[Translator - Helga ]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
Chapter 2
"Ugh..."
I must have blacked out for a mont.
When I opened my eyes, I wasn't in the deep, cavernous lair of the High Society where I had died.
A blue light faintly illuminated the ceiling.
Scalpels, knives, saws, and blood samples lined the shelves.
The stench of rotting flesh and blood assaulted my senses.
This place, surrounded by cold tal walls, was a laboratory. My body was suspended from a pillar in the center, my hands bound by iron chains.
"...This place again."
The first ti this happened, I was completely taken aback, but now I felt nothing. I'd been through this so many tis it felt like ho.
Beep-
A familiar notification sounded in my head. And as usual, a ssage appeared before my eyes.
[Your soul has been possessed by the villainous 'Blood Demon' body.]
[Due to the Blood Demon's characteristics, you have awakened the 'Bloodsucking' spell.]
[The 'Bloodsucking' spell allows you to absorb life force and essence from your target's blood.]
[Due to the Blood Demon's characteristics, you have awakened the 'Polymorph' spell.]
[The wild instincts latent in your blood react to the 'Polymorph' spell.]
[‘Bat’ has been added to your Polymorph spell list.]
[A main quest has arrived.]
[Main Quest: Survive until the end of the story.]
"...Dreadful."
I closed my eyes tightly.
This endless restart was no longer just tireso; it was torture.
Survive until the end of the story, huh? How?
Even after becoming the highest-ranking mber of the world's largest villain organization, I still died.
"Just kill already! You damn ga!"
I looked up at the ceiling of the empty laboratory and shouted in rage.
I hoped that if there was a god who had thrown into this abyss, they would listen.
"...No, not a god. The one who brought here..."
I looked down at the magic circle drawn beneath .
This magic circle, emitting a soft glow, was a summoning circle.
It was created to place a soul from another dinsion into the empty body of a 'Blood Demon' villain.
Unlike other villains, the 'Blood Demon' had a unique origin. While ordinary villains suddenly developed villainous traits, the 'Blood Demon' was an artificially created villain born in a laboratory.
"He'll be here soon..."
I unconsciously started counting. Exactly two minutes after I regained consciousness in this laboratory, he would appear.
The damned bastard who made a villain.
5, 4, 3, 2...
CLANG-
The laboratory door creaked open, and he entered.
He was over six feet tall and slender.
He wore a crisp black lab coat.
His hair was slicked back.
His deep-set eyes under his prominent cheekbones had a compulsive look.
He wore an unusual monocle...
He was probably in his mid-twenties.
The mont he saw , he frowned, startled. I'd seen that expression so many tis I could practically recite the wrinkles on his forehead.
His first words would be... 'Finally, you're here.'
"Finally, you're here. What a troubleso soul you are."
As if reading my mind, the man spat out those words. His eyes, fixed on , held a mix of relief and mockery.
“You have no idea how much ti I wasted trying to put you in that body. You should have been summoned obediently. Why were you so difficult, just a wandering soul?”
The man, who looked like a mad scientist with his monocular glasses, seed quite stressed from all the trial and error. As soon as he saw , he started to sneer.
When I first arrived here, I had no idea what he was talking about, but now I understood why he was so irritable.
His na was Do Jin-hak.
Known as Professor D, he was a scientist and a professor at the Masterclass, the world's top military academy that produced the Seven Heroes.
‘A professor in na only, he's really a psychopath who kidnaps villains and conducts all sorts of experints on them.’
In ‘Military Chronicle,’ Professor D plays a crucial role in the story by significantly increasing the average abilities of the military units through various chira research projects.
He's the reason why the Seven Heroes beco so overwhelmingly powerful.
‘So at first, I thought things would be easier if I killed him early on…’
But even after killing Professor D, the story didn’t unfold as I had expected. No matter what I did, another psychopathic scientist would appear to take his place. This ga must have so kind of protagonist buff.
‘At this point, it’s like the villains are just ant to die.’
No matter what I did, the outco was always the sa. The world was overwhelmingly biased against the villains.
How could I possibly escape from a world like this...?
“Hmm, your eyes look like a rotten fish's. Can’t understand your situation, can you?”
He spoke to as if I were a worthless toy.
‘I’m not surprised.’
He was famous for his sarcastic remarks, even in the ga. It was hard to find anyone willing to be around him.
But now, after 138 cycles...
‘...He’s still as rude as ever.’
It was still irritating. I should be used to it by now, but I couldn’t. Even after 1,380 cycles, his tone would still grate on .
Professor D had a twisted personality, and he was obsessed with conducting bizarre experints.
‘The experint he’s conducting now is to enhance villainous traits.’
It was a kind of chira research experint where he combined different villains to artificially enhance their unique traits.
However, the trait enhancent experints had failed repeatedly in the past. The experintal villain's ntal state would collapse, unable to withstand the experint.
‘So this is the solution he ca up with: putting souls from other dinsions into the bodies of villains.’
Since the villains' ntal states couldn't withstand the experint, he decided to summon powerful souls from other dinsions to inhabit the villains' bodies.
He calculated that souls from other dinsions would be able to withstand the side effects of the trait enhancent experint.
‘That's how the chapter 1 mid-boss villain, the ‘Blood Demon,’ was born…’
Professor D's hypothesis was correct, and subsequently, the ‘Blood Demon’ underwent various modifications to enhance its traits, becoming a test villain to challenge the player and their companions.
In the main storyline, the player and their companions would encounter this enhanced villain for the first ti, be surprised, but eventually defeat it. They would gradually uncover the clues about trait enhancent and eventually discover Professor D's identity.
‘I had barely managed to escape from the laboratory to avoid that storyline…’
However, there was no point in trying the route of joining the High Society and stopping the Seven Heroes. Nothing would change the fact that I would die no matter what.
So what should I do now?
“Why aren’t you saying anything? Are you that devastated? To be trapped in the body of such a monster?”
Professor D spoke to with a look of curiosity.
‘No wonder.’
He had finally succeeded in summoning a soul from another dinsion. He must be thrilled to be able to conduct all sorts of experints on .
But hearing those words so many tis had filled with nothing but rage.
I snapped back, "What do you think it's like for ?"
"...What?"
"I've died and been reborn 137 tis, and I'm about to die again. Do you have any idea how pissed off that makes ?"
"What are you talking about..."
"Cut the crap and just give the drug."
"...What are you talking about?"
I pointed at the shelf on the wall. "That blue vial. It's the neural paralytic you prepare to give when I'm summoned, right?"
Professor D's expression hardened as he looked at . The curiosity in his eyes was gone.
"...It's as if you've seen into the future."
"Yeah, I've told you this over a hundred tis."
"I'm sorry, but I'm not foolish enough to fall for such a trick. Ti travel is a fallacy, and no existence with similar properties has ever been reported."
"I've heard that over a hundred tis too."
When I finished speaking, Professor D's face turned cold. He looked at with the eyes of a technician who had found a serious defect in a product.
"This is an unexpected error... Did I draw the summoning circle wrong? Or maybe the subject's brain was damaged from the start."
Do Jin-hak carefully examined my condition and muttered various speculations to himself.
Then, he sighed briefly and snapped his fingers.
"Caesar, initiate the disposal process. Target: experintal subject P412."
An AI voice responded from sowhere in the laboratory.
-Initiating disposal process for P412. Power output 5%... 13%...
As the AI assistant carried out the order, an electric current began to flow through the iron chains binding my wrists.
The disposal process ant exactly what it sounded like.
It was a process of reducing the experintal subject to ashes with ultra-high voltage.
It was a punishnt for subjects deed unrepairable.
"To think I would have to discard a villainous experint so quickly. It's a sha, but there's nothing I can do."
As Do Jin-hak spoke coldly, the electric current flowing through my wrists grew stronger. My blood was boiling, and it was difficult to breathe.
‘If I stay like this, I’ll soon turn into black ashes.’
I could clearly see my future.
I knew because I had gone through this disposal process countless tis during the 138 cycles.
‘But if I don’t take that neural paralytic, this is the only way.’
If I took Professor Do's neural paralytic, I would be subjected to various modifications and beco his obedient puppet. I would have no choice but to be used as a test subject for students.
‘That's why I found a way to avoid taking the neural paralytic.’
And the way I found was to beco a defective experint.
Do Jin-hak, with his perfectionist tendencies, would imdiately dispose of any experintal subject that he deed defective.
He never imagined that it would be his own neck that would be on the line.
"You're quiet now."
Professor Do looked at with cynical eyes.
"You said you saw the future, but you didn't see this future, did you? A monster like you, daring to play gas with ."
I didn't answer.
I couldn't. I had to grit my teeth and endure the increasing voltage if I wanted to stay conscious.
‘Didn’t see this future?’
I had seen it more than enough. I had gone through this route dozens of tis.
I knew exactly how long this body could endure, and at what mont I had to move.
-Power output 48%... 54%... 66%...
-A fatal level of electric current is flowing through the experintal subject.
-To prevent accidents, please stay at least 5 ters away from the subject.
Smoke began to seep from my body, and I could sll myself burning.
Do Jin-hak pulled a cloth from his pocket, covered his nose, and took a few steps back, his expression twisted in disgust.
One step, two steps...
And on the third, he turned his back.
‘Now's my chance.’
Enduring the electric shock as long as I could, I took advantage of the mont he turned and flung the chains binding my wrists.
ZAP-!
"Oof!"
The chain, still attached to my wrist, wrapped around Do Jin-hak's ankle, and the electric current surged through his body.
Do Jin-hak let out a horrible scream.
"Ughh, ughh! How, how did you... the chains...?"
He couldn't understand how the chains that bound my hands had co loose.
‘He’ll never guess. I’ve restarted this part so many tis to figure out how to break these chains.’
Thanks to that, I had learned how to twist my fingers and wrists to slip out of the chains.
I had used this exact thod to escape the lab and join the High Society in previous playthroughs.
"Cough, cough... So, cough...! That ans I've used this tried-and-true escape thod over a hundred tis."
"Ugh..."
Do Jin-hak, lying on the floor, finally realized that what I was saying wasn't a lie.
But it was too late.
Even though his AI assistant had quickly cut off the power, the brief shock had paralyzed Do Jin-hak's body.
"Since even I, a villain, can barely withstand that level of electricity, it's only natural for a human body to be paralyzed like that."
Do Jin-hak glared at , his eyes wild.
But he was powerless.
The situation had completely reversed in an instant.
Crack, crack-
I popped the joints in my fingers and wrists, lost in thought.
‘Now... what do I do now?’
So far, I had simply followed the escape route I'd perfected through countless repetitions. In the past, I would escape the lab as soon as I could, afraid of being caught.
‘But just escaping won’t solve anything.’
Even after escaping hundreds of tis and trying to stop the Seven Heroes, I had always failed. Maybe escaping wasn't the answer.
Perhaps I should stay in the lab and find a way to prevent the birth of the Seven Heroes.
But how could I do that?
Just then, I heard a knock on the lab door.
"Professor Do? Are you in there?"
A strange voice I had never heard before.
It seed that one of Do Jin-hak's assistants had co to the lab while I was deep in thought.
‘I guess I got lost in thought.’
Usually, I would escape as soon as I freed myself, but this ti was different.
Do Jin-hak was struggling to make so kind of distress call with his immobile mouth.
I locked eyes with Do Jin-hak and held my breath, ready to kill anyone who dared to enter.
But instead of opening the door, the assistant called out from outside in an urgent voice.
"Professor Do? Is everything alright? The Masterclass faculty just contacted . They've finalized the date for the final interview for the new professor position that they offered you. They sent the details in an email, so you should take a look at it soti today..."
A new professor at the Masterclass?
That thought sparked sothing in my mind.
According to the tiline of 'Military Chronicle', Do Jin-hak was about to take up a teaching position at the Masterclass around the ti the Blood Demon was summoned.
‘That ans no one at the academy knows Professor D personally.’
Moreover, Do Jin-hak was known as a quirky psychopath with terrible social skills.
Even if soone impersonated him, there would be no close acquaintances who would notice.
Even if that soone was a villain, an enemy of the military.
‘If I impersonate Do Jin-hak and take up the teaching position... I might be able to prevent the students from becoming the Seven Heroes.’
It was a new plan that had suddenly popped into my head.
It was a dangerous and absurd idea that I hadn't considered before.
Infiltrating the enemy's territory and posing as a professor wouldn't be easy.
It might even be more difficult than becoming one of the 'Four Evils' of the High Society.
‘But I have no other choice right now.’
I couldn't think of any other brilliant solutions, no matter how hard I tried.
After dying 138 tis, I needed to grasp at any straw.
"Ugh... Uuugh..."
I glared at Do Jin-hak.
He seed to understand the aning in my eyes and tried desperately to move.
But his paralyzed body couldn't move a milliter. I slowly approached him and said, "I don't know what you've done in the past. But I know exactly what you're going to do."
As a farewell, I opened my mouth and sank my fangs into his neck.
[Casting 'Bloodsucking' spell.]
[Absorbing 'Essence of Do Jin-hak' through the blood you've sucked.]
[You have acquired 5% of 'Essence of Do Jin-hak'.]
['Do Jin-hak' has been added to your Polymorph spell list.]
[Translator - Helga ]
[Proofreader - Starfall ]
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