Ch.205205. Finding a Solution

I took a deep breath in front of everyone. I’d seen enough of the strange atmosphere and the invisible wall within our class over the past three days.

“I need your help. I need a lot of people, but this isn’t something ordinary people can do.”

“What’s it about, friend?”

Do-hyun Kim said with a playful tone. Good, this is exactly when I should explain.

“This monster can’t be killed by conventional methods. As you can see, it keeps coming back to life.”

“Really?”

At that moment, I heard Hannah’s voice.

This wasn’t agreement or a question. It was clearly a voice of doubt directed at me.

“It’s true. Even Seong-hee Jo’s attacks didn’t work. Plus, if we can’t accurately predict when it will revive, there will be even greater damage. I want to prevent that. So I’m asking for your help.”

To stop this monster’s regeneration, we need to break the laws governing its revival.

But I can’t maintain my transformation state for very long. Especially when I repeatedly transform intensely and fight like now.

Even though I want to handle it myself, I need the Jaegers’ help just in case.

“I can catch the enemy itself. The problem is what comes after. This thing will obviously resurrect. I can’t track that alone. I need your help. Will you help me?”

“How exactly?”

Sang-heon Gu speaks up.

“It’s simple. After it’s over, I’ll track the enemy. It will lie dormant in that state and then recover after a certain period.”

“You want to prevent that in advance?”

“Yes. I’d like you all to help with the search. I can’t do it alone.”

Even if they can’t fight alongside me directly, this kind of help is possible.

With my friends’ power, we’ll find the monster’s core and smash it to pieces.

“What if we get attacked?”

At this point, Hannah raised her hand again.

“I’ll protect you. The monster won’t be much of a threat until it recovers anyway.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

Eventually, I gathered about 40 volunteers.

“I’ll create a group chat, so contact me immediately if you find anything.”

Sensory ability users are especially important in this fight. If the monster doesn’t truly disappear, it means it’s moving secretly.

And the new marker cards I’ve selected work the same way.

I have data on the monster that I gathered in wolf form.

I’ll track it with this and transmit its location to everyone using the markers. Once it’s found, I’ll make rounds to deal with the cores.

An enemy we can easily defeat if everyone helps.

Now I just had to wait until nightfall.

Where would the enemy appear? When would it revive?

Everything was uncertain.

That night, as we waited in tension, the monster finally appeared.

Surprisingly, not that far from the Academy.

But it was in the city.

I instantly transformed into a wolf and rushed there.

*

The Watching Eye had been focused on human psychology since Do-hyun Kim’s time all the way to Ariel.

[Analysis: Emotions are exploitable. Interpretation: Amplify emotions to make them fight each other.]

The methods of those who deployed Morgan had seemed somewhat successful.

But at a crucial moment, they slipped up in court.

Even so, the Watching Eye judged that the approach of ruining the atmosphere through emotions without wasting monsters was efficient.

So while Jong-hyun Do was captured, this monster brought larvae to begin brainwashing operations.

It specifically targeted those who had bad or poor relationships with Jong-hyun Do to create a strange atmosphere.

Sang-heon Gu was at the center of this.

This free-spirited genius didn’t seem to have positive feelings toward Jong-hyun Do.

However, Morgan, who amplified emotions, was already dead, so they moved on to sowing discord through suspicion.

Of course, discord alone was uncertain. That’s why they also deployed brainwashing larvae.

Sang-heon Gu was one of the biggest figures caught in this discord.

They also brought up the lingering embers from the Yu-hwa Seol incident, exposing her family’s financial struggles.

Pressuring Ariel and ruining class harmony.

The Watching Eye’s strategy was solely focused on cornering Jong-hyun Do somehow.

If they set the mood in advance and something happened in this ambiguous class environment?

[Solution: Don’t miss even small possibilities; keep shaking them.]

And the monster specially prepared by the Watching Eye for this purpose was Hong-ryong-deung-cheon.

This monster possessed rules that activated upon its death.

Unless the rules were broken, it would continue to attack, revive, and cause fatigue and unexpected damage to its targets.

And their plan was quite effective.

When Jong-hyun Do couldn’t consecutively defeat the monster, the previously quiet public opinion began to question him, and various incidents within the class created a cold atmosphere.

It meant they weren’t working in harmony.

In the midst of this, Jong-hyun Do even mobilized his classmates.

[Order: Sabotage that instruction.]

Whatever instructions Jong-hyun Do gave, they wouldn’t be carried out properly.

Finally, the monster revived and was dealt with again.

In this repetition, they were finally shaking human trust.

The shattered monster appeared to melt away, but the core parts forming its foundation were disguised.

These core parts reconnecting and merging was the principle of regeneration.

If the cores weren’t destroyed, it would ultimately regenerate forever.

[Analysis: Trying to find the cores with Jaegers. Solution: You won’t be acknowledged.]

The Watching Eye deliberately sent one core to Sang-heon Gu.

They would order the boy, who still had feelings for Jong-hyun Do, to ignore him.

Being betrayed by someone you trust? Then public opinion would shift again.

[It’s going well.]

Create internal problems and strike from the outside.

This is the monster side’s strategy itself. Nothing special here.

Whether caught as a wolf or not, they just need to deceive and revive.

In fact, it would be better if it were defeated quickly.

The same applies now. As the monster rampages, damage accumulates.

It was being cut down by the wolf.

But it’s all the same. The cores that seem to melt away… they were actually legs. Like a centipede with hundreds of legs.

Some of those legs were the core.

Now those legs, in disguise, begin to scatter everywhere.

But this day was a bit different.

The wolf, now in tracking mode, began chasing the fleeing legs.

Bombardments rang out and the legs disappeared.

[Analysis: The enemy knows our method. Solution: But they can’t catch all the legs. Continue as planned.]

The Watching Eye could see that things were proceeding according to plan.

These legs would now go to the brainwashed individuals.

Ignore even if you see them. No, in normal situations, you can’t even see them.

Just being near the brainwashed individuals and reviving would be enough.

But Jong-hyun Do’s side was also desperate this time. Suddenly, light markers were scattered everywhere.

The Jaegers gathered there and simultaneously activated detection magic.

One by one, cores were being caught in numbers exceeding expectations.

Still, there were limits. With just about 10 markers, they couldn’t catch dozens one by one.

But this was the result of underestimating the wolf’s tracking ability and the Jaegers’ determination.

Those who detected before the markers disappeared continued tracking, and the wolf was frighteningly quick in processing them.

The number of legs was close to being completely annihilated, more than expected.

The Watching Eye experienced the emotion of tension here.

[Analysis: Must stay calm. Our trump card remains. Speculation: Regeneration takes longer.]

And it ordered the two people it had brainwashed, Sang-heon Gu and Han-na Jeong, to bring the legs.

If they just pretended not to see and allowed revival, they could break each other’s trust.

The monster’s legs were now kept by Sang-heon Gu and Han-na Jeong, who took them home.

The Watching Eye now ordered the two to keep the legs safe.

“Ah, is this the end?”

But then, the Watching Eye saw something strange.

Wasn’t Sang-heon Gu holding one of the markers that Jong-hyun Do had scattered?

Jong-hyun Do’s throwing range was limited, but there was no restriction if someone else moved it.

That’s what he had used.

[Analysis: Your action is…]

At that moment, Sang-heon Gu’s sword split the Watching Eye.

[Analysis: Incomprehensible. You should have been brainwashed…?]

In this unexpected situation, the Watching Eye collapsed pathetically to the ground.

“I never was from the beginning. Sorry, but it never even bit me properly. I wasn’t affected from the very first time.”

Sang-heon Gu grinned.

“Shake with a monster that attacks the mind and then brainwash with larvae? Certainly a good strategy. Just not for me since I wasn’t affected at all.”

When Sang-heon Gu noticed Han-na Jeong’s suspicious movement, he immediately struck her with his sword.

“Compared to Yu-hwa Seol’s Brisingamen, it’s pathetic. I can resist such weak monsters. I need practice to win against them in duels, right? It was too easy for me. So I just pretended to be affected.”

The Watching Eye was dumbfounded.

[Analysis: You must have been disappointed in Jong-hyun Do? I targeted that feeling! But why…?]

“Jong-hyun? Ah! I wasn’t disliking him, I was just angry that he was suffering alone. Like now, if we had just talked to each other, I would have helped him anytime.”

[!]

It was truly an absurd reason, and for such an absurd reason, even brainwashing didn’t work.

Sang-heon Gu. This free-spirited genius’s emotions were genuine from the start.

Regret that Jong-hyun Do was suffering alone and anger about the lies.

The Watching Eye had judged arbitrarily and deluded itself into thinking he was brainwashed.

And now this genius, pretending to be brainwashed, had completely ruined the Watching Eye’s plans.

[….!]

“Kuuuk!”

The Watching Eye trembled, but there was nothing it could do.

It had tried to control humans but ended up handing over its strategy instead.

[Solution: No. Do you think this will end with something like this! I’ve calculated even your betrayal!]

“!”

Suddenly, a break occurred around the dying Watching Eye.

Alarms began to sound throughout the night sky, and an SS-class monster quickly revealed itself.

When Sang-heon Gu’s sword clashed with the SS-class monster, friction occurred.

At the same time, another monster moved nimbly behind.

It wasn’t looking at Sang-heon Gu.

It was heading toward the fallen Han-na Jeong.

“No!”

The Watching Eye smiled with a pleased face, at least getting its final revenge.

But that smile didn’t last long. The wolf monster had somehow thrown itself to block the attack.

“Too bad.”

Sang-heon Gu stepped back and took care of Han-na Jeong. The Watching Eye’s final move had failed, and it died away.

Sang-heon Gu smashed even the last leg of the monster and faced Jong-hyun Do, who had released his transformation.

“You’re good at pretending to be fooled?”

“Don’t lie next time. I don’t care if you’re a monster or whatever. Han-na Jeong. Wake up.”

Sang-heon Gu smiled as he patted Han-na Jeong’s cheek.

“The Jong-hyun Do you’re suspicious of just threw himself to save you. And you’ve been brainwashed for who knows how long. You know?”

After rapid-firing this information at the disoriented Han-na Jeong, he made her apologize to Jong-hyun Do.

“I-I’m sorry… I must have thought strangely of you.”

Han-na Jeong apologizing and Sang-heon Gu smiling brightly. It felt like one of the conditions creating the strange atmosphere had been resolved.

However, one more problem remained in the class.

It was about Ariel. The wrongdoing of exposing Yu-hwa Seol’s family circumstances.

But Se-rin Eun handled this. She now revealed herself and confessed everything.

“I planned all these incidents as an ally of the monster group.”

Just as she said, she took on even the last piece of discord herself, taking responsibility as an adult.