Ex Rank Supporting Role’s Replay in a Prestigious School

Hŏ Chae-ah’s Gwangrim, “the Thread Leading to the Exit,” guided them along a path that even Joo Suhyuk’s clairvoyance could not detect, opening a route forward.

Because her contribution was great and they had shared life and death, the juniors who had regarded Hŏ Chae-ah with suspicion quickly opened their hearts.

In particular Moon Saeron vouched for her, saying “That person is annoying and clingy but I’ve never done anything he told me to do so there’s no problem.”

Yet Gwak Kyung-gu never let go of his thread of doubt.

“Even in the student council election, even when we escaped on the school trip, that girl helped me. But I can’t trust her.”

Throughout his high school life he had seen more tragic defeats caused by betrayal than miraculous victories born of trust.

The most recent example was the Crimson Flame Sovereign who perished after losing the Dragon King God’s blessing alongside his lion-like companions.

Everyone knew how close the dragon, the lions, and the Dragon King God were.

But in the battle for the crown prince Yeom Jun-yeol, the Dragon King God abandoned them.

In reality the Imu-gi God had taken his place and the betrayal of the shrine maidens had aided it, but from the outside it looked like the higher being’s whim.

“He could betray at the decisive moment. I must never let my guard down.”

Gwak Kyung-gu personally admired Hŏ Chae-ah’s resolute spirit, but fondness and trust were separate matters.

This group, which Moon Saeron half-jokingly called the “Demon Realm Expedition,” had no adults and was composed entirely of active Eun Gwang High students.

And among them only two were third-years: Gwak Kyung-gu and Hŏ Chae-ah.

The juniors, feeling indebted to their seniors, wanted to rely on them and drop their doubts—but Gwak Kyung-gu refused to do so.

Thanks to someone willingly taking on that role, the juniors could relax and think and act as they wished.

“Hŏ Chae-ah is watching over the guide.”

Partway through, a guide who had shown interest in the expedition joined them, greatly reducing Hŏ Chae-ah’s role.

At first they didn’t know if they could trust the guide’s guidance, so they cross-verified by combining abilities.

Each time they arrived at the same answer, and when they realized Hŏ Chae-ah’s psychic reserves were running low, Joo Suhyuk proposed leaving the guidance entirely to the guide.

A stranger guide and Hŏ Chae-ah, a student of Eun Gwang High.

Gwak Kyung-gu remained wary of Hŏ Chae-ah, but if he had to choose whom to suspect more, he would choose the guide.

“The guide is keeping distance from Andain. At first he showed interest, calling him an interesting person, but why did he change his attitude?”

The seed of suspicion grew, and before Gwak Kyung-gu could confront him, the other moved first.

Their path led to the lair where the Death Demon awaited.

The guide was in fact leading them toward death, not to the final altar or the exit.

Corrupted by malice, the guide deliberately kept Andain at a distance to prevent him from purifying the taint by his unique constitution.

The aura of death was about to engulf them.

“Protect Andain!”

Although Joo Suhyuk was the leader of the expedition, Andain was the key.

Without Andain they would suffocate in demonic energy or go mad.

If he could save only one of them, Gwak Kyung-gu would agonize over choosing Joo Suhyuk, but pragmatically he would choose Andain for the greater chance of survival.

Perhaps the guide thought to deal with Andain first, for he, completely consumed by malice, transformed into a fiend and leapt at Andain.

At the same moment the priests of the Demon God split the ground and summoned swamps and mist.

As the changing terrain threw everyone into confusion, a hail of attacks rained down on Andain.

“No matter how fast we are it’s too late. Andain could handle this alone, but avoiding injury will be difficult.”

Andain fixed his resolve with cold eyes.

Deciding to sacrifice his left arm and shoulder, he channeled his full-body resonance into strengthening only his right arm and fired his gun.

Only Joo Suhyuk, watching Andain take grave injury before his eyes, seemed unprepared.

Then—

A thick thread suffused with a gentle glow wrapped around the fiendish guide and unfurled chaotically around Andain.

“There’s a shortcut nearby Go”

Hŏ Chae-ah handed over the spool of thread.

It was the same thread that had led them to the exit so many times.

The thread itself had no great power, so it quickly snapped and the bound fiend writhed.

Andain aimed his manifested gun at the monster and said

“Chae-ah unni I’ll cover you You go ahead”

“I can’t go”

Hŏ Chae-ah’s words trailed off.

Her speech was clumsy and her voice weak.

Then the juniors’ gasps were heard.

Hŏ Chae-ah’s hand, which had handed over the thread, collapsed.

Flesh and bone that had lost all shape fell to the ground.

In truth her legs had been failing too; only now did they realize she had bound them with thread to stay standing.

Gwak Kyung-gu was speechless at the sight of his classmate’s horrific state.

“She had incredible power so I suspected her.”

It was strange that she had enough power to find the path in the Demon Realm, and odd that she had joined at such perfect timing.

But Hŏ Chae-ah had simply overexerted herself.

Facing the crying juniors, she muttered as if to herself

“If I were the butterfly I could guide the way”

At those words Gwak Kyung-gu recalled the butterfly’s message he had forgotten.

The grace granted for those mere 100 seconds was meant not for himself but for others.

Gwak Kyung-gu looked at the juniors and at Hŏ Chae-ah.

The leaders Joo Suhyuk and the uniquely-gifted Andain.

They must both survive.

Moon Saeron, who recorded and reported on what happened in the Demon Realm, and Guseulbi and Cha Seok-won, who studied the realm’s ecology.

Maeng Hyo-don, the friend who supported Joo Suhyuk mentally.

He wanted to send them all back alive.

“Hŏ Chae-ah is thinking of others She’ll buy us time but she can’t hold out long in that state”

The juniors expended all their remaining cards but only delayed the collapse; healing items had no effect.

It was not mere injury or illness but a phenomenon caused by touching power beyond their capacity, so only higher-rarity items or a miracle from a superior being could help.

The juniors clamored to take Hŏ Chae-ah with them, but Joo Suhyuk and Andain faced reality.

Not only was her body failing but her mind was near breaking; even if she survived and emerged from the Demon Realm, she would be in war-torn Gangwon Province and there would be no chance for treatment.

Gwak Kyung-gu resolved to play the villain one last time.

“Just because you protect someone who’s about to die doesn’t mean you have to all stay”

“Kyung-gu hyung”

Joo Suhyuk was aghast at his cruel words, but Gwak Kyung-gu raised his twin swords and said

“With my ability I can at least hold them off Hŏ Chae-ah and I will buy time You go Go If you survive we’ll join you”

Beyond the already broken threads demonic energy writhed.

They truly had no time.

The likelihood of Gwak Kyung-gu ever rejoining them was virtually nil, but it was impossible to force more delay.

In the end Joo Suhyuk made the decision.

“Kyung-gu hyung I’ll wait”

“Go”

Their final farewell to the juniors was brief and hollow.

Beside him there was only someone who kept doubting and one dying classmate.

“If you die will this thread disappear It stayed when I passed out so maybe it’ll be fine”

“I don’t know I’ve never died before”

At her joking tone Gwak Kyung-gu laughed for the first time in a long while.

It felt like his first laugh since entering the Demon Realm.

Not because Hŏ Chae-ah’s words were funny but because his guard had finally lowered.

“You look less aged when you laugh”

“You’ve aged a lot this year too but you look better now”

For the first time the two shared bright expressions and traded frank jokes.

But that time did not last long.

The threads all snapped, the wall made from Demon Realm plants that Guseulbi had created, and the earthen embankment hastily built by Maeng Hyo-don with materials provided by Cha Seok-won all collapsed.

Perhaps sensing their final chance, the priests of the Demon God summoned an even greater number of fiends.

More enemies than they had anticipated, and both their faces turned pale.

Still they fought back valiantly.

“It’s strange How can my mind be so clear”

It wasn’t just him.

Hŏ Chae-ah, despite parts of her body collapsing and barely able to stand, used her remaining psychic reserves with great efficiency to confront the enemy and support Gwak Kyung-gu’s fighting.

Gwak Kyung-gu was the same.

He had been burdened by dark emotions and self-reproach, but it had been a long time since he wielded his twin swords so nimbly.

“I’ve gone far beyond 100 seconds”

He had boasted of buying time, but upon facing this army he had thought at most he could buy 100 seconds.

He believed he could only endure if he fought in Gwangrim form.

But Gwak Kyung-gu had a greater possibility.

“Yes this was another way to use it”

Gwak Kyung-gu had been engulfed in flames, frozen solid, sunk in swamps, and pierced through, yet at the brink of death he used the 100-second grace to rapidly resurrect and return to the front lines.

His body regenerated but the pain remained, and when demonic energy threatened to consume his thoughts he nearly gave up.

“If I’ll just die again after resurrecting anyway wouldn’t it be better to stop using Gwangrim and be at ease”

He still had time left in Gwangrim, but dark thoughts surfaced.

Yet the gratitude he felt propelled him onward.

Without Joo Suhyuk, Gwak Kyung-gu would have despaired of his pitiful power and lived halfheartedly.

He would have spent his days like a ghost at the ruined Eun Gwang High, living comfortably but miserably, perhaps now guarding an empty dojo.

But imagining that self at this point felt unbearably terrible.

By the time he exhausted all 100 seconds, Hŏ Chae-ah had already departed.

Not killed by the enemy but the inevitable end wrought by wrecking her collapsing body to its last breath.

Gwak Kyung-gu thought of his father fighting in the human realm, of the path ahead for the juniors, and of the seniors and classmates who had gone before.

They, unsure whether they felt the same, had met their end.

Eun’s Clinic

Gwak Kyung-gu’s condition had fluctuated wildly before settling again, yet he did not open his eyes.

He looked well on the surface, yet it was strange as he did not appear to be asleep.

Yong Jegun, who seemed to know Gwak Kyung-gu well, shook his shoulder and said

“Kyung-gu get up Stop playing dead”

“What You were playing dead”

“You held your breath well but to do it properly you’d have to slow your heartbeat too Apparently you couldn’t do that”

At that a dozing Ma Jin-seung suddenly sprang up with a loud cry, and Gwak Kyung-gu furrowed his brow and squinted his eyes.

After taking in Yong Jegun and Ma Jin-seung’s faces, his gaze fell on Cheon Dong-ha who stood quietly before him, and he gasped as he materialized his twin swords in an instant.

It must have been the effect of the replay.

In the Demon Realm Gwak Kyung-gu had faced several fiends appearing as dead men.

Because he had been warned in advance, all but Ma Jin-seung remained calm.

“Do I look like a fiend too No fiend could have summoned a crimson dragon”

At Yeom Jun-yeol’s voice Gwak Kyung-gu startled and turned his head.

Hongryong, worried, circled around Gwak Kyung-gu and hurled flames.

They had set the room temperature quite high for Gwak Kyung-gu’s sake, but with Hongryong moving like that the air quickly grew scorching hot.

“Jun-yeol”

“Yeah Kyung-gu”

Gwak Kyung-gu spoke firmly to the friend he felt he had not seen in months.

“It’s hot”

At Yeom Jun-yeol’s bitter laugh he dismissed Hongryong, and Gwak Kyung-gu rapidly regained his composure.

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