Chapter 14
The sight of Instructor Kang Jae-seok’s fiercely twisted face made my heart sink for an instant.
Normally, he hardly ever showed any change in expression—but now that his face was contorted, he looked like an enraged guardian statue.
It almost made me think the reason he was nicknamed Yaksha might simply be because of that face.
“You won’t choose a main weapon? I’d appreciate it if you could explain that in a way this instructor can understand.”
“As I’ve said, sir. I won’t be choosing any weapon.”
“……If you mean to fight using your body like a martial artist, there are gauntlets and other such gear among the armaments. Go bring those.”
As expected, that reaction.
Even if the Academy respected freedom for the sake of cadet growth, the idea of using neither weapon nor armor was probably hard to grasp.
“No, sir. I mean it literally. I won’t use any weapon. Bare-handed combat.”
“…….”
At my words, Instructor Kang Jae-seok’s brows began to knit tightly together.
Even though he didn’t speak, his expression revealed a deep, indescribable frustration.
“So you’re not refusing to choose a main weapon, but rather choosing unarmed combat. Meaning—Cadet Yoo Sung-woo wishes to fight using nothing but his own body. Is that correct?”
“Exactly, sir.”
“Haa……”
Letting out a deep sigh that seemed to come from the depths of his soul, Instructor Kang raised his hand to cover his forehead.
“You never do anything as expected, do you. I’d like to hear why you made such a decision.”
In the actual game, if the player refused to choose a main weapon, Kang Jae-seok would try several times to persuade them.
And the players eventually discovered a way to persuade him instead.
I was a veteran gamer myself, but gamers could really be ruthless.
Pretending to ponder for a moment, I finally opened my mouth.
“My master once said this: since the world changed, humanity’s greatest weapon is mana. And where mana dwells is in the body. Thus, the body itself is the greatest weapon.”
“……So Cadet Yoo Sung-woo made this decision following your master’s teaching?”
“It’s the doctrine my sect’s founder repeatedly emphasized. It’s the core of our philosophy.”
I nodded at his question.
That was the trick—using my master as a shield.
In this world, a martial arts master held authority nearly akin to that of a parent.
Therefore, teachings of one’s sect were sacred—outsiders had no right to interfere.
Well, it wasn’t a lie anyway.
In fact, the Heavenly Demon in my memories had often said something similar.
‘Disciple, to one who has reached the pinnacle of martial arts like I have, weapons are mere ornaments. Even a leaf can cut a mountain, and a finger can overturn the sea. What meaning can weapons possibly have? In the end, the martial path is an endless pursuit of strength. Do not grow drunk on the convenience of weapons—temper thyself instead.’
“Your master’s words are not wrong,” Instructor Kang said, his cold eyes flickering faintly. “And I have no desire to speak ill of your sect.”
But his gaze sharpened.
“However, you are not merely a warrior right now—you are a cadet of this Academy. Did you come here to flaunt your strength? Or to become a soldier who will fight in the battles to come?”
His gaze passed over me and fell upon the other students.
It seemed he intended to use this opportunity to drive a lesson into the cadets.
“We have no time. Even now, outside the Academy, countless Villains and Demons are rampaging. Monsters flood the cities without cease. What we need are Heroes, not seekers chasing their own strength.”
I quietly watched as Instructor Kang spoke.
“The enemies a Hero must face are countless. And each of them is immensely powerful. Among them are those that no bare-handed fighter, no matter how strong, could ever wound. That is why it’s crucial to learn to wield a main weapon here at the Academy.”
Well, he wasn’t wrong.
The Heavenly Demon’s words were meant purely as a way to become stronger.
She was a seeker who had reached her current realm through endless years of training—different in nature from the Heroes the Academy sought to foster.
But Instructor Kang was mistaken about one thing.
It wasn’t because I had little time that I should choose a weapon.
It was because I had little time that I must not.
The time left for this body was far shorter than he could imagine.
So I had to grow stronger beyond reason—high risk, high return.
I had no choice but to use the Fist King build.
Truthfully, no matter what I said, I could never completely convince him.
Slowly, I began channeling mana.
“Then I’ll prove it. My resolve.”
Instructor Kang Jae-seok looked at the boy radiating fierce energy before him.
The boy’s eyes shone as brightly as the flames cupped in his palm.
So reckless.
So immature. He seemed utterly unaware of the weight of the choice he was making.
Rules of a martial sect, core philosophies—all well and good.
But were those things worth more than one’s own life?
Kang Jae-seok had seen far too much to accept that.
Did this boy—no, did any of the students of this Academy—truly understand the battlefield?
The terror of the waves of monsters crashing down like a tide?
The sight of a comrade, back-to-back with you, having his throat torn out by a beast?
That child knew none of it.
Because he had neither seen nor experienced it himself.
Had he ever seen a place without the protection of Heroes?
Such places were hells on earth.
People there lived in constant fear, never knowing when Monsters might surge in.
Emaciated like dried-up trees, people sat sprawled along the streets, lifeless as corpses.
Because there were no Heroes, once a month—without fail—the Monsters poured out.
And when the Monsters came, people held their breath and hid, doing whatever it took to survive.
To live, families killed their own.
Friends betrayed each other.
Such things happened there every single day.
Compared to that, the Academy’s cadets were blessed.
Born in a good nation, they enjoyed peace as if it were their birthright.
The children before him might have held admiration for Heroes—
—but being a Hero was no glamorous profession.
It was a calling that drove one to the brink between life and death, forcing oneself into battle for the sake of others.
That was what it meant to be a Hero.
Yet the cadets of the Academy only longed for the bright side of being a Hero—its fame, honor, and prestige.
Instructor Kang Jae-seok asked Sung-woo,
“How exactly do you plan to prove it?”
“What you’re worried about, Instructor, is that I might not grow enough to defeat all the enemies you mentioned, right?”
“You’ve misunderstood my words. The enemies a Hero must face demand everything you have and more. To fight bare-handed, without even a weapon, is arrogance.”
At that, Sung-woo tilted his head as if he couldn’t understand.
“But if they’re foes I can’t beat even when I give everything—will holding a mere weapon really make the difference? If an enemy’s so strong that I can’t face them, what we need is a stronger ally, right?”
“A Hero’s duty is to hold the line until that stronger ally arrives. To protect civilians and endure even one more second—a weapon is essential.”
“But I don’t want to be someone who merely endures. I want to be the strong ally who destroys the enemy others can’t face.”
At those words, Instructor Kang Jae-seok found himself momentarily speechless.
It was a childish answer.
Yet within it burned an almost fanatical obsession with strength.
‘What in the world made him so fixated on becoming strong…?’
Just then, a notification arrived on the tablet he was holding.
Wrinkles formed at the corners of Kang Jae-seok’s eyes.
‘I specifically told them not to send work emails during class time…’
He was about to dismiss the notification when his eyes caught the subject line.
[Here’s the background report on Cadet Yoo Sung-woo you requested.]
His hand froze.
“Cadet Yoo Sung-woo, excuse me for a moment. I’ve received an urgent work email.”
“Ah, yes, sir…”
After apologizing to Sung-woo, he quickly opened the message.
And then—his eyes widened at the shocking contents of Yoo Sung-woo’s past.
“This is…?”
The record was horrifying.
He had lost his parents to Demons, been kidnapped, and subjected to torture.
Even with the investigation by police and Heroes, his rescue had taken time.
By the time they found him, his body bore an indelible mark.
A photo of Sung-woo covered in scars appeared before his eyes.
In that moment, Instructor Kang Jae-seok understood why Sung-woo was so obsessed with unarmed combat and why he pursued the path of a martial seeker.
He knew well how cruel and brutal the tortures of the Demons were.
They were experts at destroying people through pain.
Those who fell into their hands begged for mercy at first—
Then they screamed endlessly—
And in the end, they begged for death.
Yet even death was something the Demons never allowed.
Their method was to shatter a person’s mind completely.
Amid such torment, how desperately must that child have prayed for salvation—
How he must have waited for a Hero to come.
But it had taken three whole days before a Hero finally found him.
Instructor Kang Jae-seok realized then that he had been wrong.
The boy before him knew hell.
He had seen his own flesh cut and torn apart.
He had felt the chilling isolation of realizing that no one was coming to save him from that abyss of pain.
He cursed his past self for ever thinking the boy knew nothing of suffering.
The reason he sought strength so desperately was simple—
Because he had learned, amid unbearable agony, that the only one who could save him… was himself.
And having realized that, Instructor Kang Jae-seok could no longer bring himself to question the boy’s resolve.
After all, it was the Heroes who had made him this way.
Instructor Kang finally spoke.
“I’ll respect Cadet Yoo Sung-woo’s decision. However, as I said before, remember that changing your main weapon choice will only be possible next semester.”
“Uh… yes, sir?”
Sung-woo was taken aback—he hadn’t expected Instructor Kang, who had seemed so firmly opposed, to agree so easily.
In the game, there had been a test to persuade him.
But it seemed his sudden change of heart came right after reading that email on the tablet.
‘Well, lucky me. I get to skip the test. Besides, even in the game, unarmed combat gets unlocked regardless of the test result anyway.’
Either way, this meant I could now freely pursue the Ultimate Warrior Build without any hesitation.
That was good enough for me.
After completing the main weapon selection, I opened the door to my dorm room.
“You’re finally here. I’ve been waiting.”
Someone greeted me—an uninvited guest who had entered my room without permission and taken my chair.
I’d never met him before, yet I knew exactly who he was.
A fixed Villain who appeared in every scenario of the game, regardless of changing variables.
A mid-ranking executive of Pandemonium, who had infiltrated the Academy before me.
Berid, the Demon of Usurpation.