episode_0163

“Huh? You’re the principal?”

Ellis opened her eyes wide as if she had heard something unexpected.

But that was only for a moment.

“… … Aha.”

Ellis soon smiled faintly.

Even Do Yu-jin had no way of knowing what she was thinking behind that smile.

But classes are eternal, and no matter how much time passes, the experience gained from going around countless communities will never disappear.

At Do Yu-jin’s level, even if the opponent was Ellis, it was possible to read only a part of the outside, not the inside, of the person.

‘Well, it looks like he’s thinking something like, ‘Hey, look at this guy?’

It was too light and fragmentary information to warrant the grand statement that I had read it, but it was enough.

First of all, it was clear that the first button was buttoned very well, just as Do Yu-jin had wanted.

“You were a student at my school?”

“Yes, I am a new student who entered the circle this time.”

“I’m a freshman… … ”

Ellis, who had been thinking about something for a moment with her words trailing off, soon spoke with a slightly deeper smile.

“Then it’s a great time.”

Hit-

As Ellis took a step forward, her eyes grew closer, larger and clearer.

“Then you came to Japan for sightseeing? Did you come here to relieve stress for the upcoming events at the circle?”

“Similar.”

Hit-

Do Yu-jin answered as she distanced herself slightly further from him than when she had come closer.

“But somehow I got involved in this incident.”

“Well, that was definitely unlucky.”

Ellis didn’t bother to chase after Do Yu-jin.

Instead, she paused for a moment to think, then spoke in the same light tone as before.

“I’m sorry to hold you back like this, but I have to ask. Can you tell me what happened here a little while ago?”

“That’s… … ”

“Oh, but wait a minute… … ”

Ellis, who was speaking, lightly snapped her fingers.

Shuaak-!

Then, I felt a cool, clean breeze like early winter gently blowing into the space that was still filled with hot heat, emitting black smoke.

‘No, that’s not all.’

Do Yu-jin looked around.

A black, empty plain reminiscent of a giant black charcoal block.

The place was soon covered in ice and turned pure white.

“Haha… … ”

The traces of the all-out attack that Do Yu-jin had created by mobilizing all the means at his disposal were erased with a single light gesture from Ellis.

As I was looking at that sight right in front of my nose, for some reason a sound of air escaping from my mouth came out.

Actually, I already knew it in my head.

That there was a difference of this magnitude, or rather, a difference greater than this, between her and himself.

But knowing something in your head and seeing it with your own eyes are two different things.

“Oh, sorry. Did I startle you?”

As I began to sense just how high up the person in front of me was, I felt my breathing tighten again.

‘I guess this wasn’t something they were aiming for.’

When Do Yu-jin looked at Ellis, she smiled and said.

“You can’t just leave the embers burning like that, right? And above all, if the surroundings are like that, it won’t be fun to talk.”

As she said that, Ellis suddenly searched through her bag and took out a small table and chair.

“… … ”

Next, he started taking out different types of meat.

“Huh? You don’t like the menu? I took it out because it looks like you fought a lot, so I brought it out to cheer you up.”

“No, that’s not it… … ”

Do Yu-jin quickly shook her head.

It wasn’t a big problem in the first place.

The table and chairs both had a sophisticated design that seemed like they would go well with black tea and cookies, but there was something like a grill in the middle that looked like a grill from a meat restaurant, so I just accidentally froze for a moment because of the cognitive dissonance.

“Oh, so is it because your teeth are loose, broken, or flying off? Should I change the menu to porridge?”

“No, it’s okay.”

Do Yu-jin, who could recover his body through food due to the effect of his trait, quickly shook his head because this was better than porridge.

Ellis saw that and smiled playfully.

“Well, what do you think? In this kind of atmosphere, don’t you think you’ll be more open-mouthed and say everything you don’t mean?”

“That’s true.”

Do Yu-jin let out a hollow laugh as if she couldn’t believe it, but she sighed inside.

If possible, I wanted to run away somewhere and avoid Ellis, but there was no way Do Yu-jin, who was laughing there right now, would just let me go.

‘Then, I have no choice but to make up my mind and move forward.’

The moment Do Yu-jin made up her mind and took a step forward.

“Kkueek!”

Do Yu-jin fell down so spectacularly that it made everyone watching feel embarrassed, and let out a strange scream.

“… … ”

“Uh… … Sorry. I was a little inconsiderate of the injured child. Was the ice a little slippery?”

No, my body’s balance is just a mess.

Do Yu-jin swallowed her words and quietly covered her face with both hands.

There was definitely ice all around me, but strangely, my body, especially my face, felt hotter than before.

◎ ◎ ◎

From interesting test subject to poor puppy.

Do Yu-jin, who was treated as if she was going up or down after finishing a non-happening incident, talked with Ellis across a table as if she was enjoying a tea party.

“Hmm, so what you’re saying is that the mine guys are causing a commotion here?”

Well, the content was more like that of a cool and thrilling food stall than that of a sweet and cozy tea party.

“Yes, I also saw it by chance while fighting a monster, so I don’t know the details.”

Do Yu-jin said this while drinking cola to relieve her upset stomach from excessive meat consumption.

Unlike Do Yu-jin, who devours food like a storm.

“That’s right… … ”

Ellis had only sipped a few glasses of wine, aside from munching on a few pieces of meat.

“Then all the kids that were with you are back at the dorm now?”

“Yes, it should have arrived by now.”

Do Yu-jin didn’t try to hide the existence of the three.

There was no way such a lame lie would work against Ellis.

“That’s fortunate.”

“Ellis said, lightly setting down her empty glass.

“But there’s one thing I’m curious about… …Why didn’t you go back with those kids and stay here?”

A small light sparkled in Ellis’s eyes as she asked that question.

“It doesn’t seem like I’m just here to figure out the situation.”

To Do Yu-jin’s eyes, it looked like a wide net flying towards him.

“If it had been a normal situation, I would have run away with those kids.”

Most of my conversations with Ellis so far have gone like this.

As she throws her traps here and there, Do Yu-jin avoids her and runs away.

“But I’m a summoner who leaves the fighting to my summons and hides behind them. While fighting, I have a lot of time to look around here and there, so I end up seeing random things and I can’t go back because I’m so distracted by that. I ended up here.”

“Do you care?”

“Yes.”

But now, it was becoming increasingly difficult for Do Yu-jin to escape her trap.

“Did you feel it too, Principal? That strong presence was pressing down on you in this place.”

“Yeah, I felt it. That’s why I came here in the first place… … Oh, is that why you came here?”

“No, of course that bothered me, but there were other things that bothered me too.”

“There was something else?”

So Do Yu-jin thought of throwing her some bait that she could chew, tear, and taste on his behalf.

“You may not believe me, but… …I saw a human figure in the sky at that time.”

“… … A human figure?”

Ellis asked back, lowering her voice slightly.

“Can you explain in more detail?”

“Well, I can’t say in detail… …I couldn’t see it properly because the situation was so urgent. Oh, but I saw that he was completely covered in black clothes. His face was the same.”

After hearing Do Yu-jin’s words, Ellis’s expression hardened slightly for the first time and she closed her mouth.

‘I got caught.’

Do Yu-jin smiled inwardly as he looked at her.

Do Yu-jin didn’t have any detailed information about Ellis.

As I’ve said many times before, he wasn’t very interested in the character’s narrative.

But there was one thing I did know, and that was that her curiosity was very strong.

‘With that kind of personality, he would have definitely caught Han Si-yeon that day and asked her all sorts of questions about ghosts.’

And naturally, you would have become curious about this guy called Ghost.

Until now it was just a guess, but the reaction just now made it clear.

‘You must be confused because I suddenly gave you an unexpected hint.’

Of course, it was possible that Ellis would suspect Do Yu-jin after hearing this.

I am talking about the suspicion that ‘what I am seeing right now is a ghost?’

But Do Yu-jin was confident that she could easily shake off such doubts.

‘Well, I’m incredibly weak with all my traits removed.’

If you have the ability of Ellis, it wouldn’t be difficult at all to figure out how much power Do Yu-jin has.

Therefore, Ellis could never have guessed that Do Yu-jin was the same person as the ghost who appeared in the circle and here.

An ironic situation where one’s own superior abilities prevent one from taking action.

‘This piece of paper body is helpful in this way.’

Since it was sometimes useful as a way to predict the odds of winning the lottery, I now felt like I couldn’t just hate it.

With that thought in mind, Do Yu-jin looked at Ellis, who was still lost in thought.

‘I don’t even want to be completely deceived.’

Although Do Yu-jin had raised one possibility, he didn’t think that Ellis would fall for such a simple trick.

‘But I guess it’s possible if you just shake it a little.’

When Do Yu-jin was so nervous.

“Hmm, is that so?”

Ellis, having finished organizing her thoughts, spoke quietly.

“Thanks for the good information.”

“Huh? Oh, no. I didn’t really tell you anything.”

The way he backed down so meekly that Do Yu-jin, who had planned it, was slightly taken aback.

Naturally, Do Yu-jin couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of unease and complicated thoughts, but of course, Ellis also had her own reasons.

‘I guess it would be right to be satisfied here and step back for now. I didn’t come here to investigate the ghost guy.’

Sigh-

‘I’d like to delve deeper, but right now I have so much to do that it’s hard. If I let my guard down even for a moment, I feel like I’ll just throw everything else away and focus on this one.’

Just as Do Yu-jin knew about Ellis, she also knew about herself.

Given his personality, if he were to cross the line just a little bit more in this situation, he would throw away everything, including his circle, and become absorbed in chasing ghosts.

A situation where you have to use your hand to swat away hints that fly in as if telling you to eat it if you want.

In that sense, Do Yu-jin was lucky.

If the bait he threw out had been just a little bigger, Ellis would not have been able to suppress her curiosity and would have investigated him like a rat, just like she had done with Han Si-yeon in the past.

Phew-

‘I’ve endured it for ten years.’

Do Yu-jin, who read the mood and realized that she had overcome a big mountain, let out a sigh of relief.

But he didn’t know that he had never gone to college in his past life.

“By the way, since it was fate that we met like this, I have one favor to ask.”

“Yes?”

That you should avoid talking too much with your professor and being in a way that could catch his eye as much as possible.

“I’m sorry, but could you help me with my work for a while?”

“… … Yes?”

And I’m saying that the food the professor buys is never free.