As long as it did, Rachel would reach a new realm. Her talent was specialized for “spirits,” after all.
“Hmm……”
And from what I could see, Rachel was already a woman with a strong sense of pride. I knew that well, since I was the one who had set her up that way. For a woman like that to ask someone like me for help meant her situation had to feel that stifling.
It was understandable.
What should originally have awakened during the first semester’s final exam had been delayed by nearly half a year.
[Let’s meet Sunday evening.]
In the end, I sent that reply. All I had to do was make sure the spirit powder inside the bracelet seeped into her body anyway.
After that, I rose solemnly and leaned against the railing. I glanced down without thinking. A Presidential Room sixty floors up. The people walking along the streets looked as small as ants.
Then, at one moment—
I discovered a man.
Black hair, a sharply raised nose, and features both dazzling and beautiful.
A handsome man who looked almost like Legolas.
In that instant, an inexplicable sense of foreboding stabbed at my temple.
I gazed down at him intently.
Before long, as if he had sensed my gaze, he looked up this way as well.
The difference in height was such that ordinary eyesight should never have allowed us to meet each other’s eyes, yet his gaze was aimed precisely at me.
He smiled as he looked at me. It seemed like a smile meant to confirm something.
Feeling a tremor in my heart, I deliberately returned a relaxed smile. At that, his smile deepened even further.
For some reason, I felt like I knew who he was.
I simply felt it through the intuition of the original author.
Like Kim Suho, he was “born of another world,” but he was a man who embodied tendencies that were the exact opposite of his.
A seeker of evil (求道者) who, amid the sense of loss and despair from losing his homeland, an ego worn down after being betrayed by countless desires, and the empty, twisted faith born from them, sought to find a mistaken paradise.
The “growth-type final boss” I had officially acknowledged, whose name I was afraid even to mention.
Of course, he was only officially acknowledged, not definitively confirmed.
I had no idea how the co-author might have changed him, and I had gone on hiatus right when he was supposed to begin acting in earnest.
……Wait a second.
Then, all of a sudden, a strange thought occurred to me.
Was the final boss I had set up really supposed to have that sort of image?
The time when he first appeared was indeed during this Busan Festival.
But his smile was strange.
He was still looking at me and smiling.
I was sure I hadn’t given him a setting where he smiled so readily.
……I don’t think I had.
Just then, he tapped his companions and jerked his chin toward me. As if telling them to look at that guy.
As implied, he had companions.
Two women and one man.
All of them looked up at me.
My eyes met with one woman among his companions.
Navy-blue hair, an impression both cold and sharp enough to cut, a beauty who brought an elf to mind.
However, her gaze soon turned fierce.
A piercing killing intent struck my entire body.
A crazy bitch who emitted killing intent just because our eyes had met, as if something had displeased her that much.
“……Ah, wait.”
I suddenly began to feel afraid.
No way.
Just because all of his thoughts and beliefs were the exact opposite of Kim Suho’s, just because he was the antipode of Kim Suho, who represented justice and good—
Could they have possibly made even his gender the opposite?
No way.
It wasn’t completely unconvincing, but.
At the very least, if they had any common sense, there was no way.
End
Calmly and carefully, I observed the “final boss’s group.” To find out who among them was the final boss. To determine whether they were truly a woman or a man.
The group began talking among themselves while pointing at me.
Their conversation reached my ears.
—Sahyeok. What do you think of that guy?
The man called the woman who was still glaring at me “Sahyeok.”
Including her surname, it was probably “Jin Sahyeok.”
A sigh escaped me on its own.
I pressed my fingers to my temple.
The name itself hadn’t changed. It was the name I had set for him. No, I suppose I should now say it was her name.
Instinctively, I raised my watch. However, any message that might clearly resolve this confusing situation was far off. Meanwhile, their conversation continued.
—More importantly. Is that man really looking at us?
Still glaring at me, Jin Sahyeok asked the man.
—Yeah. Our eyes met.
—Really? But he doesn’t look like much of a big shot.
Jin Sahyeok’s setting was “the growing final boss.”
She possessed potential equal to Kim Suho’s, or perhaps even greater, and grew faster than Kim Suho. By the final act, she would become the final boss. Even if her gender had changed, that fate likely had not. In other words, if I had a bullet made from processed Mistilteinn in my hand right now, she was a formidable enemy I should shoot dead even if it meant exhausting all my SP.
—Sahyeok, train your eye for people. He has the nerve to stare you down, and the eyesight to look down at us from that height. He’s definitely no ordinary guy.
Well, eyesight was indeed a fairly special factor. To be honest, to have eyesight on par with mine, one’s perception would probably need to be at least 10.
—Besides, look at that beard. Doesn’t he look strong at first glance?
I stroked my beard. I had left it alone because my SP kept inching up just from walking around Cube, but I supposed it was about time I shaved.
—Weren’t you the one who told me not to judge people by appearances?
Jin Sahyeok snapped at the man. The man, however, only gave a relaxed snicker.
The more he did, the more curious I became about his identity. In the original work, Jin Sahyeok only ever went around with lackeys……
“Hah, what am I even saying.”
From the moment his gender changed in the first place, things had already deviated from the original. Talking about the original now would only amount to whining.
Let’s stop going on about the original, Hajin.
—Hey now. That’s because I have an eye for people, and you don’t, punk. But seriously, stop glaring already. You’re going to start a fight.
—That bastard glared first, didn’t he? He’s still glaring right now.
—He’s probably just smitten with you. So show him your beauty. Better yet, wink at him.
—How about a Death Wink? I’ll shoot magic power at him.
For a moment, I flinched in surprise. That crazy bitch had lost her mind.
Fortunately, however, the man reacted sensibly and stopped Jin Sahyeok. Before long, they gave me a light greeting and left.
I watched them walk off somewhere.
Though it was flustering, I had definitely figured out the woman’s identity.
But who was that man? Who was he, to be maintaining an equal—or perhaps even superior—relationship with Jin Sahyeok?
“Hajin~ Can I swim with Hayang~?”
Just then, Evandel’s bright voice rang out.
“Mm?”
I turned around.
Inside the indoor swimming pool prepared within the Presidential Room, Evandel was only splashing her feet, while Hayang was swimming leisurely.
“Sure. But can you swim?”
“Of course, of course~”
Evandel boasted confidently and jumped into the pool with a splash.
She had no need to change clothes just to swim. Her clothes themselves were a material formed from magic power.
“Hayang, Hayang~ Let’s race, race~”
At Evandel’s words, Hayang slowly swam over to the starting point. I could see that pure-white feline spirit creature was getting smarter.
“Ready, start. When I say that, we go, Hayang. Ready……”
Evandel drew out her words and watched Hayang’s reaction.
Then, after watching for an opening—
“Shh!”
She shouted suddenly and started first. Startled by that cowardly tactic, Hayang hurriedly chased after Evandel.
I watched the two of them with a fatherly smile.
Was this what it felt like to have a daughter? Of course, she was a child who could never be created from my genes.
* * *
Saturday morning.
Instead of returning to Cube, I headed to the new apartment I had purchased in Seoul.
An apartment of about 158 square meters located in Seocho District. While buying this place, I realized my wealth wasn’t all that impressive after all. Though I had made considerable capital gains through stocks and become someone with assets in the tens of billions of won, more than half of that had vanished just from buying a single apartment in Seoul.
Of course, the land prices were understandable. The Republic of Korea was one of the two great powers in this world, and its landmass was as tiny as a rat’s tail. Foreigners couldn’t buy property even if they wanted to, since the law stopped them.
“Hajin, Hajin, where is this place now? It’s big~”
“A new home. We’ll stay here from time to time too. A villa…… Think of it as a second house.”
“Aha~”
Just as she had done in the Cube dorm, Evandel occupied the sofa as soon as she came in. Hayang, with a relaxed and haughty expression, was searching for somewhere to climb.
“We should’ve brought the orioles too~”
Evandel muttered as she rolled around on the sofa. For reference, “orioles” referred to every bird Evandel had created. They all looked different, but perhaps because I had called them orioles, to Evandel they had all become orioles.
“Evandel, stay here and play with Hayang. There’s a game console, a television, Legos, dolls, and everything over there, and there are snacks in the fridge. Uncle will be back.”
“Mm-hmm!”
“Meow~”
Perhaps because I had played with them all night yesterday, Evandel and Hayang answered energetically, sounding satisfied.
I went out alone and got on the Agusta.
With a crisp exhaust note, I sped along the road and, at 8 a.m.—
One hour before the appointed time—
I arrived at the Seoul Portal Customs Office.
After parking the bike in the parking lot, I sat on a bench in the portal customs waiting hall and waited quietly.
As time passed, the others began to appear one by one.
The first was Yun Hanhyeon. Yun Hanhyeon widened his eyes in surprise at seeing me arrive early.
“Hajin-ssi, you’re here early.”
“Yep.”
Kim Suho, who arrived next, was the same. Kim Suho was practically dragging along Lee Yeonghan, who was still not fully awake.
“What, Hajin, why are you here so early?”
“Just because. I was looking forward to it.”
“Ah. Keke, how cute.”
Kim Suho laughed for no reason. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he spoke to Yun Hanhyeon.
“Oh, right. Sunbae-nim. Yu Yeonha said she’ll depart later today. She’s not feeling well.”
“What?”
I was the first to be surprised by those words.
There was no way Yu Yeonha would be in the later group. No, in the first place, there shouldn’t have been any incident that would make her sick.
“Why Yu Yeonha?”
“They said she was hospitalized?”
“What? Hospitalized?”
Lee Yeonghan answered my question while yawning.
“Was it stress-induced gastritis? She’s always been a little sensitive, you know. I heard Chae Nayun even went to visit her in the hospital yesterday.”
Just then, speak of the devil.
Chae Nayun had just entered the customs office.
“Hey, hey~”
Chae Nayun waved brightly and ran over toward us.
When Chae Nayun came running in one breath, I asked in puzzlement. Chae Nayun wasn’t the type to smile like that when her friend was sick.
“I heard Yu Yeonha’s sick.”
“Ah, Yeonha? Thanks to me nursing her all night, she’s fine now. Her complexion got better too, and she told me to go ahead first because she’ll follow soon.”
“Really?”
Then, well, maybe she had eaten something wrong. Yu Yeonha secretly picked up and ate all sorts of things, after all.
“Now then, let’s get going~”
Yun Hanhyeon smiled brightly and led us beyond the portal.
From Seoul to Busan was only ten steps.
After passing through the portal and exiting the customs office, the scenery of Busan spread out before our eyes.
Busan was indeed worthy of being the second capital. A clear sky, a variety of shops lined up in rows, and inside those shops, foreigners of many races swarmed about. Yet the only language they used was Korean.
“For today, we’ll start with a street tour. There are really a lot of shops in Busan. Clothing stores, general stores, weapon shops, antique shops, and so on…… It’s my hometown, so just follow me.”
Yun Hanhyeon confidently volunteered to be our guide, and we followed behind him.
“Busan, Busan, Bu-ssan, Bu-jjan~ Busan seagull~”
As we walked together with the group, Chae Nayun came up beside me and hummed.
“Hey, have you been to Busan before?”
“Huh? Yeah, of course I have.”
“Really? Oh, hey, hey. That must be the shopping street over there.”
Chae Nayun said, tapping my arm. In the direction her finger pointed, there was a street where Busan’s shops were clustered together.
We entered that street together. Clothing, general goods, weapons, scrolls, bookstores, and so on…… On the street with many shops, there were also many people. Chae Nayun looked around with sparkling eyes, then disappeared like the wind. After walking like that for five minutes—
“Hey, try this on.”
She appeared from somewhere with a hat and held it out to me.
“What is this?”
Before I could even say anything, she put it on me, then looked me up and down with her mouth rounded in surprise.
“Oh~ It suits you better than I thought. Should I buy it for you?”
“No thanks?”
“I already bought it. Keep wearing it.”
After saying that, she disappeared off somewhere again.
I took off the hat and discreetly checked the price tag.
What kind of hat costs 350,000 won?
Well, she had bought it for me anyway, so I wore it and walked around looking through the shops. Was there an antique shop anywhere? I wanted to find some unexpected gain like I had back at the casino. Then, once again, Chae Nayun appeared—this time holding a hot dog.
“Hey. Eat this.”
“What’s with the dialect…”
Before I could finish speaking, she shoved the hot dog into my mouth.
“…Then why aren’t you eating?”
“If I eat, I get an upset stomach.”
Chae Nayun looked at the hot dog stuck in my mouth and laughed like a child.
I quietly watched her.
She was lively and full of energy. Bright, positive energy seemed to be spreading even to me.
Was this side of her simply because Chae Jinyoon’s condition was good? Or…
For a moment, nausea rose in my stomach.
The most fundamental question surfaced.
Was it really okay for me to be this close to Chae Nayun?
An uncomfortable bystander—that was the position I had first taken for myself when it came to Chae Nayun, wasn’t it?
“……”
But my heart did not move according to my resolve, and now, as if a snake had coiled itself in my stomach, dark thoughts crept in as well.
It’s fine as long as she never finds out anyway.
“Hey, try wrapping this around you. It’s gonna get cold soon, you know?”
Chae Nayun, who had vanished without warning, suddenly appeared again and wrapped some kind of muffler around my neck.
“No, why do you keep bringing things? Ugh, I don’t want it.”
“I thought it would suit you—hey, Kim Hajin! Where are you going now?!”
I ran away.
* * *
We played around to the point of exhaustion.
As we did, evening had arrived before we knew it. Perhaps because it was now the brisk end of autumn, the sun set quickly, and by the time darkness had settled quietly over everything—
“Today’s final course is… Busan Dijerin Land~”
We stood before Dijerin Land, the final course of the day.
Right now, inside that Dijerin Land, the smugglers’ transaction was probably in full swing. And before long, the deal would go wrong and they would cause a commotion. Kim Suho would end up encountering Jin Sahyeok while trying to suppress that chaos.
Just then, Chae Nayun received some kind of message and raised her hand high.
“Ah, Yeonha’s here now too.”
No sooner had she said that than a car stopped in front of Dijerin Land.
The limousine door swung open, and Yu Yeonha soon stepped out. Chae Nayun trotted over and asked.
“Yeonha, you’re here? Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah.”
Yu Yeonha answered briefly, passed by Chae Nayun and Kim Suho in turn, and stood beside me.
“……”
Yu Yeonha stared at me with listless eyes. Unlike the usual Yu Yeonha, she looked so drained that it was almost pitiful.
The food poisoning had hit her rather hard.
“Does it hurt a lot?”
At my question, Yu Yeonha shook her head. Just then, Yun Hanhyeon spoke.
“Ah, right. In Dijerin Land, we’ll be going in teams of two. Everyone, please put on these bracelets first.” “You’re coming with me.”
No sooner had Yun Hanhyeon spoken than Yu Yeonha said that.
“Huh? With me?”
“What? Yeonha, what’s gotten into you?”
Chae Nayun looked at her from the side, puzzled. But Yu Yeonha gripped the hem of my clothes tightly.
I wondered what was up with her, but it seemed like she had something to say, so I nodded.
“Sure.”
And so I went in together with Yu Yeonha.
The scenery of Dijerin Land was dazzling and fairy-tale-like.
Even as we walked through that land of dreams and hopes, Yu Yeonha said nothing. She merely sighed from time to time and secretly stole glances at me.
Wondering why she was so drained, I took her on a roller coaster to cheer her up.
Sure enough, Yu Yeonha fell into a panic from the moment we climbed to the top and started sniffling, and immediately after the ride ended, she trembled as if her soul had left her body.
“Are you okay now?”
“……”
“If you’re not okay, we can ride it one more time.”
“I-I-I’m fine, I said I’m fine, so not this. Let’s ride that. That one.”
Yu Yeonha pointed at the Ferris wheel rising in the distance. My eyes narrowed slightly.
“That’s a date course. Why would we…”
“I have… something to say.”
Yu Yeonha’s voice trembled as she said that.
“Then sure.”
I nodded and went with her to the Ferris wheel.
I climbed into the Ferris wheel cabin, which I had never once ridden before, and sat facing Yu Yeonha.
As it moved gently, we sat in silence, facing each other.
“…What is it?”
Unable to bear the frustration, I eventually asked first.
“Ah, is it about that thing I asked you for? Did processing the bullets get difficult?”
“No… I think it’ll be done by next month. Those leaves weren’t ordinary leaves.”
“Right? Oh, if there’s any awkward amount left over, you can use the rest for research purposes.”
“Research purposes?”