Correcting the Villainess of the Academy - Chapter 76

Chapter 76

Memorial Service (1)

-Ring! Ring!

The annoying ring stole away her sweet sleep, and it wouldn’t stop. Baek Seoyeon had to resist the urge to smash everything in the room.
T h i s wa s c o p ie d from k i n g mt l.o r g

She eventually dragged herself out of bed.

A light gown, through which her pale skin showed, swayed with her unsteady steps.

Every step she took kicked empty sleeping pill bottles rolling across the floor.

-Ring! Ring! Click!

“…What is it?”

“Miss. I apologize for the early hour. We received a call from the Northern Army’s command center. They urgently need your help to decipher a magic language collected by explorers. What should we do?”

“Tell them I’ll be there soon. Prepare the vehicle.”

Despite her elegant tone, Baek Seoyeon irritably hung up the phone. She sighed deeply and began to freshen up in front of the mirror.

She put on a cherished ring and fastened the clasp of her necklace, then checked her expression one last time.

The motionless corners of her lips bothered her, so she forced them up with her fingers before nodding with satisfaction.

Baek Seoyeon looked at herself in the mirror. The woman reflected there was dazzlingly beautiful but showed no signs of vitality or cheerfulness.

She was clearly alive and breathing, but inside, she was someone whose heart had long turned pitch-black and dead.

***

With her slender fingers, she fumbled to press the play button on the phonograph, and soon, bizarre howls began to fill the darkroom.

The threatening sound of a dog barking, the loud squeal of a hoofed animal, the low growl intended to instill fear, and the heavy breathing of a large beast.
Th i s w as cop i e d f ro m k i n g m t l . or g

It sounded like a gathering of various animals, making one feel as if they were thrown into the middle of the wilderness.

Most ordinary people would consider it meaningless noise, but it was precious information collected by explorers who risked their lives beyond the barrier.

Small particles glowing according to the sound vibrations filled the darkroom.

And as the bizarre rhythms and patterns blended with the growls of the beasts, the particles in the air occasionally formed specific patterns before dispersing.

“…When was this information collected?”

“About a month ago. It was recorded at an old village where a gathering of beasts took place. It’s said that the leaders of the tribes were conversing there.”

The phonograph, which had been turning for a while, eventually came to a stop with a click.

Baek Seoyeon turned on the lights in the darkroom and sat across from a female officer wearing a lieutenant’s insignia.

“The scale of the gathering was unusually large. The scent and howls of the beasts echoed beyond the cliffs.”
Th i s w a s c o p i ed fro m k i ng m t l . o r g

“Unusually large scale, you say…”

“…Is there something wrong?”

The officer asked, hearing Baek Seoyeon’s serious muttering.

“All the talk is about battles. Who will take the lead, how many each tribe will mobilize, the weak points of the barrier…”

Baek Seoyeon handed the officer a document summarizing the decoded magic language.

“So…”

“If my guess is correct… they are planning another large-scale invasion.”

Two years ago, the major invasion by the demons left an indelible scar on the Republic.

Forts burned, and countless lives were lost.

Baek Seoyeon was also a direct and indirect victim of that chaos.

“…I understand. I will urgently report this to the Command Headquarters.”

The officer nodded with a hardened face.

“And… the term ‘agent’ is repeatedly mentioned throughout their conversations. This was also noted in the previous decoded document. Is there any additional information on this?”

“Other than the speculation that it’s a newly emerged rank, we have no further information yet…”

“I see…”

“I apologize. We will contact you first as soon as there are updates.”

Baek Seoyeon continued to talk briefly with the officer as they walked outside the building.

“If it weren’t for you, Lady of Paechun, this quick decoding wouldn’t have been possible. On behalf of the Northern Army, I extend my gratitude.”

“Hehe, it’s nothing. It’s just my duty as someone responsible…”

Baek Seoyeon lightly waved her hand, a graceful smile on her lips.

The howls used by beasts to communicate with each other, known as magic language.

It’s a method where meaning is conveyed through the vibration of particles, making it inherently impossible for those with low sensitivity to understand.

Since demons are a race with inherently superior sensitivity, most ordinary mages can barely understand the lower-tier magic language.

Thus, there are hardly any individuals who can understand and decode the high-tier magic language where important information is exchanged.

“It’s truly remarkable. How can you handle high-tier magic language so well? Experts take days to interpret even a single sentence.”

“Oh, you’re making me blush. I just read a lot of books out of boredom when I was young, and it happened by chance…”

Baek Seoyeon smiled shyly as if embarrassed.

The officer finally nodded in understanding. The tale of the Lady of Paechun being overly cherished and protected by the family head, only appearing at the academy at the appropriate age, was already well known.

“Then have a safe trip. The Northern Army will always stand with Paechun.”

Before getting into the waiting vehicle, Seoyeon exchanged brief goodbyes with the officer.

She was working to align the Northern Army with Paechun instead of the neutral Intelligence Bureau or other regional armies.

For this, she unabashedly used her abilities and her family’s prestige.

It appeared as if she was drawing them to Paechun, leaving little room for suspicion from the family head.

Baek Seoyeon closed her eyes as she sat in the back seat of the vehicle.

She replayed the officer’s praise in her mind.

The reality of it made her want to laugh.

Cherishing and protecting were words that had no place in describing her past. Indifference and threats were more fitting.

With a frail body plagued by an incurable disease, all she could do was read books.

Among them was a book on decoding magic language, and with her heightened sensitivity, which she gained in exchange for a shortened lifespan, she inadvertently developed a deep understanding of it.

Even she didn’t know.

That one of the many pieces of knowledge she acquired in her youth would so drastically alter the course of her life.

T h is w a s c op i e d fr om k i n g m t l . o r g
***

T h i s w a s co p ie d f r o m ki n g m t l . o rg
Blazing tongues of fire, stinging smoke thick enough to obscure vision, the smell of blood and death everywhere.

The blissful days that once seemed like a dream scattered like grains of sand in an instant.

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-Target confirmed. Kill her along with the male and leave the scene.

In the hellish scene, the monster’s eyes looking at her were chillingly emotionless.

From its mouth came the savage and sharp language of beasts.

It was undoubtedly a conversation among them, but the vibrations conveyed the exact meaning to the girl’s ears.

“Yeona, I’ll hold off the monster! Run while you can!”

“What are you…!”

Before she could stop him, a boy blocked her path and recklessly threw himself at the monster.

But it was like an ant fighting a giant.

“I said no!!”

The boy’s body, stomped and thrown aside, was covered in blood, and his handsome, clear face was marred with an indelible scar.

Yet, he kept standing up like an unyielding warrior, fighting the monsters in an unwinnable battle.

He rose again and again for one reason: to save the girl he loved.

“Ugh… cough…”

But his resistance was futile. The boy was eventually caught by the monster.

“Hyun-ah!!!”

-Boom!!

The fur-covered monster threw him against the stone wall, and he collapsed, motionless.
T h i s wa s c o p i ed fr o m ki n gm t l .o rg

“No!!!”

All the helpless girl could do was scream.

The monsters closed in from all sides.

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Amid the overwhelming danger, her unprepared mage body began to undergo incomplete awakening.

-Bzzt… Bzzz…!!

The girl immediately sensed the abnormality within her body.

The golden particles that filled her core burst out uncontrollably. They rushed out with the force of a broken dam, sweeping everything around them.

-Boom!!

-Screech! Screech!

T h i s w a s c op i e d fr o m k i n g m t l . o rg
The uncontrollable golden storm swept forward like a giant fan, turning the beasts forming the encirclement into bloody pieces with piercing screams.

“Hah… Hah… Ugh…!”

Her head felt like it was splitting. Thick, bloody tears streamed from her eyes. Her veins felt like they were being shredded from the inside.

“Hah… Hah…!”

Desperately, the girl tried to suppress the rampage. The mortality rate during incomplete awakening increased exponentially with potential. But she couldn’t afford to give up.

T h i s w a s co p i ed fr om k i ng m t l . org
If she couldn’t regain control of her body now, the boy would also become a permanent ghost.

“Hah… Ugh…”

How much time passed?

After blocking the passage and focusing her mind, the storm gradually subsided.

Everything around her returned to a state of calm, as if nothing had happened. The pain vanished, replaced by a sense of clarity and purity. Her limbs were energized, and her vision cleared.

In her desperate attempt, she successfully suppressed the incomplete awakening and regained full control.

This also meant she had finally overcome Particle Hypersensitivity Syndrome and escaped the fear of death.

“Hyun-ah… Hyun-ah…!”

But there was no time to feel joy at becoming a mage.

The girl, regaining her senses, rushed towards the collapsed stone wall.

Without even thinking of using magic, she frantically dug through the rubble with her bare hands.

All ten of her fingernails peeled off, bleeding profusely, but she didn’t notice.

Finally, the form of a small, lifeless boy emerged.

“Ugh… Hyun-ah… wake up…”

Despite her pleas, he didn’t move. His face was stained with blood from a long gash. Everywhere she touched, the sticky sensation of blood was unmistakable. His pulse was faint, like a candle flickering in the wind.

“Ugh… Hyun-ah… no…”

In the distance, the belated sounds of rescuers could be heard, but they didn’t reach the girl’s ears.

The birthday of the boy she loved ended in the worst possible way.

End of Chapter