Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Subduing the Demon
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A prolonged fight would mean no chance of winning.
The opportunity was right now, while the bastard was off guard.
I reached out and aimed at its head.
A compressed magic sphere packed with my maximum mana.
It was enough to blow its head clean off.
Of course, the moment it failed, the situation would spiral into utter chaos.
All I could hope was that my spell hit its head precisely.
‘Here goes!’
I concentrated mana at my fingertips and unleashed it toward the bastard.
The powerful mana sphere left my hand and shot toward its head at high speed.
The shockwave pushed my body backward.
Blinding light illuminated the surroundings.
At the same time, Jang Han turned its head and reacted.
Please hit!
-BOOOM!
The magic sphere pierced through its head and struck the ground hard.
A massive explosion rang out as pale dust rose into the air.
The aftermath shrouded its entire body in dust.
I widened my eyes and stared at it.
I saw the spell pierce its head. But more importantly, whether it hit the brain.
Had the attack landed successfully?
As the dust cleared, Jang Han’s hideous face slowly revealed itself.
My attack had obliterated half its mouth and cheek.
“Tsk.”
A fatal blow that would kill a human instantly.
But not for a demon with maximized physical reinforcement and stamina regeneration.
It had failed.
If I’d aimed just a bit higher, I could have blown its brain away.
An attack like this wouldn’t kill it.
“Grrrrr.”
Jang Han’s gaze turned toward me. Even from the fifth floor, I could feel the fury building in its eyes. Its fists were trembling—it was properly pissed.
“GRRAAAAAH—!”
The berserk demon bellowed at me.
It kicked off the ground and charged.
The pounding footsteps on the floor were terrifying. Its body leaped. It had grown heavier, but its movements were light and fast.
Jang Han reached the rooftop on the fifth floor where I was in one bound.
“Grrrr.”
Harsh breathing.
It glared at me with half its face blown off.
The sight was utterly gruesome and terrifying.
“Whew.”
I bit my lip.
The situation was dire. I had no mana left.
‘Only one option left?’
It seemed so.
The only way to get past this was that.
[Activating effect: ‘Heart of Great Nature.’]
[For 1 minute, mana recovery speed increases by 1000%.]
Thump!
My heart suddenly pounded hard.
At the same time, a breath burst from deep in my chest.
Thump thump……
My heartbeat accelerated.
With each beat, a massive amount of mana welled up.
It felt like my heart was a factory producing mana.
Feeling the fullness of mana, I spread my palm.
Three compressed mana spheres manifested simultaneously.
Seeing them, a smile formed on my lips.
I turned my gaze to Jang Han.
The duration of Heart of Great Nature was a mere 1 minute.
One minute was short.
It was probably impossible to take it down within that time.
But I could beat it half to death in one minute.
Lee Seojun and his group were running toward the nearby bustling district.
It was a chaotic situation.
People screamed and fled, and strange explosions kept echoing from afar.
Powerful mana fluctuations could be felt.
Lee Seojun was certain all this was caused by the demon.
He had even foreseen something like this happening.
Because the photo he took at the Han River today had accidentally captured the demon’s face.
“Looks like the situation’s serious.”
Lee Seojun turned at the voice beside him.
A man in his late twenties muttered quietly.
The man’s name was Jang Hyeonsu.
He belonged to the Wizards Association’s Special Task Force, the counter-terrorism unit, and was one of the wizards dispatched due to Lee Seojun’s demon report.
“Of all days, with the festival today. This is bad.”
“Why the festival?”
Shin Youngjun, running alongside Lee Seojun, asked.
“There were tons of people gathered for the festival today. That means it’s killed a lot and gotten way stronger.”
“Oh.”
Shin Youngjun nodded in understanding.
“Anyway, what a waste of effort. Who’d have thought the demon was hiding in the bustling district?”
Shin Youngjun recalled the demon search operation with the Wizards Association members at the Han River.
That’s when a bizarre demonic roar echoed from nearby.
It was close. A demon that had grown several levels stronger by massacring countless humans was rampaging for sure.
They turned toward the sound.
“...What?”
But the scene before them was a bit different from what they expected.
The demon was cowering, getting unilaterally pummeled with spells by a man holding a red spear.
Its body was a mangled mess from the beating.
The demon kept screaming in pain. It almost looked pitiful.
To overwhelm a demon like that.
Impressive skill.
Who the hell was that guy?
And what was that red spear in his hand?
The man, who had been unleashing spells, suddenly stopped.
He looked down at his hands with a regretful expression.
Why’d he stop attacking all of a sudden?
Then, sensing their presence, the man turned to Lee Seojun’s group.
Up close, the man’s face was ordinary. The unusual part was the beard that didn’t match his round glasses.
Jang Hyeonsu greeted the man.
“Hello. I’m Jang Hyeonsu from the Wizards Association Special Division.”
“Ah, hello.”
Jang Hyeonsu glanced at the twitching demon on the ground.
The demon’s mangled flesh was slowly regenerating.
If left like this, it would get back up soon. To prevent that, he needed to finish it off now.
Jang Hyeonsu drew his sword from his waist and severed the demon’s neck in one stroke.
The demon’s head rolled across the ground.
Jang Hyeonsu pressed a hand to his ear and murmured quietly.
“Situation terminated.”
He infused mana into his sword to shake off the blood.
Then, smiling at the bearded man, he said,
“Thanks to you, it resolved easily.”
“No problem.”
The man replied curtly. His voice was oddly deep, almost like it was altered.
Jang Hyeonsu examined the man’s face closely.
To subjugate a demon alone. That was tough without at least B-Grade wizard level.
And he didn’t have a scratch on him.
Subjugating a demon alone without injury proved he had considerable skill.
With that level, he must have heard the name somewhere.
“What’s your name?”
“Kim Sun… No, Kim Jinwoo.”
Jang Hyeonsu tilted his head.
Unlike the presumed high skill, the name was unfamiliar.
Kim Jinwoo… Was there someone like that?
“Ah, yes. Mr. Kim Jinwoo. You’ve done a huge favor. You saved a lot of lives.”
“Just did what needed doing.”
As Kim Seonwoo and Jang Hyeonsu talked,
Lee Seojun was staring intently at Kim Jinwoo’s face.
It felt familiar. Those eyes, nose, mouth.
He’d definitely seen it somewhere. Where was it?
“…Kim Seonwoo?”
My body flinched at Lee Seojun calling my name.
I turned to see him staring straight at me.
“…You look just like him. No, exactly the same.”
Shin Youngjun reacted to Lee Seojun’s mutter.
“What does?”
“That guy looks like Kim Seonwoo.”
“Kim Seonwoo? …Huh? Whoa, he really does.”
“Whoa, for real? Without the beard, he’d look like the exact same person.”
Lee Hyunjoo and Shin Youngjun’s eyes widened as they looked at me.
Feeling prickly, I averted my gaze slightly.
“Um, do you have a younger brother by any chance?”
Then Lee Hyunjoo approached and asked.
Fortunately, they still thought it was just a resemblance.
“…No.”
I replied with an even deeper voice than usual.
“Then a cousin or something?”
“No.”
“A half-brother?”
“…No.”
“Hmm, weird.”
Lee Hyunjoo narrowed her eyes.
“Do you know Kim Seonwoo? He goes to the wizard academy. 18 years old.”
“Don’t know him.”
“Really?”
“Why would I lie?”
“…Well, true.”
Lee Hyunjoo muttered disappointedly.
No idea why she was disappointed.
“But your voice is getting deeper. You must smoke a lot.”
“What are you kids doing?”
Jang Hyeonsu, who’d been watching us, stepped in.
“One of our schoolmates looks just like him.”
“Looks like? You’re just seeing things because he looks young. Don’t cause trouble and cut it out.”
As he said that, Jang Hyeonsu looked at me, then realized and made an excuse.
“Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean ‘young’ in a bad way. More like an endearing face? Haha.”
“…It’s fine. I hear that a lot.”
I said that and glanced at Lee Seojun.
He hadn’t dropped his suspicion yet, still staring at me.
Maybe he thought I was Kim Seonwoo in disguise.
I pulled my wizard license from my pocket and handed it to Jang Hyeonsu.
“Here’s my wizard license. Put the achievement points here, and deposit the subjugation reward here too.”
During the handover, I subtly angled it so Lee Seojun could see the front clearly. As expected, he was staring holes through it.
Having a wizard license was clear proof I was Kim Jinwoo, not Kim Seonwoo.
Wizard licenses contained special magic formulas that made forgery impossible.
Lee Seojun, looking at the license, finally dropped his suspicion.
Then, Jang Hyeonsu, checking the license, tilted his head.
“Huh? C-Rank?”
“Any problem?”
“No, no. I thought at least B-Grade…”
Jang Hyeonsu muttered blankly.
On the way back to the dorms.
I recalled my last conversation with Jang Hyeonsu.
‘So what kept you so busy until now?’
‘Pardon? What do you mean?’
‘…I mean, where were you before coming here?’
‘Ah, we got the students’ demon report and were searching the Han River. They took photos, and the demon happened to be caught in one. Why?’
…Photos with the demon accidentally captured, causing the delay.
What kind of coincidence was that?
And that one coincidence drastically altered the story’s progression.
‘Is this possible?’
Thinking about it, it wasn’t impossible.
The original story had tons of coincidental events anyway.
Even the main original plot.
Lee Seojun’s group, just trying to enjoy the festival, heads to the bustling district simply because they’re hungry. Then they coincidentally run into the rampaging demon there.
But that coincidence overlapped with another and vanished.
“…Butterfly effect.”
It was probably a change caused by my(?) activities in the week since regressing.
A lot had happened in that week.
Becoming the lowest in school, teaming up with Lee Seojun, getting attention as a special talent student.
All those minor events likely stacked up slightly, altering Lee Seojun’s actions. And that change led to this outcome.
This was the exact situation I’d feared most before regressing.