Chapter 5
Translator: True Detective
I Became a Martial God (2)
The moment the bell announcing the start of class rang, item 5 of the rulebook I had read a little while ago came to mind.
This school has a 40-minute class period and a 10-minute break time like any other elementary school. And the classes here are so dangerous that ordinary humans must not attend them.
I don't know in what way the classes are dangerous to humans. The anomalies could physically attack humans, or there could be mental damage without physical harm.
Ultimately, if the bell signaling the end of break time rings, one must get away from the classrooms. If you stay still in a classroom, you will naturally end up attending the class.
The problem is that the break time has just ended.
'If the time all anomalies leave the classroom is break time, and conversely, the time all anomalies return to the classroom is class time...'
A chilling thought flashed through my mind.
It was definitely lucky that I brought Han Sungyoon into an empty classroom when we first entered this place, but conversely, it means that all the anomalies here will now flock to this classroom where Han Sungyoon and I are.
Since there are multiple classrooms, not every single anomaly will pack into this narrow classroom, but seeing as it claims to be a school, it is certain that at least ten to twenty entities will enter.
'Avoiding a battle is a lost cause.'
I drew up my Inner Qi and spread my Qi Sense. Since it was a situation where I had to engage in close combat with multiple anomalies, I increased its density and precision rather than its range.
Counting just the anomalies visible through the hallway windows right now was four, and adding the anomalies rapidly approaching this way, I had to kill at least twenty-seven anomalies.
'It would have been nice to have at least a mop or a broom.'
I quickly scanned the classroom, but unfortunately, no tools that could be used as weapons were in sight. It was a situation where I had to move swiftly, trusting only my own body.
'Still, it's not entirely impossible.'
My Inner Qi is plentiful, and my body is fine. Even though there is the difficulty of having to take care of Han Sungyoon, a non-combatant, it's something worth trying somehow.
"Mr. Han Sungyoon, listen carefully. The anomalies are going to swarm this way from now on. We have to somehow break through them and head to the nurse's office on the 1st floor." "Y-yes?! How do we break through those monsters?!" "Don't worry, and absolutely do not stray far from me. I will do all the fighting."
There is nothing Han Sungyoon can do here anyway. Rather, if he steps forward to do something, he might end up holding me back.
Therefore, Han Sungyoon must never stray far from me. I can protect him if he is nearby, but if he gets far away from me, it will be difficult to help him.
Trust me no matter what happens. Never leave my vicinity.
I repeatedly emphasized these two things for both our sakes.
"Then, we will depart. Stick right behind me and run with all your might." "U-understood!"
Perhaps having clearly realized the fact that he would die if he fell off or lagged behind, tension entered the body of Han Sungyoon as he nodded with a resolute expression.
'I guess I don't have to worry about him tripping or stumbling out of nervousness.'
Swallowing those thoughts inwardly, I threw the closed classroom door wide open.
If asked to pass through a place full of wild beasts like bears or tigers bare-handed, most people would ask if you were crazy.
Han Sungyoon was the same. From the perspective of someone who had almost lost his life to the anomalies here just a few minutes ago, this operation was incredibly reckless.
If something like this could be called an operation, Japan would have probably become a legend for defeating the United States in World War II by now.
However, inevitably following Kim Sihyeon out of the classroom, Han Sungyoon had no choice but to doubt his two eyes.
"What are you doing? Hurry up and follow me."
A human stands against monsters. It is as reckless an act as a samurai gripping a sword and charging in front of a soldier with a gun.
It is a fight that absolutely cannot be won. It is a meaningless, dog's death.
He was certainly thinking that way, yet.
'Is that... truly a human like me?'
When he stomped his foot heavily, a wavelength of unknown power swept the surroundings, destroying the anomalies' balance. He moved like a leaf fluttering in the wind, adjusting the distance precariously as if almost touching but not quite.
'That wasn't all.'
Swinging his arms as busily as his feet, he deflected the attacks of the swarming anomalies this way and that. Not stopping there, he even counterattacked, deflecting an incoming anomaly's attack onto another anomaly.
Crucially, every time he extended his fist or foot straight out to attack.
—Bang!
"■■■■■?!"
The anomalies' bodies burst like balloons touched by a needle, collapsing with short death throes.
"Crazy...!"
Even while gritting his teeth and running after Kim Sihyeon, Han Sungyoon could not hide his astonishment.
A gasp flowed out naturally at the sight unfolding before his eyes, as if it was trying to shatter the doubts he harbored inside head-on.
'He didn't come up with such an operation for nothing!'
The anomalies, which could easily kill a human like a bug even if there was only one, were being massacred in droves.
It is fundamentally reckless for a human to lunge at an anomaly. This is because humans are weaker than anomalies, and anomalies are stronger than humans.
Conversely, if a human becomes stronger than an anomaly, the fight between human and anomaly ceases to be a reckless endeavor. It was reckless because it was dangerous, so if a human is stronger than an anomaly, the anomaly is no longer dangerous from that point on.
Just how many anomalies did he kill as he advanced like that?
"A-all these many anomalies..." "It's a relief they weren't as strong as I thought."
The number of anomalies, which had begun to gradually decrease at some point, now left not a single one behind. Only the corpses of what were once anomalies lay gruesomely scattered everywhere.
"Originally, schools usually attach a sign above each room to distinguish the classroom's purpose, but perhaps because it's a school of anomalies, I can't read the writing on the signs."
To Han Sungyoon, it was an unbelievable sight even after seeing it with his own eyes, but Kim Sihyeon calmly surveyed the surroundings as if talking about a natural outcome.
"Now let's find the nurse's office on the 1st floor. I've killed most of the dangerous anomalies, so it will probably be safe."
Having killed this many anomalies, wouldn't he be the true danger to the anomalies instead?
Barely swallowing the words that had risen to his chin, Han Sungyoon nodded silently and trailed after Kim Sihyeon, who took the lead again.
Of course, it wasn't that he had no thoughts while following behind.
'He can't even read the signs, so how does he plan to find the nurse's office?'
No matter how much he thought about it, Han Sungyoon believed the only way to find the nurse's office among the many classrooms on the 1st floor was to open doors at random.
Is there some special method to figure out where the nurse's office is?
As he was following Kim Sihyeon with those thoughts, he stopped in front of a classroom in a secluded corner of the 1st floor.
"It's probably here. Unlike the other classrooms, there is exactly one presence felt from inside."
The nurse's office usually has only one school nurse.
Occasionally, an injured student might visit, but there's no way anomalies, which couldn't even properly imitate a human's appearance let alone school life, would show such a realistic aspect.
Having made a quite plausible deduction, Kim Sihyeon told him to wait in front of the door for a moment, then immediately opened the door and went inside.
"■■■■■■■?"
Muttering in an unknown language, the anomaly approached as if asking something.
Seeing that it was wearing a white coat and the bed-like facilities inside, it definitely seemed he had found the right nurse's office.
And, just like the contents written in the rulebook, Kim Sihyeon, who silently approached the School Nurse...
"It'll sting a bit."
Without giving the School Nurse time to react to those short words.
—Pop!
He flicked a finger concentrated with inner energy, blowing off its head in a single strike.
"Now let's find the early leave passes and go."
The subjugation of Yeongshin Elementary School ended just like that.
"This is driving me crazy, really."
A woman with deep dark circles and a tired impression muttered with a scowl. Her hair, brittle from overwork, hung down to around her lower back.
The golden name tag attached to the left chest area of the dress shirt she was wearing revealed her position.
[Mystic Management Bureau] [Head of Human Resources - Kang Yuna]
"Due to the sudden complete neutralization of the Mount Geumjeong Forked Path, I'm already dying of busyness just from resetting the danger levels and investigating..."
As if her fate was twisted, this time a report came up that an incident similar to the Mount Geumjeong Forked Path had occurred at Yeongshin Elementary School.
'A young man who looks to be in his early 20s.'
The beginning was ordinary. It was a contact from someone who had entered Yeongshin Elementary School and miraculously succeeded in returning alive.
In most cases, the Bureau would meet such survivors in person, conduct an interview, and use amnestic agents to erase their memories of experiencing the anomalous phenomenon under the pretext of psychological treatment.
Because in any case, ultimately, various mysteries including anomalies should not yet be exposed to this world as they are.
However, the testimony of the man named Han Sungyoon, who survived Yeongshin Elementary School this time, was completely different from those of the people who had returned alive from Yeongshin Elementary School up until now.
"He was a guy who looked about my age, but he was really incredibly strong. When he stomped his foot, the anomalies staggered, and he just beat the anomalies to death with his punches and kicks. He even seemed to have clairvoyance or something, correctly guessing exactly how many anomalies were behind closed doors!"
An overwhelming martial prowess that was hard to view as human. The eradication of the anomalous phenomenon and the rescue of a survivor using such martial prowess.
Looking only at the results, it was extremely positive. It was proof that humanity might not just be helplessly suffering against anomalies forever, and furthermore, it meant there was a high possibility that such a capable figure possessed a normal moral compass.
The problem was that not only could the man's identity not be figured out, but even his detailed purpose and motives were unknown.
'He said he killed all of them until no more anomalies came out. It is highly probable that Yeongshin Elementary School has also fallen into a state of complete neutralization, just like the Mount Geumjeong Forked Path.'
Since there was no mention of encountering the Principal and Vice Principal entities, it was difficult to hastily issue a complete neutralization judgment, but in truth, without the subordinate Teacher and Student entities, the subjugation of those specific entities wouldn't be that difficult of a task either.
The terrifying aspect of the Principal and Vice Principal entities lay solely in their ability to freely control the anomalies belonging to Yeongshin Elementary School; their inherent martial prowess was not at an absurd level.
What is there to fear from a general who has lost all his soldiers? The subjugation of the Principal and Vice Principal, whose controllable anomalies had disappeared, was not a difficult task for the Bureau either.
'However, the method of attack is different. Most of the anomaly corpses recovered from the Mount Geumjeong Forked Path had slashing and piercing wounds from a sword, but this time he said he beat them to death with strikes...'
Was the being who neutralized the Mount Geumjeong Forked Path and Yeongshin Elementary School the same person, or were there simply two or more individuals with mighty power?
Either way, it was not welcome news for the Bureau. To the Bureau, which sought to conceal and control mysteries, an unidentified figure was practically half a risk factor.
'This headache is killing me.'
The survivor, Han Sungyoon, had already had his memories related to Yeongshin Elementary School erased by the Bureau, been given plausible fake memories, and been sent back to his original area of residence.
Since he showed no particular abnormal symptoms, she figured she could just dispatch a few agents to investigate Yeongshin Elementary School and then close this case as well.
Her hand, which was calmly clearing tasks one by one, stopped over a certain document.
"...This again."
A single document recording the victim's personal information, the identified mystery, the progress course, and other details.
The personal information of the victim recorded on the document belonged to a complete stranger Kang Yuna had never seen before, but at least the mystery that took that victim's life was familiar.
An anomalous phenomenon that occurs using a human's dream as a medium. Among mysteries categorized as such, it was famously known as one of the most wicked.
"Monkey Dream."
The victim recorded in the document had already progressed through the Monkey Dream twice. It was essentially a life with a terminal sentence where death was confirmed the moment they dreamt the Monkey Dream for the third time.
'Seeing that the document came to the HR department instead of another department, did a Bureau agent get swept up in the Monkey Dream?'
Because it is an anomalous phenomenon for which a solution does not yet exist, there is no way for the Bureau to help either.
They could only thank the agent for their dedication to humanity thus far, and provide as much support as possible in various ways so they could spend their remaining time without regrets.
The content of the document that came up was also about the retirement of the agent who had received a mystic terminal sentence, and the budget approval needed for their subsequent support.
'...If it's the person who solved the Forked Path and Yeongshin Elementary School, could they also solve the Monkey Dream?'
Kang Yuna vigorously shook her head at the thought that unintentionally popped up while approving the document.
As the HR Head of the Bureau, a mindset of relying too much on external personnel was not good.