External Mission (3): Nightmare Devoured
The blue marlin's snout pierced straight through the man's right shoulder, right at the collarbone. His clothes stained bright red, and his body lurched violently.
"It went in!" Yun Ga-eun clenched her fist tight.
But a grin was already spreading across the man's face again.
"Your teacher must have a hell of a time with you kids." He gripped the marlin's body, still impaled in him. "I told you to come at me ready to kill, but you aim for the shoulder to avoid vitals? Still soft as ever."
The marlin thrashed its tail wildly, dragging the man's body slightly. Yet he never let go.
Boom! An explosion erupted from his grasp. And then the marlin was gone.
"Canceled it before I could blow it up? Fine, let's see how you block this." The man thrust out his left arm, hurling a blast of condensed yeong-ryeok.
The tropical fish formed a wall, but...
Kaboom! It shattered through without slowing down.
Do-gyeol swiftly summoned his servant spirits. Even so...
Boom! They exploded, and Seo Tae-yun's body sliced through the air again. He slammed into the wall, blood trickling from his mouth.
"Seo Tae-yun!" At Do-gyeol's shout, Seo Tae-yun barely managed to curl the corner of his mouth.
"...Even with you blocking like that, it still hurts like a bitch."
But Do-gyeol didn't laugh. He couldn't.
'No more letting the servant spirits tank it, huh?'
Then there was only one way.
'Gotta touch him myself.'
Do-gyeol reached out toward the distant man. Focusing his senses, he felt the wavelength. But changing and absorbing it from this range was impossible.
'Still, the wavelength's simpler than I thought.'
The guy's claim of converting nightmares into yeong-ryeok wasn't a lie, it seemed. The sorcery logic was basic, and his attacks were just blasting yeong-ryeok.
'Whatever the reason, if I can just touch him, I can devour him quick.'
But how to get close? No way to punch through those explosions.
In the meantime, the chat window was flooding with advice.
He was tempted by the last one, but then the debate exploded.
'I get what you're saying.'
The excessive yeong-ryeok drain from using unfamiliar abilities. He'd felt it against Baek Seo-rin already.
But in that moment, a flash of insight struck Do-gyeol's mind.
'That brief opening from before. That's all I need.'
Do-gyeol hadn't realized it, but the time to reach this point was just one second. From extending his hand to sense the wavelength, reading the chat, and devising the plan.
Do-gyeol glanced at Seo Tae-yun. "Class prez. Can you do that again?"
Seo Tae-yun wiped the blood from his mouth and nodded silently.
"The second you see even the tiniest opening, unload everything. You too, Yun Ga-eun."
Yun Ga-eun and Seo Tae-yun swallowed hard at Do-gyeol's resolute voice.
"Gonna pop smoke again? Won't work twice."
Ignoring the mocking voice, Do-gyeol spread his palm toward the man.
'I'll make the opening.'
At the center of his open palm, black energy began to writhe grotesquely.
Rip! His skin split, and a bizarre eyeball popped out, blinking.
Minimal manifestation to cut unnecessary yeong-ryeok waste.
"What kinda freak show is that?"
Do-gyeol rolled the eyeball instead of replying. The moment it locked onto the chattering man...
"...?!"
The man's vision twisted. The punks right in front of him had vanished.
'Hallucination on me, a mental interference type?'
That shocked him more than their disappearance. He knew the vanished sight was fake, but getting caught in sorcery was real.
'Higher grade than me?'
"No way!"
The man flared up—and clang! his vision snapped back.
The punks reappeared. But their attacks were already upon him.
"...!!"
The marlin aimed for his left this time, and the binding spirits were about to wrap him again.
"You little shits...!"
The man roared, swinging his arm to block the marlin first. And in that gap...
Do-gyeol's hand slipped into the deadliest blind spot.
"Gotcha."
Do-gyeol slapped his palm onto the man's body with a grin.
Absurdity flashed across the man's face. "...What're you gonna do barehanded?"
Then he smirked wickedly. "Getting close? That's good for me."
The man surged yeong-ryeok from his body to blast Do-gyeol away. The instant he tried to detonate it through his whole body...
Shoooo...
"...?"
The man's expression went blank like an idiot. The yeong-ryeok he'd meant to release was instead getting sucked into the attached palm.
'W-what the...!'
Instinctively, he tried to shake him off. But the binding spirits held him fast—unlike before, he couldn't break free easily.
"Aaaargh! Let go right now?!"
The man thrashed wildly, squeezing out his remaining yeong-ryeok. He had to shake him off for real now. But the more he struggled, the faster it got sucked into Do-gyeol's palm.
As expected, the wavelength was dead simple. Wavelength syncing was as easy as breathing.
But then...
"...Ngh!"
Do-gyeol's brow furrowed. His vision warped.
Drip. Bright red nosebleed flowed.
A splitting headache hit. 'Why the hell...?'
The sync was perfect. No rejection from his body. His dantian was accepting the influx fine.
Yet his heart felt like it would burst. In his mind, screams and impure emotions from hundreds crashed like a tsunami.
His head felt ready to shatter. But his heart hurt even more right now.
"Nghhh!"
Do-gyeol staggered, stifling a groan. His eyes lost focus, legs wobbling.
The chat flooded like a torrent.
The man noticed Do-gyeol's reaction and burst into mad laughter. "Trying to steal my yeong-ryeok, huh? Thought you could handle it? How's the sensation of swallowing hundreds of nightmares? Thrilling, right!"
Now he stopped resisting the drain. Instead, he started shoving his nightmare-and-grudge-ridden yeong-ryeok into Do-gyeol, aiming to collapse his mind and make him self-destruct first.
Amid the worry-or-mockery chats, one solution caught his eye.
Light returned to Do-gyeol's fading eyes. 'Right. In the tunnel too...'
In that instant, his pupils turned black—then cleared.
And simultaneously...
Kwaaaaa—!
The influx of hundreds of nightmares and grudges. To the dream demon that fed on nightmares, illusions, and fear, it was a gourmet feast.
The nosebleed stopped, the headache vanished clean. His dilated pupils sharpened.
The nightmares became pure energy; devouring them filled him with vitality.
"That all you got?"
"Uh...?"
The man's jaw trembled. He'd hoped to force self-destruction by cramming nightmares, but look—Do-gyeol grinned without even wiping his nosebleed. Blood on his teeth gleamed menacingly.
"Gimme more."
"Gaaah! S-stop! M-my power...!"
The man's eyes rolled back white. Froth at his mouth, he collapsed.
Thud.
Dust rose where he sprawled.
Seo Tae-yun and Yun Ga-eun stared, panting and frozen.
"This time we really got him... right?"
The moment Yun Ga-eun spoke cautiously...
Kwaaaang—!
One wall of the break room exploded outward in a dust cloud.
And there stood Pi Yu-jun, eyes bloodshot.
"...?"
The scene before Pi Yu-jun was far from the gruesome massacre he'd imagined.
On the floor: the man, foam-mouthed and eyes rolled back.
Beside him: Seo Tae-yun and Yun Ga-eun slumped, breathing ragged. And...
'Why's he the only one looking lively?'
Do-gyeol patted his belly, holding back a burp.
Pi Yu-jun felt a wave of emptiness—and chills creeping over his skin.
'These three took down a sorcerer?'
His gaze locked on Do-gyeol. Their eyes met, and Do-gyeol smirked.
"Teacher. You said you wouldn't give us dangerous missions. Total bullshit."
"That's..."
"If this is 'easy'... Cheongram field missions... are fucking brutal..."
Do-gyeol finished and flipped his eyes back, collapsing with a thud.
Overeating, accumulated heartforce drain, and tension release all at once.
"Hey! Do-gyeol!"
Yun Ga-eun and Seo Tae-yun screamed, rushing over.
*
Across from the office building, on a high-rise rooftop.
A woman perched on the railing, watching, clicked her tongue.
"Didn't you say Pi Yu-jun was no worry?"
"Surprising. Thought his laid-back ass wouldn't notice."
She whipped her head toward the man. "Then assigning him as homeroom teacher..."
"Nah, not me. Just happened to form a nice setup."
The man stretched, adding, "Guess it didn't go so smooth."
"What's the plan now?"
"Long tails get stepped on. Exposed this early, gotta lay low for a bit."
He slung an umbrella over his shoulder. "Goal was checking growth, not killing anyway. We hit that, so no rush. Get impatient, and even doable stuff fails."
He turned to leave but paused. Glancing at the silently listening woman's ear, he chuckled. "New earring, huh?"
"Preempting you spotting the new boots?"
"That obvious?"
He smirked, glanced at his boots, and tapped his foot lightly, testing the fit. Then he looked up at the perfectly clear sky.
"Thought it'd rain today."