Chapter 33.

10:55 P . M . I safely arrived at Gangwondo’s Portal Station with Chae Nayun . Thankfully, there weren’t many people around . I put Chae Nayun down on a nearby bench . She glanced at her smartwatch and murmured .

“It’s almost curfew . ”

Immediately, I became speechless . Going to Cube in her current state was ridiculous .

“Contact your father . ”

“Why?”

“You know why . Go get treated at a hospital . ”

I turned to the Portal, leaving Chae Nayun alone on the bench .

“I’m going . ”

“What? Where?”

“To Cube . You can give my coat back later . ”

“Take me too! Hey! Aak!”

Chae Nayun tried to get up and fell forward . Looking at her pitiful state, I couldn’t help but sigh .

“…You should really go to a hospital . ”

Chae Nayun clenched her teeth and glared at me . Her lips trembled . It seemed she really didn’t want to call her father .

It was understandable . Chae Nayun’s father was the head of a chaebol group . He was a busy and important man . Even though he would run over the moment he heard his daughter was hurt, Chae Nayun didn’t want that .

“You have a butler or an attendant, right?”

“…Yeah, you can go . ”

Chae Nayun retorted curtly .

“Alright . ”

I walked towards the Portal employee, then stopped .

I suddenly remembered something . Today, Chae Nayun subconsciously unleashed her Gift . The magic power sword that cut down a Djinn in a single slash, that was the Gift Chae Nayun needed to develop .

“Hey, are you still going to use a bow?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“You felt it today, didn’t you?”

Chae Nayun’s Gift was specialized for close ranged combat . More specifically, it was specialized for war .

As long as she had a conductor of magic power, she could amplify it tremendously . For example, her Gift could transform a 2-meter sword into a monstrous 20-meter sword . Furthermore, because magic power was weightless, the transformed sword wouldn’t be any heavier .

Slaughtering hundreds of monsters with a single blow, an imperial might capable of making Djinns shudder in fear, ‘Emperor of the Battlefield’ would be the epithet given to her .

“You should be using a sword, not a bow . ”

Just like in the original story, large weapons like zweihander or claymore suited her best . She even had the financial power to purchase the most expensive weapons .

“Oh yeah? What do you know about me?”

But Chae Nayun didn’t know her future . She refused to even accept the idea .

The current Chae Nayun had yet to overcome her fear of close ranged combat .

“…Nevermind then . ”

I stepped into the Portal .

I could feel a resentful gaze piercing into my back .

She might be thinking, ‘is he really going to leave me here?’ But yes, I was planning to do exactly that .

**

The next day .

Just like the saying, ‘nothing travels faster than words’, last night’s matter was already widespread .

Chae Nayun was attacked by a Djinn, and the Djinn was a cadet named Sven . Chae Nayun came out victorious, but she was seriously injured…

But even in the midst of such rumor, Friday’s class resumed normally . My meeting with Kim Suho wasn’t delayed either . He asked me to come to room 303 before 5 P . M .

“It’s an important matter, so don’t forget! If it goes well, it can improve your grade too . ”

After class, he reminded me once more . He should have heard about what happened to Chae Nayun, so he was probably planning on visiting her after the meeting .

“Yeah . ”

I nodded . Kim Suho tapped on my shoulder and busily walked away . I yawned while looking at his back .

Since it was 3:30, I still had some time before the meeting . I wanted to go back to the dorm and take a nap .

But while I was talking down the hallway…

“…What?”

It felt like someone was following me . But when I turned around, no one was there . The presence was too calm to be a Djinn . Then was it an assassin? Why would an assassin be following me?

“Hm . ”

Was I mistaken? I took out my laptop and continued walking .

[383,013,160 points have been deposited . These points can be used in Violet Banquet or traded for cash . (at least 10,000,000 P required)]

Because of Violet Banquet’s enormous fee, what was close to 600 million won had shrunk to 400 million . But there was no reason to think it was unfair . First trade with Violet Banquet was always like this .

[Purchaser ‘Youngfly’ has requested to talk to you . (Seller’s nickname will show up as anonymous . )]

[If you have any more ginsengs, I’d like to buy them . ]

I didn’t accept his request . I didn’t have any ginsengs to sell either .

…Now .

I turned around quickly .

Shashashak—

In a flash, someone hid behind the wall . However, my eyes could see through walls .

…It was a rather unexpected person .

Rachel .

With her back stuck to the wall, she was holding her beating heart .

“Hm, was I mistaken?”

To understand why she was following me, I turned back around . Then, I turned off the laptop . Using its black screen as a mirror, I looked behind me .

When I started walking, Rachel peeked her head out . Her gaze was fixed on my bag .

But why my bag? The only thing in it was a notebook . Ah, thinking about it now, this was the way to the library . The dorm was right next to it .

“…Is she trying to steal my notebook?”

No, a princess wouldn’t do something like that . Besides, there wasn’t anything worthwhile in it .

I continued to walk and Rachel tenaciously chased after me . She didn’t stop until I entered my dorm .

“She really followed me all the way here?”

When I looked out from the dorm window, she was glaring at the dorm with a regretful face .

Interesting .

I walked into my room with a grin .

**

After taking a light nap, I left the dorm and arrived at room 303 Kim Suho told me about .

There was already quite a crew gathered here – Shin Jonghak, Yoo Yeonha, Kim Horak, and Yi Yeonghan .

It almost looked like a scene from my novel, Kim Suho and his friend versus Shin Jonghak and his lackeys . Even Kim Horak, who was the weakest one here, had a fairly important role until the middle of the story . I felt completely out of place .

They didn’t say anything when they saw me, so I opened my mouth first .

“Why did you call me?”

I asked, pretending not to know . But just that innocent question was enough to make Shin Jonghak frown . Thankfully, Kim Suho explained before Shin Jonghak expressed his dissatisfaction .

“I haven’t told Hajin why we’re meeting yet . ”

“So, what is it?”

Kim Suho stood up at my question .

He should’ve just stayed sitting . His height made me slightly uncomfortable . I set his height as 185 cm . Now, I was slightly regretting it .

“Hajin, you’ve heard about cadets going missing, right?”

“…Yeah . ”

“It’s about that . Cube entrusted us to investigating the cause . Of course, they’re going to do their own investigation, but since it’s likely that the culprit is a student, they think it’ll be easier for students to investigate . ”

I was about to nod nonchalantly, but after realizing that this was supposed to be my first time hearing about this, I dropped my jaws pretending to be surprised .

“…But why me?”

“You have good eyes . I heard you can see over a thousand miles away . ”

“Well, yeah… I do have good eyes . ”

So it really was for that single reason? I feigned a smile and sat down on a nearby chair . As a result, Kim Suho naturally came to sit at the table’s head .

Kim Suho looked into my eyes and asked .

“Will you help us?”

“I don’t know if I can, but…”

I didn’t want to give up on potential SP .

“Thanks . ”

Kim Suho smiled happily . He then cleared his throat and brought up yesterday’s incident .

“First, I don’t think the Djinn who attacked Nayun is this incident’s culprit . But…”

Shin Jonghak interrupted him .

“Nayun?”

He was picking at the fact that he didn’t address Chae Nayun with her last name .

“…But I think there is a high chance that Chae Nayun is the real culprit’s next target . Djinns follow their contracted devil’s orders, so if Sven’s contracted devil ordered him to attack Chae Nayun, it makes sense that another Djinn would go after her . ”

It was a good theory, but incorrect . Sven’s contracted devil and the culprit’s contracted devil weren’t the same . In the first place, Asmodeus and Lilith had completely different dispositions .

“So I’m wondering, can you think of anyone suspicious? Someone you know who recently has been acting strangely…”

Before the real investigation began, Kim Suho asked for everyone’s opinions . But no one stepped forward, and Yoo Yeonha was staring at me fixedly . Soon, Shin Jonghak and Kim Horak also turned their gaze towards me .

I knew the real culprit .

But I was hesitant to reveal his name without any proof .

The culprit should be leaving behind traces of his act, but he was going too quickly . In the original story, six people went missing in the span of two months, but in this storyline, three people had gone missing in just two weeks .

I felt guilty letting more people die just so I could wait for the story to catch up . At this rate, there could even be more victims than in the original story .

Perhaps, it was better to throw down his name, so the investigation team had an idea where to start .

“Yeah, I have someone in mind . ”

Five pairs of eyes became focused on me .

“Who?”

Kim Suho asked .

I slowly opened my mouth and spoke the real culprit’s name .

“Yun Hyun . ”

…Immediately, a deep silence descended in the room .

No one seemed to react to my comment .

“Pft . ”

Soon, Yoo Yeonha’s mocking laughter broke the silence, and Kim Suho gently rebutted .

“That person has an alibi . We already looked into him because he was close to the first victim . ”

It was obvious that Yun Hyun had an alibi .

“But what if the victim went to Yun Hyun on her own?”

“A mental magic that could lure a cadet? Yeah, that makes sense . ”

Shin Jonghak rebutted sarcastically . The contempt and disdain he had in his eyes were as if he was staring at an insect .

Just like Shin Jonghak said, it wasn’t easy to lure a cadet with a mental magic . Even if it was possible, it couldn’t have escaped people’s suspicion . After all, people who were under the effect of mental magic moved like puppets or scarecrows .

However…

“If it’s mental magic, yeah . But…”

It was different if it was ‘love’ . That was the biggest difference between enchantment and mental magic . Someone who was in love didn’t know oneself was bewitched .

“Screw the useless talk . ”

Shin Jonghak cut me off before I could finish my sentence . He then kicked an empty chair, which rolled towards my leg .

“As for me…”

At that moment, Yoo Yeonha made a dangerous smile . She slowly raised her hand and pointed at me .

“I’m more suspicious of you . ”

“…What?”

My head drew a blank . Because it was so sudden, I was lost for words and froze .

“Yoo Yeonha, that’s not right either . Hajin also has an alibi . ”

Kim Suho quickly refuted the idea, but Yoo Yeonha easily rebutted him .

“His alibi is a record of him using the Portal . If he is a Djinn, tampering with something like that should be easy . Compared to senior Yun Hyun who was with others, that person is much more…”

“Why don’t we beat him up first?”

Kim Horak hastily got up . With the way he cracked his knuckles and displayed his muscles, he practically looked like a miniature ogre .

“I’m sure he’ll sing or transform if he’s beaten . Hey, get up . ”

Yoo Yeonha and Kim Horak . Shin Jonghak and Yi Yeonghan .

Everyone other than Kim Suho looked at me with suspicious eyes .

As the person in the middle of it all, I was furious . This had never happened to me before even in a mafia game . So this was what it felt like to be falsely accused .

Should I not have brought up Yun Hyun’s name?

No, even if I didn’t, this would have happened anyways . Yoo Yeonha must have planned to do so from the beginning .

“Jonghak, I can break an arm or two, right?”

The ogre asked for Shin Jonghak’s consent . Before Shin Jonghak could give his answer, I jumped out of my chair .

“Yeah come at me, you fat son of a bitch . I’ll drill a hole in your head . ”

“…What did you say? Look at this crazy motherfucker . ”

Kim Horak raised his voice . I took out my gun from my back pocket, but Kim Horak only snorted disdainfully .

“Retard, you think that can make me flinch?”

Kim Horak positioned himself to charge forward . I also lowered my center of gravity . I had Aether . I could cook up some stupid pig whenever I wanted .

“Stop . ”

But at that moment, Kim Suho stepped in between us . He even had his training sword out .

“Now’s not the time for this . Hajin, you calm down too . ”

I snapped back to reality, looking at the chilling flash on his sword blade .

Though I shouted in a grand manner, Kim Horak was too strong of an opponent for my current self .

‘Don’t get angry . If you get angry, it’s your loss . ‘

After telling myself that, I took in a deep breath and pointed at Yoo Yeonha .

“You, if you’re doubtful, ask Chae Nayun . ”

“…What does Nayun have to do with this?”

I was talking to Yoo Yeonha, but it was Shin Jonghak who reacted sensitively .

“When she was attacked by a Djinn, I was there too . We killed him together . She didn’t tell you yet?”

“…”

I said so as I glared at Yoo Yeonha . She received my gaze in a perfectly calm manner without a single word .

“Anyways, I made myself clear . The culprit is that piece of shit Yun Hyun . ”

After leaving those words to Yoo Yeonha, the ‘final victim’, I turned around .

“Uk . ”

In the middle of walking out, I tripped accidentally . My body slipped to the side .

But in the path I was walking, a fat boar suddenly flew in and smashed against the wall .

The charge was too quick for a boar and too destructive for an attack on a fellow cadet, as a crack appeared on Cube’s reinforced wall .

“Oh? You dodged that?”

Shin Jonghak’s lips twisted up in interest . That just now was Kim Horak’s tackle . If it hit, I didn’t think it would have ended with just a couple broken bones .

“You… son of a bitch . ”

Kim Horak stood up . For someone who attacked first, he sure was angry . I didn’t have any other choice . I pointed my gun at him .

“I think I need to teach you a lesson . ”

But Kim Suho stopped us once again . This time, he did it with action rather than words . Magic power rose up from his sword and separated me from Kim Horak .

“If you’re that suspicious, just ask Nayun! Yoo Yeonha!”

He shouted at Yoo Yeonha . Kim Suho’s furious look even made the proud Yoo Yeonha shrink .

“…Wait one minute . ”

Tsk .

Yoo Yeonha clicked her tongue and turned on her smartwatch .

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