Suspension! Suspension!
The protesters’ chants shook the skies over Seoul day after day.
“Nam Taegeon, step down! Nam Taegeon, step down!”
“Step down! Step down!”
It had been two full days since an unidentified monster rampaged through the heart of D City before being subdued. A rumor that had spread from a single internet broadcast, along with a flood of distorted information, had driven people into the streets to vent their rage at the current regime—at least, that was how the newspapers and news channels explained it.
But the government didn’t control every medium. On the internet, where regulations reached more loosely, heated debates about the incident from two days ago had already been raging for a while.
Society was in complete chaos.
“Free Ha Namjin!”
“Free him! Free him!”
Listening to the roar of the crowd gathered in the streets, the police commissioner’s wrinkled forehead creased even deeper with worry. Could anyone believe that all this uproar had been caused by a single high school student?
“Your Excellency, this time we must impose a clear punishment.”
The commissioner spoke to the man sitting behind the wide desk, reading a newspaper. The man was a rather gaunt old gentleman with a neatly trimmed beard. Without lifting his eyes from the paper, he replied.
“What for? Commissioner Kang, shouldn’t we be celebrating? A student from the British-American Academy bravely faced an unknown threat and saved citizens. It’s proof that our academy’s education is producing results.”
The British-American Academy was an educational institution created by the Nam Taegeon administration—and one of their greatest achievements. Therefore, any heroic feat accomplished by one of its students naturally became a heroic feat of President Nam Taegeon himself. That seemed to be exactly how the president saw it.
“Where is the student Ha Namjin right now?”
“He’s being held in the detention center at the D City Police Station, but…”
“Release him. The reason… insufficient evidence should suffice, don’t you think?”
The commissioner glanced at the president, trying to read whether he was serious. He had served the man in front of him for years, yet he still found it difficult to discern his true intentions. He was a man whose thoughts were impossible to read. That quality was terrifying—and at the same time, magnificent. He had always presented solutions so extraordinary that everyone was left stunned.
Surely this time as well, he would reveal some astonishing way to resolve the situation.
“However, simply releasing him without charges after he caused such a commotion wouldn’t set a good example for the other students. Let’s go with a ten-day suspension.”
That was how Ha Namjin, a male student at the British-American Academy, ended up receiving a ten-day suspension.
The person who had delivered the suspension notice to Ha Namjin was Captain Kang Cheolmin. Of course, Captain Kang had no way of knowing the details of the conversation above, but he understood one thing clearly: this incident had been a string of miracles. And miracles like that usually didn’t come more than once.
“Ha Namjin, you ridiculously lucky bastard. You caused that whole mess and got off with only a ten-day suspension. You’re probably the first person in the entire history of South Korea to pull that off. Just stay quiet for those ten days, damn it!”
Even though he had told him to stay quiet—
In the eyes of D-class captain Kang Cheolmin, Ha Namjin was absolutely not the type of student who would stay quiet.
‘Besides, this so-called “suspension” isn’t even a normal punishment.’
A suspension from the British-American Academy was the harshest penalty the school could impose. The reason was that there were several ‘differences’ between a normal school suspension and one from the academy. Captain Kang decided not to go into all the tedious details.
“Captain! Why is only Ha Namjjin getting suspended?! We were all there together that day!”
Baek Yeoul, who had been watching Ha Namjin walk across the campus from the classroom window, shouted. The other students immediately chimed in with cries of “That’s right!”
“Captain! We fought a Main with our lives on the line and won, but instead of a reward we get suspended? What Awakened would even bother protecting citizens after that?!”
“This is unfair punishment!”
The classroom grew incredibly noisy. Just as Captain Kang Cheolmin was wondering how to calm the situation—
“N-Namjin said…”
A certain female student spoke up. It was Oh Deokhui, the girl whose long bangs covered most of her face. The same Oh Deokhui who had played a major role in the recent Main incident and even received a ‘reward.’ She took advantage of the momentary lull to add,
“He told me he was going to get suspended. That someone had to take responsibility for what happened, and since he was the leader, it would probably be him… But he also said it was all part of the plan, so we shouldn’t worry.”
“Part of the plan?”
“What is he, Light Yagami with gills?”
Not only had he been arrested red-handed while broadcasting shocking events, then somehow walked free on ‘insufficient evidence’—he had even calculated in advance that the school would suspend him? As the students buzzed with shock, even Captain Kang let out a small chuckle.
In truth, Captain Kang also found the punishment hard to accept. Since Ha Namjin had acted with good intentions and produced a good result, shouldn’t he have received a commendation instead? But he was a public servant, and there was only one thing he could say.
“Stop chattering and open your books!”
Suspension!
Just as I had roughly predicted, the punishment for causing this incident was a suspension. But for me, it felt more like a reward. I didn’t have to go to school! A flood of free time! I felt like I could fly!
“It would’ve been even better if it was expulsion, though.”
Heh heh heh—.
Now that I suddenly had so much time, I figured I should put it to good use training Assistant Seo Gaeul. I also planned to learn the concept training method from Yu Yeoleum.
After fighting that ‘Main,’ I realized something. If I had been alone, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to take it down. My strength still fell short of being called a ‘Supernova’ in the ruined world. I needed to work harder.
“Ha-Nam-jjin!”
Someone came running across the sports field from far away. I wondered who it was—turns out it was Ppang-daeng-i.
“Hey, what are you doing here?”
“Self-suspension!”
“There’s no such thing as self-suspension. You’re just skipping class, aren’t you?”
“I just invented it! We’re partners, aren’t we?! We caused trouble together, but only you got punished—that’s unfair! So I decided to self-suspend too!”
“Whoa? What the hell, Ppang-daeng-i!”
I had no idea Baek Yeoul had this much loyalty. It was pretty meaningless loyalty, but still! I was about to tear up!
“And this…”
Ppang-daeng-i Baek Yeoul pulled something out of her uniform pocket. It was a small coin.
“Isn’t that the one you pulled out of Jin Eunbyeol’s throat?”
“Yeah. My dad gave this coin to me as a birthday present. I lost it… so why did Jin Eunbyeol have it? I want to ask her!”
Soon after, Ppang-daeng-i became extremely downcast.
“And she said a lot of people died because of me… I want to hear what that meant. Well, I don’t really want to know, but…”
She seemed bothered by the nonsense Jin Eunbyeol had spouted. Honestly, I was curious about Jin Eunbyeol too.
“I was planning to visit the hospital anyway.”
Jin Eunbyeol was confined to a ward in the special detention center. Tubes and machines were stuck all over her. Her entire body was wrapped in bandages—she looked like a critical patient. Although her limbs, which had grotesquely enlarged when she became a Main, had returned to normal size, the scars and wounds would clearly remain for life.
She used to be a beauty despite her terrible personality. What a shame.
“Jin Eunbyeol.”
I spoke to her through the acrylic barrier. The officer on guard—Jin Ramen Noona—immediately flared up.
“Hey! Ha Namjin! Do you know where you are?! Normally you should be locked up in here too, you punk! Consider yourself lucky the public opinion was bad enough that they let you go on insufficient evidence!”
It was true that I shouldn’t be here. But was there anyone else in the world more qualified to question Jin Eunbyeol right now?
Still, looking at her condition, she didn’t seem capable of answering anything. That was fine. I had a perfectly good answer vending machine right in front of me.
“…Don’t ask me anything! Please! Why are you looking at me like that?!”
“Jin Ramen Noona, did Jin Eunbyeol say anything?”
“She did. She told me how she ended up acquiring the ‘Devil’ concept. When she was in sixth grade, her father gave her an antique box as a gift. The moment she touched it, she said she became strange.”
A human whose ego had been stolen by the ‘Devil’ concept. Was she guilty?
Name: Jin Eunbyeol
Possesses:Prophecy Lv.2
Status:Comatose — Her mind returns very occasionally.
Should the Jin Eunbyeol from back then and the current Jin Eunbyeol, now free of the ‘Devil’ concept, be considered two different people?
While I was staring at her labored breathing through the acrylic, Jin Ramen Noona added a few more words.
“She’s a distant relative of mine, so I know—she used to be a good kid. I’m not sure if I should say this in front of you guys who fought her with your lives on the line, but honestly, I feel sorry for Eunbyeol. She’ll never be able to walk again.”
Never walk again. Having once suffered a serious leg injury myself, I felt a lot of sympathy for her situation. To think one wrong touch of a box could ruin someone’s life like this.
“Noona, what about that box?”
“Ah. It looked like this.”
Jin Ramen Noona drew a picture for me. It was a box that felt like this:
【O O O】
The brick-like shape with holes in it looked familiar. Wasn’t that the Bogu Seo Gaeul owned? Coincidence?
While I was deep in thought, Jin Ramen Noona asked me in a small voice.
“Kid, how did you know Jin Eunbyeol was a ‘Main’? Where did you get that USB video file? That footage was shot at the ‘Eden Church,’ wasn’t it?”
“‘Eden Church’?”
“When she was fourteen, her parents asked the pastors of the infamous cult ‘Eden Church’ to perform an exorcism to drive out the devil inside her. That video is from back then.”
So that was the story. As thanks for Jin Ramen Noona always being honest with me, I decided to be honest too.
“I got it from Gu Sejun of the ‘Villainers.’”
“‘Villainers’…!? You…! Don’t tell me you joined hands with terrorists?”
Jin Ramen Noona frowned. I held my arm out toward her.
“If you think it’s illegal, go ahead and arrest me.”
“Forget it. You’d just get released on ‘insufficient evidence’ anyway. What kind of magic did you use? Do you have some powerful backer?”
“Want to know?”
I looked at her seriously. But Jin Ramen Noona must have sensed something burning in my eyes, because she quickly covered her ears.
“No, don’t tell me! Absolutely not! I have a feeling I really shouldn’t hear this right now!”
What a shame. The really juicy part was just about to start.
I looked at Jin Eunbyeol, who was barely clinging to life. Just like I said, the real heat was about to begin. Whether by her own will or not, she had become the fuse for the enormous events that were about to unfold.
The fact that the ‘Devil’ concept inside Jin Eunbyeol had disappeared by destroying the Concept Stone—its meaning was enormous.
From now on, the Age of Loss would begin.