Ch.199199. One Case Solved

I’m annoyed. Really annoyed.

Why is it getting in my way? I’m tired and in pain, and now there’s an interfering presence.

I’m perfectly fine right now.

Look at me now. I’m fighting a monster. Emotionally, I’m fine. Whatever trick it was trying to pull didn’t work.

But when you’re fighting, isn’t collateral damage unavoidable?

Right? My current enemy is agile and fast.

It’s about my height, but thin and slender. So I can’t match its speed.

I need to intercept the enemy with cold precision. No. Should I just fire my cannons in all directions?

This is annoying.

To catch this elusive, troublesome creature, wouldn’t that work?

My emotions were clear now. I need to unleash widespread attacks to bring down the enemy.

That’s when I heard it.

“…”

A voice. A familiar, welcome voice… who was it again?

And as the voice grew louder, I suddenly felt intense pain.

This pain wiped away all my emotions in an instant.

An enemy attack? No. This is…

“Do Jonghyun!”

I hear Ariel’s voice. Only then did I realize Ariel was right by my ear.

Why is Ariel here?

“Jonghyun! I should have told you earlier, I’m sorry!”

She’s even apologizing to me.

“I like you! I love you! You idiot! So snap out of it!”

In that moment, something knotted inside me began to dissolve.

My intense emotions, the mantis’s incoming attack—none of it mattered anymore.

Ariel is confessing to me right now. She’s responding to my call.

Just then, another enemy attack flew in, causing massive damage to my front legs.

It’s okay. That’s not what matters right now.

The confession is nice and all, but I still need to win, right? However, my current state isn’t ideal for combat. I needed to change.

So I pulled out a card I hadn’t used before—or rather, hadn’t needed until now.

[Form Transformation]

I activate a sub-card to transform this body.

How exactly will it change? Soon, the nature of this mode became clear in my mind.

A ferocious beast standing on two legs.

This was another transformation.

My body, suited for four-legged movement, transforms. My two legs become thicker and longer, and my spine and body shape adjust for bipedal movement.

The cannons move to my shoulders, and the thrusters at my waist shift to my back.

A complete metamorphosis is taking place.

Similar to the adult armored dinosaur, but larger and more heavily armed.

My tail thrashes powerfully. My transformed body now towers over the enemy.

Yet despite this, all I can see now is my opponent.

“Jonghyun. You’ve changed again?”

I hear Ariel’s voice in my ear. Hold on tight.

I nod and prepare for battle.

[Characteristic Changes]

-Controlled Judgment: Increases Energy and Magic stats by 1 rank and suppresses unnecessary savagery.

-Restricts Overheated Savagery to 1 rank, but allows control.

-Control: Endurance (Withstand lethal attacks with powerful recovery abilities.)

[Stat Changes]

-Strength, Resistance, Magic Resistance decreased

-Agility, Magic Power increased

[Skill Changes]

-All skills adjusted to current state

-Floating -> Gliding

-Claw Enhancement -> Magic Discharge

[Sub-Card Change]

Frenzy -> Annihilation Blade

My form changes and my skills adjust. One arm is damaged, but I have recovery skills.

The enemy approaches.

I leap on my two legs.

Look at the shockwave spreading everywhere as the enemy’s attack passes through where I just was.

Its attack power really is incredibly strong.

As I jump—something I couldn’t do on four legs—the thrusters on my back activate.

[Healing Aura]

After quickly healing my wounds, I glide down from the air, true to the name “Gliding.”

[Skill]

-Magic Discharge

My fingernails transform. They’re wrapped in magic power, becoming even sharper.

My magic-infused claws clash with the enemy’s blade.

In that brief moment of friction, I felt shockwaves spreading around us.

Both my hand and the enemy’s collide as we struggle for dominance, but I am “heavier and stronger” than it.

As I push forward with brute force, the enemy nimbly dodges.

It evades regardless of buildings in its way.

But I can’t do that. People are cheering for me because I don’t.

[Sub-Card]

-Annihilation Blade

That’s why this sub-card exists.

Not powerful bombardment, but the strength to defeat only that creature.

Energy flows into my claws once more.

But unlike before, it’s purplish-black energy.

Using the power of special annihilation shells without detonating them.

That’s what this sub-card is for.

Trusting this card, I charged again. Whether the enemy uses buildings as shields or not, I simply extend my lengthened hand.

My claws swing toward the enemy.

And slice through.

I cut through all six of its hands and split the creature beyond them.

The enemy falls, and points come in shortly after. I’ve won.

We’ve achieved victory.

*

Morgan was fleeing with a gloomy face.

“Everything… was going so well!”

She had clearly been manipulating and controlling the dinosaur’s emotions bit by bit.

But that redhead interfered. The child she had touched once before.

‘It was almost done.’

But what could she do? Having failed, she could only aim for the next opportunity.

Morgan was escaping frantically, passing through houses like mist with her transformed body.

When she reached an alley after passing through a house, suddenly a barrier blocked her path.

“Ah!”

Morgan returned to her original form without understanding why.

“Why?”

She frantically tried to transform into mist again, but her body suddenly collapsed to the ground.

“!”

An arrow pierced her surprised body.

The arrow rapidly froze, binding Morgan’s body.

‘What on earth…’

Just as Morgan was dumbfounded, a cheerful-looking schoolgirl appeared before her.

“Unnie! I did it!”

A girl trying to appear cute jumped out.

The name on the uniform she wore was Chae Songhwa.

The most talented first-year student, one of the individuals Jonghyun had noted as helpful for the future.

She began creating walls and combining them like a maze.

And the person she called was Seol Yuhwa, who appeared with a gaunt face.

“Just as Junhu said…”

“How!”

Morgan wailed, not understanding how they had found her.

Seol Yuhwa paid no attention to such words. She was only focused on her task.

“Ariel is so brave. I couldn’t do that. I’m envious.”

At this moment, Morgan found an opening.

She didn’t understand everything, but she detected an emotional vulnerability.

‘I’ll target that…’

Morgan activated her ability, expecting a change.

But Seol Yuhwa touched Brisingamen with an empty face.

At that moment, Morgan’s arm was forcibly broken.

“Aaaagh!”

A pitiful scream. Seol Yuhwa sighed. What Morgan didn’t realize was that Brisingamen itself not only charmed others but also protected its wearer from being charmed.

That’s what was happening now.

But Seol Yuhwa could pressure her opponent by controlling just parts of the body, not emotions.

While Morgan groaned in pain, Songhwa sharpened her barriers like blades and stabbed them into her.

Morgan was overwhelmed in an instant, unable to resist.

She tried to cry out something through her tears, but Seol Yuhwa stopped her.

“I don’t know what circumstances led you here or what your intentions were. You might have a sad story. But right now, you’re a monster hostile to humanity. So I’ll deal with you.”

With these final words, Seol Yuhwa snapped Morgan’s neck, ending her despair.

“Wow, unnie. That was really clean. I wanted to hear her story though.”

Songhwa was disappointed but satisfied with eliminating the enemy.

Seol Yuhwa had witnessed the battle scene earlier. Ariel supporting Jonghyun as they came down. She looked incredibly happy.

‘I… couldn’t act like Ariel.’

Seol Yuhwa hung her head low.

*

After the commotion ended, Ariel supported my exhausted body.

“Good job, Jonghyun.”

“How did you get here?”

“Because of you, I can’t stay still for even a day. I came because I was annoyed.”

Ariel pulls me along with a prim face.

“So you understand now?”

“I deliberately dragged things out. If I had confessed right away, this wouldn’t have happened… I was stupid too. But my feelings haven’t changed. I like you. Even though it’s really annoying, I’ll understand. But I have to be number one. Got it?”

“Got it, got it.”

Hearing Ariel’s determination makes me feel more at ease.

I’ve crossed a major hurdle.

“Anyway, you’re so greedy. Have you talked to Seol Yuhwa? What did she say?”

“Not yet.”

“What?”

Ariel’s eyes seemed to sparkle at that moment.

“So she doesn’t know yet? If Seol Yuhwa gives up…”

“Ah, that could happen.”

“Then it’s fine! Only a woman like me would accept such a ridiculous condition.”

Ariel seems happy, but should I tell her there’s one more person?

With reporters and people gathering, I couldn’t say the next words.

The trial? It’s been postponed due to this incident. And my treatment is currently being reconsidered.

“What a really tough day.”

Eun Serin welcomed me warmly as I entered with my tired body.

“You worked hard today. Good job.”

She naturally embraced me, and at that moment I felt a chill.

This was natural for me, but for Ariel who had followed me all the way here, it was a scene she was seeing for the first time.

“Ms. Eun Serin…? What are you doing with someone else’s boyfriend?”

The tension hasn’t disappeared. The current situation is actually intensifying.

But from what I can see, Serin isn’t intimidated at all.

“Is it strange? When a man and woman live in the same room, this much is natural.”

“He’s my man?”

“Yes, he’s your man.”

“?”

“But he’s also my man.”

With Serin’s bold declaration, I was grabbed by the collar.

“What’s going on now? Not just the same place, but the same room?”

“It just happened.”

“You player! I already agreed to share with Seol Yuhwa, what more?”

“Women with little tolerance aren’t popular.”

Serin stepped between Ariel and me at this point.

“What? Tolerance? You’re saying that in this situation?”

“I don’t mind. Whether Jonghyun dates multiple people or gets married.”

“Huh?”

Ariel’s expression is really worth seeing. Beyond anger, her eyes showed utter bewilderment.

“Listen. I declared to Jonghyun that I must be first, no matter what.”

“Yes.”

“My name will be first on the marriage documents, and in front of people, I’ll…”

“Yes.”

“What are you trying to do? Are you crazy?”

Ariel was losing her composure and getting angry.

But Serin remained detached.

“It doesn’t matter. You can be first. I can just meet him occasionally. We have different goals.”

“…This is weird.”

“But I like Jonghyun. It doesn’t matter. Since you’ve already agreed to accept Seol Yuhwa, you can understand this too.”

“That’s not it! Doesn’t everyone want to be first? Whether in grades or with men! That’s what’s strange!”

“I don’t deserve that right.”

I couldn’t tell what expression accompanied Serin’s words.

Ariel didn’t get any angrier after that.

“Good grief. Besides, Jonghyun. Is this how you’re going to do things? You should have told me.”

“I thought mentioning three people would sound even more absurd.”

Serin interjected at this point.

“You two can form a family anyway. I’ll just be… like an office wife occasionally…”

“Your way of thinking is different from normal people.”

Ariel held her head.

“Damn it… Jonghyun. I said I like you, so don’t be sneaky. Be clear. There are no more women, right?”

“You’re so nice. You know what? Jonghyun and I haven’t ‘done it’ yet. For your sake.”

“…Well, that’s obvious. If you had, I would have given up on everything!”

Serin continues her encouragement. But Ariel’s desired condition was already understood—being first. If we assume she accepts, we just need to fulfill her requirement of being first as a woman.

“Two or three… I guess it’s the same. But no more. Got it? You pervert, Jonghyun.”

“Well, that’s settled then.” Serin suddenly opened the door.

“I’ll leave the room empty for today. The first time is important, after all.”

And she closed the door.

“…”

“…”

In the suffocating awkward scene, both Ariel and I blushed.