Epilogue Chapter 54 - Back to School (5)

There were many powerful individuals around Oh Kang-Hyun. To be more exact, there were only powerful individuals around him. Not to mention Oh Kang-Woo and Kim Si-Hun, but Balrog, Lilith, Han Seol-Ah, and his biological mother Cha Yeon-Joo were all in the top ten strongest individuals on Earth and the Nine Hells combined.

Not only that but Oh Kang-Hee, the child born between an angel and a demon, could use demonic energy from the age of three, and Lilia was just as strong as she had inherited the power of illusory dreams, the symbol of the Succubus Queen. Even Kim Si-Ah had grown into a prodigious swordswoman because she had been trained by Si-Hun since she had learned to walk, befitting her title of the Martial God’s daughter.

“Did you not hear me? I told you to show me your true power!”

Hence, Kang-Hyun could only misunderstand that Jeon Yeong-Woong was holding back to mock him.

Bash! Smash! Punch!

“Ack! Ack! Th-That hurts! Kurgh!”

Kang-Hyun, strengthened by the demonic energy wrapped around him, beat Yeong-Woong senseless, wondering for how long Yeong-Woong was willing to hold back his power. Just then, he noticed an oddity.

“Jeon Yeong-Woong. What the hell are you doing?”

“

Sniff...

stop... I-I’ll apologize, so please s-stop hitting me...”

“Eh...?”

Yeong-Woong, his face covered in bruises, lowered his head as he grabbed the hem of Kang-Hyun’s pants. It was not the action of someone holding back their true power.

‘What’s going on? Was he seriously going all out from the start?’

Kang-Hyun incomprehensibly looked down at Yeong-Woong whose face was covered in tears and snot. If this was all an act to make him lower his guard, he would be more impressed than betrayed.

‘I beat Jeon Yeong-Woong? This one-sidedly?’

Kang-Hyun frowned in disbelief. There was one more thing he misunderstood— his power level. He did not know because Kang-Woo and Si-Hun hid the information, but the unidentified attacker he had fought and lost to at the resort was a Player who received the power of a god known as the Celestial.

Not only was the man twice as old as Kang-Hyun, but he was among the upper ranks of Players. He had acquired the power of a god on top of that. Although he was nothing but a puppet with no sense of reason, his strength was still unreal. It was like meeting the final boss as soon as the game began. It was only natural that Kang-Hyun, who had only learned to use demonic energy three months ago, was no match.

“Ngh,” Kang-Hyun groaned.

Having no idea about that, Kang-Hyun could only misunderstand that he lost because he was weak.

‘I don’t really get what’s going on, but...’

It did not seem like there was a need to continue the battle. He took a deep breath and took out his smartphone.

He called, “Jeon Yeong-Woong.”

“H-Huh?”

“Let me ask you one more time. You sent this, right?” he asked as he raised the envelope filled with dead bugs.

“That’s...” Yeong-Woong burst into a cold sweat as he stared at the envelope. He lowered his head and answered, “Yeah... I sent it.”

“Good.” Kang-Hyun put his smartphone back into his pocket and continued, “I recorded all that.”

“...!”

“I’m going to send this to Si-Ah’s father.”

“W-Wait! Wh-Wh-What are you talking about?!”

Si-Ah’s father was Martial God Kim Si-Hun.

‘If the Martial God finds out about what I did...’

“Y-You can’t...!”

Yeong-Woong, white as a sheet, charged at Kang-Hyun. If Kim Si-Hun saw that video, he and his family’s lives would be over.

Smash!

Kang-Hyun kicked the rushing Yeong-Woong and looked down at him coldly.

“Like hell, I can’t. You should take responsibility for your actions. It’s not like you did all this without knowing who Si-Ah’s father was.”

“I-It wasn’t m—”

“You just said it was you.”

Kang-Hyun took out his smartphone again and waved it around.

“Urgh...”

Yeong-Woong gulped and gritted his teeth. He had been planning on framing it on someone else even if his misdeeds were caught but it would all go down the drain if Kim Si-Hun were to see that video.

‘I just have to destroy that smartphone...!’

He drew out what remained of his mana to use psychokinesis.

“Don’t get any ideas. I have it so that any video I take is automatically uploaded to the cloud,” Kang-Hyun mentioned.

“C-Cloud?”

“Oh. Well, to put it simply, the video file will remain even if you break my smartphone.”

“...” Despair filled Yeong-Woong’s eyes. “A-Aaaahh. N-No... P-Please... Please don’t send it.”

“...” Kang-Hyun looked down in silence at Yeong-Woong trembling in pallor. He asked in a low voice, “Should I not send it?”

“Y-Yeah! Please! I’ll do anything!”

“Anything, huh...?” Kang-Hyun’s gaze shifted to the envelope. He flipped it and shook it to empty its contents, the dead bugs falling to the alley floor. “Eat them.”

“What...?” Yeong-Woong looked up at Kang-Hyun flusteredly. “Y-You want me to eat these?”

“Yeah. Why? You can’t?”

“...”

“I remember hearing some rumors... that you made your classmate eat your leftovers last year.”

“That’s...”

Yeong-Woong had once force-fed a loner classmate because they were giving demerits to whoever did not finish their food.

“B-But bugs aren’t for eating!”

“Neither are someone’s leftovers.”

“Ngh...”

“Answer me now. Will you eat it or not?”

“...”

Yeong-Woong gritted his teeth and glared at Kang-Hyun. His clenched fists trembled.

“What’s wrong? Do you feel like shit because I’m telling you to eat the bugs you put in someone’s desk drawer?” Kang-Hyun scoffed and continued, “It’s okay when you do it, but you feel like shit when it’s done to you?”

“K-Kang-Hyun... Please...”

“Please, what? Please stop?” Kang-Hyun found it funny to hear such a thing from Yeong-Woong. “I’m sure you’ve heard it a lot.”

“Heard what...?”

“People begging you to please stop as you bullied them.”

“...”

“Have you ever done as they asked?”

Kang-Hyun did not even need an answer. Yeong-Woong’s infamy would never have spread throughout the school if he were the type to stop because someone asked him to. Not only the upperclassmen but even the teachers knew.

However, teachers brushed off the rumors because they underestimated Yeong-Woong’s bullying, thinking a mere elementary student could only be so cruel. However, Kang-Hyun knew that the younger you were, the crueler you could be.

“I will ask you one last time.” Kang-Hyun brought one of the dead bugs to Yeong-Woong’s mouth and continued, “Will you eat it or not?”

Would Yeong-Woong lower his dignity and do as Kang-Hyun commanded, or refuse and lose everything? He did not have to think for long.

“A-Arghh...”

Yeong-Woong grabbed some squashed bugs with a shaking hand, closed his eyes, and stuffed them into his mouth. The bitterness spread throughout his mouth and a disgusting stench filled his nose.

“Urpp. BLEEEEGHH!”

Yeong-Woong vomited, unable to swallow the bugs. Kang-Hyun approached the sobbing Yeong-Woong.

“I believe I told you to eat them.”

“

Huff, huff...

K-Kang-Hyun...”

“Alright, fine. Let’s leave it here for today. I’m not a demon, after all.”

“What...?”

‘For today? Does that mean this will continue?’

“What’s wrong? You didn’t think this was the end of it, did you?” Kang-Hyun smirked and clenched Yeong-Woong’s hair. “There’s no way this would be the end of it.”

Yes, he couldn’t stop here. He needed to trample Yeong-Woong so thoroughly to the point that he would never even think of retaliating again.

‘I’d rather just send the video to Uncle Si-Hun and have him handle it, but...’

If Si-Hun were to find out about this, he might end Yeong-Woong and his father whom Yeong-Woong respected. However kind-hearted Si-Hun was, he was not kind enough to forgive those who messed with his daughter.

‘But there’s a limit to what Uncle can do.’

Si-Hun couldn’t send the nine-year-old Yeong-Woong to prison for playing pranks on his daughter, however malicious they were. All he could do was likely drive Yeong-Woong’s father out of his position at the association and force Yeong-Woong to transfer schools.

‘And he would do the same thing at the other school.’

Although Yeong-Woong was still a child, Kang-Hyun knew that people did not easily change.

“A-Aaaahh,” Yeong-Woong groaned in pallor.

He saw the demon silhouette overlapping with Kang-Hyun again.

“Come to think of it, you... love hurting dogs, right?” Kang-Hyun asked.

“H-Huh?”

“Our ill-fated relationship started because of that, didn’t it?”

“Oh, I-I’m sorry about back then...”

“No, no. There’s no need to apologize.” Kang-Hyun smiled, still grabbing Yeong-Woong by his hair. “I was rather curious as well.”

“Curious...?”

“About how it feels to hurt a dog.” Kang-Hyun’s golden irises shone chillingly. “Jeon Yeong-Woong.”

“H-Huh? Wh— Kurgh!”

Kang-Hyun violently grabbed Yeong-Woong’s neck and brought his mouth close to Yeong-Woong’s ear.

“You’re my dog from today. Understood?”

‘Bark as loud as you want. I’ll rip out all of your teeth so that you can’t even think about biting others.’