Me:
Father, I think I'll be coming home on the 24th.
Bastard:
So, you didn't come during summer vacation? That's unexpected.
Me:
Something significant seemed to change with my ability during summer vacation, so I stayed to consult with the professors.
Bastard:
If that was the case, why didn't you contact me sooner? Let's talk when you get home.
Me:
Yes, I'll come home on the 24th.
Bastard:
Good. I'll have a driver waiting for you at Yongsan Station.
Me:
Yes, thank you.
Whoosh!
The phone, tossed weakly, landed perfectly on the bed.
"...I'm still uneasy."
Yun Seong-ho.
After Yun Se-a's rampage, I read the documents she left behind and her pre-written will. This led me to the Underground Laboratory Dungeon, where I could encounter the Boss.
In Phase 1, she possessed physical abilities comparable to an ordinary person. However, she constantly summoned Enhanced Humans and grotesque human-Demonic Beast hybrids, forcing me to land swift, effective strikes.
Then came the line: "I was able to conduct drug experiments using you," signaling the start of the problematic Phase 2.
At that moment, Yun Seong-ho, having used me as a test subject, consumed an extreme Physical Enhancement Potion. This granted him power sufficient to instantly overwhelm the protagonist's party.
His stats back then... I think only his Sacred Power was F-rank, while everything else was A+ or higher?
For a late-game boss, Yun Seong-ho's stats were unremarkable. The real problem arose about a minute after he consumed the potion.
As a side effect of the potion, grotesque growths began sprouting from Yun Seong-ho's back, transforming him into an Ultra-Hazard Monster boasting an S-Rank or higher threat level. He then ambushed the protagonist's party.
Having previously faced only B+ level enemies in their school-based episodes, the sudden escalation to an S-Rank threat outside the school gates proved immensely challenging.
I think the Yun Se-a battle was a good example of the power of an S-Rank threat.
Yun Se-a hadn't undergone Demonization like Yun Seong-ho, and she hadn't fought at full strength, resisting to the very end. This made her easier to defeat than Yun Seong-ho. Yet, her eventual classification was S-Rank.
If Yun Se-a had unleashed her full power, she would have posed a threat capable of devastating an entire nation.
As the first major boss monster players encounter outside the Academy, Yun Seong-ho represents a significant leap in difficulty compared to enemies within the Academy. There are only two ways to stop him early on:
1. Steal or destroy the Physical Enhancement Potion before he uses it.2. Overwhelm him with damage before he can consume the potion.
Personally, the first method was the standard approach.
The second method—overwhelming Yun Seong-ho with damage before he could use the potion—was only viable for players who had been spending real money to enhance their characters from the very beginning of the game.
Alternatively, I could have used Story Mode, also known as Super Coward Mode, which reduces the health of all bosses, including Yun Seong-ho, by 70% and their damage output by about 40%. This would have allowed me to quickly defeat them and move on.
Without knowing the difficulty of this world, it's best to eliminate variables quickly.
With that, I returned to my family's estate and began plotting my strategy to kill Yun Seong-ho. But for some reason, someone kept sticking close to me.
"What are you scheming?"
A red-haired girl with short hair kept hovering beside me.
She was a senior who would later join the protagonist's party, boasting impressive stats that would make her a reliable frontline fighter well into the late stages of the story.
"Miss Ayul, where did you inherit such a suspicious nature?"
"No, you always seem to be hiding something. But today you're even more suspicious."
The room right next to mine is where Kang A-yul is staying, and I didn't know he was staying at the Academy even during the vacation...!
"Hmm... Miss Ayul, aren't you going to see the Sword Saint?"
"Grandfather? He just pesters me when I visit. Why would I bother going there?"
...
That's right, this is how their relationship always was.
It's been so long since I focused on Kang A-yul as the main heroine and advanced the story that I'd forgotten.
I should add a note about this later.
Slide
As I picked up my fully packed bag and headed for the door, Kang A-yul still clung to my arm, gazing at me as if he had something to say.
"...Don't."
"Don't what?"
"I don't know exactly, but... I have this instinctive feeling—no, a conviction—that it will linger in your heart for a long time, and painfully so."
Is this like the Swordsman's Intuition?
With that strange intuition, he must have guided the protagonist to the Hidden Piece and warned him of dangers in advance.
But none of that mattered.
Immediately after seeing the Quest Window that promised I could return home by defeating the Final Boss, I had even hypnotized myself in front of a mirror, preparing for the moment my resolve might waver.
I vowed to rewrite this world's ending into a happy one, and then proudly use my Wish Voucher to return home.
"And I know that doing so... will get my hands very dirty."
The path I'm walking isn't the well-maintained marble road the protagonist's party is destined to tread.
It's a path through mountains of corpses, reeking of decay and blood, where each step means trampling over bodies and splattering my clothes with foul flesh, staining them in an instant.
That's the path I must take to clear the story quickly.
"I appreciate the advice."
With that, my encounter with Kang A-yul ended. Without hesitation, I boarded the Academy shuttle bound for Yongsan Station.
"The next stop is Yongsan Station. The doors will open on the right..."
"We've arrived."
After about an hour, I spotted a black sedan waiting for me at Yongsan Station.
Vroom
"Congratulations, Young Lady. You've earned the Chairman's recognition."
"Thank you."
The driver, who exchanged words with me calmly while gripping the steering wheel, was the researcher who had implanted a monster's body part into my arm years ago.
He probably thinks I remember nothing.
He was likely Yun Seong-ho's personal driver. To treat someone so generously who knew the results of all the experiments conducted on me...
He must have been bought off with a carrot.
There must have been attempts to quit the experiments or expose them to the media after realizing the inhumane truth.
But the fact that all those attempts failed meant...
They had either been ensnared by Yun Seong-ho's traps or hunted down by his blade.
That was why the public remained completely unaware of my human experimentation until Yun Seong-ho himself revealed the truth.
Even Yun Seong-ho's wife—my own mother—remained ignorant of this fact.
She probably just sees me as an inferior child.
Even now, she's likely still desperately trying to bring back her runaway daughter, Lee Seol-hwa.
She even changed her surname to Lee when she left. I doubt she'll ever return.
Screech
"We've arrived, Young Lady."
"Thank you."
As soon as I heard we'd reached our destination, I murmured, "You know what you have to do tonight, right?"
"......Of course. After reporting the issue with the Young Lady's hypnosis, I will throw a bomb at the research team gathered in the laboratory and detonate myself. Is that correct?"
"Yes, exactly♪"
Only after hearing the hypnotized driver's response were we able to exit the car.
"I'm back... at my home."
We had finally arrived at Yun Se-a's family estate, a secret base-like compound hidden on an entire mountain she had purchased.
"I'm back, Father."
"Ah, how was school?"
Yun Seong-ho sat alone in the living room lobby, his gaze fixed on me as soon as I returned home.
His face was utterly repulsive, and I wanted to plunge the kitchen knife I'd hidden in my bag into him right then and there. But it was too soon.
I'd prepared the knife to be discovered anyway.
"You must be tired from school. Go to your room and rest."
"Yes, Father."
I bowed slightly, greeted him, and dragged my suitcase up to my room. The drab, black room welcomed me back.
...Ha, he really is thorough.
Elephant-shaped sculptures I had destroyed littered every corner of the room.
"Cluttering up the place. Get lost."
Crack...!!
With a casual flick of my wrist, the Hypnosis Device hidden inside one of the elephant sculptures instantly crumpled.
As expected, there's one here too.
Just how far are you planning to stoop, Yun Seong-ho?
After carelessly tossing my suitcase aside, I lay on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
"Operation launch time: tonight."
If there are no unforeseen variables, I can perfectly sever the neck of Yun Seong-ho, a major villain.
Just as I was thinking this and reaching for my smartphone to check various information...
"Huh? I deleted all the blocked messages..."
Blocked Call
[ Lee Seol-hwa ] 99+
Blocked Text
[ Lee Seol-hwa ] 99+
Lee Seol-hwa
Se-a, I heard from an Academy staff member I know—why did you go there? I told you so many times it was dangerous...
Lee Seol-hwa
Get out of there immediately! I don't know what that bastard is planning to do to you...
Lee Seol-hwa
No, it'd be faster if I went there myself to talk.
"...Huh?"
And with my short gasp of surprise,
"Young Lady Seol-hwa is entering!"
A woman who had no reason to visit this place had returned to the main residence with unwavering confidence.
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