In the academy, terror attacks and assaults were a daily occurrence.
Even though it prided itself as the world’s top educational institution, suspiciously frequent enemy incursions plagued it, from monsters to spies of secret organizations, all converging in this one place.
Therefore, I assumed that, just like in the fictional worlds, there would undoubtedly be spies concealing their identities here as well.
While I had a strong hunch about it…
‘Why did it have to be here of all places?’
Although I had deliberately left obvious evidence of embezzlement lying around, thinking the staff might cover it up, that guy, Jagan, managed to catch it without missing a beat.
Out of all the administrative staff, I just had to encounter a devil—there was no worse stroke of misfortune.
I felt like I might go crazy from the frustration, but everything proceeded smoothly, ignoring my mental turmoil.
“A once-in-a-lifetime blunder. I should have cut off his head the moment he insulted my junior, never mind the evidence.”
I admitted my crime with my own mouth.
The man beside me merely presented clear evidence, logically proving the embezzlement I had committed.
Despite all signs pointing to my guilt, the old man was saying that he should have beheaded him first simply for insulting me.
Ironclad Gong gritted his teeth as he made this declaration.
I fervently hoped he was the only one with such a crazy idea. However, the students stood with regretful faces, clenching their fists and trembling.
The expressions on their faces clearly showed how they blamed themselves, feeling they couldn’t forgive themselves for ever doubting Professor Riyan.
All their resentment and anger turned toward the devil.
Jagan looked at me with a deeply wronged expression and shouted, “Did you drag me here with this in mind from the beginning?”
Tears ran down his cheeks.
Even though his true identity was exposed, he made no attempt to resist by revealing his real form—probably because of me.
A devil hiding among the academy staff.
He must have watched up close all the things I had done.
He must have seen me as a mad genius professor, casting meteors and even wielding psychic weapons.
“You vile creature… You acted like you knew nothing, spouting nonsense about kleptomania. Were you using me as your plaything to mock?”
I don’t recall ever ridiculing him.
As for the absurd talk about kleptomania, it was just a desperate attempt, thinking that the crazier my words sounded, the higher my chances of being dismissed.
But even if I explained that, no one would believe it.
It was obvious which story seemed more plausible between me randomly getting accused of kleptomania and embezzling budget funds or discovering a devil and publicly humiliating him.
“How far do you plan to mock me!”
The devil shouted fiercely at me.
Though it was clear no one would believe me, I wondered if I should at least try to explain myself, or maybe it was better to stay quiet.
My hesitation didn’t last long.
“There is a limit to shamelessness, devil.”
A quiet sound of movement.
The saintess swiftly crawled across the floor and stood in front of me, saying this.
The crazed look in her eyes sent chills down my spine.
Her fierce smile blurred the line between saint and devil as she spoke to the devil.
“Breathing itself is a sin. Expecting gentlemanly treatment as such a detestable piece of filth—you’ve clearly lost your mind.”
With contempt-filled eyes, she glared at the devil.
She mercilessly exposed his ugliness.
“Convincing students to become monsters and leading the bomb installations—it’s clear those were your actions, correct?”
Jagan was rendered speechless by her accusation.
It seemed that this was indeed something he had done.
“Manipulating the Dragon Ancestor to disgrace itself, cooperating with the fake chairman to brainwash the board members, and framing the professor for embezzlement—I know it was all you.”
However, the expression that seemed to acknowledge his guilt quickly shifted back to one of extreme indignation.
And rightly so, as all three were baseless accusations.
Only I knew Jagan was innocent of those charges.
“You managed to slip away until now, but a foolish mistake has ruined everything. You went too far when you decided to mess with him. From that moment, it was all over.”
Professor Riyan, ‘guilty of embezzlement?’
‘How could someone be so foolish as to think such an absurd lie would actually pass as the truth?’
An idiocy so profound, it inspired not just pity but contempt.
The devil, clearly infuriated by the saintess’s words, shouted as if to show he was aware of his mistakes.
However, no one paid attention to Jagan’s cries.
The Dragon Ancestor, Ironclad Gong, and the other professors were all present.
With all the power gathered here, the devil was subdued, unable to lift a finger.
“Did you dig this trap just to see me suffer like this? You’re worse than any devil, you wretched fiend!”
Bound hands, the devil screamed at me.
Treating his desperate cries as nothing more than white noise, the saintess posed a question on behalf of everyone.
“Professor, what should we do with this sinner?”
Seeing him shamelessly continue to lie, the consensus was clear—killing him in any ordinary way seemed too lenient.
Everyone was demanding it in unison.
My mind naturally went blank.
Finally, I spoke with an enlightened expression.
“…Just do whatever you want with him.”
I had decided to stop thinking.
In a dark and gloomy room, Jagan was bound hand and foot, confined in this place.
Every way he looked, his death seemed assured.
Though he felt injustice, he felt no fear.
With a rank near the bottom and specialized only in concealment, he was undoubtedly the weakest among his kind, but he had still lived through near-endless ages.
He had experienced all sorts of trials and tribulations.
Ordinary threats did not faze him in the slightest.
“To entrust me with the torture—you must be furious about his crimes, Professor.”
Even when the door to the confinement room suddenly opened, and the voice of the saintess echoed from beyond the door, Jagan’s expression remained as composed as ever.
“A person as kind as him would only resort to such measures because he couldn’t forgive you for putting the students in danger. Truly, how righteous he is.”
Though her voice was tinged with madness, he had encountered countless madmen over the years.
He remembered his mission well.
His loyalty to Lord Gaetia had not wavered.
“O Heavenly One, grant strength to your humble servant so that I may respond to his piety.”
No matter what she did to him, all he needed to do was keep his mouth shut and calmly accept his death.
Jagan truly believed that with all his heart.
“…It is time for your repentance, devil.”
That is, until the young woman pulled out a strange device.
A woman smiling like a demon with an unusual rod in her hand.
It was a long, oddly shaped tool, as if made to insert somewhere.
When she pressed a button experimentally, the device opened wide, as if it were an umbrella.
‘…Where in the world does she intend to insert that thing?’
‘Why is it spreading open like that?’
Cold sweat trickled down Jagan’s back.
There was no way something that large would go in, and even if it did, there was no way he could withstand it.
No matter how he tried to deny reality, nothing changed.
The saintess slowly approached him.
Soon, the confinement room echoed with screams.
For the first time in his life, the devil let out a shrill, girlish cry.
Indescribable pain.
The humiliation of having every part of his being violated.
The excruciating hours made him regret being alive.
The brutal torture lasted a full 21 hours.
Although the saintess finally stopped, perhaps acknowledging that he was, after all, a living creature, the suffering did not end.
“How could you hog all the time to yourself! Think of the people waiting behind you!”
Those who took the baton from the saintess.
Dozens of students flooded into the room.
They wore cheerful smiles as if this were the most enjoyable thing in the world.
Those smiles filled Jagan with terror.
Countless people had attacked him out of hatred, saying they sought revenge or that they were avenging a family member.
There had been too many with faces twisted in anger to count.
But none of them had ever smiled with such joy.
“Let’s see who can make him scream the loudest.”
“Let’s compete to see who can do the job Professor entrusted to us best.”
Laughing and chatting amiably, they made these comments as they prepared.
It was an incomprehensible sight.
Fear of the unknown crushed Jagan’s spirit.
A collective madness toward one individual.
The devil, unable to withstand the bizarre scene, eventually forgot even his loyalty to his master, breaking down in tears as he confessed everything.
An achievement even the inquisitors of the Holy Kingdom had never accomplished.
It was the young students of the academy who succeeded in making the devil confess through torture.
The list of contracted monsters and the vulnerabilities of the security barrier.
With Jagan’s confession, the academy became safer than ever before.
…All of this, surely, was due to Professor Riyan’s grace.