I remembered something I had to do.
I hurriedly raised my smartwatch and sent Park Suhyuk a message.
[Hyung. Thanks for the drone. I’ll put it to good use.]
* * *
The Chameleon Troupe’s hideout. In the middle of a pitch-black abandoned factory where not even a handful of light seeped in, Boss sat cross-legged. Inside her mind, the series of duels that had taken place today—no, yesterday—were replaying in order.
Kim Suho’s swordsmanship was indeed just as she had heard. His sword strikes were light as though they merely grazed, yet they carried weighty destructive power, and each flowed smoothly into the next. The continuity of his swordsmanship was as natural as running water. Rather than swordsmanship, it was a craft honed and refined over a long period of time, to the point that the term “sword dance” suited it better.
Next, Shin Jonghak’s spear arts were brutal. His thrusts aimed straight for the opponent’s heart without probing, and against those who remained on the defensive, he became violently oppressive. Using his long reach to ceaselessly cut, whirl, strike, and stab—it was less a duel and more one-sided violence.
—Next is the man you mentioned, Boss. The one who said you were pretty.
She quietly nodded. Beyond her eyelids, the projected film changed. This time, it was a duel between a gun and fists. A fight between a sharpshooter and a warrior. From the momentum alone, it was easy to predict who would win.
However……
Her eyes shot open. She didn’t need to watch for long. That man’s bullets shattered magic power. She saw the true nature of the magic power wrapped around his bullets. Unless her eyes were damaged, there was no doubt. It was the power of “anti-magic.” The power she had searched and searched for. The dagger that would punish “that bastard.”
—It’s pretty unusual, isn’t it? I was a little surprised when I first saw it too.
“Kim Hajin. Write him in the notebook.”
She spoke without hesitation.
—……Seriously?
“Yes.”
—Jungyeong said he wasn’t that good, though?
“Gyeong hates long-range sharpshooters to begin with.”
Cheok Jungyeong was a warrior to his very bones. Two people looking each other in the eye, staking everything in a desperate effort to drive death into the other’s heart. Killing intent meant to kill. He undoubtedly believed that only that could be called a true duel.
He even had a colleague he was on bad terms with simply because that person fought from a distance……
—Well, he did say Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak were fine.
“Then write those two in the notebook as well.”
—Then we’ll have five spots left. That okay?
The location information of those written in the “notebook” was stored in real time. In other words, it was GPS. But beyond that, the owner of the “notebook” could move to wherever the person written in the notebook was.
—Priority?
As wide-ranging as the ability was, it did have the restriction of [continuing only if the other party does not notice that their name has been written in the notebook], but unless they were told directly, there was no one who would realize it.
“Mm.”
Boss closed her eyes. Suddenly, something from long ago came to mind.
Eleven years ago, the death of the “former Boss.” And the betrayal of “that man.” The day she shed tears for the first time in her life. In front of that grave, where she sank to her knees at the passing wind and the raindrops settling on her shoulders felt terrifyingly heavy, the Chameleon Troupe once again disguised its colors.
“The priority is……”
The Chameleon Troupe survived even after its Boss died. They elected a new Boss, and with resentment and hatred as nourishment, they advanced again and again toward completion.
But for now, they did not even know where the traitor was hiding. No, even if they knew, they had no way to punish him.
That was why she had continued searching all this time.
For the power of “anti-magic” that could break the “Body of Magic (魔力之體)”……
“Put Kim Hajin as the top priority.”
* * *
Tuesday. I stayed cooped up in my dorm until noon. The duel exam continued until today, but not a single cadet had called me out.
“Maybe I should’ve just stayed in the dorm.”
But now that it was 1 p.m., I was outside. To be honest, I was bored. I also wanted to watch Chae Nayun (rank 4) and Rachel (rank 3), as well as Kim Suho (rank 1) and Yohei (rank 8), fight.
But……
“It’s packed.”
It was too crowded. The First Duel Arena had a capacity of a whopping five thousand seats, yet it was already full. No matter how much I looked around, there were naturally no empty seats.
Should I just go back, or should I watch standing up?
As I stood behind the very back row and thought about it, the person right in front of me suddenly sprang to their feet. The two people, who looked like a couple, strode out into the aisle.
“Hm, hmm.”
I read the room and sat down in their spot. I kept my nerves on edge toward the aisle, in case they came back.
—Now, thank you for waiting!
But the couple did not return, and just as the host’s shout announcing the start rang throughout the duel arena—
Rustle.
Someone sat down beside me. I chewed on my popcorn, glanced sideways in that direction, then looked forward again.
“……?”
And then, for a moment, I felt a question arise. It looked like a familiar face. I forced the mouthful of popcorn down my throat and glanced sideways again.
My heart and breathing stopped at the same time.
She was sitting in the seat beside me.
The Boss of the Chameleon Troupe. In her life lived without a name, the one alias that was at least widely known was “Yaksha.”
I buried my trembling hand into the popcorn. Then I fixed my gaze straight ahead at ninety degrees. My heart, which had paused for a moment, now began pounding like mad.
Why is she here? Did I do something wrong, or is this just a coincidence?
Right. It’s most likely a coincidence. She just came to watch Kim Suho, and I happened to be sitting next to her…… Just as I was agonizing fiercely over it—
“Hurk!”
Some random person descending the stairs missed his footing. That nameless someone was holding a cola. The cola spun through the air. And like a hat, it landed on someone’s head. To make matters worse, the cola was full.
Thanks to my luck, not a single drop splashed onto me. However……
Feeling a dizzying vertigo, I looked at the seat beside me.
Beneath the cola cup perched on the crown of her head like a cone snack, Boss’s pitch-black pupils were shaking uncontrollably.
────────────────────────────────────
────────────────────────────────────
A Sudden Encounter (2)
“Oh dear. What do we do?”
The random person made a fuss. But perhaps because she was in shock, Boss only sat there motionlessly. For now, I removed the cola cup stuck to the top of her head. The instant I did, clatter— the ice trapped inside spilled down. In that situation, Boss shut her eyes completely.
“Please wait a moment. I’ll go get a towel……”
Suddenly, the random person’s movements stopped. His eyes lost their vitality and went blank, and he staggered back toward the aisle. It was strange.
I happened to look around her neck. A faint light was flickering from her necklace. It seemed to be the necklace’s ability…… What was that again? I felt like I knew, but I couldn’t remember. Item settings were too microscopic a detail.
“Haa.”
Out of nowhere, she let out a deep sigh. Then she looked at me.
I scratched the back of my neck.
I did have a one-thousand-won emergency pack of convenience-store tissues in my pocket, but this didn’t seem like a state that could be handled with mere tissues.
“……”
Still, since her two eyes continued to stare only at me, I rummaged around and took out the tissues.
“Um, at least use this……”
She looked back and forth between the tissues and me, then took them. First, she wiped every corner of her face, then pulled out plenty more and wiped even her thighs and calves.
“Thank you.”
Then she bowed her head to me. I went blank for a moment. What was that? What in the world just happened?
In that situation where I felt like my soul might leave my body, the host’s loud shout rang out.
—Now, we will begin!
In an instant, the audience became busy. Countless reporters took out their cameras and aimed them at the arena. Videos were prohibited, but photos could be taken with some flexibility. The reporters who had flown in from England were particularly frantic.
—A duel between rank 3 Rachel and rank 4 Chae Nayun!
A duel between a rapier and a bow.
This was also in my original story. Therefore, I knew the winner. Most likely, Rachel would win with a 90% probability.
I watched Rachel and Chae Nayun standing in the arena. Though they were far away, they appeared as close as if I could grasp them in my hand. Chae Nayun’s mouth moved. I could hear what she was saying.
—Princess. Let’s change the ranks of 3rd and 4th today, shall we?
Rachel showed no reaction to that provocation.
—We will begin the countdown. Three! Two!
Chae Nayun aimed her bow at Rachel. Rachel drew her rapier.
The two standing face to face showed no flaws in their posture. As they waited for the starting whistle, they hid their own openings and searched for their opponent’s.
—Duel start!
Immediately, Chae Nayun fired her bow. An arrow of magic power shot forward at high speed. However, Rachel let the arrow pass by with a difference of a single sheet of paper. It was an elegant yet efficient movement.
Chae Nayun fired arrows wildly. Arrows poured down like rain. The arrows that touched the ground split into several branches and took on even more unpredictable movements. It was probably the countermeasure Chae Nayun had come up with in her own way. Since Rachel would dodge everything if she aimed for her body anyway, she must have decided to narrow the space itself.
However, even that tremendous barrage of arrows was elegantly evaded by Rachel. That was not all. Whenever there was a suitable opening, she thrust her rapier without hesitation. The magic power released from that thrust stretched toward Chae Nayun like a flash of lightning. But Chae Nayun did not dodge. She emitted her magic power in the shape of a shield and blocked it.
For an instant, the audience erupted in admiration and cheers. Chae Nayun’s ability to utilize and synchronize with magic power had already surpassed the level of a cadet.
However, the conclusion of that fierce duel had already been decided. Chae Nayun could not defeat Rachel.
Rachel was a swordsman specialized in long-range engagements. Her thin and flexible body could avoid arrows with only the faintest movements, and her delicate strikes of magic power continuously disrupted the archer’s posture. Chae Nayun wove shields to prevent her stance from becoming unstable, but a defense that consumed magic power was, rather, a poor move.
The moment Chae Nayun’s magic power was exhausted, Rachel would bring this duel to an end.
“I watched your duel with Kim Horak.”
A voice suddenly came from beside me.
I flinched in surprise.
I had been so focused on the duel between the two that I had forgotten who was sitting beside me. Even though she was someone far more terrifying than Rachel or Chae Nayun.
“Ah, yes.”
I answered as calmly as possible.
She looked at me and asked.
“Is that your talent?”
“……Ah, I’m sorry, but talent isn’t something I can tell others about so easily.”
“……”
She took a business card from her pocket.
“This is who I am.”
She handed me the card.
[Li Xiaopeng]
[‘Silent Moon’ Grade-3 Hero]
[Contact: 0103-3243-9203-93]
This was probably one of the countless false identities she possessed. Even so, my heart trembled. There were not many ways to contact her. But in order not to show it, I merely smiled.
“Prior contact is illegal.”
“……”
She quietly tried to put the business card back into her clothes.
“Ah, but.”
I grabbed her wrist. As expected, this person didn’t know how to play push and pull.
“I’ll keep yours.”
“……”
She nodded and handed me the business card again.
“Then I’ll be going. Please contact me sometime.”
Leaving those words behind, she rose from her seat.
I blankly followed her receding back with my eyes.
“……What did she come here for?”
I don’t know. No matter how I think about it, there should be absolutely no reason for Boss to come find me directly right now.
* * *
The duel exam concluded at 5 p.m.
The only cadets who achieved a perfect victory record were Kim Suho, Shin Jonghak, Rachel, and Joo Youngho. Since duels could take place up to three times a day, there had been many unexpected upsets caused by poor condition.
—Wow. That was awesome, seriously awesome. Did you see Kim Suho? He was seriously stylish.
—But Chae Nayun lost to Rachel… Somehow, that feels bitter. This is my first time seeing a promising Korean lose to a foreigner.
When I came out of the duel arena, the sky had already grown dark. Many people passed by me, each voicing their own impressions.
For the time being, before returning to the dorm, I slipped into the back alley behind the arena. I found a random spot to sit and took out the drone I’d brought in my crossbody bag.
With several settings added—“Battery Enhancement,” “Stealth Function,” “Target Designation Function,” and the like—it had become quite a useful item. I’d set the duration to last only until they left, that is, four days, so it hadn’t cost much SP either.
“Fly.”
I tossed the drone into the sky. It soared off toward the forest, and I was about to head back to the dorm.
—……Kk, mm……hic.
“……What?”
But then I heard the sound of someone holding back sobs from somewhere. It was so mournful and pitiful, almost like a beast crying, that I looked in the direction the sound had come from. The walls blocking my view turned transparent, and in the nearby forest behind the arena, hidden between the trees, I saw someone crying.
It was Chae Nayun. She had buried her face between her knees and was trembling.
“Ah.”
I remember this event.
This was probably the trigger that made Chae Nayun fall completely for Kim Suho. Something like Kim Suho comforting Chae Nayun after her defeat. So even if the details changed, the larger flow still remained the same.
I was about to turn away without much thought.
“……Tsk.”
But I hesitated and stopped.
Kim Suho would comfort Chae Nayun. But it would only be empty comfort, nothing more.
If you work harder, you can win. Let’s work hard together. I’ll help you…… Pretty words like that were no help at all to the current Chae Nayun.
As you go through life, there are times when giving up is more necessary than effort. But in Kim Suho’s dictionary, the word “give up” doesn’t exist. He doesn’t advise others to give up, nor does he give up himself.
Chae Nayun probably wouldn’t give up the bow, if only because of Kim Suho.
“...Hoo.”
In the end, I turned on my smartwatch.
Last night, Chae Nayun had sent me a message.
[Hey. Are you ignoring me? If you don’t reply, I’m choosing you.]
I wrote a reply that was about eighteen hours late.
[What are you doing?]
Far away, an alarm rang on Chae Nayun’s smartwatch. But she was too busy crying to check it. I sent another message in succession.
[I watched your duel today.]
Chae Nayun glanced at her smartwatch.
—……What the hell is this bastard’s problem?
But it seemed she was going to ignore it. Left with no choice, I sent something that Chae Nayun could never let slide.
[See? I was right. The sword suits you, not the bow. I recommend changing paths now, like me.]
—Ah, fuck.
The effect was tremendous. Chae Nayun fumed as she tapped on her smartwatch.
[Get lost before I kill you.]
My immediate reply was enough to turn her stomach upside down.
[No, I’m just saying. You beat a Djinn with a sword, so I don’t understand why you’re insisting on the bow. It’s a shame. If you’d faced Rachel like you did when you killed that Djinn back then, do you think you would’ve lost like today?]
[What? You wanna die?]
[Think a little. Back at the agent military academy, you beat her. So why do you think you lost now? You lost because your aptitude isn’t the bow.]
[You fcking whereareyou shit lesgo I swear yuo think im fuckign easy? just because you beat Kim Horak once youre getting all cocky…….]
Her emotions had exploded into a message full of typos, and with no spaces, its readability was the worst. I didn’t even read all of it. I didn’t reply either. Her reaction was so funny that I wanted to tease her a bit more, but unfortunately, time was up.
—Huh? Chae Nayun?
Kim Suho appeared from behind a tree.
—……Huh?
—Chae Nayun, what are you doing here?
—W-What the hell!
Chae Nayun hurriedly wiped away the tears gathered around her eyes. As she tried to run away, Kim Suho caught her.
—Let go, let go!
Chae Nayun tried to shake him off, but Kim Suho wasn’t the kind of person to allow that. He was the type who couldn’t feel satisfied unless he comforted a crying woman one way or another. The so-called protagonist personality.
“……I should go now.”
I didn’t bother watching what unfolded between the two of them after that.
Making sure Chae Nayun didn’t forget her true talent—my role ended there.
* * *
Wednesday.
A new exam began. Since this exam required facing monsters, ordinary people were not allowed to observe. Also, it was an absolute evaluation, not a relative one. That was because the types and quality of monsters each mage could summon differed.
“You need to be especially careful during today’s exam. If you act stubborn for no reason, you really might die.”
Kim Suhyeok warned us as such. Just as Kim Suhyeok said, phantasmal beasts were dangerous. No matter how much they were beings summoned by mages, phantasmal beasts could not carry out complex orders.
At most, the best they could handle were commands like protecting allies and annihilating enemies.