How to Survive as an Extra

Chapter 76

A dim alley somewhere on the outskirts of Seoul.

An early summer wind swept through the alley.

The wind stirred sand from the poorly paved ground and tapped insistently against the glass of buildings on the verge of collapse.

There was no sign of human presence.

The walls of the buildings were smeared with layers of dried blood, and discarded shell casings occasionally rolled across the ground, as if busily searching for a place to hide.

After a while, as the wind began to settle, a boy stepped into the alley.

Inside an alley where a crime could occur at any moment, the boy wore a calm, untroubled expression.

As though he did not know fear.

Once the boy had entered deep enough that he could no longer be seen from outside, a woman’s voice flowed toward him.

“Hey, Gen. How long are you planning to keep walking around as a kid?”

The Demonic Being Gen turned toward the source of the voice and stopped in his tracks.

The sound was clearly coming from within a wall without even a single crack.

Although he could not see her, Gen spoke as though he knew exactly who the other party was.

“Allie, I have told you for a long time now. There is nothing more convenient than a young body when it comes to moving around.”

“And I told you that there is nothing more suspicious than roaming the Outroad in that body. On top of that, are you not being chased by the Special Affairs Division?”

“Well, I have long since built up a resistance to that. I have been on the run for decades. And besides, is this not a place where Dispel cannot even drop a single strand of hair?”

Demonic Being Allie gave up on replying.

She knew all too well that there was no point continuing the conversation with someone who could not be persuaded.

“Anyway, did you check the video I sent earlier?”

“They were utterly crushed. Are you sure you are properly training those Camellia fools?”

“Hmph, it was just an unexpected accident.”

“Humans call that carelessness.”

“Like the blunder you and Lee Gangju orchestrated?”

“……If I said I knew he might die, would you believe me?”

“No… I want to say no, but if it is you, you might have used Lee Gangju. I do not know what you gained from it, though.”

At Allie’s words, Gen silently curled the corners of his mouth.

He wore a sinister smile for a brief moment, then changed the subject.

“More importantly, I would like to hear why you went out of your way to call me all the way here.”

“Oh, it is because of that fellow named Ji Seokhyeon from the video. As you saw, he has a rather troublesome ability.”

“The Demonic Eye… There was something even more troublesome that caught my attention, but that pupil color was certainly irritating.”

“You remembered. Yes, those eyes resembled Hyun Yuyeol’s. It must be a continuation of the bloodline. Humans cannot tell the difference, but they cannot deceive our eyes.”

“Interesting. I was certain that entire clan had been eradicated.”

“There is no need to rack our brains over the cause. Let us kill him before he gains even more troublesome power.”

A sharp emphasis crept into Allie’s voice.

As if she harbored a personal grudge.

“Why not just turn him into a Ghoul? That seems more convenient in many ways.”

“Do you think it is easy to dominate a human with a Demonic Eye? And I am sorry, but the one I plan to turn into a Ghoul has already been decided. You know him well too. Lee Eunho.”

Lee Eunho, a cadet of Hero Prep whose name was currently on everyone’s lips.

As that name escaped her lips, Gen’s expression hardened.

“Ah, that would be a problem.”

“What?”

“He is too valuable to be used as a Ghoul.”

“And who was it just now that suggested turning someone with a Demonic Eye into a Ghoul?”

“The two are fundamentally different. Unlike that fellow, Lee Eunho is someone worth meddling with.”

“Meddling with him? Are you saying you will make him your Ghoul?”

“No. I am saying he can be used sufficiently even without turning him into a Ghoul. There is no species easier to bend to desire than humans.”

Allie understood Gen’s words at once.

Using desire as bait to dominate others was her specialty as well.

Even so, it was not easy to glimpse desire within the human called Lee Eunho.

She had met countless humans, but it was rare to find one as flawless as Lee Eunho.

Gen surely knew that fact too, yet for some reason he was displaying an unfounded confidence.

A confidence that made even Allie, who had commanded the greatest number of Ghouls thus far, feel impatient.

“Fine, then. Let us see who ends up claiming him.”

“So there is no compromise? Well, that is our way.”

“In any case, keep a close eye on that Ji Seokhyeon fellow. Be ready to kill him if the need arises.”

Once again, strong emphasis colored the end of her words.

Gen’s reply came a moment later.

“…I do not like it, but lending a hand is fine.”

***

The Hall of Endurance at Hero Preparatory School.

The Hall of Endurance, lined with physical training facilities, was a place that employed top-tier advanced magitech even within the 4th Scholastic District.

The reason Hero Prep alone possessed such cutting-edge facilities was nominally due to the Bureau’s exclusive investment, but in reality, it was largely because most of the leadership of awakened society consisted of Hero Prep graduates.

As a result, voices criticizing the unfairness of facility investment were constantly raised within the 4th Scholastic District.

However, since there was no academy that produced results comparable to Hero Prep, the other academies in the district could only watch in frustration.

At best, if the recently proposed united club were approved, they might be able to share the facilities of the Hall of Endurance…

But there was no way that outside students would be able to use the facilities without being overwhelmed by the cadets’ presence in the first place.

“So what, you are saying he was deliberately hiding his skills?”

Inside one of the training rooms in the Hall of Endurance.

Cadets who should have been sweating for the sake of humanity were instead huddled together, chattering as they watched a video.

“Do you think movements like that can be hidden? He must have used some kind of bizarre potion.”

“Give me a break. Then what, that discolored pupil is also thanks to a potion?”

“T-that is…”

The cadets were gathered in front of a monitor in the corner of the training room, engaged in a heated debate.

They were talking about Ji Seokhyeon, the protagonist of the video.

“But I heard that bastard is a social care beneficiary. How can he even use a Demonic Eye? There is nothing more dependent on heredity than the Demonic Eye.”

“Could it be that his story about being from the outskirts is a lie? Maybe he is actually the child of some prestigious family…”

“What are you talking about? Where in Seoul is there even a family that uses the Demonic Eye anymore?”

The first emotion the cadets felt while watching the video was bewilderment.

After all, it was not easy to accept the dissonance of a cadet they had watched closely suddenly revealing that he had been hiding such immense power.

“But is not that swordsmanship impressive? He cut down several Chimeras by himself. He should not have much real combat experience, so how did he manage to strike only the weak points?”

“It must be thanks to the Demonic Eye. As is well known, it is the kind of ability only those with top-tier talent in abilities can possess. It is irritating, but he probably sees far more than ordinary awakened beings.”

“Damn it, thinking about it that way pisses me off. Are you saying that even though he is just a social care beneficiary, he is a genius on a completely different level from us?”

“Do you think it is just us? With a Demonic Eye, he might even surpass Lee Eunho or Gong Minwu—”

“Hey, shh!”

In an instant, the cadets’ conversation stopped.

They belatedly turned their gaze toward a cadet sweating away on one side of the training room.

They were watching Gong Minwu, considered the greatest talent of the current 4th Scholastic District.

“…A Demonic Eye?”

Gong Minwu, who had been running on a machine, paid no heed to the others’ gazes and sank into his own thoughts.

About Ji Seokhyeon.

To Gong Minwu, it did not matter what kind of performance Ji Seokhyeon had displayed in the video.

Nor did it matter that he possessed a Demonic Eye, or that he was hiding his past.

The only reason Gong Minwu paid attention to Ji Seokhyeon was his monstrous rate of growth.

‘He might have hidden the Demonic Eye, but he did not hide his basic skills.’

That much had been clear from their spar on the training ground.

Ji Seokhyeon was threatening him with an absurd rate of growth day by day.

If that rate continued, Gong Minwu’s obsession with becoming the “pinnacle” would be nothing more than a sandcastle swept away by the waves.

‘Was it assistance from the Demonic Eye? Was the training under the Training Instructor simply that exceptional? Or… is it truly an untouchable talent?’

Agonizing thoughts arose and began to roughly churn his mind.

Without even feeling the sweat running down his skin, the pressure of possibly falling behind seized Gong Minwu.

‘Ji Seokhyeon… He is even more dangerous than Lee Eunho.’

***

Rumors spread with astonishing speed. The moment I checked the video on Incrystal, several cadets began hovering around in front of the dormitory, and my smart watch shook my wrist incessantly, as if it were malfunctioning.

Left with no choice, I left the dormitory and headed for the unmanned convenience store near the main gate.

As soon as I entered, I called Park Chaeshin, and the call connected before the ringtone even finished sounding.

“I have been waiting. Things were quiet for a while, and then you went and caused quite a stir.”

The voice that greeted me before I could even offer a greeting was not Park Chaeshin’s.

It was Baek Dojun, the Special Affairs Division Chief.

The two were not in the same place.

It was simply that, because I had made the call through the Special Affairs Division’s information lines, the signal had been shared with Baek Dojun, who was standing by.

“Ah, Chief. I see you heard.”

“Yes. Thanks to you, I was able to start my dull morning with some excitement.”

“I apologize.”

“There is no need to apologize to me. I was the one who chose to turn a blind eye to your Demonic Eye in the first place. More importantly, what do you plan to do now?”

What I planned to do…

I had always intended to reveal the Demonic Eye someday, but I never dreamed it would be exposed like this.

If anything, I should consider it fortunate that the Erosion I used alongside it was not discovered.

“Do I even have a choice left? Everything is already out in the open.”

“What I am asking about is how you intend to respond to the repercussions that will follow. Within tens of minutes, the media outlets of Seoul will flock to Hero Prep. Several Hunter guilds will take an interest in you, and the Bureau will conduct a background investigation on you. …As you know, deliberately omitting an ability during an ability information update is a serious crime.”

“……”

“If fortune favors you, public opinion might lean toward leniency on the grounds that you saved a direct descendant. However… if the incidents you have been involved in over the past few months are brought back into the spotlight, a rather turbulent public discourse will form.”

What Baek Dojun was trying to say was simple.

I was surrounded on all sides.

If I had revealed it directly at the right time, it might have led to a very good outcome, but in the end it had become a self-inflicted blunder with no escape.

“However, it is not as though there is no solution at all. You simply need to prove that you were in a situation where you had no choice but to hide the Demonic Eye.”

“To prove it…”

“It is simple. We publicly announce that you are a probationary investigator of the Special Affairs Division.”

“……”

There were only two awakened individuals publicly known to belong to the Special Affairs Division.

The Special Affairs Division Chief Baek Dojun, and his attendant, Kim Seyeon.

From the moment it was first established, the Special Affairs Division had been created to act as the Bureau’s dark side.

The identities of its members were not properly disclosed, and it was a rule of the division not to publicize them externally.

Even for retired investigators.

For such a division to publicly announce the identity of a probationary investigator meant that I would become a target for Demonic Beings and extremist groups.

This ran completely counter to my plan to arrange the stage from behind the scenes of the original story.

It also meant that I would have to alternate wearing the mask of the Phantom Thief that I had already put on stage.

“I am not trying to force you. It is just that I cannot think of a better plan than this. Above all, I also think that you might be able to bear this weight.”

To bear the weight…

At that moment, my smart watch vibrated.

Reflexively, I lifted my wrist so the face of the watch came into view, and the name of someone I did not want to face jumped out at me.

-A message from School Principal Kim Shinwoo has arrived. Would you like to check it?

“……”

“What do you think? Do you need some time to think?”