The Jealous One's Wrath
The fight with Kindness had left Jealousy with no small amount of damage. For starters, his nail art was shattered beyond recognition. The two-tone hair he had recently dyed to his satisfaction was now chopped up in ugly, uneven patches. His skin was bruised and torn in multiple places, and every time he caught sight of the bluish welts, his heart ached as if it were being torn apart. The list of injuries went far beyond a broken arm and a caved-in face. Because of it all, Jealousy felt like crying every single morning when he looked in the mirror.
The wounds themselves would heal eventually, but restoring his damaged skin to its original state would take a considerable amount of time. Of course, by “original state” he didn’t mean the level ordinary people would call “good skin.” He meant the level where Jealousy himself felt satisfied. True to his reputation as the greatest narcissist of the age, any appearance that failed to meet his own standards caused him extreme stress. He had been visiting the dermatologist every day in an effort to restore himself, but the results were less than ideal, and his irritation only continued to grow.
On top of that, Layla Ruby had been spamming his phone with texts throughout the entire break, and Professor Vivaldi had shown up first thing in the morning to vent about his troubles. As a result, Jealousy’s mood had been at rock bottom lately.
“Get lost, you bastard.”
That was why, after listening to Professor Karlsen’s request, not a single kind word could possibly leave Jealousy’s mouth. The vulgar, thuggish tone that came out was nothing like the gentle, soothing voice Professor Clara would normally use. Since Professor Karlsen already knew his true identity, there was no reason to hide his real self in front of him.
'Not bad at all.'
Sitting cross-legged on the chair with his chin propped on his hand, Karlsen stared at him with eyes full of contempt. The sight created a strange sense of dissonance with the gentle Professor Clara persona Jealousy usually performed, stirring up a peculiar feeling of depravity. He could somehow understand why a beautiful woman’s scornful expression had its own dedicated fanbase.
“What the hell is that creepy look in your eyes?”
Jealousy flinched at the strange gaze. Those eyes had always been disgustingly unpleasant, but the look just now carried a different kind of filth. He had nearly drawn his moonlight blade and sliced that neck without thinking.
“It’s nothing.”
“I don’t know what it is, but if you look at me like that one more time, you’re dead. For real.”
The heavy killing intent pressing down on both shoulders combined with Jealousy’s glare made Professor Karlsen nod quickly, as if to say he would keep it in mind. Jealousy narrowed his eyes, clearly not trusting him. But soon enough, as if deciding it didn’t matter, he twirled a strand of Professor Clara’s signature pink hair around his finger and spun his chair around. It was a silent demand to get lost if he was done talking.
“Please, I’m begging you. Just this once.”
But the oblivious Professor Karlsen seemed completely unaware of the dismissal and bowed his head once more, pleading again. Even though he had already been rejected multiple times, the professor stubbornly clung to him. Jealousy scratched his pink hair in frustration and turned to glare sharply at him.
“No! I said no! Why the hell should I waste my precious time training some random kid?”
Togun or whatever his name was. He had zero interest in training some brat he didn’t even care about. After the academy let out, he already had mountains of things to do—dermatology appointments, nail salon visits, the works.
“Go ask that Snake or Steak professor or whatever her name is! Stop bothering me and latching onto me like this!”
It wasn’t as if there were no other options. This academy also had a mage who had built quite a reputation in the enhancement school of magic. So why had this bastard been pestering only him since yesterday?
“But you know it too, Lord Jealousy! The fact that no training method available to mages holds any value for Togun as a student right now!”
Of course Natilda Scape was an excellent professor, but before that, she was a mage. Mages fundamentally manipulated mana to directly create phenomena. Asking Togun, who couldn’t handle mana at all, to learn her methods was no different from telling a human to learn how to breathe with gills. The only thing Professor Scape could teach him was physical training. And naturally, when it came to handling the body, no mage could surpass a martial artist.
“There is no reason to choose a secondary option when the best choice is right in front of you!”
And the being before him was an 8-star superhuman who, among all martial artists excluding Tugwi, had reached the absolute peak a human could attain. Within the current academy—or even if they expanded the scope to the capital Raymond—there was no one more qualified to teach Togun.
“Since when did you turn into such a passionate teacher character?”
Watching him spit while passionately arguing, Jealousy couldn’t hide his dumbfounded expression and asked without thinking. But Professor Karlsen paid it no mind. Having built up momentum, he pressed even closer to Jealousy as if determined to keep pushing.
“I’ve never asked you for anything like this before! Please, just listen to me this once!”
The reason Karlsen was burning with such passion that it flustered even Jealousy was simple. He wanted to prove his usefulness to the Death King through this matter. Of course, he wasn’t sure whether Kain would consider him useful just because of something as childish as an academy tournament.
“That’s hilarious. Weren’t you the one who kept clinging to me in Vivaldi Territory, begging me to go with you?”
“……At least I didn’t do that inside the academy!”
Karlsen froze for a moment at Jealousy’s words before shamelessly changing his tune in an instant. Jealousy’s eyes narrowed even further in disbelief.
“Please, if not for me, then at least think of the students preparing for the academy tournament and help us just this once!”
Even though he had pleaded so desperately, Professor Karlsen knew the truth. Unless something special happened, Jealousy would never accept this request. That was why he had already given up on persuading him and planned to visit Professor Scape after this final attempt. But—
“…….”
Unexpectedly, Jealousy responded to his words with silence rather than rejection. It was completely unlike the man who had been fiercely cursing and shooting him down until now. Karlsen carefully pondered what in his last statement had made Jealousy hesitate and muttered cautiously.
“Togun?”
“…….”
“Arina?”
The moment he spoke Arina’s name, Jealousy quietly turned his gaze away.
'Bingo!'
This was it! After drifting helplessly in a vast, dark sea with no landmarks in sight, he had finally found a breakthrough. Barely holding back the urge to shout “Eureka!” out loud, Professor Karlsen thrust his sickly face—looking even more fragile than a skull—toward Jealousy.
“That’s right! Since Arina is participating anyway, she’ll definitely want to win the tournament!”
And for Arina to win, Togun’s growth was absolutely essential. Please help for Arina’s sake. At that earnest plea, Jealousy kicked the professor’s disgusting face—which alone was enough to ruin his mood—and shouted.
“Don’t come any closer. Your ugliness is contagious, you son of a bitch.”
Karlsen’s body drew a parabola through the air before crashing limply onto the infirmary bed. Without even glancing at him, Jealousy turned his head sharply, still resting his chin on his hand.
'Damn it.'
Despite his indifferent attitude, his expression was deeply furrowed. The Seven Deadly Sins of the underworld were, by nature, overly doting fools. Because they sincerely followed the Death King, they cherished and protected anything he held dear. That was precisely why Jealousy had been assigned to guard Arina in this peaceful capital of Raymond, and why he had accepted the role so willingly. If he hadn’t cared about Arina, he never would have considered infiltrating the royal palace for her in the past.
In that sense, Professor Karlsen’s final plea had been quite effective.
'If she can’t get a good result in the tournament she finally entered, she’ll definitely be very upset, won’t she?'
She wouldn’t cry openly, but she would feel tremendous disappointment. She would probably walk around with her shoulders slumped, completely drained of energy. Just imagining Arina like that made his mood even worse.
'How dare those worthless fools make our young lady cry?'
It was all because the kids on the same team as her were pathetically weak. If they had been skilled enough, Arina would never have let out a sigh of disappointment!
“Haa.”
Calm down. Jealousy let out a long, deep sigh in an attempt to cool the heat rising from his pointless fantasies. But it wasn’t enough to completely settle his agitation. Unable to contain his anger, he slammed his fist down hard on the desk.
Bang!
The impact sent everything on the desk flying into the air before it all fell back into place.
“Hey.”
“Yes! You called?”
Professor Karlsen, who had watched the entire scene from the infirmary bed, quickly dropped to his knees in perfect posture and answered Jealousy’s call.
“……Tsk.”
Jealousy stared at him, hesitating for a long time as if the words wouldn’t come out. Finally, he clicked his tongue in clear displeasure. Then he stood up from his chair, strode over to where Karlsen sat, and shouted.
“What the hell is this bastard asking me to do when it’s so damn annoying!”
“Urk!”
A powerful body blow struck the professor where he sat on the bed. The fist, delivered with a screw rotation, landed precisely on his solar plexus. It stopped his heart for three full seconds, completely cutting off his breath. The cracking sound suggested at least one rib was either fractured or broken.
“Tsk.”
Clutching his chest with both hands, Karlsen collapsed weakly onto the bed. Jealousy looked down at him silently, clicked his tongue once more, and spoke to the still-trembling man.
“Before you leave the infirmary, leave the phone number of that Togun kid or whatever. Tell him I’ll contact him separately later.”
This was all for the young lady. Since things had come to this, he would make sure that brat could never use the excuse that his lack of skill prevented her from winning.
Because of his mana rejection trait, the boy would never be able to learn either internal or external martial arts. But that didn’t really matter. After all, Jealousy had once belonged to the greatest assassination organization in the Fan Empire. He knew exactly how to efficiently train the human body.
'No matter how ordinary a human is, if you keep hammering away at them, they’ll eventually be reborn as steel.'
Of course, the probability of them breaking was overwhelmingly higher than the probability of them becoming steel. Still, the people of the Masao family had always been known for their sturdy bodies, so it should work out somehow. It would have been foolish to expect mercy from training methods born in a survival-of-the-fittest competitive society.
'I’ll roll him as hard as I can, fully prepared to break him!'
Jealousy’s eyes, stained with irritation and stress, burned with fierce heat. In a way, this was clearly Professor Karlsen’s mistake. At the same time, it was the moment a thick, dark cloud settled over Togun Masao’s future.
“R-roger…… U-understood……”
After writhing in pain for a long time, Karlsen finally answered in a trembling, strained voice. Jealousy snorted coldly and turned away.
“If you’re done with your business, get out of here already.”
“C-can’t I lie down just a little longer before I go?”
“Nope. No way. I don’t even want to look at you, so disappear from my sight right now.”
Returning to his original seat, Jealousy chased Karlsen out of the infirmary without a shred of mercy. At his razor-sharp refusal, the professor could only leave Togun Masao’s number with Jealousy before staggering out of the infirmary on unsteady legs.