There’s not much time left.
“How do I get into [End Ocean]?”
“You just go in.”
“Into the sea?”
“Mhm.”
The idea of diving straight into the ocean made me instinctively recoil. The water looked clear, but it was impossibly deep and dark.
“Whaaat~? Are you scared to go in or something?”
“I’m not.”
“It’s the sea, sure, but you’ll be able to hold your breath for a long time. You won’t get very deep anyway. You haven’t seen the ending yet.”
Hold my breath for a long time?
Not breathe—just hold my breath?
That sounds like hell...
“Want me to help? I’ve got a good way.”
“What is it?”
As an offline helper, maybe he had some method?
Right after I thought that—
“Mhm. It’s...”
BAM.
Dino headbutted me. Thud.
SPLASH —
Ah, this little shit.
That leering grin on his face... Looks like he’s still salty about getting smacked on the back of the head earlier.
But if it’s about being petty, I’m no slouch either. Once I get out, I’ll sentence you to 200,000 meters in hell-jail. Until your jump button breaks from overuse.
“Bloop bloop...!”
...not that any of that got through.
As I plunged pathetically into the water, my consciousness began to sink as well.
***
Only letters continued through the darkness.
Fascinating.
I couldn’t see them in this darkness.
I guess they couldn’t see me either.
Even so, I had this strange feeling... like I was very close to them.
I was standing among people.
Right in the middle of a massive crowd.
Players who’d cleared the game on those difficulties were reacting.
The number was staggering.
But no one from [Hard Difficulty].
Then chatter about me seemed to erupt.
Just like Dino said—they were really curious about me.
So they’re asking exactly the kind of stuff I’d want to know if some beast of a player just dropped in.
But I had no way to answer.
No voice. No hands.
An absurdly revealing status window flashed before me.
Apparently others had different DLC roles assigned too.
There’s really a [Graduate Student] DLC?
Christ.
Whoever ended up stuck in a lab even in a game, getting exploited by some in-game professor... I offer my condolences.
The 2.1.5 bug?
Now that I think about it...
Wasn’t the current hotfix [2.3.1]?
Wait, what?
So there were other versions? Other bugs?
I don’t even know what they are.
So I held onto that thought a little longer and kept observing.
“Beware of the person closest to you”... huh.
Seems like that’s my only real hint right now.
Meanwhile...
Well, they’re human too.
Even after seeing the ending, they’ve clearly got their own grudges. The strong exploiting and dominating the weak—it’s the timeless tradition of organic creatures like us.
And then a stream of agreement followed.
...Yeah, no.
Who said I’m on your side?
As a fellow repulsive organic being, I’m fully prepared to ally with the [Hard Difficulty] tyrants and plunge this world into filthy despotism.
One-third of all Koreans are North Koreans, after all. And if you're North Korean, you’re trained to worship dictatorship.
In other words, we all live with a little red flag in our chests.
I will become the Kim Jong-un of [Hell Difficulty].
Hell Jong-un.
...While I was having such barking-mad thoughts and just watching the reactions—
Oh?
The first chance to express my will.
[Overall Combat Power], huh.
Should I share it or not?
After a brief internal debate—I chose to reveal it.
And then—chaos.
In a bad way.
Well, yeah. 157k isn’t a bad number. But from the perspective of players who cleared the game—it’s underwhelming.
It’s like the richest man in America shows up in Korea and when asked how much he has, he says “100 billion won.”
Everyone’s like, “Eh... I mean, that’s a lot, but... weren’t you supposed to be the richest guy in America?”
Even in [Normal Difficulty], a well-raised character can hit 300k by the end. Plenty of [Easy Difficulty] players probably hit 150k too.
I knew I’d get this kind of reaction. But I shared my power anyway—just in case.
I knew it.
So you were hiding, huh. [Hard Difficulty] player.
I don’t know your name, gender, face—nothing. But everyone’s been badmouthing you, so I wanted to at least see what kind of person you were.
Well raised.
Even on [Hard Difficulty], if he had 140,000 at the start of the fourth run, that’s a seriously optimized build.
That’s probably why he reached the ending without ever dying.
Bit much, though.
Does this guy not have a mom?
Come to think of it, if someone actually cleared [Hard Difficulty] without a single death, they probably do have something wrong with them.
Either they have no mom.
Or they have cancer.
Or they have cancer and no mom.
...That’s my story.
As disappointment rippled through the crowd, someone raised a question.
Another chance to express my will. I debated again. Reveal it or not.
It didn’t really matter either way.
An assassin’s virtue lies in concealing a portion of their strength.
Still, I chose to show it.
Wouldn’t want that [Hard Difficulty] bastard getting too smug.
And once again—absolute uproar.
This time, of course, it was positive.
At Main Story 1, the maximum combat power is typically around 40,000.
Even for [Hard Difficulty] players, that’s the norm.
But I’m sitting here at 157,000... The gap is just absurd.
The loudmouth from before? Dead silent.
That alone was hilarious.
Uh-oh. Let’s maybe keep that one as an internal thought—
Unfortunately, my time was up.
***
All the professors’ eyes were fixed on one place.
On Professor Dante, who had ridden the airship alone to kill Jinksythe.
Everyone had expected a fierce battle.
But once Dante stood before Jinksythe—
The monster with four massive cursed arms simply vanished back into the rift without a single sign of resistance.
The professors were stunned. And Ludenbach, the Black Abyss professor from the Department of Movement Techniques who had followed Dante, shuddered internally.
“Ahhh!”
It was true, just like he said!! Jinksythe had disappeared! The whole thing ended so anticlimactically, but regardless—Jinksythe was gone!
“...What was that, Professor Dante?”
“He withdrew. Likely overwhelmed by the thought of fighting me and fled far away.”
So it was true!!
They had heard of Professor Dante’s achievements in the previous battle—but for even a monstrous entity from another dimension to retreat in fear... Was Dante truly that powerful!?
Professor Ludenbach, who had just recently become a father at the age of forty-eight, considered naming his newborn daughter “Dante.”
...Just considered, mind you.
Why Dante suddenly shot him a disgusted glare like he was looking at a bug—he would never understand.
***
Once Jinksythe vanished, the situation was quickly resolved.
The academy held Professor Dante’s abilities in high regard. To the extent that they assessed his skills—despite being around thirty—as equal to that of senior professors.
Thus, the decision was made to keep Dante Hiakapo’s abilities as hidden as possible. As a proper assassin should conceal at least a third of their power, and because he was now being considered a cornerstone of the next generation of the Academy.
Meanwhile, everyone had witnessed the airship spreading its wings mid-fall and gliding smoothly to safety. Professors and cadets alike were puzzled.
Who activated the wings?
The faculty discreetly investigated the events before and after... And quietly leaked the name “Gray Habanero.”
“Gray! You’re amazing!”
“I always knew you were a genius, but I didn’t know that much!”
Gray blinked, having just woken up in the infirmary, surrounded by compliments from Black Abyss cadets.
“...Me?”
“Yeah! You’re the one who did it!”
“......??”
Gray, confused and dazed, felt a throbbing headache.
Did she really do it?
She wasn’t sure.
Back then she’d been blackout drunk, flu-ridden, overworked, and finally had [Overload] triggered—her memory was foggy as hell.
“Gray’s the best!”
In her daze, she asked them to leave so she could rest. And once alone, she thought—
‘...Gray’s the best...?’
“Truly the best!”
Meanwhile, Dominic, loitering around the ICU, saw something shocking.
“The best, my ass... Everyone knows Hiaka’s medical care is garbage...”
“Shut up! Just this once, he was the best, Professor Gula! He saved your life!”
“Don’t yell... My skull’s vibrating...”
“A miracle, I tell you! A miracle!”
Professor Gula, who had been brought in with a gaping abdominal wound and declared dead hours ago, had somehow regained a heartbeat and awakened in the infirmary—alive and well.
“......”
When their eyes met, Dominic quickly ducked behind the wall. He hadn’t expected it to actually work.
His prayer.
“Let us pray.”
Meanwhile, Rebecca, as the Saint of the Palace, visited every memorial site—kneeling to pray to the Virgin for the fallen cadets and professors. At the same time, she observed the survival of neutral professors she was certain she had killed with her own hands.
She couldn’t understand. When had Hiaka’s medical tech gotten this advanced?
“Princess? It’s time to move to the Memorial Hall in Sector 2.”
Rebecca was the kind of person who got deeply irritated whenever things didn’t go her way. And lately, those things were piling up.
“...Yes. I’ll go.”
Thus, the short war came to a close.