Academy Terror (6)
"First, I apologize for having misunderstood you."
The principal's clone bowed his head without resistance.
Once Kang Ye-eun had collapsed, the principal—who had been watching the entire situation—offered Sejin an apology.
"Haha, I'm glad the misunderstanding has been cleared up."
But why had the principal failed to bring down Kang Ye-eun, whom even a mere first-year like Sejin had handled without much difficulty?
He voiced the question exactly as it formed.
The principal let out a hollow laugh.
"Setting aside the fact that first-year Baek Sejin's skill far surpasses that of any academy graduate… why I failed to defeat that demon contractor.
There are two reasons. First, this clone is the one into which I invested the least power.
Second, if I had unleashed my full strength I could have killed her, but I risked destroying these facilities as well."
Ah, so my skill really is that outstanding?
Another question rose midway through.
If he had been so worried about the facilities being destroyed, why not send a stronger clone from the start? Why deliberately send a weak one and struggle?
"You're saying the weakest clone was deployed to a place this important?"
The principal's clone nodded as he answered.
"That's right. This place is normally protected by barriers, so there was no need for concern.
But this time was different. So I sent a clone just in case—and it happened to be the weakest one. As you know, monsters were pouring in outside."
"I see."
"If you understand, then head back up."
"Ah, yes."
As Sejin turned and began climbing the stairs toward the surface, the principal's clone called after him.
"I will not pry into how you knew of this place or why you came. But remember that I will continue to watch you."
"Haha, what an honor."
He had been a little worried about how to brush the matter off; this was a relief.
The incident was over.
With Kang Ye-eun down, the monsters summoned through Gamigin's authority ceased to appear, and the black mages alone could not withstand the academy's strength.
The crisis had been resolved far faster than in the original story.
The principal personally handed Kang Ye-eun over to the police who had arrived on the scene.
The police have quite a few strong ability users as well.
Sejin thought as much while watching the officers cut down monsters alongside the academy's people.
It made sense, of course.
If an ability user committed a crime, how were ordinary people supposed to subdue them?
Guns usually settled the matter, but matching the officers' physical capabilities to those of the criminals at least kept the police from getting hurt as often.
Incidentally, the original novel had never even mentioned that Kang Ye-eun was inside the academy.
Did that mean that in the original she had defeated the principal's clone and escaped the dormitory basement unharmed?
Probably.
When Sejin had arrived, Kang Ye-eun had clearly held the upper hand.
The principal's body was already half-transparent and wavering, proof that the clone was the weakest of them all, while Kang Ye-eun, though exhausted, had not looked particularly bad.
But why had Kang Ye-eun wanted to see the Philosopher's Stone?
Had she intended to create something similar?
Had she staged all of this simply to learn the structure of the original Philosopher's Stone that served as the prototype?
If so, her actions made sense.
It explained why she had bothered to infiltrate the academy and try to reach the dormitory basement instead of examining the stones in other cities.
The Philosopher's Stones installed in other cities and schools were modified, degraded versions of the main unit housed at the academy.
Several functions had been stripped away and performance lowered.
Perhaps she had already seen those lesser stones and been disappointed.
If that was why she had sought the academy's original…
In the original story she had surely seen the main unit.
She would not have been able to steal the Philosopher's Stone itself, but she would have learned its structure.
Then Gamigin would have passed that information to her true contractor, who might have used it to create something.
But did Gamigin's real contractor ever appear in the original?
…As far as he remembered, no.
It was a story he could not know for certain yet.
Not until he met Gamigin's true contractor himself, or until that person came looking for him.
"Kang Ye-eun herself seems rather weak for a contractor of one of Solomon's Seventy-Two Demons. Even if the contract was a fake, a contract is still a contract."
Indeed. Yet even with that meager authority she poured forth so many monsters, so Gamigin must have intervened. That horse-headed one must have been quite curious, it seems.
"Well, it is one of the pillars supporting Korea. In a way, Gamigin taking an interest is…"
"Korea's pi—what pillar?"
"Ah, you've arrived."
Sejin had been speaking with Marbas when Seong Hyeon approached.
He had climbed up to a rooftop no one else paid any attention to—how had the other boy known?
Even the protagonist needed time to think, it seemed.
And when one needed to think, the rooftop was the place.
"So, what were you muttering about?"
"Nothing of importance. Perhaps a day will come when you see it for yourself."
"A day when I see it myself…?"
Seong Hyeon wore a blank, uncomprehending expression.
"By the way, monsters invading the academy is truly startling."
"Right… Though the academy has always had plenty of spies and infiltrators trying to get in. Most of them never even made it through the gates, of course."
"Haha, now that you mention it, that is true."
The academy had long been a frequent target of such terrorist attempts; today's attack was hardly a unique event.
But from this year onward the attempts would grow worse.
Because the protagonist had enrolled.
"Anyway, why didn't you answer your phone? I've been looking for you forever."
"Ah, is that so?"
Sejin pulled his phone from his pocket.
He had set it to silent so it would not interfere with combat and had forgotten to switch it back.
When he turned it on he saw several missed calls from Seong Hyeon and Lee Jiwoo, a check-in message from Lee Yeonsul, and more than a dozen calls from Kim Gabyul…
He squeezed his eyes shut.
Watching him, Seong Hyeon carefully spoke again.
"But… who was that woman earlier? The one with the gray hair."
Seong Hyeon must have seen the police arrive, restrain Kang Ye-eun, and drag her away.
The officers had marched openly into the academy grounds; anyone paying attention would have witnessed the scene.
Though late, the police force that finally arrived consisted of powerful ability users and had been a great help in clearing out the remaining monsters.
In the original story the police had probably played an even larger role.
This time they had arrived a little late, but in the original the fighting would still have been at its fiercest when they showed up—making their arrival perfectly timed.
The original had even described the students breathing sighs of relief the moment the police appeared, then fighting the monsters side by side with them.
Of course the news had still bashed the police for arriving too late, but that was another matter.
"I saw her as well, but… I truly cannot deduce what sort of person she was."
"Yeah?"
Seong Hyeon's expression gradually hardened. After a moment he said he would be going and left.
The monsters that had suddenly poured in were truly… horrific.
I had steeled myself for something like this when I enrolled at the academy, but far more monsters arrived than I had expected.
First-, second-, and third-years, the teachers, and the police had all joined forces and wiped them out, yet the academy grounds were already carpeted with monster corpses.
And then there was Baek Sejin—that man was a problem as well.
In the middle of fighting the endless stream of monsters, I had spotted him heading toward the dormitory.
Only then did I realize it.
Baek Sejin had not been fighting alongside us.
When we first leapt from the bridge to face the monsters, he had not jumped all the way down with us, and for a moment I had wondered why.
Even when the first-, second-, and third-years gathered to clear the monsters, he was nowhere to be seen.
So I had decided my earlier impression of his combat strength was pure delusion—that he was actually weak.
I assumed he had simply evacuated with the other students.
That was why the shock hit so hard when he alone cut through the monsters and reached the dormitory.
Not long after he entered the building, the monsters stopped appearing and every last one of them died.
My suspicion deepened.
Had he actually planned this terror attack, or at least taken part in it?
It might sound absurd, but my instincts were screaming it.
That he was hiding a secret, and that the secret would be devastating.
Of course this was only my gut feeling; the truth could just as easily be that he had eliminated the mastermind behind the monsters.
In that case he would be a hero.
And the mastermind would be the woman who had emerged from the dormitory with the principal.
Yet when the two of us spoke alone on the rooftop, he answered as if he knew nothing about her.
He even spoke as though he had first seen her only when the principal handed her over to the police.
Even though he must already have seen her inside the dormitory.
At that moment I froze.
Because his smile felt like that of a cunning snake.
Because those narrowed eyes of his made me fear whatever secret they were hiding.
I know it's wrong to doubt people, but…