and, for the performance, summoned a rather adorable miniature Demon God.
The Section Chief watched, looking utterly drained.
"Haa… I saw you save people with everything you had and thought Climbers ought to look up to a real hero like that…"
He cut himself off, glancing between my face and the little Demon God putting on a show behind me, and pinched the bridge of his nose like his head hurt.
"You were just a lunatic the whole time…?"
"Excuse me? Me?"
Having broken free of the Heart Demon and advanced a full stage, my mind was in extremely normal condition, thank you very much.
"Yeah, you!"
"Aww, don't say such cold things."
"Shut it. I'm cutting you a half-day at lunch—go hit the Climber registration center and get out of my hair."
In other words, I was completely beyond anything he could manage, so I should go hear whatever answers a place like that could give me.
What kind of answers was I even supposed to get from some private institution?
"Got it for now~."
I only had three weeks left until discharge anyway. Dragging my feet a little wouldn't kill anyone.
"And hey—just because you're in a girl's body now, don't go tormenting the kids. Keep it reasonable, got it?"
"Of course~"
"Aigoo! This brat only changed into a woman on the outside—the insides got even more rotten!"
He shook his head at me with a warning, then opened the break-room door and left.
After that I half-sprawled across the sofa the community center provided, waiting for the juniors to show. Then, from far down the hall, my ears—suddenly possessed by the spirit of Super Hearing—picked up two familiar voices chatting as they approached.
I bolted upright off the sofa, killed my presence as much as possible, and padded silently behind the door to listen.
"Think Hyundo hyung's coming in today?"
"He'll show, right? A guy built that tough being sick for more than four days doesn't make any sense."
"He probably wasn't even sick. Just pulling the late-service sick-leave scam. You saw him lift when we went to the gym last time—that guy's not human. Literally not human. No way he gets sick."
…These little bastards were talking behind their senior's back? Sure, there wasn't a single real insult in there, but casually tossing around this body's name when the great one wasn't present still counted as trash-talk! And for the record, I really had almost died this morning!
…This will not stand!
I summoned the Demon God behind me again. Not the miniature version this time—the original three-headed, six-armed incarnation I'd unleashed when I slaughtered the orcs.
Footsteps drawing closer. Right before my eyes, I began winding Magi up to full pressure, preparing to unleash killing intent alongside the Demon God's oppressive aura—
Keep it reasonable, Hyundo. Please, for the love of god, KEEP IT REASONABLE!!!
As if I'd suddenly gained foresight, an image flashed through my mind of the Section Chief clutching his hair and screaming in despair.
Hoo— calm down. If I cause an accident, that already thinning hair of his is going to get even thinner…!
Once upon a time I, too, had been a mere mortal who looked at my father's sparse, thinning hair and fretted that the same fate might one day be mine. I knew that anguish well.
I'll let them off the hook. Just this once…!
And so I waved away any punishment for the two juniors.
Which left only one thing for me to do.
A spectacular entrance.
In an instant I killed the break-room lights, yanked the curtains shut, and dragged a chair into position. Legs crossed, radiating a senior's dignity (while maintaining the colossal Demon God), I took my seat.
Click—
The door opened.
"For real, that bad?"
"I'm telling you! That guy's ridiculous!"
"Huh? Why's it so dark in here? Who closed the curtains?"
I watched them through the gloom with night vision as Yeongjae groped along the wall for the light switch.
Click—
Fwoosh—
Light flooded the room. The first thing their eyes landed on was the vicious, towering Demon God…
"AAAAAH!"
"What the fuck is that!?"
Such warm, heartwarming screams. I immediately uncrossed my legs, strode toward the pair collapsed on the floor in shock, and dropped my voice an octave.
"Greetings, gentlemen. Has it been three days?"
"E… excuse me?"
"W-who are you!?"
Caught between my dazzling pink hair and S-Class looks, and the Demon God looming behind me, their eyes jittered left and right like they were having earthquakes.
"You ask who this body is? I am the Heavenly Demon!"
On cue, Magi surged upward in a brilliant display. The Demon God, moving to my will, raised all six arms and hit a front double biceps pose!
Perfect posing.
I lifted my chin with supreme confidence, folded my arms, and declared:
"And I am also your senior—Kang Hyundo!!!"
The two of them lay sprawled on the floor, souls thoroughly vacated.
Qi deviation this, Heart Demon that—
Messing with the juniors was still the most fun of all!