Chapter 20
The reason Dan Chun-woo was called the scoundrel of the great Swordmaster family.
Because he had been accustomed to a life of having everything from a young age, he was steeped in extreme individualism and a superiority complex, believing himself to be the center of the world and the noblest being of all.
Heaven above, earth below—only I am supreme.
That was the phrase that most accurately defined Dan Chun-woo’s mental state at the moment.
Just look at him now.
Kim Ye-seul thanked the guy who blocked the fireball, yet he didn’t even pretend to hear her.
Then, he kicked off the ground and broke formation on his own.
“Hey, where are you going!”
But before we could even say another word, his figure had already vanished far beyond the cityscape, and a bombardment of fireballs from the Imps began to pour down.
Damn it.
So, screw the points and everything else—as long as he got away, that’s all that mattered?!
I began circulating the Asura Divine Art, which I had preheated in advance, and almost at the same time, fireballs rained down from the sky like a torrential downpour.
“Kyaaaah!”
“Get lost!”
Kim Ye-seul screamed in terror, and I swung my arm through the air, releasing the energy of the Asura Divine Art.
And the fireballs filling the sky froze in place.
The flame of the Asura Divine Art was the karmic fire that burned sinners in hell—
a higher concept than ordinary flames.
To exert dominance over lesser flames was as easy as blowing one’s nose.
“Kki... kkireuk?”
The bewildered Imps soon realized their fire attacks were useless and revealed themselves from all directions.
They were short like children, covered in black fur.
With eyes as red as blood, each of them held a trident as tall as themselves.
“Kick, kikirik.”
“Kirik, kik, kikik.”
Even at a glance, there were hundreds of Imps appearing.
“H-how are we supposed to...”
Seeing the overwhelming number of enemies, Kim Ye-seul dropped to the ground.
Park Min-seo wasn’t much different—gone was his earlier arrogance, and now he was trembling uncontrollably.
“Get a grip! They’re just Imps!”
“B-but...”
“Did you forget these are all holograms? You won’t really die, so do something!”
“Ah...”
A forest of blazing buildings, and before us, hundreds of Imps.
The heat and impact of the fireballs they threw were indistinguishable from the real thing.
Even the pain was vividly real.
The stage, as if truly alive, swallowed them whole.
At my words, Kim Ye-seul steadied herself on her staff and slowly stood up.
But it was clear that her mana hadn’t fully recovered; her body was still trembling.
Damn it. No choice, then.
We’d have to gamble everything.
I turned my gaze toward Park Min-seo.
“During orientation, you said you could fight like me as long as you had a weapon. Was that all just bluffing?”
“S-shut up!”
His face flushed with humiliation, and he gripped his weapon so tightly it looked like it would snap.
It looked less like anger or courage and more like desperation.
And my job was to shape that desperation into something useful.
“If you’re only good at running your mouth, then do yourself a favor—stay out of my sight and live quietly.”
“What did you just say?”
Grinding his teeth, he glared at me as if ready to explode.
The fire in his eyes blazed so fiercely it felt like he might swing his sword at me instead of the Imps.
Can’t have that.
“Otherwise, prove it. That self-righteous Dan Chun-woo cut down flames, and I blocked them. Even Ye-seul here used defensive magic. What have you done?”
Unable to stand my words any longer, Park Min-seo let out a furious roar and charged at the Imps, just like Dan Chun-woo had earlier.
Immediately, I grabbed Kim Ye-seul by the nape and followed after him.
“W-wait, what?!”
“Stick close! Just make your mana flare or something—anything to draw the Imps’ attention!”
Even in her panic, Kim Ye-seul did her best, unleashing bursts of unstable mana from her staff that flashed erratically.
I, too, released waves of flame around us with the Asura Divine Art.
“W-what good will this do?!”
“It’s buying time!”
At my words, Park Min-seo and Kim Ye-seul glanced at me in confusion.
“We’re stalling until Dan Chun-woo destroys the Mana Stone!”
“That bastard?! He’s probably dead by now!”
Oh? So now that he’s not here, you’ve got the guts to talk trash about him?
Even Kim Ye-seul clenched her eyes shut, continuing her spells as if she thought the same thing.
It seemed they both believed that Dan Chun-woo, who’d rushed out earlier, was dead.
But there had been no notification that a teammate had died yet.
Which meant—he was still alive somewhere out there on the field.
Of course he was.
As much of a self-centered, insolent bastard as he was—
the kind who ignored orders like they were beneath him—
he wasn’t stupid enough to lose sight of the situation.
More than that, he was the grandson of the Swordmaster himself.
A Playable Character always had superior stats compared to regular ones.
There was no way he’d be declared dead just for being alone in a place like this.
Think about it.
Park Siwoo had managed to destroy the Mana Stone during a monster wave by himself.
If Park Siwoo could do it, you think Dan Chun-woo couldn’t?
Impossible.
Because at this point in time, Dan Chun-woo was stronger than Park Siwoo.
So, what we had to do now was endure until Dan Chun-woo destroyed the Mana Stone.
And act as if our stalling was part of some grand strategy—to deceive the instructors.
“Just stay alive.”
I stepped forward and thrust my fist into the endless black tide before us.
Boom!
A karmic flame erupted, piercing through the horde of Imps.
“Then everything will fall into place.”
Park Min-seo, having forgotten even to swing his weapon, simply stared at Yoo Sung-woo at the forefront of the formation, who was crushing the Imps.
Every time he threw a punch, gaping holes tore through the black tide.
In contrast, though he had charged at the Imps first, Park Min-seo now found it difficult even to block the ones right in front of him from the very rear of the formation.
An Imp’s trident pierced through his shield.
Startled, Park Min-seo swung his sword in fury, cutting through the Imp that broke his guard.
“Damn it, you bastard!”
Each time he swung his sword recklessly, an Imp’s head flew off, but still, they kept coming, trampling over the corpses of their fallen comrades.
Even though he knew they were just holograms, he could feel fear slowly consuming him.
How much time had passed?
Five minutes? Ten? Thirty?
As he continued cutting through the endless horde, his sense of time began to blur.
No matter how many he cut down, it never ended.
The Imps were spawning faster than he could kill them.
It was overwhelming.
‘Am I going to die here like this?’
KWAANG!
At that moment, a huge explosion thundered nearby, and a wave of searing heat brushed across Park Min-seo’s face.
“Get it together! Your side’s defense is collapsing!”
At Yoo Sung-woo’s reprimand, Park Min-seo’s face twisted in irritation.
“Shut up! Mind your own business!”
“If you fall, we all fall!”
Catching his breath for a brief moment, Park Min-seo began swinging his sword again.
‘That monster… he doesn’t even look tired.’
Yoo Sung-woo was clearly handling far more Imps than he was.
Since Kim Ye-seul had run out of mana and couldn’t use magic, Yoo Sung-woo was covering for her as well.
And whenever it seemed like they were being pushed back, he’d unleash an explosion to wipe out the Imps in one go, even giving them time to catch their breath.
Watching that, Park Min-seo trembled in humiliation and frustration at his own incompetence.
To Park Min-seo, Yoo Sung-woo was someone who had gotten a perfect score on an exam purely by luck.
But the instructors mistook that lucky result for actual ability.
Park Min-seo couldn’t understand those instructors.
Sure, Yoo Sung-woo’s skills were impressive—he’d admit that much.
But wasn’t it all possible only because the instructors went easy on him?
He believed that anyone with his level of talent could have done the same under similar circumstances.
Yet after that, Yoo Sung-woo had started associating openly with the freshman representatives.
That was when a shadow began to take root in Park Min-seo’s heart.
And then one day, when he saw the black badge pinned to Yoo Sung-woo’s chest—
Park Min-seo felt something inside him collapse.
The Student Council.
An elite group that every cadet at the Academy dreamed of joining.
And he had gotten in? That kind of guy?
Filthy jealousy began to burn inside him.
He had been rejected immediately during the document screening stage.
But that guy?
The same guy who had only gotten full marks because of luck?
Enraged by the unfairness of the world, Park Min-seo was consumed by anger.
Later, during the start of practical training, he found himself assigned to the same team as Yoo Sung-woo.
He considered it a golden opportunity—
A chance to expose Yoo Sung-woo for what he really was.
But when the practical started, nothing went as he had expected.
The monsters made of holograms were far more realistic than he’d imagined.
Their attacks were brutal, and every movement reeked of murderous intent.
Every time he faced that raw malice, Park Min-seo forgot that these monsters weren’t real.
Fear consumed him; his whole body trembled, and he could barely move, let alone fight properly.
And of all people, it was Yoo Sung-woo who had snapped him out of that fear.
At some point, Park Min-seo’s wildly swinging sword stopped.
He couldn’t even tell if the emotion boiling inside him was anger, inferiority, or shame.
The heat from the karmic flames made his face burn.
Someone shouted at him, but Park Min-seo didn’t listen.
The darkness that had long taken root in his heart began devouring his emotions and growing rapidly.
That darkness, nourished by humiliation, inferiority, and shame, began to consume him whole.
And at that very moment—
A beautiful voice echoed from somewhere.
A voice so lovely, he felt he had never heard anything like it in his life.
— Child, I can feel your pain and suffering.
— Do you wish to become special like those before you?
As if hypnotized, Park Min-seo nodded.
Someone once said—
A demon appears most beautifully when a human is at their ugliest.
It shows up like hope in the depths of despair, only to drag the person deeper into darkness.
Park Min-seo saw a light shining brilliantly within the dark.
— I shall grant you power. The power to shine brighter than them all.
Park Min-seo stopped moving.
That idiot!
He couldn’t even hold out a little longer before retiring? For the sake of our scores and the bet, I couldn’t allow a single teammate to drop out.
“Snap out of it!”
I grabbed him by the collar and yanked him out of the barrage of attacks.
At the same time, I stepped forward and unleashed a blast of karmic flame.
The flames surged outward, pushing the Imps back for a brief moment.
I seized him by the shoulders and turned him toward me.
“Hey, you son of a— …what the?”
Something was off about him.
His eyes were unfocused, and he was muttering to himself as if possessed.
A sharp sense of déjà vu hit me.
No way…
I slapped him hard across the face.
SMACK!
His neck twisted sharply from the blow.
Startled, Kim Ye-seul grabbed my hand.
“W-what are you doing?!”
“Wait—it’s fine. I’m fine.”
Just then, Park Min-seo came to and stopped her.
He cracked his neck a few times and then apologized to me.
“Sorry. My mind wandered for a second.”
Then he tightened his grip on his weapon again.
But in that short moment, something about his aura had completely changed.
Mana enveloped his sword, radiating a blue light.
The exhaustion from fighting the endless Imps had vanished entirely.
He looked like a completely different person.
As if he had been… corrupted by a Demon.
I was about to say something to him when he turned toward the Imps, ready to charge—
And then—
BEEEEEP—!
The bell signaling the end of the practical session rang out, and the holograms around us began to fade.
Dan Chun-woo had destroyed the Mana Stone.