The living room of the dormitory.

I sat on the sofa, recalling one by one the conversations I had with my classmates today.

There were probably quite a few who, for the first time today, learned about each other’s situations.

Although we all got along well, there had been few opportunities for deep, personal talks.

‘Thanks to Kwon Rena gathering her courage to speak up, the classmates got to know each other better.’

Sharing secrets and dark pasts isn’t always a good thing.

Still, because of today, the classmates would think more about each other and become safer.

I also revealed my family background just in case.

It was certain I had no family or relatives in this world.

I told them to immediately inform me if anyone approached claiming blood relations.

It was bitter, but given how harsh the world is, it was better not to trust anyone just because they said they were family.

―If such insolent people appear, let me know if Jo Yi-shin seems busy.

―Even if he doesn’t look busy, tell me anyway.

―Baekho, but you can’t leave the silver mine area anyway.

When I said that, the Tigers jumped in.

If someone pretended to be my family but was a presence from the hidden mastermind faction, it was only natural for the Tigers to be so actively involved, right?

“There is a reason why my close friend and I spoke up like that at that moment. You probably already suspect, don’t you? You’re just choosing not to think about it.”

White Tiger suddenly interrupted my thoughts.

Now, because of that roommate, I couldn’t even organize my thoughts alone anymore.

“There’s no need to sort out your thoughts alone. I can be your companion for chatting.”

“I’m fine.”

White Tiger ignored my refusal.

He even sat down next to me to assert his presence, so it looked like he would keep interfering.

Since he would read my thoughts no matter where he was, I decided not to mind him sitting next to me.

‘The fanatics who oppose humans in the demon world scenario are followers of the Seven Deadly Sins demons.’

Pride, greed, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, sloth.

The Seven Deadly Sins demons in the modern world originate from the concept of the Seven Deadly Sins and sought to spread these so-called sins as doctrine to the human world.

There were other demons besides them, but usually, they did not actively interfere in the human world beyond the demon realm.

The higher entities to be wary of in this demon world scenario were eight in total: the Seven Deadly Sins demons plus the Death demon.

‘Demon lords with epithets like “Sidelenitium of Indifference and Silence” will hardly cooperate.

After all, demon lords who chose to follow the demons gave up their titles of king and became priests, so demon lords have already been filtered out.’

Just as it’s impossible for an ideology to unify within one group, the demon race was the same.

By exploiting this, it’s possible to make multiple moves as if dealing with Sidelenitium.

The demons who have already become priests are nearly impossible to persuade.

The priests of the demons secured so far have not succumbed to any torture—that was proof.

‘They differ from the experimental subjects of Hyangrok who would do anything if given freedom, or the former priestesses of the Dragon King who begged to be killed even after obtaining the immortality they so desperately wished for.’

At last year’s military academy exchange opening ceremony, a priest who worshipped Avaritia of greed was secured.

That priest exhausted their final strength to transfer what they saw onto the altar at the cost of permanently losing their eyesight.

Now, tortured in the depths of the nobles, that priest writhes in agony but still does not give up greed, always seeking an opportunity to escape.

The priests who followed Invidius of envy, who obtained the eyes passed down by Avaritia’s priest, were no different.

This demon, who targeted Bang Yun-seop on last Christmas Eve, can feel pain but reportedly does not break under it.

‘Among the priests secured, there were those of wrath as well.’

The priest who served Iranos of wrath held the dragon-slaying weapon, Gram, and targeted Yeom Jun-yeol.

Though they missed on Christmas Eve, they succeeded in capturing him and stealing Gram during the Dragon Palace collapse scenario.

Gram is now in my hands because the Tigers and dragons passed it to me, and all priests who raided the Red Lion’s team building to kidnap Chokrin were caught.

We got somewhat useful information from them.

They said they now serve the hidden mastermind according to a contract because they failed on Christmas Eve.

‘But they revealed nothing harmful to the demons. The information they gave was probably leaked out of a lack of loyalty to the mastermind and a desire for revenge.’

Indirectly connected was the pride demon Superbia.

It was the demon that Jin Jeong-muk’s parents worshipped.

I thoroughly checked whether there was any possibility of demons mixed in Jin Jeong-muk’s bloodline, but he was human.

In other words, the fanatical demon worshippers included demons I had faced before but also humans like Jin Jeong-muk’s parents.

Some might say that was better than demons, but I thought otherwise.

‘Among humans, some are strong enough to rival demons.

It’s even more troublesome since they can hide among humans and can’t be detected by the eyes of Jin’s tribe.’

Though unlikely, what if the strong teacher Im Yeon-hwa suddenly became a priest of the demons and acted among humans?

It would be better to add a few more demons instead.

Moreover, there was a bigger problem.

‘It will become harder to stab demons with the verbal ability, their weakness.’

Verbal ability has played a major role in fighting demons.

Recently, during the Jeju math trip, Jegal Jae-gul caught a demon’s priest in the city without causing any damage.

Only a brief blockage occurred, so Jegal Jae-gul’s feat went unnoticed, and senior students complained that it was buried.

But in the demon world scenario, where fanatics hiding in human society are fully mobilized, that won’t work.

‘Jin Jeong-muk’s parents won’t be weak.

If they were someone who could be handled by force, Jin Jeong-muk would have already done so.’

There were troublemakers like Maeng Hyo-don and Guseulbi’s parents, but they weren’t a great threat.

They were ordinary people without powers, not players, so without the mastermind’s support, they couldn’t directly harm the classmates.

But this case was different.

Jin Jeong-muk’s parents were players and stronger than him.

Thanks to Jin Jeong-muk, a martial artist who often challenged players wielding swords in school duels, we had a rough idea of their strength.

Jin Jeong-muk was strong enough in first grade to dominate other homeroom teachers like No Young-mi or Gwak Kyung-gu.

He lost against Joo Soo-hyuk but was undoubtedly a considerable talent, so if his parents were even stronger...

“Jin Jeong-muk even defeated me.”

White Tiger interrupted my thoughts again.

Would it feel good to beat a classmate about 5,000 years older?

I thought I heard the answer ‘yes,’ but I ignored it.

Wait, when did they spar?

If they sparred, I’d have liked to see it too.

Why do they babble nonsense but omit the important stuff?

Of course, White Tiger must have cheered for Jin Jeong-muk, but seeing White Tiger swing a sword like an expert, I was sure he couldn’t help but admire him.

No, imagining their duel made White Tiger smirk more, so I decided to stop thinking about it.

‘The current problem isn’t just Jin Jeong-muk’s parents.’

Inseo-oh told me her parents served the Death demon.

Even knowing the strong people in our class, she said ‘Run.’

Inseo-oh was on friendly terms with the nobles and knew that most opponents could be handled by their power, yet she said that.

‘Maybe she said that because she worried the weaker kids might get involved. But it still bothers me.’

Though she hides her strength, Inseo-oh was clearly a powerful player.

She was, like me, a candidate to become the embodiment of nightmares.

Considering only her abilities as a player without the benefits of being a suitable candidate for future dimensional changes, Inseo-oh and I were probably on par.

If Inseo-oh had to run from someone, I’d also find them difficult to face.

And the Keeper who guards the cycle of reincarnation said this to me.

―Ui-shin, two higher beings didn’t attend this meeting.

―One is the ‘Death demon’ worshipped by demons, and the other is... the Nightmare Insomnium.

―Remember that neither of those two are among the higher beings who granted you power this time.

The gleam of life and death in my eyes was granted by a higher being related to death, but two others withheld permission.

The Death demon and the Nightmare Insomnium.

It bothered me that Inseo-oh’s parents, who worship the Death demon, weren’t present at the gathering that granted me the life-and-death power.

‘When I was preparing for Sung Sung-woo’s funeral, I met a priest worshipping the Death demon in Hongcheon who tried to sow discord, but they weren’t very threatening.

If Do-ol, one of the four ghosts, hadn’t intervened, we would have caught them more easily.’

But I couldn’t be optimistic.

That day, the priest was hiding their existence and executing the discord plan, so they couldn’t freely use their powers.

Though we blocked the discord, we still lost the priest worshipping the Death demon.

How the Death demon shared power with its priests and how it manifested was unknown.

‘I don’t have enough information about demons. I have to act more before the demon world scenario begins.’

The demon world scenario would start around the end of this year or early next year.

Since demonization proceeds gradually, it’s hard to pinpoint an exact start.

Before then, there were two moves I could make without borrowing the nobles’ power.

One was to participate in Bimuyeon, where Jeolheukpungnim gathered martial arts masters by circulating the Hero Registry.

‘In Bimuyeon, there will be people who ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) don’t belong to Jeolheukpungnim but roam the world hunting demons.’

The other was somewhat unappealing.

As soon as I thought about it, White Tiger immediately interrupted.

“Jo Yi-shin, there’s no need to do that.”

“That’s why I kept ignoring and postponing it, but it’s still unresolved.”

White Tiger was annoyed but couldn’t refute me.

He kept delaying, saying the demon world scenario starts at the end of sophomore year, but I had waited a long time, and the problem still showed no sign of being solved.

“The only Jin who can solve the demon ‘eye’ problem is Seodol. Seodol will accept one proposal.”

If Seodol enthusiastically handled the demon ‘eye’ problem before the demon world scenario starts, I was willing to endure some hassle.

Seodol wanted two things from me.

The first was to receive my blessing, which I had no intention of granting.

Just White Tiger alone was troublesome enough; the idea of receiving a blessing from a Jin like Seodol made me dizzy just thinking about it.

So I had to accept the second proposal.

“If Seodol solves the ‘eye’ problem before the demon world scenario starts, I will accept Neuru’s ambassador position.”