I Became the Terminally Ill Character in My Friend’s Academy Novel – Chapter 94

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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I hadn’t considered the possibility of Arcadia’s involvement in this incident at all.

Not just that man, the Fighting Demon, but the entire Arcadia organization had an absolute rule they all shared:

Never harm a child.

That rule was the biggest reason I tried to bring them to our side, and why I thought I could change them before they crossed the ultimate line.

It didn’t make sense that they came to destroy the orphanage. They were probably either deceived by others, or the narrative intervention changed something.

So, I tried to initiate a conversation.

“Do you even know why those bastards are here?”

“I heard they’re here to take over a dungeon.”

“No, that’s not all. Those guys…”

“But even if I didn’t know, I don’t need to.”

“…What?”

“Kid. If you’re a man, actions speak louder than words! Those in front of you are enemies, and you interfered with my fight. Isn’t that enough reason for us to fight…!”

But a conversation was something between people, and it seemed like it wasn’t something to be had with a crazy muscle pig.

I had a feeling it would be like this.

Seo Tae-ho, even in the original story, was a straightforward guy in both good and bad ways.

“No…!”

The giant charged at me with unbelievable speed.

“I have no interest in bullying the weak, so just stay down…!”

This wouldn’t do. To persuade him, I needed to stop him, even for a moment.

“Grow, Ruyi…!”

Ruyi, in knife form, instantly transformed into a staff and extended towards him, but he dodged it without hesitation.

“Your weapon is good, but your handling is terrible! No matter how good a weapon is, it’s worthless if the wielder is third-rate!”

The distance between us closed by more than half in a single breath.

This wouldn’t do.

A half-hearted attack against this man would only put me in a more difficult position.

I channeled my innate qi into Ruyi. Absorbing the immense energy, Ruyi momentarily reached its original performance level, displaying its majesty as a mythical artifact.

“Split, sharpen!”

Ruyi split into hundreds of pieces, transforming into spears and blades that flew towards the giant.

A rain of sharp objects, each with the power of a legendary artifact.

Even facing that terrifying sight, the man’s expression didn’t show a hint of tension.

“Kid, you don’t understand.”

The only difference was that he finally assumed a stance instead of moving carelessly as before.

“Just increasing the number won’t work.”

Magical power gathered into his fist.

“No matter how many weapons you wield, if you can’t control them perfectly, they’re no match for a fist with a solid core.”

The blades, which could cut through most artifacts like tofu, were blocked by his sturdy protective qi.

Magical power, concentrated at a single point around his fist, exploded outward in a straight line, creating a path.

Dangerous.

“You’re unqualified.”

In just two breaths, he was in front of me.

…I acted tough in front of this guy last time?

Ruyi transformed into a shield.

I needed to ask Sun Wukong to deflect the impact, create distance, and then try to persuade him.

“You should dodge, not block…!”

Huh?

That’s why I didn’t expect it.

The girl with the snow-white sword jumped between me and his fist.

She poured all her strength into a slash towards the fist, and a screeching sound echoed as their magical powers collided.

Finally, the balance of power broke, and the weaker one was thrown back with a thud.

Naturally, it was Ha-ni.

“Ugh…!?”

Ha-ni, pushed back in a head-on clash, coughed up blood and collapsed, seemingly injured internally.

Watching the scene unfold, it felt strangely unreal.

Ah, I see.

I acted that way because I believed Sun Wukong would somehow protect me, but to others, it must have looked like suicide.

That’s why Ha-ni intervened and took the hit for me.

“Hmm, it would have been better if you attacked from behind. That level of attack could have wounded me.”

The Fighting Demon’s words reached my ears clearly.

I didn’t know his intentions, but to me, it sounded like he was blaming me for her condition.

“Well, this isn’t how I wanted it to end this fight, but I guess it’s fortunate she’s not dead. Tsk, I’ll spare you too, so go. It would be pointless if you were also defeated after putting your life on the line to protect him.”

Why am I like this?

Thump.

I tried so hard to avoid seeing something like this, but why did things keep turning out this way?

Again.

It was similar to how I felt when I saw that black thing engulf Professor Cathy.

An unfamiliar emotion tried to take over me.

The sight of Ha-ni lying on the ground made a wave of intense displeasure surge through me.

The void in my heart squirmed as it clung to the fading noise, but the torrent of powerful memories was too strong. Unfiltered memories leaked out from beyond the noise.

-Why do I like you?

What emerged from the depths of my memory was Ha-ni, who looked a little more mature compared to now.

But unlike the present, this Ha-ni, who had accepted herself as a woman, looked at ‘me’ with empty eyes.

-It’s simple. You don’t see me as a person. That’s why I like you.

-…What kind of crazy talk is that?

-I don’t know. It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand. I need someone who will use me like a tool. Because I don’t need a ‘me.’ Yes, that’s why I like you.

Her gaze as she looked at her sword with a seductive air held a mixture of longing and resentment.

I didn’t like that look, but it was none other than me and ‘him’ who created it.

Even a sincere apology would be deceitful.

That was what I thought, and that was why I couldn’t say anything.

“Move aside. There’s no point in beating down someone who isn’t a warrior…”

-So don’t make that face at a tool. It doesn’t suit you.

Her expression from the vivid memory made my heart tighten.

“I don’t know.”

“What?”

“I don’t know what this is, and if you’re going to help, you should have come sooner. Why do you always show up after someone gets hurt?”

My head throbbed, but it helped me realize one thing.

I didn’t want to see anyone get hurt again.

‘I’ hated seeing Ha-ni get hurt.

I wanted to see her smile more genuinely.

I wanted to see her cherish something other than her sword.

I hoped that someday, she would truly smile happily.

It was obviously something I already knew, and it was foolish of me to only remember it now, after this had happened. But even so, regret flooded my coldly analytical mind.

“…Your demeanor has suddenly changed. Your gaze is better now, but that’s not enough.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

This wouldn’t do.

Even with everything I had ‘back then,’ I couldn’t guarantee victory against him. My current body wasn’t ready yet.

But I had things I didn’t have back then.

The artifacts I possessed were things I didn’t have in the past.

If I didn’t have teeth, I would use my gums. Since I had alternative means, I could at least try.

I transformed Ruyi.

A short dagger wasn’t a suitable weapon to fight this man.

But I couldn’t wield a greatsword or a longsword with my current body.

So, I chose a short sword.

Fortunately, it was the weapon ‘I’ was most proficient with.

“Huh, you seem like a different person.”

I rushed towards him while he was distracted.

I ran with all my might, but my body was slow.

The discrepancy between the ideal movement and reality was unpleasant, but it was good enough for now.

Needless to say, the key to a surprise attack was speed.

Since he saw me launching a surprise attack with such slow movements, he would be careless.

That arrogance, that carelessness of not even assuming a stance, of reacting sluggishly after adapting to my slow speed, was my opening.

As the distance closed and his fist was about to reach me, I accelerated using Enhancement.

“Oh?”

He, who tried to accelerate in response, was startled by his immobile arm and looked down at it.

Black Shadow.

The shadow, ejected as thinly as a thread, transformed into black shackles that bound his limbs.

“Kid…!”

It took him only a second to shake off the Black Shadow. But that was enough time for me to swing my sword.

He initially tried to block it with his qi, but perhaps because he sensed something was off, he switched to dodging it instead.

“Ugh…!?”

Thanks to my weak body, the attack didn’t land, but it was enough to break his stance.

At the same time when I ejected the wire-like shadow, I shot a black spike, also made of shadow, towards where he was falling. He released his magical power to forcibly change his trajectory and dodged it.

His counterattack followed, a forced attack from an awkward position. But as befitting his title of Fighting Demon, the punch was still powerful enough to be unbearable for most heroes.

If it landed, that is.

The bracelet I had prepared glowed, and my body dissolved into thin air.

The punch cut through empty air. His forced counterattack completely broke his stance.

There was a vast gap between me, who was ready to strike from the air, and him.

I focused all my Enhancement on Ruyi, but it was still insufficient to pierce through his protective qi.

“Become heavy.”

So, the moment I swung the sword, I increased Ruyi’s weight to increase its momentum, compensating for my lack of strength.

A look of shock crossed his face.

I had completely won the mind games.

Therefore, the reason I was defeated afterward was simply due to the difference in physical specs.

The Fighting Demon, who hadn’t used anything but his left arm until now, stomped the ground and kicked me with his qi-infused leg.

I blocked with Ruyi that I had transformed into a shield, so I took almost no damage, but since it was an unexpected attack, I couldn’t deflect it completely.

The distance between us widened.

The Fighting Demon stared at me for a moment, seemingly in disbelief that he had to use a limb other than his left arm to escape my attack.

“I don’t know how you suddenly moved like that, but you’re still not a warrior.”

Certainly, considering his definition of a warrior, I wasn’t one.

I was closer to an assassin or a hitman.

Seo Tae-ho, the Fighting Demon, smirked at me.

“But you’re definitely strong.”

It seemed like he wanted to continue fighting me. Good.

I also had no intention of letting the guy who put Ha-ni in that state go free.

As he assumed a stance, I raised my short sword once more.

However, our unpleasant standoff didn’t last long.

A surprise attack.

A barrage of magical arrows suddenly rained down from the sky, covering the surrounding area.

Fortunately, it seemed like the attacker wasn’t that skilled.

I was able to transform Ruyi into a shield and protect the fallen Ha-ni because I sensed the attack beforehand.

“…What’s the meaning of this?”

Seo Tae-ho was the first to react.

He was understandably bewildered, being attacked from his rear by villains who were supposed to be his allies.

But this was anticipated.

Their identity was Miel, the largest corporation among the villain groups participating this time.

They probably planned to hide their strength, minimize their losses, and then backstab the others.

Perhaps they saw the fight between Seo Tae-ho and me, and Ha-ni’s injury as an opportunity?

It didn’t seem like a wise decision.

Most of the villains hit by the magic just now were already subdued, and there seemed to be almost no casualties among us or the guards.

“Betrayal. Ah, it’s not betrayal, is it? You were the one who attacked first. We were planning to do this anyway, but thanks to those students performing better than expected, things worked out even more cleanly than we anticipated.”

“Well, I have nothing to say to that. Since we’re now enemies, I assume you have no complaints if I blow your heads off?”

He gave a villainous laugh towards the growling Fighting Demon, revealing his true nature as a third-rate villain.

“This is why I didn’t tell you. I was planning to use you like this.”

“…What?”

“Actually, there’s an orphanage here. Our goal is to take over the dungeon hidden here, so we came here intending to demolish the orphanage.”

The Fighting Demon’s face contorted in rage.

“So, judging by what you’re saying, you seem to know our rules. Should I understand that as a request to kill you as painfully as possible?”

“We’ve already planted the bombs. All that’s left is to press the detonation switch.”

“Which will be faster, you pressing the detonation switch, or me blowing your heads off?”

“Do you even know which one of us has the detonation switch? Maybe it’s not us, but another colleague far away.”

His face twisted further.

That wasn’t a bluff.

They were a large enough organization to be called a corporation, so only a small fraction of them were here, and their main forces were most likely stationed elsewhere.

“Well, we don’t actually want you dead. Just go back.”

“Even if I go back, you’ll still do what you planned, so why should I?”

“The orphanage building will disappear, but I promise that we’ll let the children escape safely.”

“You bastard…”

“Haha, Arcadia, villains who care about such trivial things. It makes things easier for me.”

“…”

After some thought, the Fighting Demon relaxed his stance.

“Yes, that’s a wise choice. Ah, don’t come complaining to us later. What if an orphanage happens to be caught in our indiscriminate attacks?”

Despite the low-level provocation, his face was red with rage.

It seemed he was about to give up, but who said he could?

“Hey.”

“…Yes?”

“Why are you deciding things on your own, you idiot? I was fighting him first.”

“Hey, student. Are you not grasping the situation? The Fighting Demon won’t fight us. Are you going to do it alone? Ah, and what are you going to do about the orphanage?”

“Kid! Think rationally! I understand you’re angry, but…!”

“Excuse me, mister. Are we friends? Don’t act all chummy after trying to stab me just now.”

Thanks to their conversation buying me time, I had finished administering first aid and had given Ha-ni a potion, so I had done everything necessary for now.

“S-So-hyun.”

“Don’t talk. Rest.”

“…Are you, a hero, planning to abandon the hostages?”

The Fighting Demon gave me a look of contempt, but I didn’t care.

“What a noisy villain.”

“Haha, it seems you think I’m bluffing…”

“Press it.”

“Excuse me…?”

“Press it if you want to, you idiot. Why can’t you press it? Should I press it for you?”

I strode towards him, and he stared at me blankly. Then, as if misunderstanding something, he backed away while showing off the detonation switch.

“This isn’t the only switch! It’s useless even if you try to take it from me!”

“Villains really never listen, do they?”

His eyes started to tremble.

“I’m not scared, so press it.”

And of course, I meant it.

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T/N – Hello guys. Sorry about not being able to release last Tuesday and Thursday. I was sick these past couple of days, and in fact, I’m still not doing too hot right now (Or maybe I AM too hot right now. Get it? Cough Cough). I’m getting better, but I wanted to release these chapters before the weekends to give you guys something to read. I should be able to post as usual on Sunday, so no worries. (5/23/2025)

Aw, come on! Just when the MC was about to show us a badass fight for once. I feel blue balled…

Also, I’m really getting confused about the foreshadowing here. From what I’m getting, it seems like this isn’t the MC’s ‘first try’, so to speak. It seems like his past memories hide more than just the original So-hyun’s childhood memories. Do you guys have any other theories?

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