Chapter 148 – I Had Loyalty Too (1)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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I stared quietly at the words that had appeared.

〈Power of the Underworld King〉

A newly acquired special ability gained by using the Immortal Mana Stone as material. Put simply, it was the power to revive enemies I had cut down, in other words, “the dead.”

“Wow.”

Without realizing it, I let out an exclamation of admiration. Only now did I finally understand why players had kept muttering special abilities, special abilities.

“At this rate, this isn’t just worth burning the price of a midsize car. It’d be profitable even if I burned a few houses.”

There were a few conditions and restrictions attached, but it was clearly an incredible ability. Still, I also felt a little uneasy.

To think I would revive and command people I had killed. To put it another way, it was like reviving a fish I had already sliced into sashimi.

‘…Am I a necromancer?’

Setting aside this ambiguous feeling, it was good news for me, a flash sprinter. In one-on-one fights, it was hard to find an enemy for the [Blessing of the Sword God].

However, in one-against-many battles, it showed its weakness. I had to decide the match within the fleeting span of one minute. In the end, it became a contest against time.

If the enemy got serious and launched a wave of numbers that clung to me relentlessly, the tide of battle would reverse in an instant.

It had been the same in the Undead Dungeon. Even though the clustered horde had only been D-rank undead, carving a path through to Draugr had not been easy at all.

And even that had only been possible because Abel and Shail were there to watch the rear. Alone, I never would have reached Draugr’s doorstep.

‘That night when I purged the villains, it would’ve been hard even with Nox or Altair’s support.’

That was why, if someone could support me, I would be able to fight more flexibly, even if that support came from a corpse I had killed.

It was the best kind of ability I could ask for in the dungeons I would have to clear from now on. Starting with upper-level dungeons, even B-rank magical beasts popped out like ordinary trash mobs.

If I had subordinates, there was a high probability I could reduce the waste of the [Blessing of Painlessness]. Even if those subordinates were cold corpses, I was in no position to be picky.

“It’d be nice if I had a chance to try this special ability once before going into the dungeon.”

All I could do was feel grateful to old man Byullant for boosting this special ability for me. I’d had to slip him a nice gratuity or something later.

“Subordinates….”

While I tilted the blade this way and that in the moonlight, the word subordinate suddenly brought one particular face to mind.

‘What is Choi Seol-ah up to, anyway?’

It had already been several days since the new semester started. The brief moment we crossed paths in the morning had been the first time. Even in that short encounter, Choi Seol-ah had clearly seemed to avoid me a little.

‘…What, is she up to something else?’

She was the sort I simply could not trust. A former villain, and that sly, clingy way she obsessed over her own life.

Choi Seol-ah was the type to throw loyalty to the dogs and look only for her own way to survive. The fact that she kept trailing after me like a squirrel was probably for the same reason.

“She’s an instructor… if Choi Seol-ah lent a hand, the election might go a little more smoothly.”

After putting my sashimi knife back into its sheath, I opened the drawer. Amid the daily necessities, an earring gleamed with an eerie shine.

A means of binding down Choi Seol-ah, who might jump off in any direction. It was the token of a subordinate.

As long as this remained in my hands, the chance of Choi Seol-ah betraying me was close to zero. Still, there was also an unstable factor.

Most of the villains inside the academy were dead, but external enemies still remained.

You never knew. Choi Seol-ah might go back to sucking up to them. Or she might already be looking for a way to free herself from the noose of this earring.

“I should check on that while I have the chance.”

I immediately took out my phone and tapped the screen.

Tap, tap.

[Me: What are you doing.]

[Choi Seol-ah: (……)]

[Me: I have something to talk about personally too. If you have time, let’s meet tomorrow.]

[Choi Seol-ah: (……)]

My forehead flushed hot all at once. But I suppressed the anger that immediately surged up.

Yeah, it was late at night, wasn’t it? She might just be unable to reply, sure. And even if a response came immediately, that would feel weird in its own way. We weren’t lovers, after all.

Then, after around twenty minutes had passed.

Rrring.

[Choi Seol-ah: (photo)]

A picture arrived showing Choi Seol-ah drenched in blood.

* * *

A remote outskirts, a place steeped in darkness.

With Choi Seol-ah bound in chains at the center, more than twenty villains surrounded her in a wide circle. Two large-built men guarded the entrance.

Step. Step. A man in a black coat walked toward the center. Before long, the sound of his steps stopped in front of Choi Seol-ah’s knees.

With all the strength drained from her neck, all Choi Seol-ah could see was the tip of the man’s shoe. Blood dripped from her lips and fell onto the toe.

“Hey, Choi Seol-ah.”

“……”

The gloomy voice skimmed across Choi Seol-ah’s guts. When she gave no answer, the man let out a heavy sigh.

“So you’re a bat and an idiot, huh? Did you think you could betray us and stay safe? What, were you thinking we wouldn’t be able to find you just because you’re inside the academy?”

Thud! The man’s shoe, stained with her own blood, drove into Choi Seol-ah’s stomach.

“Kgh.”

Choi Seol-ah let out a loud groan. It was just a simple kick, yet it felt like her insides were twisting. And perhaps her organs really had been damaged, because she coughed up a lump of blood.

“Well, look at that? What a pathetic fuss for a villain. Lift your head. Even if Lord Agor is dead, you’ve still got some magic power left, don’t you? Heal up, quick.”

A gloved hand smacked Choi Seol-ah’s swollen cheek again and again. Then he grabbed her hair tightly and yanked her head back.

“……”

“Tsk. Did this one bite her tongue so she can’t talk?”

The man twisted only his head backward. Sharply, he barked at the subordinate tapping away at a laptop.

“Any contact from the bastard who got sent that photo a little while ago? The saved name was… ★My Lord★? I don’t know what kind of bastard he is, but find him no matter what. If nothing’s come in, then trace him and drag him here.”

“We’re tracking it! But this is an academy instructor’s terminal, so breaking through the security isn’t going so well. Unless the other side contacts us first….”

Clicking his tongue, the man muttered:

“If you can’t crack that, you’ll get buried here alongside this bitch. Drag that bastard here somehow.”

“Y-Yes, sir!”

Haa. Haa.

Choi Seol-ah’s breathing was ragged. Her lips were split so badly she couldn’t speak, and her right eye was swollen dark blue. The scent of death lingered at the tip of her nose.

“Breathe, breathe. Choi Seol-ah, a traitor like you shouldn’t die this cleanly. It leaves a bad taste afterward.”

The man’s face, sneering coldly, came into focus in her battered vision. His grotesquely gaunt frame gave off a chill.

Since a few days ago, meaningless messages had suddenly started pouring in. Choi Seol-ah had simply treated them as ordinary spam, phishing attempts, or insurance texts and stopped at blocking them.

Even so, because of the strange sense of unease rising in her, she had cut down on conspicuous actions. Because of that, even when her gaze had met her lord’s earlier today, she had committed the rudeness of greeting him with nothing but a glance.

‘Damn it.’

But only after being kidnapped this evening did she understand what those messages meant. They had been death notices sent by an organization.

The Villain Union. A coalition that somehow made villains, beasts in all but name, function in a group.

They had sent the hit squad, Vendetta, to purge her, the traitor.

She had been complacent. It was not something she had failed to expect. But perhaps because she had melted too deeply into the comfort of Joaquin Academy.

Choi Seol-ah had momentarily forgotten that she herself had been a villain. At some point, she had come to think of herself only as Instructor Kim.

‘…Damn it.’

Vendetta never let traitors go. They tracked them like hunting dogs, and in the end tore them apart like fighting dogs.

They did not stop at simply killing their prey. They toyed with their targets until they were reduced to ruin, then executed them, savoring their screams and struggles.

Even among villains, they were villains among villains. Setting strength aside, Vendetta was a collective of lunatics specialized in murder and torture.

Especially this bastard, the one in front of her, Vendetta’s leader. Since he was a villain, he had no real name, but because of his skull-like face and his notoriety, he was called Reaper.

This bastard was a trusted subordinate of the same Second Legion Commander as Damian, that professor-cosplay bastard. But compared to him, this one’s brutality was on a different track. Compared to Reaper, even the professor looked civilized.

“…Useless bitch.”

Reaper swept back his hair. His sunken eye sockets and sharp skull stood out starkly.

Reaper called out to Choi Seol-ah again.

“Choi Seol-ah.”

“……”

“No, since it’s Joaquin Academy, should I call you Instructor Kim? It’d be so nice if you’d just spill it politely. Every villain who infiltrated the academy besides you is dead. All you have to do is tell me what happened.”

With split and bruised blue lips, Choi Seol-ah asked back:

“If I talk, will you let me live?”

At Choi Seol-ah’s words, the shadows beneath Reaper’s brows deepened. A brief silence.

Then, right after that, Reaper covered his forehead and laughed in disbelief.

“Puhahahat! Look at you, still trying to save your own skin in the middle of this. You’re a complete moron, aren’t you? Hey, you’re dying here. No matter what. But if you spill what happened and why you betrayed us, nice and clean, I’ll show some consideration. I’ll cut off just your limbs before I kill you.”

“…Ah.”

When Reaper let go of her hair, Choi Seol-ah’s head dropped heavily. Bowed over, she trembled at the shoulders.

Until just a moment ago, she had thought this sensation that made her hair stand on end was because of Reaper. But it wasn’t. This raw feeling was….

Choi Seol-ah’s bluish lips twitched. Looking down at that sight, the corners of Reaper’s mouth curled upward.

Well now, what a disappointment. She’d broken already. I thought I was about to have some fun for once. It was at the very moment Reaper muttered that.

Shhk!

A single sound of flesh being sliced rang out from the entrance. The heavy thumps of something falling came twice at once.

As if by agreement, twenty pairs of eyes turned toward the entrance. Right on cue, two bodies whose shoulders had suddenly become light dropped to the ground.

Rustle. The sound of left falling. There was no presence to be felt beyond the entrance. More precisely, the senses refused to detect it.

“…Boss! We succeeded in tracing the signal! But something strange is going on. The signal is being picked up within about twenty meters of this plac-”

The villain who had been busily working the laptop turned his gaze a beat too late. A flash of steel pierced through the darkness and tore into his flesh.

Puk.

‘What are you talking about, boss?’

The laptop villain opened his mouth. No voice came out. The area around his neck tingled as if he had come down with a savage cold.

The laptop user lowered his gaze slightly. Some long stick-like thing was jammed beneath his jaw. It was a knife hilt printed with a 30% discount sticker and a Daiso logo.

‘?’

The instant he understood what had happened, his eyes opened wide as saucers. His pupils rolled wildly in every direction, then the whites showed.

“……”

“……”

In an instant, three life signs vanished. Two of them had lost what should have been on their shoulders, and one had toppled over with a blade stuck through his throat.

“Puhahahahahahahahahaha!”

Choi Seol-ah burst into uproarious laughter. Sensing that something was wrong, Reaper immediately grabbed Choi Seol-ah by the collar and hoisted her up.

Bound in chains, Choi Seol-ah lifted several centimeters off the floor. Reaper shook the Choi Seol-ah clutched in his hand. Her long legs dangled and swayed in the air.

“You crazy bitch, you’re laughing? You dogshit brat! What is this!? Choi Seol-ah, was this your doing?”

Her magenta bangs curtained over Choi Seol-ah’s eyes. A thin upward curve drew itself high across her lips.

“Do you know?”

Choi Seol-ah’s mouth opened. Blood strung sticky lines between her upper and lower teeth. She was smiling brightly.

Meanwhile, every member of Vendetta reflexively tore off their gloves and began preparing their casting.

The hitmen who had done nothing but inspire fear were suddenly gripped by terror themselves.

“Until we’ve identified the enemy, everyone hold!”

“What kind of bullshit situation is this all of a sudden!”

Their bodies were trembling thinly. Without even realizing it, they had huddled together with their backs to each other.

Even villains without any humanity became of one mind before the instinct to survive.

Step, step. Footsteps drew closer. Soon, the intruder’s figure was revealed.

“T-The Sashimi Sword Saint?”

A boy with jet-black hair and black eyes stepped inside. It was as if darkness itself had given birth to darkness.

“…Uhehe.”

Between her bangs, a gleam flashed in Choi Seol-ah’s pupils. At the corners of her eyes there hung the sharp-ringed gaze of the self-assured villain she had once been.

After suppressing her rough breathing, she barely moved her swollen lips.

“You’re so fucked.”