Chapter 51
Terminally Ill, but It's Okay — Episode 51
Honestly, there was more than enough evidence that Kim Mi-young was a Demonkin.
"First, the building floor plan."
It had already indicated from the start that there was a Demonkin near the escape point.
"And item five of the five-paragraph operation order, Combat Service Support......."
It openly stated: no separate support will be provided, so resolve it on your own.
Of course, a Taehak student lacking practical experience might not have picked up on those details.
But if they'd kept the mission in mind and thought it through, they could have responded appropriately no matter how familiar Kim Mi-young was as their teaching assistant.
"The mission was to quickly rescue all the hostages and guide them to the escape point, after all. Not to hand them over partway....... Does that explain it well enough?"
I asked Kim Mi-young, who was currently playing the Demonkin, a question of my own.
Since she had told me to explain my reasoning, I had answered with all due sincerity.
"That's...... excellent."
Kim Mi-young nodded, wearing a strained smile more awkward than usual.
......Maybe I shouldn't have called her a Demonkin bastard.
It seemed some resentment from getting too immersed in the role-play still lingered, so I spoke carefully.
"So do we have to fight now?"
"No way."
"Ah, what a relief......."
"Still, maybe just one hit......."
"Excuse me?"
What had I just heard?
"Never mind. Go on through."
"......."
"I said go."
"......Yep."
I hurried past before Kim Mi-young could change her mind.
As soon as I reached the escape point with the three scarecrow hostages, a record appeared on the display board.
[Lap Time: 17:31.21]
[You have successfully completed the mission.]
Oh-ho. So if you did it properly, a message appeared.
This was something even I hadn't known.
Because in the original work, everyone failed, and there had not been a single person who passed.
I felt lighthearted, but I returned with a composed demeanor.
"......."
But somehow the atmosphere before I left and right after I returned was quite different.
Baek Sa-young's group was an exception; we'd built something of a relationship, so they were fairly well-disposed toward me.
The rest hung back awkwardly and seemed strangely wary of me.
When I listened for a moment, I could hear students murmuring.
"Wow, that's seriously creepy. How did he notice that?"
"That guy's definitely smart. Even if his personality's another matter."
"Who?"
"I'm talking about Park Ha-yul."
I just smiled bitterly.
The person in question didn't care at all, but watching them flip back and forth among themselves was an ugly sight.
"An achievement or something would be nice."
I clicked my tongue in disappointment as I walked back to my seat, when—
In an instant, the view ahead warped.
[Achievement-497: The Man Who Made Lee Taek-jin Stand Up Twice]
[As a reward, 10 hours are added.]
[You acquire 10 SP for the refreshing development.]
Why is this.......
Standing up itself probably wasn't the impressive part, and I wondered if it was some kind of symbolic, figurative expression, but there was no way to know.
......Well, whatever.
I decided to just be satisfied with getting SP.
Thanks to that, the pressure of having to refill as much as I spent eased a little.
* * *
The evaluations continued for two more days after that.
For the elective lecture "Understanding and Consideration of Sorcery Formulas," I finished at a level that didn't fall behind Lee Yun-ji, and the liberal arts lecture "Monster Studies" was an unexpected ambush, so I had no choice but to spend 1 SP.
The evaluation assignment was something like a dissection.
A practicum in extracting the core of Demonic Energy from the heart of a Grade 9 Monster, a Mangnyang.
[Dissection Scalpel and Metzenbaum] + [Skilled Handling]
[+Effect: You can rummage through a Monster's corpse like an expert.]
With the help of the enhanced equipment, I finished it without any particular trouble.
With that, the evaluations for every subject except individual sparring were over.
Most would be A+, so it seemed like I would easily rise to around 50th place.
I'd find out when the grade announcements and ranking changes were posted around the week after next.
"That aside......."
I was now sitting alone in the dorm, chewing over two messages I had received a little while ago.
[Victory! The kendo club "Ildoyangdan" orientation will be held today at 7 p.m. in Training Hall 9. New members are asked to attend without being late.......]
[A special lecture by artist Roberto. “Eternity of an Instant” will be held today at 7 p.m. in the club hall. A surprise gift has also been prepared for new members, so we hope many of you will attend.]
One was kendo, one was painting.
By coincidence, both events were scheduled for the same day at the same time.
Since I only had one body, I couldn't attend both.
.......
The deliberation didn't last long.
Cheon Seo-yoon had recovered to some extent, so what had become more important was Joo A-rin.
That greasy Demonkin bastard was surely waiting for an opportunity, so I could not leisurely put on kendo gear and shout “Head!”
Of course, judging by the original work, it was an incident that wouldn't occur until two weeks later....... But hadn't I already experienced it many times?
That the world didn't move according to what I knew.......
I also had to keep in mind the possibility of 4885's intervention.
"I should start preparing for that too."
Since I'd thought of it, I turned on the internet.
To prepare a blade to hold to that bastard's throat, I opened the familiar Green Window portal and searched for Gumanet.
Gumanet.
To explain briefly, it was a site that arranged illegal entry into hunting grounds.
The main users were Awakeners who had difficulty accessing hunting grounds through normal means.
For example, criminals, undocumented illegal residents, and so on. Most were people with some flaw in their status, and to a Taehak student of noble standing, it might look like a somewhat dangerous and unsuitable community, but in reality, that wasn't the case.
Because Taehak students were also prohibited from officially entering hunting grounds.
The reason was that one could not use a public status for private gain, and for that reason, there were quite a few Taehak students secretly active on Gumanet.
One of the protagonists was active there too, which was how I knew about the site.
Please set a nickname.
Anyway, out of habit I typed "Buhansi," then wondered if there was really any need for that and changed it to "Limited Lifespan."
Your nickname is Limited Lifespan.
Please check the community activity rules and press the agree button.
1. You bear full responsibility for all transactions and contracts that occur here.
2. Pursuant to item 1, this community is free from legal liability in the event of incidents or accidents, and.......
Yeah, yeah.
I quickly agreed, then looked for a broker who would arrange entry to a hunting ground.
I went into the promotion board and skimmed down the list, and before long I found a suitable person.
Poison Snake.
#Suraksan #Every Saturday #No-ID #20% #500,000 won
Here, "No-ID" meant there was no identity verification procedure, 20% was the commission rate taken from the monster-kill reward, and 500,000 won was a separate participation fee.
In other words, if you just paid 500,000 won, it didn't matter at all whether you were a ghost-like person without an ID or a Taehak student who couldn't hunt for private reasons.
I typed out a comment.
└Interested. Please send me your contact information by private message.
They'd contact me once they saw it.
For me, who had business somewhere in the Suraksan hunting field, this was the best option.
"Is that everything I needed to do?"
All the urgent matters were finished, so I checked the clock.
There were still three hours until 7 p.m.
Might as well train Samjaegong.
I plopped down on the living room floor and crossed my legs into a lotus position.
[Begin Samjaegong training.]
[Activating trait, Heightened Senses.]
As I focused on my inhales and exhales, soon my vision darkened, my senses narrowed and sharpened, my inner self deepened, and the world grew distant.
In that boundless great sea, I rose alone and dove deep, chasing the blue waves.
* * *
[Remaining Time: 19 days 23 hours 54 minutes]
A sky dyed by the sunset. The hour when white clouds drunk crimson drifted across the sky.
I entered Dodam's club hall.
After glancing around, I was about to take an empty seat when a sudden prickling sensation hit me and someone spoke.
"Ah, hello."
It was Min Young-ji.
She came over, brushing her trademark straight bangs with her left hand and adjusting her black horn-rimmed glasses with her right.
"Want to sit here?"
The seat next to me was empty, so I had said it out of courtesy, but a flicker of fluster spread across Min Young-ji's face.
Then it soon subsided, and she nodded.
"Sh-should I?"
She perched awkwardly on the edge of the seat in an uncomfortable posture.
Ah, right. She was the type who couldn't even turn down a polite offer.
I realized it, but it was already too late.
I couldn't very well tell her to leave again, so I tried to strike up a conversation as naturally as possible.
"...So you were originally interested in art?"
"Yes. It's been a hobby since I was little."
After we had continued a few more not-so-easy exchanges, a familiar voice reached me.
"An A-track gathering? Is it all right if I sit next to you?"
It was Joo A-rin.
As soon as Joo A-rin sat down, she put on a prim expression and asked me.
"You've decided to show your skills, I see. Is it because of how people around you reacted?"
"What?"
"Never mind."
What's with her.
I had my doubts, but I just let it be.
Because soon, Roberto appeared amid a huge burst of cheers.
Roberto was dressed in a check-patterned double-breasted outfit that looked like something out of the movie Kingsman, leaning on a cane.
"Nice to meet you, everyone. Many of you have come again today. Ah, if you'd like to take photos, please take them now. Posing during the lecture might be a bit difficult."
Maybe it was because Korean was so firmly established as the common language.
Click—click—
When fluent Korean came from a foreigner, camera flashes poured down as if in response.
Fortunately, unlike before, Joo A-rin didn't take out her phone, but I was still uneasy.
She was prickly to an extreme in everyday life, but when it came to her passion for art, she was like a furnace spitting flames.
If 4885 twisted the development and Roberto approached using his status as an artist as a pretext, there was a strong possibility she would fall for the temptation.
"Then shall we begin? Today's lecture topic is Impressionism."
Anyway, apart from my worries, the proceedings went smoothly.
Roberto raised his cane and pressed down gently on a point in the air.
Then the four walls of the hall transformed, a holographic counterattack driving out the darkness within.
On one side, Luncheon on the Grass, Olympia, Impression, Sunrise.......
Masterpieces of Impressionism that existed in this world as well were hung, and on the opposite side, Manet, Monet, Renoir, and so on.
The faces of the Impressionist masters were engraved.
What kind of Demonkin bastard lectures that diligently?
A hollow laugh suddenly escaped me, but I seemed to be the only one who found it disagreeable.
Around me, genuine admiration and applause leaked out—
"Ah."
Joo A-rin's pupils transformed as well, dyed with a purer artistic desire than ever before, and she seemed to be straining to take in even one more piece of the scene before her.
To check her state, I deliberately asked about a different topic.
"What happened with the wolf?"
"......."
"Still investigating? He's a meticulous bastard, so it won't be easy......."
"Ah, shut up a little....... Ah, sorry. I got a bit excited. Let's talk about that later."
"Huh? ...Okay."
As expected.......
She was definitely far gone.
I looked at Roberto with half-lidded eyes, then soon unraveled the Cheonjam Thread.
It seemed like I'd have to keep watching over her anyway.......
"Might as well train."
Just in case, I should say this wasn't jealousy or an inferiority complex because I'd fallen behind that bastard.
Rather, I was one of those people who thought anyone had the right to discuss painting and art.
But Roberto, that Demonkin of Allure, wasn't among them.
To him, art was nothing more than a tool for manifesting his own trait.
So I rejected it.
Because the art discussed by a false artist could not be called art.
It was just a fraud.