Chapter 6: Get in da Chopper!

"Welcome! Do you have a registration?"

"No," replied Jinwoo.

"Then would you—"

"Do you have a person named Suguru Yazaki in this hotel?"

The receptionist shifted a little. "I am sorry, but I am not allowed to provide personal information…"

Jinwoo coldly stared at her, his eyes flowing with mana. The receptionist didn't know why, but she felt that if she defied the man in front of her the man would destroy her absolutely.

"W-would you like me to call him down to the lobby?"

"Please do."

Jinwoo then headed to one of the sofas behind him, comfortably waiting for the class president. He watched as the receptionist picked up the phone and started talking into it.

While sitting on the sofa, he felt a little uneasy. If the time on Tomochika's phone was correct, a year should have passed by now, with the students already turning into so-called "Sages". However, it felt like they were still in the early stages of their journey.

Were they wandering around for a year doing nothing? Jinwoo thought.

Maybe time here and over there wasn't proportional, a second in one world being either a month in another world or a year in the same world.

"Who are you?"

Jinwoo sat up and looked at the boy approaching him. Suguru Yazaki, class president, the boy who convinced the other students into abandoning their classmates. He had red hair, a fit body and a commanding air around him. He was still in his school uniform.

A mind-altering skill too.

"How long have you been in this world?" Jinwoo asked out of nowhere.

"Answer me first, who are you—"

Yazaki felt something sharp stabbing at his neck. A chill made its way through his nervous system, increasing in intensity as he started turning to look…

"Don't turn around."

Yazaki returned his gaze back to the mysterious person in front of him.

"We've been in this world for at least a week," Yazaki answered.

Only a week, huh, Jinwoo thought. It's not too late then.

"I want you to call the others to the lobby," Jinwoo ordered. "Tell them that you want to make sure that everyone understands tomorrow's schedule."

"N-no, why should I?"

The dagger poked Yazaki's neck harder in response to his feeble defiance.

"Alright, alright!" said Yazaki as he started to turn.

"Don't do anything stupid either, I'll be watching."

The class president quickly hurried back to where he came from, suddenly feeling an immense dread coming over him as he felt the Monarch's glare on his back. The Shadow Monarch looked through a shadow he'd placed on the boy to monitor whether was doing his job or not.

Threatening a kid left a bad taste in his mouth, but it was necessary.

After around ten minutes, the whole class was gathered in the lobby.

"Yazaki just called us here, what's going on?"

"A schedule checkup…"

"Ugh, so annoying."

"I was at a good part too, dammit…"

Jinwoo stood up and walked over to the crowd of students.

"Who's he?"

"He's kinda hot…"

"Why's he coming over here…?"

Jinwoo compared the photo on his phone to the current number of students. He initially noticed two that were missing: an American named Carol and a Japanese student named Ryouko. They were with the Japanese exchange student in Korea, so that was alright. And then, there was the teacher, the blond hair, and the delinquent. The three have already been killed by this world, so factoring in the exceptions, the numbers matched up.

Among the students nervous about an unknown person glaring at them, he noticed the five extra girls. They were gathered around a male student as if to fawn over him. They were probably from this world…but something wasn't right. He'll deal with that later.

"Everyone, I'd like you to listen."

Everyone stopped talking and faced the unknown stranger who looked as old as they were.

"I'm here to take you guys back home," Jinwoo said, bluntly.

The group raised an uproar with "what do you mean"s and "he's crazy"s and "I'm not going back!"s.

A lean student in glasses stepped up, the group growing quiet as he did so. His arrogance was apparent, like he was confident in his ability to solve a problem, one that didn't exist.

"Before anything," he said, "we'd like to know who you are and what you mean by taking us back home."

"I'm here to take you guys back home," Jinwoo repeated steadfastly.

"And you are?"

Jinwoo thought for a moment. "Not telling you."

"And what makes you think you can take us back?"

"I have a teleportation stone that will transport you back home" – he pulls out a green stone out of his hoodie pocket– "Two of your classmates are already there."

There was a stunned shock that permeated the area. The two students definitely implied two of the bait they left behind.

"Well, I'm not going back," the boy with the harem said, smugly.

"Yeah, this world's waaay better than our original world!" said another student.

"Who're you to make us go back!"

"We're invincible in this world!"

"You go back home!"

Just as the class started going back to their rooms, grumbling, some of the class noticed something odd. They couldn't go through the corridor, as if blocked by an invisible barrier.

"Huh? What the—?"

"Ow! The hell—?"

The classes turned to the kid in front of them.

"I am taking you back, whether you like it or not," he said, glaring at everyone. "This world is too dangerous."

Suddenly, everyone froze. A dread overtook every student, as if they were cold, dead hands grasping for any living thing to take with it to its grave. The eyes of the person in front them were the source of their terror.

"Fuck this!" shouted a boy who broke free. "DIE!"

The class held their breaths in anticipation. The boy who had just shouted "DIE!" was a Candidate with the ability of instant death. Two problems, however:

He was only level two.

He was saying this to the Monarch of Shadows, the Ruler of the Dead, in his own Domain.

Of course nothing happened.

"Die! Die! DIE!" the boy frantically shouted. "Why isn't anything working!?"

"Girls," the harem student ordered, "kill him!"

The girls moved swiftly towards the lone person. Three rushed towards him; one with a sword, one that turned invisible, and the third following them from behind with an energized staff. Of the two that stayed behind, the shorter one summoned dolls while the other one held out her hand, energy encircling her hands, probably boosting her allies.

Unfortunately for them, Jinwoo was faster.

Faster than anyone could blink, he put all of them out of commission with a swift and precise neck chop from behind. After it was all done, they collapsed, as if they were put unconscious at the same time! The boy who sent them fell on his knees, his face contorted into an expression of shock and horror, a sentiment that was shared by the whole class.

Even after Bloodlust had worn off, no one moved. Yazaki knew, Tachibana knew, Haruto knew, everyone knew that there was nothing they could do against the monster in front of them, especially when none of them even passed level 10 yet.

Haruto searched desperately, with his Consultant skill, for information on Jinwoo. Whether it was that the pocket reality cut off all access to outside sources, or that the appraisal of the Shadow Monarch was impossible, Haruto found nothing on him. His Problem Resolution skill wasn't working either.

"Sleep."

With that one word, everyone collapsed on the floor before they could do anything. Everyone except Yazaki and Tachibana, the boy with the General class and the boy that had a harem. Both probably had a skill that involved mental manipulation to some extent.

"Huh?" sounded Yazaki, confused.

"Why are we still awake?" wondered Tachibana.

Jinwoo slowly walked towards the two students.

"I wanted to talk to the two of you for a bit. Let's sit over there."

The three walked to sofas facing each other, the two students obeying fearfully. Upon sitting down, Jinwoo stated his business:

"You're probably wondering where your classmates are."

With Jinwoo mentioning it, the two boys turned to where they were before, only to see that the collapsed students were gone, replaced with the pristine floor of the lobby. Their eyes widened in dread and confusion on when they could have disappeared.

"Don't worry, they're just somewhere else."

Strangely, this assurance made it even scarier.

Yazaki and Tachibana were scared. They had no choice but to obey their captor due to the insurmountable difference in power between the three.

"I am going to ask each one of you a question, and you are going to answer me truthfully, understand?"

The two students nodded.

"Yazaki, you left four students on the bus as bait, fully knowing that they will die."

"There was no choice!" exclaimed Yazaki. "It was only right to use the powerless students to save the one with the gifts! Otherwise, they'd just be baggage to us!"

In a sudden motion, Yazaki rose in the air, grasping at his neck.

"Baggage, huh? You know, I really didn't want to return to this world. I'm only here because it's my job and because my sister asked me to."

"Sis…ter?" Yazaki managed to utter.

"Yeah," Jinwoo said as he tightened his grip.

Yazaki futilely grabbed at his neck and kicked around as less and less air entered his lungs. Then, as suddenly as he rose, he was dropped back onto the sofa. Yazaki gasped for air, eyes wide as he was still in shock.

"I knew some people who abandoned the weak to save their own skin," Jinwoo said, with venom coating every word in it. "And…" —he softened his tone, as if reminiscing about something sad— "things didn't end well for them. Think about it."

Yazaki vanished soundlessly into the background, as if sucked into an extra- dimensional pit of quicksand, his gaping mouth and wide eyes being the last expression before his return to the original world.

Before Tachibana could react, Jinwoo put his gaze on him, "And then there's you."

His gaze this time was different. Though there was a little understanding regarding the first person's situation, Tachibana's was inexcusable. Unforgivable. He let his subdued anger show in his eyes.

"Y-yes?" Tachibana managed to gasp.

In an act that temporarily froze Tachibana's heart, Jinwoo stood up.

"Stand up."

"H-huh? I don't—"

"Stand up," repeated Jinwoo.

As soon as Tachibana, hesitantly, stood up, the background switched to a black void.

"Wha— OOF!"

Jinwoo slammed his fist into Tachibana's chest, sending him flying. Hitting hard on the ground, the attack left him heaving with the lack of air.

"During the instant I touched them, I saw your slaves' memories. You disgust me," stated Jinwoo.

"I needed to survive," the downed student croaked as he gasped for air, "to get stronger! What's wrong with that!?"

"But not like this." The Shadow Monarch flew to Tachibana, grabbed his head, and slammed him to the floor.

"GAGH!"

"How many lives have you destroyed—"

SLAM!

"How many homes have you burnt—"

SLAM!

"Just to 'level up'!?" Jinwoo hissed through his teeth. "You're pathetic!"

Still grabbing his head, Jinwoo flung Tachibana away as far as he could, Tachibana landing with a THUD and several painful CRACKs. And as soon as did so, without delay, Jinwoo released an onslaught of beatings and kicks that sent the young genocidal maniac flying around the space.

Tachibana couldn't scream in pain, he couldn't get up or even attempt to stop his captor's beatings. He was busy gasping for air after each beating and had crumpled himself into a fetal position to try to, uselessly, protect his chest.

It felt like an eternity of painful, hypersonic beatings. After it seemed like it'd never end, Jinwoo stopped, and Tachibana dropped to the floor, bloodied.

Jinwoo left the wheezing mess of a human, who was slowly getting absorbed into the background, and opened a gate to exit the Domain.

With his mission complete, he left the Domain and into the original lobby, greeted with the sight of a fearful receptionist.

Well, two chapters in one day! I was in a good mood, I guess. See you next time!