I Became the Terminally Ill Character in My Friend’s Academy Novel – Chapter 71

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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Their individual skills were outstanding, and their relentless attacks looked threatening, but they were hollow and lacking substance.

Since they had never practiced together, there was no way their teamwork would be seamless, and since they were caught up in their emotions, they weren’t considering each other, so they ended up hindering one another instead.

One plus one didn’t always equal two.

A joint attack, depending on their skills and coordination, could become ten or even a hundred. Conversely, if they didn’t coordinate at all, it could be worse than having no attack at all.

[A mess.]

The moment I dodged Cathy’s punch with a light step, Ha-ni’s sword swung towards Professor Cathy.

The two hurriedly stopped, but in that fleeting moment, the flow of battle completely changed.

Black Shadow.

The thinly extended shadows tripped the two women.

[Disappointing. Is this the level of Reilan Academy?]

Ah, for the record, although I was the one speaking, it was, of course, Sun Wukong who was fused with me and fighting.

But this Fusion seemed to affect me to some extent, as Sun Wukong’s thought process and movements entered my mind.

It felt like I had truly become incredibly strong.

…Not bad.

“…Yaaaaah…!”

Kim Ga-eul clumsily swung her mana-infused whip, but her attack couldn’t possibly land on Sun Wukong, who was dodging even the movements of experts as if time had stopped. He grabbed the whip and pulled, and Kim Ga-eul, unable to even choose to abandon her weapon, was dragged along.

“Uwaaaah!?”

And Kim Ga-eul, reaching me, contrary to my expectation that she would be scared, tried to use martial arts against me.

Her awkwardly thrown fist was laced with fear, but…

The important thing was that she had overcome even that.

“Bring him back…!”

[Hmm?]

“Bring him back…!”

Oh, what’s this? Are you crying?

“You could have saved him…! Bring back our So-hyun, you bastard…!”

Who’s “our” So-hyun, you idiot?

The others will misunderstand.

[Are you whining? I can’t grant that.]

“Oh my, of course you can’t grant it. If you had just helped, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Yoo-na, who had momentarily cast a light attribute buff on herself, stepped forward and swung her mace.

The holy light pierced the shield created by Black Shadow, but the one second she spent breaking the shield gave us more than enough time to dodge her attack.

[You don’t seem to have lost your reason like the others.]

“No? I’m pretty angry, even if it doesn’t look like it.”

…Huh? You? Why?

“You wouldn’t understand even if I told you, but I quite liked that guy lying there. I wanted to become friends with him, almost as close as I am with Lilac.”

Although she spoke with eyes that didn’t seem to reflect her words, it didn’t seem like a lie.

No, I didn’t know she thought of me that highly.

“And Lilac really liked him. So I’m going to take it out on you.”

[You can’t touch me.]

Yoo-na’s martial arts were top-notch. Even without buffs, she was at a mid-to-high level, and if she stacked buffs on herself, she could instantly reach a high level.

But in the end, it was just at the level of a cadet.

It was far too insufficient to face Sun Wukong, who was called the strongest in the legend of Journey to the West, even if it was just his spirit.

[…If you’re going to support someone, you should stick to your role. It’s hard to praise you for charging in on your own.]

I deliberately kicked away her mace and then grabbed Ha-ni, who was rushing from behind, and threw her at Yoo-na using a technique that combined and redirected their momentum.

“Ugh…!?”

“Ouch…!?”

[You would all be dead if this was a real battle. This is getting boring, why don’t we stop?]

“Boring?”

Crack.

With a light leap, Cathy’s signature kick landed.

Her mana-infused body leaped powerfully and charged at a speed faster than a bullet.

[You’re not bad. That’s a well-developed technique.]

It was a series of attacks, but it wasn’t a mindless barrage. Each strike flowed smoothly into the next, a perfected series of attacks.

If our bodies were of equal standing, it wouldn’t have been a big threat if it was merely that, but her technique was also at an extraordinary level, enough to overwhelm my meager body.

So, for the first time here, I used my talent.

The moment she aimed for my jaw with her fist, a tiny amount of innate qi circulated throughout my body, and my body, momentarily entering the realm of a superhuman, perfectly dodged her fist.

“Ugh…!? Where!?”

And before the energy we used for dodging disappeared, I gathered all that power into a single point and unleashed it as a punch.

[You’ll soon break through the wall. But since you haven’t broken through yet, you’re no match for me now.]

A straight punch.

It was one of the most basic punches, but the more fundamentally sound the posture, the more its power couldn’t be ignored when it landed.

“…Ugh!?”

The unwavering fist landed on her.

Annihilation.

It was a shaky movement without any real power behind it, yet everyone was overwhelmed by my fist.

[It’s finally quiet. But you there, aren’t you going to attack?]

Only Lilac remained. Well, the others weren’t exactly done, but since Lilac hadn’t attacked at all, I specifically called him out, but the words that came out of his mouth were ridiculous.

“…You didn’t directly harm So-hyun.”

[Nonsense. Then you should have stopped your comrades.]

“I’m also human, I couldn’t go that far.”

[Hmm, is that so? I’d really like to see your skills.]

Judging by his on-the-verge-of-exploding appearance, he would probably snap with just a little more provocation.

[Then how about this?]

He looked at me.

[What if I told you that he could have escaped, but I interfered and that’s why he ended up like that?]

Flinch.

The instincts fused with Sun Wukong sent out a violent warning.

Killing intent.

Lilac, who rarely got angry even in the original story, was on the verge of losing his reason.

The monster named genius, who always hid his true self behind a smiling face and rationality, was about to give in to his emotions for the first time.

Good. That’s how it should be.

“If you’re trying to provoke me…!”

[Ah, that’s right.]

“…?”

[Barbecue party. He said he was looking forward to it.]

Crush.

There was the sound of something being forcefully crushed.

Yes, Lilac. You need to get used to anger.

“You…”

Lilac was enraged.

The emotion called anger swept away everything that hindered his actions, including rational judgment, and took their place.

“Do you really want to die?”

The smiling, handsome man was gone.

[Try it. If you can.]

A demon wielding a holy sword charged at me.

…I felt a little sorry, but this much of a shock was necessary to awaken Lilac’s other talent, which only existed in the novel settings.

It was better than having the other heroines or our friends almost die, right, Lilac?

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Kill.

It was the first time he had ever truly wanted to kill someone.

He thought he had met many evil people and experienced a lot of malice.

But he had been able to endure it until now. Because no one had died yet.

Ironically, because of that, he had an unfounded confidence that things would work out somehow next time as well.

It was a foolish thought, considering how cruel and cold reality was.

He had been too complacent in a world where he could so easily lose a friend due to someone’s malice, someone’s whim.

[Losing your composure during battle isn’t a good habit.]

‘I know.’

It went without saying that even if one was angry, one should calm one’s emotions when fighting.

The opponent was a monster who hadn’t been injured even after facing Professor Cathy and Inspector Kang Na-hyun simultaneously.

Choi In-ho, whom he faced at the entrance ceremony, and the villains he had met so far were no match for this monster. Blindly giving in to his rage wasn’t a good choice.

But even so, he couldn’t suppress the rage that had already erupted as he broke through his limits.

[Judging by your level, it wouldn’t have changed anything even if you had arrived earlier.]

“…Shut up!”

The man dodged the holy sword light that surged with Lilac’s emotions and flicked his finger at him.

A large shock, as if his brain had been shaken, was transmitted through the lightly flicked finger.

“…!”

[Was it all for naught, him enduring while expecting you to come crawling to save him? Judging by your level, there would have just been more corpses even if you came to help him.]

Lilac knew it was an absurd provocation.

It was just that the man was far too powerful. It would be faster to find a dungeon that they couldn’t clear with their current power.

Even so, that voice was so annoying that he couldn’t stand it.

[Disappointing. The others as well, but I’m truly disappointed in you, Lilac.]

“…What?”

[He judged that you might become an obstacle to us. So He came to test you. But I don’t sense any qualities in you that could hinder us.]

Huh?

“What… did you just say?”

[I said I came here to test you. Ah, should I put it differently? He killed that boy to test you.]

He casually pointed his finger at the collapsed Kang So-hyun.

The moment he froze, unable to comprehend those words, a fist pierced through the holy sword light.

[Freezing during battle, how pathetic…!!!!]

But somehow, he managed to grab that fist.

“You…”

Something within him crumbled, and the holy sword light began to fluctuate wildly.

[Indeed, it seems that you have something hidden within you.]

He didn’t know what was fluctuating within him right now.

But he had a feeling that if he unleashed this, he could destroy that disgusting oni mask.

The moment a sensation completely different from when he usually wielded his talent spread through his hand.

[Oh dear.]

“…Uh, h-how… kehe.”

At the sudden, familiar sound of coughing, everyone there turned to look at the source.

“…Huh?”

[Time passed faster than I expected.]

So-hyun, who previously was unconscious and covered in wounds, slowly began to look around with blurry eyes.

[Since the lie has been exposed, let’s end it here for today.]

“…A lie?”

The man in the oni mask nodded in affirmation to someone who muttered in disbelief.

[Yes, the plan went awry because he woke up earlier than expected.]

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-Ah, it’s wearing off.

Sun Wukong suddenly said.

‘…What?’

-They’re stronger than I expected, so I failed to control my power. If you force it, your body won’t be able to handle the backlash.

‘No, but you can’t do this now…!’

I wanted to see Lilac’s awakening, but that was being too greedy now.

Ad-lib.

I had to ad-lib. A perfect ad-lib, as naturally as possible, as if it was the original script…! I couldn’t let all that hard work go to waste.

I hurriedly sent mana to the clone, and the clone, who had been lying on the floor as if dead, started coughing.

“…A lie?”

[Yes, the plan went awry because he woke up earlier than expected.]

I was screwed. The moment Fusion wore off, my whole body started creaking and screaming like a rusty machine.

“What was that about?”

[What do you mean? Haven’t you figured it out already? If you really didn’t know, shouldn’t you be happy right now? It means your friend isn’t dead.]

Not only Lilac, but everyone else was looking at my clone.

[Ah, of course, it’s not a lie that I tried to test you, Lilac. I haven’t confirmed whether you’re an obstacle to us or not, but at least I know you’re hiding something, so I’ll be satisfied with this for today.]

“Wait, what are you talking about…!?”

“Yeah, no, more importantly, is So-hyun okay? He keeps coughing…!”

Ha-ni and Ga-eul intervened.

[He looked like he was in danger, so I defeated the monster for him, and he looked like he was in pain, so I put him to sleep. The pain must have returned when he woke up.]

“…Are you saying you saved So-hyun?”

I nodded at Cathy’s question.

[My original purpose was provocation, so there was no need to kill him. I only saved him because I was impressed by his struggle.]

Judging by their bewildered expressions, they didn’t seem to understand what I was talking about.

Of course, I didn’t understand either.

[It was all a lie. It was quite amusing to see you all get fooled so easily.]

Would it look convincing if I just acted arrogantly?

Honestly, even I thought this was incredibly forced.

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T/N – Pfft! Ahahaha! The MC had performance issues right at the good part. Too bad, I wanted to see Lilac’s hidden power. Maybe next time.

Still, nice ad-lib, Chuni MC. 👍

If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.