—just like the setting that he “dislikes long conversations.”
I quietly watched his retreating back. Even in his gait, one could indeed feel the formality and dignity of royalty.
*
I picked up the item from the cleaner’s and returned to my lodging.
When I peeled away the plastic wrapping the fabric, a coat with a stylish design was revealed.
“Oh.”
A weight that was neither too heavy nor too light, but just right. Its length was not especially long either, so even someone of average height like me could wear it without feeling burdened.
However, this was not a fashion item.
There was a certificate of quality, but I checked its functions with my laptop.
===
[Royal Black Coat—Jacket] [Partial Artifact]
A coat made by a master craftsman belonging to the British royal family. Part of an artifact has been added to it.
「Highest-grade Temperature Regulation」
「Lower-mid-grade Durability Defense」
「Equipped with ‘Formalwear’ Function」
「Shape Transformation Function ‘Coat-Jacket’」
===
In the case of armor, intact artifacts are rare. Compared to weapon artifacts, there are far fewer armor artifacts, and they are inconvenient for modern people to wear in various ways, so they are cut here and there and reborn as different armor.
And “partial artifact” referred to armor born in that way.
“...This really is a good item.”
On top of that, Britain was a country famous for clothing-type armor. Since this item had even been made directly by the royal family, it was probably worth nearly a hundred million won.
I tried it on once. Sure enough, it fit my body perfectly.
I liked it so much that I first sent a message of thanks through my smartwatch.
[Thank you for the excellent item.]
The reply came quickly.
[Not at all ㅋㅋ Use it well ㅎㅎ]
“...She uses consonants just fine.”
Her expression was dry and she barely spoke,
[(~.~)]
but in chat, she even used emoticons.
* * *
Before I knew it, it was mid-May. Since I had entered Cube in early February, it had almost been four months. In that time, my days at Cube had become fairly familiar. Theory classes, meals, practical training—everything now felt like part of my daily life.
“In four weeks, it will be your final exam.”
Friday homeroom.
Kim Suhyeok spoke solemnly. As he said, exam season had returned before we knew it. And this final exam would probably be the last hurdle of the first half of the year.
“The written exam will, of course, be no different. But the practical will be distinctly different.”
The final exam and the midterm were clearly different. Unlike the midterm, which had a strong festive aspect to it, the final exam was severe, serious, and cold.
“You can think of it as having everything you have learned so far verified through ‘one single exam.’”
The “one single exam” Kim Suhyeok mentioned was still undisclosed, but I knew in great detail what that exam was.
All the cadets would be dropped on a remote island. On that island lurked many things, including beasts, wild monsters, and monsters.
The cadets had to survive there for a week and accumulate points.
They would receive points for every wild monster or monster they caught, and they would also receive points if they dueled a fellow cadet and subdued them.
It did not matter if they formed teams, and points could be transferred to others.
The cadets would learn the information about that exam on the day of the exam. In other words, they would be dropped onto a remote island without having prepared anything. All they would be given was two days’ worth of food.
However, I intended to prepare very thoroughly. Since the majority of them probably would not even have simple camping gear, I would be able to gain an enormous advantage in that respect.
“You do not need to worry about safety. Upper-intermediate to high-rank Heroes will take turns watching over and protecting you.”
After scaring the cadets to his heart’s content, Kim Suhyeok ended homeroom.
“Now. Go on back. Have a good weekend.”
The cadets rose from their seats. I also gathered my things and got ready to go home.
“Hey. Did you practice a lot? You didn’t forget, right? It’s next week now, you know?”
Just as I was about to leave through the back door, Chae Nayun suddenly appeared and asked.
Chae Nayun looked at me with a confident smile. At the same time, the gazes around us focused on us. The cadets in the same class also seemed to be watching the war of nerves between me and Chae Nayun with inexplicable interest.
I answered calmly.
“No. I didn’t do any at all.”
“...What?”
“I’ll win even without practicing.”
I gave her an obnoxious smile and left the classroom.
“Hey! Wow, seriously, that guy!”
There were now seven days left until the archery match.
* * *
As if to make the war of nerves meaningless, I ended up meeting Chae Nayun right away.
That was because the hunting club had resumed activities.
To commemorate its return, the hunting club had rented out an entire mountain lodge, and instead of Thursday, it had specifically chosen Friday to schedule a two-day, one-night trip.
“Why do I have to be paired with you again, of all people?”
“How would I know?”
Right now, we were climbing a mountain. White snow was piled everywhere with every step, and a cold wind was raging.
This place, where the whole world was so white that the boundary between earth and sky was indistinct, was Norway in Northern Europe.
The hunting club had come all the way to Norway for a single night.
If this were Earth, it would have been insanity, but in this world where portals had become widespread, and especially for Cube cadets, it was a simple matter.
In truth, this was also why I had come.
Overseas travel. I had wanted to visit Norway since a long time ago, too. I was experiencing all the overseas travel I never got to do on Earth here.
“You schemed with the club president again, didn’t you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb. You did that on purpose so you could be paired with me.”
“...Are you crazy?”
Today’s pairs of two had been selected by a program. Even so, the reason I had ended up paired with Chae Nayun was probably the effect of luck. At least in this club, Chae Nayun was the prettiest.
“...Anyway. You really do all sorts of things behind the scenes, so take it easy.”
“You’re the one who should be careful. They say there are a lot of hunters here, so there are a lot of traps too.”
I ignored Chae Nayun’s nonsense and pointed beneath her feet. Chae Nayun flinched in surprise and stopped. There was a large bear trap there.
“Oh, that scared me.”
Right now, we were in the middle of a small event held by the hunting club. To commemorate its return, the hunting club had apparently planted flags here and there throughout the mountain. Since those flags were said to be gifts prepared by seniors who were now active as Heroes, they were probably something good.
Whooooosh—
At that moment, a sudden strong wind swept in along with flurries of snow.
“Ahh. Ugh. Ohhh, my face feels like it’s going to burst.”
The wind disappeared quickly, but Chae Nayun’s face had turned bright red as though frozen.
“Are you cold?”
“A-a little. Ah, if I’d known it’d be like this, I would’ve brought an outer coat too.”
“I’m not cold.”
For reference, I was wearing the coat Rachel had gifted me. So I was not cold at all.
“...Looks like you bought a new coat?”
“Yeah. It’s an incredibly good one.”
“...”
For some reason, Chae Nayun glared at me with dissatisfied eyes.
After that, we walked along the snowy path in silence for a while. The crunch, crunch of stepping on snow was gentle. As expected, the scenery and atmosphere of Norway’s snowy mountains were quite picturesque.
“Ah, over there. Hey, there it is. A flag.”
At that moment, Chae Nayun pointed at a nearby mountain peak. At the edge of a sheer snowy cliff that looked as if it had been cut straight down, a flag was fluttering precariously.
“That must be the first-place prize.”
Looking at the treacherous terrain, it was obvious. But would there be a madman who would try to climb all the way up there?
“Hey, hey, let’s go up.”
There was one right next to me.
“...There’s no need to go.”
I took out a wire from my waist. It was not Aether wire, just ordinary wire. I had brought it as a side arm.
“You’re going to throw it and fish it up? Will that work?”
Without answering Chae Nayun’s doubt, I tied the wire to a knife. Then I “attached” a portion of Stigma’s magic power to it. It was a technique I had devised recently while researching whether there was a way to utilize Stigma.
“Hup!”
I threw the knife with all my strength. The knife flew straight ahead and soon passed beyond the flag.
“Pfft. What a show-off—?”
However, the instant it passed the flag, the knife curved at an incomprehensible angle, looped once around the flag, and tied it up with the wire. Then it returned to me along with the flag.
Stigma’s magic power manifested according to my will. Thus, I had attached some of Stigma’s magic power to the knife so that it would move according to my thoughts. In other words, I had wirelessly controlled(?) the knife with magic power.
I separated the wire and knife, put them into my belt, and held up the flag.
“...You’re... you’re pretty good.”
As if trying not to show that she was surprised, Chae Nayun calmly snatched the flag from me. Then the flag shrank into some small piece of paper. I took it back from Chae Nayun.
“Ah.”
It was a two-line letter written in pretty handwriting.
[First place. The prize is the contact information of me, “Yun Seung-a.” You know who I am, right? If there’s anything you need help with, contact me once. I’ll do my best to help within my power~]
“...Why is Yun Seung-a popping up here?”
“Yun Seung-a? Use honorifics, will you? Wow, but this is amazing.”
I was extremely disappointed, but for some reason, Chae Nayun looked satisfied.
“Then you can have it.”
“What? You’re giving this to me? Seung-a unni is the vice-leader of the number one guild, you know?”
“I don’t need it.”
I was going to give it to her without thinking much about it. I already knew Yun Seung-a’s contact information anyway.
Chae Nayun, who had at first been about to accept it with a grin, suddenly became serious.
“No. You keep it. Why would you give me something you won? I don’t need it.”
“...Uh, okay. Got it, then.”
I was bewildered by that strange change in attitude, but for the time being, I took it back.
End
7 p.m. in Norway, 2 a.m. in Korea. The time difference was large, but the skies of the two countries were equally pitch-black.
The scenery of the snowy mountain, which had been endlessly white, became endlessly dark beneath the descending darkness. That darkness announced the end of the event.
Chae Nayun and I had obtained the first- and fourth-place flags. First place was a piece of paper with Yun Seung-a’s contact information written on it, a coupon named the so-called “help voucher,” and fourth place was a virtual reality device worth three million won. They were generous gifts, befitting Hero seniors. I kept both.
We retraced the path we had come and returned to the lodge. At the lodge, barbecue and a bonfire were crackling away. The club members who had already arrived came over to welcome us.
“Ah, you got first place?! I’m jealous!”
The club president shouted after seeing the flag in my hand. The other club members also sent envious gazes my way. I smiled bitterly.
“Let’s just eat some meat now.”
And so the barbecue party began. The club members placed meat on the grill. The sound of it cooking to a golden brown was extremely appetizing, but the kids were really bad at grilling meat. It suddenly made me realize anew how young they were, so I stepped in.
“I’ll grill the meat. Please rest comfortably.”
I had a rather peculiar pride. I was confident that when it came to grilling meat, I was better than most people. My aunt had run a barbecue restaurant, after all.
“...What’s this. You’re different from the rumors.”
A man who seemed to be a senior looked at me as though surprised, then turned away.
I focused silently on grilling the meat. The most important thing when grilling meat was when to flip it. If possible, it was best to cut it at the very end. Even while pouring my heart into the meat, I kept my ears open. The seniors’ advice, which would become the flesh and blood of their juniors, had begun.
“Ah, right. You guys have finals soon, don’t you. Be careful. Finals are seriously brutal. Don’t trust anyone. Especially during finals.”
“Is it that hard?”
“It’s hard, and I’ve seen plenty of relationships fall apart. Since it’s the exam most directly tied to your grades, everyone gets really sensitive. And you know there’s a separate repeaters’ class, right?”
“Ah, yes.”
“There are about two hundred of them per year, you see? You really have to be careful of those guys. They have nothing to lose. If they get held back one more time, it’s all over for them.”
The repeaters’ class. The problem with this final exam would indeed erupt from there. Nearly 20% of those two hundred had either contracted with demons or belonged to the high-risk group. Since the co-author had interfered, that ratio might have risen even higher.
“Hey. You. Haejin?”
“It’s Hajin. Kim Hajin.”
“Ah, Kim Hajin. You grill meat really well. But you should eat some now too.”
“I’m full from eating while grilling.”
“Really?”
After that, the barbecue party continued for about another twenty minutes before ending. Thanks to that one thing of grilling meat well, the way they looked at me had become quite a bit more favorable.
“Originally, we were going to do a night hunt today... but since we’re full, let’s just rest inside.”
And the club president made a decision that benefited everyone.
“Team 1 to Building A, Team 2 to Building B.”
The eighteen club members decided to split up and use the two lodges. Chae Nayun and I were in Building A.
The lodge was quite large. The first floor had a spacious living room and three bedrooms, while the second floor had six rooms. It was built so that each person could have a room to themselves.
After lightly unpacking the luggage we had brought, we gathered in the living room. There, a game meant to promote camaraderie—“Mafia”—began.
The cadets’ Mafia game was run through a smartwatch app, making it feel fairly cutting-edge.
However, every time Chae Nayun became Mafia, she died in the first vote. When she became an important role like doctor or detective, she was killed by the Mafia. Even when she was an ordinary citizen, she usually died an unfair death. It wasn’t anyone’s fault.
For someone like her, who couldn’t hide her true feelings, Mafia was a game of atrocious difficulty.
“...Ah. It’s been a while since I laughed.”
And now, with all the games over and it time to sleep, I came out of the lodge and sat on a bench. The sight of Chae Nayun looking so wronged was still vivid in my mind, and laughter kept slipping out. If we had pushed her just a little more, I felt like we might have even seen tears.
But I needed to stop letting that grin leak out now.
I cleared my throat and turned on my laptop.
It was because a request had come in to the Book of Truth.
[There is a swindler named “Jeron Müller.” He was working as an asset manager, then suddenly ran off with the money. I’ve included several photos of his face, his height, background, and so on. Could you tell me where he is? Please, Truth Office.]
It was the second request after Berbeth. Seeing as the person they were looking for had a German-style name, it seemed likely that my previous client had recommended me.
In any case, since both his face and personal information were recorded, the Book of Truth should be able to find out easily enough. I released the magic power of Stigma and opened the Book of Truth.
Finding out his current location consumed nearly eighty percent of my magic power. A sudden wave of dizziness made my body sway.
[The fee is 5,000,000 points.]
I almost said fifty million points, but held back. Yet the moment I sent my reply, a message popped up saying the deposit had been completed. I relayed exactly what the Book of Truth displayed.
There was no response afterward.
After putting away the Book of Truth and my laptop, I looked ahead.
A foreign land, nature entirely untouched, lay buried in darkness. Before that beautiful scenery, something suddenly came to mind.
Cigarettes.
“I quit smoking, didn’t I.”
I hadn’t even realized it. When I was writing, I think I smoked about half a pack a day for five years because of stress. But after falling into this world, the thought of cigarettes had vanished completely.
“You used to smoke too?”
“Waugh!”
At the voice that came from somewhere, I sprang up as if having a seizure.
“What the hell, where are you!”
“Up here, dumbass.”
I looked up. Chae Nayun had poked her head out of a second-floor window. How long had she been doing that?
“You even smoked. You really were a full-on delinquent, huh. Don’t tell me you’ve got tattoos too?”
At her scornful jab, I flinched. My eyes flicked toward my biceps. Fortunately, Stigma was covered by my outer clothes.
“What, you really do? Let me see.”
“I don’t.”
“Hmmm.”
Chae Nayun looked down at me and raised an eyebrow. But soon, she shifted her gaze back into the air. Fortunately, it seemed she hadn’t seen me open the Book of Truth.
“...But are you confident?”
Still looking out beyond the horizon, Chae Nayun asked.
“Confident about what?”
“About beating me.”
I answered her bold question with an arrogant sneer.
“Then are you confident you can put down your bow if you lose?”
“...Since the premise itself is impossible, I haven’t even thought about what comes after, okay?”
“And if you lose after saying that, are you going to cry?”
“Do you want to cry right now?”
“You almost cried today. During Mafia.”
“...Get lost.”
We exchanged a blow each. I felt like I had won the trade, but then I suddenly wondered what I was doing with this kid. It felt like I was getting younger too.
So I simply sat back down on the bench and decided to admire the scenery.
On the ground of the mountain village there was nothing but snow and conifers, but when I looked up at the sky, an entirely different landscape unfolded. A vast world of stars. I had never seen that many stars in my life. Chae