Academy's Genius Extra Chapter 23

Since when had he hidden her there.

Johan had planned a fight he could not possibly lose. Because Han Taepyeong would never abandon a hostage.

“Ow…!”

Johan hooked his index finger into the girl’s mouth and dragged her out.

Like reeling in a fish.

“A fisherman who catches people… haha! Not very funny?”

“It’s so-so.”

Cough, cough.

The girl’s eyes filled with tears. I did not take my eyes off her.

I was fine.

“I’m fine.”

[Lucy… angry!]

[Lucy… so sorry!]

No.

There is nothing to be sorry about.

This is a game.

“Cadet. That revolver looks pretty nice. You shot down the <Sacred Interceptor> thanks to that revolver, right?”

“It’s not gear carry. Your side is way worse in that regard. If it were pure skill, I already won.”

“Hah. Loudmouthed little bastard….”

Johan lifted the child’s upper lip with his finger.

Blood flowed from her mouth.

I was indifferent.

I was fine.

“Hand it over to me. Unless you want to see something bad happen to the kid.”

“Hey, Johan. Use that genius brain of yours and think. If you say it like that, do you think I will hand it over? You think I would put everyone in danger just to save one kid? Even hero movies cut their losses these days. Just give up.”

“Well….”

Johan grabbed the girl’s head.

Burning eyes.

Bared teeth.

“From where I stand, you’re not a hero.”

Johan started acting.

Like a spy.

Like something colorless, achromatic.

He began playing the villain.

I thought.

Could I shoot Johan immediately?

I could.

But the child would die, one hundred percent.

All I had to do was abandon one person….

Smartly.

“Lucy. What do you think.”

[Lucy… sob!]

[Lucy… sad!]

Lucy read my heart and answered.

“We can’t save all the hostages anyway. Someone is bound to be lost.”

“What are you even saying. Cadet. I’m going to start squeezing the kid’s head now.”

“Even if one or two slip through, the clear rank is still A.”

It sounded dubious.

And Superhuman Chronicle is exactly that kind of game.

Losing one or two is normal.

Saving everyone is what’s abnormal.

It’s a game that demands its price.

But is this Superhuman War Chronicle?

Is this moment even a game?

I don’t know.

Because I don’t know.

“Lucy. I guess this is as far as it goes.”

[Lucy… it’s okay….]

[Lucy… cold-blooded….]

I threw Lucy at Johan.

“You should have done that from the start.”

Click.

Johan checked whether there was a round loaded, whether it was a fake bullet or not.

[Lucy… I hate this bastard!]

“Oh wow. Now that I’m holding it, I can tell. This is an ego weapon, huh? Haha. Such a cute little thing. I will make good use of you from now on.”

“In a situation like this, you’re really thorough. Is that the composure of a genius spy?”

“What’s the rush? The situation is already over!”

Johan laughed.

Johan, the master of collusion and espionage, laughed.

“I figured it would end up like this. If you can’t act, it shows. I know, since I’m colorless.”

“No. This is a game. I don’t care.”

“Tsk tsk…. How foolish. Ryeong? Hold this tight.”

Johan put Lucy into the girl’s hands.

Johan was colorless.

That too was just another act.

Playing the villain.

But….

He was starting to get a little too immersed.

[Lucy… doesn’t like this!]

[Lucy… won’t do it!]

The more Lucy resisted, the more Johan acted like a villain.

Color was being painted onto the colorless.

“Alright. Ryeong. Aim straight at that cadet. You can do it, right?”

“Who says I will!”

Perhaps because the finger hooked in her mouth was gone.

The girl clearly voiced her opinion.

“Ryeong? You should listen to the priest.”

“You said Heavenly Church, not priest. Then you’re a cultist, right? I won’t do it.”

“Our Ryeong is so smart, so why is she acting like this…?”

Johan bared his teeth.

This was bad.

Ridiculously enough, I had to persuade the hostage.

“Hey. Kid. Look at me. I’m fine.”

The girl looked at me.

“N-no! I won’t do it! You’re stupid too, oppa! You should have weighed the pros and cons…!”

“I’m just a side character. The main line will be delivered by the protagonist anyway.”

“…!”

I was fine.

Whether this was a game or not.

Regardless of that.

“See? You heard him. He wants it. Here. Hold it tight. You hate it that much?”

Johan grabbed the girl’s hand.

A real piece of trash.

The sharp priest Johan was gone.

True to his colorless nature, he was completely immersed in the role.

Just like a genius spy.

Tremble tremble tremble.

The girl was forced to aim Lucy at me.

“I’m sorry…! Oppa…!”

“Usage warning! Lucy is a terrifying evil spirit, so it’s best to use her carefully...”

“A corpse is talking?”

Johan pulled the trigger.

Obviously….

Getting shot would hurt like hell, right?

Just thinking about it was scary.

So.

I had no intention of getting hit until I died.

Johan pulled the trigger, but I was fine.

There was no hole blown through my head.

The concept of Chapter 1 is time attack.

Johan’s time and my time.

Whose time would run out first.

While we were fighting that battle of time...

Click!

Some bastard broke the rules.

He broke the rules of the time attack.

Because time itself had been cut.

“I told you to be careful.”

Lucy came back.

As if time itself had been severed.

At this point, time attack or anything else no longer mattered.

“Terrifying.”

A revolver that comes back even if you throw it away?

That was horror.

The work of a terrifying evil spirit.

[Lucy went on a little healing trip! Her tongue is back to normal now!]

[Lucy will tell you Lucy’s rule! Lucy’s rule is… not following rules!]

I pulled the trigger.

Johan hastily formed a bow and arrow.

Incredibly fast.

You could tell he had properly learned the Heavenly Church’s archery.

But.

No matter how fast.

It was not fast enough.

Just a tiny bit….

Half a beat too slow.

Not going to work.

Even if you use science and technology.

Even if you borrow holy power.

Even if you master traditional archery.

“Uaaaaaah...”

You cannot take back a half beat you missed.

Because the core of Chapter 1 is time attack.

Miss the beat, and it’s over.

Ping..!

Even so, the arrow finally flew.

An arrow of light meant to intercept the enemy.

But it had no direction.

Like a deranged catfish, it just drifted through the air.

Because Johan was already falling.

That meticulous, clever head tipping backward.

From now on, it would not be so clever anymore.

“You got too immersed, Johan.”

If he hadn’t played the villain.

If he hadn’t sunk too deeply into the role at the very end.

The one collapsing might have been me.

As I watched the hostage slip free from his grasp.

I too staggered backward and fell.

[Lucy will support you… gah! This was too much after all!]

[Lucy says there’s way too much nosebleed! Match suspended!]

Lucy shouted urgently.

“I’m…. fine….”

Of course, that was a lie.

Just like Johan said, it was clumsy acting.

My body and my mind were anything but fine.

I really hate pain.

And I don’t want to lose hostages.

When a child gets hurt, it makes my blood boil.

So.

I’m scared right now.

One Seraphimzepam pill knocked me out before.

With two pills, would I just stay unconscious longer?

Unfortunately, drug effects don’t work that way.

If one pill knocks you out.

Two pills make your brain swell, burst through your skull, and spill out.

“Two-tenths is… too much… for a side character….”

Two pills were too much for a side character.

The nosebleed kept flowing.

So much that it felt like my brain had turned to dough and was leaking out.

Far over there.

Ryeong….

A hostage whose name I had heard several times in the original work.

Her real name was Lee Ryeong.

Because her father’s surname was Lee.

Lee Ryeong didn’t cry or run over like a child her age should.

Instead, she was rummaging through the fallen Johan’s clothes.

Could a normal kid do that?

Probably not.

She was just not normal, taking after her father.

“Found it…!”

Lee Ryeong came running, holding something she pulled from Johan’s clothes.

She must have been so frantic that she tripped on the debris and took a big tumble.

“Hey…. You should be careful….”

Cough.

Lee Ryeong grabbed me by the collar and shook me.

“S-sorry… I won’t backseat anymore….”

Kids these days are scary…!

Lee Ryeong rattled on.

“This this this this! I saw this in my dad’s lab…! That cult priest was probably relying on this too…! He couldn’t have been planning to die!”

She held out a small statue.

A statue engraved with a falcon soaring toward the sky.

A falcon statue at a time like this.

“Johan, you capable bastard….”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

Lee Ryeong aside, I knew this statue very well too.

“You even stole the <Maltese Falcon>….”

This soaring falcon was essentially a token of some secret organization.

Johan had revealed three cases of espionage, but that clearly wasn’t all.

Just how far had his tentacles spread?

“You had everything planned, didn’t you.”

This beautiful statue had only one use.

Crack!

I snapped the falcon’s neck and drank the liquid hidden inside.

[The purification power of Malta Island manifests.]

[‘Impurities’ consumed within the last hour evaporate.]

Impurities.

The Seraphimzepam.

Korean wild ginseng.

All sorts of good things that turn into poison when overused.

They evaporated from inside me.

My brain, which had been cooking, rapidly returned to normal.

Because the <Maltese Falcon> is the most effective purifier in the world.