The World After the Bad Ending - Chapter 2

A father’s only daughter was murdered.

The killer fled but was eventually caught by the police.

However, on the day the killer was released from prison, the father tracked him down and killed him with a knife, just like he had killed his daughter.

After being apprehended by the police, the father said,

「I lived until today for the sole purpose of killing that bastard. 」

Overwhelmed by grief and emptiness from losing his only daughter, he attempted suicide several times.

But every time, the killer’s face flashed in his mind, preventing him from ending his life.

He couldn’t bear to face his daughter in death without having avenged her, so he decided to kill the murderer instead of taking his own life.

Thus, he survived for 10 long years, driven by nothing but the desire for revenge.

Many people told him to let go of his anger and hatred, advising him that rage and vengeance would only ruin his life.

They urged him to forget and live his life.

But sometimes, anger, becomes the driving force that keeps one alive.

“Take it back.”

The girl standing in front of me now is like that.

Just moments ago, her eyes were dull, showing no will to live.

But now, they were shining brightly, filled with nothing but rage.

“Take back what you said about Lucas.”

Not long ago, we were introducing the new student and applauding.

But now, thanks to the bombshell I dropped, the whole situation had flipped upside down.

And of course, the one who made that explosive comment was me.

All eyes were now on me and Isabel.

The students were taken aback as they watched Isabel rise abruptly, seething with anger.

In the past year, no one had seen Isabel this furious.

Even those who were usually close to her couldn’t find the words to approach her now.

That’s how intense her anger was.

“Lucas?”

Meanwhile, what was I doing?

“Who’s that?”

I tilted my head innocently.

That act was perfectly crafted to provoke Isabel even further.

“The leader you just insulted!”

Grit-

Isabel ground her teeth.

“That leader is my childhood friend, Lucas.”

She added this final piece of information with a hint of kindness.

If it was a mistake, she’d let it slide this time.

So, apologize.

Her eyes were urging me.

“Oh.”

I let out a sigh of realization.

As if I had only just recognized my mistake.

The moment the others began to relax, thinking the situation would de-escalate,

“Nope, I don’t want to.”

I dropped another bombshell.

“You!”

“Isabel, that’s enough. Hanon, you too.”

Just as Isabel was about to charge at me, Professor Beganon intervened, stepping between us.

She sighed and gestured with her chin, clearly annoyed.

“Hanon, don’t cause trouble as soon as you arrive. Go sit in the empty seat.”

“Yes.”

I quickly responded and climbed the classroom steps, sitting in an empty seat.

Naturally, Isabel was glaring at me furiously the whole time.

Her face was filled with so much anger that she seemed at a loss for what to do.

‘Scary.’

Honestly, seeing that, I was frightened.

In my life, there have been few times when I’ve received such one-sided anger.

And besides, Isabel is the main heroine that I liked quite a lot.

Isabel is the main heroine of the story.

Of course, it’s impossible not to be fond of her.

So, being hated by her also pains me.

But right now, this is necessary.

Like the words that appear after a bad ending: The moment she chooses suicide, the world will truly come to an end.

‘Endure it, me.’

All of this is to live beyond the bad ending.

As I steeled my resolve, I felt another gaze on me.

When I turned my head to follow the gaze, there was a woman with black hair like mine.

Her appearance was so striking that it would make anyone gasp in admiration.

Eyes slightly upturned like a noble cat’s, a sharp nose, and dainty lips.

The final villainess,

Third Princess Iris Hyserion.

She was looking at me.

‘Did I draw too much attention?’

Knowing Iris’s backstory, I avoided her gaze.

She’s in a position where you could call her the final boss of the game.

‘It’s not time to get involved with her yet.’

As I averted my gaze, Iris also turned her head.

It seemed she was only briefly interested due to my sudden actions.

It wasn’t a deep interest.

Of course, Isabel’s gaze was still fixed on me.

‘Chilling.’

Will I really be able to handle this going forward?

What a spectacular way to start.

* * *

In the world of ‘Slayer Academy of the Demonic Palace’, there are six academies.

The common goal of these six academies:

To train students who will stop the threat sealed in the underground demonic palace, the ‘Archdemon’.

‘The reason for training students is simple.’

No one over the age of 19 can enter the underground demonic palace.

This is due to the curse of the Archdemon who rules the palace.

‘Looking back now, the Archdemon targeting teenagers seems a bit petty, but.’

Still, the setting has more reason than you’d think.

The Archdemon exudes power beyond the seal of the underground demonic palace, creating ‘Apostles’.

When an Apostle is first born, it’s incredibly weak.

But within the environment of the underground demonic palace, it continually evolves and grows stronger.

Once it reaches a point where it can leave the underground demonic palace,

it becomes a monster capable of killing the greatest heroes of the world.

It takes exactly 20 years for an Apostle to fully mature.

Apostles are greedy.

Even when they fully mature, they crave the Archdemon’s power so much that they can’t leave its influence.

After 20 years of maturation, the Apostles are immediately expelled to the surface by the rules of the demonic palace.

This is because the Apostles, who need to feed on the Archdemon’s power to survive, must seek out more power from the Archdemon.

It’s a mechanism designed to ensure that they become desperate to break the seal of the Archdemon.

These rules apply to humans as well.

Humans, once they turn twenty, are also barred from entering the demonic palace by its rules.

As mentioned earlier, Apostles are at their weakest right after they’re born.

To prevent the Apostles from growing stronger, the world decided to send teenagers into the underground demonic palace.

Thus, six academies were established.

They train students, aged 17 to 19, over a period of three years to enter the underground demonic palace.

A family whose student excels in the demonic palace earns great honor.

Not only are they highly praised by their country as a hero-bearing family, but they also receive the full support of the nation.

Because of this, the academies have a high percentage of noble students.

Many noble students flock to the academies with the intention of bringing glory to their families.

For family honor, and to protect the world, countless students seek to learn at the academies.

“That’s it for today’s class.”

Professor Beganon, who had just finished the martial arts theory class, yawned loudly and turned away.

Judging by her expression, she was probably heading off to drink again.

“Oh, as usual, there’ll be a mock battle soon, so keep that in mind.”

After leaving those final words, Beganon walked out of the classroom.

Boom!

At the same time, there was a loud noise from the lower desks.

The students, already anticipating this situation, exchanged cautious glances.

The source of the noise was Isabel Luna.

Isabel, Lucas’s childhood friend.

Her face was now so twisted with rage that she looked almost demonic.

She had been waiting for the class to end, holding her theory book at her side as she moved.

Naturally, her steps were directed towards me.

‘Fierce.’

Should I run?

Honestly, the murderous aura coming from Isabel made me consider it.

But I can’t run away here.

I must become Isabel’s mortal enemy, at least until we graduate from the academy.

She has to stay alive, clinging to her life.

And besides, I just wanted Isabel to live.

After playing the Blazing Butterfly storyline countless times, I developed a deep attachment to her too.

She’s the main heroine of Blazing Butterfly.

The thought of her dying was painful for me as well.

“Hanon Airei.”

Isabel’s voice echoed through the room.

In this world, calling someone by both their first and last name emphasizes them.

I glanced at Isabel and stood up, pushing my chair back.

“Is there something you need?”

“You’re going to repeat what you said earlier. You insulted Lucas, and you insulted his friends. Apologize right now.”

The students’ eyes all turned towards us.

Those who were seeing Isabel’s anger for the first time were full of concern, but some showed interest.

The transfer student who dropped a bomb the moment he arrived.

The other students were curious to see how this new student would respond.

I glanced at their stares briefly before turning my attention back to Isabel.

“I’ll say it again,”

I stated flatly.

“No.”

Isabel’s eyes widened in shock.

She trembled with rage.

“Lucas and those kids fought the Apostles with everything they had! What did they do wrong?”

“I already told you,” I said, my expression unchanging.

“They tarnished the reputation of Zeryon Academy.”

“All because of something so small?”

“Small?”

I furrowed my brows and stepped closer to Isabel.

Maybe because I was being more assertive than she expected, she flinched for a moment.

Isabel and I were nearly the same height, though she was slightly taller.

But the force of my presence made such details irrelevant.

I had practiced for this moment countless times.

If I backed down here, Isabel would die.

There was no way I could let my resolve falter.

“Do you have any idea how the reputation of Zeryon Academy was built?”

I took another step forward, narrowing my eyes at her.

“The world is threatened by the demonic palace. And that threat primarily targets commoners, not nobles like us.”

If Isabel was emotional, I had to be logical.

I needed to use reason to clash with her.

“When commoners feel uneasy, that anxiety spreads to the nobles, then to the country, and finally shakes the very foundation of the world. Our role as nobles is to ensure that commoners can live without fear. The six academies serve as symbols to prevent that anxiety. And Zeryon Academy is the most prestigious of them all.”

For the last 20 years, there hadn’t been a single death of a first-year student at Zeryon Academy.

In other words, this incident was highly unprecedented.

“It didn’t happen at just any academy, but at Zeryon—the most elite academy. Do you even understand the significance of that?”

The demonic palace had become more dangerous than before.

It was possible that students could no longer stop it.

The world was in danger.

People could easily interpret it that way.

It was an exaggeration, of course, but the sense of unease that could take root in the hearts of citizens reading the news was real.

Anxiety is unpredictable, like a stray spark.

A small spark, but one that could ignite a haystack into a wildfire.

Zeryon Academy always had to be invincible, the ultimate symbol of truth.

Zeryon must never appear to waver.

“Lucas and those kids made a grave mistake,” I continued.

Isabel stared at me, her eyes vacant and hollow.

What filled them now was a deep, overwhelming sense of disgust.

“Someone died,”

she whispered, biting her lips hard.

Tears had welled up in her eyes.

“My friend died.”

A childhood friend she had grown up with all her life.

Her childhood friend had died.

It must have felt like half of her world had collapsed.

“And you’re saying that was a mistake?”

Thick tears began to fall from Isabel’s eyes.

“I can’t accept a world like that. Lucas didn’t make a mistake. He fought with everything he had and defeated the Apostle.”

As she spoke, Isabel stepped closer to me.

Now, we were practically glaring at each other, nose to nose.

“I will make sure you acknowledge Lucas and apologize,” she said.

“Sorry, but that’s never going to happen,” I replied.

With that, Isabel turned sharply on her heel and stormed out of the classroom.

As soon as she left, the tense atmosphere in the room started to relax.

“Wow, Isabel’s scarier than I thought.”

“I didn’t know she could get that angry.”

Some students whispered among themselves, while a few girls stood up and quickly followed Isabel out.

“Isabel, wait for us!”

“Trash.”

“Is he even human?”

On their way out, they shot me the most disdainful looks they could muster.

It seems I’ve earned their hatred too.

They’ll probably go off and vent about me behind my back.

“That’s fine. I’m used to being hated.”

Of course, that’s a lie.

No one gets used to being hated.

This is just the limit of what I can handle mentally.

But at least Isabel is now determined to do whatever it takes to make me apologize to Lucas.

That’s good enough for now.

I’ve patched things up with Isabel for the time being.

Now onto the next task.

“The third-year vice president, the Dragon Girl of Calamity.”

This is the first semester of the second year.

She’s the final boss of Act 3 and one of the worst of the three major bad endings.

The woman with the ‘Elder Dragon’ bad ending.

It’s time to meet her.