The Devil of the In-Seoul Class

EP 5 The Devil of the In-Seoul Class at the Retake Academy

Lee Seon-hee thought about her wager with Yoo Ji-tae. Am I pushing this too hard?

Lee Seon-hee had raised Lee Ah-rang with ruthless thoroughness. She taught her the highest-grade spells she could obtain, hired private tutors, and prepared elixirs, spirit herbs, enhancers, and training facilities exactly according to plan.

At this rate, Yoo Ji-tae has no chance of winning.

Still, she won't cancel the bet at the last minute. Men like him keep their promises even if it kills them.

Lee Seon-hee sighed as she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠reviewed Lee Ah-rang's training schedule. Is this the right thing to do?

She recalled Yoo Ji-tae's words. His mind was already broken.

To him, women are like walking bombs. On the surface he seems to have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠normal desires and can communicate properly, but deep inside he sees every woman as a threat, a bomb or a poison ready to go off.

He can hold a conversation, but there is no sincerity in it. It's all reflexive. He answers questions because he must. He honors contracts because he must. He expresses gratitude for kindness because he must. It's like a program forcing his body to move.

How brutal must the education and punishment have been to create that state? Just imagining it made breathing difficult.

He never knows when the woman in front of him might attack. Never knows when she might try to kill him… He suppresses that paranoia with reason.

That state is warping his mind beyond recognition.

So of course he wants to live alone.

…Would it be better to just leave him be?

Lee Seon-hee shook her head.

People rot when left alone.

Yoo Ji-tae, who rejected all contact with others, was like a tower on the verge of collapse. If left alone he would destroy himself. Lee Seon-hee knew exactly how people who gave up on human connection fell apart.

I'll beat Yoo Ji-tae in this wager, bring him into the family, and heal his mind so he can truly be with Ah-rang.

Then Lee Seon-hee thought of Lee Se-rin. Yoo Ji-tae's live-in partner. She clicked her tongue without realizing it.

That vulgar woman.

Lee Seon-hee did not consider Lee Se-rin an enemy.

She must have used some underhanded trick to move in with him. At best she's only in the Refined Realm. A woman like that could never heal a man's mind.

What mattered was managing Yoo Ji-tae's condition. If the pressure from Lee Ah-rang became too much, he might break mentally. Even if he lost the bet, everything would be ruined if he came to hate both Lee Ah-rang and the Samjin family.

"…I should send him some elixirs and spirit herbs."

Since I taught Ah-rang the Taeguk Cheonji Simbeop, it's only fair I give him at least this much.

After two hours of operating the heart method in the hot spring, the forms were a complete mess and his meridians were battered, but he had completed the required repetitions.

"…Haa."

He had successfully learned the Taeguk Cheonji Simbeop.

After finishing his soak, he headed to the assigned room. He changed into pajamas and lay down on the bed.

"Status window."

Both Health and Strength had risen significantly, nearing 4. All that sparring with Mansang Pajigwon Gakbeop had paid off. The hot spring's restorative effect on his body had helped as well.

Mana had increased by 0.02 during the two hours. And it was still rising. The automatic operation of the Taeguk Cheonji Simbeop continued to accumulate mana inside his body even now. The automatic operation level was still low, so major growth wasn't expected yet, but raising the heart method's level would solve that.

"Good."

The real problem was the stagnation period. It would arrive around level 5 or 6. For someone whose Health and Strength increased by 0.5 per day, that wall would come within three days.

"Enhancers, supplements, high-pressure mana capsules, the hot spring… everything costs money."

He took a sheet of paper from the drawer. 8 billion won was written on it. Below that he began listing the money that would come in this month.

Looking at the numbers, he realized just how much money Lee Ah-rang was giving him. Women who casually handed over 7.2 billion a month were rare.

"Might as well spend some."

He accessed the website of Nokjeong Pharmaceuticals, a famous company.

[Nokjeong Pharmaceuticals is a company creating a better world.]

[All medicine in this world begins at Nokjeong.]

Grand slogans. Browsing the listed medicines, he understood what they meant.

There are so many.

Thousands of different medicines. From cold medicine and antibiotics to elixirs and panaceas. It was no exaggeration to say they had gathered every medicine in the world. Some medicines were similar to those sold at Chirnix, but the price was twice as high. He knew the reason. Brand value. To people, Nokjeong's medicines were worth paying extra for.

He searched for the most expensive product on the Nokjeong Pharmaceuticals site.

[Geumdan]

[Price: 490 billion won]

[※Caution]

[This product is made to order. Customers must visit headquarters and sign a contract.]

[Geumdan is a medicine created by Nokjeong after 100 years of research~ All ingredients are obtained through publicly available routes~ Nokjeong Pharmaceuticals absolutely does not engage in illegal pharmaceutical practices~]

He skimmed the description. His attention wasn't on the Nokjeong site in the first place.

[Craftable]

"Perfect!"

Who said he had to buy it with money? Making it himself would be cheaper. Still, he felt a twinge of guilt. After offering a small apology to Nokjeong Pharmaceuticals, he read the window.

His mind went blank for a moment.

…What the hell is this?

He stared at the screen for a long time before closing it.

"…Geumdan is impossible."

Skills at level 100 and 18,000 points were impossible for him right now.

"I never want to make medicine that uses people as ingredients anyway…"

He scrolled down. Cheonryong Cheongung. Fortunately, this one didn't use people as ingredients. He ordered three 2.5-billion-won Cheonryong Cheongung, spending 7.5 billion. An alarm appeared on the site. Without thinking, he tapped it, and a strange sensation stirred in his mind.

"Kuaaaak!!"

It felt like someone was rummaging through his head at will. After writhing for a few seconds, he looked straight ahead. A window floated before his eyes.

"……Huh."

He dropped his phone. There was no joy at becoming a VIP customer. Only fear. The thought that someone whose name he didn't even know had tampered with his status window sent chills down his spine. And it was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠done by people who ground humans into medicine.

Come to think of it, this phone was a mana-powered device. It wasn't impossible for them to activate magic inside it and interfere with the user. When he reread the site's terms, he found the line: [Do you allow access to the customer's status window?]

What the hell kind of world was this? Did that mean they could hack his phone and cast strange curses or magic on him whenever they wanted?

His heart pounded wildly. His hands and feet trembled. He couldn't breathe properly. He forced his eyes shut and took deep breaths until he calmed down.

From now on… I have to be careful…

Delivery was scheduled for tomorrow. With that amount of money paid, they would deliver no matter what. High-realm experts wouldn't have left a pharmaceutical company that went around killing customers alone. They would at least keep their word on that front.

If they were going to kidnap and kill me, they wouldn't have shown me this shop window in the first place.

His mind gradually stabilized. The mental fortitude gained from the Taeguk Cheonji Simbeop had helped him recover from the panic.

Three Cheonryong Cheongung. Even eating all of them wouldn't bring his mana to 10. Even combined with the heart method, it would probably only reach around 5.

With this, Health, Strength, and Mana will all reach level 5 within the week.

And then the stagnation period would begin.

"It would be nice if Lee Ah-rang gave me 240 million every day, but that won't happen."

Even Lee Seon-hee wouldn't keep overlooking her granddaughter spending 240 million a day. Besides, Lee Seon-hee was his enemy.

She might give useful elixirs or pocket money, but she would never allow money that could tilt the scales.

In the end, he needed to find new ways to earn money. Aside from the Samjin family and the restaurant, what did he have?

The answer came immediately.

"Hermes."

After winning the Nobel Prize, various messages had arrived in his inbox, but he had been lying low because of Llywelyn. Now Llywelyn was on his side. Looking through crafting requests, there were many offering 1 billion or 2 billion, and even some offering 10 billion. Just as he was about to accept one, the Nokjeong Pharmaceuticals shop window flashed through his mind.

There were people who made medicine using humans as ingredients. Then wasn't it possible that villains wearing human masks were hiding here too? He couldn't say there weren't any.

Come to think of it, when I accepted Lee Ji-eun's request, trouble followed.

Even in a world that revered men above women, plenty of people didn't care about such things. He looked at his inbox again. The 1-billion, 2-billion, and 10-billion requests lined up like fishing hooks trying to lure him out and kill him.

He clicked past them to something else. Appraisal requests. 1 to 5 million per session. For an hour he accepted appraisal requests through the alchemist and performed appraisals. When clients questioned him, he quickly absorbed related knowledge from books. After clearing all the appraisal requests that came in, he had 98 million won in hand.

"About 100 million a day."

He flipped the paper on the drawer and wrote anew.

"…Well, this is still acceptable, I guess."

It still wasn't satisfying, but he would figure out more ways to earn money little by little. He lay down on the bed and fell asleep.

*****

2 a.m. While Yoo Ji-tae slept, someone opened the bedroom door and stepped inside.