16. Each Other’s Time (1)

About a month and a week after the incident, I finally got a call from Siana-ssi.

• Jihoo-gun, the headmaster-nim has woken up. Don’t tell anyone else, just come alone to the address in the text.

“Okay. I’ll be right there.”

• Ah, and… knock twice, okay? Definitely…!

Judging by the fact that there weren’t any special articles about Sanya on the internet, her injuries probably hadn’t been officially announced yet.

Like when I heard it at Siana-ssi’s house last time, there might be a traitor, so she probably only told people she could trust about Sanya’s current condition.

In my case, I saw Sanya collapse with my own eyes, and Siana-ssi trusted me enough, so I guess I was included.

I didn’t think I needed any other girls to go see Sanya, so I made up an excuse to Seol-ah sunbae and left the house.

“Let’s see. The address is… inside Arvadellin.”

I presented the special pass I got from Siana-ssi, passed the restricted access line, and headed to the address in the text.

As soon as I stepped into the inner space, where ordinary people were still prohibited from entering, I was greeted by a silent interior and gray dust with not a single person in sight.

The Awakened training facility, built over 70 years ago, is full of secret spaces that ordinary students wouldn’t know about until graduation.

Even I didn’t know that the headmaster-nim’s office would be full of CCTV cameras like that, and I only found out about the hidden room then.

If a school with so many secrets had a room that wasn’t visible to unauthorized people, it would be obvious.

Because right in front of me, a golden door that hadn’t been there until just now was quietly shining.

[Arvadellin Building 17, Room 308. Large golden door. Knock twice when entering.]

I’ve been feeling it since the way the password was put on the headmaster-nim’s office door, but the author of this novel must have been overly inspired by Harry Potter.

It’s basically the originator of the academy genre, so it doesn’t really matter if there are homage elements.

“Uh… I’m going in?”

Knock knock.

As written in the text, I knocked twice, and the door opened on its own without me even touching the handle.

From the strong smell of alcohol coming from inside, I could tell what kind of facility this was at once.

“Jihoo-gun, you’ve arrived.”

Siana-ssi appeared at the end of the long corridor, as if sensing someone was there.

She was so happy that Sanya-ssi had woken up that the corners of her mouth were turned up.

She looks much better when she smiles.

“Hello. How have you been?”

“Yes. I’m still very busy, but… I’m relieved that the headmaster-nim has woken up. Ah, you can come inside.”

Following the corridor of bookshelves with antique decorations, a large space soon appeared.

Two women with faces I’d never seen before were talking next to the bed, and on the spacious bed… Sanya Dominas was lying down.

“Ah, it’s Jihoo-gun. Welcome. If I had my way, I’d get up and hug you, but as you can see, my body is a bit like this… haha.”

“Sanya, I told you not to move if you can help it.”

Sanya-ssi tried to greet me by struggling to raise her upper body, but the woman standing next to her gently pressed her head down, causing her to collapse again.

Sanya-ssi had become surprisingly emaciated in the past month.

Even though she was already small, her arms had become so thin that you could see her bones, and the magic hole in her chest, which still didn’t seem to be completely healed, revealed her condition without exaggeration.

“Well, still, now that I’ve woken up, if I get a little more treatment, there won’t be much time left before I can return… keulkeul! heueok… heueuk…”

Sanya-ssi started coughing violently in the middle of her playful words.

Seeing her face turning painful, I couldn’t help but feel down.

The blue-haired woman hurriedly placed her hand on Sanya-ssi’s chest and muttered something, and only then did Sanya-ssi’s breathing gradually calm down.

She was an Awakened with healing abilities.

“Jihoo-gun. If it’s okay, would you like to go inside for a bit and have a chat?”

“Yes. I’d like that.”

I felt like I’d get a hole in my chest too if I kept watching that depressing scene, so I immediately accepted Siana-ssi’s suggestion.

Siana-ssi led me to a reception room with a small table on the opposite side of the room where the bed was.

“I’m sorry if I called you too suddenly. I didn’t mean to show you this side of things…”

“No, it’s okay. I’m just relieved to see that you’re alive.”

“I’m glad to hear that… Actually, I originally made a separate space in the isolation ward and was treating her there, but because she kept being threatened even there, I had no choice but to come here.”

Since Siana-ssi invited me about three weeks ago, she probably moved Sanya-ssi here in the meantime.

“Speaking of threats… is it related to spies?”

“Yes. I don’t know what kind of trash did it… but they tried to assassinate Sanya-ssi by disguising a life-sucking monster as an ornamental plant. Even though we thoroughly checked the access control and belongings, that kind of thing happened…!”

“Ah…”

Honestly, it was a bit shocking.

If the person who revived the Sea Dragon in the practical exam was related to the spy, then he took the risk of coming to Sanya-ssi’s hospital room to complete the plan that failed with the Sea Dragon.

At that moment, an alarm went off on my phone, indicating that a text message had arrived.

I wondered if some kind of quest had occurred because I had encountered an important fact, so I asked for understanding and quickly opened the screen, but I lost interest as soon as I checked the sender of the text message.

[Jihoo-ya. It’s Ryushin. Is it okay if I come to your house now? There’s something I want to talk about seriously.]

[Sorry, I’m out now]

He didn’t contact me for over a month, so why now, and why now of all times?

I’m sorry, but this conversation seems more serious, so it’s an immediate rejection.

“Anyway, to get to the point, school will be resuming soon. We’ll have to carefully decide whether Sanya-ssi will return after watching her treatment progress, but fortunately, the government said they’d send support personnel.”

“Is there any possibility that there are people among the government people who are in contact with the demons?”

“That’s a reasonable suspicion. I was also concerned about that, so I discussed it with the team that’s conducting the investigation together, and according to someone who has ties to the government, support personnel who have been thoroughly educated while isolated from society will be coming, so there’s no room for demons to intervene.”

So what Siana-ssi is saying is that the personnel dispatched by the government will temporarily take on the original role of the absent headmaster-nim, which is to maintain safety and identify risks.

Honestly, I don’t know if the government’s intervention will be a positive thing, but since it’s already been a month since we’ve been resting, we can’t just wait for Sanya-ssi to return, so I think it’s a reasonable solution in its own way.

“Are the professors coming back too? Or are you going to stay here…?”

“Of course I have to protect Jihoo-gun. Hehe, I’m just kidding… Our team decided to take turns protecting the headmaster-nim, so I’ll probably be at the academy while there are classes. I’m a first-year homeroom teacher, so there are parts where I have to pay more attention to the students.”

Phew, that’s a relief.

I thought I finally had Siana-ssi as my background, but if Siana-ssi wasn’t even there in a situation where a new force called the government had invaded the school, my future would have been bleak.

I don’t know what kind of people will come to the school, but I don’t think they’ll be very friendly.

It’s like Hogwarts being ruled by Death Eaters… well, not quite, but it’s a similar feeling.

I wonder if I’ve already grown attached to the academy without realizing it…

I’ve been here for over two months, so I guess it’s enough to do that.

Anyway, I thought I should be on my guard when school resumes.

“The school start date will probably be sent out in a group text message. Jihoo-gun, go home safely.”

“Siana professor-nim, please get some rest too. I’ll see you in the lecture hall later.”

After that, we talked about this and that, and when I was told that visiting hours were over, I said goodbye and left the room.

As soon as I came out completely, the golden door disappeared without a trace, as if it had never been there.

“It’s really amazing…”

I was thinking of going straight home, but since I came to the academy after a long time, I decided to do a few more things.

Since there aren’t any students, today I can get another hidden piece hidden in the school without having to worry about being noticed.

If the one I got last time was [Critical Shield], which is in charge of defense, then the one I’ll get this time is an artifact that plays the role of auxiliary attack, ‘Little Pixie’.

Little Pixie is not too greedy to take.

I leisurely moved my steps to where the hidden piece was located.

---

A long sword cuts through the air.

Each time a sword strike full of energy is swung, as if cutting through the floating air, it makes a fierce sound.

Not just simple slashing, but a series of attacks that accurately understand the principles of the sword.

A beautiful silver sword dance unfolds against an imaginary enemy.

“Hoo… At this point, the movements seem to be usable.”

Goryushin sheathed his sword with a satisfied expression.

The tingling sensation still remaining in his palm revealed how hard he had been training.

Over the past month, he had constantly looked back on himself.

Himself, who was so helpless in front of the wall of tentacles that regenerated even when cut, himself, who was overwhelmed by the suspicious monster he encountered on the island and had no choice but to stand by.

He was still far too weak, and therefore had to develop the power to stand up to the monsters.

The tattoo engraved on his back helped him with his training.

He could feel it naturally guiding the flow of magic to stabilize, and balancing his body so that no power was wasted unnecessarily.

‘I just thought it was a big dot, but I didn’t know it would have this kind of power…’

He doesn’t even remember when the tattoo appeared anymore.

He only knows that a small dot appeared on his back one day, and gradually increased in size until it eventually covered almost half of his back.

He used to get teased a lot by other kids when he was young.

He tried to get it erased by getting magic surgery or something, but his skin wouldn’t come off no matter what, so he gave up, but now that he sees it, there was a reason why it wouldn’t erase.

The fact that the tattoo was so annoying and itchy a few months ago was probably a sign that the power latent in the tattoo was about to appear.

It’s an unknown power from an unknown source, but since there’s no unpleasant energy felt from the impure magic at all, Goryushin has been actively using the tattoo in his training since awakening to actively develop his power.

“But it’s still not enough…”

Goryushin looked down at the sword hanging from his right waist.

An artifact he happened to obtain during the archeology club’s museum tour last time.

Even though he passed the [Qualification] test and was recognized for ownership of the artifact, he still didn’t know what potential the sword had.

When he slightly lifted the handle, the silver blade emitted a sharp light with a cool sound.

It was a famous sword that could cut anything if it fell into the hands of a master.

But that was it. The current sword was simply a bit higher in energy and intensity than other swords, and even though it was recognized as an artifact, the effect given to the sword was not being exerted at all.

‘Surely the effect of the artifact isn’t just to enhance the sword’s own specs, is it?’

No, that can’t be.

There’s no way that the masterpiece that an Awakened can only create once in a lifetime would only have this much power.

Maybe he hasn’t found the specific conditions to awaken the sword, or maybe he’s just not at the level where he can properly handle the sword’s power yet.

“Maybe I should get some counseling… Jihoo seems to have a few.”

I don’t know where he got them, but the bracelet that Lee Jihoo is wearing on his wrist is emitting a strange magic, unlike its plain appearance.

Assuming that’s an artifact, maybe Lee Jihoo also knows how to draw out the power of the artifact.

Goryushin wiped the sweat from his forehead and left the training hall.

Anyway, he’s not going to school, and it doesn’t seem like Lee Jihoo is the type to go out often, so there’s a high chance he’ll be at home.

“Should I buy him a gift when I go…?”

He decided to visit Lee Jihoo’s house on the spur of the moment.

The purpose is to get counseling, but in fact, he hasn’t really met anyone properly for almost a month, so he needed someone to talk to.

Of course, it’s not polite to just show up, so I have to send a text message.

The expression “housewarming gift” doesn’t fit, but if I bring a few rolls of toilet paper, it’ll be enough to have some semblance of a gift.

[Jihoo-ya. It’s Ryushin. Is it okay if I come to your house now? There’s something I want to talk about seriously.]

[Sorry, I’m out now]

Ah, he’s out.

Goryushin, who saw the reply, immediately became sullen and trudged home.

Someday we’ll have a chance to talk… maybe?

It’s not so important that I have to say it now.

…But I’ll definitely ask him next time.