Hidden Sanity at Villain School - Chapter 19



Only Krnovel

(019)

“Ready? More here?”

“If you spend a little money, you can get more points.”

Dahyun and Jinrim looked at Sega with puzzled eyes.

Sega has one of the best bodies among all the first-year students.

It was strange to see him come out defensively.

“Yeah. I don’t plan on buying anything expensive either.”

Sega continued speaking calmly.

“How about military smoke grenades? Those are cheap. Of course, they won’t be cheap, but they won’t be affected by the inflation of the Hunter industry. Since they’re D-class demons, they won’t have any special abilities, so they’ll be easy to swallow.”

Kyeom nodded, saying that the price was okay.

But the reason was still asked.

“If it’s for military use, you can get it for less than 100,000 won each, even considering the black market price. But why the smoke screen? Is it really necessary?”

Sega was gritting his teeth internally.

‘Have all the kids at this school become insensitive to safety? How can they think of fighting the devil with their bare hands? We just woke up the day before yesterday! Even if we’re armed with all kinds of guns, it won’t be enough.’

I took a quick look around.

There were several students who seemed to be listening intently.

It seemed like he was curious about what kind of operation the 8th group, filled with outstanding talents such as Jeong Se-ga, Il Jin-rim, Joo Da-hyun, and Lee Gyeom, was planning.

”My reputation must be protected at all costs. You must not say that the Demon Lord is dangerous.”

Sega opened the hunting training rules he had just downloaded on his smartphone.

“As you all probably heard earlier, Professor Leena emphasized the stability of hunting. I’m sure that when she announces her hunting strategy next week, she’ll ask about ways to deal with unexpected situations or reduce the level of risk.”

“Let’s prepare for that?”

“If I can show the professor my unstoppable stance for the price of a few smoke grenades, I think it’ll be a huge win. If it’s a real fight, there might be another one, and it might be stronger than expected.”

Jinrim and Gyeom nodded as if they had a point.

In the group next door, there was also talk about smoke bombs and gas bombs.

Dahyun gave them a displeased look.

Sega raised his voice slightly as if to make everyone hear.

“I won’t die easily, but the demon might avoid me and attack you or me. We all need to be safe.”

Dahyun smiled bashfully.

“Okay. If that’s the case, let’s buy one for each person. You’re smarter than you look, figuring out the professor’s tendencies and planning a strategy. Do they sell smoke grenades at our school store?”

Kyeom nodded.

“I think it’ll probably sell. But just in case, I’ll try contacting other people.”

Jinrim also added a word.

“I’ll go to the store to buy some bullets.”

“Yeah. If you have a grenade launcher that can fire smoke grenades, let’s buy that too. It might be quicker to get that here.”

He clenched his fists as if he was excited.

Jinrim smiled, pushing up the middle of her sunglasses, and Dahyun crossed her arms with a satisfied expression.

Sega said with a confident smile.

“Let’s do our best.”

Although it was disturbing to those around him, he shouted in a tone that was enough to get by once in a while.

“Group 8, no. Promotion! Fighting!”

“What the heck are you doing! Shut up.”

“ha ha ha.”

Just then the bell rang and class was over.

Sega asked the king.

“Hum. Is this the end for today?”

Kyeom answered without even looking at the schedule.

“This morning I had one hour of modern history and three hours of mobile marksmanship. After lunch I had three hours of comprehensive hunting studies. Then… … Ah. I’m dying. There’s still two hours left.”

Dahyun checked the schedule on the app.

“It’s poison. Sega. Let’s go.”

“Let’s go together?”

Iljinrim tilted his head, and Gyeom looked back at Jinrim.

“Of course we should stick together! If we stay apart and fight with someone, if one of us breaks, we’ll all be ruined.”

“If I had to pick a fight, I would have… … .”

Jinrim’s voice trailed off in an unnatural way, and Sega showed his index and middle fingers by slightly spreading them out and putting them together before lifting them up to his lips.

“Is this it?”

“You have good insight.”

“Go quickly and come back. If possible, hang up. As you know, demons have a very keen sense of smell.”

Iljinrim went out to the back of the lecture hall building with his usual gang.

By the time Dahyun, Sega, and Gyeom arrive at the poison technique classroom.

“I. I’m back.”

Jinrim approached with her characteristic model-like gait and joined the three.

“It doesn’t smell?”

“I said I was going to quit, so I came.”

* * *

The poisoning was taught simultaneously by three classes in a lecture room much larger than the homeroom classroom.

Of all the classrooms I’ve ever been in, this one was the most lecture room-like. There was a podium in the front where the professor stood, and in the back, there were desks and chairs arranged in a wide fan shape.

It was spacious enough to accommodate a total of 180 students from Classes 1, 5, and 10.

“… … .”

Before the strange war of nerves with the other students in the class could really begin, the professor came in with countless teaching assistants.

Step, step, step.

“There are only a handful of people who can understand the science that will govern the new era. That’s a very sad thing.”

The professor of poison was a calm-looking man wearing a green tie over a shirt and a white gown.

Unlike the professors I’ve seen so far, he had a few wrinkles on his face.

“I hope that the students will understand this study and live as upper-class people in this society. I am Maeng Do-sol, and I am here to help you on that journey.”

He also had a strangely bitter laugh, and he seemed to have some similarities to Iljinrim.

“Before we begin class, I would like to clear up one misconception that students may have. Venom is not simply a discipline that fights with poison.”

When he gestured to his teaching assistants, they opened the bags they were holding and spread them out in front of the podium in the lecture hall.

As 180 students leaned forward to get a closer look, Maeng Do-sol gestured again to bring up the PPT.

“wow!”

“Are they all made with poison?”

Students checking out the items and screens let out exclamations here and there.

Maeng Do-sol began explaining while shining a laser pointer on the screen.

“Swords and armor made from the bones and claws of demons. The wooden artifacts used in the physical arts classes. Various potions such as recovery potions. The pinnacles of magical engineering such as energy batteries and psionic engines. They were all made using the poison arts.”

One by one, the students’ eyes lit up.

“Venom is not simply the study of poison. Venom is the essence of supernatural bionics. Teeth, skin, bones, blood, scales, and other byproducts of the demonic beast are imbued with magical powers just as they were in life. These cannot be processed with normal machines, or even if processed, they cannot be properly utilized.”

Students from the general public were unaware that such a discipline existed.

“Equally, these can only be processed, studied, and utilized through the byproducts of magical powers or our magical bodies. This reminds us of a very important fact, because the portrait industry has already become the superior version of all modern industries.”

Maeng Do-sol used a script to display the next slide, and the students erupted in applause.

“Energy batteries. Large power fields. These two are the two major mountain ranges that support modern society and the Korean economy, and both can only be created using poison magic.”

That was true.

“And if you consider that all the factories and machines in the world use energy batteries as their power source, and that all the goods made by them are transported on container ships equipped with large power fields.”

It was also a revolution.

“Venom is the science that rules this age.”

Before he knew it, all 180 students were listening to him.

“The employment rate of the poison specialists who graduated from Shinseoul University so far is 100% in the Maseok conglomerate, and the death rate due to industrial accidents is 0%.”

“The average salary is lower than that of the hunters who hunt the demons, but the work-life balance is incomparable. At least we won’t make mistakes at work and get eaten by the demons.”

“Hunters are talented, and there are geniuses in poisoning. However, since this is an academic discipline, talent can be overcome to some extent. If you are not confident that you will succeed in hunting, I recommend coming to a new battlefield.”

Maeng Do-sol gestured to his teaching assistants, who then placed a large cardboard box in front of each student.

“Okay. Then I will tell you about the fun of this great study.”

* * *

‘There’s a road like this too.’

Sega listened to his explanation, his eyes shining with pure curiosity.

Since it was purely academic, taking this class had nothing to do with pretending to be an S-class person.

In fact, the students who looked a little older in each class weren’t even looking at the cardboard boxes.

However, the very mention of a special discipline that only the Awakened could learn strangely stimulated Sega’s heart.

“Cool. Should I be a venomous wizard instead of a explorer?”

He looked at the professor with eyes as if he had just felt something like that.

“Now let’s make a low-level recovery potion. First, take out the alcohol lamp from the paper box and assemble it.”

At the front, Maeng Do-sol began to explain, and the teaching assistants went around to check on the students.

All 8 members listened carefully to the explanation and followed the instructions in order.

“Add one third of the magic stone powder to purified water, then add all the powdered bark of the black-spotted kudzu, a plant-based magic tree, and when red smoke rises, add another third of the magic stone powder.”

“After that, when the silver smoke starts to swirl, add the spider web of the sea spider and the powder of the red-spotted kudzu little by little, heat it for 5 minutes, and when the red smoke starts to rise again, start to remove all the solids. If you heat it further, the toxic or fatty components may melt.”

“If blue smoke rises, you’ve added too much magic stone powder. If yellow smoke rises, you’ve added too much red-spotted kudzu powder at once. You can mix it up in the final stage, so let’s proceed for now.”

Segawa Kyeom kept exclaiming in admiration, Jinrim followed along indifferently as if she had no interest in this, and Dahyun showed off her graceful hand movements as if she had done it hundreds of times.

“You, why are you so good at this?”

“What is it?” asked Dahyun, flustered as she wiped off the foam and ended up wetting the desk. Dahyun shrugged and answered.

“I’m from the Magic Stone conglomerate. Ivory Tower also makes potions. Oh, and you corpse-man, don’t talk to me first.”

By then, the teaching assistants were walking around and doing final checks.

“Silver and red shine. It’s good. Sega student, you did well. Finally, add all the remaining magic stones and bottle it.”

“Student Dahyun, it’s something you can sell. I’ll put a sealing sticker on it, so you can use it in other classes or sell it at the school store.”

Gyeom looked at her with eyes of praise, saying, “Oh, wow,” and Dahyun smiled proudly.

Even when checking with students in other classes, there were almost no cases of sealing stickers appearing.

I got a sticker from a tall green-haired girl in class 5, or a girl with short turquoise hair in class 10.

“Are you a student?”

“yes yes!”

“It was overheated so the vegetable fatty acids melted out. Let’s take it out after it cools.”

“If I kick it out, can I save it?”

“You can drink it. It may be good for your body, but you won’t be able to expect the potion’s original effects.”

Laughter erupted among the students in Class 1, and Gyeom scratched his head awkwardly.

“I guess I’ll have to work hard as an explorer.”

Sega organized the cardboard boxes and checked the time.

‘It was fun. But it’s only been an hour. What are we going to do next? The material cost must be crazy, and you wouldn’t make two of them from scratch.’

As questions began to arise, Professor Maeng Do-sol gestured as if answering.

“Okay. Now, organize the first box.”

The teaching assistants walked around and handed out second boxes of paper to students.

“What is this?”

“Plastic and water? Pills?”

Inside were a plastic bag, bottled water, and colorful pills.

The class president raised his hand.

“It’s a class president’s uniform, Professor. What is it?”

Maeng Do-sol answered.

“It’s extremely poisonous. Everyone should eat it.”