An Angel Lives in the Academy
Chapter 119: The Angel Meets the Assassin (4)

What is the definition of an assassin?

Assassin: Someone who kills in the darkness.

Here, darkness means deception, and also being undetectable. In that sense, Merrill, the assassination department professor, was…

… A truly incredible assassin.

‘That appearance, it’s like a parent who really lost their child.’

Leffrey knew Merrill’s beauty. There's no way he could easily forget such a beautiful face. But Merrill’s current appearance…

‘It’s definitely Merrill, but seeing her act makes her seem like someone else.’

Her demeanor suggested she knew nothing of fighting, a woman who genuinely cherished her child, someone who would shed tears while watching a sad movie, and someone who would be traumatized by cruelty.

A beautiful woman who radiated a fragile aura.

“Yes, hello! Th-Thank you so much for coming out for my insignificant request.”

Merrill, on the verge of tears, grabbed Leffrey’s hand. Leffrey, hiding his surprise, nodded.

“It’s nothing, really. It's just something I should do!”

Leffrey smiled and thought to himself,

‘Merrill, you're a high-level player…!’

Leffrey, the Con Artist Angel, had tricked countless people with his angelic acting skills. For such a Leffrey, it was easy for him to recognize Merrill’s acting ability.

According to Leffrey's assessment,

Merrill was quite a high-level player.

‘But there's one thing Professor Merrill doesn't know. And It’s that I’m also quite an actor myself.’

Leffrey, without hesitation, took her hand and continued in a highly heartfelt tone,

“I know about the atrocities of superhuman families and large guilds.”

And he recalled his own past of being victimized by superhuman families and large guilds. Always being looked down on, always being oppressed, a faint shadow of his erased future.

“I’ve suffered a lot because of them.”

Tremble tremble-

The foundation of acting is immersion.

Leffrey immersed himself in that past.

And the effect was incredible.

Suddenly, the angel held her hand. Feeling the angel’s hand tremble slightly… Merrill had to look up at the ceiling to hide her reddened face.

‘Cute.’

Merrill thought while biting her lip.

‘No, I shouldn’t think like this. I came here to expose that angel’s true nature.’

Merrill thought,

There are no good otherworldly beings.

Then what about that boy, protecting the other students from Lusa’s violence? It must be an act.

Countless people hated angels, and to fool them with such a clumsy performance.

So, Merrill, under the pretext of researching an angel’s deception, had already taken numerous photos of Leffrey. No, not just numerous photos, photos of him in various poses…

Whether they would actually be used for research was questionable.

Meanwhile, Leffrey was racking his brain, thinking…

‘Why did Merrill even call me here? Surely she's not really trying to assassinate me?’

He trembled at frightening imagination, then…

‘No, that's impossible. No matter how strong Professor Merrill is, she’s Professor Park Jin-ho’s adopted daughter. And Professor Park Jin-ho favors me…’

He was a bit relieved that it was impossible.

‘Professor Merrill probably called me here to test me. To see if I’m a truly kind angel. Or a bad angel like the demon king.’

And so, Leffrey deduced Merrill’s true objective.

‘Then I’ll show her.’

Leffrey nodded.

‘Just how angelic of an angel I am!’

Thus began Leffrey and Merrill’s tea time. Merrill continued to sniffle as she looked at Leffrey, and Leffrey, filled with sympathy, held her hand.

He even caressed her cheek and wiped away her tears from time to time.

“Ugh…”

Merrill found it hard to endure.

Though she didn’t know what she was trying to endure, though.

“So, what exactly happened?”

“Well, it’s a bit complicated…”

Merrill slowly began to tell her story.

A made-up story, that is.

She claimed that she was the mistress of the heir to the Hanshin family. And that she had a child with him, but when the child awakened as a superhuman, the Hanshin family took him away.

Leffrey, hearing this, organized his thoughts.

‘Hanshin… Senior Koo Sang-hyuk’s guild, the vice president of the student council and he’s from the Assassination Department, too.’

Koo Sang-hyuk was the legitimate heir to Hanshin.

And Merrill was his professor,

The reason why Merrill was able to name-drop Hanshin like this… was probably because she had somehow pressured Koo Sang-hyuk into it.

Leffrey could imagine Koo Sang-hyuk’s face after receiving an offer he couldn’t refuse from Professor Merrill. He probably nodded with a troubled expression, as if he had no choice.

Just like any other middle manager.

‘Senior Koo Sang-hyuk, you must be struggling a lot too…’

Leffrey made a pitiful expression. It was because of Koo Sang-hyuk. But Merrill, seeing that, thought that he was empathizing with her story.

“And I heard she entered the Central Academy, but I haven't been able to contact her. I think Hanshin took him away... Please, find her for me.”

Merrill pleaded with tears in her eyes.

Leffrey nodded understandingly.

“I’ll go to the Assassination Department and ask them. To see where she went.”

It was probably a trap.

Her real test would begin when he went to the Assassination Department.

“A-Are you sure it’s okay? I heard that the Assassination Department is the cruelest department at the Central Academy. A-And on top of that, Hanshin is…”

Merrill pretended to tremble.

If Leffrey hadn’t realized she was acting, he would have surely believed she was terrified.

‘Hanshin, they’re scary.’

If it had been the real Leffrey, he might have hesitated. Merrill was right, the Assassination Department was the cruelest department, and Hanshin was a notorious and violent large guild.

But Leffrey didn’t hesitate.

Every word, every action, was part of Merrill’s test.

If he showed any hesitation, Merrill would judge him to be a hypocrite, just like the other angels.

And Leffrey knew this too.

“It doesn’t matter. The Assassination Department, Hanshin…”

Leffrey smiled.

Without a hint of doubt.

“It’s our Volunteer Club’s duty to help those in need.”

“B-But… I’m poor, I don’t have anything to offer you as a reward…”

And Leffrey took Merrill’s hand once again. His hand was warm.

“Seeing people smile is my reward. Don't worry. I'll definitely make you smile.”

Such kind words, incredibly kind words.

When these kind words were combined with his angelic face… it had a powerful effect on those around him, especially Merrill.

‘An otherworldly being, Leffrey is definitely an otherworldly being. Why would he go this far for a human he’s meeting for the first time…?’

Merrill smiled at those words.

Was this an act? Or has she fallen for Leffrey’s kindness, unable to even pretend?

“Please trust me.”

The answer was known only to the message that appeared before Leffrey.

[Calming the hatred of a hero consumed by hatred is an angelic act.]

[You have gained Angelic Power.]

Thus, Leffrey left.

Merrill, after he left, fiddled with her hand, unconsciously chasing the warmth of the boy who had just left.

For some reason, she didn't want to wash this hand.

“Professor.”

A man emerged from the shadows. His name was Koo Sang-hyuk. He was the student who had led the Assassination Department in Merrill's place while she was suspended.

“Shouldn’t this is enough of a test for Leffrey.”

Koo Sang-hyuk was defending Leffrey.

Merrill was a little surprised at that.

“…Sang-hyuk, didn't you hate Leffrey?”

“I do hate him. He’s an enemy of the student council.”

But Koo Sang-hyuk, with an expression that showed how much he hated it, continued to defend Leffrey.

“But despite hating him, I cannot agree with the claim that he’s an evil otherworldly being.”

“Ha, it seems you’ve forgotten everything I’ve taught you.”

“No. I still remember. The fact that power is everything in this world. That humans and otherworldly beings can never truly reconcile.”

The student council vice president looked up at his professor.

The time during the Blessing of the Spirits, when he was the only one to stand up for Yumari who was about to be bullied, the day when even the other student council executives acknowledged Leffrey as a good kid, the moment when Leffrey flew, stopping a fight. And…

The time when Leffrey healed his eye, the time when he healed his arm that was broken and crushed and in so much painful.

He couldn’t forget those moments.

The boy’s sad expression.

And the warmth he had felt back then.

“But Leffrey, that boy… is a good person. Even though he’s my enemy.”

“...”

Merrill knew Koo Sang-hyuk well.

After all, Koo Sang-hyuk was her favorite student. A child she had been raising and mentoring even before he entered the Central Academy.

Merrill had molded Koo Sang-hyuk into a cold and ruthless ruler, but…

To think that a child like that would give such a high evaluation to an otherworldly being. To think that he could make such a heartfelt expression.

What was even more surprising was that Merrill didn’t hate this side of Koo Sang-hyuk.

‘So you, too, understand Leffrey's cuteness.’

Although Merrill didn’t realize it, but it was like the feeling of being in the same fandom who liked the same idol.

“Still, I can't believe it.”

Merrill muttered to herself.

She hadn’t forgotten her past. Her past of being a slave, abused by otherworldly beings.

“I can’t trust otherworldly beings.”

* * *

Leffrey, as soon as he returned from his outing, immediately headed for the assassination department. As if he wasn't afraid at all.

“So, this is the assassination department.”

He was surrounded by black buildings. He didn’t know what material they were made of, but even in the middle of the day, it was so dark that it felt like looking at a black hole.

The landscape of those buildings clustered together was truly…

“A bit, scary?”

It was so eerie that even Leffrey, the Brave Angel, felt a little scared. Truly, they were buildings befitting the Assassination Department.

Leffrey, suppressing his fear,

Found the assassination department’s office.

“Hello…?”

The assistant teachers, and the staff of the Assassination Department, didn’t return his greeting. They just glared at Leffrey with sharp eyes.

‘Hmm, as I thought, Professor Merrill must have prepared for everything.’

This was a test.

So he already knew it wouldn't be easy.

“…What's your business?”

An assistant teacher with a large scar on his face answered. Killing intent radiated from him, making him seem truly dangerous.

But angels become stronger when they do the right thing.

[Angels become stronger when they do the right thing!]

Leffrey, gaining courage, continued,

“I’m looking for an assassination student, I was wondering if you could help me?”

“Why are you looking for one of our students?”

“The student’s parents want to see their child.”

The assistant teacher smirked. His smile was a bit unsettling, considering that the right side of his mouth was missing.

“Kuk, if you’re going to lie, at least make it believable. If that was the case, then the parents should have contacted us directly. Why would they send a student from another department to find their child? It doesn’t make sense.”

“I-I’m telling the truth.”

The assistant teacher stops what he was doing and slowly approached Leffrey.

“Are you trying to pull something? Come to think of it, aren't you the favorite student of that elf professor?”

“Elf professor? You mean, the Martial Arts Department?”

“A student of that other world professor dares to set foot in our department?”

The assistant teachers of the Assassination Department sprung to their feet.

Gulp—Leffrey swallowed.

‘I knew this would happen. I have no choice but to use it.’

Leffrey sighed inwardly.

And he put his palms together.

Powerful karma starts to concentrate in Leffrey's hands.

‘The last time I leveled up a lot, I acquired a new ability. And that is…’