Chapter 14
Chapter 14: Proposal (1)
“…It’s nothing.”
As Jung Minwoo mumbled his answer,
“Is that so?”
Black Goat turned his head again and started chatting with the other demons.
Jung Minwoo couldn’t take his eyes off Black Goat, his face filled with bewilderment.
‘How is this possible?’
It was only natural to be confused, as there couldn’t be a difference in Rank unless a name was given.
‘…Think.’
Jung Minwoo composed himself and started racking his brain.
As a result of straining his mind,
‘Are there about three hypotheses…?’
He could come up with three plausible hypotheses.
‘First, the hypothesis is that the instructor is undercover to evaluate the students, hiding their identity.’
The hypothesis of an instructor hiding their identity and lurking among the students to conduct hidden evaluations seemed plausible at first glance, as there could be other evaluations he wasn’t aware of.
‘But this hypothesis has a major flaw.’
That flaw was that a demon with a Rank higher than most instructors would have to be undercover.
‘Because I can use Demon Eye and Mind’s Eye on other instructors without any problems.’
In other words, it would have to be a demon at least as powerful as the massive demon from the gymnasium auditorium during the entrance ceremony.
‘…And this guy in front of me has a higher Rank than that massive demon…’
The reason why Jung Minwoo judged him to have a higher Rank was simple.
‘That guy grasped what even the massive demon couldn’t sense.’
Black Goat seemed to have easily figured out that he had used Demon Eye.
‘This makes the probability of the first hypothesis very low.’
However, he decided not to completely rule it out, as there was still a possibility that a high-ranking instructor was undercover.
‘The second hypothesis is that a high-ranking demon is undercover.’
It might not seem much different from the first hypothesis, but there was a big difference.
‘If it’s a demon other than the instructor who is undercover, we can’t predict what they’ll do.’
T hi s w a s c op i e d f r om kin g mt l .o r g
Moreover, if the undercover demon made it to graduation, it would be safe to say that he would never be able to secure the top spot.
‘If there are more demons like this, it will become uncertain whether I can even graduate, let alone become the top student.’
Therefore, Jung Minwoo could only hope that the second hypothesis wasn’t true.
‘The last, third hypothesis is the birth of a monster.’
Simply put, it would be like a once-in-a-lifetime prodigy appearing.
‘There’s bound to be a monster that defies common sense.’
If it had this level of Rank without even a name, he would have to cleanly give up the top spot.
‘In my situation, I can only pray for the first hypothesis.’
Jung Minwoo smiled bitterly to himself.
‘But even if it falls under the second or third hypothesis, I have no intention of giving up.’
He was someone who had competed in an unfair environment in his previous life.
‘I’m not the type to give up so easily.’
Therefore, he intended to struggle using every method possible to secure the top spot.
‘Originally, I was going to get information about Pink Girl, but since Black Goat seems more dangerous, I need to focus on digging up information about him.’
Jung Minwoo decided to postpone gathering information about the others and focus on investigating Black Goat.
Just as he was lost in thought,
“Then, let’s end today’s meeting here!”
Pink Girl clapped her hands, signaling the end of the meeting.
“Number 1-nim, please actively participate from next time!”
“…Alright.”
Jung Minwoo nodded and stood up from his seat.
“Then, I’ll be going.”
The moment he was about to take a step to leave the meeting room,
“Hey.”
Thud, thud, thud.
Black Goat called out to him and approached.
“See you later?”
He then left the meeting room, uttering those cryptic words.
“…”
Jung Minwoo stared at Black Goat’s retreating figure and followed suit.
Even though he said he would dig up information about Black Goat, Jung Minwoo had something to do before that, so he stopped by the dormitory and headed to his personal breeding grounds.
‘Let’s see if they’re training properly.’
When he entered the gymnasium,
“””Huff, huff, huff!”””
‘They’re doing it right.’
He could see the goblins engaged in training.
They were so passionate that a cloud of mist had formed on the ceiling.
“Kiek!”
The goblin wearing a shoulder strap spotted him and shouted towards the other goblins.
“””Kiek!”””
The goblins behind him stopped their training and saluted Jung Minwoo with a loud voice.
The awkward salutes he had seen in the morning were gone, replaced by decidedly sharp salutes.
“At ease.”
Jung Minwoo returned the salute and shifted his gaze to the goblin wearing the shoulder strap.
“How was today’s training?”
“Kiek!”
T h i s w as c o p i ed f r o m k i ng m t l .o r g
The goblin answered energetically with a confident expression, as if to say there were no problems.
‘Judging from their actions, it seems like they’ve been diligently participating in the training.’
However, he couldn’t just listen to the goblin’s words and believe them, so Jung Minwoo decided to check for himself in the control room.
“I’ll be back in a bit, so continue training.”
Jung Minwoo turned around and left the gymnasium, heading straight to the control room.
‘There was a function to replay the recorded footage, right?’
As he entered the control room and manipulated the keyboard in front of the monitor,
‘Here it is.’
The footage from after he left the training ground in the morning began to play on the monitor.
‘The penalty exercises lasted quite a while.’
T his wa s co p ied fro m k i ng mt l. o r g
Watching the footage, he could see that the penalty exercises continued for several minutes.
‘This isn’t important, so let’s fast-forward the footage.’
T h i s w a s co pi e d fr om k i n g m tl .o r g
Click, click.
He tapped the keyboard lightly, and the playing footage sped up to 20x speed.
‘They did five laps of jumping properly, and as I ordered, 90 of them were excluded from the meal.’
He couldn’t help but smile in satisfaction at how obediently they were following his orders.
‘I thought it would take more than a month to establish a system, but it seems like it can be done much faster than I thought?’
At this rate, it seemed like they would run smoothly on their own after just a week of management.
‘Are they cut out for the military?’
At first, he thought they wouldn’t adapt properly, but as expected of a species that lived in groups, they showed a quick adaptability.
‘Now that I’ve checked, shall I go teach them how to control demonic energy?’
Jung Minwoo headed back to the gymnasium where the goblins were to teach them how to control demonic energy.
“Everyone, stop training and sit down on the floor.”
At Jung Minwoo’s command, the goblins sat down on the floor with sharp postures.
“From now on, we will have a session to teach you about controlling demonic energy.”
At the mention of ‘demonic energy’, the goblins’ eyes sparkled as they looked at Jung Minwoo.
“You all know how important demonic energy is, so I won’t explain it separately.”
Jung Minwoo pointed to the 10 goblins wearing shoulder straps and said,
“I will explain how to control demonic energy to everyone, but I will only give individual lessons to the squad leaders wearing shoulder straps.”
At his words that he would only give individual lessons to the squad leaders, the goblins showed expressions of dissatisfaction, but
“If you have complaints, raise your rank or get a shoulder strap. This is also one of the benefits.”
Jung Minwoo’s will was firm.
‘This way, they’ll work harder if I discriminate based on rank.’
The lower-ranked goblins would strive to raise their rank, and the higher-ranked goblins would work harder to maintain their position.
T h i s w as c o pie d f r o m k i n g mt l . or g
‘And it’s not like I have time to spare to look after all 100 of them.’
Above all, he wasn’t someone leisurely enough to devote all his time to the goblins.
“Then, I will begin explaining how to control demonic energy. First…”
Afterwards, Jung Minwoo explained in detail to the goblins about controlling demonic energy.
T hi s wa s c o p i e d f r om kin g m t l. o r g
“Now that the explanation is over, let’s start the individual lessons.”
Jung Minwoo turned his gaze to where the squad leader goblins were.
T h i s wa s c o p i e d f rom k ing mt l . o r g
‘Who should I start with…’
As he was pondering over his first lesson partner,
‘Yes, this guy would be good.’
The goblin with the ‘Demonic Energy Affinity’ talent caught his eye.
“Number A―1, come forward and sit down.”
“Kiek!”
Seeing him seated, Jung Minwoo placed his hand on the goblin’s back and said,
“As you heard in the explanation, absorb demonic energy.”
“Kiek!”
At Jung Minwoo’s command, the goblin answered energetically and closed his eyes.
T h is w a s c o p ie d f r om k i ngm t l . org
‘Then, shall I use Demon Eye right away?’
He then tried using Demon Eye.
‘The demonic energy is faint.’
He could see faint demonic energy lingering on the goblin’s skin.
‘Can I check inside the body too?’
Jung Minwoo focused his mind as he looked at the goblin’s body.
‘…I can see it!’
The demonic energy inside the body started to become visible.
‘With this, it should be possible.’
Jung Minwoo carefully observed the demonic energy the goblin was absorbing.
‘It’s faint, but the demonic energy is heading towards the heart.’
As expected of a goblin with the ‘Demonic Energy Affinity’ talent, the start wasn’t bad.
‘But most of the demonic energy is scattering and disappearing on its way to the heart.’
Jung Minwoo raised his demonic energy and caught the scattering demonic energy.
‘I just need to guide the way.’
Then, as he guided the goblin’s demonic energy towards the heart, he said,
“Remember this sensation.”
Jung Minwoo watched, withdrawing his demonic energy to check if the goblin had properly understood his words.
‘The scattering demonic energy has significantly decreased.’
It was still clumsy, but the goblin was guiding the demonic energy towards the heart much better than before.
‘With this, we can move on to the next stage.’
Jung Minwoo ordered the goblin to stop taking deep breaths and spread the demonic energy throughout his entire body.
“Kiek!”
The goblin answered energetically and tried to spread the demonic energy, but
“Ki… Kiek?”
The demonic energy lingered around the heart and then disappeared.
‘It lacks the strength to spread the demonic energy.’
Jung Minwoo stimulated the goblin’s heart with demonic energy and then spread it throughout the body.
“…Ki, Keeer?!”
The goblin shuddered and made an expression filled with ecstasy.
Th i s w a s c op i e d f r o m ki n gmt l .o r g
“Try gathering demonic energy in your hand.”
At Jung Minwoo’s following command, the goblin came to his senses and controlled the demonic energy.
Woo-ung.
‘It’s a success.’
He could then see a faint, black aura enveloping the goblin’s hand.
‘From now on, the goblins’ strength will increase at a fast pace.’
It wouldn’t be as fast as Rok’s method, but they would be able to grow faster than other demons.
“Hit the sandbag in front of you.”
“Kiek!”
The goblin approached the sandbag with a confident expression and
“Kiek!”
threw a punch with all his might.
The punching form was quite poor, but
Thump!
T h is w a s c o p i e d f r o m k i n gm t l. o r g
The sandbag shook violently, and a cheerful sound rang out.
“…Ki, Kiek?”
The goblin couldn’t hide his surprise and stared at his own hand.
It was as if he was expressing admiration, as if to say, ‘Is this really my power?’
‘The first one ended successfully. Shall we move on to the next one right away?’
Afterwards, Jung Minwoo could only leave the personal breeding grounds after attending to all 9 remaining goblins.
“Phew, I’m tired.”
Jung Minwoo rotated his stiff shoulders as he walked out of the black space.
“I should study after taking a shower…”
And the moment he entered the bathroom to take a shower,
Halt―
He could see a figure sitting on the bed.
Gulp―
Jung Minwoo infused his ring with demonic energy, ready to attack at any moment, and said,
“…Who are you?”
“…”
The figure didn’t answer his question.
He tried to check their face, but the room was too dark to make out who it was.
Jung Minwoo frowned and carefully moved towards the switch.
Step, step, step.
“…”
He moved while preparing for a surprise attack, but the figure didn’t seem to have any intention of attacking, just staying still.
Click―
As he turned on the switch,
Whoosh―
The torch lit up, illuminating the room.
“…You are?”
And upon seeing the face of the figure that he couldn’t see in the darkness, Jung Minwoo couldn’t hide his bewilderment.
“I told you I’d see you later, right?”
It was because Black Goat from the meeting was sitting there.