Ch.174174 – Not Easy

<174 – Not Easy>

Boom boom… BOOM!

“Kyaaak!”

“Ugh, uwaaaaah!!”

The entire ceiling collapsed, crushing the students running down the corridor.

“This is… severe.”

Even Professor Sadaco, who had the most severe demeanor of anyone, said as much—Oknodie’s nightmare was an absolute disaster.

“It’s all your fault. I told you so many times. If I fail here, there’s no place for me in the organization. Don’t throw me out. But you threw me out anyway, which means you don’t care if I die. If you don’t respect my life, why should I respect yours?!”

A woman in a lab coat with disheveled hair shouted as she staggered forward unsteadily.

Following her cries, the mana board in her hand vibrated, twisting the walls, ceiling, and the Academy’s structure randomly and violently.

Isabelle’s face turned pale at the sight of the remains of what had once been students who failed to escape flowing through the gaps between walls.

“She’s completely insane. Professor, what’s that woman doing?”

“…A student who failed to advance.”

Professor Sadaco immediately understood the student’s situation.

“At the Academy, not everyone advances a grade just because a year passes. Without earning credits, promotion is impossible. The higher the grade, the harder it becomes to qualify for credits.”

“So in the third year, not everyone can earn credits just by attending lectures?”

“…Even in the first year, it’s not possible. Only for those with significantly low scores requiring retaking courses. The hurdle rises in the second year. And even more in the third.”

Isabelle cut off Son Ocheon’s question.

“Look over there. It’s Oknodie again.”

This was the third time they were witnessing this nightmare with the Academy as its backdrop.

Oknodie, clutching a small glowing stone to her chest, was taking labored steps toward the deranged student.

Crackle, crackle!

Small steps advancing with the help of the faint light emitted from the stone.

The woman in the lab coat, unable to tolerate even that, glared with wide eyes and shouted while gripping her mana board.

“Don’t come any closer!! Even if you’re a child, I won’t spare you. If you don’t want to die, get out now.”

“This, this… is the Philosopher’s Stone that big sister was working so hard to develop. I came to return it…”

“That thing is useless now! An incomplete stone that has lost its research budget and location can only be sold as a weapon. The Philosopher’s Stone I created to solve food shortages was used to develop weapons that destroyed my country. I don’t even want to look at such a thing anymore!!”

The setting was too specific to be just a simple nightmare.

As the milky-white stone Oknodie was holding emitted an even stronger light, another stone emerged from the lab coat woman’s mana board and vibrated.

Though also an incomplete Philosopher’s Stone, it was much murkier and more tainted than Oknodie’s milky-white one.

But that stone had found its purpose.

As an <Amplification Stone> that enhanced the ability to destroy and break things.

“You can start your research again… ugh. You can destroy the weapons you’ve created yourself…”

“You’re trying to sweet-talk me into stopping my attack so you can steal my mana board. I won’t fall for it!”

“Ah…”

Crack.

Fissures appeared in the small stone.

Clang.

It split in half.

Facing the increasingly violent woman, Oknodie hung her head low.

“This is wrong. It’s too late. This isn’t my specialty.”

The pressure was now directed at Oknodie herself.

As if hit by a strong gust, Oknodie flew back and crashed into a wall with a thud, the broken stone falling from her hand.

With only half of the incomplete Philosopher’s Stone, Oknodie was barely managing to hold on.

A dagger had appeared in her hand.

“I have to kill her. Then I can escape. But if I kill her, I won’t get the reward. I can’t end this like a good girl. That would be… losing. After everything I’ve been through, I can’t lose.”

Blood flowed from her head, which had cracked against the wall.

Despite wincing in pain, she pointed the dagger—not at her opponent, but at her own throat.

“So, let’s start over.”

“Oknodie!!”

“Rat!!”

Before Isabelle and Son Ocheon could stop her, Oknodie took her own life.

As her eyes glazed over, the world turned pitch black as if covered by a dark curtain.

And then the Academy grounds unfolded again.

“What… this nightmare is too much…”

“A nightmare that doesn’t end even with death. Rat, have you been suffering from such serious nightmares…?”

There were no signs of this when they slept together in the forest during the entrance exam.

She was fine then, but is she experiencing this because of the curse now?

Or was this a nightmare she’d always had that worsened because of the curse?

‘I had no idea. Not even a fraction of it.’

Blood formed on Son Ocheon’s rock-crushing hands.

Meanwhile, another cycle began.

In the dream, a new cycle of nightmares was starting.

“Ah… I should have done this earlier. I should have burned everything down. More. More… from much earlier.”

Despite her chilling laughter, Rozini, a magician from the Red Tower, was setting fire to the campus, turning it into a hell of flames.

The baby fat that had given her a youthful impression in her first year had completely disappeared, leaving not maturity or adulthood, but only empty despair.

“That child is an acquaintance of Oknodie’s. I remember Oknodie giggling about how the professor for ‘Basics and Understanding of Mana Usage’ was plant-attributed, but a fire-attributed student came in and set fire to the professor’s mental state.”

Isabelle felt like she was going to go crazy.

She couldn’t bear to watch anymore.

“Professor, do we still have to wait?”

“That’s enough now.”

Professor Sadaco sensed it.

Oknodie had passed the halfway point of the curse.

She had overcome half of that vicious curse on her own.

Watching Oknodie’s compulsive struggle was painful, but it provided a hint.

The implicit agreement between Oknodie and the curse to end this nightmare.

The solution Oknodie feared most, which the curse had discovered.

“There are two ways. One is to kill all the friends rampaging in Oknodie’s nightmare.”

“We can’t do that!”

“Rat didn’t want to do that either, which is why she took her own life, right?”

“If we keep indulging Oknodie’s stubbornness, her energy will be depleted, and she might die in reality too. As her energy decreases, her ability to resist the nightmare weakens.”

“That’s…”

“We’re here.”

Son Ocheon showed a will as hot as fire, no less intense than the red magician’s.

“If Oknodie gets tired, we can defeat them instead. Sorcerers can do it, right? Intervene in dreams.”

“My class isn’t a sorcerer, but… I can do something similar. Just remember, the level of this nightmare is not ordinary—it’s chilling even to me as a teacher.”

From the beginning, these weren’t disasters that ordinary students could cause.

They were close to high-level magical disasters that, if they actually occurred at the Academy, could result in casualties ranging from dozens to potentially thousands.

‘This isn’t an implausible recreation.’

The information about the Academy’s internal facilities.

The methods and aftermath of magical outbursts or magical disasters caused by students with various abilities.

It achieved perfect realism based on understanding and analysis of all types of power.

‘While Professor Destroyer and my undead were digging up information about the foundation, had the foundation already obtained such in-depth information about the Academy?’

This wasn’t a light amount of information that could be crammed in a day or two.

Knowledge, principles, logic, spatial plans, three-dimensional formulas, contemplation of the principles of power, philosophical thinking.

Oknodie’s information was so elaborate that it was frightening to even gauge how much effort and time it would have taken.

‘It’s been a while. Feeling goosebumps even in a lion’s body.’

This was the first time she’d felt fear since her first encounter with the Dragon Principal.

But just being afraid would make it impossible to save Oknodie.

“You said you’re prepared, but if things go wrong, you might become lost in the nightmare. Still want to try?”

“If it’s fear, I shook it all off when I entered this place.”

“What we fear is a future where we can’t save Rat.”

Good friends.

A smile appeared on Professor Sadaco’s lips.

The bonds of friendship that hadn’t rusted with the weight of time were this strong.

“Alright. From now on, I’ll ‘visualize’ your existence. Both Oknodie and the beings in the nightmare will recognize us. Be prepared.”

The second way to save Oknodie.

Instead of killing the problematic students, find a way to calm their outbursts.

For some reason, Oknodie always knew that method too.

Whether it worked or not.

She always took some action.

With means, information, and items that even the rampaging students had to respond to.

Oknodie and the foundation’s information network was chilling, but this time, that meticulous information network was helpful in reverse.

Crunch, crunch

This time, Oknodie approached Rozini, who was burning students, wearing special gloves and holding a white stone.

She took painful steps one by one, relying on special gloves to handle the cruel cold that would freeze its owner just by possessing it. In front of her, Professor Sadaco snapped her fingers.

Snap.

I have to do this somehow.

Oknodie’s eyes widened as she walked with gritted teeth, driven by such a sense of mission.

“Isabelle? Son Ocheon? Even Professor Sadaco? The three of you shouldn’t be here…”

Am I seeing things?

Son Ocheon extended his hand to the confused Oknodie.

“If it’s hard, say it’s hard, Rat. Don’t just suffer alone and make us worry.”

Oknodie stared blankly at that hand.

The large fingers pinched her cheek, which looked up at him with a dazed expression, like a rice cake.

“Ugyagyak! It hurts! It hurts!!”

“Are you awake? Are you awake? Are you awake?”

“I am! I said I am!”

Isabelle supported Oknodie’s arm as she cried out in pain.

“Oknodie.”

“Ugh. Even Isabelle has such a scary expression…”

“Do you know how worried we were?”

“I’m sorry…”

“I’ll listen to your circumstances later. For now, let’s focus on getting out of here.”

She’s not alone.

With her two companions and Professor Sadaco joining in, Oknodie, who had looked like she was about to collapse, regained her usual vitality.

“By the way, Professor Sadaco. I have a question.”

“What is it?”

Why did you appear here together?

Do you know something about me?

Did you learn something you shouldn’t have?

She had to respond calmly to any sensitive question.

Otherwise, Oknodie herself might become hostile toward her friends and herself, the professor.

Professor Sadaco, firmly resolved not to waver or hesitate, feeling responsible for everyone’s lives, felt tension beneath her long hair in a way uncharacteristic of an undead.

Oknodie asked her:

“If we break out of this together, do we split the resistance by a quarter?”

“…No. You take it all.”

“Phew! Then I’ll gratefully accept your help!”

Not easy.

This child’s mental state.

The professor’s tension rose for a different reason.