Ch.114Chapter 114. Situation Summary (4)

“No matter how much I think about it, it’s strange.”

Elaine stared blankly at the mirror, recalling what she had seen.

The person in black clothes she saw last night and Ryu’s appearance this morning.

Elaine knew it herself.

Objectively speaking, the two people couldn’t possibly be the same person.

Their build, voice, height, even their gender felt different.

But Elaine couldn’t easily dismiss her suspicions.

The person who rescued her yesterday and brought her here was most likely the leader of the Black Shadow Corps.

Grand Commander Ordin himself had announced that with the help of the Black Shadow Corps leader, they had captured the enemy and rescued the student.

No matter how she thought about it, the only person who could have saved her at that timing was the Black Shadow Corps leader.

While people from the O’Neil Kingdom were puzzled and disliked the fact that the Black Shadow Corps had helped them, Elaine actually didn’t mind.

Publicly, the Black Shadow Corps didn’t have a good image.

But to Elaine, they didn’t have such a bad image either.

To begin with, Elaine didn’t know much about the organization called the Black Shadow Corps.

So she didn’t care much if it was the Black Shadow Corps leader who saved her.

‘He was almost exactly like Ryu.’

In Elaine’s mind, she recalled the image and voice of the Black Shadow Corps leader urgently telling her to tear through and run.

She couldn’t explain it specifically, but there was definitely a unique atmosphere in that voice.

Just like Ryu’s usual demeanor.

Perhaps that’s why.

Since the moment she saw Ryu at breakfast, Elaine couldn’t shake off the thought lingering in her mind.

Coincidentally, Ryu had no alibi.

He claimed he was too tired, locked his door, and fell into a deep sleep, but Elaine couldn’t easily believe it.

Someone of Ryu’s caliber wouldn’t have been so deeply asleep with all that noise.

“Sigh.”

After continuing with uncertain speculations, Elaine clenched her fist and stood up with determination.

Ryu had denied it, but she needed to confirm it for certain.

More definitively than just asking and hearing an answer.

‘If I embrace him, I think I’ll know.’

“A-ahem.”

With a somewhat embarrassing thought, Elaine opened the door and went out.

And headed straight to Ryu’s room.

As she got closer to Ryu’s room, her heart was beating faster, but Elaine took steps without hesitation.

Knock knock-

“Are you there?”

As soon as she arrived at Ryu’s door, Elaine knocked without hesitation.

She expected an immediate response, but surprisingly, there was no sign of life from inside the room.

As if no one was there.

Knock knock knock-

Elaine knocked on the door again.

Elaine wanted to somehow cleanly resolve this unsettling feeling.

One unsettling hypothesis that kept coming to her mind.

‘What if Ryu is the leader of the Black Shadow Corps.’

Gulp-

Elaine swallowed and knocked again.

But still, there was no response from inside the room.

“Hey, Ryu! I know you’re in there!”

Unable to wait any longer, Elaine started shouting at the door.

After finishing her words, she put her ear to the door and concentrated on any sound from inside, but she couldn’t hear anything.

As if there really was no one inside.

‘Huh?’

Elaine felt puzzled.

There was no way Ryu wouldn’t be in his room at this time.

Ryu had finished breakfast first and returned to the lodging, and since there was only one entrance to the lodging, he hadn’t gone outside in the meantime.

Nor could she hear any bathroom sounds from inside.

“Ryu…?”

Click-

Elaine grabbed the doorknob and turned it without thinking.

Contrary to her expectation that it would be firmly locked, the door opened without resistance.

Creak-

“Uh…”

Elaine was surprised by the door opening so easily, but reflexively stepped inside.

As expected, there was no one in the room.

All that could be seen was a bed and desk with almost no signs of use.

There was hardly any luggage either.

The only evidence that this was Ryu’s room was the clothes he had worn yesterday hanging on one side of the room.

‘Why isn’t he here…?’

Elaine quickly looked around the room and bathroom.

Ryu, who should naturally be in the room, wasn’t there.

Nor was there any sign that he had gone outside.

“Uh…”

It was at that moment when Elaine was looking around the room in confusion.

Woong-

Elaine saw it clearly, if only for a split second.

The empty space trembled slightly, then split open.

And someone casually walked out from between it.

“Oh.”

“Huh?”

A person dressed in all black clothes wearing a black mask.

The Black Shadow Corps leader who had saved her last night.

Momentarily surprised by the Black Shadow Corps leader who appeared without any warning, Elaine instinctively felt it.

This person is indeed Ryu.

At the same time, Elaine’s hand moved quickly.

It was an action that even Elaine herself didn’t know why she was doing.

Tap-

Elaine grabbed the black mask worn by the Black Shadow Corps leader standing blankly in front of her.

Swish-

And then she pulled off the mask with force.

Even while Elaine was grabbing and removing the mask, the Black Shadow Corps leader just stood still without moving.

**

“No matter how much I think about it, it’s strange.”

“Right?”

Emily eagerly agreed with Cynthia’s words.

Professor Amillion, sitting at the same table, slightly raised her head, showing interest in the conversation between the two.

With Elaine absent, the three could freely talk about Ryu.

“Professor, don’t you think so?”

“Hmm…”

Professor Amillion tilted her head and sighed at Cynthia’s words.

Amillion knew very well what part Cynthia was referring to as “strange.”

The series of events that happened last night.

So many things had happened in just one night.

Elaine was kidnapped, the O’Neil Kingdom army was dispatched to rescue her, and the Black Shadow Corps leader appeared.

Not only that.

The suddenly appearing Black Shadow Corps leader rescued Elaine, helped capture Kilvis, and then disappeared.

What bothered the three was one person who wasn’t seen during this process.

Ryu.

The three didn’t explicitly say it out loud, but they were all thinking of one highly probable possibility.

Based on what each of them knew about Ryu.

“Surely it can’t be, right?”

Emily spoke with half-doubt.

Both Cynthia and Professor Amillion immediately understood Emily’s words, but none of them could readily deny it.

If they were as ignorant as Elaine, they might not have suspected, but knowing something about Ryu, the two couldn’t dismiss their suspicions.

Ryu was not an ordinary student.

He was working with Yuria from the Phrysis Family, one of the six great families.

‘Come to think of it, the relationship between Yuria and Ryu didn’t seem like a boss-subordinate relationship.’

Amillion recalled how Ryu treated Yuria too comfortably and boldly.

At the time, she simply thought they were close because they had worked together for a long time, but thinking about it now, it was more than that.

No matter how much time they had spent together, the atmosphere between the two was like equal colleagues.

It definitely didn’t feel like one person working under the other.

“I know Ryu is far beyond student level, but…”

Cynthia reflected on the scenes Ryu had shown so far.

Though she hadn’t seen it directly, Ryu had been different from the entrance exam.

He not only took first place with an overwhelming score difference over Elaine, but also stood out in all subsequent events.

It was that kind of feeling that couldn’t be hidden even if he tried.

“If that’s really true.”

The gazes of the three met simultaneously in the air.

Making eye contact, the three instinctively felt they were thinking the same thing.

Moreover, this thought had a very high probability of being true.

All circumstances and intuitions were proving that their hypothesis was true.

The Black Shadow Corps leader who suddenly appeared in the O’Neil Kingdom yesterday was Ryu.

Gulp-

It was a fact hard to believe, so none of them could speak it out loud.

Emily swallowed and thought of Aunt Yuria.

Clearly, the clothes Aunt Yuria was wearing during the festival were the uniform of the Black Shadow Corps.

So Emily thought Ryu was simply related to the Black Shadow Corps, or a member of it.

But to think he might be the leader of the Black Shadow Corps.

‘Though we don’t know for sure yet.’

Of course, it wasn’t certain.

Creak-

“…What are you all doing?”

“Ah, Elaine.”

The silence that had deepened due to their thoughts was broken by Elaine’s appearance.

Elaine’s expression was clearly different from usual, but the other three didn’t have time to notice it.

They were too busy trying not to show any signs of the hypothesis and conversation they had just shared in their expressions and words.

“Are you ready? We just need Ryu now.”

“Ah, Ryu probably won’t be coming.”

“Huh?”

The gazes of Cynthia, Emily, and Professor Amillion simultaneously turned to Elaine.

Elaine flipped her flowing golden hair back unnecessarily and continued speaking.

“He left.”

“Huh?”

“What do you mean?”

The three focused their attention even more on Elaine.

Elaine opened her mouth again with a bitter smile.

“He said if we can see each other, let’s meet again at the academy.”

“…What?”

None of Cynthia, Emily, or Professor Amillion could immediately understand Elaine’s words.

Elaine was likewise looking down with a complex expression.