Learning Villainy (3)
"Lara, pick up the fallen Hans. Mister, could you bring over that Ms. Eunhye who's standing there looking rather bored? And bring Choi Sik as well."
"Y-Yes, sir!!"
Having already known about Joyeon's followers, Kim Changkyung wasn't too shocked. He personally ran around and dragged over the people Joyeon had named from among those frozen in terror. Standing before Joyeon were a fearful Choi Sik and Hans, along with a slightly anxious Kim Eunhye.
"Looks like things are somewhat sorted now."
"Master, before you attend to personal matters, I believe it would be wise to briefly explain to them why everyone has been gathered here."
"Hmm~ I'll leave that to you. I'm still not comfortable speaking in front of this many people."
"Understood. This will be the only time."
At Joyeon's request, Tiasia nodded while making a mental note to teach him how to give speeches later. She stepped forward and addressed the terrified crowd.
"It seems you've finally begun to grasp the situation. I won't repeat myself. You have all been gathered here so that the aftermath of what is about to happen won't become troublesome later. There is no other reason. Simply accept the consequences of the path you chose."
Tiasia's one-sided announcement offered no answers. Moreover, because of the Death Aura, not many could even hear her words clearly. May, who had been controlling the crowd's movements, slightly raised her hand.
Tiasia, what about confirming the innocent—
"There are none. You heard it with me. Everyone here is someone who stayed behind after speaking with Kim Changkyung and according to my will—people of the same kind. There is no mercy. For the same reason, the slaves have also been culled."
Tiasia's judgment was clean and decisive, even though it concerned deciding human lives at her whim. After finishing her announcement, she returned to Joyeon's side.
"Master, you may begin."
"...Lara, you know what I'm about to do, yet you have no intention of stopping me? What I'm going to do next is something the world would see as truly cruel. You're my teacher, aren't you?"
If put bluntly, what Joyeon was about to do was mass murder. No matter how inhumane their crimes, Joyeon had no right to judge them. In the end, it was merely self-satisfaction. He found it somewhat unexpected that Tiasia wasn't trying to dissuade him.
"The modern world has its own rules, and the magic world has its own. Though it isn't the kingdom I came from, 'Shun,' the largest nation on the continent, the 'Imperia' Empire has a slave system, and the beastman kingdom of 'Beastro' teaches its people to kill humans on sight. But in this world where the World Fusion has occurred, all those rules have vanished. One must act according to one's own will. In such a situation, how could I dare go against my master's will? Besides..."
Tiasia gave a brighter smile than usual.
"People who need to disappear exist everywhere, at any time."
"...That doesn't sound like something you should say with a smile."
Joyeon smiled faintly back at Tiasia, who supported his decision with such a radiant expression.
"Anyway, before that—Ms. Eunhye. What would you like to do?"
"H-Huh?"
Kim Eunhye looked startled when Joyeon suddenly addressed her.
"It's this guy, right? The one who ruined your voice. He told me there was a woman who complained about his cooking, so he gave me the same dish."
Realizing what Joyeon meant by "cooking," Kim Eunhye stared at him in shock. Choi Sik's face turned deathly pale for the same reason.
"P-Please wait a moment! I-I didn't know anything... I didn't know your identity—!"
"Silence. You trash. Master never granted you the right to speak."
[Exposed to lethal killing intent.]
Tiasia, who had been suppressing her urge to kill the man who had made her master retch, snarled without hiding her killing intent at Choi Sik for speaking out of turn. Exposed defenselessly to her killing intent, Choi Sik broke into a cold sweat and couldn't utter another word.
"...I-I... If you would just accept my apology..."
"Hmm~ Ms. Eunhye is too kind. After what he did to your voice, you're willing to forgive him with just an apology?"
"......"
"She says so? Will you apologize?"
"Y-Yes! Of course! I'm sorry! I'm truly sorry! I will never do something like this again. I will live in gratitude for the rest of my life. I'm sorry!!"
Choi Sik immediately slammed his head to the ground and begged Kim Eunhye for forgiveness. Overwhelmed by his forcefulness, Kim Eunhye took a step back and awkwardly accepted the apology.
"And the man next to him is Hans. He's the one who suggested feeding people to the Morion Roaches. Because of him, you almost got eaten by that giant cockroach."
Thud!
"I'm sorry! I-I thought my abilities weren't much help, so I must have gone a little crazy wanting to contribute to this shelter! I'm truly sorry!"
Having watched the situation, Hans quickly understood what he needed to do and prostrated himself before Kim Eunhye just like Choi Sik had. Flustered by the unfamiliar man begging for forgiveness, Kim Eunhye forgave him once again in her raspy voice.
"Even after nearly dying, you forgive so easily?"
"Ah... B-But it's thanks to you that I survived..."
"Well, do as you like. Whether you forgive them or not isn't something I should interfere with. I just gave you a chance to settle things because of the connection we made on the 5th floor."
"Y-Yes...? Eek?"
Kim Eunhye had been about to thank him when she tilted her head, sensing something odd about Joyeon's words. It didn't feel like things were settled—it felt like they were just beginning.
"I have no intention of forgiving them. They fed me cockroaches and threw me into a room with Morion Roaches."
"I-I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! P-Please forgive me just this once! I'll do anything! If you tell me to eat the same thing again, I will! So please have mercy...!"
"Ah, I've already done that."
"...What?"
"I've already had all of you eat my 'cooking.'"
Choi Sik, Hans, and Kim Eunhye looked confused, while only Kim Changkyung, who understood, kept his mouth tightly shut.
"If we're talking about whether what I'm doing now is good or evil, it's obviously evil. Even in the best light, it's hypocrisy. But don't you think one act of hypocrisy is better than fifty acts of evil done purely for pleasure?"
"W-What are you saying..."
Joyeon narrowed his eyes and pointed at Choi Sik and the fifty-odd people behind him.
"House. Sic them."
[The second mass slaughter of kin since the World Fusion!]
At Joyeon's command, House began to squirm, and a notification window appeared. Kim Changkyung's companions clutched their stomachs and began screaming in pain.
"Aaaagh! It hurts! It hurts!!"
"Kuaaaagh!"
Dozens of people displayed the same reaction Park Kang-cheol had shown before dying. The 250 slaves standing beside them turned pale and froze at the hellish sight.
"P-Please... spare me...!"
Hans had already gone still, while Choi Sik clung to Joyeon's feet with a face covered in tears and snot, begging for his life until the very end. Joyeon stared at him blankly without answering. Before long, the screams faded away.
[A cruel, grotesque massacre conducted in a manner that questions one's humanity, intended to inflict abnormal pain!]
[You have slaughtered 53 of your own kind in a short period of time.]
[You have obtained the title, 'Second Kin Slayer (Modern Human).']
"Oh, a title."
Name: Ju Joyeon
Age: 20
Title: First Modern Human to Sense Mana
First Modern Human to Reforge Their Soul — Your soul is tempered more ideally.
Second Kin Slayer (Modern Human) — Kin instinctively fear you.
Identity: Modern World
Abilities: Language Translation (God-tier)
[Wood Flame] (E-rank) — A spell to ignite dry firewood.
[Field of Death] (C-rank) — First Footstep activation state.
Larasian Iron Wall Martial Arts (F-rank)
Basic Mana Operation (F-rank)
After killing 53 people, Joyeon seemed more interested in his new title than the corpses that were now nothing more than lumps of meat. He opened his status window to check its effects.
"The second modern human... So there was someone among modern humans who killed this many people before me."
After closing the status window, Joyeon finally looked at the 53 corpses sprawled before him. Every single one of them had died clutching their stomachs with faces full of terror and pain.
"As expected, this isn't very fun..."
[Harvestable souls have been detected.]
['Soul Harvest' activated.]
Because they had died within the Death Aura, Joyeon's Soul Harvest activated, quickly reaping all 53 souls.
"Master, well done."
Tiasia approached and spoke to him. Joyeon glanced at her, then walked over to the people still standing beside the corpses.
"Humans die so easily. When I saw you all on the 19th floor, you seemed like you'd never die. To think you'd die just because a cockroach tore open your stomach."
All eyes turned to Joyeon. Unlike his followers' blood-red glowing eyes filled with killing intent, his own eyes were utterly devoid of life.
"The world has changed a lot. It's become a world where dozens of people use pistols to enslave hundreds. And now it's a world where a single kid who's just become an adult can kill those people as he pleases."
The young man standing before them was a murderer who had killed 53 humans without a hint of emotion. No one could respond.
"It's only been two months since the world changed. I still don't know much. Until I came here, I never imagined something like this was really happening. But you all know even less than I do. That's why you're living like slaves, scared of just a few pistols. There are far more dangerous things in this world than that. Like me."
This modern university shelter was like frogs in a well. It was no different from a level 2 character bullying level 1 characters. They had simply been lucky not to encounter any level 3 characters or monsters until now.
"I'm your 'blessing in disguise.' There won't be any more after this. From now on, you'll have to survive with your own strength. So,"
Joyeon pointed at Kim Changkyung standing in the back.
"I'll leave the man who turned this university into a shelter to you. Decide what to do with him yourselves."
"Huh? Whoa!"
Startled by Joyeon's words, Kim Changkyung yelped as Tiasia grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and tossed him into the crowd.
Thud!
"Guh..."
"Kill him if you want to kill him. Forgive him if you want to forgive him. It wouldn't be bad to make use of the skills he used to pull off something like this in just two months of survival. The choice is yours."
"J-Joyeon-nim?! Th-This is different from what we agreed! You clearly said you'd spare me...!"
"When did I ever say that?"
"What...?!"
"I said I wouldn't touch you. I never said I'd spare you."
"Th-That's...!"
"Talk to the people over there, not me. Try your best to appeal why they should spare you, just like you did with me."
With those final words, Joyeon turned without hesitation and walked into the College of Engineering building. Tiasia followed while carrying House, and the skeletons, deciding there was no longer any need to suppress the crowd, returned to their master's side.