Academy Iljin in Charge, Chapter 38
Having returned home, Baek Iljin took out the club promotional flyers that had been crumpled and stuffed into his pockets.
They were decorated with colorful fonts, but having been crumpled and strewn across the floor, they were no different from trash.
'The trash has piled up.'
Come to think of it, the inside of the house was a mess, too.
Having never done things like cleaning or laundry in his entire life, he had tossed his clothes anywhere, and the trash can had gone so long without being emptied that it was on the verge of vomiting up what had been put into it.
As a result, the clothes he had worn and the trash discarded here and there took up so much more space than the area he actually used.
'At this rate, the house will fill up with garbage.'
Looking around at the state of the house, he felt the gravity of the situation lately. Fortunately, maintenance magic was running, so no disaster had occurred where dust piled up, either.
"I should organize a bit."
Baek Iljin immediately opened the window to ventilate. Then he crumpled the flyers before him and put them in the trash can, gathered the clothes haphazardly thrown into the closet, and put them in the washing machine.
After cleaning for roughly two hours, the house was organized so neatly that it suited his tastes perfectly.
"Ah, right!"
Remembering something, Baek Iljin turned his ring and opened the subspace. Inside the subspace, there were even more miscellaneous items than the trash collected while cleaning the house.
From a donut he had taken one bite of and stored away—preservation magic was cast on the subspace—to various other odds and ends.
He took them all out and began sorting.
"This is trash, this is food. And this is trash again."
There were more things to throw away than he had thought.
Among the artifacts, everything except the adventurer's ring had burned and become useless, so they were classified as trash.
'It's a shame since Grandfather took the trouble to pick them out for me.'
But he couldn't carry trash around with him; with a firm resolve, he threw the artifacts into one spot.
"Hmm, this is…."
While doing so, Baek Iljin tilted his head, holding something. It was an old scabbard he had picked up in the backyard.
"Should I throw it away?"
The old scabbard looked useless no matter how he looked at it. The opening itself was too loose to insert a blade into; it seemed like it would break, and it was utterly out of the question as a decoration, either.
'I should throw it away.'
Without hesitation, he tossed the scabbard on top of the artifacts that had become scrap metal. And just as he was about to resume sorting the items, a strange sound was heard.
Crunch. Crunch.
"What is that sound?"
He turned his head toward the source of the sound and saw that the scabbard he had just thrown away was devouring the other artifacts.
'……?'
The scabbard, which didn't even look to be 30cm long, swallowed a battle axe that must have easily exceeded 2 meters in one gulp, then immediately snatched another artifact.
"Wh-what is that."
The absurd scene unfolding before his eyes caused Baek Iljin, who usually didn't show his expression over ordinary matters, to reveal a hint of fluster.
Crunch.
This time, it was a necklace that had turned black. Even an artifact imbued with a high-tier magic called Reflection Shield was nothing but a delicious dinner for the scabbard.
Having devoured all the artifacts in an instant, the scabbard scattered a faint radiance as if satisfied. Then it trembled its body as if asking for more.
'This is absurd.'
Baek Iljin let out a brief, ridiculing laugh and gently picked up the scabbard. Perhaps it was just his imagination, but the scabbard looked cleaner than before.
'Cheon (Heaven)…. What is written after it? I still can't tell what the characters below say, either.'
Even though it had transformed into a fairly smooth and clean appearance, the engraved characters in the corner of the scabbard were illegible.
As Baek Iljin held the scabbard and examined it this way and that, a thunderous voice resounded in his ears.
"Cheon Subaek! You wretch!"
He frowned for a moment at his ringing ears and glared at the scabbard. The scabbard continued to vent its anger at him with a fiery voice.
"You buried me after putting dirty, reptile-smelling energy into my main body, and now you've drained all the Heavenly Demon Energy contained within?! And yet you call yourself the Heavenly Demon Supreme…."
It continued to babble on about something, but the content was hard to make out because it was pounding against his ears too loudly.
'Did this thing just speak?'
He looked around. Naturally, there was no one there. Given the situation, it was definitely this scabbard that had spoken.
"Tch, I must be tired these days; I keep hearing things."
But since he couldn't comprehend how an object could speak, he placed the scabbard on the floor.
Then the scabbard, as if protesting, emitted a crackling sound and discharged black electricity. When he picked the scabbard up again, the electricity stopped, and that voice from before was heard again.
"You brat! Are you trying to toy with me?!"
This time, Baek Iljin thought he should respond, and opened his mouth.
"Toy with you? What are you talking about?"
"Are you playing dumb! Cheon Subaek, you have truly crossed the line!"
Along with those words, the scabbard belched out ashen smoke. The gray smoke, carrying an ominous energy, coiled around Baek Iljin's entire body and seeped into his skin.
Having coiled around Baek Iljin's body about three times, the gray smoke immediately slipped out and returned to the scabbard.
"You! You're not Cheon Subaek!"
Baek Iljin looked at the scabbard making a fuss all by itself and let out a low sigh with a 'whew.' Then he held the scabbard right in front of his nose and asked.
"So, who is this Cheon Subaek?"
But the scabbard, lightly ignoring Baek Iljin's words, continued its soliloquy. Though it wasn't even a person, a tremble could be felt in its voice.
"It's definitely Cheon Subaek's face, and his voice too, and yet…."
He did look slightly younger, but it wasn't as if Cheon Subaek rejuvenating himself was a rare occurrence.
He was a guy who would go out as a white-haired old man yesterday and return tomorrow as a vigorous young man in his twenties.
'The most monstrous being among all the Heavenly Demons in history.'
Ah! If there was one difference, it was that Cheon Subaek was a guy brimming with a hollow smile, but this guy was like a wooden post devoid of expression.
Having gained certainty from the expression, the scabbard began its soliloquy again.
"You're not really Cheon Subaek. But then how did you withstand my energy?"
Baek Iljin, who had been listening silently, grabbed the scabbard roughly with both hands. Then he exerted force as if to break it and spoke.
"If you babble to yourself one more time, I'll just break you."
Only then did it seem to sense danger; the scabbard in his hand emitted a buzzing vibration.
"W-wait! Let's talk, let's talk!"
Baek Iljin hadn't really planned to break it, either. He had just wanted to silence it for a moment since it was making such a fuss.
"Fine. But who is Cheon Subaek?"
"The original owner of this scabbard."
"I see."
The scene of this so-called scabbard greedily devouring artifacts came to mind, and Baek Iljin asked the reason for it.
"You drained all the Heavenly Demon Energy inside me, so I needed energy and had no choice. If you're thinking of asking for it back, give up. I've already digested it all."
"I wasn't planning to ask for it back. I was just curious about the reason."
Baek Iljin's curiosity was satisfied. When he waited for a while but wasn't spoken to, the scabbard initiated the conversation first.
"Who are you?"
"If you ask 'who are you' out of nowhere, what am I supposed to answer? And if you want to ask who your opponent is, reveal your identity first."
"……I am the Heavenly Demon Sword."
Baek Iljin made an absurd expression upon hearing such an extremely cringeworthy name.
"Heavenly Demon Sword? Then the Cheon… whatever was engraved at the bottom of the scabbard must have said Heavenly Demon Sword."
"That's right. It means a sword that only a Heavenly Demon can wield."
At the word Heavenly Demon, curiosity sprang into Baek Iljin's eyes. A short paragraph he had brushed past while studying history for the entrance exam came to mind, and he muttered softly.
"The Heavenly Demon and the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult tried to bring about a blood calamity, but were annihilated through the efforts of the Martial God and Pietro."
"Similar, but the Heavenly Demon didn't die then; he became the Martial God's disciple."
"Is that so."
It was information that would have made historians rush over with fire in their eyes had they heard it, but he replied indifferently, having little interest.
Once again, it was the Heavenly Demon Sword that asked first.
"How did you absorb the Heavenly Demon Energy and remain normal?"
Even among those called Heavenly Demons, there was no one who carried Heavenly Demon Energy directly within their body.
Since one could go mad at any moment, even when using Heavenly Demon Energy, they would invariably borrow the Heavenly Demon Energy contained within the Heavenly Demon Sword.
And it was also due to the Heavenly Demon Sword's own function.
The Heavenly Demon Sword possessed the ability to infinitely multiply Heavenly Demon Energy, so there was no need to personally carry it.
"Heavenly Demon Energy? What is that?"
"It should obviously be inside your body… Huh? Why can't I sense it?"
Perplexity was evident in the Heavenly Demon Sword's voice.
It had definitely been able to awaken its consciousness because Heavenly Demon Energy was nearby, yet now that it tried to find the Heavenly Demon Energy, it couldn't sense anything at all.
At that moment, Baek Iljin extended his right hand.
"Is this what you mean?"
His right hand was enveloped in a sticky, ashen energy. Only then did the Heavenly Demon Sword sense the Heavenly Demon Energy and cry out.
"That's it! How can you withstand having that energy?!"
"I don't know."
"What?"
He really didn't know.
He hadn't tried to steal this energy, either; it had entered his body unintentionally, so he hadn't even known it was Heavenly Demon Energy.
"Th-then why can't I sense the Heavenly Demon Energy inside your body?"
Baek Iljin felt something ominous just from the name Heavenly Demon Energy and said,
"I don't know any of that. But it's uncomfortable to hear that demonic energy is inside my body."
"Puhahaha! Demonic qi? Heavenly Demon Energy is not demonic qi; it means the energy of the Heavenly Demon."
The scabbard expounded on the Heavenly Demon Energy as if boasting.
"Heavenly Demon Energy has the ability to control others' energies."
"Control? What do you mean by control?"
"If you become able to handle Heavenly Demon Energy to its extreme, regardless of the level of martial arts, you can materialize and forcibly extract others' internal energy. The opposite is possible as well."
"Is that so."
"That is the reason the Heavenly Demon could become the King of All Demons, the Controller of Demons. Thanks to that power, he could handle demons with savage natures as if they were children."
Having heard the explanation, Baek Iljin recalled the time he had modified Hwangbo Cheolsu's magic circle.
'So it was thanks to this that I was able to interfere with that magic circle back then.'
Baek Iljin nodded softly.
"Good."
Seeing Baek Iljin's reaction, the Heavenly Demon Sword regretted the words it had just spoken.
'My mouth runs too much.'
The Heavenly Demon Sword had to get the Heavenly Demon Energy back somehow. But what was it thinking, boasting like that?
"If you can't even use it properly anyway, perhaps you could consider returning it to me…"
"If you're thinking of asking for it back, give up. I've already digested it all."
The Heavenly Demon Sword, receiving back the very words it had spoken earlier, was left speechless.
'This brat, coveting energy he can't even properly use…."
Wait, he can't use it?
Just a moment ago, Baek Iljin had clearly raised and handled the Heavenly Demon Energy in his hand.
"Wh-how…"
"What do you mean, how?"
"How can you handle Heavenly Demon Energy?!"
Baek Iljin couldn't understand the Heavenly Demon Sword's reaction. The way to handle internal energy was very simple.
You just needed to learn a mental cultivation method.
"With a mental cultivation method."
"No, I mean how with a normal mental cultivation method… Don't tell me you've learned the Heavenly Demon Divine Art?"
Without that, it made no sense at all.
Come to think of it, his appearance was identical to Cheon Subaek's, and mixed in his body was the disgusting reptilian smell that had been felt from Cheon Subaek's fiancée.
Having finished its thought, the Heavenly Demon Sword trembled. Then it growled and muttered.
"Y-you… You're Cheon Subaek's child!"