The Munchkin Magic Genius is Laughing

Kedrick. He had been watching Jeff and Ariel’s conversation from afar.

A man who looked rough by anyone’s standards. Next to him stood a petite and innocent-looking girl. The man maintained an expressionless face the entire time, while the girl seemed uncomfortable and fidgety.

[Fuck! I’m not doing this! No matter what, why are we fighting a Minotaur?]

As one man rushed out of the waiting room, the girl’s expression grew darker. With each person who fled, the girl showed signs of frustration. She was specifically watching the man beside her.

[Mr. Jeff… if you want to g-give up, that’s okay… I’m fine with it… If you got hurt because of me, that would make me feel even more sorry… I-I’ll definitely give you the money… since we’ve come this far….]

Sure enough, the girl seemed to be somehow indebted to the man called Jeff beside her. Jeff was participating in the exam as an assistant, but does it make sense for an applicant to be so submissive to her assistant?

‘Who is that guy…? He looks familiar.’

Kedrick examined Jeff’s appearance in detail.

‘Isn’t he the one who caused a commotion at the main entrance?’

He remembered hearing the security guard at the main entrance saying that the man was expelled from the magic tower, that he was a 1-element magician. Since conflicts between magic tower and academy people weren’t common, he just brushed it off lightly.

‘I should mind my own business.’

Although something seemed fishy, they were grown adults. Kedrick decided it wasn’t right to meddle unnecessarily and tried not to care about their actions. But.

[….Being an instructor has been my dream, and this is really my last chance… I want to participate even if it means risking my life.]

He couldn’t hear the first part due to the commotion, but he heard the girl speaking desperately.

— Flinch…

Kedrick’s buttocks, which he had tried to keep still, began to fidget.

‘Don’t pay attention. It’s not good to suspect people based on appearance.’

Despite hearing that he was expelled from the magic tower, that he was a 1-element magician, or that he had a rough-looking face, and even seeing the girl desperately pleading to her employee about wanting to become an instructor at the risk of her life, Kedrick did not move. What if he was mistaken? One should not judge people carelessly based on appearance or just a few words heard.

But.

[I’ll charge an additional hazard pay.]

[Yes! I’ll give you 300 gold plus an additional hazard pay!]

‘What? 300 gold?’

As soon as he heard their conversation, Kedrick’s neutral gear broke down.

The man was clearly a 1-element magician expelled from the magic tower. Moreover, he didn’t seem to have any special abilities, did he? With a rough appearance, a skinny body that seemed far from being trained, and speaking words like a scammer, Kedrick was convinced.

‘An innocent girl is being scammed.’

Kedrick, who had tried to restrain himself, walked over to the man.

◈◈◈◈◈

Despite confronting the man, the man brazenly denied his allegations and tried to leave. Therefore, Kedrick urgently grabbed the back of the man’s neck.

But what came back was only the man’s cold expression and words.

“You should let go. If you don’t want your wrist broken.”

All circumstances pointed to him being a scammer. His strong denial made Kedrick even more certain that there was something fishy about the man. And anger rose toward the man. A guy who scams an unworldly young lady. To Kedrick, Jeff was already perfectly marked.

“Why don’t you try breaking it? Do you think I’d be afraid of such words?”

It’s not because Jeff looked skinny or because he was a 1-element magician that he stepped forward. Kedrick asserts that even if the magician in front of him had been a 5-element magician, he would have stepped forward to save the girl.

A character who cannot stand injustice. Kedrick, known as the ‘Authority King,’ was that kind of man.

But Jeff couldn’t care less about Kedrick’s circumstances. From Jeff’s perspective, Kedrick was just a crazy person picking a fight out of nowhere.

Jeff slightly grasped Kedrick’s hand.

“You said that when helping someone in trouble, it’s not about considering your own situation, right? If you can still stand proudly in front of me after a minute, I’ll acknowledge you.”

“What kind of ridiculous bluff….”

The moment Kedrick tried to shake off Jeff’s hand.

— Churn

‘Huh…?’

Jeff’s mana began to flow into Kedrick gradually.

[Recognizing the target’s mana. Confirming the target’s inner emotions. Detecting subtle fear within the target’s inner self. Enhancing emotions of fear and dread. Identifying trauma. Amplifying trauma.]

“What… what…. what is this….”

Kedrick’s body gradually begins to feel heavier. Jeff’s arm, which he thought he could shake off easily, began to press like a solid iron armor.

— Kyahahahaha

A bizarre sound echoes in his head. A feeling of bugs crawling inside his body begins, and cold sweat flows.

‘Move… move…’

His body gradually stiffens. Like sinking into a deep swamp, he’s gradually submerging. His arms and legs become paralyzed.

Soon, auditory hallucinations began. Kedrick’s mother’s voice began to echo in his ears.

— Kedrick… Kedrick… why did you leave your mother behind? Kedrick… why did you pretend not to know and abandon me?

“Mother….?”

[The target’s psychological state changes to anxiety. Amplifying the target’s trauma.]

— Kedrick… if you had tried a little harder, you could have saved me. If you had been a little stronger, you could have saved me… if only you had a little more courage!!

His mother shouting angrily, with bloodshot eyes, began to rub salt in Kedrick’s wounds. Kedrick repeated to himself.

‘It’s… it’s an auditory hallucination. This is just a hallucination, an auditory hallucination… get a grip… this can’t be real….’

— Kedrick, you’re trying to run away again. You’re trying to abandon your mother again. Kedrick. You’re trying to avoid it again. Kedrick! Kedrick!

“Huk… huk… cough….”

Kedrick’s breathing becomes increasingly rapid. When he opens his eyes, his mother, shedding tears of blood, blames him. Bugs are eating away at his arms and legs.

What’s most terrifying is that his body won’t move.

For what seemed like endless time, insane anxiety began to envelop his entire body.

[The target’s anxiety has reached its peak. Hallucinations and auditory hallucinations are intensified.]

— Kedrick… I resent you… I resent you for leaving us behind, even in death!

Kedrick bowed his head and muttered.

“I’m… I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I’ll live my whole life… atoning, mother… I… I was wrong”

— Swoosh

A massive greatsword is thrust before his eyes. The man holding it had the form of Main. Black clothes. The man’s face had neither eyeballs nor emotions.

Suddenly, the scene changes. In a burning village filled with blood, a man shouts.

— Kedrick, if you want to save everyone, fight. Don’t run away, kill me. If you kill me, I’ll save everyone.

Kedrick’s limbs shake.

Looking around, his mother, his younger sibling, and the comrades who journeyed with him were tied with ropes.

His entire body’s emotions shout. Run away. You have to run away. To survive, you must turn your back and run.

But Kedrick, trembling, raised his fist.

“I… I won’t run away. This time… this time for sure….”

However, the moment Kedrick raised his fist, it fell to the ground. The man in front of him had cut off both of Kedrick’s arms with a massive scythe.

“Keuha… keuhaaa….”

“Kedrick. You failed again this time. You couldn’t protect them again.”

Kedrick is in so much pain that he can’t even scream properly. His comrades, his mother, everyone who was with him, are killed by the man in front of him.

“Please… please… pleeeease!!!”

Kedrick charges forward holding his severed hands. But soon his legs are cut off.

— Skreeek… skreeeek…

Kedrick crawls forward, scratching the ground with his head and teeth.

“Just… kill… me… please….”

“Kedrick.”

“Kedrick.”

[Movement is deactivated.]

“Kedrick.”

“Heuk!!”

Suddenly, Kedrick urgently lifted his head. His hands and legs were still attached. This is the waiting room. In front of him, several people were murmuring while looking at Kedrick and Jeff.

[Hey… did a fight break out over there?]

[Wow… that guy expelled from the magic tower. Of all people, he got into a dispute with Kedrick. That bastard is dead now.]

People’s chattering voices. But Kedrick’s ears couldn’t hear anything. From a distance, it looked like Kedrick was holding Jeff’s neck, and Jeff was holding Kedrick’s wrist.

Jeff whispered with cold eyes.

“Kedrick. Are you not going to let go of this hand?”

— Uuk!

As soon as his name was called, Kedrick retched. It felt like the hallucinations and auditory hallucinations he had just seen were happening again. His whole body was covered in goosebumps, and all his muscles alternated between being paralyzed and released.

— Thud

Kedrick collapsed on the spot with a thud.

[What… why is he suddenly like that? Nothing happened?]

The collapsed Kedrick. He lifted his head and looked at Jeff. The man, with an indifferent expression, was just looking at Kedrick drily.

“Hey, everyone. Inspector Mellin has arrived in front. Let’s move quickly!”

People began to move urgently.

Jeff, who glanced at Mellin in the distance, slowly opened his mouth.

“Given the circumstances, I’ll let this one go with a warning.”

And Jeff bent down and whispered to Kedrick.

“If you act up again without knowing your place, it won’t end like this. Remember that.”