[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-i-became-the-academy-s-final-boss":3,"chapter-i-became-the-academy-s-final-boss-i-became-the-academy-s-final-boss-chapter-113":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","I Became the Academy’s Final Boss",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1319796,1753,"Chapter 113","i-became-the-academy-s-final-boss-chapter-113",113,"\u003Cp>Chapter 113\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After meeting the Absolute Beings of Pandemonium, I arrived at the place where the Heavenly Demon resided, together with her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A mountain valley where a fresh breeze blew through, and standing there was an old-fashioned hanok that did not quite suit the surrounding forest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the place where the Heavenly Demon resided, and also the place where Yoo Sung-woo had spent his childhood in the past.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As I looked at this scenery, memories that were not mine slowly surfaced in my mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A strangely nostalgic feeling made my chest tighten.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Traces of a long passage of time remained throughout the hanok.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Small nicks carved into the pillars to check height.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Crude training equipment made for physical conditioning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A massive rock engraved with fist marks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had felt it with Joo Sarang and in the Chamber of Solitude as well, but once again, it was not a very pleasant feeling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A queasy sensation, as emotions that were not mine churned my insides without permission.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before I knew it, the Heavenly Demon, who had opened the door of the massive hanok, spoke.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When do you plan on standing there? Come inside.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Following her words, I stepped into the hanok.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The hanok consisted of a total of three buildings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The main building where the Heavenly Demon resided, and the detached building I had used in the past.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And a storage building filled with various odds and ends.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From there, someone came trotting out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Welcome back.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A small child who might barely reach up to one’s waist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The child walked straight up to the Heavenly Demon and took her outer robe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Heavenly Demon, too, accepted the child’s attendance as if she were used to it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon, the child’s gaze met mine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The child politely bowed toward me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hello.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah, hello?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I turned my head and looked at the Heavenly Demon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“She is a child I brought in as an attendant after sending you away. She’s quick-witted and good with work.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Well, there was no way the Heavenly Demon would manage such a wide hanok herself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, the Heavenly Demon asked,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So then, what do you plan to do now? You won’t be able to return to the Academy. Are you thinking of going back to where you originally were?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By ‘where I originally was,’ did she mean the studio apartment I used to live in?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I shook my head at her question.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No. I don’t plan on returning there for the time being.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“For now, I would like to stay here and receive your teachings again, Master.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As if my words were unexpected, her pupils widened slightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To be honest, I hadn’t expected myself to say this out loud either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Asking for guidance not from just anyone, but from the Heavenly Demon—unpredictable and feared by demons alike.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as someone who had been expelled from the Academy, I had no other options.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most of the game information I knew only applied within the Academy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was only natural, since the game’s stage was always the Academy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To begin with, playable characters in Become a Hero were never expelled from school.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn’t that there were no stages outside the Academy, but most of them were only used during special events.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In short, once I left the Academy, the advantages I had as a player were almost nonexistent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The world would gradually grow harsher, and the enemies I would encounter in the scenario would grow stronger as well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That meant I had to keep getting stronger, but unlike before, I could no longer rely on shortcuts or Hidden Pieces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It would be nice if something like another Heart of the Demon happened to drop, but that wasn’t an easy thing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And so, the one I thought of was the Heavenly Demon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Putting aside how eccentric and dangerous the Heavenly Demon was, there simply was no better option.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was one of the Absolute Beings of this world, and the greatest master there was.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More than anything, there was something I had realized through the Berid incident.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter how desperately I struggled while remaining at a gamer’s level, the limits of my ability were clear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was weak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this level, I would never be able to reach the happy ending I desired.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To do that, I needed to become even stronger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After hearing my words, she fell silent for a moment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even so, I was still her disciple—she wouldn’t heartlessly drive me away, right?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, she did not chase me out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Training will begin tomorrow. When the hour of the Rabbit arrives tomorrow, come to the training grounds.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After receiving a promise of training from the Heavenly Demon, I arrived at the room that Yoo Sung-woo had used in the past.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A neat room with nothing particularly special about it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I lay down on the bed and took a moment to catch my breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even though my body wasn’t especially tired, my eyes gradually closed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seemed that meeting those higher-ups earlier had drained my mental strength more than I thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But I couldn’t sleep yet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jumping up from my spot, I slapped my cheeks to chase away the drowsiness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were still things I needed to take care of.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lia and Seo Da-hee were probably very worried because I had suddenly disappeared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For their sake as well, I needed to quickly let them know I was safe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was also curious about how the others were doing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I reached into my pocket and took something out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a fragment of Lia’s heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I hadn’t expected that the piece I received after shaving some off to treat Instructor Kang Jae-seok would be this helpful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had destroyed my original phone out of concern for being tracked, after all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Holding Lia’s heart fragment in my hand, I focused my mana.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Lia, can you hear me?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[……Groom? Is that you, Groom? You’re okay, right? What on earth happened that you didn’t answer any calls at all!]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps because of the distance, there was some static-like noise mixed in, but I could faintly hear Lia’s voice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘I’m sorry. My phone broke.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Do you think I only tried contacting you through your phone? I contacted you with this fragment too, but you didn’t answer! Do you know how worried I was, thinking something had gone wrong?]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I probably hadn’t received the fragment’s call because I had been with the high-ranking executives of Pandemonium until just recently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That place had turned into something like a sanctuary due to the demonic energy unconsciously emitted by powerful demons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was a faint tremor of moisture in Lia’s voice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[You’re always making people worry! Da-hee was almost in tears.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She really must have been worried.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘I didn’t expect things to turn out like this either. I’m sorry.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, Lia’s voice cut off briefly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[What are you saying, Da-hee? Don’t say something so pointless! You were really worried……!]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seemed that Seo Da-hee and Lia were exchanging words with each other.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not long after, Lia’s voice could be heard once again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Anyway, everyone is worried. They said Joo Sarang is completely out of it?]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘I was going to ask about that anyway. How are Park Siwoo and the others doing?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Um…….]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lia dragged out her words as if choosing what to say.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Had they really taken quite a shock after all?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Helena too, and Park Siwoo as well, both had pretty fragile mental states.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Park Siwoo’s case, when he found out in the past that the security guard was a Demon, he had been dejected for quite a while.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for Helena, there was no need to even mention it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She had trauma related to Demons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was probably feeling a considerable sense of betrayal toward me right now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, Lia spoke again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Honestly, I’m not really sure. I was too busy being investigated. Da-hee had basically died once and come back to life, right? I had to explain that.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Ah.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yeah, that made sense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They would have had to start by explaining why I had secretly taken her away, and how I had saved her afterward.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Yoo Iseo helped a lot. She shared in advance how we should explain things too.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘So nothing serious happened?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[You don’t need to worry that much.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was a relief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seemed Lia didn’t know the detailed situation of the other kids.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That couldn’t be helped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To avoid Seo Da-hee’s identity being exposed, I had deliberately kept Lia separated as much as possible from kids like Park Siwoo or Helena.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Does it bother you?]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I couldn’t answer Lia’s question right away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It did bother me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe it was guilt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had been so preoccupied with stopping Berid’s scheme that I had drawn in incident after incident, yet hadn’t even given a proper explanation once.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe the reason they hadn’t grown as much as they could have wasn’t entirely their fault.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If I had paid just a little more attention…….\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That kind of regret suddenly surfaced, but I shook my head and organized my thoughts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’s never too late for regret.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rather, the more constructive thing was to support them with everything I had so they could grow more from now on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To do that, I first needed to create an environment where I could control them to a certain extent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Lia, from now on, remember what I say carefully and pass it on to Yoo Iseo.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I told Lia about the things that had come up in Pandemonium.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[So basically, for three months, we have to put the Groom’s friends who are still at the Academy through special training?]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘No, not just them. Da-hee senior, Yoo Iseo, Joo Sarang. You too. All of you need to become stronger than you are now.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As I said that, I conveyed to Lia the information I had obtained through my knowledge of the game.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Information I had discovered after pouring tens of thousands of hours into it back when I was a player.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a fairly long explanation, but Lia memorized it in an instant with her exceptional intellect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Did you memorize everything?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[For now. But how do you know all of this?]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘I got some information from Pandemonium, and from here and there. I’ve never been wrong so far, have I?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[I trust you. The problem is persuading the others. But can all the other friends really do all of this? There won’t be enough time.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘It’s more than possible.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a schedule I had already tested by running characters during my time as a player.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, this wasn’t a game, so it would be mentally and physically exhausting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Above all, I was going to give them extreme experiences using the Fragment of the Gate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Time flowed several times faster there than in reality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was basically the Become a Hero version of the Room of Spirit and Time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was when Lia asked,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[But how are you planning to convey all of this? Park Siwoo is in the student council, so that’s fine, but there’s no way to reach the others.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘Why wouldn’t there be a way? We just make them join the student council.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since my identity had been exposed, I couldn’t return to the Academy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, many incidents were still happening there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To properly control those incidents, being part of the student council was still the best option.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yoo Iseo was there, but as enemies grew stronger, just like with the Berid incident, it would be impossible to handle things with her strength alone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Lia and Joo Sarang needed to become my substitutes and help Yoo Iseo.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The best way to do that was for those two to join the student council.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That way, they could hear about situations up close and respond accordingly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[But would the Groom’s friends really try to join the student council?]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘They probably will.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were characters who had taken leading roles in Become a Hero.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>People who had to stand at the center of every incident and resolve them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So they would inevitably be drawn into the student council, the center of all incidents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>‘If they don’t join, then we can leave Dan Chun-woo to the Sword Empress and Helena to Park Siwoo.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Got it.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I promised Lia that I would contact her about once a week, told her to inform me immediately if there were any unusual signs or changes, and then ended the call.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When I looked outside, the sky had already been dyed red, painting the clouds.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What a killer view.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So this was what the Heavenly Demon looked at every day while living here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The tangled thoughts that had been twisting like knotted thread vanished in an instant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As I admired the scenery outside, I organized the things I needed to do over the remaining three months.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First and foremost was my own growth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I needed to cultivate my strength through training with the Heavenly Demon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the very least, to the point where I wouldn’t grovel before Demons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Second was dealing with the directives that would occasionally come down from Pandemonium.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was a Demon to the extent that I could become a vessel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no way they would just leave me alone after I had left the Academy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This, too, would need to be handled within appropriate limits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn’t want to do anything that would benefit Pandemonium if possible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But just like how the Heart of the Demon had been damaged, actively involving myself in such tasks might become an important opportunity to dismantle Pandemonium’s schemes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the most important thing of all was, of course, helping the appearance of the third playable character.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Normally, it was something that would happen soon anyway, so I could have just left it alone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in this life, almost everything had occurred outside my expectations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>More than anything, in order to save Joo Sarang from Berid, hadn’t I told Lord Biden the location of the testing ground where the third playable character existed?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the story followed its original course, Lord Biden would end up like a dog chasing a chicken, but I still needed to prepare for any possibility.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As I was organizing my thoughts like that, something I had forgotten suddenly came to mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pandemonium’s treasure, said to be hidden somewhere in Baekdu Mountain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was information I had obtained from the target when I received Pandemonium’s second mission through the Heavenly Demon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, I didn’t know whether what existed in Baekdu Mountain was truly a treasure, but considering it was guarded with heavy security, it was surely something valuable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or perhaps a secret item that must never be revealed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I hadn’t expected to return to Baekdu Mountain this soon, but since things had turned out this way, it would be good to investigate that as well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With all those thoughts swirling as I organized them, I fell asleep, and at last, the day dawned when my first training with the Heavenly Demon would begin.\u003C\u002Fp>",2502,"2026-06-05T19:04:26.866Z",1,"novelbin.me","1e3391131d71f13515fb19bda758370163d67e36eebb755fc566d0e70c4b146c","i-became-the-academy-s-final-boss-chapter-65","i-became-the-academy-s-final-boss-chapter-64",137,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-became-the-academy-s-final-boss-cover.jpg"]