Yoo-Na's speed was supernatural. She wasn't running. She moved like a reflection in a mirror, from one point to another in an instant, leaving a trail of frost behind her. It was as if light itself bent around her.
Her icy hand was about to strike my heart.
But my senses, sharpened by the new energy within me, reacted faster than my thoughts.
I didn't try to block. I did the only thing I could. I threw my body backward at an impossible angle. Her hand grazed my chest, the cold biting my skin through my shirt.
I rolled on the floor and immediately got back on my feet.
She was already on the other side of the room, looking at me, surprised that I had been able to dodge.
"Not bad, for an insect," she hissed.
She disappeared again. I sensed her on my left. I pivoted, my dagger ready. She wasn't there. It was a feint.
She appeared on my right, a massive spear of ice already formed in her hand.
I adapted. My body moved on its own, anticipating her movements. It was no longer a fight; it was a deadly dance. She was the light. I was the shadow that followed her.
She realized she couldn't touch me easily. So she decided to end it all at once.
She stopped in the center of the Pit. Her entire Aura, a terrifying amount of energy, concentrated in the palm of her hand, forming a sphere of cold, white light that crackled and lit up the entire room.
"Disappear," she screamed.
I knew I couldn't absorb that much power. I had to face it head-on.
All the dark energy and hatred in me concentrated in my dagger. The blade was no longer black. It became a void, an absence of color that seemed to suck in the light from Yoo-Na's sphere.
She was about to fire her beam of ice. I was about to fire my beam of nothingness.
The collision of these two powers was going to be cataclysmic. It wouldn't just destroy the Pit. It would probably level half of the Gamma building.
We fired at the same time.
And just before the two energy beams met in the middle of the room, a figure appeared between us.
"ENOUGH!"
The voice boomed with such overwhelming authority that it made the walls tremble.
It was the combat class professor. The man with the scar.
He raised both his hands. And he caught both energy beams with his bare hands.
The professor held his ground, his arms trembling under the pressure of our two attacks. The muscles in his body were strained to the limit, and a dense, golden aura, like molten gold, enveloped him.
With a cry of pure effort, he crushed the two energy beams in his fists. They dissipated in an explosion of light and shadow that swept through the room, throwing us both backward.
I fell heavily, my strength suddenly leaving me. Yoo-Na did the same, panting.
The professor stood in the middle of the room, his body smoking slightly. He looked at us, his face a mask of deep fury and disappointment.
"You are completely insane," he growled, his voice echoing in the silence.
He pointed to the bodies lying on the floor. Five elite students, dead.
"Five minutes ago, the academy's central system detected several homicides in this sector. The highest-level alarms have been activated. The Director is on his way."
His gaze hardened, shifting from Yoo-Na to me.
"The culprit had better confess now."
Yoo-Na, with incredible acting talent, immediately changed her expression. The fury gave way to a look of shocked fear and innocence.
"Professor!" she said, her voice trembling. "It was him! This monster! He went crazy! He attacked everyone for no reason! We were just trying to defend ourselves!"
She pointed an accusing finger at me.
The professor looked at me. I said nothing. My face was blank. My silence was a confession.
He sighed, a heavy, tired sound.
"Kang Ji-Hoon," he said, his tone official and final. "Follow me. We're going to the administration office."
The path from basement 7 to the main administration building was a long, silent tunnel. The professor walked in front, I walked behind, and Yoo-Na and her two remaining bodyguards followed at a distance.
News of the incident had already spread through the academy like wildfire. Students came out of their dorms, crowding the hallways to watch us pass. Their faces were a mixture of fear, curiosity, and morbid excitement.
In the crowd, I saw Min-Soo. He wasn't curious. He was furious.
"Is this a joke?!" he yelled at the guards escorting us. "You're letting these bullies play the victim? Didn't you see anything? The Ivory Circle started all of this!"
No one listened to him. He was just a D-rank shouting in the wind.
We arrived in the lobby of the administration building. Instead of going up to the Director's office, we were led to a large conference room. The administrative council.
Inside, several important professors sat around a long table. There was also a young man with an impeccable appearance and a sharp gaze. The student council president, also an A-rank.
And at the very end of the table, in a large armchair, a man sat with his back to us, looking out the huge bay window at the campus lights. The Director.
"Kang Ji-Hoon," the Director said, without turning around. His voice was calm, but it carried absolute authority. "What is the most important rule in this academy?"
"Do not kill another student," I replied, my voice flat.
"And why did you break that rule? Why did you kill a precious fellow student of this school?"
"I don't give a damn," I said, without any emotion. "That piece of trash was no friend of mine."
The student president gasped in surprise. "An F-rank... who killed five elite students, and who stood up to Yoo-Na, a national-level hero... This is... this is inconsistent. It makes no sense."
The Director was silent for a moment. Then he spoke again, his voice still calm.
"Explain."
So I spoke.
In a neutral, detached voice, as if I were telling someone else's story, I explained everything. The first day. Choi Jin-Woo's group. Yoo-Na's arrival. Her messages. The Pit. The betrayal. The beating. The threat against my mother. Her death. The need for five million won.
I laid everything on the table, without omitting a single humiliating detail.
When I finished, a heavy silence fell over the room. Yoo-Na's face was pale, but she tried to maintain her arrogant expression.
One of the professors, an old man with stern glasses, slammed the table.
"It's a tragic story, if it's true. But that's no excuse!" he said, his voice full of indignation. "Nothing justifies the murder of five students!"
"I don't need a justification," I replied, looking him straight in the eye. "You're the ones who do. This is your academy. Your untouchable 'Ivory Circle.' You're the ones who let them do it. You're the ones who protected these monsters for years."
I scanned the room. "You're not angry because students died. You're angry because the F-rank killed your elite students. I broke your hierarchy. That's what bothers you."
"Insolent!" shouted the student president, standing up. "How dare you speak to your superiors like that? You're nothing but a murderer!"
"Enough."
The Director's voice cut off the president's outburst. He calmed down instantly, as if a switch had been flipped.
The Director still hadn't moved from his chair. He still had his back to us.
"The system has its flaws," he admitted, his voice almost thoughtful. "Strength protects strength. It's the law of nature. And we are merely an imitation of nature."
He paused.
"But you, Kang Ji-Hoon... You are not a flaw. You are an anomaly. And anomalies interest me."
The Director finally turned slowly in his chair. His face was surprisingly ordinary, that of a middle-aged man with a tired but incredibly sharp gaze.
"Kang Ji-Hoon," he said, staring at me. "Do you know the true purpose of this academy?"
I remained silent.
"Most students here think it's to become rich, famous, powerful. To join the elite. They have the luxury of ignoring the truth," he continued. "You, you haven't had that luxury. You have experienced the direct consequences of M-Day."
He clasped his hands on the table. "M-Day, 'the Fertile Explosion'... It wasn't a gift. It was an infection. A planet-wide contamination. And like any infection, it has side effects. Your mother's DCC, Chronic Cellular Disintegration... that was one of those effects. A failed rewriting of her DNA by this foreign energy."
Yoo-Na and the others looked at him, their arrogance replaced by total confusion. They had never heard of this.
"The government panicked," the Director continued. "They implemented the Mnemonic Regulation Chip, the MRC, only in South Korea, as a large-scale test. Its official purpose is to control and measure powers. But its real purpose... is to prepare us."
His gaze hardened. "Because those who sent this infection... will soon come to collect what is theirs."
"This academy was not created to train elites. It was created to train soldiers. Real heroes. To protect this world against the 'Creators.' Against the parasites from the Abyss who will one day come to devour our souls."
He looked at me, and his gaze seemed to see right through me.
"And your power, Kang Ji-Hoon... Your ability to erase Aura... It's not a power like the others. It may be the only weapon we have against them."