The Academy’s Deceased Ate It All

It was a struggle to prevent Henir’s shadow and the branches of the World Tree from posing a threat to her, and also from doing nonsense.

Her movements, which I would not have been able to follow with my eyes before, are now clearly visible.Her distorted expression, her clenched fists, and her strained legs.

As she rushed, she managed to tap her shoe on the ground quickly.A poisoned blade immediately slipped out of the shoe.Watching it straight, I didn’t move a step.

”This… !”

And I could see her clenching her teeth as she sent her leg flying, aiming right at the nape of my neck.

While moving her legs, she forced her body to fly into the air with a jump.Then she turned around, hung my neck right inside her knee, and fell straight to the ground.As I was standing defenselessly, I immediately fell helplessly at her actions.

”Ugh!” With a thud, my body hit the floor roughly.And immediately, I felt a pressure and weight on my chest.

”… don’t move.” Jin Ye-Seul sat on my chest, literally looking down at me as if to kill me.With one knee on my elbow and the other stomping my foot to keep me immobile, her unique form of suppression.Her hair rustled down and tickled my face.I looked up at her without saying a word.

”Another world, what do you mean? Do you mean it’s a different world than this one?”

”Yes.”

”… so, how different is it? Huh? Tell me with your mouth.”

I quietly opened my mouth.

”The world I originally lived in was a world with no magic, no monsters, no hunters, no heroes.”

”… Then it must be a world without Shadow Walker, too?”

She asked with a face that seemed to say she didn’t want to believe.

”Yes.” When I returned the answer, I heard her grinding her teeth.

”Then, of course, you’re not that person’s descendant either.”

”Yes.”

Jin Ye-Seul’s lips trembled finely.Seeing this, I felt an indescribable emotion.

”You deceived me. Until now.”

”… yes.”

”You deceived me.”

Her breathing gradually became ragged at my acceptance.Sincerely, she was staring at me with wounded eyes as if she was going to kill me.

I could see her eyes slowly getting wet, like a child abandoned by her parents, with the look of a person betrayed by a person they trusted completely.And more than anything else, it became a sure shackle and pressed my limbs.

”You deceived me! You, me! You, the one I trusted, Yoo Ji-Hyuk, you!!!” Screaming, she grabbed my neck roughly with one of her hands.

”Then why the hell are you telling me this now? You want to die to me?!”

”Where in the world is anyone, ugh, who wants to die... ?”

Henir’s shadow and the branches of the World Tree swayed at her neck-strangling touch.I kept looking at her, ordering them to never move.

”Ha.”

Meanwhile, Jin Ye-Seul snorted as if it wasn’t even funny.Then she brought her other hand to my waist and rummaged around without hesitation.After confirming that I was bare-handed, she shook her head slightly.

”There is no dagger, no sword, no spear, no bow, not even a single dagger*. Looks like you left it all behind and come here bare-handed, huh?” [Note: * Mainly used for assassination.]

I nodded with difficulty.

”So what, why the hell? Are you saying you can beat me bare-handed? Or are you implying that you don’t want to fight with me?” Her fingers were gradually gaining strength.

”You’re mocking me now, aren’t you? Are you going to laugh at me for being played by your lies all these time? Is that what you meant when you showed me Henir’s shadow earlier?”

”Not, like tha… .”

”You should have just let me keep being deceived!!!!”

She screamed.Her purple eyes contorted in pain as she looked at me.

A single tear fell from her eyes and trickled down my cheek.Through her wet eyes, I could see my reflection and the band-aid on my cheek.The band-aid she put on had a smiling penguin character drawn on it.

”I’d rather, I’d rather… ! Continue without knowing anything... !” ”… I’m sorry.”

I could only say that. ”Actually, I… can’t explain for sure. As you said, I should have just stayed put and done nothing. It would have been easier if I had just done that. But to you, I could no longer...Keuk!”

”Shut that mouth… !”

She grabbed my neck with both hands.Then, shaking her head, she muttered.

”Stop doing lip service, I don’t believe you anymore! You filthy hypocrite b*stard!”

She fumbled and put her hands on her neck.Around her neck still hung the necklace I gave her, which can also be used as a dagger.As she tried to grab it reflexively, she seemed to have remembered about the necklace as well.

”Kritt… !” She gritted her teeth, and eventually, blood streamed down from her lips.As she left the necklace behind, a dagger came out of her sleeve.

”Then, as you say, pay me.”

Give me your head for the price of playing with me.With those words, the dagger she was holding came to my neck.

It was then.

”Ugh!?”

With a pained groan, Jin Ye-Seul bounced backward.As I wondered what was going on, I saw that Henir’s shadow and a branch of the World Tree had appeared threateningly. I knew right away what had happened.Ignoring my command to remain still, they moved to protect me.And Jin Ye-Seul, who couldn’t have known such a situation, was glaring at me.

”… yes, of course.”

She muttered quietly.Every time she spoke, blood flowed from her mouth.

”You dirty cowardly bast*rd. I can see why you’ve been holding your breath until now. You are revealing the truth now because you think I can’t kill you anymore? Because I can’t hurt you anymore.”

Her words flew like a dagger and embedded themselves in my mind.Even if she thought so, I had nothing to say even with ten mouths now.

”Huu… .” How the hell did things get so twisted?I slowly got up, thinking that I had really twisted things up with her since our first meeting.

This isn’t anyone’s fault, it’s my fault.So, as it was something I started, I had to clean up.

”No matter what I say, I will sound just like a hypocrite to you… .”

”If you know, shut that mouth.” ”I will keep the promise I made to you.”

I slowly laid out what I had been thinking from the beginning.

”The promise I made to you, the clues to the rest of the Shadow Walker’s legacy, I will tell you all.”

At those words, the tip of the dagger in Jin Ye-Seul’s hand shook slightly.She looked at me with a constant wary look, as if she was trying to understand my true intentions.If it was her now, she would know. I had left everything wide open so that she could read my mind and thoughts, and if it were her, she would know well.The fact that I am not lying right now.

”I’ll keep my promise. The Shadow Walker’s legacy, it should go to you. They are all yours... .”

”I told you to shut up!”

Jin Ye-Seul shouted like that and grabbed the dagger tightly.

”I’ll kill you, dig into your brain and find out! Then I can vent my anger and get my legacy!”

”…… .”

”What, that expression…! You don’t think I can do it!?” With those words, Jin Ye-Seul rushed toward me.But the dagger she was holding was immediately broken in two by Henir’s shadow.Not a grain of my will was mixed in the result.

”This… !”

She continued to pull out blades hidden all over her body.However, they were always blocked by Henir’s shadow and the branches of the World Tree, and eventually, she just began to use her body to rush at me.

There is hardly anyone who is better than her in fighting skills.And such she was now punching a fist that seemed less threatening than a child punching.

”Why….”

And at one point, her movements stopped.With her head down, Jin Ye-Seul raised her fist and hit me in the chest.

”Why…!” She hit me in the chest one more time.

”Why, why the hell! Why, why is it you, not anyone else... !”

Jin Ye-Seul fell to her knees, muttering like that.She flopped down like a broken doll, and it was when I reflexively reached out my hand to her.

”Don’t touch me!”

I had no choice but to stop my action at her cry.She was still on her knees with her head down.

”I, I… .”

There was nothing I could do about her, who mumbled like that and collapsed. After a while.Jin Ye-Seul, who had silently bowed her head, got up.Her head was still down, and her flowing hair made it unable to see her expression.

”…yes, let’s do it.”

Jin Ye-Seul muttered quietly.

”I’m not stupid either. You wanted something from me, so you kept me by your side until now, right? And probably because of that, no matter what I did to you, you let it slide.”

She let out a small laugh.

”That’s just right. We use each other because we want something. I like it the most.”

What the hell can I say to her in this situation?It was just an excuse to say that I couldn’t remember, that my head was clogged up by something.Whatever it was, it didn’t change the fact that I had deceived her with my own will and used her until now. ”Yes, let’s do as you want. As you, who deceived me until now, want.”

She muttered like that.

”If you help me get all the remaining legacy, I’ll give you what you want from me. That’s what you want, right? Huh? You must be worried right now, afraid that you won’t get what you want from me.”

Saying that, she turned around immediately, as if she didn’t want to hear my answer.And muttered as if to add.

”… and then we can just act like we didn’t exist to each other anymore. No, I’d rather disappear. After all, I don’t have to cling to the corner of that house or attend the academy anymore after I get all the legacy.”

She walked away from me step by step. ”Don’t say anything.”

She stopped for a moment on the way and muttered like that.

”… If you’re really, as you say, sorry to me, don’t say anything now.”

Please, I beg of you.

”Don’t make me any more miserable… .”

With the words she uttered sobbingly, she opened the door of the training room and walked out.While watching that figure, I involuntarily reached to the foreign body sensation I could feel on my cheek.

The band-aid she had put on was halfway off.I slowly removed the band-aid.

A cutely drawn penguin was smiling on the surface of the band-aid.I carefully clenched my fist. * * * To young children, their parents are like gods.However, Jin Ye-Seul was a little different.Since childhood, God to her was not her parents, but Shadow Walker.

And at one point, the object of her faith changed from Shadow Walker to Yoo Ji-Hyuk, who claimed to be their descendant.He was the object of her faith, and from the moment she felt a thrill from his appearance, she came to believe in Yoo Ji-Hyuk more than any prophet or god of any religion in the world.From that day on, Jin Ye-Seul’s god was none other than Yoo Ji-Hyuk.

And before she knew it, she found herself following him. She never regretted it, never questioned it.She could feel herself being filled, she felt alive.

So.

So, for the first time in her life, she truly realized it from the bottom of her heart.The gaze that everyone who had seen her ideals from her childhood showed her.She was finally able to admit that what everyone in the world had been taunting, whispering, and screaming at her for years was true.

She would always be alone and would never be understood.

For the first time, she had to admit it.It was a fact she realized by a being who was none other than her God.

It was so sad that she couldn’t stand it. * * * ”What is this… .”

Returning to the dormitory late at night, I couldn’t help but mumble as I looked at the messy table.There was a flood around the tank, and the tank, which had been diligently managed and decorated inwardly was transformed into a ruin.

”……!!!”

And as soon as Laune, who was waiting outside of the tank, found me, he immediately came running.As I bent down to accept him, Laune looked at me sadly and shook his roots.

”What, what’s wrong with your body?” ”~~~~!!!”

The leaves, which were always fresh and coveted, were torn and ragged.Not only that, but the glossy roots were also scarred here and there.

Laune pointed to the tank with his roots as if saying, look at that.There was the fish that was newly brought in not too long ago.

”… Could it be because of him?”

”……!”

Laune nodded at my words.Could it be that he was pushed out of the territorial battle?

”Ha.” They said it’s a symbol of friendship and trust.When I looked at the fish, I couldn’t help but laugh.No, maybe that’s why the current chaotic situation exists.

In the pocket, the band-aid that Jin Ye-Seul had put on me was making a rustling sound.