Ho cut in with a smile. However, Gim Hajin's eyes narrowed meaningfully. Under that piercing gaze, Gim Suho shrank back slightly.
"You. You went out last week, didn't you? To the Geomak Mountain area. I saw you on the way."
"······."
Gim Suho looked at Gim Hajin without a word.
The resonance of the sword.
Gim Suho had felt it at Geomak Mountain.
At first, the purpose had simply been a hike to feel the mountain's energy.
But the sword energy buried there had called out to him. Drawn by that bizarre yet earnest trembling, Gim Suho was led onward, and the source of the sword energy was an 'undiscovered dungeon.'
"······How did you know."
Gim Suho asked back. His voice was tinged with wariness.
"I saw it by chance. I go out often, you know. And it's not bragging, but these eyes."
Saying so, he tapped his eyelids lightly.
"If I climb Geumgang Mountain, I can see Seoul······ well, if not that, at least Uijeongbu."
Gim Suho simply looked at him. Silence makes ordinary people uneasy. However, Gim Hajin very leisurely spat out what he wanted to say.
"If you're really thinking of raiding the dungeon, let me join in for once. Outside the Cube, I'm pretty useful too."
"······."
"The split is 9:1. If you take a branch, I'll just take a few leaves from it."
* * *
In the blink of an eye, another week passed, and Monday came again. Only two days remained until the team roster submission deadline.
"Hmm······."
Staring intently at the notebook spread open on her desk, Chae Nayun was deep in thought.
Only one spot remained now. She had to pick a cadet outside the top 100 ranks.
In team play, the lower a cadet's rank, the more advantages given to the team. Thus, she had no choice but to consider cost-effectiveness, and the cadet with the best value for money was, of course······ Gim Hajin.
She glanced toward where Gim Hajin was sitting.
Lately, talk about Gim Hajin came up often in the class group chat. Thanks to that, Gim Hajin was popular—limited to team play—and had no shortage of rivals, but Chae Nayun was fairly confident. Confident that if she stepped up, he would choose her.
Yet there was only one reason she had been hesitating without proposing until now.
What if Gim Hajin misunderstood.
I just want to do team play together normally.
"Hmm······."
"What. No one left to choose?"
As her deliberation continued, Sin Jonghak, who sat in the back row, asked.
Sin Jonghak had already formed a team. Gim Horak and three others. Because 2nd and 17th place had teamed up, the remaining cadets were quite lacking, but if it was Sin Jonghak, he would somehow raise their skills.
"No, just. I'm just thinking—"
"Let me see."
Sin Jonghak suddenly stretched out his long arm and snatched Chae Nayun's notebook.
"Ah, you crazy. Hey!"
"Hazuki. Raymond. And······ Gim Hajin? Gim Hajin~?"
His voice calling out the last name was quite loud. In an instant, the gazes in the room focused on them. Gim Hajin was no different. Gim Hajin was looking this way. Chae Nayun's face turned as red as a tomato.
"Y-you, you······"
"Since when were you into Gim Hajin—"
"Shut up!"
Chae Nayun instantly struck Sin Jonghak's solar plexus. Sin Jonghak collapsed with a groan.
Even for Sin Jonghak, it was a vital-point ambush he couldn't have expected at all.
Sin Jonghak lay bent over the desk, forced to endure the pain.
"······Ugh······ ugh······."
Sin Jonghak's groans flowed intermittently.
"The hell, looking at someone else's stuff as you please. Hey. Gim Suho."
Chae Nayun quickly changed the subject. The target was Gim Suho, who sat beside her.
"Who are you teaming up with?"
"······."
Gim Suho didn't say anything. He seemed to be thinking about something, tapping his notebook with his pen.
"Hey. Gim Suho."
"······Huh, huh?"
Only after being called several times did he blankly turn his head.
Chae Nayun glanced at his paper.
"What. You too, Gim Hajin?"
Written on his paper was Gim Hajin.
"Huh? Ah, well. Yeah."
"······It's all Gim Hajin."
"A fitting······ combination······."
Just then, Sin Jonghak barely managed to control the pain and revived.
"Two······ worthless commoners······."
"Noisy. Yu Yeonha, what about you?"
Yu Yeonha, who had been absorbed in her smartwatch, looked up.
"Me? I've already got everything decided."
Yu Yeonha had formed a team with people she could easily handle. Though she too had coveted Gim Hajin, a cadet she could handle without difficulty in team play was more comfortable.
"Hmm······."
Just then, the professor for the theory class entered.
Professor No placed the textbook on the lectern and started by taking attendance.
"Ah. By the way, there are team projects in the theory class too."
Those were Professor No's very next words.
Upon hearing those words, Chae Nayun made her decision.
She had to do it together with Gim Hajin.
*
"That's all for today. Make sure to review."
Class ended. Chae Nayun, who had been nodding off, snapped awake. She hurriedly got up and chased after Gim Hajin, who had just left the classroom.
"······Hey."
She grabbed Gim Hajin's shoulder.
Gim Hajin looked at her, asking with his eyes. What is it.
Chae Nayun felt slightly nervous.
"So, you know. Your team······."
The moment she tried to speak, someone approached his side.
Golden hair and a pleasant scent.
It was Rachel. Rachel tilted her head with an innocent face and asked back.
"Team?"
"Huh? Ah, it's not about you······"
"Hajin-ssi has decided to be on the same team as us."
"······Huh?"
Chae Nayun's face stiffened. Chae Nayun swallowed and looked at Gim Hajin. Gim Hajin nodded regretfully(?).
"O-oh. What. Really? No, I just. I thought you wouldn't have anyone to team with. I was going to bail you out. As a fellow travel club member. Uh. Yeah. Then······ good luck?"
Without even knowing what she was saying, Chae Nayun patted Gim Hajin's shoulder and turned around.
At first, she didn't think much of it. She was just blank. But as she kept walking, she suddenly got annoyed and looked back.
She happened to make eye contact with Rachel, who was following behind.
Rachel lightly nodded as if greeting. Chae Nayun gritted her teeth.
Same gender. Yet polar opposite personalities. And on top of that, similar—excluding theory— grades.
The woman Chae Nayun considered her next rival after Gim Suho, no, these days her soul rival surpassing Gim Suho—Rachel.
'······Why her of all people?'
Chae Nayun walked off thunderously like an angry buffalo.
tzoa
End
Rachel, who had been walking down the hallway, stopped. Perhaps because her face was serious, I stopped too. Rachel stared at me fixedly before tossing out a word.
"The team roster has already been submitted."
The members of 'Team Rachel,' with Rachel as the self-appointed team leader, were as follows.
Rachel, Jin Hoseung, I Bokgyu, Gim Hajin, Tomer. Rachel's rank was the highest, while Jin Hoseung and I Bokgyu were 108th and 173rd respectively. The roster could be modified until Wednesday, but for now, it had been submitted.
"······So, you mustn't go elsewhere."
Rachel said so. Perhaps because of Chae Nayun who had just appeared, her eyes and voice held a slight hint of worry.
"Ah, of course. Naturally."
"Oh. There they are!"
Just then, the other team members rushed in. Jin Hoseung and I Bokgyu, and even Tomer.
"We're on the same team now, so let's go grab a bite."
Jin Hoseung saying so had an extremely excited face. Was it because he was on the same team as Rachel?
I glanced at Rachel. Rachel nodded.
"Sure. Where to?"
"Um······ excuse me, Rachel-ssi, what would you like to eat?"
"I'm fine with anything."
True to her words, Rachel wasn't particularly picky about food, but there was something she especially liked.
"Let's go to a Korean restaurant. Han Gyujeong."
"Oh, okay."
I Bokgyu and Jin Hoseung seemed to have no particular thoughts, while Rachel let out a satisfied dry cough. Only Tomer showed no reaction.
"What about you."
"······I don't care either."
A short reply.
"Okay."
The destination for lunch was set as the Korean restaurant.
"Ah, right."
While walking and looking at the GPS, Jin Hoseung suddenly approached me to talk.
"Hajin. That ticket I gave you, it's in two days. Want to go to France together?"
"······France?"
In that instant, Rachel's eyes flashed sharply. France and England had a relationship similar to that of Korea and Japan. Moreover, with the setting that about 20 years ago, England and France had even waged an artifact war against each other, the sentiments between the two nations' peoples were at an almost worst level.
"No. Not really."
Honestly, I was curious about Napoleon's rifle, but I didn't want to go all the way to France just to see it.
"Why? You never know. Napoleon's rifle, you might end up getting it later."
"······Napoleon?"
Rachel kept muttering under her breath.
"How would I get that? I'm just a lowly 334th in the Cube."
"No, but still. Better to use it than just enshrine it in a museum······ But Hajin, your voice seems a bit changed?"
"Ahem. Really?"
That was thanks to the flute bought at Clancy Aillet's antique shop.
===
[Horn Flute] [Antique]
A flute carried by a bard of Joseon in the past.
After blowing this horn flute, for approximately 3 hours, the throat clears up and the voice becomes clear and elegant.
===
I had used it for the first time five minutes before going to meet Gim Suho. Because a deep voice would affect credibility.
However, these days I've been using it often because I'm satisfied with the flute's function itself. Not only does my voice improve, but if I blow it once in the morning, it feels like my throat clears right up.
"Oh. Did you hit puberty?"
"······."
Without needing to answer that common-sense-lacking question, we happened to arrive at the Korean restaurant.
Rachel wet her lips and went inside first.
* * *
An abandoned factory in Suwon.
After nearly nine months, all members of the Wisaekdan had gathered at their hideout. It was to observe the use of the White Crystal that Drun had finally discovered.
"······Kid. Are we really breaking it?"
Cheok Jungyeong held an artifact sword and asked again. Drun frowned and urged him on.
"Yeah, just do it."
"Tch. Just blame me later."
Cheok Jungyeong grumbled and wrapped mana around his fist. His mana enveloped his fist like a gauntlet.
Bang.
Cheok Jungyeong's fist and the artifact sword clashed. The sword shattered like glass.
"Done?"
"Yeah."
Drun picked up a fragment of the sword and placed it on the stone table.
"Starting it up."
Whirrrr— The White Crystal resonated and generated mana. The generated mana condensed inside the cube, then radiated toward the sword fragment. The white mana of the crystal clung to the fragment like crystals, forming the shape of a sword.
"Ooh."
Cheok Jungyeong clapped in admiration, and the remaining members all made surprised faces.
"See. This is how it becomes a partial artifact without much process. Test results show that at least this weapon boasts performance equal to or greater than a low-grade artifact. One artifact can produce about 30 swords, and going by the White Crystal's mana capacity, we can make about 600 more."
"If we sell each for at least 700~800 million······ that's a jackpot."
Even with simple calculations, the value came close to 500 billion. After deducting black market fees and money laundering costs, dividing by the number of members alone gave at least 20 billion per person. It had indeed been worth the risk.
"Yeah. But it'll take at least 5 years to sell all of them."
"Ah. Right. That aside."
Then Jane stepped forward.
"The Lord of Bokma seems to have started raiding the Suwon Magul."
A strange light settled in the eyes of all Wisaekdan members.
The Lord of Bokma.
The Wisaekdan's next target of plunder that they had their eyes on.
Their activities had finally begun.
*
"Look. If you do it like this······."
9 PM.
It was time for children to sleep, but Evandel was absorbed in playing with clay.
Lately, she seemed to be using too much mana making fluids, so I had prepared a toy she could play with enjoyably without consuming her energy.
"Tada~"
"Wow. What's this?"
Evandel had made a glasses-wearing penguin she often saw on TV. I deliberately widened my eyes in admiration. Evandel shrugged her shoulders with a smug expression.
"How did you make it this well? Are you a genius?"
"Hehe. Want me to tell you?"
"No. Even if you told me, I couldn't do it like you. You were born with it."
Just as Evandel's smile was blooming from the repeated praise, an alarm suddenly rang on my smartwatch.
The sender was Kim Suho.
[Can you come out to the forest where we met last time for a bit?]
Oh-ho. So he finally decided to work with me.
Grinning broadly, I rose from my seat.
"Evandel. I'm going to step outside for a bit."
"Huh? Where are you going?"
"Uh... We should have a snack before bed."
"A snack? I want cake!"
"Okay."
"Cake, cake!"
"I'll buy some, I'll buy some."
After making that excuse, I went outside.
Cake, cake.
Repeating it to myself so I wouldn't forget, I headed to the forest where Kim Suho was waiting.
Cube's nights were chilly even in summer. That was because Cube itself floated on the East Sea.
I should've brought a jacket or something.
Rubbing my shoulders whenever the wind made goosebumps rise, I arrived at the meeting spot.
In the middle of the dark forest, Kim Suho stood with a rather serious expression. His usual softness was nowhere to be found; the air around him was stiff and heavy.
"Hey, Kim Suho. What did you call me for?"
At my words, Kim Suho turned his head.
He stared at me for a long while with an extremely grave look in his eyes, then let out a deep sigh. What was he trying to say, dragging it out like this?
"...You remember what you said the other day?"
"Huh? Yeah. What about it?"
"Just like you said... I recently discovered a dungeon."
I smiled without saying a word. It was an act meant to show that I had already more or less expected it.
"Maybe because it was created recently, it's quite small in scale. So I was thinking of challenging it once by myself."
"...Even so, it's still a dungeon. The risk is too high to clear it alone."
I leisurely crossed my arms and cut in, pretending to be composed.
Kim Suho calmly nodded.
"Yeah. I do think so too, but..."
Kim Suho suddenly took off his jacket and tossed it aside.
"If I'm going to entrust my back to you, I think I need to verify you a little first."
He muttered in a low voice while glaring at me.
"...Huh?"
All of a sudden, I was flustered. This... was flowing a little differently from how I'd imagined.
"I'm the one who knows the dungeon's exact location. So whether you'll be useful or whether you'll be dead weight—I should be allowed to determine at least that much, shouldn't I?"
"...You’re ri— Ahem."
My crossed arms started trembling.
To be honest, even if Kim Suho were blind and one-armed, I couldn't beat him as I was now. That was how great the difference in realm and compatibility between Kim Suho and me was.
"You’re right. But you're thinking about this a little wrong."
"...How?"
I tried pulling a trick to avoid fighting as much as possible.
Oh, right. Should I just take out the Desert Eagle and show him its power? Without making such a fuss, I could fire one shot into a tree trunk, and he'd know how destructive it was.
"In an open terrain like this, a one-on-one between a marksman and a warrior isn't fair. And I'm pretty dependent on my weapon, you see. Depending on its performance, a gun's destructive power can differ like heaven and earth..."
"You don't necessarily have to beat me."
But Kim Suho cut me off.
"And the weapon doesn't matter. I'm not trying to test the performance of your weapon."
"...Is that so?"
"Yeah. Once I'm satisfied, I'll stop on my own."
Then I had nothing left to say.
Kim Suho drew his sword. It wasn't the steel sword used by cadets, but a wooden sword meant for sparring. However, the material of the sword didn't matter to Kim Suho.
The moment magic power coated that wooden sword, bullets like mine wouldn't work. Anti-magic or whatever, no matter what I did, the result wouldn't change. Kim Suho's magic power was a higher-dimensional force that could even cut through "anti-magic."
...Suddenly, a thought flashed through my mind.
"Oh, right. I didn't bring my gun."