09. 3,827th Class Enrollment
09. 3,827th Class Enrollment
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Deep into the night.
Having finished her business on the 1st floor, Jin Ji-hye spat toward the Academy side and stepped out of the inn.
"Dog-like bitches. I'll make you regret it for sure."
She had a mountain of things to do.
To stand against the Ha Family and Yu Family, she'd need to build up power over hundreds or thousands of years, but the problem was that those two families wouldn't just sit idle during that time either.
That's why she had to roll the snowball as fast as possible, even if it was just one day sooner.
"You know, I realized there's no need to make things complicated here. It was just something you could copy and roughly toss aside, like what you did to your son."
Just as she was about to head toward the northern city wall, a voice suddenly rang out.
A voice that felt familiar yet unfamiliar.
"Exactly like what you did to your son."
"!!"
Her head whipped around.
The one who had approached her in the dead of night was none other than Bari.
Having sucked Sihwan's semen so greedily that she even made him pass out, she was out on this hunt for her master's happiness.
Her target, of course, was Jin Ji-hye.
This woman would become an obstacle in the future, and above all, she couldn't forgive a barbarian like her for daring to insult Sihwan.
"Barbarians like you have no way of knowing if this is the original or a cloned copy. Your son was processed as dead too, after all."
"Who the hell are you? How dare you mention my son!!"
Having been stimulated all day long, Ji-hye exploded in rage without even properly checking the other woman's face.
The Nobling used by her and the Jin Family was Physical Type.
It was one of the two most common categories alongside magic types, mainly enhancing weapons and one's physical abilities for destructive combat.
In particular, weapons enhanced by Physical Type Noblesse could even wound Noblesse skin, so if they gathered in large numbers, they could even take on the pinnacle of Nobling, the Coding Type.
The problem was their vulnerability in one-on-one fights, especially against Coding Type—like the representative Yu Family.
But against someone who wasn't Noblesse, it was still a total disaster.
She glared at Bari and printed out her vicious sword.
A blade at its extreme that could slice through anything, even Mana itself. No magic could exert its power before this sword.
"Your son is alive. I'm keeping him safe."
"...What?"
"I can let you meet him. Of course, there'll be a price."
"Hah... now you're trying..."
For a split second, Ji-hye was tempted, but she took a deep breath to calm her excitement.
"You dare try to scam me by bringing up my son?"
"Scam? I'm just telling you the plain truth. Well, from a barbarian's perspective, you wouldn't understand. You'd say, 'A corpse was clearly found, so how could he be alive?'"
"I'll mince you up and kill you. I'm in a bad mood anyway."
She was already sad, pissed off, and wronged, and now this nobody was bringing up her poor son. Unforgivable.
"Heh."
Bari laughed.
Ji-hye, puffing up the atmosphere like she was some big-shot Noblesse, just looked ridiculous.
'Barbarian trash.'
Without Nobling, she might have backed off a bit.
To eliminate any potential threat to her master, she would have avoided needless provocation and carefully built her strength.
But she already had Nobling in hand.
Even if it was low-quality male stuff, Bari had overwhelming computational power.
"Die."
The sword came down over her shoulder.
A blade that could slice through anything.
If it was right in front of her, even steel dozens of meters thick would be cut clean through.
However,
Tuk.
She couldn't slice Bari.
"...Huh?"
Ji-hye unwittingly let out a dumb sound.
This wasn't how it was supposed to go?
Her shoulder should've been lopped off with a gush of blood?
"Nobling is such a convenient power, right? It can even interfere with laws. You know? If used right, Nobling can even reverse entropy. Something physically impossible becomes possible."
"You... what are...?"
"Having this kind of power and all you do is swing a sword... Sigh. How the hell am I supposed to enlighten barbarians like you?"
Puuk!
Something stabbed into Ji-hye's solar plexus.
A long, sharp blade.
It was Bari's arm, transformed in an instant.
"Wha...!"
"Swordplay can be done with science just as well, you know?"
Ordinary metal couldn't even scratch it, let alone stab. Noblesse skin was that tough.
But while dissecting Jin Seong-hyeon, Bari had analyzed all of Noblesse basic DNA, and based on that, she developed Reaction Metal that kills Noblesse cells on contact.
Once developed, applying it was just a matter of time.
As a highly advanced AI and Android, Bari could freely remodel her body.
"Keok... you... No, Nob...."
"Do I look like one of you barbarians?"
She coldly sneered at the blood-spewing, shocked woman, then stabbed into Ji-hye's body over and over like a serial killer savoring the pleasure.
"Oh, don't worry, I don't plan to kill you. Actually, this is good news. You get to see your son, after all."
"Wha... the... hell...!"
Even for a Noblesse, damage to vital organs was fatal.
Stabbed dozens of times by Bari, she couldn't endure the severe bodily damage and passed out.
"...I had some expectations, but this is too pathetic. I wonder if Coding Type is any better?"
Bari didn't hide her disappointment as she pulled out a large sack and stuffed the fallen Ji-hye inside.
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"Mom!"
"...S-son...?"
"Why are you here, Mom?"
"Son!!"
"You can't come here, Mom!"
A hazy world.
With a massive river between them, son and mother faced off.
The woman waded into the river water toward her son.
"I said don't come!"
The son rejected her fiercely.
She absolutely couldn't come.
She couldn't cross that river.
"Why, why? Seong-hyeon... Did I... nag you too much? I won't anymore."
"No, I said you can't come."
He got angry and begged, but she wouldn't budge.
In the end, Seong-hyeon resorted to a desperate measure.
He uprooted a nearby rock and hurled it at her.
"Wh-what...!"
Ppeok.
The rocks here were stronger than Noblesse.
Hit by the rock, Ji-hye passed out immediately—and truly opened her eyes.
"Huck...!"
An unfamiliar ceiling.
Everything around was filled with white light, and strange things she couldn't even guess the purpose of were scattered everywhere.
Her body was covered in all sorts of attachments too, and she couldn't peel them off even if she tried.
No, more precisely, she didn't have the strength to peel them off.
"A... dream...?"
Juruk.
Tears flowed from her eyes.
So what if it was a dream.
She got to see her son because of it.
She wanted to stay longer.
She wanted to cross that river.
She wanted to chat sweetly with her son.
If she'd known it would be like this, she would've treated him better.
Instead of nagging, she should've hugged him more.
Trusting in the long lifespan of Noblesse, she'd neglected him and now regretted it for life.
But then.
"!!"
As she unconsciously scanned her surroundings, a sight caught her eye.
Inside a cylindrical room enclosed by transparent walls, a man was crouched.
It was her son from the dream just moments ago, Jin Seong-hyeon.
"Seong-hyeon...! Seong-hyeon!!!"
What the hell was going on.
He was clearly dead?
The Committee had announced it themselves??
-Ugh... mm....
Jin Seong-hyeon, who had been burying his face between his knees while crouched, lifted his head.
Tortured and used as research material all day, he had fallen into lethargy, sleeping all day as his routine.
But suddenly, he heard a voice he'd desperately missed.
-...Huh...?
And he saw it too.
A woman bound to a surgical bed, staring at him.
Thud!
-M-Mother...! What... what is this...!!
"Seong-hyeon!!!"
Mother and son cried out each other's names at the top of their lungs.
How long had it been since they'd seen each other!
No, he'd thought he'd never see her again, and now here she was!
Nothing about their surroundings registered.
They only recognized that they'd met again.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
Until Bari appeared.
"Such a touching mother-son reunion. Sniff. Might've even shed a tear."
"...."
-....
The two froze at her appearance, putting on that loathsome act.
Seong-hyeon knew full well how cruel and vicious that doll was, and Ji-hye could guess that the woman who captured them both wasn't your average psycho bitch.
"...Untie me. And my son too. Whatever you want, I can give it."
The situation was creepy and gross, but whatever—they'd reunited with her son.
She didn't know how he was alive, but he'd survived, and he was right there in front of her.
So she could just take him and go.
Money, treasures, whatever—she could hand over as much as needed.
"What I want? You're already paying that, so it's fine."
"What are you talking about?"
"But don't you remember me?"
"...?"