A Villain's Will to Survive novel Chapter 13

Chapter 13: News (4)

“Ah... umm....”

Epherene’s heart pounded like it was about to burst, and her mind was racing. Her classmates had already disappeared. Epherene tried to slip away quietly.

“Step aside,” Deculein said.

Hearing those words only fueled her determination. There was no reason for her to have been the one to move; it should have been him. Epherene bit her lip, lifted her head, and tightened her grip on the paper in her hand.

“... Sir!”

She meant to use one hand but ended up raising both very politely. What a disaster.

“Sir...”

Deculein still looked down at her with cold eyes. Epherene took a deep breath to steady her racing heart. At the same time, she made a vow. One day, if not now, she would crush that arrogant gaze with her own strength...

“I want to start a club. But to do so, I need a supervising professor’s signature,” Epherene said. There was no reaction, but Epherene pressed on resolutely. “... I promise I won’t bother you. It’s just that other professors don’t approve of a commoners’ club. I just need your signature....”

She used up all her energy just to say that. Her outstretched arms trembled under Deculein's inscrutable, crushing pressure. But then, something unexpected happened. Deculein took the paper she offered. He simply reached out and took it without a word.

“... Hup,” Epherene gasped.

Deculein read the proposal. She was anxious, fearing he might tear it apart and say, "How dare you, a mere commoner, approach me—" She could almost hear the sound of ripping paper. But then, Deculein took out a fountain pen from his coat, making her anxious once again.

She feared he might tear the paper with his pen and say, "Did you expect this? How dare commoners—" But instead, Deculein signed it. She was anxious. She feared he might triumphantly rip the signed paper and say, "Did you really think I would sign it—" But he did not. He simply handed it back to her.

"Fill up all the details and send it to my office later," Deculein replied.

"... Sorry?"

He walked past her without another word. As she stood there in a daze, his scent gradually faded away.

Epherene stood, staring blankly at the Club Formation Proposal in her hand. There was a signature—Deculein's signature. She shouldn’t let her guard down just yet. He might have cast a spell to make it tear after some time. Yet, even as Deculein walked away, becoming smaller and smaller until he was just a dot in the distance, the paper remained intact.

"Woah, wow, wow, wow! That was amazing!"

Her pesky classmates, who had been hiding, finally showed up.

"Wow, you really got his signature... Epherene, you've got some guts."

"See? I told you, to that professor, nobles and commoners are the same! He ignores everyone equally!"

They laughed and made a fuss, but Epherene wasn't happy. She felt awful. Once again—though it wasn't intentional—she had sought pity. Anger surged within her, heating her body. She wanted to ask Deculein why he was being so lenient with her.

She didn’t need his worthless pity or compassion. It was ridiculous, nothing more. He should have been able to overcome such trivial emotions himself. If he was truly sorry, he should have confessed his wrongdoings to the world and apologized to her father.

"Epherene, you're going to join too, right?" Julia asked without reading the room.

Epherene clenched her fists and turned to glare at her.

"No, I'm not. And if you push me like that again, you'll be in big trouble," Epherene said coldly, but Julia's attention was already elsewhere.

"Oh, no, she is not just joining. Epherene, you should be the president since we're founding the club because of you!"

"You've got to be kidding," Epherene said.

What is wrong with this girl? Epherene shook her head in disbelief.

"Hey, I said I'm not doing it—"

But then.

"Right, since today is a special occasion, I'll treat you all to something even better! Let’s go to my place! My dad brought in some Roahawk boar," Julia said.

Roahawk boar. Epherene had never eaten that before. In fact, it wasn't something common that anyone could eat. It was an incredibly high-graded boar. Raised on Euphrain perilla leaves, these pigs lived better lives than most people. The moment you bit into the meat, the juice would burst forth, and its texture was said to be the most tender in the world...

"Ephie! You're coming too, right?!"

"No, I'm not going," Epherene, acting full of herself, pouted her lips and pretended to be angry. Julia clasped her hands together and bowed her head.

"Ah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Did I scare you? I was so startled. Come on, don't be like that, let's go together just this once," Julia begged Epherene.

Epherene really appreciated Julia asking her again.

"... Alright then. But don’t do something like this again," Epherene replied.

"Of course not! Let’s go, let’s go~" Julia said.

"I stepped in on purpose because I also thought that your cause is—"

"I know, I know. Let’s go, let’s go~" Julia said, linking arms with Epherene as they walked off.

After pretending to be reluctantly dragged along, Epherene arrived at Julia's restaurant, Flower of the Pig. The restaurant, from its sign to its interior, exuded luxury. The food was delicious, delicious, and delicious. Especially the Roahawk boar—it was so exquisite that she wanted to savor its taste forever.

***

On the last Thursday of March, in the annex of the Yukline mansion, which had been completely renovated into a training ground and gym without any sunlight, I brushed back my wet hair. My body reflected in the mirror was drenched in sweat from intense exercise.

Normally, being Kim Woo-Jin, I wouldn't have cared, but my changed personality made it feel like bugs were crawling all over me.

Snap!

I used a basic spell from the common series. As a three-stroke spell, it could be activated with just a snap of my fingers. It was called Cleanse. It gathered all the sweat and dust from my body into the air, serving as a stopgap solution before showering.

After I had roughly cleaned myself with it, I checked the time. It was 6 a.m. I had been up since 4 a.m., so two hours had passed. It has been about five days since I started working out every morning. I looked at my body in the full-length mirror.

The effects of the exercise were clear. My muscles were functional and perfectly sculpted, not too big or bulky, resembling a statue. This was undoubtedly thanks to the Iron Man attribute.

Any exercise was easy, and even if I had muscle soreness, I recovered quickly. If I continued with this routine for a couple of months, I felt I could easily surpass top NFL and NBA athletes in pure physical ability.

"Now, for the next routine..."

The next training should be about the Qi-Controlled Levitating Blades. I took out the Cherished Item I had commissioned from the blacksmith. There weren't just one or two, but exactly twenty. The material was Wood Steel, a top-grade metal that looked and weighed like wood but was harder than steel.

These weapons could be described as sharp octahedrons. They were half the size of my forearm, resembling shurikens but without handles, with both sides being blades—symmetrical in form. They were sharp on all sides and pointed at every tip, making them very efficient to handle with Telekinesis.

They were suitable for stabbing, slashing, piercing, and launching attacks. In an emergency, they could be combined to form a defensive shield. In short, they were makeshift shurikens, to be used until I obtained Snowflower Stone, which I also planned to craft in a similar manner.

"Rise."

With that one word, twenty shurikens floated into the air.

Whirrrrr...

The numerous shurikens quickly took flight but soon began colliding with each other, creating a total mess.

Clang—! Clink—! Clang—! Clink—! Crash—!

The roof and columns shattered. I quickly reduced the number of shurikens to ten. I still wasn't used to handling them, especially since Wood Steel was such a high-grade metal. I positioned five shurikens diagonally on the right side and the remaining five on the left.

The ten shurikens flew through the air like a house of cards. Reducing the number seemed to make them move more precisely—or so I thought.

Clang—!

When I increased the speed, two shurikens collided and ricocheted off each other.

One of them cut my shoulder. Fuck. I mumbled curses under my breath but held back. Then, another shuriken shot up and stabbed me in the thigh.

"... That fucking hurts."

"... Hup!"

Clink—!

Instead, I felt only anger. The shurikens, mere weapons, dared to defy my control. They had chosen the wrong opponent. I would keep going until I won—until I definitely won. My Competitiveness personality trait kicked in. There's a famous saying about learning through pain. The more my body hurt, the faster my skills would improve, so I had nothing to lose.

“... Ahem. Ahem ahem.”

Creeeak—

The mages opened their textbooks. Since it was an ordinary indoor lecture, each of them had brought Deculein's book, Understanding Elements. However, Epherene had not bought it because she couldn't afford it.

Snap—!

With a snap of his fingers, the classroom lights went out. In the dark, a magical spell and its name appeared—Scorching Fire.

"Huh?"

Everyone was shocked. Scorching Fire was known to be one of the most difficult spells among the Pure Elements.

"However, Scorching Fire requires eighty-eight strokes."