As pitch-black smoke and red flames engulfed the entire Academy building, dead bodies lay scattered across the floor amid the chaos. Acting on Principal Choi Hyeon-seok's orders, the Academy teachers in charge of each class began slowly leading the children to a safe shelter.
“All right, hurry and follow me—! It'll be dangerous if we stay here any longer.”
“Teacher—!”
“Yes?”
“Aren't those A-Class students over there?”
“!!! W-what? Why are they over there? Where's Teacher Ji Geon-hyeong? Why are the children here by themselves?”
Park Chang-hu, the teacher in charge of D-Class who had been evacuating the children, looked flustered as he watched the A-Class students milling about in confusion.
“What are you doing right now—! Didn't you hear that you're supposed to head to the shelter?”
“What? Evacuate? What in the world is going on right now?”
“I-if this is a Red Code, that means Villains have invaded, right, Teacher?”
“Are we supposed to fight the Villains? How should we prepare?”
“W-what in the world...”
Watching the A-Class students, who appeared to have been caught entirely off guard by the sudden situation, Park Chang-hu sensed that something was wrong and asked them a question.
“You're saying that none of you were informed about this situation at all?”
“...Yes.”
“No, where in the world did Teacher Ji Geon-hyeong go, leaving only you children behind like this?”
By now, he should have reached the children long ago and begun evacuating them.
Yet the A-Class students, the most important among the Ares Academy students, appeared to have been completely abandoned, leaving Park Chang-hu utterly bewildered.
“F-first, join up with our D-Class and move with us. Getting to the shelter is the priority right now.”
“Yes, Teacher.”
“Sorry, but I can't allow that, Teacher Park Chang-hu.”
“!!! T-Teacher Ji—! Where have you been? The situation is extremely urgent. Please head to the shelter with us first! Afterward, we can devise a strategy and prepare a counterattack...”
“No.”
“!!! What do you mean, Teacher Ji? The situation is...”
“I said no. You sure talk a lot.”
CRASH—!
“Ghhk—! T-Teacher Ji, what are you doing right now—! Children, are you all right?”
“Oh? I only gave you a light jab, but you blocked it? Did I underestimate you just because you're a D-Class teacher?”
“You summoned a spear and attacked us without warning! What in the world are you doing?”
“Can't you tell? I switched sides.”
“!!! What do you mean by that? D-don't tell me?”
“They may be Academy students, but if that many of them came at me all at once, even I would have a hard time. I'd need to separate you from those children first, wouldn't I?”
THUD—!
BOOM—!
Ji Geon-hyeong threw a ball marked with a strange symbol toward the children.
The instant it hit the ground, it flashed like a flashbang and swallowed up their vision. Then, wavering like a heat haze, transparent walls resembling a prison began to form.
“!!! What in the world is this?”
“Why won't this break? It feels like something's blocking us!”
“I can't even cut it with my sword!”
“I can't use my skills—!”
At the suddenly formed transparent walls, the children swung their swords, threw punches with all their strength, and even tried using their own unique skills to break them, but every attempt was completely futile.
“Oho~ This works incredibly well. As expected, the tools Root makes are excellent! They said even Rare Grades couldn't easily break through it, and it seems they were right.”
“What are you doing right now? Remove the walls at once and release the children!”
“No. No matter how strong I am, I can't fight that many children one by one, can I? Besides, we at Root intend to put those kids to very good use~! And we're planning to wipe out every one of you teachers and your principal here today. Why would I be insane enough to release them?”
“!!! You intend to put the children to use? And did you say you were going to kill all the teachers?”
“How much longer was I supposed to play along with dimwitted, weak Academy teachers like you and a principal who has no talent beyond sucking up to others? Isn't it time that I got my share out of this Academy too?”
“Are you truly saying that you are going to betray us and become a Villain?”
“Bingo—! You're still an Academy teacher, so I suppose you have enough brains to understand what people say.”
“!!! Th-that can't be...”
“But something impossible is happening, isn't it? All right, let's finish this—! I'll take care of the rest myself, so it's time for you to die here, Park Chang-hu.”
“Do you take me for a fool?! I, too, am one of the teachers at a prestigious Academy in South Korea! To think you would dare join hands with Villains! I will never forgive you! Prepare yourself! Haaah—!”
With an enraged expression, blue light poured from Park Chang-hu's fists as he charged at Ji Geon-hyeong.
***
“What? You're even weaker than I expected. You seem far more pathetic than that damn Baek Seon-woo.”
“Ghhk, damn it—!”
“I've always wanted to teach a lesson to you, running around calling yourself the Academy's Blue Fist. What a chance! Haha—!”
“I'm not done yet—!”
“You can barely hold yourself up, yet you're still stubbornly putting up a fight. This is why Fighter Class types are such a pain in the ass.”
“S-shut up—! I've still got enough strength left to fight you—!”
‘If I can hold out a little longer, the other teachers will surely come looking once they find it strange that the A-Class and D-Class students haven't reached the shelter yet! If we join forces and land a blow on Ji Geon-hyeong then... we'll have a chance!’
“You're not holding out in anticipation of reinforcements coming, are you?”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“I was an Academy teacher too, and I went as far as to betray you. Do you really think I wouldn't have told them where your shelter is?”
“!!! D-don't tell me?”
“By now, the principal and teachers who went there are probably all dead. I heard that a fair number of organization members were deployed.”
“!!! A... a lot of organization members?”
“That's right. And there are Hero Grades among them. Do you think your Academy teachers can stand against them?”
“Ghhk, damn it—!”
Normally, Awakened individuals were divided by Grade into Normal, Advanced, Rare, Hero, and Mythic. Most only reached the Normal or Advanced Grades, and only a small number achieved the Rare Grade after grueling effort. Only an extremely select few could awaken at the Hero Grade, surpassing even that.
‘The Mythic Grade only exists in words. No one has ever actually reached that realm, so it might as well not exist. Yet Hero Grades, of which only a handful exist in each country across the entire world, have appeared at Ares Academy as Villains? Damn it—! No one can stop this—!’
At prestigious Academies, most teachers, including the principal, were Rare Grade. There were exceptional cases, such as Baek Seon-woo in the past, a teacher who had awakened at the Normal Grade, but they were few and far between.
Moreover, even among people of the same Grade, the gap between them could be enormous depending on the experience they had accumulated and the type of Class they had awakened. To Park Chang-hu, the arrival of those who were an entire Grade above him could only be a cause for despair.
‘A Hero Grade means someone at the level of a guildmaster or elder in a major guild. One of those people came here... The teachers here can't stop them! Is it really over now? !!! No, it isn't! There is still hope! If we receive help from Helios, which sponsors our Academy, we have more than enough of a chance—!’
The Academy teachers might not be able to face them, but Park Chang-hu believed that Helios Guild, which held a stake in this school, could stop them.
With that thought, he shouted at Han Ji-hye, one of the A-Class students.
“Han Ji-hye! Request emergency support from Helios immediately!”
“What?”
“Hurry—! Now—!”
‘This is it—! We can survive now! Besides, Han Ji-hye is the Guildmaster's daughter, so at the very least, Elders will be dispatched. The Guildmaster himself might even come!’
Just as a smile spread across Park Chang-hu's face at the thought that hope was finally in sight, a voice spoke.
“Teacher... I'm sorry, but I can't contact Helios.”
“!!! What?”
“I've been trying to contact Helios since earlier, but it's as if something's blocking it. Neither our phones nor the magic communication devices are working.”
“T-that can't be...”
“Was calling Helios for support the best you could do? Heh-heh—! Do you think we would have carried this out without accounting for something like that?”
“Damn...”
“Why not draw your last breath here? Wouldn't it be better to die by the hand of someone who, at least once, cared for you than to be brutally killed by other Villains? Haha—!”
“Ghhk, even if I die here... what are you planning to do with the other children?”
“Those children are going to become excellent resources for Root, so don't worry too much.”
“Resources? What do you mean by that?”
“Why do you think we invaded this Academy? Just to screw over Helios? Of course, that's part of it, but our larger goal is to get every capable Academy cadet who could become a future resource into our grasp—!”
“What?”
“Every child here will be put to good use—! Students who refuse to follow Root's will or possess useless abilities will be used as experimental subjects, while the capable ones will have their memories reset, be brainwashed, and raised as organization members.”
“!!! You'll use the children as experimental subjects? And erase their memories and brainwash them into Villains?!”
“Whoa~ Whoa~ We're not done yet, so don't get worked up already. And some of the pretty female cadets will be mine, while the rest are scheduled to be divided among the organization members according to their contributions.”
“Y-you insane bastard—!”
“Insane? I only told you about Root's plan. I haven't even told you about my own plan yet.”
“What?”
“Han Ji-hye.”
“Han Ji-hye?”
“I was promised that I could have this bitch in particular.”
“H-have her? What do you mean by that?”
“If I get to have the daughter of the man known as Helios's Guildmaster and thoroughly defile her, how thrilling do you think it would be? And with that achievement, I may even rise to a higher position—! I get my pleasure, and Helios gets properly humiliated. Isn't that a perfect opportunity? Hahaha—!”
After laughing heartily as though he had already won, Ji Geon-hyeong gave Han Ji-hye a lecherous look, slowly sweeping his eyes over her from head to toe. He licked his lips lightly and spoke.
“Heh-heh—! Don't worry. I'll specially give you a drug that makes you feel good in bed. If you take it, it'll be a very long, very happy night~! Heh-heh—!”
“You insane bastard—! Was this your plan from the beginning?”
“Of course. But I wasn't planning to make it this big. Originally, I intended to quietly abduct Han Ji-hye and have her. But that bastard Baek Seon-woo needlessly stuck his nose in and ruined my mood~!”
“What? Teacher Baek Seon-woo did?”
“That's right. I don't know whether it was a coincidence, but that bastard was talking to Han Ji-hye, the woman who's going to be mine! So I wondered how I should punish him, and then Root happened to make a request. Thanks to that, I was able to frame him with their help.”
“Then all of that back then was your doing?”
“That's right—! But Baek Seon-woo escaped that trap, and it put me in an even worse mood. Then, perfectly enough, I heard Root was planning to invade Ares Academy and abduct the cadets. They said that if this job succeeded, they would even give me the position of branch chief overseeing this area. Hahaha—!”
“So you had been cooperating with them?”
“Obviously. Besides, they said they would give me Han Ji-hye too. Why would I refuse? Heh-heh—! Now that I've told you everything, Park Chang-hu, you have no more attachments to this world, right? We've wasted too much time—! Let's end this now.”
“Ghhk—!”
‘It can't end like this... Even if I have to sacrifice myself, I need to let the children escape, but there is no way—! What am I supposed to do here?’
Park Chang-hu racked his brains for a way to sacrifice himself and let the children escape, but there was nothing more he could do.
Meanwhile, Ji Geon-hyeong smiled as though mocking him and took one step at a time toward him, holding a spear that radiated a scarlet aura.
“Let's really finish this now! I've talked too much already, haven't I? Goodbye—! Hahaha—!”
BANG—!
BOOM—!
‘!!!’
With a tremendous report, a single bullet burst into brilliant flames and tore a massive hole through Ji Geon-hyeong's side.
“Kuhh—!”
Ding—!
[Skill – Bullet of Rage]
◎ This bullet can only be used when the user is filled with rage.
Damage varies according to the user's rage state. (It begins at basic attack +20%.)
Because it is a bullet created from rage, the opponent can never evade it. (Hit Rate: 100%)
※ Wow~! Anyone hit by this can only cry, “I'm fucked”—!