The long spear and Gram lunged toward me.
It was chilling.
Even if they were fakes…
Their sharpness was real.
I hurled myself toward those menacing weapons.
[The Spiritual Eye detects malice.]
[The Spiritual Eye measures power.]
Red lines appeared in my vision.
Red dots followed shortly after.
The lines extended from the blades,
and the dots clustered at the spear tips.
Their meaning was clear.
They visualized the total sum of malice and power the enemy wielded—a tangible threat.
Slowly.
The blades moved along the pre-drawn lines,
and the spears followed the marked dots.
Shrrng! The cold sound of steel cutting through the air sent a chill down my spine.
Dodging this way and that, I made Gram and the long spear cleave nothing but empty space.
“What? H-How did you…? This-this-this can’t be happening!”
Ahn Eunho raged furiously.
He misunderstood.
I hadn’t dodged.
I simply wasn’t where their strikes landed. The results might seem the same, but the phenomenon was entirely different.
“Ahn Eunho! Even with all that gear, is this the best you can do? I could dodge this with my eyes closed!”
First things first—bluffing.
Ahn Eunho, now a misty figure, screamed and swung his sword and spear again.
Far more red lines and dots appeared than before.
A fierce assault.
But I could see it.
I could see the outcome.
I could see the trajectory!
Through the red lines and dots.
My body and Ahn Eunho’s crossed paths. I slowly turned to look behind me.
“W-Why! Why can’t I slice you apart?!”
The murky aura surrounding Ahn Eunho shuddered violently.
I did it!
I broke through his ferocious assault head-on.
“Whew… Now, it’s my turn, right?”
Taking advantage of the moment, I reached for the revolver dangling in midair.
- Lu~!~!!!
- Lu…!!
This was the Chamber of Sealed Spirits.
But those weapons weren’t the spirits. So where was the real one?
“They were bait.”
- Lu…!
Those countless treasures…
They were traps meant to divert attention from this revolver.
A cunning setup. Truly befitting a spiritual guardian.
[Lu… si…!]
[Lucy!]
The revolver’s speech remained awkward, as if its tongue was tied.
[The spirit’s seal has been released.]
[Lucy is… Lucy!]
[Lucy! Free!]
At least it could say its name now.
As I grabbed Lucy, dark sparks flickered.
“Gahhhh!”
The murky aura surrounding Ahn Eunho began to tremble.
It wavered as if terrified.
Holy energy purifies evil.
Light dispels darkness.
That’s the rule in all games.
But…
“Ahn Eunho. Don’t move. Hands up.”
[Lucy… don’t move!]
[Lucy… fail!]
You don’t need holiness to crush evil.
Sometimes, evil can be destroyed by an even greater evil.
“WKYYYYYYYYY!”
Ignoring my warning, Ahn Eunho charged in frenzy.
Countless trajectories appeared before me, leaving no room to dodge.
But this time, the situation was entirely different.
Because I didn’t need to dodge.
Blue flames ignited from the revolver.
If I were the protagonist of a western, I might have fired just one stylish shot.
But I unloaded every round without hesitation.
I wasn’t the protagonist.
I was a supporting character.
Crack, crack!
Every pull of the trigger shattered a red trajectory.
Gram, the long spear, Sun, and Pale Note.
Legendary treasures broke one by one.
Click!
The revolver’s cylinder spun, and when its hammer struck an empty chamber, every trajectory was shattered and scattered.
“Arghhhh! Aghhh! Aghhh!”
Even An Eunho’s reinforced body couldn’t withstand it anymore, and he collapsed.
The murky aura surrounding him condensed.
It clumped together like a mass of tar.
[To revive the legend…]
[This cannot be! One more chance!]
[This doesn’t align with my legacy!]
[Impossible! Something is wrong!]
The tar-like masses screamed.
“Hey. You guys aren’t the weapons of heroes.”
I spoke the truth.
The tar-like masses howled, denying it.
“You’ve always known, haven’t you?”
They had just pretended not to.
Deep down, they knew. Their obsession with the word authentic made that clear.
“You’re fakes.”
The tar masses trembled as if sobbing. A message appeared.
[1. Help them ascend.]
[2. Defeat them.]
“This feels like a mobile game.”
I remembered all the ads. And then I realized.
This was my first duty as the sole resource of the spiritual guardian.
“Of course, I’ll defeat you!”
No mercy.
I nearly died just now.
[Lucy… excited!]
[Lucy… smash!]
“Listen, you tar blobs. Across time and space, the best hero is the one who hits the hardest.”
Villains and heroes are separated by a thin line.
Some are praised in life and cursed in death.
And vice versa.
“A street robber with a spin can become a righteous outlaw. A rogue from the late Han dynasty can become a general with the right narrative.”
Plenty of scoundrels have been revered posthumously.
“Ultimately, it’s all about presentation. You’re like the unfiltered reality behind a heavily edited photo of heroes.”
Heroes slash down others. The weak.
These curses, these fakes, are born from that.
The blood and violence hidden behind grandeur.
They’re the curses born of necessity for greatness.
“You guys are… let’s see… the unpolished, unfiltered selfies of heroes revealed in offline meetups.”
Unedited truth can be terrifying.
But I’ve never used filters. Online or offline, I’m authentic.
“So stop clinging to legends and authenticity. Most heroes were scoundrels. And you’re scoundrels now.”
These tar blobs…
They’re closer to the true nature of scoundrel-turned-heroes.
Unfiltered, no-edit, selfie mode.
[Is… that so…?]
The tar blobs began to shrink, ready to vanish from this world.
“Phew, that was a thorough beating, wasn’t it?”
[Lucy… refreshing!]
[Lucy… satisfying!]
Even the revolver seemed content. A message appeared.
[1. You helped them ascend.]
[The fake relics promise a return.]
[The fakes embark on a long journey.]
[The fakes will remember this.]
“What?! Why are they ascending?”
I was startled. So was the revolver.
[We shall disperse. We will begin anew. Build ourselves up.]
[And next time…]
[We will return, rebuilt and stronger…]
Fsssss.
The tar condensed into a small bead. I carefully picked it up.
[Essence of False Intent]
[Type: Intent / Fake Legacy]
[Description: A spiritual essence left behind by those who yearned to be genuine. It contains powerful spiritual energy.]
The bead had no detailed description, but I could feel it.
The spiritual energy the fakes had was tightly condensed within.
“Lucy, look at this!”
A smile crept across my face from the unexpected loot. When I showed it to Lucy…
[Lucy… grateful!]
[Lucy… slurp!]
My smile vanished instantly.
The revolver tried to devour the essence like a vacuum cleaner.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
I glared at it.
The joy from earlier disappeared entirely.
I threw the essence-snatching revolver far away. It was light, so it flew a good distance.
While we’d worked together out of necessity earlier, casually tampering with my property was crossing the line.
But then…
In the next moment…
“…!”
The revolver I had thrown away—Lucy—was back in my hand.
“What the hell?”
I shouted as I stared at the revolver in my hand.
What on earth is going on here?
I definitely threw it away!
Once again, I hurled the revolver far away.
“Whew. This time, it’s definitely gone, right?”
Relief washed over me as I let out a sigh.
[Lucy… So fun!]
[Lucy… Again!]
…It wasn’t.
Lucy had quite literally returned as if time itself had been cut, landing squarely in my hand.
Cold sweat trickled down the back of my neck.
“This is creepy…!”
A revolver that comes back even when thrown away?
Utterly revolting!
“Let’s just think of it as a good thing.”
Anyone who recites this phrase frequently probably isn’t very happy.
“Sigh… Let’s just think of it as a good thing…”
Damn it.
I ended up saying it aloud.
For now, I headed toward the first-year main building to complete the mission.
“Quite a lot has happened, huh?”
First, I shot an intruder.
Then, I discovered something called <Doom Difficulty>.
And amidst it all…
An evil spirit latched onto me.
I tried every method I could think of to get rid of Lucy, but none of them worked. She absolutely refused to leave me.
[Lucy… Outing!]
[Lucy… Happy!]
Lucy seemed to be in high spirits, and it made sense after being tied down for so long. But… I couldn’t share her enthusiasm.
The last thing I needed was a clingy evil spirit in a good mood.
When I arrived at the main building with Lucy in tow, I spotted a few cadets scattered around.
Looks like they’re all heading to submit their weapons.
“They all look so confident.”
And rightly so.
The fact that they already secured their weapons means they’ve got something going for them—talent, connections, sharp instincts, or sheer luck.
Any one of these four is a huge advantage in growth.
This mission is essentially a second entrance exam, so there were quite a few onlookers as well.
Upperclassmen and faculty members were among the crowd.
When I walked toward the center of the field, the onlookers’ eyes turned toward me.
‘That’s him, isn’t it?’
‘Yeah, the one who got paired with a ghost.’
‘They say that specialization’s all gloomy. Doesn’t look like a ghost, though.’
As the peanut gallery murmured, Kim Heum-heum greeted me.
“Cadet Kim Seungtae, have you already secured your weapon?”
“Yes!”
“Ha ha! Well done! It pains me to see cadets fail because they couldn’t find weapon!”
Kim Hmm-Hmm laughed heartily as he observed me.
“So, where’s your weapon?”
Even though I was holding Lucy, Kim Heum-heum asked.
Understandable.
This type of firearm-based weaponisn’t well-regarded.
Most of them are support or emergency-use tools.
I held out the weaopn.
“This.”
“……!”
Kim Heum-heum stroked his chin, visibly troubled.
“Hold on. Cadet Kim, that weapon is…”
“Oh, wait a second, Instructor Heum-heum. From here, you’re going to try to dissuade me, and I’m going to insist. Isn’t that a bit predictable?”
“…Predictable, I admit.”
“And if I don’t listen, you’ll give me a warning, saying, ‘You won’t achieve greatness like this…!’ right?”
“…Exactly! That’s what I was going to say!”
Veteran instructor Kim Heum-heum nodded.
“Has anyone ever taken your advice before?”
“…Not really!”
“Then let’s just register it.”
I extended Lucy toward him.
Rather than persuading him, I ensured he wouldn’t persuade me.
“Fair enough…”
Kim Heum-heum conceded, scanning Lucy with a barcode-like device.
Beep.
“Alright, Cadet Kim Seungtae. The scanner confirms this weapon has been stored in the academy for several years. Lastly, remember that the choice and responsibility for this weapon are entirely yours.”
“Got it~”
“You can’t change your weapon for at least six months. You’ll have to use it until then. Do you agree?”
“Yes~”
“Alright. Cadet Kim Seungtae, approved.”
“Yay~”
[Lucy… Yay!]
[Lucy… No idea why!]
I was elated, and Lucy joined in, clueless but enthusiastic.
The onlookers alternated glances between Lucy and me with expressions of disbelief.
Think about it.
This is the Superhuman Academy.
Half the onlookers here could swat away a flying bullet.
The other half wouldn’t even need to—getting hit wouldn’t faze them.
In most fantasy settings, guns are at the bottom of the hierarchy, and isn’t much different.
“Looks like everyone’s gathered.”
I scanned the onlookers.
Han Taepyeong and Yoo Eunha watched me with half-concern, half-curiosity.
Shin Ohyul, on the other hand, couldn’t care less.
“Where is that guy?”
I couldn’t spot Marie Caulfield—probably sneaking a smoke somewhere.
There was no point in lingering. I knew who was using what armament anyway.
I had more important things to do.
I stopped in front of the first-year dormitory.
Five buildings connected in a pentagonal layout—this massive, extravagant structure served as the first-year dorm.
The inclusion of basic training facilities and amenities made it absurdly large. It didn’t even look like a dormitory.
“Phew.”
I gazed up at the top of the building. My next task was to sneak into the penthouse.
Now was my only chance.
While everyone else was busy watching the weapon selections, I’d slip in unnoticed.
Ding!
The elevator opened, and the security door to the penthouse greeted me.
Dormitory move-ins started today.
In other words, the default security code was still active.
I punched in the code.
ABC1234.
Click. The door unlocked.
Seriously?
I sighed at the academy’s lax security as I approached the window.
Through the floor-to-ceiling glass, the vast campus of the academy stretched out before me.
[Lucy… Yay!]
[Lucy… So high!]
[Landmark: Skyscraper (1/5) complete!]
[The view of the Superhuman Academy campus unfolds before you.]
[You are inspired. (1/5)]
Breaking and entering was worth it. As expected, I got an achievement from the original story.
Landmark achievements.
A system often used in games to show off the developers’ graphics work.
Using the passageways between buildings, I made my way to the next penthouse.
As the “1/5” indicated, I had to enjoy the view from every penthouse to claim the full reward.
[Landmark: Skyscraper (2/5) complete!]
True to the academy’s nature, penthouses were assigned based on entrance exam rankings.
Of course, both Shin Ohyul and Han Taepyeong would live here.
While getting caught by Han Taepyeong wouldn’t be too bad, Shin Ohyul would beat me senseless.
But this wasn’t Mission Impossible.
The plan was perfect, and time was on my side. Though the protagonists always say that too….
[Landmark: Skyscraper (3/5) complete!]
[Landmark: Skyscraper (4/5) complete!]
After quickly checking out the penthouses, I finally entered the last one, letting out a sigh of relief.
If I made it this far, I was safe.
No risks now.
This penthouse belonged to Han Taepyeong, someone lenient enough to let it slide even if I got caught. I could just make an excuse—like coming to clean.
Standing by the window, a message popped up.
[Landmark: Skyscraper (5/5) complete!]
[You are inspired.]
[Unique stat increased by 0.2.]
[Random stat increased by 0.2.]
[Spirit Energy 2.7 → 2.9]
[Luck 2.3 → 2.5]
“Yes!”
As a spiritualist, my unique stat was , a peculiar attribute.
The increase in <Luck>, though… That felt like true luck.
“Feeling good, huh?”
From the second-floor railing of the penthouse, someone spoke.
The acrid smell of cigarette smoke tickled my nose.
(To be continued)
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