Chapter 215 - The Academy’s Deceased Ate It All

Chapter 15: As the man with his head embedded in the ground writhed, I wondered if he was still alive. "Haley!" The woman behind Choi Joon-hyung screamed in horror, and Ibahn muttered under his breath. "Now it's Oh Sung, not Yuksung." He looked at me as if asking what he meant, and he immediately started explaining. "All those people are from Yuksung. You know Choi Joon-hyung, and the woman standing behind him is a healing mage and a supporter like Anjuhyeok." Ibahn chuckled softly and added, "But that's only what the Association calls them." He also mentioned that the guy lying on the ground now used to be the Special Forces commander in Yuksung. I glanced at him with a hint of ridicule mixed in my voice. Ibahn had a face I had never seen before, and his aggressive expression made him look unfamiliar and like he was looking down on people. This guy definitely has a temper. That was what I thought. "This, you...!" The man sprawled on the ground groaned, struggling to speak. He slowly got up and muttered, "What stunt did you pull...?!" Instead of Han Soo-young, Lee Yuna, who was behind me, answered. "Just a moment ago, the space..." She murmured in a small voice, and Choi Hyun-woo nodded. "I doubt he even knows why he got punched." "Hah...." Han Soo-young watched the man rising unsteadily with a look of annoyance and a sigh. Meanwhile, Choi Joon-hyung, who was behind us, spoke softly. "Stop." "What? But those guys started first...!" "I said stop." It was when the man, with blood running down his lips, glared at Choi Joon-hyung and shouted. "What's all this commotion?" Anjuhyeok and Laura Hartman appeared out of nowhere and stood in the middle as if guarding us. Anjuhyeok glared at Choi Joon-hyung and quietly opened his mouth. "You don't have permission to come in here, do you? If you want to talk, shouldn't you go to the reception room?" "We were just taking a stroll." "This is a restricted area for anyone other than authorized personnel." Laura spoke in a calm voice. With her arms crossed, she glanced at Choi Joon-hyung and his group before snapping her head. "And you guys are not authorized personnel, either." "Perhaps we will be soon." Choi Joon-hyung said that and glanced at me briefly. "Now that the situation has turned like this, I will speak without restraint. A few days ago during the Chilak battle, there are a few testimonies that I need to hear from Yu Ji-hyuk. Will you please cooperate?" "I'm sorry, but that's not possible." Anjuhyeok stepped forward and said. "Right now, I am the attending physician for this patient. And as his attending physician, he needs to rest and stabilize. We cannot allow anything that could worsen his condition." "There's no need to worry about that." Choi Joon-hyung said that and pointed to the Eastern woman next to him. "With us is Xiao Jie-er, a member of Yuksung. She's also a healer who's as good as Anjuhyeok, so to speak. While Yu Ji-hyuk is with the Association, she will take over as his attending physician." "Xiao Jie-er?" Laura snorted and sneered. "I recall there was someone with that name who betrayed us and ran away without a word." "Well, Hartman... Artman, right? Don't spread false information. That's not what's important right now." Laura simply smirked at Choi Joon-hyung's words. "And you said she's as good as Anjuhyeok, didn't you? Maybe we should put that to the test." If that's the case, why not give her a try? She spoke while a dreadful sound echoed out from Haley's arm. "Aaah!" "Fix it." Laura threw Haley aside, who had twisted and screamed in pain, and spoke quietly. "You'll also need to fix that impudent girl with her unruly hair over there." "Is it because you're big that your tongue is long?" Laura looked up at the man who was at least a head taller than her as she spoke. "As you wish." "Oh, really?" "You should know that my name is Laura, a paladin. Unless I move myself, no one can move my feet." Haley threw a punch towards Laura's face with an unexpected sound. With a loud crash, her fist landed squarely on Laura's face. Laura looked down at her, who was kneeling with her arm broken, and smirked as if she found it pathetic. "A paladin, huh? So you thought you could provoke me like that?" "You...!" Laura held Haley's fist, which was embedded in her face, with a dry voice. "If you're trying to provoke me, you might be disappointed." Laura said in a dry voice as she twisted Haley's fist, which was embedded in her face. With her arm broken, she looked down at the man and sneered as if she found it pitiful. "La... Laura." "Eum." "Bleeding." "I know." While holding Haley down with one hand, Laura wiped the blood away with the other. "Well then, this should be considered self-defense." Laura said in a calm voice as she wiped the blood from her face. "Here's what you need to know. I used to have a split personality in the past. But now, I can move if I want to. Nobody besides me can make me move..." Haley balled her fist and struck Laura's face with all her might. With a loud crash, Laura fell to the ground, her forehead meeting Haley's knuckles. "Paladin bullshit, so you thought you could provoke me...!?" "...Did you really hit me with all your strength?" Laura murmured in her usual dry voice as she twisted Haley's fist. She must have sensed the pain of death in her throat, and an animal-like whimper flowed out from him. "I certainly did not expect you to be so weak-hearted. And now I realize the pain of punching with all my strength." Laura caught her breath with her arm twisted, still looking down at him, who was weeping on his knees with his fist stuck. "Paladin, it seems you can't even hold yourself back, can you?" Laura said in a calm voice, glancing at Choi Joon-hyung and Xiao Jie-er. "She said that she's as good as Anjuhyeok is. Do you really believe that?" If so, why not test it? With those words, a dreadful sound spread from Haley's arm. "I can't fix it?" Laura spoke softly, poking our shoulders as if suggesting we should leave. And as she touched my shoulder, she secretly placed something in my hand. It was a small note. "Evangeline asked me to give this to you." While looking at Choi Joon-hyung and Xiao Jie-er, Laura spoke in a hushed voice. "Actually, she said she also had something to tell you." It must be related to the phone call I just had with Jin Ye-seul. Maybe she sent me the note to deliver a message. "Also, this incident will be officially protested to the Association, so it's better if you're aware of that." Annoyance filled Laura's voice as she looked at Choi Joon-hyung and his group, who were bleeding. "Intruding without permission, harassing students like Yuksung did, attempting to forcibly take a patient, and not to mention attacking Laura's face." Choi Joon-hyung chuckled and sneered. "They're stories that people would love to hear, aren't they?" "...." Choi Joon-hyung still had a smile on his face. His sinister smile was directed at me, but I had no energy to respond to it. [...Can you hear me?] Surprisingly, Jin Ye-seul's voice whispered right next to my ear. She continued speaking in a quiet and calm voice. [I don't think you can answer right now, so I'll tell you right away.] I found the remaining two bosses of Big Watch who were hiding. She whispered quietly. [And Yesol said she's going to hunt them.] * * * "Hmm. One, two, three, four..." In the chaotic room, Jin Ye-seul started counting with her fingers, as if she were counting something. Reaching twenty-two, she furrowed her brows, as if in doubt, and turned her head as she raised her head. "I'm sure there were 23 of them..." "Ah, ugh..." Uttering the words as if she were unsure, Jin Ye-seul exerted force on her foot that was stepping on the man's back, sprawled under her feet. "Cough...!" "You're filthy." As he vomited blood, Jin Ye-seul stuck out her tongue as if she were disgusted. After he coughed, she flew up lightly and squatted right in front of him, locking eyes with him. "Hey, weren't there a total of humans and monsters combined? You should know." "Wha...tever..." "Ugh, annoying humans." Although she couldn't remember his name while fluttering her eyes, Jin Ye-seul knew he was one of the bosses of Big Watch and a disciple of Isaac McDowell. She also remembered he had come as a professor from the Urea branch to Oreh Academy. "Your friend asked me to spare her, but you asked me to kill you." "...What?" As she said that, Jin Ye-seul raised the head of the severed woman and thrust it in front of him. The man trembled and murmured his colleague's name with a trembling mouth. "E-E-E-Emilia..." "Yeah, I remember her name very well too. Emilia." Jin Ye-seul smiled kindly as she spoke. "A woman who dared to provoke Ji Hyuk. And a woman who said she would kill him." With a thud, Jin Ye-seul moved her finger up and down, making her lips twitch. "Hello, I'm Emilia." The moment the man heard the voice of his deceased comrade, he became terrified. And at the same time, he could see that her razor-sharp fangs were revealed. "She was one who aimed for Ji Hyuk's life. And one who dared to touch him and tempt him with dirty hands." Emerging from Emilia's severed head, Jin Ye-seul's voice flowed out as if in mockery. "Is there any other crime?" "I don't know... I don't know... I don't know!" "Anymore...?" "...I don't know, I don't know!" "Enough..." As the man wept, Jin Ye-seul brought Emilia's head closer to him. "Did she really ask you to kill her? I told you everything! I hate it! Professor! Please! Anyone! Please save me! Please!" Jin Ye-seul spoke, without missing a single word, the last words Emilia muttered before she died. Already extracting all the necessary information from her mind, Jin Ye-seul quickly put the man out of his misery. She just tightened her grip on his neck with both hands. To her, opponents like them were merely interesting and annoying. Emilia, who could change her weight like a feather or make herself as heavy as a dump truck. On the other hand, this man could turn his entire body into an impregnable fortress, covered in steel, and all sorts of cannons, firearms, and weapons would pop out. "Hmm, where..." Of course, to Jin Ye-seul, who had everything in her hands, they were just interesting adversaries. Beside them, monsters with intelligence and other humans were instantly slaughtered by Jin Ye-seul, leaving only their memories as she extracted them. "...Oh, what a mess." In the meantime, a woman's voice was heard, and Jin Ye-seul absent-mindedly put the needle back into its sheath. Crunching sound of her heels. A voice that pricked her pride. The scent of perfume that pricked her nose, and the strong smell of blood hidden beneath it. I wonder who it is, Jin Ye-seul muttered and looked at the fallen body on the ground.