Ch.142Chapter 6. The Devil is Everywhere. (4)

“Ah, she’s not falling for it. Look at that wall she’s putting up.”

Nam Du-chang spat on the ground while smoking a cigarette.

“A man should be able to smoke. I bet she does all kinds of drinking, smoking, and weird stuff behind closed doors.”

After arriving at the pension reserved for the four of them, they unpacked their luggage, and Nam Du-chang lit up a cigarette he hadn’t been able to smoke openly until now.

“That’s right.”

Gong Tae-beom grinned as he lit his own cigarette.

Both being ability users, the harmful substances from the cigarettes entered their bodies and were expelled again, but they could still feel the sensation of that moment when it entered and left.

They could enjoy smoking purely without the harmful substances.

It was a privilege that wasn’t really a privilege for ability users, which is why most male ability users smoked.

“I told you. Hyung, she definitely has a boyfriend.”

“I know that. But does having a goalkeeper mean you can’t score? Huh? An E-rank should just spread her arms wide open like a good girl. *Spits*”

“Even if her man is a non-ability user, he’s quite something. Hehe.”

Gong Tae-beom lightly brushed his face with his hand.

“What’s with you? Did you do some background check?”

“Come on, what do you mean? Checking out your practice partner’s social media accounts is just the basics, isn’t it?”

“Is that so…? I didn’t bother with that stuff.”

“You can find everything if you look. Hyung, that idol from last time…”

“Hey, shut up.”

Nam Du-chang raised his fist but quickly lowered it again.

Nam Du-chang might be one year older, but Gong Tae-beom had a higher ability rank.

“I was just having some fun, okay? She enjoyed it too. Getting to spend a hot moment with a young ability user before turning 30—that’s enough for her. If anything, I did her a service.”

“I heard you sent her to the hospital.”

“She only had one four-story building in Seoul—who does she think she is? Maybe if she had a building in Busan… But hey, you’re not one to talk, are you?”

“Me? What? Who plays cleaner than I do?”

They could talk so openly because there was no one else around.

Even if someone overheard such conversations, no one would want to pick a fight with ability users over it.

“Damn, she had quite the mana tank though.”

“That mana tank already has someone else’s spit on it.”

“So what? I can wash it off and put my own spit on it.”

“Anyway… what are we doing tonight?”

“Obviously this.”

Nam Du-chang put his hand in an obscene place.

“Hehehe.”

“Ah, don’t take it out. That’s disgusting.”

“You’re going to join me in a bit anyway, so what’s the problem? Hey, I’ll take Canada, you take Seoul.”

“Wow, hyung, you’re crossing the line. Are you crazy?”

“I’m cutting you some slack because I’m your hyung. 2:2. Our A-rank teammates are up there in the heavens meeting with the high and mighty of Ulleungdo, so let’s just have fun among ourselves. Okay?”

“No, you can’t just give Seoul to me.”

As the two men were bickering,

“My, what interesting things you’re discussing?”

“…Who are you?”

A man in a modernized hanbok holding a folding fan approached the pension.

“As for me, I’m just a passing scholar.”

No matter how powerful ability users might be, there are certain people they should be careful around, and a young man in modernized hanbok might be one of them.

“What’s this? A stuck-up scholar? Don’t come any closer and mind your own business. We were just discussing what drinking games to play tonight. Right?”

“Of course. We were talking about Monopoly. I don’t know who you are, but…”

“First, put out your cigarettes when talking to an adult.”

Swish.

With a light wave of his fan, the cigarettes in their mouths were instantly cut in half.

“Wh-what…?!”

“An ability user?!”

“Tsk. I said I’m just a passing scholar.”

The young man took out a long pipe from his clothes and threw something to them.

“How dare you smoke foreign cigarettes on Ulleungdo land. Here, Hallasan.”

“…?”

“I took away one cigarette, so giving you a pack is only fair. Use Korean products instead of foreign cigarettes.”

“But you’re smoking a pipe… Made in Korea?”

“Of course… tsk. Ah, I can’t do anything about this.”

The self-proclaimed scholar scratched his head and covered the bottom of his pipe with his hand.

“Try it. You won’t even think about foreign cigarettes anymore.”

“This is such bull—”

“Smoke it.”

“……”

At the scholar’s words, Nam Du-chang and Gong Tae-beom unconsciously reached for the cigarette pack.

“Need a light?”

A torch-like flame emerged from the scholar’s fingertip, and as soon as Nam Du-chang and Gong Tae-beom put the cigarettes in their mouths, the flame began to burn the tips of their tobacco.

“…Wow, what is this? This isn’t what I know.”

“This cigarette pack is just disguised, but actually—”

“Welcome, trash.”

Clap.

“This is the last cigarette you’ll smoke as humans. Hehe.”

As soon as the scholar clapped his hands, the two men stared blankly at him while smoking.

And then.

Slurp.

Something shot out from inside the cigarettes and slipped down their throats.

Crunch.

After the scholar disappeared.

The two men, having finished their cigarettes, picked up the butts from the ground, put them in the cigarette pack, threw it in the trash can, and disappeared.

* * *

“You came to the Academy to seduce a Korean man and get married, right?”

“……”

From the first words they exchanged in Eun Hae-young’s room, Ymir was slightly—no, openly—annoyed.

“What did you say?”

“You came here to seduce a Korean man.”

“How could you say such a…”

“What? Did I say something wrong? Go ahead and report me for defamation. Record it.”

“……”

Ymir thought.

Maybe she should just forget about secrecy and add an X after her E-rank name.

Or maybe she should attach the S+ rank that the country was talking about.

“I came here to study.”

“If you wanted to study, why not do it in Mexico? Why crawl into Korea claiming you want to study?”

“I’m Canadian.”

“Canada, Mexico, whatever.”

She only needed the status of an Academy student to officially stay on Sejong Island.

While she did intend to study as an Academy student, this kind of insult was intolerable.

“You’re saying I’m attending the Academy to hook up with Korean men?”

“I heard you’re in that kind of relationship with the parachute librarian.”

“Yes.”

She had to admit that.

“What’s wrong with that?”

“…You’re so shameless I don’t even know what to say. Is that how all foreigners are, with such thick skin?”

“I didn’t enter to find a man; we just got along as we talked and ended up dating.”

“Ha. You’re out of your mind.”

“What’s wrong with dating a man?”

“He’s a non-ability user. ‘Non’-ability user.”

Why emphasize the word “non”?

Not using the official term “non-powered,” but deliberately attaching a word meaning “nothing”—it was clear what kind of person she was.

“Are you an ability supremacist?”

“Supremacist? No. It’s not supremacy, but the mindset that the new human race should naturally have. Why would you want to mix genes with inferior beings?”

“……”

Suddenly, Eun Hae-young started to look different.

Before, she had seemed like someone who just interfered in others’ relationships and despised those who pursued Korean men, but now she was starting to look like someone on par with the KKK or Nazis.

“Do you think ability users are superior to others?”

“Of course. Abilities are a blessing bestowed by God upon the new human race. Passing such a blessing to future generations with those who are obsolete from birth—it’s absurd.”

“Are you upset because I’m dating a Korean non-ability user, or is that really how you think?”

“……”

Eun Hae-young didn’t answer.

Whether she didn’t realize her own mixed feelings or not, Eun Hae-young remained silent.

“Are you just jealous that I’m dating a handsome man?”

“Shut up.”

She hit the mark.

The expected reaction came immediately, and Ymir decided not to push further.

“Fine. I’m satisfied with my life, and I’ll live as I please. Don’t interfere.”

“You…!”

“Even for a B-rank, there’s a line you shouldn’t cross, right?”

As I please.

It was a magic phrase.

It was both a warning for the ability user not to interfere further and a threat that if pushed more, she might “turn dark”—a plea to others while she still had her sanity.

“I just want to live as I want and meet who I want to meet, so I’d appreciate it if we didn’t touch on this subject. Senior?”

“…Hmph.”

Eun Hae-young frowned deeply.

“A girl like you flirting with two men as soon as you got in the car.”

“I wasn’t flirting. I clearly showed I wasn’t interested.”

“Bullshit. You didn’t explicitly reject them.”

“Do we need to create tension on the first day of practice? You’re creating tension with me right now, but I’m trying to get along since we’ve come all the way to Ulleungdo.”

To prevent you from getting angry and turning into a demon.

She swallowed those words, but Ymir was half giving up.

“Get along? A woman who says she wants to get along—”

“Excuse me.”

There was a knock from outside.

“It’s time to leave for practice. Are you ready?”

“…Nam Du-chang?”

Eun Hae-young was surprised.

Her eyes seemed to say, “Nam Du-chang with that voice?”

Ymir felt the same way.

“Just a moment.”

When Ymir opened the door, Nam Du-chang was standing outside with an expressionless face.

There was no foul odor at all; rather, he smelled of toothpaste as if he had just brushed his teeth.

“Are you… ready?”

“Yes.”

Unlike when they were in the car, the sudden change in atmosphere gave Ymir goosebumps.

“If you’re ready, come out now. The practice leader will be here soon.”

“What? We agreed to give the leader position to her—”

“An A-rank will be the practice leader.”

Nam Du-chang tapped his Taegeuk Watch with the same expressionless face.

“Student Council President Yoon Yi-seon will be the leader.”