Chapter 1135 – 1135. Savior Of The Academy
Clang!!
Space shattered like a mirror. Emerging from the crack in the shattered space was Kang Ji-young. Behind her, the bewildered academy teachers and students could be seen.
Kang Ji-young’s face was contorted with rage. Her tightly clenched lips were bleeding.
“Catch Kim Je-oh right now!!”
Her furious shout shook even the space itself.
Kang Ji-young’s command was directed at the teachers outside the dungeon. Even though I knew the voice wasn’t meant for me, I was startled.
I checked the situation outside through the crack in the shattered space. The academy teachers were in a state of panic. It seemed Kim Je-oh had already made his escape. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be so flustered.
“Keehee, keeheehee!”
A first-year student, possessed by a curse and turned into a ghost, cackled eerily as he saw the intruding Kang Ji-young. He didn’t even recognize her. Perhaps it was natural. The first-year student, unable to withstand the curse, had died.
Wobble.
The pool of blood writhed and then surged upwards. The blood transformed into dozens of arms. The cursed hands made of blood lunged at Kang Ji-young and me.
I couldn’t just stand by and let it happen. As I was about to gather my mana and react, Kang Ji-young spoke to me.
“I’ll handle this, so stay put.”
Kang Ji-young activated her True Awakening. The blood that had taken the form of arms shattered and slammed against the cave walls. The skull mold that had been spewing blood was destroyed.
She was already in front of the first-year student, and with a distorted face, she swung her fist.
“Keeheeheeheehee!”
The first-year student screamed.
“…I’m sorry.”
Kang Ji-young apologized softly and swung her fist again. The ghost endured this attack as well. The immense curse was the ghost’s driving force. But Kang Ji-young’s attack was just beginning. Every time she swung her fist, the space trembled.
Crack! Thud! Shatter!
One by one, the molds that the ghost wore on its body were destroyed. The molds were the source of the curse. As a result, the ghost’s power also weakened.
“Keeheeheeheeheeheeek!”
The ghost desperately unleashed its curse. The curse pierced through Kang Ji-young’s body, but her fist didn’t stop.
Eventually, all the molds were shattered, and the ghost writhed like a worm. Kang Ji-young’s fist delivered the final blow. The ghost disappeared, and a gruesome corpse took its place. After staring at the corpse for a moment, Kang Ji-young spoke to me.
“Sung Yu-jin. The duel is a victory against the spirit. Go outside and wait. Don’t do anything reckless.”
“…Yes.”
The atmosphere was so unsettling that it was hard to even offer a word of comfort.
I used the artificial dungeon space that Kang Ji-young had destroyed to get outside.
The outside was utter chaos.
“He couldn’t have left the academy yet! Check the academy’s barrier first!!”
A man in his fifties, Vice-Principal Kwon Sang-hoon, shouted with veins popping out of his neck. The teachers he pointed out rushed away.
Non-combat teachers were escorting the students, while combat teachers were running outside to find Kim Je-oh.
“If Kim Je-oh resists, kill him! Just don’t let him get away!”
I identified a teacher approaching me and thought to myself.
‘Kim Je-oh from the game wasn’t like this….’
The changes didn’t matter. It was inevitable that things would change as an anomaly like me entered this world.
What I was curious about was the reason for the change. Not knowing made me feel very uneasy.
•••
Kim Je-oh, like the other teachers, watched the duel between the spirit and the mold.
He had no doubt about the mold’s victory. The precious molds he had taken from the old warehouse and the molds he had received from him. With those, Sung Yu-jin wouldn’t last 30 minutes before collapsing.
That’s what he thought.
The situation didn’t go as Kim Je-oh had predicted.
Sung Yu-jin had brought an item that blocked curses. It easily blocked intermediate and advanced curses. It was clearly not an ordinary item.
‘Sung Ha-ri! Sung Ha-ri, that woman intervened for her son!’
Kim Je-oh bit his lip tightly. He wanted to shout that it wasn’t fair, but he knew that the other teachers and students would think differently from him.
‘It’s okay. Unless it’s a sacred object, there must be a limit to how long he can withstand the curse.’
Sung Yu-jin wouldn’t last long.
He had to.
But the situation continued to unfold differently from Kim Je-oh’s wishes.
‘…Ki Ha-wook has started the curse.’
Ki Ha-wook.
A first-year student who had entered the mold department this year.
Although he was a first-year, his talent was second only to Shin Na-ri. Kim Je-oh had given Ki Ha-wook dozens of dangerous sacrifices. He had calculated that Ki Ha-wook could endure for at least an hour.
Ki Ha-wook’s curse was perfect.
Using Sung Yu-jin’s hair, which had been prepared in advance, he identified the target of the curse and, with the power of the mold, invoked the curse.
But Sung Yu-jin withstood that curse as well.
‘Just how amazing of an item did he bring…!’
Kim Je-oh gritted his teeth, trying to hide his anxiety.
Once started, Ki Ha-wook’s curse wouldn’t stop. It couldn’t stop.
Curses were very risky. If it failed once, the curse would rebound, that was the basic rule. Molds were used to minimize the risk. But even that had its limits.
‘…Quickly. Fall quickly, Sung Yu-jin!’
There was a barrier suit that prevented fatal damage, but the risk of the curse was different in nature, so it didn’t work properly.
If too much risk accumulated, Ki Ha-wook would die.
Kim Je-oh’s fingertips trembled.
‘It’s Shin Na-ri! She’s finally stepping up!’
Kim Je-oh sighed in relief at Shin Na-ri’s appearance.
The battle scene between Shin Na-ri and Sung Yu-jin was being broadcast on a large screen. Shin Na-ri was the one launching the attacks, but Sung Yu-jin had the initiative throughout the battle.
“…Amazing. His swordsmanship is already at the level of a master. But do you know what that swordsmanship is?”
“Don’t assume that just because I’m a teacher in the swordsmanship department, I know all swordsmanship. I’ve never seen that swordsmanship before. That guy should have joined the swordsmanship department, not the spirit department….”
“What nonsense. Sung Yu-jin is Sung Ha-ri’s son. The spear department is perfect for him. Did you see his spear throwing skills? The way the spear flies and pierces is beautiful.”
“Spirit…. Is that a spirit?”
The teachers who had been whispering naturally fell silent as they focused on the battle between Sung Yu-jin and Shin Na-ri.
A thick bolt of lightning struck.
The lightning, which even the academy teachers couldn’t ignore, struck Shin Na-ri directly. The teachers predicted Shin Na-ri’s defeat, but Kim Je-oh predicted Shin Na-ri’s victory.
‘With that power, she can break the seal on Jema’s bandages.’
Shin Na-ri’s seal was broken.
The reason why Shin Na-ri, a second-year student, didn’t go on practical training was one. It was because she couldn’t fully control her power.
An immense curse spread in all directions. Shin Na-ri’s body was a mold itself. The curse was her power.
“……!!”
The academy teachers and students were silently shocked. Kim Je-oh was pleased with their reaction.
‘Now that Shin Na-ri’s seal is broken… this duel is as good as over.’
If Sung Yu-jin disappeared from the artificial dungeon, Ki Ha-wook’s curse would also end. The curse would recognize that Sung Yu-jin was dead.
But the situation didn’t go the way Kim Je-oh wanted.
‘Damn it! Shin Na-ri’s curse disappeared all at once?! What the hell is that item!’
Regardless of his anger, his mind worked coldly.
Ki Ha-wook.
At this rate, Ki Ha-wook would die. The only way for Ki Ha-wook to survive was for Sung Yu-jin to find him and make him retire. But there was no way Sung Yu-jin could easily find Ki Ha-wook, who was hiding with the power of the mold. If he could, he would have already found him.
Kim Je-oh jumped up from his seat. The professor next to him looked at Kim Je-oh with a puzzled expression.
“Mr. Kim. Why are you suddenly like this?”
“…I’m just going to the restroom for a moment.”
“Ah, I see. I wasn’t paying attention.”
He nodded with a strange expression. He was sure that the winner of this duel was the spirit department. Kim Je-oh felt a surge of anger as if he was being mocked, but he held it back and went outside. He walked out as leisurely as possible, but as soon as he was out of sight, he ran down the hallway. Of course, it wasn’t in the direction of the restroom.
‘Ki Ha-wook will die! And my life will be over!’
Ask the headmaster for help? Then he might be able to save Ki Ha-wook. But would Headmaster Kang Ji-young and Vice-Principal Kwon Sang-hoon let him live? They would surely hold him accountable and hand him over to the Hero Association as a criminal for driving a student to death.
The proud title of academy teacher would only lead to a heavier punishment.
‘I refuse to rot in prison for the rest of my life! I have to get out of the academy somehow, somehow!’
Cold sweat formed on Kim Je-oh’s face as he ran. A person came to his mind.
‘That guy who gave me the molds! I’ll pin my crimes on him….’
His legs stopped abruptly.
‘…Who is that guy? What’s his name? No, was it a man? His tone was childish, I think…. A student? A teacher?’
He couldn’t remember.
Height, gender, tone, voice, eyes.
He couldn’t remember anything that could be characterized.
Something was wrong.
“Damn… it…!”
Kim Je-oh gritted his teeth and ran to the mold department. When he arrived at the mold department, he frantically rummaged through the molds. A straw doll came out. Kim Je-oh cut his wrist with a small knife and sprinkled blood on the straw doll. The straw doll, which had absorbed the blood, became Kim Je-oh’s clone.
“You, escape from the academy! Right now!”
The straw doll nodded and ran out of the mold department building.
‘That guy will cause confusion in the academy.’
Kim Je-oh took out a bag and stuffed the molds into it.
‘With these molds… I can join a criminal organization in Europe or America and get a decent position.’
After taking all the molds, he immediately left the mold department. He looked around with eyes wet with cold sweat.
‘The darkest place is under the lamp…. I’ll hide in the academy until things calm down and then escape when I get the chance.’
The academy was vast.
And Kim Je-oh had molds. He was confident that he wouldn’t be caught.
He forced a relaxed smile. It was fortunate that there were no mirrors around. If Kim Je-oh had seen his face, his heart might have collapsed. It was that hideous.
•••
Kang Ji-young glared at Vice-Principal Kwon Sang-hoon, who was sitting in front of her.
“Vice-Principal. I know that you encouraged Kim Je-oh to have this duel.”
“I’m sorry, Headmaster. I have no excuse. Kim Je-oh. I had no idea he was that kind of person.”
Kwon Sang-hoon bowed his head. His willingness to bow his head without hesitation to Kang Ji-young, who was younger than him, was remarkable.
“…We caught Kim Je-oh, who escaped from the academy yesterday. That Kim Je-oh was a clone. Kim Je-oh’s whereabouts are currently unknown.”
“Kim Je-oh and I are not that close. I don’t know where Kim Je-oh is. If I could… I would tear Kim Je-oh apart with my own hands.”
Kwon Sang-hoon’s position was shaken by this incident. It was Kwon Sang-hoon who was behind Kim Je-oh.
“I checked the mold list of the mold department. More than half of the molds used in the duel were not on the list.”
Kwon Sang-hoon’s eyes widened.
“…Did Kim Je-oh obtain the molds personally?”
“I tracked all of Kim Je-oh’s assets and the molds he used. Kim Je-oh’s assets were intact. On the other hand, the molds came from various sources such as auctions, black markets, and theft.”
Kang Ji-young stared intently at Kwon Sang-hoon.
“I swear. It wasn’t me.”
