Mr. ... For now······ let’s go outside.”
“Ah, yes.”
We walked down the empty passage.
Rachel glanced at me, gauging my mood, and asked,
“Are you all right?”
“Of course. I was just a little startled, that’s all.”
“······.”
We came out into the main tunnel.
But in that wide space, the cadets were gathered together, talking with grave expressions.
Kim Suho spotted me and beckoned for me to come over.
“Hajin. Come here for a second.”
“What’s with them now? Just a moment.”
Leaving Rachel behind, I went over to them.
“Yeah, what is it?”
“Ah. Hajin. The thing is······.”
Kim Suho told me.
There had been a positive response from Chae Jinyoon, and Chae Nayun had rushed off to see him.
The moment I heard those words,
my mind went completely blank.
By the time I came to my senses, I was simply running somewhere.
* * *
I ran to Daehyun Hospital. If I’d had my bike, I would have ridden it, but unfortunately, I hadn’t brought it with me. I simply went through the portal from Busan to Seoul, then ran on my own two legs from the Seoul checkpoint to Daehyun Hospital.
It was the fastest I could run.
“Haa, haa.”
Running like the wind, I arrived in front of the hospital’s main entrance.
My heart screamed in pain, and my lungs felt like they were about to burst.
As I was catching my ragged breath, someone’s voice drifted into my ear.
“You must have heard the news?”
Startled, I looked in that direction.
The owner of that familiar voice was, as expected, Yoo Yeonha.
It seemed Yoo Yeonha had hurried here in her own way as well, but there was not the slightest sign of disarray in her appearance.
“Yeah. You too?”
“Yes. We have a duty to attend all major affairs of the Chae family. But why did you run here in such a hurry?”
“······.”
I didn’t answer and simply glared at the hospital.
According to what I had inferred through the Book of Truth, the seed’s germination period was January. It was still only October now, so one could say there was still a fair amount of time left.
However, there was one thing I had overlooked.
The possibility that Chae Jinyoon might wake up before the seed germinated.
If that happened, things would become quite troublesome. A person lying in a hospital bed, and a person walking around with consciousness. Between the two, which one would be······
At that moment, some piece of cloth touched my forehead.
Startled, I looked ahead and found that Yoo Yeonha had, before I knew it, come right up to my nose.
“Does it bother you that much? Why are you sweating so much?”
She moved the handkerchief herself and gently wiped the sweat from my forehead.
Yoo Yeonha’s face came into clear view. Even in this situation, I glanced down at her feet. I’d thought our eye levels matched strangely well for some reason, and it turned out she was wearing killer heels.
“······There. Here. You keep it.”
Yoo Yeonha held out her handkerchief to me.
It was soaked with sweat, to the point that I wondered if I had really sweated that much.
“Uh, yeah. Thanks.”
I took the handkerchief and looked back up toward the hospital. A deep sigh came out on its own.
“He didn’t wake up. They said there was just a meaningful change. Honestly, it wasn’t something to make such a fuss over.”
Yoo Yeonha answered the question I had been curious about on my behalf. I see. Then that was a relief.
I simply turned around.
“Where are you going?”
Yoo Yeonha’s puzzled voice came from behind me.
I just answered while walking forward.
“Nowhere. I just don’t think this is a place I should be.”
I walked slowly.
I had only run a little hard, yet my body and mind felt strangely hazy.
Was this what the depletion of mental strength felt like?
Just as I let out another deep sigh······ a text arrived.
[Apprentice, I got a notification that the item was received.]
[So I’m asking, when do you plan to take your next mission?]
It was a text from the Boss.
The reality hit me anew.
This person was······ the only lifeline I could grasp.
Gritting my teeth, I sent a short and spirited reply.
[I can start immediately tomorrow.]
* * *
Watching Kim Hajin’s back grow smaller in the distance, Yoo Yeonha mulled over what he had said.
‘I just don’t think this is a place I should be.’
This is not a place I should be.
It was quite a meaningful remark.
What state of mind had he said it in? Even after thinking it over carefully, she couldn’t figure out any particular meaning, so she simply wrote it down on her smartwatch.
[I just don’t think this is a place I should be]
Just then, a text arrived on her watch.
[Yeonha. I’m on my way to that hospital now. Is Nayun okay?]
The sender was Kim Suho.
Yoo Yeonha had been writing a reply without much thought when one idea suddenly flashed through her mind.
“······Is it because of him?”
Kim Suho and Chae Nayun.
Those who knew, knew that Chae Nayun had good feelings toward Kim Suho.
That was because anyone who knew Chae Nayun could tell that the way she behaved around Kim Suho was quite different from usual.
“Hmm······.”
Certainly, if Kim Hajin had any sense, he would have roughly realized that Chae Nayun liked Kim Suho.
“Yielding? Or did he really just stop liking her?”
After thinking for a moment, Yoo Yeonha sent a brief reply—[I haven’t seen her yet—]—and walked through the hospital’s front garden.
No, she was about to walk.
But before that, Chae Nayun trudged out of the hospital entrance.
Chae Nayun looked as if both her body and mind were exhausted, enough to have aged five years, but there was a faint, barely visible smile etched on her lips.
Yoo Yeonha raised her hand.
“Nayun.”
“Uh, Yeonha~”
Seeing Yoo Yeonha, Chae Nayun smiled brightly and trotted over. Right now, she needed someone to sit face-to-face with and talk to.
Chae Nayun and Yoo Yeonha took seats on a nearby bench.
Yoo Yeonha asked carefully,
“What did they say about his condition?”
“His consciousness······ I don’t know. For now, um. They said some graph went peew-shook peew-shook differently than usual.”
Yoo Yeonha understood on her own what Chae Nayun’s incomprehensible words meant.
“In any case, it’s a good sign, right?”
“Yeah. There were a few cases like this before, you know? Those patients all woke up within three months.”
As Chae Nayun said that, she suddenly clutched her chest.
“My heart is beating so hard I feel like I’m going to die. Ah, shit. This is embarrassing, I think I’m going to cry······.”
Five years spent living while thinking there was no hope at all. As if all the anguish and sorrow from that time were welling up at once, Chae Nayun clenched her teeth and covered her face with her hands. Chae Nayun cried silently.
“······.”
Without a word, Yoo Yeonha patted Chae Nayun’s back.
However, for Yoo Yeonha, it was not a story she could empathize with that desperately. Yoo Yeonha’s family had a father with a bit of an obsession, and a mother whose ambition overflowed a little too much, but in its own way, it was a happy family.
Chae Jinyoon, however, had been in a coma for a full five years. There had been no signs of improvement, and time had passed helplessly. Then, all of a sudden, the possibility that he might survive had appeared.
It meant a family member they had only thought of as dead might return alive.
Yoo Yeonha did not think she could dare imagine how Chae Nayun must feel right now.
When Chae Nayun’s crying had more or less subsided, Yoo Yeonha said,
“That’s right. Nayun, Kim Suho said he’ll be here soon too. And that person came by and left.”
“That person?”
“Kim Hajin.”
“······Kim Hajin came here too?”
“Yeah.”
Yoo Yeonha recalled Kim Hajin, who had arrived just a moment ago. His face had been twisted as if he were about to cry at any moment, and his whole body had been drenched in sweat.
“Even before me. He came in an incredible hurry. His whole body was soaked with sweat.”
“······.”
At that, Chae Nayun subtly looked around with a strange expression. As if trying to find someone hiding nearby.
“But he’s already gone.”
“······Huh? Why?”
“Who knows.”
Yoo Yeonha smiled mischievously.
“Maybe he just gave up his place to Kim Suho?”
“······What are you talking about?”
“You like Kim Suho, don’t you?”
In that instant, Chae Nayun’s face stiffened.
“No, or was it that you used to like him?”
“······N-No, I don’t? What kind of nonsense are you talking about?”
Yoo Yeonha rested her chin on her hand and looked at the garden.
Just then, she sensed someone in the distance running over in a hurry.
Yoo Yeonha and Chae Nayun turned their gazes in that direction at the same time.
There were Kim Suho, Yun Seung-Ah, and even Shin Jonghak.
End
As soon as Rachel returned to her lodging, she contacted the royal family.
Rachel told the butler in the hologram everything that had happened today.
That Lancaster had appeared and killed an agent, but strangely enough, had turned away without doing her any harm.
—Could you explain the situation at the time?
The secretary asked with a serious expression.
“Yes? Ah······ well. I was receiving a gift from a friend.”
—Um, Princess. When you speak with me, you may use English.
“Ah, right. I’m sorry. So, as for what the situation was at the time······.”
Rachel reported what had happened that day in her mother tongue.
The secretary stroked his chin and pondered for a moment, then continued in a low voice.
—Hmm······ Perhaps he did it because he wanted to give you a pain similar to what he himself experienced.
“Yes?”
Rachel tilted her head.
—Lancaster lost someone precious to him in the London Incident. Therefore, he wanted to give Your Highness a similar pain. He must have misunderstood the relationship between that friend and Your Highness.
“Ah······.”
It was not entirely unreasonable. Lancaster had certainly called it “a very interesting sight.”
However,
“That’s not it······.”
Rachel looked at the bracelet on her wrist.
If Lancaster had thought that, then he had missed the mark completely.
Because right now, she had no room within herself to share precious feelings with anyone.
—Putting that aside, Princess. Seeing you like this, I can truly feel how much you have changed.
“Yes? What do you mean?”
—In the past, you had quite the appetite and liked to run around like a tomboy. When did you become so composed?
“T-That was before I grew up.”
In truth, Rachel had been a tomboy until she was six. A well-behaved tomboy, at that.
She did not simply play all the time; she finished everything she had to do before playing, so the butler, the queen, and the king had all merely watched her fondly.
Of course, the tomboy of her childhood had disappeared after “that incident.”
—More importantly, it is late now. Please sleep, Princess. As for your future protection, whether we will assign an agent or a skilled mercenary, we will decide shortly and inform you.
“Yes. ······Ah, right. But. Did that agent have a family?”
At Rachel’s cautious question, the butler smiled bitterly and shook his head.
—No. He did not.
“······I see. Please give him the best treatment. I will attend the funeral as well.”
—Understood.
A person had died to protect her.
That burden upon her heart was always heavy and difficult to bear, but Rachel ended the call without showing weakness.
“Haa.”
However, she could not stop a sigh from slipping out through her complicated feelings.
To soothe this frustration, Rachel took out her earphones.
She placed the Bluetooth earphones in her ears and manipulated her smartwatch, looking through the list of mp3 files.
[If—Kim Hajin]
[I Hope It’s Like That Now—Kim Hajin (Karaoke)]
[You in My Arms—Kim Hajin (Karaoke)]
[To J—Sung by Me (Karaoke)]
···
There were quite a few extraordinary things in the mp3 list.
In the past, when Rachel had gone to karaoke with Kim Hajin, she had recorded both his songs and her own. And only after playing them back at home did she realize that she was bad at singing.
“Today······.”
I Hope It’s Like That Now.
Rachel played the song and lay down on her bed.
* * *
[I can start immediately tomorrow.]
Perhaps stimulated by my spirited reply, the Boss assigned me a mission the very next day.
=Apprentice Mercenary Mission=
[Difficulty D]
[Reward: 400,000,000 won or equivalent goods]
[Mission Objective: Raid the human-trafficking truck of the Djinn group “Jehon”]
[Jehon operates human-trafficking and smuggling trucks at one-week intervals. At 10 p.m., two trucks with escorts will cross the “Wigak” bridge. Attack them and retrieve the artifact.]
==
The place where I had to carry out the mission was China.
Specifically, a route leading from China to Mongolia.
It was a route the Djinn favored for human trafficking.
In my setting, there was a lawless zone in the Russian region bordering Mongolia. It was a hellscape governed solely by the logic of strength, and a den of Djinn where all manner of crimes—human trafficking, murder, smuggling, plunder—were plotted and carried out.
Yet even that “lawless zone” had its own rules and society among the Djinn.
It was called “Fumodian (伏魔殿),” or “Pandemonium,” and though the UN did not recognize it, in terms of scale alone it was undeniably a small-to-mid-sized city.
So the next day, as soon as class ended, I took a portal from Seoul to Beijing, China.
From Beijing, I traveled by bike.
To the north of Beijing, China, in an intermediate danger-prone area where monsters frequently appeared.
All the way to a shabby bridge built over a river, connecting one stretch of land to another.
I arrived after an hour-long drive.
“……Creepy.”
In intermediate danger-prone areas, intermediate-grade monsters appeared with fairly high frequency.
So even though the terrain was such that it wouldn’t have been strange for people to live here in the old days, there wasn’t a single person in sight.
“Let’s see.”
I mangled several of the short trees standing nearby and used them to block the entrance to the only bridge.
Just then, a text arrived on my smartwatch.
[There will be many opponents. But not all Djinn are the same. Among them are those who were merely drawn to evil and became the devils’ pawns, and those who have become evil in substance and lead groups. Your opponents are the former.]
“……Hmm.”
Among my settings was this:
Djinn were beings whose negative emotions had swelled through contracts. Because of that, the lower their rank and the weaker they were, the more they committed heinous crimes by any means necessary.
Their instinct to become stronger, their desire to be acknowledged, and the anger and inferiority they felt toward themselves for being unable to do so were expressed as pure evil.
“At least…… that’s a relief.”
They were enemies I could deal with easily, and ones I would feel less guilty about killing.
I looked around to see if there was any cover.
It was an open field no different from a desert, so there was nowhere suitable to hide. There was a forest nearby, but all the trees were short.
So there was no helping it.
I had no choice but to face them head-on.
I got on my bike and rode about 600 meters to the other side of the bridge, then stood facing it.
Thanks to the lack of cover, my field of vision was wide open.
I checked the time.
9:35 PM.
The estimated arrival time was…… 10:00 PM.
I wove Aether into the shape of a chair and sat comfortably on it. Taking out a cloth, I wiped the barrel of my handgun clean.
Had I killed about thirty minutes like that?
At last, in the distance, I saw two trucks charging forward like biker gangs, along with four escort vehicles.
“They’re here.”
I slowly stood and switched the Desert Eagle to sniper mode.
The handgun combined with Aether and became a vicious sniper rifle.
I shouldered the sniper rifle and aimed at him with my naked eye.
The top-priority targets were the truck drivers.
The driver of the truck at the very front was cackling with a flushed face, whether because he had been drinking or because he was on something.
There was no reason to hesitate.
I simply pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The wind pressure that whipped up at the moment of firing sent my clothes fluttering. The bullet flew with that much terrifying propulsion and pierced the truck driver.
There was no scream, nothing.
Only the windshield shattering with a crash, and the driver scattering into black dust the instant he was hit.
It was proof that he was a Djinn.
Click—
I pulled the lever and ejected the shell casing. The casing clinked as it fell.
The next target was the driver of the second truck.
The man still hadn’t grasped the situation, making him an easy target. I aimed the muzzle at him and pulled the trigger. At that very instant, a white bullet shot forward and punched through him.
Screeech—
The two trucks that had lost their drivers swerved aimlessly before slamming into nearby trees and stopping.
Only then did they seem to realize they had been ambushed, and the four vehicles escorting the trucks slammed on their brakes. From the doors that opened in perfect order, Djinn poured out endlessly.
Their total number was exactly eighteen.