A Bit Of Free Time For Me So This Chap Came Out Early. ENJOY.
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The room was filled with silence after a certain remark of mine. No one spoke, nor did they look at each other.
'This is awkward. Didn't think those two would become like this.' Since I was the cause of this situation, I couldn't help but to feel a little responsible for them.
Minutes passed by and still, no one broke the ice. Eventually...
"If we're gonna keep quiet, then we may as well go to sleep." Yoo Yeonha said.
"Yeah. I also think that's a good idea. It's starting to feel weird here." Suho agreed.
"Well then... We had enough conversation for the night. Let's go Hajin, Suho."
"..."
"Yeah, I'm coming.... Hajin?"
"..."
"Hajin? Are you ok?"
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go..."
And thus the boys left, leaving Chae Nayun and Yoo Yeonha in their room.
Seeing that they had left, Yoo Yeonha turned to Chae Nayun to see that she was still curled up on the floor.
With a *sigh*, Yeonha shaked Nayun on her shoulder and said.
"They're gone. You can get up now, Nayun."
To her surprise, Chae Nayun actually stood up and went to lay on her bed.
"Nayun... Are you okay?"
"H-Huh?"
Chae Nayun flinched.
Yoo Yeonha stared at Chae Nayun with narrowed eyes. She was beating up a poor bedsheet after faceplanting herself into the pillow.
'Whoaaa... Both of her ears were reddened. I mean... I would have too if they were said toward me.'
"Did those words really get to you?"
"H-H-H-HUH? WH-WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT...? I'M NOT THAT EASY TO FLUSTER!!!"
'Look at yourself before you say that.' Yoo Yeonha deadpanned at Chae Nayun. But then came frustration.
'What the hell did they see in this woman? Haizzz...'
"Okay okay let's just go to sle...."
"KYYAAAHHHHH!!!!"
Suddenly, a high-pitched voice rang out in the mansion and caught both of the girls' attention.
"What was that scream?" Yoo Yeonha asked.
"I don't know. It came from outside."
Just at that moment, lights shone through from under the room, signalling that the lights in the hallway turned on. At the same time, they could hear loud footsteps running around. Yoo Yeonha finally understood the gravity of the situation.
"Was that a real scream?"
"Yeah. Hurry up, we should go."
Chae Nayun put on a jacket.
.
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Shiki P.o.v.
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Kim Suho ran out of the room the moment the scream rang out. I was just about to follow him when I noticed something and stopped.
Standing next to the shelf was Hajin, holding his Desert Eagle in his hand. He was gazing at his weapons in deep silence. Knowing him, it's probably something bad just happened.
"..."
His hand tightened its grip on the handgun. Its golden-silver frame reflects his face.
"With this and his teaching... No." Hajin whispered softly.
What Shiki told everyone lingered in his ears.
— I don't know Chae Nayun more than Hajin knows her...–
'This is why I had to do all of that, to safeguard this world's survival. Thus safeguard mine as well.
But I was afraid of the unpredictable consequences of my action. So I told myself to stay away from altering the original story.
But even if I didn't think too deeply, I could see that the story was already altered, not by that damned guy then by Shiki.
So I am here, altering the storyline to my benefit. Right, this world was already full of unpredictability. Worrying about it was foolish."
"...I'm sure it'll work out somehow." After fighting off his hesitation, Hajin relaxed his grip.
"Are you done doubting yourself?" I asked.
"Yes... I am. I'm sorry for being a mess, Teach."
"Right you are. But you are the mess that I taught. Don't forget that."
"I won't."
"Good. Now let's go. I guessed that you know the way."
"Yes. Follow me, Teach."
Then, Hajin quickly ran down the hallway to the mansion owner's room with me following behind slowly.
The other members of the travelling club were all standing by the door with shocked expressions.
"T-This..."
In a dark room larger than six ordinary living rooms put together, the mansion owner was lying on his bed with a dagger sticking out of his heart. In front of this horrific scene, a maid was sobbing traumatically. Presumably, she was the one who first discovered the scene.
"Bedel-ssi..."
Kim Suho muttered the mansion's owner's name. We could understand why everyone was so shocked. During dinner, Belbet must have talked to them like a kind grandfather next door, trying to draw their sympathy by saying stupid things like, 'My son who died before me also wanted to become a Hero.'
"Wait. Let, let me confirm what state he's in."
While the cadets were standing in a daze from shock, Oh Hanhyun's girlfriend appeared.
Natasha, the doctor. Hajin closely scrutinised her movements. She slowly approached Belbet and checked his pulse. Then, she shook her head.
"...He's gone."
'Gone huh... Could have fooled everyone who is not a magus. His mana is still fluctuating, even if it's a flickering ember.
Something interfered with his life force? A drug maybe? Or is it a curse?'
I then looked at Hajin. His calm demeanour proved that he knew the true story. It's better to let him take care of this.
I tapped his shoulder to catch his attention. I then nodded at him before stepping aside.
"I'll leave it to you... Hajin. Do what you want." I told him with a soft tone, to which he nodded back.
In the meantime.
Natasha closed Belbet's eyes, who died with his eyes open, then returned to Oh Hanhyun's side. She leaned on his shoulder shedding tears, an act of her pretending to be sad.
"W-What happened..."
At that moment, the head butler ran into the room.
He broke out into tears, talking about all the fake good deeds Belbet has done and reiterating the threats and attempted murder Belbet received from supposed evildoers. Most likely the whole household is in on this.
"S-So they did it! Those bastards..." he said.
"Calm down, head butler." A cadet said.
While the cadets were busy consoling the sobbing maid and butler, Hajin turned the lights on. Immediately, the room became bright.
"Hey, why did you turn on the light!?"
Seeing the scene of a murder and the bloody corpse, Chae Nayun shouted in surprise.
Hajin glanced around the room before slowly walking up to Berbet.
"Excuse me! Don't get close!"
Natasha shouted hastily. Ignoring her, Hajin put on an act of examining Berbet's face and state. He lifted up his clothes to check his wound and pressed down on the bloody bed. Simply put, he was acting like a detective.
"You can't mess up the scene of the crime before the police arrive..."
Unable to endure it any longer, Natasha came over to drag me away. However, Hajin pulled out his gun and aimed it at her.
"Don't come close."
"...!"
Natasha raised her hand in shock, while the butler, who was crying only a moment ago, shot up and shouted.
"W-What are you doing!?"
It wasn't only the butler. The cadets gathered here also shouted the same thing.
Their loud voices started to irritate Hajin. I could have seen blood vessels popping in his forehead. Gritting his teeth, Hajin shouted.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
'Holy shit he is pissed. Who knew...' Even I was surprised. Silence descended immediately.
Hajin let out a sigh, then continued calmly.
"This person is trying to trick us. He's not dead. He's in what's called a state of suspended animation."
"D-Don't be stupid. I'm a doctor. What do you know about—" But then Hajin pushed his gun closer to Natasha, shutting her up completely.
"I'm going to explain, so shut up and wait."
"First, this scar is too unnatural. It's too shallow for someone to have stabbed him from above.
Next, there's too much blood. He only has one fatal injury to his heart, but the blood is covering this huge bed and even dripping down to the floor. Almost as if to emphasise that this man was dead.
Finally and most importantly... He looked eerily similar to this wanted criminal."
Using his smartwatch, Hahin projected the International Wanted List.
Berbet, the conman.
Although he looked thinner in the photo, the man lying dead on the bed looked similar to the man in the photo.
At this point, the cadets were shaken up.
"Of course, you can argue that they're different people since the man in the photo is so much thinner, but if taking the other two clues into account, you have to think something's up."
"...Head butler, you called the police and ambulance, right?"
However, Natasha was still calm.
The butler quickly retorted to Natasha's question.
"Y-Yes, I called them."
"Then we can just ask them instead of making a fuss like that man."
However, Hajin ain't gonna let that happen. He knew the police were bribed and if they came, Berbet would escape. He has to settle it NOW.
*Click—Click*
Behind Natasha's back, Hajin was pointing his gun at Berbet. Only then did Natasha begin to lose her composure.
"W-What are you doing!?"
"What do you mean? I'm going to shoot him."
"The police will be here soon!"
"He's dead anyway, right?"
Hajin put his finger on the trigger.
"T-This scoundrel! Honey, stop him!"
Natasha shook Oh Hanhyun and urged him to step in.
The head butler, Berbet, and Natasha.
They were all on the same boat.
"Um, Hajin..."
Oh Hanhyun spoke up carefully.
"If you move even a single step, I'll shoot. Especially you, Kim Suho. I'm only looking at you."
"...Got it."
Kim Suho, who was slowly approaching Hajin, stopped and raised his hands.
Hajin also made the other cadets back off. Then, he spoke to Natasha.
"It's loaded with real bullets."
"We already called the police! Put that gun down!"
Natasha was trembling with her entire body. At this point, the cadets had already sensed something was wrong, but Hajin pressed on.
"If you don't confess by the time I count to one, I'm going to shoot. Since he's dead, it doesn't matter, right?"
"Confess what!? He's already dead!"
Hajin began to count.
"Three."
He diverted his focus to the cadets in case any of them would try to do something stupid.
"Two."
But contrary to his expectations, Kim Suho stayed calm, while the usually timid Oh Hanhyun tried to operate his magic power.
At that moment, Oh Hanhyun stepped in and tried to stop Hajin.
"Wait." It was Yoo Yeonha. But it was unnessessary of her to do so. Why?
Because my grip is already on that person's shoulder, pressing my arm across his body. I stared down into the bastard's eyes and pinned him down.
This is Hajin's resolve, his decision. And to hell if I'm gonna let anyone ruin it for him.
Seeing that I would have his back, Hajin finished his countdown.
"One."
Natasha still didn't budge.
"Then he'll have to die."
*Click.*
"NO!"
"NO!"
It was just that it wasn't loaded.
But Natasha, who wasn't aware of this, quickly ran up to me and pushed me aside. Then, she prostrated on top of Belbet as if to protect him."
"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!"
"...Hm."
Hajin calmly put his gun down. Her reaction was proof enough.
Natasha was Berbet's daughter. The reason Belbet, who was constantly on the run, settled in France and how he managed to bring Cube's cadets was all thanks to Natasha.
"Instead of the police, call the Hero Association. Tell them we caught a wanted criminal."
With that, Hajin loaded his gun, then fired. The magic bullet grazed the leg of the butler who was running away.
"Aaak!"
After that short scream, only silence remained.
Feeling the other cadet's gazes, Hajin walked outside.
Knowing the fool, I went after him to keep him company. He seemed calm but the sweat on his face showed otherwise.
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9 a.m. Outside of the mansion
Hajin P.o.v
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The Heroes soon arrived to arrest Natasha and the butler. Berbet, on the other hand, was escorted in an ambulance to dissolve the medicine he had taken.
From their confession, the story unveiled itself.
The assassination incident was a plot devised by Berbet and Natasha. Berbet was a wanted criminal in practically all European countries, and he had formulated this plan to evade their increasingly thorough investigation. His daughter had coincidentally seduced a pushover cadet from Cube, bearing the plan to fruition.
The so-called operation Return to Life.
Though expensive, there was a medicine that could place someone in a temporary state of suspended animation. As a doctor who was a part of Cube, Natasha could easily get her hands on one.
Everything afterwards was supposed to be simple.
Berbet would take the medicine after receiving a fake injury with the help of a fellow conman magician, and spray the crime scene with blood packs. The emergency medical personnel wouldn't be able to tell apart suspended animation from death, and Belbet had already bribed out a local Paris police branch.
Next, during the ambulance ride, Belbet would swap himself with the corpse of a man who looked similar and had the same build.
Afterwards, Cube's cadets would take care of the testimony. Cube's cadets carried one of the greatest levels of trust on the planet.
The government workers he bribed would then ensure he was officially dead, and the real Berbet would be reborn under a new name.
But now, I had completely destroyed parts of the story related to Berbet. Berbet was arrested while he was still in a state of suspended animation. When he woke up, he would find himself in jail.
———[King Crimson]———
It is now 9 a.m in the morning.
After solving the fraud attempt by Berbet. Teach kept me company for a while before we went to sleep.
We woke up a bit early due to the habit of our daily training in the past week. Since 'we' had already awakened, we decided to warm up for a quick lesson. By 'we' I meant Shiki decided to have a spar.
Even on vacation, he had to torment me somehow.
Safe to say I wasn't able to touch him at all. He's too unpredictable and somewhat more malicious and motivated than usual. I must have piss him off by ruining his date.
After wiping the floor with my face, we sat down on the bench to take a breather.
[Berbet, the man you requested to find has been arrested by the French police and is currently being transported to a local Hero Association branch.]
[Congratulations! As you are our first customer, this question was answered free of charge.]
I replied to Berbet's victim, who had asked about him on Truth Agency. Since it was a coincidence anyway, charging the person felt wrong to me.
"...Are you Sherlock?"
At that moment, a voice rang out.
It was Yoo Yeonha. I smiled without answering her.
In truth, what I said last night was an amateurish deduction at best. But because of the unexpected situation they were in, no one had thought deeply about what I said.
But surprisingly and perhaps thanks to luck, the investigation revealed what I said to be mostly correct.
"Sherlock? Pfft. He seems more like a Moriaty to me."
"Hey!!" I retorted. Must he really?
He did have a point. This incident was ultimately orchestrated by me, the author. Even if they found out about my identity somehow, they don't have any proof to arrest me.
So calling me James Moriaty would make sense, only to the two of us though.
"Interesting. Anyway, the incident with Yun Hyun and now this. You might as well open up a detective agency."
"Sharpshooters have good eyes."
"That's true, but how did you recognise him? Do you have the faces of wanted criminals memorised?"
I flinched. As expected of Yoo Yeonha, she sharply pointed out one of the flaws in my action.
"I apologise. That's family business."
That was all I could tell her.
"What's up with the sudden polite speech... Then, does the teacher know anything?"
Yoo Yeonha then looked at Shiki. He raised an eyebrow at her question and shrugged afterwards.
"I do have some knownledge but that something you have to pry from him yourself."
"Figured... Fine, I'll let it slide for now. But first, you don't seem to mind what I have called you. Why is that?"
'Why what? Ah! She just called him the teacher. Did she find out about us?'
"It's simple. I never tried to hide it in the first place. I just didn't tell anyone, that's all." Shiki answered.
'Well, he did show off at the duels.'
"I see. Well if that the case, you wouldn't mind answering some of my questions, would you?"
"You can ask but answering them or not is my choice."
"That's enough for me. Now, allow me to leave. I have something else to think about."
Yoo Yeonha retorted bluntly, then made a meaningful expression as she walked away. 'Family matter, family matter...' She seemed to be wandering off to her own world of imagination. At this point, I wasn't even curious what misunderstanding she was cooking up.
But speaking of family affairs, I suddenly got curious about my own.
To be more precise, about Kim Chundong's family. All I knew from reading his official record was that he was from an orphanage.
It was probably worth looking into once I got home.
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The same Sunday.
Shiki p.o.v.
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The day went on with no more incident happened. I did, however, go on another walk around Paris with Scáthach and Evandel before we went back. This time, with no one but us three.
We finally have some time for ourselves. Rowdy crowd in the downtown, warm sun and cool breeze in the park, a picnic with some other families nearby on the grass. It was peaceful, a luxury for people like Scáthach.
We came back in the evening with the club. This time however, Scáthach was also present with me. Her fake ID identified her as a European Hero so coming with me back to Korea wasn't a problem. It was only when she was still in Cube that we couldn't go abroad as it would record her unnatural travel.
————[King Crimson]————
At night.
"So this is the mana sword."
"Yes, master."
We tallied up the spoils of our trip. Most of them were clothes and utensils for our little family. But the major gain was the 'lightsaber' Scáthach took from the Djinn.
"To be honest, we also have a 'lightsaber' user in the Throne but I don't know where she came from nor how she got that sword. I don't have that much clearance in that universe."
"That's true. She is a fine warrior with a good weapon. I'm also curious about how it worked."
"Well, we got one from this world here so let's find out."
To begin with, we used Structural Analyst on the artifact. But instead of the normal '3d module' version that most magus knows, I used the advanced 'Tracing' version from a certain 'burnout chef' in the Throne of Heroes.
From what I discovered:
It was a weapon created using the state-of-the-art magic engineering technique. As long as one's magic power capacity was large enough, it would display greater power than most low-rank artifacts.
In other words, until your mana ran out, you have a near-indestructible sword. And mana is my greatest strength.
Also, this sword has been in the hands of the organisation called The Evil Society for a while. They have bought it for quite a price. Too bad it's in my possession now.
Then, we tested it out with different aspects. Namely: its primary function, its cutting power, its mana cost, its versatility and so on.
I began to see why 'MHX alter' liked this kind of weapon.
For what it is made of, it is very light. Also, it is very easy to control the output of the sword. The mana blade shot out can also be modified such as adding elemental properties, changing how it is shaped.
Finally, we then tested out its limits and weaknesses. It met our expectations.
The artifact's biggest strength was its power parallel to its mana output, or rather, our input. Considered it isn't a Noble Phantasm, it performed spectacularly. It was on par with many weapons I created through The First.
However, the mana blade is extremely vulnerable to 'Imaginary Number' and 'Void' Elements due to its nature. The former element would disrupt it heavily while the latter shatter it off completely.
Luckily, both of the Elements was noutoriously hard to learn and even harder to find one born with it.
That being said, I had fun playing the certain 'sith lord' at the end.
Now, back to our business.
With Scáthach now 'legally' entered Korea, it opened a lot of opportunities. Such as properties and lodging.
Yes. I can now buy a house here using Scáthach's name.
I will then become a beneficiary of the property later down the road. I wasn't sure if Scáthach would agree to the 'fake marriage' route so I haven't locked in my option yet.
Don't get me wrong, a cadet is considered an adult but that is just on paper. In reality, society still mostly sees us as teens. Selling a house to a kid half their age would sound weird.
Since I have yet to graduate to be able create a Violet Banquet account due to the law. I have refrained from visiting any real estate company.
I'll talk to Scáthach later about this matter. For now, I just have to focus on Cube.
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1 P.m. Monsday
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The eventful weekend passed and a new Monday came by.
Rather than Monday's usual class, the exam we couldn't complete was continued today. Thus, cadets met in the exam room from two weeks ago, including me.
I had already written my report so I was first to do the exam. My opponent was a demi-lich, a low-high rank monster. The instructor must have chose it to counter my extreme closed-range fighting style as well as my recent performances.
Sadly, I wasn't able to test out my new 'toy' since it's a personal weapon. But regardless it wasn't a big deal. I led the skeleton army summoned by the lich away before slipping past them and snapping the lich in half.
Resist all you want, magic-infused attacks can still affect the pile of bones and necromancy.
While my test score is being calculated.
...
Yoo Yeonha was immersed in thoughts completely irrelevant to the exam.
'Family affair.'
What Kim Hajin said the day before kept bothering her.
Kim Hajin had immediately recognised Berbet's face, but it didn't make sense for him to know Berbet's face out of the numerous criminals.
From her research, she found out that Berbet was a conman who worked exclusively in Europe. In other words, he couldn't have had anything to do with Kim Hajin. It made more sense to conclude that Kim Hajin memorised the faces of every international wanted criminal.
'But why...'
After thinking about Kim Hajin's strange obsession with wanted criminals, Yoo Yeonha came up with a hypothesis.
A horrible thing had happened to him in the past, but he didn't know who the culprit was. So to find the culprit, he had the International Wanted List memorised.
Of course, this was only a hypothesis.
But...
'Orphan.'
Adding in another keyword, the hypothesis became more logical.
Kim Hajin didn't have parents. That was something almost every cadet knew because Shin Jonghak's lackeys often harassed him as a parentless bastard.
'So that must mean...'
Kim Hajin's parents were dead. No, they were killed. Because of this, Kim Hajin had memorised the faces of criminals and was hiding his power to find and kill the culprit.
It made sense.
Yoo Yeonha added another keyword to her notes.
'Sad past'
"Yeonha, what are you writing?"
Chae Nayun suddenly asked at that moment. She peeked at Yoo Yeonha's notes with tired eyes as though she just woken up from a nap.
"Family affair? Orphan? Sad past? ...Are you adopted?"
"...Are you crazy? I'm just curious about something."
"Hm.... Well, I guess you've always been curious about random things. You know, you always tenaciously dig up things you can just ignore without gaining anything. You're kind of a dunce. No, you are a dunce"
"If you're going to sleep, just keep sleeping, Nayun."
Yoo Yeonha spoke as she gritted her teeth. Chae Nayun let out a big yawn, then leaned against the back of her chair.
"Huaam~ Yeah, I should."
The heckler went away, and Yoo Yeonha fell back into the boundary of delusion and thought.
If Kim Hajin really had a past like that, she felt she could use it as an advantage when trying to recruit him in the future.
It was illegal to investigate a cadet's background, but that just meant she had to avoid being caught.
That was how much she wanted to bring Kim Hajin into her guild. With the last incident, she became even more convinced. Kim Hajin was definitely even more valuable than Kim Suho. At least, that's what Yoo Yeonha thought.
"Hmm..."
Someone who could investigate Kim Hajin's family background.
Even though she couldn't find out about Hajin through his Teacher, that wasn't Yeonha's only option.
She knew of one such person. If he wanted, he could even draw up the family tree of a cockroach.
The only question was whether he would help her.
"..."
Yoo Yeonha turned her smartwatch on.
At the bottom of her contacts list, a number she had kept sealed for the past 5 years was printed.
[Uncle Yoo Jinhyuk]
'Haiz... Might as well ask him to investigate the teacher, too. He is also a high value target.'
Yoo Yeonha closed her eyes tightly and sent him a message.
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