The Clown Laughs Endlessly (1)
The infirmary. While Shin Suyeon was in the middle of treatment, Han Yuri burst through the door.
"Yuri!"
"How is he?"
"Well… um…."
Just as Choi Ahyeon tried to explain, the healer cut in.
Despite appearances, only major bones were fractured. With two weeks of treatment, he should recover completely with no lasting effects.
"…Thank you."
The healer cast one final skill and then stepped aside to give them space.
"Where’s Seonghyun?"
"…He left."
"He left?"
Han Yuri bit her lip and nodded slowly. While Lee Seonghyun had been cleaning up the trash, he’d found a single note tucked deep inside an envelope.
[Come to the outdoor sparring arena at 10 p.m. on the 12th.]
A duel. It was an Academy rule created so that conflicts between students could be resolved internally. Neither students nor professors were allowed to interfere.
"This is basically a public execution, isn’t it?"
"Yeah. He’s provoking us like this because he’s afraid people will call him a pathetic coward."
Han Yuri recalled the conversation from earlier.
After that single sentence, he had disappeared somewhere.
"We haven’t been able to reach him since."
"I see… Hold on a second."
Choi Ahyeon pulled out her phone and dialed a number. The call went straight to voicemail.
"Professor Irena isn’t picking up either…"
"……"
A growing sense that the whole situation was slipping out of their control settled over them. But one thing was certain.
"For now, let’s focus only on her. And you—don’t wander off anywhere. Stay right here."
"Okay."
If Lee Seonghyun said he had a plan, his judgment was usually right. Still, a faint thread of anxiety remained.
I’ve never seen him like that before.
A smile that carried neither bloodlust nor rage. That was exactly why it had looked so terrifying.
I just have to trust him and wait.
There was nothing else she could do.
BANG!
Kim Seongho slammed his fist down on his desk.
"What the hell did you just say?"
"Out of twenty workshops, ten have been raided…."
"Fuck!"
The Baekho Guild’s human trafficking operation. On the guild master’s orders, Kim Seongho had taken over the smaller guilds and was running the entire business. And now ten of those workshops had been attacked.
"Who the hell is behind this? Is it the Mireung Guild again?"
"Yes, sir. Not just Mireung—the Sangpyeong Guild and the Chain Guild are tearing into us too."
"Goddamn it! How the fuck did they find our secret workshops?!"
Every guild involved in human trafficking was suddenly ripping into one another. It was as if they had all coordinated the strikes at the exact same time.
"What about the leak? Did you find out who spilled the information?"
"That is… I’m sorry, sir."
When the secretary bowed his head, Kim Seongho ground his teeth so hard they nearly cracked.
This is dangerous.
Getting scolded by his father wouldn’t be the end of it. Last time, when he had nearly been caught raping a middle school girl, his father had barely managed to cover it up. If he screwed up again…
I might actually get disowned.
The terror of that possibility made Kim Seongho chew his nails frantically.
"I have to… I have to find a way…!"
While he was racking his brain, another urgent voice cut in.
"Young master! We just received word that Workshop 15 is under attack!"
"What?!"
Workshop 15. Jeong-ah…!
She wasn’t the fiancée his family had arranged. She was the woman he truly loved. Because his father opposed their relationship, he had hidden her away in Workshop 15 for the time being—and now that decision had come back to bite him.
The two of them rushed to the scene.
A small abandoned factory was engulfed in flames.
"Fuck! You, get over there and put out the fire first!"
"Yes, sir!"
Praying desperately that she was safe, Kim Seongho charged inside. Then he froze in place.
"W-what the…."
The average rank of the guild members managing the trafficking operation was between C and D. Not particularly high, but certainly not low either.
Yet.
"Fuck… what the hell is this…."
A massacre. A slaughter was unfolding here.
Twenty hunters were being cut down without mercy. Blades sliced through flesh. Arrows pierced bodies. And still, the man in the robe moved as if nothing could touch him, carving through the hunters one by one.
"Die, you bastard! Gaaah!"
"What the fuck is this guy—urgh!"
Every swing claimed another life. Was it a difference in rank? No. This was…
A difference in realm.
Swordsmanship optimized purely for killing. A style stripped of all unnecessary theory, refined solely through real combat.
Slice.
"Khaaak!"
Flowers of blood bloomed. His subordinates fell one after another, unable to resist or even put up a proper struggle. And yet Kim Seongho could not move a single step.
It was like a wave. The moment he reached out even a little, his instincts screamed that he would die.
In the end, every single guild member lay sprawled across the floor. The man retrieved a large black bag from somewhere. It was big enough to fit an entire person inside.
He set the bag down in front of him and removed his robe.
"L-Lee Seonghyun?"
A face he had never expected to see. Kim Seongho’s brain momentarily shut down.
A languid smile. Lee Seonghyun was smiling. Not a smile twisted by rage, not a burst of maniacal laughter. He simply smiled. Lazily. Comfortably. He smiled.
"Thanks for the gift."
"……"
"I was originally planning to just throw you in prison. But your little present made me change my mind."
Words that made no sense. He pressed his blood-red blade against the bag.
"I’ll grind you into dust."
"……"
"Everything you’ve built. Your social standing. The person you love. All of it."
Lee Seonghyun smiled.
"I’ll turn it all into nothing."
The moment those words left his mouth, his sword stabbed into the bag. Blood seeped out from the fabric.
"Mmmphhh!"
A woman’s scream, muffled as if her mouth had been taped shut. A voice Kim Seongho knew all too well.
"Jeong-ah!"
When Kim Seongho tried to rush forward, Lee Seonghyun twisted the blade.
"Mmmphhh!"
"You know things get a lot less fun if you come any closer, right?"
"Ugh! You fucking psycho!"
"Oh please. Anyone listening would think I’m the bastard here."
Lee Seonghyun let out a small chuckle and produced six daggers in his hand.
"Want to make a bet with me?"
"A bet…?"
Spinning the six daggers between his fingers, Lee Seonghyun continued.
"You know the game Popper, right? If this woman is still alive after I stick all six of these in, I’ll hand her over to you."
"You’re insane… Jeong-ah is a civilian! She’s not even a hunter!"
"Exactly."
Lee Seonghyun’s calm eyes fixed on Kim Seongho.
"So why did you do that to Shin Suyeon, who’s also a civilian?"
"……"
"All right~ Let’s begin."
With those words, Lee Seonghyun drove the first dagger into the bag.
"Mmmphhh!"
The bag thrashed wildly. The second dagger.
"Uuuugh!"
This time the scream was louder than ever, as if he had struck a vital point. The bag jerked violently. The third.
"Mmmphhh…!"
It sounded like he had pierced a lung. The breathing inside grew fainter and fainter. Then—
Thud.
Kim Seongho dropped to his knees.
"I’m… sorry…"
"What? I can’t hear you."
"I overstepped my bounds… I’m sorry. I’ll do anything. Anything at all. So please, just spare Jeong-ah…."
His mind had completely collapsed. Kim Seongho’s face was half-gone, and his whole body was trembling. The extreme terror of possibly losing the woman he truly loved. It was probably the first time in his life he had ever felt anything like it.
Noticing that, the corners of Lee Seonghyun’s mouth curved even higher.
"What exactly did you do wrong?"
"I pushed a monster onto you… and threw a dagger at you…."
"And?"
"I… assaulted Shin Suyeon…."
Perhaps sensing Lee Seonghyun’s mood growing colder, Kim Seongho pressed his forehead to the ground.
Desperation. Earnestness. Even a piece of trash like Kim Seongho was capable of such emotions.
"Good. I understand perfectly."
Lee Seonghyun left those words behind and drove every remaining dagger into the black bag.
"Mmmphhhhh!"
The bag, which had been thrashing violently, suddenly went limp. Lee Seonghyun untied the end of the bag and tossed it toward Kim Seongho.
Thud.
A woman soaked in blood spilled out in front of him. Kim Seongho’s eyes shook violently as he looked at her.
"Jeong-ah…?"
Even when he called her name, she didn’t move. Her body temperature was steadily dropping. In a hoarse voice, Kim Seongho asked,
"W… why…."
"Did I ever say I would spare her if you apologized?"
At those words, spoken with a casual shrug and a smile, Kim Seongho’s sanity finally snapped.
"I’ll kill you!"
Haste.
His accelerated fist flew toward Lee Seonghyun in the blink of an eye. But—
THUD!
He could not overcome the Thunder God. Clutching his stomach where breathing had become impossible, Kim Seongho fell to his knees. Lee Seonghyun grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up.
"I’ll kill you… I swear I will!"
At Kim Seongho’s threat, Lee Seonghyun laughed as if it were pathetic.
And then—
"If you want to kill me, come to the sparring arena. That will probably be your last chance to do it."
"……"
"Set as many traps as you want. Bring every guild member you have. Use every dirty trick you can think of."
"……"
Kim Seongho’s throat was slowly being crushed. Just before he lost consciousness, Lee Seonghyun’s final words reached him.
"And I will destroy all of it."
It was a death sentence handed down by the reaper himself.
A week passed. During that time, not only Lee Seonghyun but even Professor Irena had gone completely silent. Other professors said she had taken vacation leave, but for someone acting as the interim headmaster, disappearing for an entire week was hard to understand.
And then.
The outdoor sparring arena. The spectator seats, which were usually empty except for a few flies, were packed today. Han Yuri and Choi Ahyeon had taken seats right at the front.
"Isn’t there way too many people…?"
"This is exactly what that bastard wants. He plans to publicly execute Lee Seonghyun in front of everyone."
The rumor had already spread like wildfire throughout the Academy. The story that the student council president, Kim Seongho, was personally going to discipline the insolent first-year.
"And because we’ve been bouncing in and out of D-rank missions, all the pathetic second-years saw their chance and came running."
"That’s so unfair…."
"Truly pathetic bastards. They can’t even say a word to my face."
Even as the two of them vented their frustration, time continued to pass.
Piiiik—!
The referee blew the whistle. Kim Seongho stepped into the arena.
"Seongho! Go easy on him! Don’t kill the kid!"
"Oppa! Fighting!"
"Boss! Teach that punk some discipline!"
Despite the cheers, Kim Seongho’s expression was strangely off.
"Why does that guy look like that?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
On the surface he walked with confidence, but Han Yuri’s sharp eyes didn’t miss it.
That bastard…
He’s shaking.