The secondary control room of the artificial dungeon where the second midterm exam was taking place.
There, ten teachers were gathered, watching the exam being broadcast live.
Each starting point was being filmed on split monitor screens, allowing them to see what each student was doing.
“The dungeon is really well made.”
“Right? I took a quick look inside yesterday, and they did a great job implementing the stages creatively.”
“Now I get why everyone’s trying to scout Teacher Chris away. Haha.”
At that moment, Lee Hee-young scanned the screens and said,
“By the way, does anyone know where Student Sunwoo is?”
Kim Sunwoo was the leading candidate for first place in this exam.
Normally, Lee Seo-jun would be considered the favourite, but since Kim Sunwoo had been consistently taking first place in these strategy exams lately, everyone was looking for him.
“I was looking for Kim Sunwoo too.”
“As expected of the top candidate. But with so many screens, it’s hard to find him.”
“If you’re looking for Sunwoo, he’s there, three panels to the right, sixth row.”
“Oh? You’re right.”
Lee Hee-young looked at the screen showing Kim Sunwoo.
He was sprinting forward urgently.
Judging by the footage, he had already cleared three stages.
“Wow. As expected of Kim Sunwoo. He’s already at the fourth stage. This is just overwhelming.”
The teachers chatted leisurely, enjoying the exam while exchanging idle talk.
Just as they were doing so, one teacher’s face turned pale.
“Uh, uh?”
“What’s wrong, teacher?”
“Look, look at Kim Hye-chan’s screen!”
The teacher pointed at a monitor.
The other teachers followed the direction of his finger with their eyes.
“……Huh?”
The other teachers also wore stunned expressions.
A shocking scene was being broadcast on the monitor.
Sticky blood covering his hands.
In short, Kim Hye-chan from Class B had killed a person.
“……What is this? Did I see that wrong?”
“N-no. I saw it clearly too.”
On the monitor, Kim Hye-chan, expressionless, kept walking, then soon disappeared into the darkness.
And the teachers were shocked again as they watched.
The technique Kim Hye-chan just used.
It was “Darkening,” a skill only high-grade demons could use.
“……A-a demon?”
One teacher shouted in a trembling voice.
“What’s going on? If he can use Darkening, he must be a pretty high-ranking demon…….”
“Stop the exam immediately!”
Lee Hee-young shouted loudly.
One teacher quickly ran to the dungeon control device in front of the monitors.
“Emergency! Attention all students! A high-ranking demon above A-grade has infiltrated the dungeon disguised as a student! The demon is ‘Kim Hye-chan of Class B’! All students, stop the exam immediately and either flee or hide! I repeat—!”
Just then.
Beeeep!
The lights in the secondary control room went out.
The monitors showing the students went dark as well.
“Huh? W-what’s happening?”
The teacher hurriedly checked the control room’s mana supply device.
For some reason, all mana and power supply had been cut off.
A look of shock spread across the teacher’s face.
“W-where’s Teacher Chris?”
The person responsible for this exam.
They had to find Chris.
“He’s in the main control room!”
“Let’s move quickly!”
The teachers rushed toward the main control room.
Just then, a strong barrier unfolded, blocking their path.
“A barrier?”
“I’ll try to dismantle it.”
Assistant teacher Kim Yunjin stepped forward.
“Look! The barrier’s not the only problem. The entrance is sealed too!”
Another teacher pointed beyond the barrier at the entrance.
A special wall, not seen before, now blocked the way into the main control room.
“……Mana alloy?”
This wasn’t an emergency block.
It had been designed that way from the beginning.
The mana alloy surface was proof.
“C-could Teacher Chris also be a demon?”
At that moment, the teachers recalled the demon attack during the first semester’s midterms.
Could it be happening again?
“The dungeon entrance portal is gone too!”
A teacher who had gone to check shouted from a distance.
Jang Ancheol stood with a grim face and shouted loudly,
“Request immediate support from the Association!”
Meanwhile, Chris—no, Jung Hyun—was nervously observing the situation inside the main control room.
The plan had gone badly awry.
It was supposed to take twenty minutes to completely seal the entrance and take over the secondary control room’s authority, but Won Hyuk had gone ahead and killed a student without waiting.
Because of that, the students inside the dungeon had become aware of the demon through the teachers’ emergency broadcast.
“Tch.”
Won Hyuk, that stubborn old man.
He was always unpredictable, and now he had finally messed up.
Luckily, Jung Hyun had succeeded in taking over the control room just in time.
Had he been even a little late, the entire plan would have collapsed.
“Let’s see.”
Jung Hyun watched the exam situation through the monitor.
Upon hearing the broadcast about the demon infiltration, the students stood frozen on the spot, faces full of panic.
Some had already hidden themselves in small spaces, their faces filled with fear.
“Tch.”
If the students hid like that, the extermination operation couldn’t be carried out properly.
It might take a considerable amount of time to kill all of them.
“I guess I’ll have to step in myself.”
Jung Hyun shut down all the cameras inside the exam area.
Then he stepped into the emergency dungeon portal secretly installed inside the main control room.
Thirty minutes after the start of the exam.
Thanks to quickly clearing the stages, I had reached the fifth stage.
Checking the map on the smart student notebook, I saw the first merge point with other students was just ahead.
“Phew.”
I had to hurry to the merge point to prevent more casualties.
The fortunate thing was that, just like the original story, the broadcast had announced the demon infiltration.
Thanks to that, students would stay alert, and there would be fewer cases of them getting caught easily.
They would probably be hiding quietly somewhere, desperate to survive.
I threw open the stage door.
The fifth stage was a small room.
In the center stood a suspicious-looking treasure chest.
Looking through the outsider’s privilege, I could see a faint light inside the chest.
It wasn’t an ordinary treasure chest.
A trap monster, a mimic.
“Too obvious.”
Even if I tried to ignore it, a special trap would likely activate.
So the right answer was to deal with it before trouble started.
Of course, defeating it would trigger another trap immediately, but it would be less dangerous.
Without hesitation, I manifested my magic and attacked the mimic.
KWAANG!
-Kiiieeek!
The mimic screamed and rolled across the floor.
Soon, purple mist began to rise from the cracks of the chest.
Sssss…
Just as expected, another trap activated after defeating the mimic.
Paralyzing poison mist.
[Adaptive Trait, ‘Paralysis Poison Resistance’, is activating!]
However, I had an adaptive trait.
Even though I inhaled the mist, I didn’t feel any particular abnormality in my body.
In the first place, the toxicity of the poisonous mist itself was relatively weak.
I quickly ignored the poisonous mist and injected mana into the door leading to the next room.
With a flash, the door opened.
“Phew.”
Easy.
I let out a breath and looked around inside the 5th stage, the ‘first merger point.’
It was a fairly spacious room with several doors.
Most likely, beyond those doors, other students were either clearing stages or hiding.
And behind at least one of those doors, a demon must be hiding.
Which door could the demon be behind?
[Magic Item: Demon Detection Compass (???)]
I took out the ‘Demon Detection Compass’ I had purchased in advance from my coat.
It was a disposable item worth a whopping 10,000 points, but there was nothing more efficient for finding demons.
I checked the compass.
The needle shook violently for a moment and then pointed firmly in one direction.
“There.”
I turned my gaze toward the tightly closed door.
Even I didn’t know what kind of demon was hiding beyond that door.
If it was Won Hyuk, it would be advantageous since I could pinpoint his location.
If it was another demon, I could personally eliminate them to reduce the damage.
“…Yoon Hayoung should be fine, right?”
Yoon Hayoung suddenly crossed my mind.
Today, I had already arranged a meeting place with her in advance.
The reason was simple.
To defeat Won Hyuk, the S-rank demon, the power of demon eradication she possessed was absolutely necessary.
“She’ll be fine.”
The location I hinted to Yoon Hayoung was quite far from where the demons would likely reach.
Given that the demons would be too busy dealing with the hidden students rather than stage clearing, the chance of them reaching her was low.
“Well then, let’s go.”
I walked toward the door indicated by the compass.
As I injected mana, the door clicked open with a heavy sound.
Meanwhile.
B-rank demon Baek Young was wandering the dungeon, searching for hidden humans.
After the broadcast announced the demon infiltration, the students had all gone into hiding.
Originally, he was supposed to encounter students during the stage clearing process, but with everyone hiding, the plan was proceeding unbearably slowly.
“Tch. What a pain.”
Baek Young grumbled.
As he roamed through the dungeon maze, he sensed a presence.
“…A human.”
Baek Young flashed a cruel smile.
Until now, he had only managed to kill one human.
Considering there were about 150 students inside the dungeon, his pace was far too slow.
“Heh.”
Time to claim a second victim.
Baek Young walked toward the presence.
As he continued walking, he spotted a female student with long black hair and a pure appearance from a distance.
The girl noticed Baek Young as well and stopped, sending him a cold, wary gaze.
Baek Young, upon seeing her, greeted her first in a friendly tone.
“Wow. Fancy meeting you here. You heard the news too, right? About a demon infiltrating?”
The female student frowned at his words, her wariness deepening.
‘She looks familiar.’
Baek Young stared intently at her face until he realized who she was.
She was Yoo Ara, ranked second among the second-years, and listed as a key watch target by Jung Hyun.
No wonder she stood there so confidently unlike the other students.
However, Yoo Ara was known to be a rather tricky opponent.
He had heard she had around B-rank abilities, meaning she wasn’t much different from himself.
Therefore, he needed to make her lower her guard.
First, he needed to close the distance.
After all, Yoo Ara was a manifestation-type mage.
Baek Young smiled again and took a step closer.
At that moment, Yoo Ara conjured a fire orb and launched it at Baek Young’s feet.
Boom—!
“Wah! Hey! What are you doing?! That’s dangerous!”
“You’re the one doing something dangerous.”
“What?”
“Why would you approach me without even knowing if I’m a demon or not?”
“What are you talking about? Didn’t you hear the broadcast? It said Kim Hye-chan was the demon. It’s not me.”
Baek Young forced a smile and continued.
“Oh, you must not know what Kim Hye-chan looks like? That could be…”
Before he could finish, another explosion erupted at his feet.
Boom—!
“Hey! Seriously?!”
Baek Young shouted in anger.
Yoo Ara remained expressionless, staring at him coldly.
“Are you stupid? There’s no way only one demon would have infiltrated. Didn’t you see the failed terror attempt in the first semester?”
Her dismissive, mocking tone started to get on Baek Young’s nerves.
“Alright, alright. So stop throwing magic at me.”
At those words, Yoo Ara conjured another fire orb.
“Then don’t come closer. You look suspicious.”
What a headache.
Yoo Ara’s wariness was deeper than he thought, making it hard to approach.
He couldn’t just rush at her either.
If it had been any other student, he would’ve ignored the fire orb and charged, but the magical power contained in Yoo Ara’s magic was too powerful to underestimate.
Besides, the hallway was narrow.
If she attacked seriously, it would be truly dangerous.
“Tch.”
She didn’t seem like she would lower her guard.
Should he just attack first?
Baek Young made up his mind.
Just as he was about to strengthen his body with mana—
Suddenly, he sensed a powerful surge of mana from somewhere.
Startled, Baek Young looked toward the source.
Something dazzling flashed and shot straight at his head.
And then—
Boom—!
With a massive roar, Baek Young’s head exploded.
“…Huh?”
Yoo Ara was stunned by the sudden situation.
She hurriedly turned around and saw a familiar face approaching.
“…Kim Sunwoo?”
“Hey. What’s up.”
“What the hell? Are you crazy? What if he wasn’t a demon?! You just killed him!”
Yoo Ara shouted in panic.
Kim Sunwoo shrugged calmly and pointed at Baek Young’s corpse.
“Look.”
Following his finger, Yoo Ara stared at the body.
The floor was soaked in black blood.
“…A demon?”
She muttered in shock.
Then she sharply turned her gaze back to Kim Sunwoo.
“How did you know he was a demon?”
“How did I know? Come on, didn’t he look suspicious?”
At Kim Sunwoo’s nonchalant reply, Yoo Ara felt utterly dumbfounded.
He killed someone just because they looked suspicious?
“…Well, one down.”
Kim Sunwoo quietly muttered to himself.
Yoo Ara stared intently at him, unable to understand what had just happened.
Kim Sunwoo glanced briefly at her eyes, then turned away.
“Anyway, I’m off. Don’t wander around. Just stay put. It’s dangerous here.”
“What?”
Kim Sunwoo walked off somewhere.
Yoo Ara shouted after his retreating figure.
“Hey! Where are you going?!”
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