Chapter 2329 – 2329. Savior Of The Academy
The fireball flew elsewhere, exploding and burning in the air, while the lightning struck the ground, sweeping across the floor. The surrounding temperature rose by 2-3 degrees due to the flames, and those standing on the floor were all momentarily paralyzed by the electric shock.
Since there were no ordinary people present, no one died from the shock. The cats had already left the area.
“Kkyaaaaak! Shim Eunji!! What are you doing?!”
Gam Donggi shouted. The fireball had exploded near Gam Donggi, causing him to suffer a burn on his left arm.
“The flow of mana is distorted! Try not to use mana! It’s uncontrollable!”
I looked down at the floor with my Spirit Eyes. The source of the distorted mana flow was underground. Even if the distortion was annoying, it could be eliminated by overwhelming it with sheer power.
‘But there’s no need to do that.’
I could subdue those guys easily with my bare hands, without using mana.
“You guys seem to have terrible luck… why don’t you just surrender?”
“Surrendering means death!”
Ma Seongju, who was confronting Nam Gyeonghwayeon, shouted and continued,
“We’re all wanted criminals! Right now, we’ve infiltrated the academy and attacked female students! Does surrendering here erase the crimes we’ve committed so far? The law is harsh on villains! If we surrender, we’ll be executed! Even if we’re lucky enough to avoid execution, we’ll get life imprisonment! Do you want to spend the rest of your lives in prison?!”
“No way. Absolutely not. Prison? Why would I go there?”
“You can’t use a computer in prison. The internet is my everything. Not being able to use the internet is like death.”
Gam Donggi and Hakjun said, shuddering. Shim Eunji was busy trying to escape from me, since I was approaching her, ignoring Ma Seongju’s words.
“Senior, don’t use mana. If you use it now, you could suffer serious internal injuries.”
“I’m confident even without using mana. Surely they’re not stronger than you.”
Nam Gyeonghwayeon didn’t lose her composure and took a fighting stance.
“Mana distortion. It’s definitely a dangerous risk. But the greater the risk, the greater the reward. And a gambler is someone who’s willing to bet everything despite the high risks!!”
Ma Seongju, who had been taciturn until now, raised his mana with an excited expression. It seemed that even this guy, who seemed somewhat normal, was actually a psychopath.
‘A gambling addict, so he’s definitely a psychopath.’
I wasn’t too worried about her. Nam Gyeonghwayeon had grown technically by sparring with me without mana.
And mana distortion is fair.
Thud!
A sound like something bursting came from Ma Seongju’s body, and blood splattered everywhere. The mana he couldn’t control had harmed his own body.
“Uwaaaaaaaah!”
Ma Seongju let out a scream-like shout and rushed at Nam Gyeonghwayeon. Nam Gyeonghwayeon calmly faced him.
I approached Shim Eunji. I spoke to her from a distance where I could reach out and touch her.
“Shim Eunji, I have a proposal for you.”
“…A proposal?”
“Come under me. It’s better than dying or being imprisoned.”
“……”
Shim Eunji sneered and was about to answer, but then she looked around. Ma Seongju and Gam Donggi were fighting Nam Gyeonghwayeon. Hakjun was a little further away, watching the fight with a blank expression.
She looked like she was wondering if she should trust those idiots.
“…I’m going to retire after this job is done successfully. 32.6 billion won is enough to live luxuriously for the rest of my life.”
“You won’t accept a good offer. Now you’re my slave.”
I clearly gave her a chance. It was Shim Eunji herself who rejected that chance.
Just as I was about to rush at Shim Eunji and knock her out with a punch, the world suddenly distorted and spun around.
‘A mental attack?!’
No. There was no way a mental attack would work on me. The space was actually distorting.
“My, my barrier?!”
Shim Eunji shouted in a flustered voice, so it was the barrier that was distorted. After all, the essence of the barrier was also mana.
‘It’s not a mental attack… but my senses are getting weird. There’s a strange smell, and my mouth tastes bitter.’
My senses were distorted, probably due to the distorted barrier.
“Shim Eunji! Release the barrier!”
Gam Donggi shouted.
“You idiot! If we release the barrier now, we’ll be discovered by the academy!”
“It’s not like we’ll be screwed immediately if we’re discovered! If this keeps up, we’ll be screwed first! It’s hard to even move!”
“Tch….”
Shim Eunji gritted her teeth and, after a brief moment of thought, released the barrier. The distorted senses returned to normal. Looking around, everyone except me was on the floor, panting.
‘Shim Eunji seemed to be standing… did I see wrong because the space was distorted?’
It was difficult to see through the space distortion even with Spirit Eyes.
‘…Anyway, they’re all subdued.’
It looked like they self-destructed because of the barrier… but who cares.
“Don’t move! Unless you want to see this cat die…!”
Hakjun, who had been watching silently until now, shouted. He was holding a kitten in one hand and pointing a gun at it with the other. He had taken advantage of the distorted barrier to teleport and grab the kitten.
A kitten was all he could take hostage. What an idiot. But then there was Nam Gyeonghwayeon. If I ignored his words and moved, the kitten would die? Nam Gyeonghwayeon’s favorability would drop.
‘How could I forget the favorability I worked so hard to raise.’
I glanced at Nam Gyeonghwayeon. She was staggering as she got up and glared at Hakjun.
“Y-you heinous bastard! Let go of the kitten!”
“If you want to save this kitten, hand over the sword! Now!”
“The sword….”
I wouldn’t have even listened, but… Nam Gyeonghwayeon looked at the kitten and hesitated.
Meow!
The kitten, not knowing anything, cried innocently. That was the final blow. Nam Gyeonghwayeon bit her lip and handed over the sword.
“…Take it.”
“Huh? Really? Haha. Damn. If I knew it would be this easy, I would have done this sooner! I’ve been wasting my time! Ma Seongju! Gam Donggi! Get up and come here!”
Ma Seongju and Gam Donggi moved quickly to Hakjun’s side, groaning in pain. Shim Eunji also glanced at me and then moved towards Hakjun.
“Nam Gyeonghwayeon! Throw that sword towards me! Don’t forget that I have the cat in my hand!”
Meow!
“…….”
Nam Gyeonghwayeon’s face twisted as she threw the sword. The sword landed right in front of Hakjun. Hakjun grinned and grabbed the sword.
“Now I don’t need this anymore. Hehehe. 32.6 billion…! I’m rich now!”
Hakjun threw the kitten. Nam Gyeonghwayeon was horrified, but the kitten spun in the air and landed easily on the floor, then scurried away.
“Hakjun! Now’s the time!”
“Hey, what are you doing? Use teleport now!”
“This idiot is just posing here.”
“Wait. Teleporting with other people is difficult. I need to concentrate! Ugh! Teleport!”
Power erupted from Hakjun’s body. Hakjun and his companions disappeared in an instant. The problem was that Hakjun’s power stimulated the mana distortion. The distorted power of Hakjun covered me and Nam Gyeonghwayeon.
It felt similar to when I used a space-shifting scroll.
[Activating Heavenly Heart. Lasts for 1 minute.]
I reflexively used Heavenly Heart. The power had no effect on me.
I paused when I checked on Nam Gyeonghwayeon. Unlike me, Nam Gyeonghwayeon couldn’t resist the power. Nam Gyeonghwayeon disappeared.
“Damn it. Don’t tell me she went to where those thieving bastards are?!”
I quickly took out my smartphone.
The thieving bastards couldn’t escape directly outside the academy. Unlike space-shifting scrolls, space-shifting due to abilities is affected by the barrier installed in the academy.
Even if they were out of range, I could hack them. I had already hacked them once, so their phones were infected.
[Hacking successful.]
What I hacked was Nam Gyeonghwayeon’s smartphone. Since I knew her number, it was possible even if she was out of range. I forcibly turned on the GPS on Nam Gyeonghwayeon’s smartphone and tracked her. The location was… where I was.
“She’s nearby?”
I couldn’t use my senses properly because of the distorted mana flow.
“Senior!! Can you hear my voice?!”
“I can hear you! I’m here! Right now… I can’t move!”
I could hear Nam Gyeonghwayeon’s voice. I went down to the basement of the old school building. It didn’t take long to find her.
She was stuck in the wall. I could see her butt covered by her skirt. Her upper body above her waist must be on the other side of the wall.
“Can you help me out? I tried to break the wall and escape using mana… but this wall absorbs mana.”
“I need to check something first.”
“Okay. …I’m sorry about earlier. I let them get away because of me….”
“A kitten was taken hostage, so it couldn’t be helped. And it’s okay. I’ve prepared everything.”
The locations of those guys were visible on my smartphone. They were just leaving the academy and heading north. Even with teleportation, Hakjun wasn’t skilled enough to move to China in one go.
I shared the vision of Thunder Owl Mocha through Spirit Eyes. Mocha, who I had stationed in advance, was chasing them from the sky. Since they were near the academy, they were quickly found. The guys were driving away on the road in a car they had prepared.
From this point of view, they had succeeded.
But would those villains keep their word?
They would sell Nam Gyeonghwayeon’s sword to Guirakgok for $100 million and divide it equally, with each of the four getting exactly $25 million. The villains who earned 32.6 billion would live happily ever after. Would that really be the ending?
‘If I kill the other three villains, I can have the entire $100 million?’
“H-huh? W-wait a minute. Where are you touching?!”
I was unconsciously touching Nam Gyeonghwayeon’s thigh. I realized what I was doing and was about to take my hand away, but I stopped. Nam Gyeonghwayeon was defenseless right now. The wall was for magic experiments, so it absorbed mana and was sturdy.
[Nam Gyeonghwayeon’s Favorability: 68]
It was a shame to waste the favorability I had built up so far, but it was even more of a shame to miss the opportunity of a woman stuck in a wall.
And there was a way to make up for the favorability. I could return Nam Gyeonghwayeon’s sword to her.
‘I have the favorability I’ve built up so far. It won’t drop too much.’
There was a similar situation before, but unlike then, Nam Gyeonghwayeon was powerless now.
“It’s your fault, Senior. Tempting me with an ass like this. Why don’t you show me how you usually get flustered in front of me?”
I lifted her skirt. Dark blue, high-quality lace panties were protecting her private area. They were tight-fitting panties. Maybe she was expecting this situation.
I grabbed Nam Gyeonghwayeon’s butt firmly with one hand.
“Ugh?! S-stop it! I trust you!”
[Nam Gyeonghwayeon’s Favorability: 68]
“……”
Huh? Her favorability didn’t drop?
Did “trust” mean something else?
