I Entered an Academy in a Ruined Game

Chapter 45 : The Eve (2)

That night.

After finishing sparring and returning to the dormitory, Yu-jin reflected on Su-hyeon's sword skills, which had changed enough to be called a remarkable improvement.

'The quality of his sword strikes themselves has changed.'

A few days ago, he focused on defense based on superhuman dynamic vision and physical abilities, combined with several grappling techniques to force psychological warfare.

From her perspective, Su-hyeon's way of handling a sword until the day before yesterday was closer to utilizing the basics he had learned from her.

But.

Today, Su-hyeon's sword had completely transformed, evenly utilizing both one hand and two hands, applying the virtues of speed, power, and variation differently each time.

'His defense and evasion were originally good, but the momentum when pressing the attack was incomparably more fierce than before.'

In other words.

'It was similar to Instructor Lee Ho-seung's sword style.'

But she couldn't understand it at all.

'Is it possible to do that with just one day of teaching?'

That level of talent wouldn't have existed even in her uncle.

But it was also difficult to readily understand that someone with such talent had kept it dormant until now, only to explode it at this point.

'What's clear is that Su-hyeon must have accumulated tremendous practical experience somewhere unlike the rest of us.'

Since her grandfather had said so, it must be true.

In any case.

The fact that she, who had initially taken the offensive due to some inexplicable irritation, ended up having considerable difficulty by the end, was surprising to her.

'It's really unbelievable, but it's hard to decisively overcome Su-hyeon with just sword exchanges, without characteristics and sword energy.'

In the previous sparring, Yu-jin had broken down Su-hyeon's physical abilities with deep-level techniques.

But in this sparring, she had to settle for an unconvincing decision victory.

Moreover, when Su-hyeon, who must have known this well, suggested they compete using characteristics next time, she couldn't help but think, 'Does he have something up his sleeve again?'

'The moment I manifest sword energy, and the moment I use my characteristic, it would be impossible to even properly exchange blows.'

Could he possibly be confident in drawing out sword energy next time?

'No way. No matter how talented Su-hyeon is, that's impossible.'

Of course.

These were thoughts she could have only because she didn't know Su-hyeon's true abilities.

"What's up with that Su-hyeon kid? How is that even possible?"

Song Yu-ha, who heard Yu-jin's thoughts, stuck out her tongue.

"I don't know."

"He's quite mysterious, shrouded in a veil. A mystic."

But.

"He doesn't seem like a bad person though."

"Yeah. Probably."

"Hmm."

Song Yu-ha's face changed to a mischievous expression.

"But why was our Yu-jin so unlike herself today?"

"I-it wasn't that bad."

"Why does it bother you so much~? I'm curious~?"

"Th-that's not it."

"Not it? What's 'that'? Hmm?"

Sha-shak!

Yu-jin, who avoided Song Yu-ha's attempt to snake in and tickle her side with footwork, cleared her throat.

"Let's prepare for roll call."

"Okay, okay. It's already this late."

Song Yu-ha, who was afraid of the dorm supervisor's thunderous command, quickly began organizing the bedding.

"At least tomorrow is Saturday, so that's good. Even if I can't sleep in, I'll take a good nap."

Perhaps because of her healer-type ability.

Yu-jin smiled enviously at Song Yu-ha's carefree appearance, who didn't have to digest training with a tight schedule.

"Come to think of it, are you eating with Su-hyeon this week too?"

"Yeah, probably."

"So that's why your expression is good now."

Yu-jin pouted.

"That's really not it."

"Roll call is starting! Maintain silence and wait with your doors open!"

Hwang Ji-su and Kwon Seung-yeon, who still had some time before the dorm supervisor arrived due to their corner location, lowered their voices to continue their conversation.

"It's fortunate that the masks don't cost anything."

"That's true. Since the money spent on raising cadets is much larger anyway, if that's the case, they might as well not charge tuition."

"Hmph. That would have been nice."

Kwon Seung-yeon laughed as if the mere thought cleared her airways.

With her mother gone and her father ill, she was the only one the household could rely on.

Having to become the de facto head of the family and be responsible for others' lives at just 17 years old was constantly weighing down her inner self with a pressure unlike her peers.

Moreover.

"It's disturbing to hear that the moment you become an Execution Force member, your family is also exposed to danger."

Family—one of the biggest motivations for aiming for the Execution Force.

The fact that such family could, paradoxically, be endangered because of it caused her even greater stress.

"That's true, but living in a protected area and interacting with the people there might turn out to be a better thing in some ways."

Kwon Seung-yeon nodded at Hwang Ji-su's words.

"...If that happens, it would really be fortunate."

"Life is like that. There's always duality. But it will be better than now."

"I guess so?"

"Of course."

Hwang Ji-su asserted.

'Well, my disagreeable father would never want to enter such an area anyway.'

With that power and wealth, rather than danger, he would just use it as another marketing product.

In fact, one of the major reasons she gave up the path of a hunter, which suited her aptitude better, was because of her rebellious desire not to be dragged along by her parents' intentions.

'Hmph.'

Although the path she chose was due to private resentment towards her parents, unlike the motivations of justice or sense of duty that drove Kwon Seung-yeon and other friends.

'Everyone is different. What matters is the result.'

Her mentality, as cold and hard as her ability, was solid enough to dismiss even such concerns.

"Let's go for coffee after exercise tomorrow."

"Sounds good."

"Don't bring that guy."

"That guy? Ah. Su-hyeon?"

Kwon Seung-yeon finally regained her sly smile.

"You two should get closer. Looking at your eyes, one would think you're sworn enemies."

"Hmph. I was pushed back by Yu-jin because of that guy. I don't like him."

"Oh my."

"Roll call is over. Everyone should go to bed immediately."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Seo Jun-seong sighed as he saw his roommate fall asleep from fatigue as soon as the lights went out.

'I envy that personality that can fall asleep so quickly.'

Having struggled to sleep well for the past few days, he decided to calm his mind through meditation again today.

'It should be fine since tomorrow is a holiday anyway.'

With a relaxed mindset, he sat on the floor cross-legged.

His eyes closing and his body floating up about 30 centimeters happened almost simultaneously.

'...Hmm.'

He always disciplined his mind and body through this training when his mind was turbulent.

Manipulating his psychokinesis to float his body at a constant height while meditating was similar to a dolphin simultaneously managing breathing and swimming underwater.

Consciousness division, the ability to focus on multiple tasks simultaneously, was a basic training he had done as naturally as breathing, because it was a method to directly train his ability.

'...The feeling is not good.'

Recently, he had been on edge with inexplicable anxiety.

As a psychokinetic for whom mental strength directly connected to power.

He had more developed intuition than others.

The problem was that whenever he felt this way, something bad always happened somewhere.

For instance, when he was still young, he had expressed inexplicable fear to his father the day before the "Samcheok Incident."

And shortly after, an incident occurred where countless citizens of Samcheok City were massacred.

'The Samcheok Incident. Coincidentally, it was surprising that Jeong Su-hyeon was a survivor of that time.'

His father, Seo Dong-jin, who had arrived late at the scene and contributed to subduing the Ma-in, said that perhaps he had developed such intuition.

Hence, he tended to trust his ominous hunches quite a bit.

However, his father only answered that he hadn't heard reports of any strange trends recently.

Of course, knowing Seo Jun-seong's abilities, he did promise to tell the instructors to pay a bit more attention to security and cadet protection.

But it didn't feel like sufficient measures.

'...I hope nothing happens.'

Floating, floating.

The stronger his anxiety became, the more his altitude gradually increased.

'Hmm. Is something definitely going to happen?'

In the room filled with breathing sounds and darkness.

Nam Tae-hoon was lost in thought as he glanced at Su-hyeon's sleeping figure.

'That guy, I'm not sure of his exact backing, but it's certain that he smells similar to me.'

Undoubtedly, Su-hyeon had many secrets.

At the very least... it was clear that his sole purpose wasn't just graduating from this academy.

Currently, his mission was simple observation, and Su-hyeon was excluded from the main observation targets, but.

Nam Tae-hoon anticipated that he might soon have to report about Su-hyeon as well.

'What's clear is that teaching assistant Jo Jin-myeong seems to be hiding some dangerous secret.'

The appearance of Jo Jin-myeong, whom he had watched from afar while hiding between shadows. The appearance of someone who seemed afraid of something.

What was he afraid of?

Something was happening behind the darkness.

And only two people in the academy knew its reality.

❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀

"This is the internal map of the academy. And this is the academic schedule."

The man sitting in the center placed several sheets of paper on the table.

"This is the security schedule, and this is next week's class timetable."

"Hmm. You've managed to gather all these?"

The Vampire Queen smirked as if amused.

"It was an easy task."

"Ha. Those Execution Force bastards. They brag about being an intelligence unit or whatever, but in the end, their own home base gets completely exposed like this."

A man who had placed an old, rusted sword on the table sneered.

"That's because they haven't been on the receiving end much. Arrogant bastards."

A skinhead with tattoos covering his entire body crossed his arms, with thick veins protruding.

"Anyway, with this much, we can give them a proper beating, right?"

"Just one beating? It will be a full-blown riot."

A hideous-looking old man stroked his few remaining beard hairs and spoke with mock dignity.

"So, is the execution date confirmed?"

"We go on Tuesday. As you can see, this is when they're most vulnerable."

The man stood up from his seat.

"Originally, we should have done it today, but this isn't bad either. No, in some ways, it's even better."

"Isn't that forcing it too much?"

To the skinhead's question, the man shook his head.

"Look. While most of the third-year brats are outside, the second-year brats are going on field training on this exact day. This means all that remains are the first-year chicks, and the instructors reduced by about one-third."

"Hmm. That is true."

"Even though that little Jeong Su-hyeon was annoying, it's just meaningless struggling anyway."

"In any case, I can't forgive him for making me wait. If I meet him, I'll definitely crush him."

The skinhead revealed his yellow teeth.

"That would be good too. But make sure it doesn't disrupt the plan. On that day, you'll enter through the crack in the barrier, quickly tear apart and kill the nearby security personnel, and then attack along two paths."

"Sounds delicious. I want to eat too."

In response to the ghoul's complaint, the Vampire Queen soothed him like a child.

"Be patient. We decided by drawing lots, so you can't break the rules."

"Can't I just eat one bite and come back?"

"Hahaha. As if you'd stop at just one bite."

The Vampire Queen laughed and asked.

"By the way, the final targets are still the instructors, right?

"Of course. Ideally, I'd like to kill them all, but pushing too hard might cause problems. Considering symbolism and compatibility, let's kill just three of them."

He pointed out three names from the instructor list.

"This one, this one, and this one."

"Ah damn, I wanted to kill that bastard Oh Chang-seong myself."

"I'll give you one of his ears as a souvenir."

The skinhead smirked.

"Hehe. That's good."

"Can we kill the cadet brats as we please?"

"Of course. That's also good entertainment. Slaughter them as you wish."

"Kyahahaha!"

"But the top priority targets are still the instructors. Despite the presence of instructors, they not only failed to protect the cadets but even had their own necks cut—we need to make this known to the world."

"Hehehe. You, you're having those nasty thoughts again, aren't you?"

The skinhead laughed.

"Your face looks like shit, but I like that damp mentality of yours. This is really something to look forward to."

"Just ensure you hold back this weekend. You'll be able to run wild to your heart's content."

He didn't doubt the perfection of his plan in the slightest.

❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀

'In three days, that event will finally begin.'

Saturday morning.

After finishing my cardio exercise, I suddenly turned back to look at the academy campus and thought.

Quite a lot of people would probably die.

That included both cadets and instructors.

'I need to save those who can be saved.'

If we can prepare, we can greatly reduce the damage.

How?

It's simple.

If the most important winning strategy in a fight had to be summarized in one sentence.

"Think of what the opponent would dislike."

The answer lies there.

And I know the Ma-in's concerns well.

'A surprise attack is half as effective the moment its existence is known.'

Therefore, what I needed to do was.

Find someone who could listen to me, even a little.