Chapter 82
Chapter 82
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 82
Chapter Title: Butterfly Effect for the Writer (2)
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Just because it was an academy for superhumans didn’t mean all the staff were superhumans.
Unlike the image portrayed by the media, most employees at Lord Howe Academy were ordinary people.
Unless they were faculty members who directly faced superhumans, there was no reason for facility managers or visiting researchers to be superhumans.
So when the alarm blared throughout the academy, most staff headed for the shelters rather than confronting the terrorists.
Of course, there were brave employees who stepped forward to save the students. However, the principal rejected their proposals outright.
Courage and recklessness had to be distinguished.
Among the non-superhuman staff, only medical personnel, priests, former soldiers, and mercenaries were permitted to fight the terrorists.
At least, that was the academy’s understanding.
But who could easily verify every single employee in an emergency? Plenty ignored the principal’s orders and joined the fray.
Gulzar, the first-year cafeteria chef, and Eva, the janitor, were such action-oriented staff—they flung open the shelter doors and charged into battle.
It was an act that could endanger the faculty shelter, but no one blamed them.
This was an academy. Everyone cared about the students equally.
Of course… there were always those with ulterior motives.
Reporter Park Seongyeok was one such person.
He wasn’t a superhuman, but with the flimsy excuse that all Korean men had military experience, he slipped in among the staff heading to rescue students.
Out of genuine desire to save them? No, he was an academy correspondent for the Goryeo Times, not academy staff. His goal was purely journalistic.
A scoop. A sensational one that could draw the world’s attention.
The academy attack itself was a scoop of scoops… but other reporters at the academy could cover that too.
Park Seongyeok wanted more.
Secrets of the attack that slipped past school censorship, or juicy truths.
If he could uncover something like that…
‘The news director position at HQ wouldn’t be a pipe dream.’
Anyway, with considerable resolve, he headed to the combat zone, a hidden camera tucked in his sleeve.
But joining late, he couldn’t even witness the fierce clashes with the terrorists.
In the northern island district, all he captured was scorch marks from explosives, bullet holes, and ice shards left by mages.
It wasn’t what he’d hoped for, but Park Seongyeok didn’t despair. The battle wasn’t over yet.
He followed radio chatter about zombies and student rescues, moving with the faculty.
“Ugh, damn. What the hell is this?”
The path to the academy’s main building was horrific.
The pristine walkways prepared for students were littered with rotting zombie corpses and burst flesh.
“Groooar…”
“Priest! Is there a priest?!”
Limbless zombies piled haphazardly, wounded faculty carried to the rear.
The once-beautiful hall of learning was unrecognizable, but compared to right in front of the first-year main building, it was tame.
“Main building perimeter cleared! Need backup at the path to the shelter!”
“Third-years rescued! All faculty from there are heading your way—just hold on till then!”
“Fuck, who cares if we hold? The shelter has to hold!”
It was a scene straight out of a warzone.
A handful of superhumans and armed faculty battled hordes of zombies swarming the main building, while desperate calls for support echoed from behind.
“Damn, if we just had proper mages or firepower…”
“Abandoning the first-years. The principal’s lost it…”
Park Seongyeok quietly filmed it all.
He meticulously recorded talk of the academy abandoning first-years to prioritize second- and third-years.
‘Jackpot.’
The academy selectively rescuing students?
Even that famed principal couldn’t brush that off. And considering the value of these freshmen… he’d be lucky to keep his neck.
‘Slipped in at the right time.’
Park Seongyeok suppressed a triumphant grin and kept filming. Then a urgent voice crackled over someone’s radio.
“Emergency! Emergency situation!”
“What happened?”
“Th-there’s a massive hole in the main building courtyard! Zombies are pouring in—it looks like it leads to the shelter!”
Faces hardened instantly as the transmission ended. They’d bought time thanks to the shelter… but it was already breached?
How desperately were the students holding out? Were any even alive?
Reactions split into two.
“Damn it, when’s backup coming?!”
The angry threw radios and screamed.
“O Five Gods… protect her…”
Others prayed for miracles, especially priests who’d rushed to save the Saintess.
Park Seongyeok’s hidden camera captured every moment.
Thoughts of students like the Saintess dying? Already gone from his mind.
He even pondered the Saintess dying. If he could snap a photo of her corpse?
‘…Pulitzer’s not out of reach.’
That would catapult him past news director to Goryeo Times executive…
That’s when it happened.
A woman’s voice came over the radio.
“To everyone in the first-year main building: In 10 seconds, gather at the building entrance. I repeat: 10 seconds to the building entrance.”
A voice far too casual for the situation.
Most frowned at the out-of-place message, but some faculty reacted differently.
Especially those recently tormented by the voice’s owner—they screamed in joy.
“Holy Sword! The Holy Sword’s here!”
Holy Sword? Preah Khan? Park Seongyeok aimed his wrist camera skyward at another potential scoop.
The next instant, a massive light descended from the heavens. A few seconds ahead of the promised 10.
Flash!
Holy mana materialized as white light, illuminating the entire main building.
Warm as sunlight, it enveloped the zombies. Those touched dissolved into sparkling dust.
A surreal, sacred scene explaining why otherworldly faith supplanted Earth’s.
“Holy Sword!”
Everyone yelled into their radios at the sudden hero’s arrival.
But this time, it wasn’t cheers.
“Shelter’s breached! We need to save the students now!”
Didn’t she hear the pleas to hurry for the kids?
Preah Khan, gripping the Holy Sword, descended leisurely from the sky, feathers drifting lazily.
“Holy Sword, please!”
“No way… is she out of power?”
“You… you Holy Sword thief! You’re letting the Saintess die after all!”
Pleas, doubts, rage. Staff stomped in frustration as they stared at her. Finally, touching ground, her first words were:
“Hey, any reporters here?”
Everyone gaped in disbelief, but she scanned the gathered faculty indifferently.
“There’s gotta be at least one here too…”
Preah Khan snapped her fingers. Mana-savvy staff realized she was scanning bodies broadly with mana.
“Found you. There were four or five in the third-year building—wouldn’t miss one here.”
But non-superhuman Park Seongyeok felt nothing and obliviously shoved his camera at her.
“Hey, you there. Step forward.”
“Me? M-me?”
She pointed at Park Seongyeok. He couldn’t hide his shock.
“Turn off the camera and recorder. Now.”
“W-wait! Holy Sword, I’m a reporter…”
He tried protesting, but couldn’t dodge the Holy Sword’s hand. She instantly plucked the hidden camera and recorder from his clothes.
“Reporter, so?”
“…”
Eyes turned to Park Seongyeok. Sneaking in undercover wasn’t enough—he’d filmed freely too.
Especially the staffer who’d given him the pistol—his face twisted menacingly. If not for the Holy Sword, he’d have shot him.
“I’ll delete the recordings and photos… No complaints?”
“H-Holy Sword. That’s… for the public’s right to know…”
“Serious? You want your ‘right to know’ here?”
Preah Khan’s one eye curved like a crescent. Park Seongyeok finally sensed the glares and shut up.
He recalled war correspondents’ adage.
Rights are distant; fists are close.
‘Fuck…’
As Park Seongyeok fell silent, staff renewed pleas to Preah Khan. Some priests dropped to their knees.
“We need to get underground now! How hard are the students fighting?”
“Kids are dying this very moment!”
But the Holy Sword ignored them still. She slung an arm around Park Seongyeok, handing him the reset camera.
“Hey, want me to hook you up with a scoop?”
“…”
“No veto. Shut up and follow.”
Her attitude was brazen, but he couldn’t refuse. Other staff sighed in relief, seeing her head to the shelter.
Preah Khan went not to the underground hole, but the shelter’s main door.
Zombies infested the main building interior, having fled the Holy Sword’s light.
They posed no threat to her. Zombies that staff risked lives against vanished to a few sword swings.
Moments later, reaching the shelter entrance, staff hurriedly unlocked it.
“Just hold on! We’re coming!”
Amid shouts and clanging metal, Preah Khan eyed Park Seongyeok.
“Hey, take pretty pictures.”
“Wh-what photos?”
After dragging this out, weren’t the students inside already dead? Was she telling him to shoot the Saintess’s corpse?
As he pondered, eyes darting, Preah Khan smirked.
“You’ll know when you see it.”
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