Episode 4: To the House of Ordinary/Not Ordinary

 

[Me]

[Father, it seems I’ll be coming home on the 24th]

[Son of a bitch]

[Huh, you didn’t come during summer break. Unexpected.]

[Me]

[During summer break, I stayed behind to consult with professors as I felt some major changes occurring in my supernatural ability]

[Son of a bitch]

[If that was the case, you should’ve contacted me sooner. We’ll talk when you come home]

[Me]

[Understood. I’ll visit home on the 24th]

[Son of a bitch]

[Fine, I’ll have a driver waiting at Yongsan Station]

[Me]

[Thank you]

-Whoosh!

The phone I weakly tossed landed perfectly on the bed.

“……I feel uneasy.”

‘Yun Seongho.’

After Yun Seah’s rampage, he was the boss encountered in the dungeon-like underground laboratory by reading the materials she left behind and her pre-written will.

Phase 1 had physical abilities at an ordinary person’s level, but he kept annoyingly summoning enhanced humans or some hybrid of monsters and people, so you had to land effective hits quickly.

Then, with that line about having used me for drug experiments, the problematic Phase 2 would begin.

At that point, Yun Seongho gained overwhelming power from the extreme body enhancement potion he created using me as a test subject, instantly overpowering the protagonist’s party.

His stats then… if I recall, only Holy Power was F-rank while everything else was A+ or higher, right?

For a late-game story boss, his stats were decent, but the problem was about one minute after using the potion.

With grotesque things sprouting all over his back due to the potion’s side effects, Yun Seongho transformed into an ultra-dangerous monster boasting S- rank or higher threat level that would assault the protagonist’s party.

Having only faced B+ level enemies until the external activity episodes where they handled Gates outside school, suddenly facing an S- rank instead of even just A-rank must have been tough.

‘The Yun Seah battle was a good example demonstrating S-rank power.’

Yun Seah didn’t undergo demonization like Yun Seongho, and since she didn’t resist to the end fighting at full strength, she was easier to defeat compared to him. Yet her assigned rating afterward was S-rank.

Meaning if Yun Seah had rampaged at full power, she possessed threat levels capable of devastating the nation.

As a pivotal boss monster marking when they’d encounter true monsters outside the academy, Yun Seongho became incomparably stronger than any enemies met inside. There were two ways to stop him early.

Either steal/destroy the potion beforehand, or burst him down with damage before he uses it.

Personally, the first method was the standard approach.

The burst damage method before potion usage only applied to players who whaled from the early story phases to strengthen their characters.

Or you could use the so-called “super coward mode” [Story Mode] where all bosses including Yun Seongho have 70% reduced HP and deal 40% less damage to quickly clear through…

‘Without knowing this world’s difficulty, eliminating variables quickly is the right move.’

Thus, I began planning to return home and kill Yun Seongho… but someone kept clinging to me.

“What are you scheming?”

A red-haired girl one year my senior who kept hovering around me.

Later joining the protagonist’s party as the reliable senior character with solid stats holding the frontline until the late game.

“A-yul-yang, where did you inherit such a suspicious personality from?”

“No, you always seem to be hiding something, but today’s extra shady.”

‘Kang A-yul’s room is right next door, and I didn’t know she was staying at the academy during break…!’

“Hmm…A-yul-yang, aren’t you visiting the Sword Saint-nim?”

“Grandfather? He just bothers me when I go, why would I go there?”

‘…….’

Right, they originally had this kind of relationship.

‘It’s been so long since I played Kang A-yul’s route as the main heroine that I forgot.’

I should jot this down in my notes later.

-Click

As I tried to leave with my sufficiently packed bag, Kang A-yul still grabbed my arm, looking at me like she had more to say.

“…Don’t do it.”

“Do what?”

“I don’t know the details, but…I have this instinctive premonition—no, conviction—that whatever it is will linger painfully in your heart for a long time.”

‘Is this like a swordsman’s intuition?’

That strange intuition probably guided the protagonist to hidden pieces and warned them of threats in advance.

But none of that matters now.

After seeing the quest window stating I could return home by defeating the final boss, I even hypnotized myself before a mirror in case my resolve wavered.

That I would change this world to a happy ending and proudly use the wish ticket to return home.

‘And to do that…I know my hands will get very dirty.’

The path I walk isn’t the polished marble road the protagonist’s party will tread.

It’s a mountain path of rotting corpses reeking of decay and blood, where each step tramples corpses and splatters filthy flesh fragments, instantly soiling my clothes.

Because that’s the path to clearing the story quickly.

“I’ll gratefully accept your advice.”

With that conclusion to my meeting with Kang A-yul, I boarded the academy shuttle to Yongsan Station without hesitation.

[“Next stop is Yongsan, Yongsan Station. Doors will open on the right si…”]

“We’ve arrived.”

After about an hour, I spotted a black sedan waiting for me at Yongsan Station.

…

…

…

-Vroom

“Congratulations, young miss. The Chairman has acknowledged your worth.”

“Thank you.”

The driver holding the steering wheel exchanged dry words with me.

A researcher who years ago implanted monster body parts into my arm.

‘You probably think I don’t remember anything.’

He must be Yun Seongho’s personal driver. That such a person privy to all experiment results involving me is treated so generously means…

He was bought off.

There must have been attempts to quit or expose the inhumane experiments upon realizing the truth.

But all such attempts failing means…

They were either caught in Yun Seongho’s snare or hunted down by his blade.

That’s why no one knew about the human experiments on me until Yun Seongho himself revealed it.

Not even Yun Seongho’s wife—my so-called mother—knows about this.

‘My “mother” probably just sees me as an inferior child.’

She’s likely exhausting herself trying to summon her runaway daughter Seolhwa back right now.

‘Though she changed her surname to Lee when she left, so who knows if she’ll return.’

-Creak

“We’ve arrived, young miss.”

“Thank you.”

Upon hearing we’d reached the destination, I muttered:

“You know what to do tonight, right?”

“……Of course. Report that the young miss’s hypnosis has issues, then throw a bomb at the gathered researchers in the lab to self-destruct. Is that correct?”

“Yes, exactly♪”

Only after hearing the hypnotized driver’s reply did we exit the car.

“I’m back, my home.”

Yun Seah’s family home, hidden like a secret base after purchasing an entire mountain… I had arrived.

…

…

…

“I’m home, Father.”

“Good. How was school?”

Yun Seongho sat alone in the living room lobby, watching me as I returned home.

His utterly disgusting face made me want to stab him with the kitchen knife prepared in my bag right now, but it’s too soon.

‘I prepared that knife to get caught anyway.’

“You must be tired from school. Go rest in your room.”

“Yes, Father.”

After bowing, I dragged my luggage upstairs to my room, greeted by a dull black space.

‘……Hah, how thorough.’

Destroyed elephant-shaped figurines were scattered around the room.

“You’re in the way. Disappear.”

-Crunch…!!

A slight gesture crushed the hypnosis device inside one elephant figurine.

‘As expected, it was here too.’

How low can you sink, Yun Seongho.

After carelessly tossing my luggage aside, I lay on the bed staring blankly at the ceiling.

“Operation begins tonight.”

If nothing interferes, I can perfectly behead Yun Seongho, this significant villain.

As I thought this and unfolded my smartphone to check various information…

“Huh? I deleted all blocked messages though…”

[Blocked Calls]

[Lee Seolhwa] 99+

[Blocked Messages]

[Lee Seolhwa] 99+

[Lee Seolhwa]

[Seah-yah, I heard from an academy staff member I know—why did you go there? I told you countless times that place is dangerous…]

[Lee Seolhwa]

[Get out of there immediately, I don’t know what that bastard plans to do to you…]

[Lee Seolhwa]

[No, I should come tell you in person]

“……..Huh?”

Along with my brief exclamation.

“Miss Seolhwa has arrived-!”

A woman who should never visit this place had boldly returned home.