Chapter 99
The bell rang, signaling the end of class.
The Sword Empress glanced at her wristwatch and shouted.
“That's enough! Good work, everyone.”
“Ugh…… Mom……”
“This is torture……”
At her command to stop, the cadets collapsed to the ground, groaning in agony.
Every one of them had pushed their stamina to the very limits for the first time in their lives.
It was obsession taken to an extreme.
Even Kang Jae-seok hadn’t forced this level of brutal training on them.
Tears welled up in the cadets’ eyes.
Today was the day of the Sword Empress’s first practical class.
Class A cadets had gone in full of excitement, and this was the result before their eyes.
“Please… spare me……”
She was systematic, delicate—and relentless.
She knew precisely where each person’s physical limits lay, and had tailored a course to make them face that limit head-on.
The cadets twitched on the floor, barely able to move a muscle.
Not even Park Siwoo or Dan Chun-woo were exceptions.
No, if anything, the two of them were suffering even more than the others.
They lay motionless on the ground like dried fish.
I walked over to them.
“You two still alive?”
“Barely……”
“……”
Dan Chun-woo managed to answer with a trembling voice, while Park Siwoo couldn’t even reply—he only waved his hand weakly.
No wonder Dan Chun-woo had freaked out when he first saw the Sword Empress.
She really was brutal.
Knowing one’s limits and forcing oneself to surpass them every day was her idea of meaningful training.
Still, making them run with weights of several dozen kilos strapped to their limbs, or fight using weapons far heavier than usual—that was plain insanity.
Dan Chun-woo looked up at me with a doubtful expression.
“Why do you look perfectly fine?”
“Me? I look fine?”
It wasn’t like I’d escaped the Sword Empress’s grasp either.
She already knew my skill level from our previous duel, and had prepared a regimen suited to it.
I stretched out both arms toward Dan Chun-woo.
My muscles were twitching uncontrollably from overexertion.
“You’re still standing, though.”
“That’s just pure grit.”
They weren’t standing simply because they lacked the effort to get up.
Now that I thought about it, someone was being suspiciously quiet.
I scanned the collapsed cadets for Helena.
A silver-haired “dried fish” was crawling across the floor of Hanul Hall.
“So, do you still think she’s better than the School Nurse?”
“……Shut up.”
Maybe I shouldn’t have asked.
I helped them up and slowly guided them back to class.
Once he’d recovered a bit, Park Siwoo spoke.
“I’m heading to the Student Council room. What about you, Seongwoo?”
“Hey, how about skipping the Council for today and helping me out instead?”
“Helping you?”
“Yeah.”
He gave me a strange grin.
What’s with that look?
“Isn’t this the first time you’ve ever asked me for help that isn’t about studying?”
“Is it?”
“It is. You barely even ask to borrow a pen, remember?”
Now that he said it, I realized he was right.
Not that it really mattered.
“So, are you helping me or not?”
“What if something important comes up at the Council?”
“If it does, they’ll call me.”
Even if I went to the Student Council room now, I’d probably have to walk out from the suffocating atmosphere anyway.
Right now, tension filled the air between the Academy’s upper ranks and the Student Council—and even within the Council itself. The President, the Vice President, and the executives were all on edge, like a rubber band stretched to its limit.
After the Honey Jack incident and the subjugation of the Demon of Indulgence, the Academy’s leadership had learned that a demon had infiltrated the Student Council.
Since then, Yoo Iseo had been summoned to the Dean’s and Chancellor’s offices dozens of times a day, constantly being questioned about one thing or another.
Each time she returned, her sharp eyes swept over the Council members.
Though Pan had taken the fall and self-destructed with all the immediate evidence, cutting off one tail didn’t erase suspicion of the others.
If even one of Berid’s subordinates were caught, it would spell the end for Berid himself.
But fleeing wasn’t an option either.
The Academy was under the watchful eyes of countless heroes and the Hero Association—running away would be the same as admitting to being a demon.
A true calm before the storm, a moment of inescapable peril.
And what I planned to do with Park Siwoo now was to prepare for that coming storm.
I called out to Dan Chun-woo and Helena, who were about to head back to the dorms.
“If you two don’t have anything better to do, give me a hand.”
“Me too? I’m exhausted……”
“It’s not that hard. It might even be fun.”
Helena tilted her head in confusion.
Fun, while helping with work—it was only natural she’d be curious.
In truth, what I was asking for wasn’t particularly difficult.
“So, what exactly do you want us to help with?”
“A treasure hunt.”
“A treasure hunt?”
When I nodded, Helena frowned.
“You’re asking me to help with something that childish?”
“It’s not that childish, trust me.”
After all, the “treasure” we needed to find was dangerous.
I opened my phone, created a group chat, and uploaded a photo of a demon statue.
“This is the treasure you’ll be looking for.”
“What’s that?”
“The totems hidden by the demons that infiltrated the Academy.”
“……What?”
Helena’s eyes widened.
Maybe this was too much to ask of someone with demon phobia.
It was a simple mission—just find the statues and destroy them.
However, Helena’s thoughts might have been different.
“You won’t actually have to fight any demons. You won’t even run into them.”
This was the only window of opportunity.
With Pan dead and the demons’ activities momentarily halted, now was the one time we could destroy these statues without facing them directly.
The Demon Statues didn’t just amplify demonic powers.
That was only a secondary effect.
Their true purpose was that they served as catalysts—for magic, and more specifically, for dark magic.
In Become a Hero, there had even been a quest to destroy these statues.
At first, I’d thought it was just a trivial quest.
A repeatable quest with poor rewards.
Optional, and barely worth the small amount of experience points it offered.
But when Berid had been cornered and made his last stand, the true significance of the statues had become clear.
The difficulty of the final boss battle depended on how many Demon Statues had been destroyed within the Academy.
If this were just a game, I would’ve ignored such a grind-heavy quest. But in our current situation—where the main playable characters were generally weaker—we needed to destroy as many statues as possible.
It was proof that the world was, in its own way, fair.
The reason I prepared so thoroughly was because this wasn’t a game. It was reality.
Because it was real, things were harder. And because it was real, these people were that much more precious.
And the only reason I could even prepare like this—was because it was reality.
If it were just a game, I’d have to handle the quest alone. But since this was real life, I could rely on others for help.
After some hesitation, Helena nodded.
“It doesn’t seem that hard. And… it feels like something we can’t just ignore. I’ll help.”
“Thanks.”
Of course, I didn’t plan to leave this task completely to reality.
“The one who destroys the most statues—I’ll grant them a wish later.”
Any challenge, no matter how hard, could be overcome if approached like a game.
So this too—should be treated like one.
My words made their eyes gleam with excitement.
“The statues will probably be in populated areas of the Academy.”
The statues drained life force from nearby humans.
So to maximize efficiency, they had to be placed where that life force was abundant—
Places like the Academy’s Main Building, the Dormitories, or Hanul Hall.
After hearing me out, Park Siwoo, Dan Chun-woo, and Helena each left the classroom to begin their search.
As much as I wanted to lend a hand myself, I couldn’t directly interfere with Berid’s scheme, or I’d end up being bound.
I needed to remain free, ready to respond at any moment if Berid tried something.
And above all, I was a busy man.
Even now, there was someone I needed to meet—for the sake of clearing this scenario.
Yoo Iseo’s dormitory room.
Her room was cluttered with countless documents and clothes scattered everywhere.
Amid the piles of papers, Yoo Iseo lay sprawled on her back.
One wall of her room was plastered with photos and sticky notes, forming a vast mind map.
Among them were familiar faces.
Every Student Council executive, every person confirmed to be a demon and arrested so far, and even the recent boss of the Honey Jack Club.
The photos Pan had marked were connected by strings of various colors, tangled together chaotically.
She let out a deep sigh.
‘I feel like I’ve caught almost everyone, but something’s off……’
She could see the big picture, yet it felt like she was missing a few crucial puzzle pieces.
Her gaze drifted to the center of the mind map.
There hung the faces of the Student Council’s core members—including herself.
Yoo Seongwoo, Park Siwoo, Ha Yoon.
Among them existed the Devil Knight… or perhaps another subordinate of Pandemonium.
Up to this point, all signs had pointed to Ha Yoon being the traitor.
Park Siwoo was—well, not bright, but pure-hearted. Yoo Seongwoo was hard to read, but he always carried a sense of urgency.
Ha Yoon, however, was different.
The suspicion was strong enough to be conviction……
Yet Yoo Iseo didn’t want to accept it.
The leader of the demons within the Academy—the mastermind behind countless incidents—was the very friend she cherished as much as Seo Da-hee.
And worse, the one who killed Seo Da-hee was Ha Yoon himself……
It was a truth too heavy for her to bear.
When had she first begun to suspect that Ha Yoon might be a demon?
Was it when she learned from the endlessly regenerating demon that someone named Berid existed—and that there was more than one demon within the Council?
Or was it when she heard that the potion obtained from defeating a villain had somehow circulated through the club members?
No, perhaps even before she rejoined the Council.
At first, she’d denied it.
Each time such doubts arose, she had forced herself to turn away—fueling her hatred for the Devil Knight instead.
But now, she couldn’t deny it anymore.
All evidence pointed to him.
It was time to make a decision.
Yet, one question remained unanswered.
If Ha Yoon really was the Devil Knight……
Then why had he told her not to trust anyone?
And who exactly was the fake Jung Hye-yeon she had met?
Why had Jung Hye-yeon’s actions, fighting style, and even techniques been so eerily similar to Seo Da-hee’s when she was fighting at full strength?
Could it be that Seo Da-hee was still alive?
Or had Seo Da-hee’s soul possessed someone’s body—or perhaps reincarnated……
Her thoughts spiraled into delusion.
Just then, she heard a knock beyond her door.
‘Who could possibly be visiting me?’
Yoo Iseo opened the door with a puzzled look.
And there, waiting for her, was a completely unexpected guest.