Yeonha sent Team 3 the personal profiles of five people. But four of them were merely there to fill out the numbers. The key was only one person.
===
[Kim Hajin─ 17 years old]
□Registered at Seoju Orphanage.
□In the year he turned nine, an abnormality was discovered during a routine examination, and he entered the Agent Military Academy.
□Currently the 334th-ranked Cube cadet.
□Provided the Essence of the Strait with information estimated to be worth tens of billions or more.
===
Kim Hajin.
─We will begin, Master.
The leader of Team 3 answered and withdrew.
Yoo Yeonha nodded in satisfaction, then lay down on her bed.
* * *
Beep beep─ Beep beep─
6:30 a.m.
I opened my eyes to the alarm.
“Ngh.”
I was about to stretch when I noticed something light clinging to my side.
It was Evandel.
Phoo, phoo. She was sleeping soundly, letting out tiny breaths. I chuckled and gently blocked her nostrils.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds…… Evandel went, Buuuu, and brushed my hand away.
“Hehe.”
A smile spread across my face for no real reason. Only after stroking Evandel’s soft hair for about five minutes did I finally get up.
“……You’re awake too?”
On the sofa in the living room was the cat Evandel had made. The cat jumped down from the sofa and came over to my feet. When I petted it, it purred.
This cat that Evandel had created was by no means an illusion or a temporary spirit body, but a real thing formed by Evandel’s own ability.
For now, it had no ability other than being cute, but later, it would become quite a great source of strength.
I pulled on my clothes. I had to go get breakfast now. Of course, it would be much more convenient to eat at the cafeteria and head straight to class.
Even so, these days, I preferred eating together with Evandel.
I roughly slipped on my slippers and went outside.
I was walking toward the cafeteria, yawning lazily, when someone approached my side, giving off a pleasant fragrance.
“Where are you going so early in the morning?”
It was Yoo Yeonha. As if she had come out for a morning jog, she was dressed in comfortable yet expensive-looking training clothes.
I answered briefly.
“To the cafeteria.”
“Hmm.” Yoo Yeonha let out a small nasal sound, then began walking beside me.
“By the way. Your rank rose quite a lot.”
“Yeah. I’ll probably stay around here from now on.”
“Mmm……”
Yoo Yeonha nodded, seemingly thinking about something.
When the cafeteria came into view in the distance, Yoo Yeonha asked again.
“Have you thought about your future by any chance?”
My future……
It was a rather vague word for me, so I gave her a half-hearted answer.
“It’s still too early to think about something like that.”
“Too early? It’s only one year and three months away. In third year, you’ll be busy with hero dispatches and whatnot.”
Just as she said, third-year students were practically official heroes. They were only at Cube once or twice a week, and they spent most of the rest of their time terribly busy, going out as apprentice heroes for various domestic guilds and such.
Yoo Yeonha said,
“How about the Essence of the Strait?”
Her voice was subtle, as if tempting me.
The guild that Yoo Yeonha would later become the leader of, the Essence of the Strait.
To be honest, it was guaranteed success.
Right now, it was perpetually second place behind Creator’s Sacred Grace, but in the near future, from the moment Creator’s Sacred Grace failed to conquer the Tower of Miracle, it would reign as the unshakable number one. That rank would be maintained at least until the serialization hiatus, no matter how much Kim Suho soared and struggled after joining Creator’s Sacred Grace.
“……I’m more drawn to Gwangwon’s Hunters.”
It was a half-sincere statement.
Gwangwon’s Hunters. A group of hunters formed by “Gwangwon,” a big shot who was in no way inferior even when compared to the Nine Stars.
Their system was basically similar to that of a mercenary group, but the scale was on another level. Gwangwon’s main clients were massive guilds and large corporations. For an individual to commission them, they had to be at least a great tycoon.
In other words, since “Gwangwon’s Hunters” were fundamentally mercenaries, they were a free group that respected each individual’s uniqueness. There was no better status for me than that.
“Well. I don’t know if I can get in.”
“……”
No answer came for a long time. When I glanced to the side, Yoo Yeonha was pondering with a very serious face.
“……I’ll change that perception for you.”
Then came a resolute voice. Yoo Yeonha stared fixedly at me and continued.
“If I bring you what you wanted so badly, what you searched so hard for. Wouldn’t your thoughts change?”
“……”
What was that supposed to be? My brows narrowed for a moment.
But Yoo Yeonha suddenly chuckled and changed the topic.
“Oh, right. And remember that person who harassed you back then, Lee Jina? I told you she was disciplined, right? She got scolded reaaally badly. It was even recorded on video. Do you want to see? She cries like a baby.”
Yoo Yeonha’s gait when she was in a good mood was peculiar. Like some impudent little princess, she clasped her hands behind her back and walked as if she were lightly floating.
Then, all of a sudden, she swiftly stepped back.
Sure enough. There were other cadets up ahead.
“Well then, I’ll be going.”
Leaving only those words behind, Yoo Yeonha disappeared somewhere.
* * *
“Now, attention!”
Wednesday homeroom.
Kim Suhyuk’s voice was booming even from early morning.
“Starting today, you will form teams of five.”
So it had finally come.
I closed my eyes and gently bit my lip.
Team play. In other words, group projects. From now on, as a member of a team, I would have to do quite a few annoying things together with others. For example, conquering miniature towers, contests, bonding trips, and the like.
The only fortunate thing was that it would only last for six weeks until midterms.
“Decide on team members that meet the conditions, and submit the names of the team leader and team members by next Wednesday. If you fail to form a team by then, I will assign teams at my discretion.”
“Hoo.”
This kind of team play was too harsh on an outcast like me.
No, wait. Who knew? Like Lee Jiyun said back then, I might be an absolute tyrant among the three-digit ranks.
─Tap. Tap. Tap.
“……?”
At that moment, I heard something being lightly tapped.
I turned slightly to look behind me. A little distance behind me, Rachel was tapping her desk with a rather uneasy expression.
Oh, right.
Rachel was in a similar situation to me. I was isolated, while she was aloof—a very big difference—but in any case, the fact that we had no friends was the same.
In that case, perhaps it wouldn’t be bad for the two of us to team up.
Besides, right now, I had something urgent to give her.
“Butterfly Seedling powder.”
Even if I had to force her to eat it, I had to deliver this to her somehow. Originally, Rachel should have obtained a clue about her own awakening during the final exam. Because there had been no opportunity, it kept being delayed, but if it was delayed any further, there was a risk that Rachel’s basic specs themselves would fall short compared to the original.
“Hoo.”
I was slightly nervous, but after shaking it off with a deep breath, I first sent her a message.
[Miss Rachel. Would you like to team up with me?]
However, before she checked my message, someone approached her first.
“Would you like to be on a team together?”
A mage wearing a robe. It was Tomer.
End
Tomer’s boldness drew the eyes of the entire class.
Rachel looked at Tomer with puzzlement, but Tomer even held out her hand to Rachel.
As I watched the two of them, I couldn’t help but be suspicious.
Why Rachel, of all people?
The Den of Evil occupied a position in Djinn society similar to that of a mercenary group. They carried out missions in exchange for money. Therefore, the reason Tomer had moved was likely because someone had ordered her to. And judging from her approach to Rachel, there was a high possibility that “Lancaster” was behind it.
“I’ll think about it. There’s still plenty of time.”
For now, Rachel sent Tomer away. Then she checked her smartwatch. As if she had seen the message I sent, her eyes rounded.
She glanced toward me and our eyes met exactly.
Swoosh.
Rachel’s head turned unnaturally toward the window. It was a gesture meant to say that she had been trying to look out the window, not at me.
Still, perhaps because she had received offers from two people, Rachel looked pleased. The corners of her mouth kept twitching.
I faced forward and waited for her reply.
Then, about ten minutes later, I received a message.
[I’ll think about it.]
Even so, given the affection we’d built up over time, she’d choose me, right?
Now I put thoughts about team play aside and focused on something more important.
I stared fixedly at the back of Kim Suho’s head.
Since summer vacation had passed, the time had come.
The current Kim Suho was probably preparing to “conquer a dungeon.” Solo, as protagonists in novels often did.
In truth, conquering a dungeon alone was impossible unless one was quite a formidable powerhouse, or unless the dungeon’s rank was considerably low.
However, Kim Suho was an exception. It was a matter of “compatibility.”
The dungeon Kim Suho intended to conquer was small in scale and had weak small fry, but its boss was strong. That boss was the Swordsman of Ruin, whom even upper-intermediate rank heroes found troublesome.
That was right.
The “swordsman” of ruin.
A swordsman and the Sword Saint.
When two swords clashed, who would win? It was an easy question, one even Evandel could answer without difficulty.
The swordsman’s sword would be shattered by the Sword Saint’s magic power, and in the place where the swordsman fell, only a single tree branch would remain.
That tree branch was Kim Suho’s weapon.
Its divine name was Misteltein.
The so-called God-Slaying Tree Branch.
Because it was such a legendary weapon, there were many theories—some said it had been a tree branch, others said no, it had been a sword, and others said no, it had been a spear—so I simply set it as a tree branch before awakening, and as it awakened more and more, it would transform into a sword.
However, Kim Suho didn’t know it was his weapon. Its appearance was far too ordinary.
What turned that ordinariness into an exceptional armament was the Butterfly Seedling powder. The Butterfly Seedling powder would awaken Kim Suho’s tree branch for the first time. After its first awakening, it would evolve(?) from an ordinary tree branch into a black tree branch.
Whether it was a King Ogre or a Sea King, beating them all to death with a tree branch had been the comedic point during serialization. It felt strangely nostalgic now.
In any case, I absolutely had to join the dungeon conquest. Because right now, the Butterfly Seedling powder was with me.
Even aside from that reason, I was honestly worried.
Could Kim Suho clear the dungeon alone? This world wasn’t as convenient or easy as I had set it to be.
……And perhaps.
Maybe some crumbs would fall my way too.
“Now, go to class.”
While I was thinking those thoughts, homeroom ended.
I tried to head to the class location as usual.
“Uh, Hajin, where are you going?”
But a girl I didn’t know stuck close to my side.
“……What?”
Where else would I be going? To class.
“No, it’s nothing much, but are you maybe on a team—”
Before the girl could ask, someone else cut in. This time, it was a boy.
“Hajin!”
Jin Hoseung. A male cadet who had been on the same team as me at the beginning of the first semester.
“It’s nothing else, but I got tickets to a French museum this time, you see? They say Napoleon’s rifle will be on display at the museum tomorrow……”
In my confusion, I accepted the ticket.
But it wasn’t only Jin Hoseung. All sorts of kids whose names I only knew, or whose faces I only knew, or whose faces and names I didn’t know at all, came up to me and offered me bribes.
I simply accepted them without refusal.
* * *
After all classes ended, in my dorm.
I sat still on the sofa and thought. Evandel was using my thigh as a pillow while sleeping, so large movements were impossible.
“……How should I deal with this?”
It was a concern regarding Tomer.
I knew for certain how to persuade her.
To begin with, she had not yet completely assimilated into the Djinn side. In other words, she was in a neutral state.
Because of that, if I could just find her father, I would be able to pull her over to this side. But there was no way to find that father. For some reason, the Book of Truth simply wouldn’t work.
It seemed I had no choice but to mobilize another informant, but Yoo Sihyuk was too expensive, and more importantly, he was for domestic use. In order to maximize his ability, he had limited his scope to the Korean Peninsula. If Tomer’s father wasn’t in Korea, what a waste of money and time that would be.
“……Ah, right.”
It suddenly flashed through my mind.
There was one.
Even among my own connections, there was an informant. A reliable one, at that.
Kim Chundong’s only connection. That information-type agent who resembled a baby pig. His name was, his name was…… Ah, Kim Hosup.
Of course, after entering Cube, we had more or less lost contact, so I didn’t know his phone number. But I could easily find it out.
I quickly opened the Book of Truth.
What I wanted was Kim Hoseop’s phone number.
“Urgh.”
Just a phone number consumed about thirty percent of my magic power. Was the Book of Truth’s cost-effectiveness just that bad, or was the magic power of two strokes simply that pitiful?
In any case, I called him with my smartwatch.
Tralala— Tralala— The Three Little Pigs—
The ringback tone was a little strange, but Kim Hoseop picked up soon enough.
—Hello.
Kim Hoseop’s voice was unexpectedly a low baritone.
“...Uh. Hoseop. It’s me, Hajin. Been doing well?”
—Ah~ Hajin-chan~ Good to hear from you!
But his way of speaking changed immediately.
—What’s up?
“Ah, well... Hoseop.”
—Yeah~
The way he dragged out the ends of his sentences was a bit grating, but Hoseop was still a valuable connection.
Right now, because of his looks and behavior, he probably wasn’t being treated well. No, beyond not being treated well, he was likely living as if he were being outright suppressed. But about seven years from now, he would catch Yoo Yeonha’s eye and be put to important use.
—I’m just... getting by. But why did you call?
His voice was particularly lacking in energy. Tsk. His superior must be harassing him a lot.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to comfort him right now.
“It’s nothing big. Hoseop, could you find someone for me?”
—Someone?
“Yeah. I’ll send a good supercomputer to your workshop.”
Hoseop’s talent was tied to computers. Because of that, the better the computer’s performance, the more his talent was maximized.
—A supercomputer~? Hajin-chan, you don’t have much money.
“I’ve come into quite a lot of money. So I should be able to send it within this week. What do you think, can you do it?”
—...If I know just a bit about their identity, then yes. I can.
“Yeah. Then I’ll send it right now.”
I sent him the alias of Pernin Jesus that I had learned through the Book of Truth, along with the photo of him that Tomer had submitted.
“I sent it. And Chundong. No, Hoseop.”
For a moment, I got the name mixed up.
—Mm?
“If you ever quit your job later.”
Kim Hoseop was a good person. That didn’t mean he was an especially passionate man of justice, but at the very least, he wasn’t cut out for doing bad things.
In other words, the sooner he developed, the more helpful of a connection he would be.
“A new information guild called Nakhwa (落花) has been established. I’ll recommend you there. It’s a guild that only looks at ability, so they’ll treat you well.”
I told Hoseop about the workplace where he would become active in the far future.
* * *
10 p.m. The time when all regular classes had ended.
Kim Suho was alone in the dark forest on Cube’s grounds, training his sword dance.
Swish—
The air rippled around the sword thrust out in a straight line. After a light stab, a horizontal slash flowed smoothly after it, and as he turned around, a vertical slash was unleashed. The connection between all those forms took only an instant, so to the eye, it felt as though a curtain of sword strikes was enveloping the swordsman.
A martial art light and without excess, yet honed sharper than any blade.
Like this, Kim Suho reflected on his swordsmanship every night. To not lose his mindset as a knight, and to advance his swordsmanship into something more elegant and smooth.
However, lately, another reason had arisen for him to devote himself even more diligently. That was...
“Training?”
Just then, someone’s voice rang out. It was a low, mellow tone, one that seemed to possess depth.
Kim Suho was slightly startled and looked in that direction.
“...Kim Hajin?”
Leaning against a tree, Kim Hajin seemed to have been watching his swordsmanship all this time. Kim Suho put away his sword. Kim Hajin gave a faint laugh and walked over to him.
Kim Suho asked first.
“Did you come to train too?”
Kim Hajin shook his head.
“No. Just taking a walk. More importantly, it’s still the beginning of the semester, but you’re working really hard. If someone saw you, they’d think you were trying to conquer a dungeon all by yourself.”
“...”
For an instant, Kim Suho’s body flinched.
Kim Hajin, still smiling, spoke jokingly.
“Guess it’s true?”
“...What dungeon conquest?”
Kim Su