The Demon Lord of the Swordsmanship Family Episode 29
Optimum Headquarters.
After a long time, Kim Yeon-hee and Park Min-ji, mother and daughter, were enjoying tea together.
“The fragrance is good.”
“Really? I’ll make sure to bring you some of the new batch of beans I just got. Do you have a machine?”
“Yeah, I’ll drink it well.”
Someone once said that the relationship between a mother and daughter becomes like friends as they grow older.
That was exactly how it was with Kim Yeon-hee and Park Min-ji.
“How was the raid? Did it go well?”
“Well, considering it could have been bad. It’s tough being only at Level 6.”
“Still, you took new members with you. It’s not easy to go on a raid with people who don’t have good teamwork yet. Mom might not have said it, but she worried a lot, didn’t she?”
“They all did well.”
“Did well? It was clear you were shaking.”
“It’s because they’re rookies. They were just nervous.”
“Even rookies who have been at the Academy for four years shouldn’t get a free pass if they can’t perform.”
“Don’t push too hard.”
Both of them lifted their cups simultaneously.
Their mannerisms of drinking tea were startlingly similar, like a decalcomania.
It wasn’t just their appearance. Their personalities, preferences, and even ambiance were almost identical.
That might be why. It might be why Kim Yeon-hee was particularly close with Park Min-ji.
“Hmm, enjoying tea with my daughter like this is nice, but honestly, this daughter of mine seems like she has something else on her mind. What’s up? What’s wrong?”
“Nope, it’s nothing.”
“Nothing, my foot. I can see it just by looking at your face. Just say it. What’s up?”
“…”
Park Min-ji hesitated, muttering and biting her lower lip.
Seeing this, Kim Yeon-hee couldn’t help but smile. Who would have guessed that underneath the image of the Swift Swordsmaster ‘White Tiger’ lay such a cute side?
“Shall Mom guess?”
“Huh?”
“It’s about Ki-hyuk, right?”
“Ah! It’s… not that?!”
“Min-ji, you came out of my womb. You can’t lie like that.”
“Ah-”
And that was it.
While Park Min-ji ruled as the White Tiger outside, inside the home, she was barely different from a cat.
“So, what’s wrong?”
“…Bee-na said Ki-hyuk did something terrible.”
“Oh, that story. Bee-na is always spreading bright news, isn’t she?”
“Is it true?”
“Ugh… yes, it’s true. Your younger sibling caused quite the ruckus. It was a massive incident.”
There were five representative events at the Korean Academy.
‘Clubs,’ where you could build genuine connections through networks.
‘Midterms,’ where students took their first tests with new members and cooperation was crucial.
‘Finals,’ an opportunity to showcase leadership skills.
‘Internal Rankings,’ a stage to display one’s own colors during group activities.
And ‘Festivals,’ where mistakes could be rectified and new choices made.
These five major events each held significance, affecting not only the Academy’s immediate results but also a student’s future life as a superhuman.
“Currently, only Finals, Internal Rankings, and the ‘Recruitment Festival’ remain. There’s something unusual happening.”
“…?”
“Your excellent younger sibling flipped the Academy upside down. Honestly, so helpless. Who does he take after with that temper?”
“Not Dad.”
“Excuse me? Are you saying Mom has a bad temper?”
“No? I resemble Mom too.”
“Hmm…”
She had a point!
“But what exactly did Ki-hyuk do that is such an issue? Because if we’re comparing, I wasn’t exactly easy either when I was young.”
“Keek, you’re right. Our Min-ji did misbehave back in the day. Do you remember? That time during the first-year outdoor class when you beat up some thugs and ended up dismantling an entire villain organization.”
“That story—let’s stop that. It’s ancient history. Stop diverting the conversation and tell me about Ki-hyuk.”
“Keek, you’re right. Embarrassing, isn’t it? It makes me miss those days. However, daughter. Our short-tempered child, who resembles Mom, is actually more mild-mannered compared to Ki-hyuk.”
“…!”
Park Min-ji herself cut down eight teams with her solo might. Though she acted recklessly as well, she had Silver Bee-na as her regulator. But Ki-hyuk had nothing like that. Hence, without any brakes, he destroyed everything evenly.
Kim Yeon-hee pressed her temples, as if her head was hurting.
“He dismantled ten teams. And do you know what his criterion was for choosing targets? He specifically picked teams with larger numbers. The results were disastrous.”
“What happened?”
“More than half, almost 60% of the first-year students, ended up with nothing to do! They’ve become ghosts! Not only is the Final Exam canceled, but the entire curriculum is at a halt!!”
The Korean Academy’s mandatory courses are primarily team-based, emphasizing cooperation.
As teams were dismantled, more than half the students became ghosts.
In simpler terms, they would no longer be able to attend any of the mandatory courses. With the total number of students dropping below half, would it be possible to continue normal classes?
Impossible.
“The Final Exam, Internal Rankings, and the Festival—all the upcoming events are completely in disarray.”
Kim Yeon-hee groaned, taking deep gulps of coffee. The situation was serious.
Park Min-ji, seeing this, quietly slid her saved chocolate cake towards her mother and said, “Isn’t this exaggerating it a bit? Sure, the Final Exam, with its Mock Raids, might have become tough, but the Internal Rankings and the Festival are individual events.”
“True. Like our daughter says, it’s individual-based. As long as they’re focused solely on themselves, it should be fine. But daughter, your younger sibling made something utterly inconceivable…”
“…”
“Apocalypse.”
“Apocalypse.”
A new and never-before-seen form of ‘Unique Magic’ emerged, an entirely different magic system from anything known before.
Construction, circuitry, deformation, function—all were detached from the traditional magic parameters.
“Perhaps we could look at the Internal Rankings. One-on-one tournaments. To keep the rankings intact despite everything else falling apart, one basic factor needs to be there: Competition.”
In clear-cut rankings where winners and losers are determined, competition is an essential base.
But with this irregular, a new kind of genius like Ki-hyuk, who created a whole new magic system, entering the scene—it killed the competition.
“Of course, it naturally transitions into the Festival. Don’t you know why the Academy’s Festival is famous?”
“Because of the Recruitment Market.”
“Exactly, the Recruitment Market.”
A five-day in-school festival where the official Recruitment Market for the Academy takes place.
During this period, teams, clubs—even external agents—all are permitted to make their recruitment offers.
What would this be based on?
“On the results of Midterms, Finals, and Internal Rankings.”
“…”
“By the look on your face, you finally understand the situation, right?”
The five big events that seemed unrelated were, in fact, intricately connected like a tangled thread.
“Once the Midterms fell apart, the domino effect was already in motion. Even if we generously assume that Ki-hyuk hadn’t revealed his ‘Apocalypse,’ some damage could have been mitigated.”
Kim Yeon-hee shrugged.
“It has come to this?”
At this point, every form of competition is meaningless.
“Would any students dare to challenge Ki-hyuk now? No, there won’t be any. This isn’t about ambition; it transcends that.”
“Of course… you need to at least see someone’s back to chase them. And for Ki-hyuk, the opponent is not only incomprehensible but an unknown monstrous entity.”
Everyone will give up.
“Our overachieving son has rendered everyone else in the Academy mere side characters.”
“…The significance of the events is lost.”
“Hey, the fourth and third-year students are already skipping the Internal Rankings and heading straight to internships.”
“They don’t have to attend it, after all.”
“Exactly, only the second and first-years are suffering. They must participate in the mandatory Internal Rankings. That’s why a majority of first-years are now opting to take leaves of absence.”
“…”
“Actually, the Academy has a relatively simple solution for this situation.”
If the problem stems from Ki-hyuk, then let Ki-hyuk solve it.
If he were to confirm not participating in the upcoming events, the Academy could save the Internal Rankings and the Festival.
However…
Ki-hyuk, suppressed by insults and denigrations until now, finally revealed what he’d honed. He exploded with potential.
Would Ki-hyuk cooperate?
“I think not.”
Both Kim Yeon-hee and Park Min-ji believed the same: Ki-hyuk would not stop.
“I don’t want to.”
“Kid, Ki-hyuk!”
At the same time Kim Yeon-hee and Park Min-ji were discussing, Park Ki-hyuk was seated in the Dean’s Office at the Academy. Across from him was Dean Cheon Su-man.
The reason they were together?
It was exactly as Kim Yeon-hee had predicted.
“Dean, your words… Hmm, sorry. In summary, you’re saying I should just keep quiet, right?”
“Exaggeration. I’m merely asking you to consider your peers and make a small compromise.”
“By exaggeration, you mean you’re asking me not to participate in the Finals, Rankings, or the Recruitment Market, and calling that ‘compromise.’ Isn’t that exaggerating?”
“Ki-hyuk, what you’ve done is far from negligible. This semester is already a mess. If things get worse, this entire class might go into chaos!”
Take, for example, the possibility where this year’s first-years avoid competition with Ki-hyuk by taking leaves of absence. If they return next year, the following first-year class would have no place to study with, resulting in further chaos.
Exaggerated? Actually, in the past few days, more than 30 first-year students have already submitted leave requests—these were all students whose teams had been dismantled.
“I don’t understand. Isn’t it strange to give up on competition just because there’s someone better than yourself?”
“It’s not just slightly better—it’s immeasurably superior.”
In order to even have a motivation to chase after someone, you at least need to see their back. Or even a speck of their shadow. But Ki-hyuk wouldn’t even allow that.
A situation where overwhelming talent turned into a form of violence.
As Dean Cheon Su-man, he couldn’t afford to ignore the existence of Park Ki-hyuk, someone responsible for the current situation.
“Frankly, I admit it. I underestimated your potential, Park Ki-hyuk. As an educator, I prejudged the ‘illness’ you had been dealing with, which prevented me from ever extending an offer.”
“An offer? What kind of offer?”
“…”
Having been an educator for many years, Cheon Su-man could identify talent and potential. Identifying the most remarkable talents of that year wasn’t difficult for him.
He would approach these identified top talents, so to speak, the geniuses, with a proposal.
To hide their abilities. To keep their strength in check within the peer levels.
In return, he would provide maximum convenience for them.
“Ah… so, this year’s top genius is involved too?”
“Yes, Jin Yu-ri from the first team accepted the proposal.”
Thanks to this, Team 1 was allowed to conduct their community service activities within the Academy. This kind of convenience leveled the gap and offered hope to regular students with average talent.
“Maybe I can catch up with Jin Yu-ri if I work harder!”
Whether Cheon Su-man believed in the authenticity of this hope or not didn’t matter. As long as students could dream and continue to grow, he believed it was beneficial for everyone.
But that was Cheon Su-man’s perspective.
Park Ki-hyuk had different thoughts.
“That, you’re offering me the same convenience you gave Jin Yu-ri?”
“If you could just moderate the balance a little. Yes, that’s correct.”
“For the sake of everyone?”
“Yes, for the sake of everyone.”
“…”
Ki-hyuk leisurely drank his coffee before answering.
“Still, it’s not appealing.”
“Ki-hyuk!”
No.
A refusal.
“Let me ask you a few things. Dean, where exactly is ‘here’?”
“…”
Indeed, Cheon Su-man understood the question perfectly.
Here is the Academy.
An institution for cultivating superhumans.
So what does an outstanding student signify within the Academy?
Simple. Strength defines excellence.
Personality? Behavior? Efforts? Spirit? Potential?
Those matter, yes, but how does one objectively measure them?
If this were a novel, and there were scanners to gauge these parameters, then yes, it could be objectified. Unfortunately, this is reality.
There are no such tools. How can one assess potential?
After looping around, all that remains is the result of one’s abilities. That’s all that can truly be seen.
“I entered as the top student. Though there were some complications in team formation, I became the team leader through proper evaluation.”
I understand this.
That an overwhelming talent can become a form of violence.
“I also acknowledge the unpleasant collision during club activities. I understand that professors and the dean’s dislike of Yggdrasil isn’t unreasonable.”
I understand that revealing one’s talent can instill despair into budding hopes.
“Yes, I admit causing trouble during the Midterms. Honestly, bias got the better of me. Mana Deficiency Syndrome, Incapable Ones. I couldn’t keep listening to such nonsense forever, could I?”
I understand.
Acknowledging the need to protect the future possibilities of everyone.
But at the end of it all,
“Isn’t it true I haven’t violated any Academy rules?”
So what?
“On what authority are you compelling me to be understanding?”
The authority, even if seemingly insignificant, may at times encompass everything.
Is it reasonable to ask one to suppress overwhelming strength merely because they revealed it in an institution meant to cultivate superhumans?
“Stop, discard all that.”
Forget understanding, authority, right or wrong—discard all that.
When have I ever moved based on such considerations?
In an instant, Ki-hyuk’s eyes changed.
“Let’s settle this clearly. Don’t try to force me. Me.”
No one can force me.
Even if it’s for their good, even if it’s for the sake of everyone…
Go to hell! I will live as I please.
“I live as I want.”
Click.
Ki-hyuk closed the door and left. Cheon Su-man fell into thought.
Now I understand. Park Ki-hyuk, that man.
The reason why Ki-hyuk unconsciously bothered me.
“I live as I want.”
“Don’t measure the entity known as ‘me’ using human standards…”
“…You resemble Yggdrasil.”
For a long while, Cheon Su-man stared at the seat where Ki-hyuk had been sitting.
