Chapter 134.

“Auu, Chae Nayun, you crazy idiot… . ”

Chae Nayun scorned herself as she smacked her head . Because of the words she carelessly muttered, the drowsiness she felt disappeared completely .

“Uuuu… ah, wait . ”

While circling around the room in embarrassment, she suddenly remembered something she had to do .

Chae Nayun quickly made a video call to Yoo Yeonha .

Tuuu— Tuuu—

—Yeah, Nayun .

As expected, Yoo Yeonha was quick to pick up . Yoo Yeonha usually only slept three hours a day . Since it was only 1 a . m . at the moment, it was unlikely that she was asleep .

“Hey, Yeonha . ”

—Why did you call… why is your face so red?

Yoo Yeonha tilted her head and asked . That was how red Chae Nayun’s face was .

“Ah, it’s, it’s nothing . ”

Chae Nayun fanned herself frantically .

“Here, here . ”

Pushing her hair back nonchalantly, she sent a file over to Yoo Yeonha .

[Tattoo . jpg]

This evidence was a critical piece of info . Yoo Yeonha opened the file and tilted her head .

—Tattoo…? What is this?

“Evidence . ”

—…Evidence?

Chae Nayun’s voice turned serious .

“Yeah, this tattoo was on the murderer’s arm . ”

In response, Yoo Yeonha also put on a serious face .

—Hm… .

Two lines forming a cross and a crescent arc standing over it like an umbrella .

Yoo Yeonha scrutinized the tattoo carefully .

“Is, is it not that useful?”

Chae Nayun asked without confidence .

—It’s not a conclusive piece of evidence, but it’s still better than not having anything at all . First…

Yoo Yeonha began to type on her keyboard like an IT expert . Chae Nayun stared at Yoo Yeonha in awe .

—I’ll look into arrested criminals or active villains and Djinns .

“T-Thanks, Yeonha! …Haam . ”

Chae Nayun then yawned . Now that the tension left her body, drowsiness came over her once again .

—Are you sleepy?

“Yeah, I’m going to collapse any moment now . ”

—… .

Yoo Yeonha grinned .

—Good, then sleep .

“Yeah, you shouldn’t overwork yourself either . ”

Chae Nayun waved her hand through the screen as she walked over to her bed .

—Okay .

Although Chae Nayun promptly buried herself in her bed, Yoo Yeonha remained busy on the other side of the call .

Pharmaceutical company management, core technology development, information guild monitoring, dungeon research and resource distribution, and Essence of the Strait’s management reformation .

She still had too many things to take care of .

—Hello? Ah, yes, Yi Jin-Ah-ssi .

At that moment, she received a call .

Of the past vice-leader’s subordinates, she was the sole person Yoo Yeonha reached out to . Although she had a personal conflict with Kim Hajin, Yoo Yeonha decided her talent was too important to be wasted .

—Ah, don’t worry about it . I don’t think you were involved in that incident . No, you don’t need to thank me . Oh, rather than that, I’m going to send you a special tattoo image . I want you to…

Stopping in the middle of her sentence, Yoo Yeonha looked over to the side .

—Hold on, I forgot to hang up a video call .

Yoo Yeonha waved her hand, and soon—

Chweek . The floating hologram screen disappeared .

… .

Just like that, all noise disappeared from Chae Nayun’s room .

In this absolute, lonely silence, Chae Nayun fell asleep alone .

**

In a desolate park brimming with killing intent and clouds of war, I was hard at work trying to convince Boss .

“Calm down, Boss . That’s how stocks work . ”

“Ha, that’s how they work?”

Boss laughed mockingly . At the moment, she was seriously angry . I couldn’t blame her as I could only imagine the amount of money she invested . If she used stock market leverage, even a mere 2% increase should have net her hundreds of millions of won .

“It will plummet soon . Trust me . ”

“… . ”

Boss shut her mouth . She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as though to appease her inner fury .

Despite her cold personality, she valued her comrades greatly .

“From now, I don’t think I can trust you deeply . No, I can’t even trust you lightly . ”

However, I couldn’t prevent my credibility from falling . If this matter ended this way, my level of trust would probably fall to F from C .

Puuu . Sighing like a kid, Boss turned her back towards me .

“Ah, wait, since you suffered a loss because of me, I’ll make up for it . ”

I stopped Boss from leaving .

“I’ll give you some solid information . ”

“…Solid information?”

Boss’ interested seemed to be piqued as her ears perked up .

“Yes . ”

I nodded confidently . Of course, even I didn’t know what would happen in the future economically .

However, I knew a few companies that would rise to the top of the world .

“If you invest a million, you will become a billionaire . If you invest a billion, you will become the ruler of a country . ”

“… . ”

After a brief silence, Boss shook her head . Her perked up ears lost their vitality and drooped down once again .

“I’ve lived my entire life with skepticism as my core belief . I won’t believe someone who isn’t an expert twice . ”

“Um, I’m the rank 1 cadet in theory . ”

“… . ”

Rank 1 in theory . It was a position impossible to achieve without extraordinary intelligence . However, Boss still looked doubtful .

Without a choice, I showed her my stock portfolio .

“…Eh?”

Boss’ mouth immediately opened in shock . That was how much I currently had .

The total value of the various stocks I had in my portfolio reached 2 . 5 billion . In terms of strict profit rate, it was almost 500% .

Not to mention, these stocks would all multiply by at least 10 times… no, 20 times in the next 5 years .

“You see? Now you believe me? Take a seat . ”

I sat down on a bench near me and tapped on the empty seat next to me .

“… . ”

Boss finally seemed to trust me again as she looked around the park and sat down next to me modestly .

“…Right, you have to show me proof to get me to trust you . ”

“Makes sense . So, I’ll recommend a few companies you should go for . There’s still one that hasn’t been publicly listed—”

“Wait . ”

Boss cut me off, then took out a pen and a notebook from her pocket .

After getting ready to take notes, her eyes flashed sharply .

“Go on . ”

“…Right . ”

I cleared my throat and continued .

“The non-publicly listed company is SH Agency . There’s also Essential Pharmacy, which will go public soon, and Essential Corporation, which is a well-known giant… . ”

Boss nodded passionately and frantically took notes .

**

My remaining days in Cube flew by . In the blink of an eye, it became the month of cherry blossoms, May .

During this time, I maintained an appropriate distance from Chae Nayun . Although I could tell that she was annoyed and confused by it, I believed it to be for the best .

That was really the only thing I could do .

Because the feelings Chae Nayun had for me were so clear, I felt like I would give in and accept her feelings otherwise .

…I knew it was an excuse, but I really didn’t have a choice .

The ‘final incident’ in Cube was nearing soon .

“Today, we are going to sculpt using magic power . ”

Today’s 10 a . m . to 2 p . m . class was [Advanced Magic Power Application] .

There were two familiar faces in this class – Shin Jonghak and Kim Suho .

“You will not be given any tools . Using only your magic power, you must sculpt this bronze . ”

50 cadets were given a single lump of bronze . As the instructor explained, we now had to sculpt something using our magic power as carving knives .

“You’re free to make whatever you want . But don’t think of this as a dumb art class . Dexterity plays an important role in magic power application and harmonization . So, do your best to create the most beautiful sculpture . You can take your results home . ”

I quite enjoyed this female instructor’s relaxed voice .

I cracked my fingers and began the training .

Forming a carving knife with Stigma’s magic power, I held it in one hand .

Looking down at the carving knife glowing with a half-transparent blue light, I fell into thought .

Who should I use as a model?

“… . ”

Looking around, someone caught my eyes .

Black and two-block pomade hair that strangely resembled mine . A handsome popular boy who looked like a model . With his clear jawline and facial features, he seemed like the ideal model for sculpting .

‘Alright, I choose you . ’

I began to sculpt, sneaking peeks at Shin Jonghak . My fingers moved mysteriously, transforming the lump of bronze into a modern masterpiece .

When it was about halfway finished…

Ding—

It was time for a break . I stealthily moved closer towards Shing Jonghak, who was in the middle of carving something resembling a chimera .

“Wow, an abstract art . ”

I muttered subconsciously .

Shin Jonghak immediately turned back and glared at me intimidatingly .

“…Kim Hajin?”

His burning eyes pierced my chest . It was mainly because of the rumors about me and Chae Nayun going around recently .

“Oh, um, I was just curious . Who is this?”

“…Leave . ”

Shin Jonghak waved his hand without saying much .

“Is it Chae Nayun?”

When I said that, Shin Jonghak flinched and glared at me again with his hawk-like eyes .

“Tsk . ”

However, he only clicked his tongue and went back to sculpting .

“…So it is Chae Nayun . ”

“Shut the hell up . ”

“Uwaak!”

Shin Jonghak changed his carving knife into an axe .

I quickly ran back to my seat .

Then, I went back to staring at Shin Jonghak .

“It must look like her . ”

…He was murmuring in satisfaction and focusing on sculpting .

“…He really did change a lot . ”

I was surprised .

The current Shin Jonghak wasn’t as bad as the one I wrote .

Many things had changed, and more things were bound to change . Did Chae Jinyoon’s death and Yoo Sihyuk’s hellish training affect him that much?

Though, he still was acting like a haughty young master…

“Well, whatever . ”

Since Jin Sahyuk got herself a mysterious supporter, having Shin Jonghak become an ally would only make things more balanced .

I unleashed my magic power once again and went back to sculpting . Sssk, sssk . The lump of bronze was nothing more than tofu in front of my knife .

After focusing on sculpting for about 30 minutes, I snapped out of my daze . The sculpture was already finished .

“…Oh . ”

The sculpture in front of me was an unequivocal masterpiece .

“Wow, amazing job . This gets a perfect score, Cadet Hajin . ”

After getting my grade (although the class still wasn’t over), I took the sculpture and walked over to Shin Jonghak .

“Hey . ”

“… . ”

Shin Jonghak was focused on his own sculpture .

However, it was already at the point where it was barely recognizable . It certainly couldn’t be used as a gift .

I tapped on his arm .

“Hey . ”

“Argh, what now, you bastard?”

Shin Jonghak spoke harshly and glared at me .

“Do you really wanna die…”

However, he froze when he saw the sculpture in my hand .

I named this piece the Shin Jonghak Bronze Bust .

Although the model was also handsome, the sculpture was even more handsome than the real person . Just look at this jawline and facial features!

In any case, Shin Jonghak loved things like this . Although I didn’t make any detailed settings about this, I could make an educated guess from what I knew about his personality .

Seeing Shin Jonghak blankly staring at my sculpture, I spoke briefly .

“You want it?”

But at that moment .

Bzzzz—

A series of messages popped up on my smartwatch .

[‘Devilish Dexterity’ activates by luck . ]

[‘Shin Jonghak Bronze Bust’ has been judged to be a low-intermediate rank art . It will receive a fitting special effect . ]

[Special effect – why art is needed in life]

—When a person is touched by the beauty of this sculpture, their perseverance will increase by 0 . 1 point for 24 hours .

—The beauty of the sculpture seems to cleanse the heart .

[Aether reacts to a beautiful object . The perseverance boosting effect has been granted to Aether (24 hours) . ]

“…Oh right . ”

My dexterity was at the level of a Gift . Such ‘effect bestowals’ were an inherent power of my Gift .

In any case, Shin Jonghak looked back and forth between me and my sculpture . He looked like he wanted it…

“You don’t want it?”

“Screw off . ”

However, Shin Jonghak always acted differently than his inner feelings .

“Really? Then I guess there’s no choice . ”

I had no problem keeping it .

“Sssp, ehem . ”

But when I was about to leave with the sculpture, Shin Jonghak grabbed my wrist .

“You can’t . That’s facial rights abuse . ”

“…What?”

I couldn’t say I didn’t expect it, but I still laughed because it was so childish .

“Why don’t you just say you want it?”

“… . ”

Shin Jonghak glared at me and squeezed my wrist but didn’t say anything .

“Fine, I’ll leave it here, so you do what you want . ”

Since this sculpture had an effect of cleansing one’s heart, Shin Jonghak seemed to be the suitable owner with his… anger issues .

Ding—

Just at that moment, the bell signaling the end of class rang .

“Hey, Kim Suho, let’s go eat . ”

“Huh? Oh, wait a bit, let me get mine graded . ”

I left the classroom with Kim Suho .

In Kim Suho’s hand was a sculpture that perfectly resembled Yun Seung-Ah .

“You sculpted Yun Seung-Ah?”

“…Huh? Ah~ yeah, I guess it does look like her . But no, it isn’t . ”

“Please, it’s practically a carbon copy . ”

“No, no, it’s not . ”

“…Fine, it’s not . ”

Kim Suho was quite stubborn in his own right .

As I walked through the hallway, I turned back and looked through the walls into the classroom I just came out of . It was purely out of curiosity .

Everyone else had left, and only Shin Jonghak was left remaining .

Whistling to himself, he was loitering around the classroom .

Then suddenly! He snatched the sculpture of himself on the table and ran out the door .

—Uaak!

However, Kim Horak was standing on the other side .

—Jonghak, what were you doing not coming out? …What’s that?

—Ah? What do you mean?

—That . Oh, it looks like you! Someone made it for you!?

—I, I guess…? Ah! It, it must have been a fan of mine . Let’s leave . I’m going to stop by my room first, so I’ll meet you at the training center .

Shin Jonghak gave a half-hearted excuse and began to run away with the sculpture in his embrace .

Looking at him, I snickered .

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