Chapter 6. Friendship and Relationships (7)

From the perspective of reading a novel, descriptions don’t matter much.

In fact, even if descriptions are provided, everyone’s imagination is different, so unless there are illustrations, it’s difficult to perfectly recall what the author envisioned, no matter how detailed the description is.

Naturally, this applies not only to character descriptions but also to building descriptions. Even if the author provides specific measurements in writing, intuitive understanding is almost impossible without actually drawing it.

Besides, very few authors go into that much detail. Perhaps only mystery novel authors, whose structures play a very important role in the story, provide such detailed accounts.

The novel I read was like that too. The author had written what events would occur, and roughly when they would occur, but they didn’t precisely describe the building’s structure.

“Can you remember the structure to that extent?”

“Well, it’s a building made by humans. And it’s not like they intentionally made it confusing to get lost in. Rather, the problem is the security level.”

Yes, as Ria said, if there was a problem, the building’s security itself was the biggest issue.

This is an era where human combat abilities exceed common sense. A world where moderate injuries are immediately healed and the person is redeployed into combat, and where one can cleave through thick steel with a sword. There are more people than you might think who possess the ability to demolish building walls without guns or cannons.

It’s problematic if people with such abilities commit crimes, so the government tries to hire them stably by paying them well, but even so, they can’t be completely at ease. You never know what might happen.

Naturally, such places are designed assuming that people with those abilities will try to break in. Most major government facilities are like that.

The Gate catastrophe wasn’t simply about the Gates themselves.

“…Do you have something in mind?”

Ria asked, seeing my expression.

“Yes. Of course, I have something in mind.”

I’m confident enough.

However, I’m not completely certain.

In the original work, by the time the protagonist arrived, the situation was almost over. The important magic stone had already fallen into the hands of the assailant, and the assailant used the power of that magic stone to blow away the protagonists and escape with ease.

Why was Lee Si-yoon, the ‘weakest hunter,’ in such a dangerous situation in such a place? Well, what else could it be?

…It’s not an academy story, but it’s a novel that follows the format of an academy story to some extent.

Naturally, the cliché of being attacked while being careless during an ‘academy-hosted event’ that appears in the early stages of academy stories was faithfully reproduced in the original work.

Well, it’s not an academy here, and the host was the Hunter Association, but let’s just say it’s similar.

Therefore, the issue of the timing, which was somewhat vague in the original work, has also been resolved.

But even so, I’m not entirely confident.

There are already parts where the story has deviated from the introductory phase.

Moreover, what I’m about to do is an act that will further twist the story. How far will the repercussions reach?

“Are you anxious?”

“Um, a little?”

I took a deep breath and lay down on the bed.

“However, I can’t just let it pass without doing anything.”

I replied.

“Well, anyway, I’ll be right by your side while all this is happening.”

Ria said.

“…….”

Really.

How can she make such a declaration so casually?

Hmm, come to think of it, is that so? She trained me. And we’ve participated in combat together a few times already.

I learned this in the military: it only takes about a month for people to become close. Especially if they are going through hardships together. Although, after parting ways, you might barely remember each other’s faces.

Somehow, I feel like I’ll remember Ria’s face-

“Please take care of me.”

Still, I felt like I had to answer, so I replied like that. I felt a little embarrassed after answering, so I turned my body towards the wall and lay down.

……I don’t know if the familiarity I feel towards Ria is truly because I consider her a friend, like the familiarity she feels towards me.

Is it just because I read the novel that I remember it that way?

That too, is something I’ll only know with time.

*

As I expected, we received a call from the association around the end of May.

In the meantime, I checked and rechecked the contents I had written in my notebook. If I made even one mistake, I had no idea how much trouble it would cause.

The Saint, in fact, did not have a very cooperative relationship with the association from the beginning.

In the novel, she wasn’t a ‘candidate’ Saint, but a true Saint, as the name implies. Long before the point where I was recognized as a Saint Candidate, Anna was already the Saint.

It’s much more complicated for a Saint, who is treated almost like the Pope, to move than for a ‘candidate’ to move. Think about the weight of a presidential candidate moving versus the President directly moving.

Even at that point, the Saint had feelings for Lee Si-yoon, so she couldn’t participate at that time, but after seeing Lee Si-yoon fall into danger, she rushed to the research institute despite the opposition of others.

In that regard, I was at a much greater advantage.

Every time Ria and I moved, we took the church’s minivan to the association and picked up the association hunters. Most of them were children who were still in the learning phase.

The lowest among them is Lee Si-yoon.

“Hi!”

Han Yu-ri waved energetically at us.

Until recently, I used polite language, but remembering that in the original work they spoke informally, I told Han Yu-ri that it was okay to speak informally. And to the surrounding hunters as well.

Although they are all adults, their ages are not all the same. Most of them were kids who had joined the association early to become hunters after graduating from high school, so almost all of them are the same age as Ria and me. There are a few who are a year younger or a few years older, but we didn’t create any barriers.

As we exchanged brief greetings, I saw Han Yu-ri and Gloria making eye contact and having a silent confrontation, which made me smile bitterly.

Ria and I sat in the very back. There was no particular reason. I just wanted to sit a little apart from the young hunters. It wasn’t particularly uncomfortable, but I didn’t feel like actively mixing in.

I had no intention of interfering.

In that sense, Ria was the same, but Ria had no intention of going near Lee Si-yoon, who was sitting in the front.

Staring blankly out the window on the way to the research institute, I shivered.

As a strange sensation crept up the back of my left hand, I shivered and glared at Ria. Ria smiled with a playful expression.

No, aren’t you nervous at all-

…….

No.

Ria always used to relieve the tension of the people around her like this. By being playful, telling jokes, or telling funny stories that could make them forget their fatigue.

The reason she acts like this towards me is probably because she considers me a comrade in her own way.

“…….”

Did I twist Ria’s path in a strange direction?

Although I hope the protagonist and his childhood friend get together, I don’t want Ria’s future to be twisted in a strange direction because of me.

However, I can’t just reveal such a story right now.

I glanced at Ria with a sullen expression and then looked out the window again.

Ria chuckled softly.

*

What would be the best way to infiltrate a research institute boasting impenetrable security?

If an individual human could open a Gate, I would have stolen it and fled immediately, but in this work, that is probably almost impossible.

If that’s the case, the best method is to take a slight risk.

When an outsider enters the research institute.

And when those outsiders go to the deepest part of the research institute.

That’s when the research institute’s security will be at its weakest.

The professor, whom we’ve seen once before, came out to greet us, and we greeted her back.

The professor smiled brightly at me again and bowed her head. It seemed she really liked that holy relic.

The schedule is a simple lecture first.

And then the next schedule is to go to the storage facility for a tour.

Of course, we won’t go to the very deepest part.

The important thing is how an outsider gets there-

“Breaking through a door is simple.”

“How?”

Ria tilted her head and said.

“It’s magic. Ah, of course, when entering, you’ll have to pour all your powerful magic into just opening one door.”

But once inside, everything is resolved. Because the magic stone inside has very, very powerful magic.

Causing a huge explosion inside to blow away the door is nothing.

“…….”

Ria tilted her head slightly at my words, but she still believed me.

Even if she didn’t believe me, the incident would have happened eventually.