Devil Returns to School Days - Chapter 160: The Moment Evil Overflows (4)

Choi Myung-hoon was only the beginning, not the end.

Even after knocking him down, the paths leading to the emergency exit and elevator were swarming with countless enemies.

“Get that guy first!”

“Damn it.”

Whoosh.

Smack, smack-!

Attacks came from all sides.

Kim Si-woo struck down the two rushing towards him, but beyond the sight of the falling enemies, more appeared. He exhaled slowly, keeping his calm. Dodging the visible punches, he counterattacked, immediately preparing for the next assault. The moment his gaze met another adversary filled with hostility:

Smack!

A high kick landed with precision.

The enemy staggered and collapsed, but before Kim Si-woo could catch his breath, a heavy fist struck his guard.

“Take it easy, you bastard!”

Kim Si-woo stumbled.

The impact was intense.

It was a face he hadn’t seen before.

In the midst of the chaotic fight, Kim Si-woo couldn’t identify the opponent, but he could tell the man was an S-rank fighter. It was enough to slow him down. Not only did he have to handle this S-rank opponent, but there were also numerous others attacking from all directions. Blocking attacks while trying to take down his main target, the S-rank enemy expertly dodged Kim Si-woo’s blows and countered aggressively.

Whoosh—

Kim Si-woo dodged the incoming attack.

He was confident he could win.

But time wasn’t on his side.

The longer the opponent held out, the more anxious Kim Si-woo became.

‘If this keeps up, Hyunsung will be in danger.’

In this operation, Kim Hyunsung was bearing all the risk.

Although there were safer ways to proceed, Hyunsung had embraced the danger to create the outcome he wanted. Kim Si-woo had promised Hyunsung that he would be there in time to help. If he were even a moment late, the Golden Circle members who had stormed the officetel would carry out their plan to create a “victim.”

Kim Si-woo couldn’t let that happen.

He clenched his teeth.

He was about to take a risk to break through the line when—

Whoosh.

Smack—!

“Ugh.”

The S-rank enemy was slammed to the floor.

The punch had come out of nowhere, but the sheer size and power behind it sent shivers down Kim Si-woo’s spine.

He quickly turned his head.

There stood a man in a hoodie, his large frame unmistakable.

“Just go. I’ll clear the way.”

The man’s identity—

It was Baek Seong-ho [1].

—

Baek Seong-ho.

He wasn’t someone who belonged in this situation.

A 20-year-old adult fighting among high school students meant heavy legal responsibilities.

But still, he willingly accepted the situation.

‘Kim Hyunsung was right. A guy like me won’t make even a billion won in ten years out in society. Even if I end up in prison because of this, it won’t be a loss’

After graduation, Baek Seong-ho had briefly experienced life in society.

He failed to get into college, and with his grades, he couldn’t even submit a résumé to any respectable company. In the end, he settled for a job that anyone could do. Every day, he woke up early, soaked in sweat by the end of the day, and came home, only to receive a salary that didn’t even reach 3 million won.

It created a huge sense of disillusionment.

In school, he had been an untouchable force.

With his overwhelming physical abilities, everyone admired him. But in society, he was nobody.

He had to endure not only physical labor but also constant insults.

There was a time when he wanted to flip the table and quit after a fat-bellied man kept patting his head condescendingly.

But he didn’t.

At 20 years old, that’s what being an adult meant.

It was during that time that he received a call from Kim Hyunsung. Baek Seong-ho had no reason to refuse.

“I’ll give you a billion won. Just do what I tell you.”

He accepted the mercenary job.

After hearing the plan in detail and resolving to endure prison time if necessary, he joined the operation.

Whoosh.

Crunch—!

The sickening sound echoed through the hall.

Unlike the other students’ punches, Baek Seong-ho’s blows landed with a thud, sending another enemy crashing to the floor.

Baek Seong-ho shouted.

“Go, now!”

Clearing the path—

That was his role.

Kim Si-woo nodded, and without looking back, Baek Seong-ho charged forward like an enraged rhinoceros.

Enemies, sensing his power, rushed toward him, but Baek Seong-ho’s well-honed physical prowess had long surpassed the level of a typical high school student. He was strong enough to earn an S-rank in the Golden Circle. With each punch, enemies dropped like flies. Even when some landed hits on his face and torso, Baek Seong-ho didn’t flinch.

Whoosh.

Smack—!

Cheonil’s judgment was correct.

After Shin Young-min, if not for Kim Hyunsung, Baek Seong-ho would have been the one to dominate Daesan.

Baek Seong-ho’s fists knocked down enemies one after another.

Having already accepted the possibility of prison or hospitalization, his terrifying presence was too much for the opponents to handle. Thanks to him, the path cleared. Realizing the dire situation, one of the attackers shouted.

“That guy’s an adult, isn’t he? Why the hell is an adult here?”

Suddenly, a conversation with a junior came to mind.

When Baek Seong-ho mentioned joining this operation, his junior had asked, “What if you end up in prison?”

Even if a billion won was on the line, losing years of one’s life was a hard pill to swallow.

Ironically enough—

In South Korea, there was a way for 20-year-old men to rationalize such decisions.

Baek Seong-ho smirked.

“I’ll just think of it as serving in the military.”

With a grin on his face, he didn’t care whether anyone recognized him or not.

“So what?”

Smack—!

He knocked another opponent’s face to the ground.

—

**Outside the officetel.**

While chaos raged inside, something interesting was happening outside.

“Viewers, can you see this? Some crazy bastards are attacking this officetel, and we’ve got a full-on brawl happening in the middle of Seoul.”

The speaker was Jo Jae-jin, a student from Cheonil High.

Known by the nickname “Choksae,” he had started a YouTube channel about a year ago, using his natural gift for talking.

Although his channel only had about a thousand subscribers, the live footage he was streaming was drawing significant attention.

—This is insane.

—Whoa, it really is a fight.

—Isn’t that officetel near Gangnam Station? Those places are crazy expensive. Why is there a fight happening there?

At first, only a few dozen people were watching.

But as word spread about the fight, the footage began to go viral across internet forums and social media. Within ten minutes, the viewer count had surged into the thousands. Thanks to the speed of information sharing through SNS, the stream was trending, and soon it was attracting even more attention.

—What’s even happening?

Jo Jae-jin, his face slightly flushed with excitement at the sudden surge in viewers, brought the camera closer to himself.

He knew this was a chance for his channel to blow up.

“I’m not exactly sure either, but those bastards inside the officetel suddenly attacked my friend. We rushed over to help him. Do you really think my friends wanted to fight? They’re only fighting because they had no choice—because they wanted to protect our friend. But here’s the real shocking part.”

His role—

From the start, this had been his part to play.

This fight wouldn’t just end as another incident of school violence.

Kim Hyunsung was taking a massive risk, so he had to make sure they extracted every possible gain.

(TL Note: WTF Hyunsung! What a big brain move!)

“The moment the fight started, we called the police, but it’s been over ten minutes, and they still haven’t shown up. We’re just five minutes away from the police station. Doesn’t that seem weird? I mean, over a hundred high school students are attacking one person in the middle of Gangnam, and the cops are nowhere to be found. Something’s definitely going on here.”

—Yeah, something’s fishy.

—I’m in the area too, and I called the cops a while ago. They still haven’t come.

—Wow, is there really something behind this?

—The world’s gone mad. A fight breaks out in the middle of Seoul, and the cops don’t even bother showing up.

—I called the police, and they said there was a six-car pileup nearby. Maybe that’s why they’re delayed.

It was just a small spark.

Whether the claim was true or not—

That didn’t matter.

As the spark grew into a full-fledged blaze, the fight inside the officetel reached its peak.

—

How many had he knocked down by now?

Kim Hyunsung had lost count.

Since the moment he burst through the door, he had fought like a man possessed, trading punches non-stop.

Smack!

“Ugh.”

His head whipped to the side.

A punch from the blind spot landed squarely on his face, and his already battered appearance now dripped with fresh blood.

He was at his limit.

His slowing reflexes told the story, and the countless hours of training felt useless as his body no longer responded the way he wanted it to. It was no surprise, really. Even highly trained fighters struggle to last beyond a few minutes in the ring. Kim Hyunsung, however, had been fighting relentlessly for over fifteen minutes, facing waves of enemies with no time to rest. The sheer exhaustion was overwhelming, and his mind felt like it was on the verge of shutting down.

What kept him going was sheer willpower—an unbreakable resolve fueled by deeply ingrained training and burning rage.

Whoosh.

Smack!

“Argh!”

“You crazy bastard, just go down already!”

Kim Hyunsung somehow managed to land a counterpunch, smashing his opponent’s nose flat. Then, breathing heavily, he pushed his way back towards the emergency exit.

‘I can’t break through alone.’

There were no miracles.

No matter how skilled he was in one-on-one combat, even the best fighter in the world couldn’t handle this many people at once. He had known this from the start, even while declaring that he would face the danger head-on. Even though he had told others to trust him, deep down, he had always been aware of the inevitability of ending up in this kind of situation.

But he had no choice.

Kim Hyunsung had a clear objective in mind for this operation.

‘The Golden Circle needs to see that they can’t take me down with school violence anymore. If I can expose their malicious intent to the world at this moment when their evil is overflowing, their members will be forced to reconsider their loyalty. I need to be a threat to them just by existing—make them so uneasy that they can’t hold out any longer.’

He gritted his teeth.

He needed a definitive result.

Something that would leave a lasting impact on everyone watching, especially those who had put their faith in him.

That’s why he had accepted the risk.

He had deliberately put himself in harm’s way.

“You’re finished… c-ugh!”

Smack!

Kim Hyunsung swung his fist into another enemy’s face. He was running on fumes, his body staggering, yet still he fought on. Kicks and punches came at him from all directions, and when he got the chance, he grabbed one of the attackers by the leg.

Then, without hesitation, he bit down hard.

Crunch.

“Aaaargh!”

His opponent screamed in pain and collapsed to the floor.

Kim Hyunsung hammered his fist into the fallen enemy’s face, not caring about any notions of fair play. He fought like a wild animal, biting, clawing, doing whatever it took to bring down his opponents. His martial arts master had been right—at the very edge of exhaustion, it was the determination to throw one final, decisive punch that made all the difference.

Whoosh.

Smack—!

His opponent’s face crumpled under the blow.

Kim Hyunsung, despite barely being able to stand, kept fighting. His body swayed, on the verge of collapse, but he refused to give up. Slowly, he moved back toward the emergency exit, inch by inch.

Finally, he managed to reach the elevator, pressing the button frantically.

Clink, clink.

He was at the edge of the cliff.

Even if new enemies appeared when the elevator arrived, Kim Hyunsung had no other choice left. He had to gamble on the possibility of escape.

“Stop him!”

“Don’t let him get on the elevator!”

Chaos erupted around him as fists flew in every direction.

Every time Kim Hyunsung threw a punch, he was hit in return.

He ducked another blow, but was forced to curl his body up to shield himself from the storm of attacks.

Then—

Smack!

“Urgh.”

A powerful punch slammed into his stomach.

Kim Hyunsung’s eyes widened.

His body had reached its physical limits, and this blow was something he simply couldn’t withstand. It felt like his entire body was crumbling from within. Yet even as the shock hit him, he somehow remained standing.

‘I won’t die. Not yet. Never.’

His rage boiled over.

Even as his body failed him, his fierce determination blazed on, defying the overwhelming odds stacked against him.

Then, finally—

Ding.

The elevator arrived.

Everyone turned to stare as the doors slid open.

“Hyunsung!”

A familiar voice echoed through the corridor.

Kim Hyunsung smiled.

His face was a mess, blood covering his features, but he couldn’t help the slight grin that formed despite the pain.

“…You’re late.”

 

(TL Note : Chills. )

Inside the elevator stood Kim Si-woo and the students from Cheonil High. They wasted no time, rushing out of the elevator and launching themselves into the fray to rescue their friend.

(TL Note: Peak chapter here! Easily within my top 10!)
***

Footnotes:

[1] Baek Seong-ho first appeared in chapter 21 of the manhwa. He was once an enemy of Hyunsung but he quickly gained the trust of Hyunsung many chapters after that. He became one of the most trusted ally of Hyunsung in Daesan.