Episode 97

Before returning, when I attended Oblige Academy, I asked Pyo Soo-ho.

-Why are you rushing so far?

I wondered why he kept on challenging without giving up even though he lost every time.

-Because I am the sword master’s son.

-… Then there’s no reason to jump on it, right? Can you live comfortably?

If you are the son of the sword master, you will be able to live without suffering. I couldn’t figure out why it was running so far.

At my question, Pyo Soo-ho smiled bitterly.

It was only after some time had passed that I could hear the answer.

-I wanted to prove that my father’s choice was right.

-select?

-yes. Actually, I’m an adopted child.

It was revealed to the public that Pyo Ji-hoon disappeared after the Ubermensch incident, but I heard the story from Pyo Su-ho himself.

-… Wasn’t it a secret? why me

Until then, no one would have known about it. I couldn’t figure out why he revealed his secret to me.

Pyo Soo-ho replied with a playful smile.

– You have no friends.

I thought it was a joke, but it wasn’t a very funny joke.

The more I looked, the more flustered he was.

-no no. What would I be if I reacted like that?

-It’s true, so it doesn’t matter.

It seems that Pyo Soo-ho was satisfied with that answer.

-Anyway, that was a joke, and it’s because you’re comfortable with it.

– Is it comfortable?

At the time, I was the one who didn’t put any effort into friendships. Everyone thought it was uncomfortable, but Pyo Soo-ho was the first to say it was comfortable.

– Our academy is prestigious. That’s why the kids who go here can’t just be friends.

Pyo Soo-ho frowned and let out a sigh.

-It seems like a friend, but in fact, it’s a relationship that can’t be purely called a friend. It’s me, thanks to my father, I don’t notice or anything, but I pay attention to every word or gesture.

-Are you saying that you don’t have to do that in front of me?

-yes. I have a strong desire to win against you, but it is also a time for me to enjoy a break.

– You live a tiring life.

It was an incomprehensible situation for me. I didn’t even try to understand.

-In that sense, I think you are my real ‘friend’.

Pyo Soo-ho was an honest guy.

A relationship that can be treated as the same person to person, where you can stick with your skills without any interests.

It seemed that I was the only one in this academy.

-I don’t intend to be friends with anyone.

But I didn’t consider Pyo Soo-ho a friend. My goal was always revenge and hunting down villains.

The relationship of friends is of course a hindrance to that goal, and even if they become friends, that could be my weakness.

Of course, I couldn’t tell Pyo Soo-ho why.

– It seemed so.

Pyo Soo-ho was not disappointed with my answer. Rather, he smiled as if he had expected it.

– But that won’t give me a reason to change my mind.

– It’s arbitrary.

-I told you. That’s why I think of you as a friend. Someday you’ll think of me as a friend too.

At the time, I thought maybe it could be what he said. After I get my revenge, wouldn’t it be possible to be friends with Pyo Soo-ho?

However, the terror of the Overmensch on Crown Island erased even that future.

He proudly announced that he would become a hostage in front of everyone, but he showed a different side in front of me.

– Will this be the last?

Pyo Soo-ho tried to pretend to be calm, but he was trembling. No matter how much we look forward to it, we haven’t become adults yet.

-You don’t have to step out. If you hold out until the rescue team arrives…

– No, no. In the meantime, there will be victims. If I don’t step out…

Pyo Soo-ho was carrying the burden as the ‘Son of the Sword Master’.

-Thank you so far.

I couldn’t share the burden. Because I didn’t have the strength back then.

* * *

Kang Tae-min waited for Pyo Soo-ho’s answer.

‘I should have remained conscious.’

It is impossible for him alone to solve the encroachment of the devil. Only when the consciousness of the Pyo Suho is alive can the initiative be regained.

“I played tricks on the subject of the sacrifice… .”

However, instead of Pyo Soo-ho’s answer, the devil’s sarcasm returned. He scanned Kang Tae-min up and down with his shiny eyes.

“Just this much… .”

The devil couldn’t speak.

The arm fell off along with a slap and dripping blood.

“what… !?”

“Pyo Soo-ho, answer me.”

Kang Tae-min ignored the devil and called Pyo Soo-ho again. He could have shattered that body in an instant, but he didn’t.

He retrieved the bloody wire and waited for an answer.

‘I didn’t even see it… ?’

The devil was perplexed.

No matter how imperfect the possession is, the demon’s physical ability is not that weak.

The demon, whose face was contorted in excruciating pain, hurriedly attached his fallen arm to the affected area.

‘Damn it… .’

It was cut cleanly and was easy to play. However, that was also Kang Tae-min’s intention.

It was because he had to shake the demon with constant pain.

“Ahh… !”

The demon also tried to fight back, but it was a wrong decision. A sharp metal blade trampled on him and his whole body was covered with scars.

‘I have to get out of here…’ !’

The devil eventually changed his strategy.

Even though it is a subspace, it is not infinite. If you went outside, you could tear open the space and go back.

But that too was a mistake.

‘How far… ?!’

The size of the subspace is proportional to the owner’s mana amount. But no matter how much I ran in one direction, I couldn’t see the end.

Considering the speed of movement, the scale was far too large.

‘This, this is the amount of mana a human can have?’

The devil gradually realized the reality.

Kang Tae-min did not call Pyo Soo-ho any more. As if he only wanted pain, he repeatedly attacked and released the demon.

“Ouch… !”

In the end, it was the devil who got tired first. From his mouth, where his limbs were severed again and rolled on the floor.

“Teacher… !”

The voice of the Pyosuho was heard. The demon’s control, shaken by pain, broke through and his consciousness came out to the surface.

“Live… please… .”

Words that would not have come out if it was the usual Pyosuho, but this was Pyosuho’s subconscious.

It was for this reason that Kang Tae-min faced the devil in the form of an iron man. The target possessed by the demon did not retain the memory of the time of possession.

‘Students are still students.’

Kang Tae-min knew the Pyo Soo-ho of the past and the Pyo Soo-ho of the present.

It was the look of a child pretending to be strong to be recognized by his father.

That earnest voice soon disappeared. for the devil hastened to bury the ritual.

However, Taemin Kang listened carefully.

He adjusted the wire and bound the demon’s body.

“Ouch… ! sleep, wait… !”

The wire loaded with the aura pierced his body and squeezed dark red blood. The demon hastily shouted.

“Does it matter if the owner of this body dies!? I beg you to save me a little while ago… .”

“I can’t let you live with me. I’d rather die.”

When Kang Tae-min brainwashed himself, the devil felt it.

‘This, this is not human… !’

He was completely different from the people he had dealt with before. It was ruthless, as if not a single drop of blood would spill out.

Eventually, the devil resorted to a last resort.

“I get it. No contract, no contract! I’ll just go back, so leave me alone!”

At those words, the wire that was constricted stopped. Kang Tae-min put his foot on the body of the fallen demon.

“Will you just go back?”

“That, yes… ! did you say You don’t want to live with me. I’m going back to the demon realm, so get me out of here!”

“… Okay, let’s make a contract.”

The devil’s contract is not an ordinary contract. Since it is a contract with the soul as collateral, both sides have no choice but to comply.

The devil hastily drew up a contract. The blood he shed floated and was replaced with letters.

“Fulfill it.”

Kang Tae-min confirmed the content and affirmed it. Since the soul was pledged, there was no need for a separate signature.

When he opened the subspace, the demon immediately released its possession.

‘Foolish… ! I’ll definitely take it away next time.’

A more sensible person would have added clauses such as never causing harm again.

However, Kang Tae-min did not.

The moment when the devil, who has returned to his soul state, leaves the subspace.

“The contract was performed.”

Kang Tae-min immediately used the power of Blood Si-ok. The demon was taken aback by the strong attraction he felt.

‘What… no way?’

The devil wasn’t the only one trying to exploit the loophole in the contract.

Kang Tae-min said that he would open the sub-space, but he did not say that he would save them.

‘My soul… scatter… !’

The demon let out a scream that no one could hear and was replaced with mana.

Kang Tae-min closed the sub-space again and looked back at the fallen Pyo Soo-ho.

“… This is a problem from now on.”

Since the possession was released, the mutation stopped. However, the already mutated body remained the same.

The half-man, half-horse appearance, film wings and sprouting horns were intact, and the wounds were regenerating.

However, Pyo Soo-ho would not have wanted such an appearance.

‘He’s the guy who always cared about other people’s eyes.’

It was difficult in this condition.

First of all, I had to find out why the Pyosuho became like this.

‘I’ll have to go find Pyo Ji-hoon first.’

If a student had a problem, he had to find the parent.

* * *

Pyo Ji-hoon couldn’t close his open mouth. It was surprising enough that Kang Tae-min had an artifact that could open a sub-space.

“Suho, Suho… !”

The sight of his half-human, half-horse son was astonishing. It was fortunate that the limb had recovered.

“This, what the heck… !?”

Pyo Ji-hun also knew about the demons. It was because he had experience dealing with demons while attacking various gates.

Kang Tae-min explained the circumstances. He didn’t know much either, so the explanation wasn’t long.

“… So I ask you, did Suho ever make a contract with the devil?”

“what! It can’t be! Why is my son with the devil… .”

Pyo Ji-hoon denied it in an excited voice, then closed his mouth.

‘Why? Isn’t that a lie?’

Kang Tae-min was checking the karma log to gauge the authenticity of his words.

“No, no, no way… .”

“What is it? Any guesses?”

Pyo Ji-hoon’s eyes shook violently. He looked at his fainting son’s face and opened his mouth in a sorrowful voice.

“Suho, not Suho.”

“… What is ‘Suho’?”

“I made a contract with the devil… .”

Pyo Ji-hoon’s shoulders trembled.

“Me and Johanna.”

“… I beg your pardon?”

Did Johanna make a contract with the devil as well as Pyo Ji-hoon?

Kang Tae-min’s eyes narrowed.

“I will call Johanna. If it’s her, there must be a way. The explanation… I’ll give it to you after that.”

Kang Tae-min pondered for a while before opening a sub-space. After a while, Pyo Ji-hoon returned after the phone call.

Pyo Ji-hoon, exhausted in that moment, slowly opened his mouth.

“Suho… This is a child born as a result of an experiment by ‘Seed’.”

Kang Tae-min already knew, but when he became the 6th strongest man, he was able to hear from Bae Seung-ju again about the past and experiments of the Übermensch.

Pyo Ji-hoon knew this too.

“Couldn’t it be that the clinical trial wasn’t the first time the courtier’s fiancée did it?”

Kang Tae-min’s eyes sharpened.

“No, no. It was the first experiment conducted on ‘humans’.”

As confirmed by the karma log, fortunately, Pyo Ji-hoon’s words were true.

“… human?”

But it was a strange word.

Isn’t that an answer as if he doesn’t regard the leopard as a human being?

Pyo Ji-hoon closed his eyes tightly and opened his mouth as if he had made up his mind.

“Johanna and I needed to know if the seeds were working. But it couldn’t target people. I didn’t know what side effects it would have.”

Are there any actual side effects?

Pyo Ji-hoon continued with a distressed face.

“So we decided to obtain a body without a soul.”

Pyo Ji-hoon and Johanna needed a safe test subject, not a ‘human’.

A more ethical subject than a lab rat because it has no soul and can be easily dealt with if side effects occur.

“… Through a pact with the devil?”

“Yes… And Suho was born by injecting seeds into that body.”

And the experiment was a success.

With the prototype of Cid settled in the body, Pyo Soo-ho became conscious.

“… Are you saying you created a soul now?”

Pyo Soo-ho was not just an adopted child. It was an ‘artificial soul’ created through the research of Johanna and Pyo Ji-hoon.

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