Chapter 101 : Chapter 101
Chapter 101: Mimicry (3)
Chief looked at the existence in front of him.
Blood flowed from between the boy's lips.
Red spots fell from the tip of his chin, making small stains on the floor.
Above that, blue eyes had sunk coolly.
The appearance of a boy wearing a uniform.
Nevertheless, another figure seemed to overlap on top of it.
Balzac, a man who was arrogant, deceptive, and never lost his sneer.
But now, a layer of anger was overlaid on top of that arrogant momentum.
‘The atmosphere changed.’
It was right at the moment when Chief uttered the word 'perfect'.
The boy opened his mouth.
"……Perfect? You making me?"
The air froze.
A chill began to cover Chief's body.
A sensation as if dozens of snakes were crawling on his skin.
It was a familiar energy.
‘Did I provoke him?’
Balzac's momentum.
His breath started to choke at the eerie and cold killing intent.
‘It's been a really long time since I faced this level of momentum face-to-face.’
But Chief did not bend.
He raised his energy against the momentum rushing at him.
"Yes, I think your mind alone is quite perfect. That is why I prepared a special plan for you."
Chief's voice resonated low in the air.
"I even procured Balrog's heart. If only you had faithfully followed my modification plan……."
Possibilities discovered while creating numerous subspecies.
And Balzac, the spiritual entity of the demon world who knows no death.
If these two combine, he could finally become perfect.
"You could have become a flawless, perfect organism. Within a perfect vessel capable of containing the Soul of the Emperor."
Chief did not doubt that fact.
Until Balzac rejected the plan at will and escaped from him.
"You not only abandoned me but also gave up on the ultimate evolution."
PUFF-
Chief's nasal breath spewed out fiercely.
Soon, silence fell.
Chief waited for the boy to open his mouth.
However, he remained silent.
He just looked at Chief with a cold gaze, saying nothing.
"It seems you have nothing to say. Unlike you."
PUFF-
Chief mocked him along with rough breathing.
Then the boy's mouth curved subtly.
Slowly, he opened his mouth.
"There's no way I would have anything to say."
A cold voice mixed with anger and mockery.
"With a gold bar right in front of my eyes, what would I say to someone insisting on molding mud to make gold?"
At the boy's words, Chief's eyes narrowed thinly.
Chief looked at the boy in front of him.
‘Having a gold bar right in front of my eyes?’
Those words were not something to be taken lightly.
"Are you saying the body of that boy you are currently inhabiting is a perfect vessel?"
At that question, the boy's hand started moving toward the scabbard.
A smooth hand slowly grasped the hilt.
And in that instant.
Bloody momentum burst out immediately.
BOOOOM-!
Pressure vibrating the floor.
Sharp killing intent rushed right in front of Chief's nose.
Chief instinctively raised both arms.
As if facing an invisible wave.
Pressure tightening as if dominating the space.
Soon, Chief's foot took a step back.
Just one step.
But that was saying everything.
‘This is…….’
It might be real.
Chief's sharp gaze pierced the boy.
Arrogance filling the blue eyes.
Composure seeping from the curled lips.
Certainty that he is completely overwhelming the enemy.
And beyond that, the abyss faintly revealed.
Unfathomable potential was clearly squirming.
Just as tension welled up fully in Chief's body.
SNAP-
Like a lie, the bursting momentum was erased.
"Hmm?"
Chief narrowed his brows.
The intimidation that was exploding the air just a moment ago had disappeared without a trace.
Before he knew it, the boy was curled up tightly on the spot, clutching his shoulder.
"Ugh……."
Cracked breathing and trembling shoulders.
His body did not stop vibrating.
Chief blinked his eyes.
Just a moment ago, he was Balzac.
Although it was a boy's appearance, he could feel a clear 'identity' along with overwhelming momentum.
But the existence right in front of him now?
‘It's just a boy.’
It felt like time had turned back to the point when he first saw the boy here suffering from severe pain.
Why pretend to be weak all of a sudden?
Just as he harbored doubts briefly.
Strong energy touched his skin from far away.
Chief turned his head slowly.
‘Oho.’
And soon he realized.
‘Was it because of this?’
Chief looked at the boy again.
A weak appearance gasping for breath with difficulty.
He looked like an actor who failed acting.
But rather, that appearance was the true acting.
‘Does it mean instead of modifying the body, you chose to live as this boy?’
Chief understood.
At the same time, he acknowledged.
Because he felt it directly with his body just now.
There is potential in this boy's body.
Potential that Balzac can firmly believe in.
‘Let's postpone the modification plan.’
Chief took a step closer to the boy.
***
‘Huh?’
[Tactical Manual]
[Mimicry is deactivated.]
My eyelids trembled heavily.
Somehow I felt drowsy.
It felt like I had a dream.
Like just waking up from a dream, words and actions I did until just before came to mind.
And as mimicry was deactivated unexpectedly, I returned to being pure 'me' again.
‘Why suddenly?’
Until just before, I was bluffing in full swing in front of Chief.
That I don't need your body modification, that I will live in this body, that I can pursue perfection sufficiently with this body.
I expressed attitudes Balzac would likely have through words and actions.
A perfect pretense was being carried out enough that even I would have been fooled.
But mimicry was deactivated suddenly.
Sensations were readjusted as if a switch was turned off immediately.
"Ah."
And as if waiting, intense pain raged again.
As mimicry peeled off, the pain I had 'ignored as Balzac' until just before raised its head again.
‘Damn it.’
Why was it released suddenly?
It was just perfect until just now.
At the intense pain seeping into every cell and my mind becoming distant, I barely started gasping for breath.
At that moment when strength went into my molars.
GRAB-!
Chief, who approached right in front of my nose before I knew it, grabbed my neck like lightning.
Breath was choked off, and my vision shook.
‘W-What?’
Damn, did I touch a nerve wrong somehow?
What was the problem?
Why on earth?
‘Did I provoke him uselessly?’
Just before, I raised intense momentum in front of Chief.
But if told to replicate it exactly, I don't really know how.
Actions I could take thanks to becoming Balzac.
So I thought it would be effective.
"Ugh……."
However, Chief started choking my neck.
Grip tightening as if to suffocate.
Blood rushed to my brain, and tinnitus rang.
Is it a failure? Just then.
Chief's emotion floated up with the Eye of Deception.
[Chief]
[Interest, Expectation]
Before I knew it, anger or hatred had disappeared, and the gaze looking at me was filled with expectation.
Like an experimenter who discovered an interesting research topic.
Then it should be a success.
Why on earth are you choking my neck?
It was the moment curses rose to the tip of my throat.
The surrounding air slowly became heavy.
On top of Chief's intimidation, another pressure settled heavily.
The identity was soon revealed.
‘Instructor?’
Kang Mooseong.
Tanned skin, massive build, and vicious muscles.
The man called the Monster Instructor of Zero Academy revealed himself.
I realized immediately.
The reason Chief suddenly grabbed my neck and lifted me up.
He had noticed the fact that Kang Mooseong was approaching.
‘……Then did he rather cover for me?’
If we showed a scene facing Chief peacefully in this situation, Instructor Kang Mooseong would have found it strange.
The interest or positive emotions Chief showed me were real.
In other words, it means the bluff I pulled as Balzac worked properly.
However, before I could shout hurrah, pressure was added to Chief's grip.
I know it's acting, but would it hurt to do it gently?
"Ugh……."
A moan of 100% purity with absolutely no lies mixed in flowed from my mouth.
"Hey, mister."
Kang Mooseong reacted immediately.
Kang Mooseong, approaching slowly, stood in front of Chief and continued speaking.
His eyes were shining sharply blue.
"I wish you would let go of that hand. That kid is my disciple."
"Disciple?"
Chief scanned my outfit again as if seeing it for the first time.
"So he was a cadet of Zero. Then you are……."
Chief tilted his head toward Kang Mooseong.
"This boy's nanny. Is that it?"
"Mister, there is a good word called teacher, you know?"
Two big shots stood facing each other.
Nasal breath and breath touched in the air.
‘To think these two meet now.’
Scenery seen blurrily while being choked by Chief's hand.
It was the appearance of two big shots standing facing each other.
Zero's strongest instructor Kang Mooseong, and the Alliance's executive Chief.
The two were sizing each other up without suppressing their momentum at all.
The problem lies with me stuck next to them.
‘Can't breathe…….’
Breath gets choked on its own.
Feeling like a hairtail caught between whales due to the momentum the two were exuding.
‘I wish it would rather pass without incident.’
My position was quite ambiguous.
On Kang Mooseong's side, 'Ryu Jinwoo', a cadet and disciple.
And on Chief's side, villain 'Balzac'.
In this place where the two stood facing each other, even my two egos were clashing with each other.
The tightening breath and surging nausea were bonuses.
Was my feeling transmitted?
Suddenly, the pressure choking my neck disappeared.
THUD-
Falling to the floor and looking up, my gaze met Chief's.
An indifferent expression as if saying he would stop here for today.
It looked like he was going to withdraw obediently.
It is a natural choice for Chief.
Because he came to check the existence who killed Gonta, that is, me, in the first place.
And since he found out that the identity was actually 'Balzac', he had no business left here.
Chief shook his shoulders and turned his body.
‘Disappear quickly.’
At that moment when I muttered a quiet wish inwardly.
"Wait, wait, you can't just go."
A voice with a light tone was heard.
It was Kang Mooseong.
Unlike his tone, a serious light dwelt in his eyes.
‘Instructor?’
Chief stopped his steps abruptly and looked back at Kang Mooseong.
An expression asking what he was trying to say.
"Mister, didn't you release monsters and stuff this time?"
"If I did?"
At Kang Mooseong's question, Chief answered calmly.
Beyond brazenness, a reaction of 'not even knowing what the problem itself is'.
"Then you can't return just like this."
At that light answer, Kang Mooseong's voice sank heavily.
"I let that boy go obediently. Seol Hayun next to him too."
As Chief gestured toward us with his head, Kang Mooseong crossed his arms and opened his mouth.
"Ah, I'm thankful for that. But you still haven't paid the price for your sins? It's not right to try to slip away leisurely when what you committed is huge."
Muscles squirmed roughly on his crossed arms.
Chief's shoulders shrugged lightly.
"That is none of your concern."
As if intending to finish with that one word, Chief turned his back and strode away.
Kang Mooseong glanced back at me while whistling.
"Villain bastards are usually like that. They don't even know what they did wrong."
Kang Mooseong, shaking his head, hid his figure in an instant.
GRAB-
Sound of snatching something was heard from somewhere.
BOOOOM-!
Intense shock spread with momentum to shift the earth's crust.