The Demon Goes to Work Today As Well - Chapter 16

Chapter 16: Debuff (1)
Th i s w a s cop i e d f r om k in g m t l. o r g

“Huff!”

Jung Minwoo gasped for breath, his eyes wide open.

He felt a sense of bewilderment as he tried to grasp the situation.

‘Wait, was I unconscious this whole time?’

The memory of what happened before he blacked out flashed through his mind.
T h i s w as c op i e d f r om k i n g m t l . o r g

‘I hope there’s nothing wrong with my body.’

Jung Minwoo examined his body thoroughly, checking for any abnormalities.

‘Fortunately, everything seems fine.’

Relieved to find himself unharmed, Jung Minwoo finally let out a sigh of relief.

‘Hmm?’

As he regained his composure, the bright light filling the room caught his attention.

He turned his gaze toward the window.

‘…Damn.’

He saw that the sun had already risen high in the sky.

‘…No way, this can’t be happening, right?’

Demons valued punctuality, and tardiness to class resulted in penalty points.

‘If I’m late, the bonus points I earned will be meaningless…’

A shiver ran down Jung Minwoo’s spine as he glanced at the clock.

[7:32 AM]

“Whew…”

Checking the time, he felt relieved that he wasn’t late.

‘Class starts at 9, so I’m not late yet.’

As he was basking in the feeling of relief.

‘…Wait, does that mean I didn’t get any studying done yesterday?’

He suddenly remembered that he hadn’t touched the mountain of studying he had planned to do yesterday.

‘If I have to catch up on everything I missed, today is going to be a very busy day.’

He couldn’t help but feel frustrated with himself for passing out from the pain.

‘But I should focus on the fact that I’m not late.’

Jung Minwoo got out of bed and headed to the bathroom for a shower.

‘They said a new effect was discovered yesterday, right?’

He decided to check out the new effect of ‘Demon Eye’ he hadn’t seen yesterday, while showering.

【Demon ― Demon Eye(魔眼)】

― By concentrating, you can see through the desired desires of higher beings.

― By concentrating, you can check the total amount of demonic energy possessed by higher beings or inanimate objects.

― By consuming demonic energy, you can inflict debuffs on higher beings.

‘Debuff?’

Checking the effect, Jung Minwoo easily recognized it as the unique trait the Demon Lord had used during their duel.

‘Since it doesn’t specify what debuffs I can use, does that mean I can use them freely without any restrictions?’

Recalling the Demon Lord’s fighting style, it seemed likely that his assumption was correct.

‘Well, he did leave me a nice gift before he left.’

The pain he had endured yesterday was truly horrifying, but seeing the new effect he had gained, he felt it was a pain worth enduring.

‘That being said, I never want to experience that pain again.’

After showering and getting dressed, Jung Minwoo immediately left his room.

As he was walking down the hallway after leaving the dormitory.

Murmur― Murmur― Murmur.

‘Hmm?’

He noticed a crowd of demons gathered in front of the bulletin board.

‘What are they doing there at this hour?’

Usually, only the building map was posted on the bulletin board, so there was no reason for demons to gather like that.

‘Is there a new announcement or something?’

Curious, Jung Minwoo walked towards the bulletin board.

“Excuse me, coming through.”

As he made his way through the crowd and reached the front of the bulletin board.

[“I am a Demon” Competition Held]

‘Competition?’ The phrase caught his eye, announcing the recruitment of participants for the competition.

‘I haven’t heard about this?’

Having frequently read the thoughts of the instructors, Jung Minwoo was bewildered by this new information and examined the details carefully.

― A true demon should be able to crush their opponent with words alone, therefore a debate competition will be held.

― Students who wish to participate in the competition can fill out an application form in the faculty office.

― The competition will be held next Monday.

T h i s w a s c o p i ed f ro m ki n gmt l . o rg
― 5 bonus points will be awarded to the winner.

‘They’re giving bonus points…?’

Jung Minwoo couldn’t hide his surprise as he read the details.

‘It’s not as much as the bonus points I received from the duel, but 5 points is still a very generous score.’

If he managed to acquire 5 bonus points, his chances of securing the top rank would increase slightly.

‘And if it’s a debate competition… that’s my specialty, isn’t it?’

In his previous life, Jung Minwoo had won a debate competition.

‘The guy I went up against back then couldn’t overcome my logic and ended up bursting into tears.’

However, even with his experience as a winner, he couldn’t take this competition lightly.

‘This debate competition is about who is more wicked.’

Demons were inherently evil, so he, who had been a good citizen in his past life, was at a disadvantage.

‘The competition will be held next Monday, so I need to prepare diligently during the remaining time.’

Jung Minwoo decided to fill out the application form immediately and headed to the faculty office.
T h is w as c op i e d f r om k in g mt l . o r g

“You want to participate in ‘I am a Demon’?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Jung Minwoo nodded in response to the instructor’s question.

“Well, they’re giving bonus points to the winner, so there’s no reason not to participate. Here, fill this out and submit it.”

Receiving the application form, Jung Minwoo pretended to fill it out while observing the instructor.

‘Should I read his thoughts?’

Curious about why he wasn’t informed and why the announcement was suddenly posted on the bulletin board, Jung Minwoo decided to use Demon Eye on the instructor.

As he focused on the instructor.
T hi s wa s c o p i e d f r o m k ing m t l . o rg

【I have no idea why the higher-ups suddenly decided to hold this competition without any notice.】

Letters combined above his head, forming the instructor’s thoughts into text.

‘Without notice? The instructor didn’t know either?’

Reading his thoughts, Jung Minwoo realized that this competition wasn’t originally scheduled.

‘That explains why I didn’t know.’

How could he possibly know something that even the instructors were unaware of?

‘But why did the higher-ups suddenly make this decision?’

Jung Minwoo was puzzled by the fact that the competition was being held without even the instructors knowing about it. Then,

【They should have at least informed the instructors beforehand. It’s ridiculous to suddenly notify us in the morning.】

The instructor’s thoughts continued to form into text.

‘…Don’t tell me.’

Reading the instructor’s thoughts, a hypothesis suddenly came to Jung Minwoo’s mind.

‘Did Satan do this?’

His hypothesis was that the Demon Lord he had met last night was behind this.

‘Based on the circumstances, I can’t help but suspect Satan.’

The day after meeting the Demon Lord, a debate competition was suddenly being held, which was certainly suspicious.

‘If it’s the Demon Lord, he would have the authority to give such an order.’

He thought that the Demon Lord, who was trying to make him his subordinate, might have created this situation to help him.

‘Well, whether the Demon Lord interfered or not, it doesn’t matter.’

What mattered most now was how he could take advantage of this opportunity.

‘Ultimately, if I don’t win, I’ll be losing bonus points to someone else.’

Having satisfied his curiosity, Jung Minwoo looked away and filled out the application form.

“Here you go.”

“Alright, you can go now.”

After submitting the application form to the instructor, Jung Minwoo was about to leave the faculty office when.

“Oh? Number 1?”

Pink Girl approached him with a surprised look on her face.

‘If she’s here… it means she’s also participating in the competition.’

T h i s was c o p i e d f r o m ki n g m tl . o r g
Looking at Pink Girl, Jung Minwoo thought she might be his most troublesome opponent in this debate competition.

“Are you participating in the competition too, Number 1?”

Jung Minwoo shrugged in response to Pink Girl’s question.

“They’re giving bonus points, so there’s no reason not to, right?”

As if she had the same thought, Pink Girl sighed and said,

“I thought it would be an easy win, but it doesn’t seem like it will be that simple.”

“I agree.”

Jung Minwoo and Pink Girl left the faculty office and walked down the hallway.

“Are you free tomorrow?”

“Are you asking me out on a date?”

Pink Girl asked back with a seductive expression that didn’t match her innocent face.

“No, we were supposed to sign the contract on the weekend, remember?”

However, Jung Minwoo wasn’t weak-minded enough to fall for her charms and immediately brought up the main point.

“…Were we?”

Pink Girl acted as if she had no recollection of it.

“Don’t play games.”

Jung Minwoo’s cold response made Pink Girl flinch.

“Come on, it was just a joke. Why are you so cold?”

“Because I hate jokes.”

Thanks to the Demon Lord’s teasing the previous night, Jung Minwoo had developed an aversion to jokes.
T h i s w a s c o p i e d f r o m k i n g m t l. o r g

“So, what time do you want to meet tomorrow?”

“How about 2 o’clock?”

“2 o’clock? Alright, let’s meet then.”

T his wa s c o p i e d fro m k i n g m t l . o r g
Now that he had taken care of his business with Pink Girl, he was about to head back to the classroom when.

‘Wait… what happened to Number 666?’

He suddenly wondered what had become of Number 666.

‘Now that he’s done with me, I don’t think he’ll continue pretending to be a student…’

Jung Minwoo decided to ask Pink Girl about it since he was meeting her anyway.

“Is Number 666 participating in the competition?”

He asked indirectly, as asking too bluntly might raise suspicion.

“Number 666?”

However, Pink Girl tilted her head as if she had never heard the number before.

“You don’t know Number 666?”

“No. I only memorize the numbers of those who are likely to graduate.”

Jung Minwoo pondered for a moment at her response.

‘Don’t tell me he erased her memory?’

Unless she had the memory of a goldfish, she wouldn’t forget Number 666, whom she had invited to the gathering.

‘Just in case, I should read her thoughts.’

It was always better to be sure, so Jung Minwoo used Demon Eye on Pink Girl.

【Number 666? That’s a number I’ve never heard before. But since Number 1 mentioned it, it might be worth investigating.】

‘She really doesn’t know anything?’

He confirmed that she truly had no knowledge of Number 666.

‘In that case, I don’t need to be concerned about him anymore.’

Having satisfied his curiosity, Jung Minwoo decided to completely forget about Number 666.

“Really? Okay.”

“Why are you looking for Number 666?”

“I think I misspoke. I meant to say Number 555.”

“…Is that so?”

Pink Girl looked at him suspiciously, but.

“I guess that could happen.”

She eventually nodded and let it go.

After deciding on a meeting place for the next day, they parted ways and headed back to their respective classrooms.

The next day, at dawn.

After catching up on his missed studies, Jung Minwoo contemplated how to utilize Pink Girl’s puppet.

‘How should I use it to make the most of it…?’

He couldn’t harm her due to the clause in the contract, but even with that restriction, the fact that he could utilize the puppet was incredibly valuable, so he didn’t mind.

‘First, I can improve my skills through sparring with the puppet.’

Thi s w a s c o pi e d f r om k i n g m t l.o r g
He was still sparring with Rok, but he lacked diversity in opponents, so he needed many sparring partners to develop his skills.

‘If I spar with the puppet, I can improve my skills quickly.’

Thi s w a s c o p i ed f ro m k i n g m t l .o r g
Since her puppet was among the demons who had placed first in the duel, his skills would improve dramatically.

‘And I can freely use the new debuff I’ve acquired without being noticed.’

He could try using it on other demons, but if he was caught using it outside of sparring by the instructors, it could be a big problem.

‘Pink Girl uses Charm without getting caught by the instructors, so the chances of me getting caught using debuff are low, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.’

Once he had tested it out with the puppet to some extent, he could try using it discreetly without getting caught.

‘But these are just side benefits.’

Indeed.

All of this was just a side benefit, and the main course was something else.

It was being able to grasp Pink Girl’s hidden strength.

‘Once I know her strength, I can easily counter any tricks she tries to pull.’

If he could prepare in advance, she would no longer be a threat.

‘She’ll just become another competitor.’

He was confident in his ability to compete, so Jung Minwoo wasn’t too worried about that part.

‘I can’t wait for 2 o’clock.’

Jung Minwoo went to bed, anticipating his meeting at 2 o’clock.