Chapter 171: So-hyun Was Deceived Again
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 171: So-hyun Was Deceived Again
Kalia stood for a moment, staring at the portal through which he had vanished.
He wasn’t an opponent she could never defeat in a fight. While she couldn’t be certain, she felt that with enough preparation, victory was possible.
Yet, the moment she considered him an enemy, a profound sense of unease wrapped around her—one so strong that the outcome of a battle seemed trivial in comparison.
It was a premonition bordering on certainty: if she lost, it would be a problem, but even if she won, she would be the one to regret it if she failed to snuff out his life then and there.
Someone might have called it mere cowardice, but for those who had crossed the “wall” into the higher realms, intuition was something that could never be ignored.
How should she put it?
“In the end, I gained nothing.”
Her attempt to understand him through a meeting had only yielded more questions. It seemed she would have to observe him more directly to make a proper judgment.
“Huh? Boss! What about the cadet you were going to meet?”
“Well, I did meet him. But I’m not quite sure.”
“What? I thought you were going to inspect him with an artifact?”
“Cho-hong.”
“Yes?”
“Should we make Leilan Academy our next mission site?”
“I don’t mind if that’s what you want, Boss, but what are you planning to do?”
“I’ll have to ask Abel to pull some strings. Information manipulation is Abel’s specialty, after all.”
“Ooh, then I’m all for it! The kids there are cute, and it sounds like fun.”
“Really? That’s a relief. I think Abel will hate the idea, though. As for Tae-ho… I’ll have to give him a new face.”
“Eww, is he coming too? I don’t want him there. He’s totally going to cause trouble.”
Kalia started to disagree, but then she shook her head as she thought of the man who, despite his alias as the War Demon, still acted like a child.
“I suppose so.”
Still, wouldn’t that be interesting in its own way?
She smiled faintly, thinking of the ultimate goal Arcadia harbored.
Since she felt she had tarnished her image this time, she hoped their next encounter would be a bit more favorable.
“Anyway, let’s get going! The exam is still underway, so we can play a bit more!”
“Right, let’s do that.”
* * *
The moment I stepped through the portal, I scanned my surroundings.
Fortunately, this time I had arrived at my intended destination: the Academy.
Honestly, playing tricks with portals is surprising once, but doing it twice is just overdoing it. If this were a web novel, the plot would have dragged on enough already.
“Huh? So-hyun! Why are you so late!”
Luckily, there was someone nearby to explain the situation. It was Ga-eul, who had been pacing anxiously until she spotted me.
“Ga-eul.”
I wasn’t sure what was happening, but since she wasn’t a combatant, she must have been the only one left behind.
As I rushed toward her, she flinched and blushed, seemingly startled by my sudden approach, but now wasn’t the time for that.
“Calm down. I can handle this. Just tell me what happened first.”
Ga-eul, who had been blushing in embarrassment, tilted her head as if she had heard something bizarre.
…What’s with this reaction? I was told I’d regret it if I didn’t get back to the Academy right away.
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
“…Did nothing happen at the Academy? No chaos?”
“Well, there was a bit of a fuss. But it was because you didn’t come back, so it’s fine now. I sent a group text to everyone the moment I saw you, so they’ll be here soon.”
Ga-eul said this while showing me her smartphone screen, which displayed the group message she had sent.
“Anyway, why were you so late? You look terrible. Nothing bad actually happened, right?”
I looked around, but the Academy was peaceful.
While I was debating how to answer, the others came running toward us with frantic expressions. In the end, an excuse was all that came out of my mouth.
“No, nothing major. There was a glitch with the portal, so I ended up in the wrong spot, but some external personnel helped me out right away. That’s why it took so long.”
“Ah, what the heck? Hey, do you have any idea how worried we were?”
Ha-ni approached, smiling with relief.
“Wow, we were running all over the place because we were afraid you’d been mis-teleported somewhere dangerous!”
“It’s a good thing Ga-eul decided to stay here just in case~”
It wasn’t just Ha-ni; everyone had a similar reaction. Some were even panting as if they had sprinted the whole way. The atmosphere was definitely not right for telling the truth.
If I told these worried kids that I had been casually chatting with a villain, I might become the very reason the peaceful Academy got turned upside down.
Looking around again, no one was missing. No matter how much they wanted to spare me from worry, they wouldn’t all come running to see me if a real disaster had occurred.
Wait. Don’t tell me… I had a sinking feeling. That bastard, the Lord of Myriad Worlds. Did he just scam me?
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the Academy.
Actually, this wasn’t the first time that entity had spoken to me.
Before I regained my memories, it was the being I called the “System.” It was the one that helped me when I had amnesia, informing me of the traits and titles I acquired.
Right after my regression, I thought it was just Seo-ha playing a prank because of the message she sent, but most of it had been that entity’s doing.
Thinking back, the way it occasionally cracked lame jokes was almost identical to the way it used to talk to me during my childhood, before the regression.
Since I had expected it to some extent, the fact that it spoke to me wasn’t that surprising.
However, because it was the first time since my regression that it had explicitly identified itself as the Lord of Myriad Worlds, I truly thought something catastrophic had happened.
“But So-hyun was acting really weird just now! We’re the ones who should be worried, but he was acting like he was the worried one, saying he could handle everything!”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing really happened, right?”
Ga-eul seemed to have mentioned it without much thought, but the faces of my more… intense friends hardened.
…Just you wait, Lord of Myriad Worlds.
“It’s just… I didn’t want you guys to suffer because I was late over something trivial. My phone wasn’t getting any signal, either.”
“Ah, man. You really have a knack for giving people a heart attack.”
Okay, good. Fortunately, Lilac seemed to believe me readily enough, but the others didn’t look convinced at all.
What should I do?
* * *
After everyone had dispersed, Lilac used a group chat that didn’t include Kang So-hyun to call the friends back together.
It was easy to forget because of his usual behavior, but Lilac was neither a fool nor lacking in intuition. On the contrary, he had sided with Kang So-hyun earlier precisely because he knew So-hyun was acting out of character.
“Huh? So-hyun is acting weird? But you took his side earlier.”
“Knowing So-hyun’s personality, he wouldn’t have given us an honest answer even if we asked him directly.”
It was just like when they had formed the “Group to Protect Kang So-hyun” back when he was still frail. Only this time, the matter was a bit more serious.
“The truth is… near the end of the exam, So-hyun emitted demonic energy.”
The moment the words “demonic energy” was mentioned, everyone present—except for Lee Yu-na, who, like Lilac, had sensed it—bolted upright in shock.
“It vanished immediately, so it’s probably not the kind of problem you’re thinking of, but I suspect this might be why So-hyun couldn’t return until late.”
“…Now that I think about it, it felt like the Professor was trying to block our vision back then, not So-hyun’s.”
“You mean the Professor knew?”
“Yeah. And she probably knew it was a temporary phenomenon. Otherwise, she would have tried to restrain So-hyun instead of just hiding him from our sight.”
Seeing everyone’s expressions turn incredibly grim, Lilac forced a smile to shift the mood.
“Actually, I looked it up, and it seems that if someone with a high affinity for demonic energy has been tainted by it before, their body can adapt to it. They might be fine normally, but demonic energy can leak out when they’re overwhelmed by emotions or pushed into a corner.”
That was the thing.
Lilac wasn’t a fool, but he wasn’t a genius capable of deducing the perfect answer from limited information either.
The only information he had was that So-hyun wanted to hide something, that the Professor had tried to conceal his demonic energy, and that So-hyun had a history of being exposed to a vast amount of demonic energy not long ago.
Driven by the fear that his precious friend might come to harm because of the demonic energy, Lilac had added his own background knowledge from researching demonic energy in the Academy library. Surprisingly, he had reached the exact same conclusion as Park A-ram.
In his mind, Kang So-hyun was already in a state where he might be consumed by demonic energy again if his emotions became too intense.
And unfortunately, everyone who heard this had their own reasons to believe it, albeit from completely different directions.
For instance, Kang Ha-ni had personally seen him suffering from nightmares due to extreme stress, clinging to her while calling out for his deceased mother. She had wondered what was pushing him so hard, but if that, too, was because of the demonic energy? It wasn’t just a matter of feeling sorry for him anymore.
The same went for Kim Ga-eul. She had just encountered a Kang So-hyun who seemed anxious as if some major disaster had occurred, even though they had only been apart for a short while. She had reluctantly accepted his excuse, but what if he was actually in a much more dangerous state than she thought? What if he was in a condition where he felt anxious just being away from them for a moment? Or what if he had been hurt while the Professors were talking to him separately?
Lee Yu-na had seen him directly manipulating demonic energy. She also remembered how he had looked depressed afterward, as if he had some complicated circumstances. Perhaps if he, like her, had some original connection to demons…?
“…I see. So he truly is the Consort of the Demon King. A constitution that resonates with demonic energy, combined with his talent… that would indeed be a threat.”
Cheon Yu-hak didn’t realize it, but his single comment solidified Lilac’s hypothesis as truth among them. The idea that So-hyun had a constitution perfectly suited for demonic energy was becoming a certainty.
“It’s the same with this recent drug incident. They said there was evidence that So-hyun was the target. In an incident where the mastermind was a demon, no less.”
In a situation lacking information, it was a chain of misunderstandings fueled by previous lies and circumstantial evidence. One misconception birthed another, and a premise far removed from the truth began to take root in their minds as if it were fact.
“Th-then what are we supposed to do?! Is So-hyun in big trouble now?!”
“No, that’s not it.”
Cheon Yu-hak cut off Kim Ga-eul’s panicked shout with a relatively calm tone.
“If that were the case, Lilac wouldn’t be acting like this. He probably has a plan, which is why he’s bringing this up.”
“…Exactly. This is the important part. It’s also why I pretended to go along with what So-hyun said earlier. In the end, all we have to do is make sure So-hyun doesn’t feel stressed or pressured.”
Compared to how intently everyone was listening, Lilac’s words were incredibly obvious and simple.
“…Hey, that’s a given. I thought you had some kind of breakthrough method.”
“No, it’s not just a given. What if the reason So-hyun has been pushing himself so hard lately is because of this? That means even if we do nothing, So-hyun is constantly under stress.”
“Ah, damn. That makes sense.”
“So, shouldn’t we just make him so happy that he can’t even think of anything bad?”
“…Huh?”
“What?”
Everyone voiced their confusion, but Lilac spoke with a voice full of conviction, as if this were the ultimate answer.
“If the problem is feeling negative emotions or being psychologically cornered, then we just have to keep him in a state of constant happiness so he can’t even feel those things.”
If they had been in a normal state of mind…
If they were all thinking rationally…
At least those within the realm of common sense would have argued against such nonsense.
But unfortunately, they were exhausted from the exam and were in a state of extreme emotional agitation due to their youth.
In other words…
They had completely fallen for Lilac’s plausible-sounding bullshit.
If Kang So-hyun had been there, he would have desperately denied it. He would have easily foreseen the future awaiting him.
But unfortunately, he wasn’t there, and it was his future self who would have to pay the price.
It meant the beginning of their suffocating adoration of Kang So-hyun.