The following morning.
The scenery on the way to school was peaceful.
The second semester had begun, and the oppressive heat that had tormented everyone throughout the summer had finally receded.
The warm sunlight and cool weather lifted people's spirits.
Perhaps that was why the students heading to school seemed particularly talkative.
It was a morning that made the Golden Wheel's attack feel like nothing more than a dream.
Cheon Do-hyeon lightly shifted his feet as he passed through the school gates.
SWISH—
Despite the crowds of students, not a single person bumped into him.
Considering that Do-hyeon was roughly twice the size of an ordinary student, this was something that normally would've been impossible.
The secret lay in the martial art he'd learned just yesterday.
Heavenly Demon Phantom Step.
When used together with its incantation, it was a martial art capable of creating illusions almost indistinguishable from reality.
However, when he applied only the footwork, its true profundity emerged: the ability to slip cleverly into an opponent's blind spots.
Right now, Cheon Do-hyeon was practicing the Heavenly Demon Phantom Step, slipping through gaps in people's awareness without being noticed.
Thanks to that, he could navigate the crowded morning commute quite comfortably.
'All I've done is blur my presence and vary the rhythm of my strides, yet the world reacts completely differently.'
He was thoroughly enjoying the sensation of walking like a ghost when—
"Huh? Do-hyeon!"
An uninvited guest appeared.
The boy casually tapped Do-hyeon on the shoulder and greeted him.
It was Kim Jun-pyo.
"...!"
'My presence should've been faint. How did he notice me immediately?'
Surprised, Do-hyeon stared silently at him.
Kim Jun-pyo, seemingly unaware that he'd done anything unusual, shyly offered him a carton of chocolate milk.
"Have you had breakfast? Here, drink this."
"I told you not to buy me things like this."
Cheon Do-hyeon's voice came out sharper than he'd intended.
When he refused to accept the chocolate milk, Kim Jun-pyo added awkwardly,
"Come on, just take it. I bought it because I wanted some myself."
The boy practically forced the milk into Do-hyeon's hand before grinning sheepishly.
Only then did Cheon Do-hyeon understand the reason.
'It's because he has no killing intent.'
The Heavenly Demon Phantom Step was footwork designed to confuse an enemy's hostile perception.
But apparently, it didn't work against someone approaching with one hundred percent pure goodwill, like Kim Jun-pyo.
Cheon Do-hyeon let out a disbelieving chuckle and accepted the milk.
A moment later, Kim Seung-yeon approached from behind and naturally joined the conversation.
"Hello~ Good morning!"
"..."
Cheon Do-hyeon shook his head at Kim Seung-yeon's boisterous arrival, looking as though she was already draining his energy.
"Let's go together!"
They bickered as they headed toward the classroom.
But the moment they entered the corridor, Cheon Do-hyeon sensed a faint, prickling sense of wrongness against his skin.
'These gazes... They're sticky. Where are they coming from?'
Perhaps it was because his senses had become sharper thanks to his internal energy.
Among the hundreds of students, he could instinctively distinguish those harboring hostility toward him.
Do-hyeon expanded his Qi perception, checking how many people were directing killing intent at him.
Hostile gazes were hidden among the students.
Roughly one in every five.
As he concentrated further, he felt he could almost read the emotions mixed into their killing intent.
Greed, like someone staring at the winning numbers of a lottery ticket.
It wasn't difficult for Do-hyeon to guess who might be behind this.
After all, hadn't he recently rejected someone's invitation rather decisively?
"Class President."
"Hmm?"
"Go find out what Jang Gi-han is plotting."
However, Do-hyeon wasn't the sort of person who would quietly sit around and let others do whatever they wanted to him.
"What? How am I supposed to know something like that?"
Kim Seung-yeon asked incredulously.
"How would I know? But if you're going to be this uncooperative, let's stop pretending we're friends from now on."
Ever since witnessing Cheon Do-hyeon's strength firsthand, Kim Seung-yeon had become completely fascinated by his mysterious power.
Her goal was to grow closer to him and eventually study the power he possessed.
Which meant she had little choice but to comply with even such an unreasonable demand.
"...You little..."
She glared at him before hurriedly disappearing somewhere.
Cheon Do-hyeon watched her retreating figure with a satisfied smile.
True to her reputation as a well-informed student, she contacted people here and there before quickly returning with a pale face.
"Hey, Cheon Do-hyeon!"
The expression on her face as she hurried toward him was anything but ordinary.
"I found out. It was the school community."
"The school community? We have something like that?"
Kim Seung-yeon looked utterly despairing.
"Right. I'd forgotten that until recently, you were officially the school's biggest outcast."
"...So what's this community?"
Cheon Do-hyeon asked without bothering to deny it.
Kim Seung-yeon thrust her phone screen toward him.
A red announcement filled the display.
"Someone posted a bounty on the anonymous message board. If anyone leaves you half-crippled... they'll receive a latest-generation Mana Amplifier."
"How can anyone trust a bounty posted on an anonymous board?"
"Look at the author's ID. See that golden badge? That's a mark reserved for named users... You need to be at least a member of a Prestigious Mage Family to receive one. It's Jang Gi-han."
Cheon Do-hyeon's eyebrow twitched.
Jang Gi-han.
Apparently, that bastard considered it beneath his dignity to personally intervene, so he'd decided to unleash the school's hyenas and have them hunt Do-hyeon instead.
"What are you going to do? Wouldn't it be better to leave school early today? The delinquents from the other classes are all after you."
Kim Seung-yeon's concern was reasonable.
A Mana Amplifier was a dream item for mages.
Simply using one temporarily allowed its user to cast magic one tier above their usual level.
And for mages of the Fifth Circle or below, that experience sometimes provided the breakthrough they needed to overcome a bottleneck in their advancement.
However, the problem was the price.
When the ampoules had first been released, they cost around thirty million won.
But supply had failed to keep pace with demand.
Nowadays, they traded for more than one hundred million won.
Even at that price, they had become so rare that people couldn't purchase them because there was no stock available.
[Reward: Mana Amplifier.]
Naturally, the announcement posted on the school community was enough to drive people wild with greed.
Upon hearing the explanation, Cheon Do-hyeon abruptly rose and surveyed the classroom.
Sure enough, he noticed several students sneaking glances at him.
Their eyes were filled with a mixture of greed and fear.
SCRAPE—
Cheon Do-hyeon stood up, the sound of his chair dragging across the floor breaking the classroom's silence.
"Everyone."
Cheon Do-hyeon called out quietly.
Every pair of eyes in the classroom turned toward him.
"If any of you want that Mana Amplifier, come at me right now. If you try to stab me in the back later, I won't hold back when I beat you. Got it?"
As a chilling killing intent and oppressive aura emanated from him, the students hurriedly lowered their gazes or pretended to be occupied with something else.
At the very least, it seemed nobody in this classroom had the courage to challenge him.
His recent defeat of Kim Byeong-hak's entire gang single-handedly had probably played a major role.
"As if anyone would dare attack you after hearing that."
Kim Seung-yeon spoke reproachfully.
"Well, I guess you've taken care of our class for now... But what about the students from the other classes? Wouldn't it be better to leave school early today?"
"No."
The corners of Cheon Do-hyeon's mouth curled into a vicious smile.
"Class President. You've got information on the school's delinquents, right? Tell me where they are, starting with the ones closest to our classroom."
Kim Seung-yeon looked at him anxiously.
"Why...?"
After all, a surprise attack was a tactic designed to inflict serious damage at a moment when the opponent couldn't respond.
If someone intended to ambush you, then you could simply respond with an ambush of your own.
Sometimes, offense was the best defense.
"Why bother waiting? I'll just go to them."
During the break before the second period.
Park Tae-ung, the most influential student in Class 3, was washing his hands in the bathroom while looking at himself in the mirror.
He was a Second-Circle mage, but his specialty in lightning magic had earned him quite a notorious reputation.
'Cheon Do-hyeon, that Tin Can bastard... I'll be the first to catch him.'
With a Mana Amplifier, reaching the Third Circle was no longer just a dream.
He smiled maliciously as he imagined the Mana Amplifier that would soon be his.
That was when—
SWISH—
Someone appeared behind him in the mirror.
There hadn't been any sound or indication of another person's presence.
He only noticed the figure after its reflection appeared in the glass.
"...!"
Park Tae-ung hurriedly spun around.
But nobody was there.
Movements like a ghost.
'Huh? Did I imagine it?'
The moment he looked back into the mirror—
"Looking for someone?"
"HUARGH?!"
Cheon Do-hyeon was standing right beside him at the neighboring sink.
It was a feat made possible by the Heavenly Demon Phantom Step, which allowed him to move outside Park Tae-ung's range of perception.
Park Tae-ung's face turned pale.
'Since when? I didn't even hear the door open!'
Recognizing the face of the person standing beside him, he drew a sharp breath.
"Y-you..."
"I heard they're giving away a Mana Amplifier if someone catches me. So I've come to deliver myself."
Cheon Do-hyeon spoke indifferently.
Despite his shock, Park Tae-ung instinctively summoned lightning at his fingertips.
'This is my chance. I'll take him down right here.'
Park Tae-ung's specialty was his rapid casting speed.
"You dare get this close to me? Thunder Bolt!"
CRACKLE—!
Blue lightning erupted inside the cramped bathroom.
However, Cheon Do-hyeon was nowhere near the spot where the lightning struck.
The Thunder Bolt merely tore through empty air.
"Huh?"
Just as Park Tae-ung let out a bewildered noise—
THWACK—!
A heavy impact slammed into his solar plexus.
"KUARGH!"
His diaphragm suddenly contracted, forcibly expelling the remaining air from his lungs.
His breath caught in his throat, and his knees buckled.
When he raised his head, Cheon Do-hyeon was looking down at him without so much as a scorch mark on his clothes.
"Too slow. You're even slow at falling down."
"Y-you monster bastard...!"
Park Tae-ung desperately attempted to chant another spell.
But Cheon Do-hyeon gave him no opportunity.
THUD.
Cheon Do-hyeon lightly stepped forward.
However, the force contained within that step was anything but light.
[Heavenly Demon Dominion Step]
CRAAACK—!
The bathroom tiles split apart.
An overwhelming gravitational force pressed down on Park Tae-ung's entire body, slamming him into the floor before he could even scream.
"Urrgh... Urgh... Gravity magic?!... What the hell...?!"
'I'm like an ant being stepped on by a giant.'
That was Park Tae-ung's final thought before he lost consciousness.
Cheon Do-hyeon looked down at the unconscious Park Tae-ung and raised both hands.
He intended to devour Park Tae-ung's magical power.
Still, the boy was a student with his whole future ahead of him, so Do-hyeon planned to stop before going too far.
RUMBLE—!
As he activated the Great Art of Star Absorption, which had reached the Fifth Star, a powerful suction force formed around his hands.
"Well then, thanks for the meal."
The game Jang Gi-han had started, with a Mana Amplifier as its prize, had only just begun.