Villain Takes Over The Academy #Chapter 62 - Read Villain Takes Over The Academy Chapter 62 Online - All Page

Chapter 62

[Translator - Helga ]

[Proofreader - Starfall ]

Chapter 62

Shin A-sol, Yang Se-ah, and I continued exploring the abandoned school in silence.

As we passed through the blood-stained main entrance, we found ourselves once again in the hallway with the iron door—the same place where I had first met Shin A-sol.

“The door is still open. Looks like we won’t need another spell to unlock it.”

Relieved that she wouldn’t have to waste energy unnecessarily, Shin A-sol stepped forward through the iron door. Just like before, the corridor beyond was pristine and full of life, as if untouched by the decay surrounding it.

“This must be another illusion spell, right?”

I turned to Yang Se-ah, who was walking beside me with hesitant steps. She glanced around at the hallway and classrooms before answering.

“Y-yes… That’s right. You mentioned that this place pulls people into an illusion world, didn’t you? It looks like they’ve used a technique that naturally leads from one illusion into a larger one.”

“Can you locate the switch?”

“That… I’m not sure. But if it’s an illusion of this level, I might be able to break it…”

Her voice trailed off, uncertain, as she pulled a talisman from her pocket.

It was inscribed with the Supreme Ultimate and Eight Trigrams, written with finely ground spirit ink infused with mystical formulas.

Holding the talisman between her hands in a triangular shape, she began chanting.

“Mahā-prajñā pāramitā hum…”

As she recited the spell, a light emerged from the center of her forehead, and the talisman in her hands burst into flames.

Then, an astonishing sight unfolded before us.

“The school… it’s collapsing!”

Like an earthquake had struck, the classrooms and hallways trembled violently, cracks splintering through them like shattered glass. Moments later, the illusion world crumbled, revealing the true, decrepit ruins of the abandoned school.

“Incredible…! To dispel such an intricate illusion so completely!”

Shin A-sol couldn’t hide her amazement.

I, however, shot her a cold look, as if to snap her back to reality. Watching that spell just now had only strengthened my suspicions.

‘As I thought… she’s the one. The one who cast the illusion over this school.’

The talisman Yang Se-ah used…

The Supreme Ultimate and Eight Trigrams talisman were the same kinds I had seen two days ago—when someone had broken into my office and planted a hidden camera.

There was no way another student at this academy would be using the exact same kind of talisman for illusion spells.

‘Which means the one who left that talisman in my office… was Yang Se-ah.’

If she had been helping Nam Kang-ik with something like that, then her timid demeanor was nothing but an act.

It wasn’t relevant yet, but in the future, Yang Se-ah would become a master of forbidden arts—capable of resurrecting the long-lost Blood Ritual.

She was the most likely suspect behind summoning the Mak, a being that drained the life force of students.

‘Her sudden rise in ranking… It wasn’t due to hard work. She must have sacrificed students to the Mak in exchange for the answers to her exams.’

Even her decision to tag along on this quest had likely been calculated. On the surface, she acted as if she was helping us, but in reality, she was probably scheming to offer us as sacrifices to the Divine Beast.

“…Do you think the students who were taken by the Divine Beast are still alive?” Yang Se-ah suddenly asked, perhaps to fill the awkward silence between us as we walked side by side.

I smirked and replied, “That’s unexpected. I didn’t think you would be worried about something like that.”

“Huh? What do you mean…?”

“The missing students—all of them were trying to cheat their way to higher scores. Are you really concerned about them? Don’t you think they got what they deserved?”

“T-that’s…”

Yang Se-ah hesitated, unable to answer.

Her expression betrayed her—she knew I had seen through her.

“I once met someone from the Yang family… Well, saying ‘once’ isn’t exactly right, considering the circumstances. Anyway, that woman was obsessed with the Yang Doctrine. She was willing to stake her life on supporting it.”

I spoke while recalling my memories from a previous cycle.

The 105th cycle—the first time I had encountered Nightmare Creator Yang Se-ah.

After she had asked me to reveal the location of the Ghost Army, I had grown curious about what had made her so devoted to the Yang Doctrine.

And after some investigation, I had discovered the grim truth about the Yang family.

“It was quite a tragic story, really. Every child born into the Yang family has their potential measured at birth, don’t they? The one with the highest potential becomes the Heavenly Emperor.”

The unique and twisted tradition of the Yang family.

Those who were not chosen as the Heavenly Emperor were forced to dedicate their entire lives to serving the one who was. It was a tradition passed down for over a thousand years—one that shackled countless members of the family in unbreakable chains of fate.

“I even heard that families who give birth to high-potential children are rewarded with wealth and loyal retainers… all for the sake of the future Heavenly Emperor.”

On the other hand, families that gave birth to children with low potential were treated the opposite way.

The once-sturdy pillars of their households were uprooted.

The wealth and provisions that used to be distributed monthly were drastically reduced.

Even among their own kin, they were met with scorn and disdain...

"Because of that, children with low potential are subjected to education that is borderline abuse from a young age."

From the moment they are born, these children are fed the same words over and over, as if being brainwashed: You must become someone who can be even the slightest help to the Heavenly Emperor. If not, our family is doomed.

"You must have felt it deep in your bones since you were a child. That this world is a place where the victor is decided at birth. And yet, do you really expect me to believe that someone like you would be concerned about those students who disappeared after cheating?"

"......"

"That's why you sent out those random emails, isn't it? To lure in those consumed by greed and offer them as sacrifices. That way, you'd boost your grades and gain the Heavenly Emperor's recognition. And if that happened, your crumbling family would be blessed with riches beyond measure."

"...That's not true."

"But that's not all, is it? Even your parents, who never once held you in their arms, would finally say something kind to you. They'd shower you with the praise you've longed to hear your whole life."

"Shut up. You don’t know anything about my family..."

At that moment, Yang Se-ah's true colors began to emerge.

The killing intent she'd been suppressing seeped out, just like the Nightmare Creator I had seen in the previous timeline.

"You think the Yang Clan is strange? Then what about this academy? Here, as long as it means improving their grades, students commit murder without a second thought. In a place like this, what difference does it make if I sacrificed a few people?"

Her words tumbled out rapidly as she began backing away. I tried to grab her, but for some reason, my body wouldn't move.

"It’s useless. You’re already trapped in an illusion spell."

Just as she said, it felt as though my feet were rooted to the ground. I tried calling for Shin Ah-sol, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Confusing, isn't it? You have no idea when you got caught in this illusion again. And you never will."

Yang Se-ah's body split into two. Then four. Then eight.

Her numbers kept multiplying, until hundreds of her filled the space around me.

‘When did I fall into this illusion?’

I was genuinely caught off guard. After escaping the illusion spell earlier using a Return Scroll, I had been more cautious than ever. If I had triggered another switch on the way here, I definitely would have noticed…

"You never should have come here."

"Are you resenting the librarians? For only giving you one Return Scroll?"

"You’ll make an excellent offering, Professor. It’ll be my first time feeding Mak with a professor’s life force."

"For speaking so carelessly about the Yang Clan… pay with your life."

The voices of the countless Yang Se-ahs echoed throughout the abandoned school, overlapping like a never-ending chorus.

At the same time, blades formed in all of their hands, and they began advancing toward me.

"...Wait."

Something suddenly struck me as odd.

Among all the things she had just blurted out, there was one detail that didn't sit right with me.

"How do you know that I got the Return Scroll from the librarians? Normally, people would assume I bought it."

As if they had rehearsed it, the hundreds of Yang Se-ahs all fell silent at once.

Their expressions were those of someone caught off guard.

That meant this was the key to escaping this situation.

"The only person who knew I got the scroll from the librarians… was Shin Ah-sol. If you know that, then the person I was talking to in the library earlier wasn’t Shin Ah-sol at all."

Come to think of it… why was Yang Se-ah at the library during that time?

If it was just a coincidence, it was far too perfect. And if it wasn’t a coincidence, then there was only one possibility left.

"Which means… I never actually escaped the illusion using the Return Scroll in the first place. From the moment I first got caught in the illusion until now, I’ve been wandering through a false reality that you created."

Ding-!

[You have uncovered the secret of the illusion spell!]

[Intelligence has slightly increased!]

[Illusionist Affinity has slightly increased!]

As the message confirming my realization appeared, the world around me began to shift once again.

The countless Yang Se-ahs started to disappear one by one.

The abandoned school transformed into the library, the library into Sector M, and then finally, Sector M back into the school.

"As expected, you’re different, Professor. No one’s ever managed to break through my spell before."

This time, Yang Se-ah revealed herself on the school rooftop.

She looked down at me and began chanting.

In response, massive, burning meteors emerged from beneath the darkened clouds.

"But figuring it out doesn’t mean you can escape. Not unless you find the switch… or your mastery of illusions surpasses mine."

BOOM-!

At her command, the countless meteors began crashing down to the ground.

Fortunately, thanks to my increased affinity with illusions, I was finally able to move again. Without wasting a second, I dodged the falling debris.

‘I know this isn’t real… but that doesn’t mean I have to just stand here and take it.’

Even if it's just an illusion spell, taking damage in a high-level constructed reality like this inevitably leads to accumulated mental strain. That must be her goal—breaking my mind piece by piece.

‘Too bad for her, that won’t happen.’

There was one mistake in what Yang Se-ah said earlier. Even if I don’t know the switch’s location, even if my Illusionist Affinity isn’t high enough, there is still a way to escape from this illusion.

To be precise, a method has just now become available.

[Casting Do Jin-hak’s Spell: "Perception of Reality."]

[ENP increased to 130/180.]

[Your brain has begun perceiving the world in multiple dimensions.]

The moment I cast the spell, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the item.

Yang Se-ah’s talisman—the one I found in her office.

Talisman spells aren’t just generic items sold in stores. High-level talisman users craft their own, embedding their unique spell formulas and mechanisms into them.

Now that I knew this talisman belonged to Yang Se-ah, all I had to do was decipher it…

Ding-!

[Using "Perception of Reality" to analyze the spell structure of the talisman.]

[Skill "Speed Reading 1" activated.]

[Rapidly comprehending the spell formulas within Yang Se-ah’s talisman.]

[Significant increase in Illusionist Affinity.]

“It’s useless! No one escapes from here! No one…!”

BOOM-!

At her command, the meteors rained down even harder, slamming into the ground with deafening explosions. Buildings crumbled, and flames surged high into the sky.

The space for me to move was rapidly shrinking…

But despite the chaos, deciphering her talisman had paid off.

I had now fully grasped Yang Se-ah’s spell structure.

And my Illusionist Affinity had increased.

With these two advantages, I had everything I needed to strike back—

In a way that miserable girl would never see coming.

[Casting Spell: "Formula Deconstruction."]

[ENP increased to 150/180.]

[Attempting to deconstruct the spell "World of Dreams"…]

I immediately cast a Rank-2 Deconstructionist Department spell.

My current Deconstructionist Affinity was still lower than Yang Se-ah’s Illusionist Affinity.

‘Trying to break the spell head-on won’t work, obviously…’