? You mustn’t show internal information carelessly.”
“It’s nothing special.”
Lee Jina rose to her feet. As per her settings, she was quite tall, and I found myself taking a small step back without realizing it. She seemed slightly taller than me.
“Here. It’s a copy you’re allowed to see anyway, so take it easy.”
Lee Jina held out the documents she had been reading. For now, I accepted them. Most of the document was written in Korean, but there were a great many equations.
“Have a look. Well, I doubt a little kid could understand it.”
The words “little kid” stabbed me surprisingly hard. I was average height, in my own way. Well, she probably hadn’t meant it physically in the first place.
“...Yes.”
I sat down in a nearby chair. Pretending to take a pen out of my crossbody bag, I naturally pulled out my laptop and set it up.
Observation and Reading. That talent manifested.
It seemed to be about measuring the variables that could occur during a dungeon raid. But weren’t these things usually left to office workers?
In any case, the calculations unfolded before my eyes, the process continued on its own, and the probabilities appeared. Now all I had to do was write them down.
I asked Lee Jina.
“Do you happen to have a sheet of paper?”
“...Pfft. What would you do with one if I did?”
Lee Jina mocked me like that and didn’t give me any paper.
“Looks like Hajin-ssi’s stubborn streak has been triggered. But it’ll be difficult. That isn’t an exam question.”
Instead, Park Sangho brought over a sheet of paper from somewhere.
Now I really am getting stubborn. Seeing how rude that Lee Jina woman is.
I lightly bit down on my teeth and began writing the solution process and interpretation on the paper he’d handed me. As I was scribbling, Yoo Yeonha said,
“Um, they say one more person just arrived on the first floor.”
“Ah, really? Let’s go together.”
Yoo Yeonha and Park Sangho left the analysis room, but I stayed behind alone and continued writing. After all, the result would only be convincing if the solution was properly included.
However, when I had written almost everything and only the final step and conclusion remained, someone picked up my paper and turned it over. I didn’t even need to look. It was Lee Jina.
“Kid. Stop doing useless things and get lost. Can’t you see? Everyone left.”
“...”
She already had a fussy impression to begin with, but when she twisted her expression, she became downright frightening. I slowly got to my feet.
“Yes. I’ll leave my solution here, so please take a look later and check whether it’s right or wrong.”
“Check, my ass. Some tiny little thing comes in here and—tsk.”
Lee Jina waved her hand dismissively. It was a gesture telling me to hurry up and disappear from her sight.
And so, I was practically pushed outside.
“...She’s seriously a crazy bitch.”
I hadn’t written the final part of the solution, but just let her try asking me about it later.
After that, I took the elevator down to the first floor.
On the first floor was the third cadet who had supposedly just arrived. But her face was extremely familiar. Sure enough, it was Chae Nayun again. Chae Nayun seemed to spot me too, pointing at me and shouting.
“Huh, what the hell! Hey, why is he here?”
“Who knows~”
Yoo Yeonha smiled innocently. I had something to say too.
“You said it wasn’t Chae Nayun.”
“I don’t know~ I just...?”
But at that very moment.
An alarm rang on Yoo Yeonha’s smartwatch. Whoever the message was from, Yoo Yeonha’s face stiffened completely.
“Um, one moment. Please go ahead first. I need to use the restroom.”
Then she quietly slipped away by herself.
* * *
“Yoo Jinhyuk’s Office.”
Inside the old office with its flickering neon sign, Yoo Jinhyuk was staring blankly down at a document. That thin document was a report summarizing an incident that had occurred sixteen years ago.
“Ha.”
He suddenly let out a hollow laugh.
For nearly a month, he had been exploring the past. However, Kim Hajin’s past could not be dug into deeply. There were many complex reasons, but above all, it was because far too many people were tangled up in his past.
Still, the more difficult the work was, the more his interest rose in proportion, so he had immersed himself in it for a month without complaint. And the decisive clue he finally found was as follows.
[Gwang-o Report]
[96 Dead]
[Special Note—Includes a full-term pregnant woman and the baby in her womb]
“The Gwang-o Shelter Massacre.”
It was an incident in which, when monsters overflowed in the vicinity of Gwang-o Fortress, 87 civilians who had fled to Shelter No. 3 and 9 heroes defending it were massacred.
The government and the Association had concluded that it was the work of devils, but Yoo Jinhyuk knew part of the inside story. In the first place, the reason Yoo Jinhyuk had been driven out of the Yoo family was because he had dug into it.
To state the conclusion first, the tragedy that occurred sixteen years ago was not the work of devils.
“...”
Yoo Jinhyuk knew the people who had orchestrated that incident.
They were all such big shots that even daring to speak their names felt burdensome.
First, the president of the Republic of Korea at the time. Kim Seokho.
Second, the chairman of the Daehyeon family, Chae Juchul.
Third, Yoo Yeonha’s grandfather and Yoo Jinhyuk’s own father, Yoo Taeho.
Of course, from their perspective, they had merely caught a few harmful insects. Concerned about possible repercussions, they had not stepped forward themselves, instead using a group that operated strictly in the shadows as their hidden hand. Those three above probably did not even remember the incident anymore.
But what if there had been a survivor of that incident? What if Kim Hajin’s parents had been victims of the “Gwang-o Shelter Massacre” sixteen years ago, and the “full-term pregnant woman” written in the special notes had been his mother...?
“Phew.”
Of course, it was still only a hypothesis he could not be certain of.
But why on earth did his niece want to dig into this man’s past?
After letting out a deep sigh, Yoo Jinhyuk called Yoo Yeonha.
Yoo Yeonha picked up quickly.
“Hello.”
—Yes. Uncle.
“...Your voice has gotten even prettier, huh?”
—Enough. What happened with what I asked you to do?
Yoo Jinhyuk feigned innocence.
“Ah, that. I haven’t started yet. I’ve been busy.”
—What? What did you say? Uncle, are you messing with me?
Yoo Yeonha’s angry voice pierced his ear.
Maintaining as much of an uncle’s casual air as he could, Yoo Jinhyuk asked indirectly,
“Hahaha. Hey, but why are you trying to find his parents in the first place? What are you to him?”
—...You don’t need to know that.
“More importantly, does he even want to find his parents?”
This was a very important question. If he did not want to find them, if he simply wished to live as he was, then everything would be buried on its own.
—I think so.
“...How do you know that?”
—Hmm. You’re asking a lot of questions, aren’t you?
“I need a lot of information. I need at least a hint as to why he became an orphan if I’m going to finish the job quickly.”
Perhaps it was a reasonably convincing excuse, because Yoo Yeonha fell silent for a moment. Soon, Yoo Yeonha spoke in a much smaller voice than before, almost in a whisper.
—It’s just, I think his parents got caught up in some crime. He had memorized the wanted list.
In that instant, Yoo Jinhyuk drew in a deep breath.
“He memorized the wanted list?”
—Yes. It seems he figured things out on his own up to a certain point.
“...Right. They said he was smart, didn’t they?”
—First in theory. From what I heard, he didn’t get a single question wrong on either the midterm or the final.
If he was that sharp, it was not impossible that he had dug as far as the Gwang-o incident.
Fortunately, however, he had taken the wrong path at the very end.
The perpetrators of that tragedy were not mere wanted criminals.
They were the “true nobles” who still held tremendous influence over this country even now.
“Hmm...”
Yoo Jinhyuk sighed again.
This matter had to end here.
The moment he dug too deeply and caught that old man’s eye, he would no longer be able to guarantee his life.
A repulsive old man who felt as though he was raising a boundless number of old serpents inside his body.
Someone who had regrettably failed to reach the realm of the Nine Stars fifty years ago, yet was still undoubtedly one of the strongest people in the Republic of Korea. The second generation of Daehyeon and its actual owner, the “Immortal” Chae Juchul.
He was not an old man Yoo Jinhyuk could handle.
“...Ah. Something suddenly came up. Hey. Let’s talk later.”
No matter how much the Yoo family had developed, they had been the Chae family’s hunting dogs from birth.
Chae Juchul was the sort of man who could abandon even the hunting dogs he raised without hesitation. He would not care how many of that hunting dog’s pups died.
—No, Uncle. When are you going to start—
Yoo Jinhyuk hung up without listening to the rest.
* * *
“By the way, Nayun-ssi, what were you doing that made you late?”
While waiting for Yoo Yeonha, who was taking care of business in the restroom, Park Sangho asked Chae Nayun.
“Oh, that. I went to see my grandfather.”
“Oh, really? If it’s your grandfather, Nayun-ssi, then that person?”
“Yes. It had been a while since I last saw him, so it took a little longer. I’m sorry.”
“No, no. Of course you had to go see him. Is he still in good health?”
All of a sudden, Park Sangho made a fuss. Still, it was an understandable reaction.
Chae Nayun’s grandfather, Chae Juchul, was practically the strongest in the world. Among heroes of this era, there was no one who did not look up to him.
“Ah, I’m sorry. I’m late, aren’t I?”
Just then, Yoo Yeonha returned after finishing her business. Chae Nayun jokingly shot at her.
“What, did you take that long to shit?”
“It wasn’t that. More importantly, Seongho-ssi. What’s the next schedule?”
For some reason, Yoo Yeonha’s voice as she asked that was sharp.
End
The next experience was “dispatch.”
Here, dispatch referred to “the act of heroes intercepting monsters that had invaded civilian areas.”
However, since invasion incidents requiring dispatch rarely occurred in Seoul, we moved to the provinces through a portal. Our destination was the Gangwon-do branch of the Strait of Jeongsu, where dispatch situations supposedly occurred several times a day.
“Park Sangho. We’ve arrived in Chuncheon City. If there’s an incident near our GPS, please relay it to us as the top priority. Ah, since cadets are accompanying me, anything above intermediate grade 4 will be difficult.”
After putting in the communication, Park Sangho turned to look at us. He smiled brightly and said,
“Until the dispatch order comes, let’s go eat. I know a good restaurant.”
After that, Park Sangho led us to a restaurant. It was a traditional Korean restaurant that looked luxurious at a glance, the kind where Heungseon Daewongun might be sitting inside for some reason.
“Four people.”
Guided by an employee, we entered the Korean restaurant.
While we took off our shoes, sat down, and waited for the food to come out, Park Sangho glanced at me and asked,
“By the way, Hajin-ssi, how tall are you?”
“Me? 174.”
At that moment, Chae Nayun suddenly cut in.
“That’s not much different from me.”
“What? I’m way taller than you. You’re 166.”
Chae Nayun’s height in the settings was exactly 166.3. The useless reason I had attached a decimal point was because my own height was 174.3. Most of the major characters had 0.3 tacked on at the end.
“...What?”
I had said it without much thought, but suddenly Chae Nayun’s face turned strange. She narrowed her eyes slightly and asked,
“How do you know my height?”
At those words, I also froze for a moment. Unless you were a stalker, you wouldn’t memorize someone else’s height. Chae Nayun had suddenly poked at my pride, so I had blurted it out without thinking.
“C-Cadet profiles are all public.”
“Well, that’s true, but...”
Slide—
Just then, the door opened, and the conversation was cut off.
The employee began setting down a table full of food. Braised short ribs, gizzard shad, steamed eggs, sliced raw octopus... At the meal that seemed fit for a king, my mouth fell open. In contrast, the others were calm, as though they were used to it.
“Now, let’s eat.”
At Park Sangho’s words, I picked up my chopsticks.
Each and every dish was so delicious that I was busy eating, but the other three ate leisurely while chatting among themselves.
“Sangho-nim, do you have a lover?”
“I don’t. Nayun-ssi, what’s your ideal type?”
“For me... I like tall men. I’d like him to be over 185.”
Chae Nayun’s words struck my ears especially hard. Of course, that could be the case. Just like men liked pretty women.
But the problem was,
“Hm? My ideal type is a tall man.”
That she kept looking at me while saying it.
“I’d like him to be about 15 centimeters taller than me. Mmm. Yeah. 15 centimeters. 20 centimeters is a bit too much.”
What am I supposed to do about that?
When I furrowed my brow, Chae Nayun quietly averted her gaze.
In any case, it was at that moment, as we were eating in a more or less unawkward atmosphere.
A voice came from Bak Sangho’s smart watch.
—Upper-intermediate-rank Hero Bak Sangho, dispatch order. The coordinates are...
“Let’s go.”
Bak Sangho rose before he had even finished eating. Yu Yeonha, Chae Nayun, and I hurriedly followed after him.
Without even having time to pay, we rushed outside, and Bak Sangho kicked off the ground and shot forward. Yu Yeonha and Chae Nayun chased after him in much the same way.
But not me.
I ran as hard as I could in my own way, but before I knew it, the three of them were already far, far ahead.
“Wow, fuck, they’re using qinggong...”
They were practically flying. The gap in our physical abilities felt immense all over again.
As I ran with all my might, I thought.
As expected, there was no way I could catch up in just half a year to the physical strength they had built up over nearly ten years.
“Huff. Huff.”
Even so, I kept running without stopping. Fortunately, with Clairvoyance I could see far into the distance, so I didn’t have to worry about getting lost along the way.
After about three minutes like that, the situation was already underway. Numerous limestone golems had risen in the middle of the street. Limestone golems were at least lower-intermediate rank, grade 5 or above; they were not monsters one could simply look down on.
They were trying to smash buildings with their huge hands. But a whip that lashed out from somewhere coiled around their wrists.
It was Yu Yeonha.
The golems’ gazes focused on her. Enraged, they tried to tear apart Yu Yeonha’s whip, but it didn’t go well, and in the meantime Bak Sangho charged in. Bak Sangho’s weapon was a spear. He thrust it toward the golems’ cores.
“Hah, haah. Huaaah...”
...And I was still running toward the place where that fierce battle was unfolding.
By the time I had sprinted at full speed for a full ten minutes and reached a point where I could see them with my naked eyes, a new golem was approaching Chae Nayun.
Its whole body was only about 2.2 meters tall, exceptionally small in size, with a physique that could plausibly belong to a human.
Chae Nayun lowered her bow and drew her sword to face it. She was probably thinking it would be manageable with swordsmanship as well. After all, it was small for a golem.
But limestone golems had their own particular traits, unlike other golems.
Condensation and compression.
The smaller these things were, the denser and stronger they became.
Thud—!
Chae Nayun’s sword collided with the limestone golem’s fist. Limestone dust was shaved off by the blade and scattered.
Chae Nayun responded by the book. After deflecting the attack, she went for the “ankle,” a common weak point of golems.
However, the limestone golem countered with great agility. It attacked Chae Nayun with a kick, something rare for a golem.
“Ugh!”
She had wrapped herself in protective aura, but it was still a golem’s attack. Chae Nayun clutched her stomach and retreated far backward.
But the golem gave her no time to catch her breath. It pursued her in a single bound and raised its fist right before Chae Nayun’s eyes. Chae Nayun froze. It was because of her lack of real combat experience and her unease with close-quarters combat.
And just as Chae Nayun was about to be swept up by that brutal punch—
Something clung to her waist.
Only a little later did I realize what it was. It was Aether. Aether seized Chae Nayun by the waist and pulled her toward me. It seemed Aether had read the will that had only been circling inside my head— I have to help her.
“......”
Before I knew it, Chae Nayun was practically in my arms. I quietly looked down at her.
To be honest, my brain stopped working.
It wasn’t that Aether had done something unnecessary. If she had taken that hit properly, she would have been seriously injured. It did well; the method was just a little awkward.
—Gulp.
Chae Nayun swallowed.
I felt like I had to say something, so I did.
“...If you’re going to keep freezing at the decisive moment like that, don’t approach in the first place.”
To be honest, I wasn’t one to talk. I had chosen a gun because I was afraid of close combat.
“Just fight from a distance. Your sword can become far longer than a spear.”
Chae Nayun’s Gift, “Sea of Magic Power.”
It was a talent that gave her an innate magic power capacity dozens of times greater than that of an ordinary Hero.
Of course, even if one’s magic power capacity was large, it took a long time to fill it all, and even once it was filled