Ch.204Side Story 4

I. What should I do? What can I do? This is driving me crazy.

Chewing on his lips, Seojin Baek fell into deep thought.

Is he worried about Soohyun Kim’s excessive attachment? No.

Did Rina Lee cause some outrageous trouble again? Not that either.

Perhaps Hyunwoo Lee requested an absurd sparring match? No, not that either.

‘The Elders. I shouldn’t have captured them.’

If others heard this, they’d cry out that it makes no sense.

Thanks to capturing four of the surviving Elders, he finally had some breathing room.

They’d shout that saying he shouldn’t have captured them is ridiculous.

But Seojin Baek wouldn’t care what others said.

Right now, he was repeatedly regretting it and cursing himself for capturing them.

‘If I had known it would be like this, I should have just let them go.’

What The Third Eye wanted was merely to stop the three opponents.

If that was the case, there probably wouldn’t have been a big problem if he had just let them go after stopping them.

After all, in the case of Academy students, stopping them was enough.

But because they were Elders, because they were villains, he captured them completely.

Rina had already sent one to the afterlife, and he himself had captured two.

Yes. This is where the problem started.

‘The villains’ power has completely collapsed. In stock market terms, it’s so bad they’d need to dive into the Han River. Naturally, the surviving Elders will hole up in their territories and not come out.’

There were suggestions to go after them and annihilate them completely.

But right after that, stronger monsters emerged from the gates, so the plan was pushed back.

There was no reason to chase after those who couldn’t function properly and risk the home base being attacked.

‘If my most exciting gatekeeper targets lose their will and hide away, I’m the one who loses…’

His ability had been maximized. That much was good.

However, he hadn’t had a proper opportunity to test that ability.

He had defeated several S-rank monsters, but they weren’t comparable to multiple Elders.

Even then, he couldn’t go out much because the S-ranks were divided among different people to defeat.

All that remained were the Academy students, but compared to the current Seojin Baek, they were mere chicks.

“Sigh…”

It’s not that he was tired of looking after the Academy students.

He still found that part fulfilling and was doing his best.

Even today, weren’t the students who couldn’t reach Silver trembling with frustration!

But evaluation is evaluation. Giving it your all is another matter.

He had thought the events attacking the Academy were getting boring.

Now that he thought about it, from the Gatekeeper’s perspective, they were essential courses.

“What is it? Why do you keep sighing?”

Rina Lee, who had rushed over during break time and stuck close to Seojin Baek, asked.

It had been a while since she’d seen him looking so dejected.

“…”

“…?”

“…”

“W-what is it? If you have something to say, just say it.”

“…”

“Ah, no! Seojin oppa?! Why do you keep looking at me with those eyes?!”

No matter how much Rina shouted, Seojin Baek’s response remained the same.

With a very profound gaze, he openly stared at her side.

As a result, Rina’s face turned bright red, unable to handle his stare.

“W-why are you doing this! Ah, please say something! What am I supposed to do if you just stare like that!”

Did I do something wrong? No? There’s nothing I should be scolded for?

Is there something on my face? I even checked in the mirror before coming!

…Ah, maybe?! Is he suggesting we do something behind Soohyun Kim’s back…

“Rina.”

“Yes, yes! Just tell me! Even now, we can take time off and immediately…”

“Do you ever want to attack the United Academy?”

“…Huh?”

“I’m asking if you’ve ever wanted to become a villain.”

Blinking her eyes for a moment, Rina slowly stood up.

Moving around to Seojin Baek’s back, she put some strength into her hand and—

Smack!—

“…”

“Have you come to your senses now?”

“Ah. Yes. Thanks. Thanks to you, I almost did something really crazy.”

“You already did. Are you insane? Asking me to become a villain.”

The words “Your actions are already worse than a villain’s” rose to his throat, but he swallowed them.

In fact, Rina was an ability user with a surprisingly high hostility toward villains.

Just looking at what she did when capturing villains, his words were a bit excessive.

“Besides, what were you thinking to say such nonsense?”

“…I think I caught it from you.”

“What?”

“I suddenly felt bored.”

As a Gatekeeper, it’s natural to do his best to stop students.

But there are times when he wants to fight as a ‘strong one,’ not as a Gatekeeper.

And that fight ended with the previous battle against the Elders.

“Would you like to spar with me?”

“Even sparring has its limits.”

“That’s true. We can’t get the feeling of life and death at all. But forget about the Elders. You’ve beaten them so badly that they probably won’t even raise their heads unless it’s really necessary.”

As Seojin Baek was nodding and muttering “That’s true” to Rina’s words—

Buzz—

Buzz!—

Both of their phones rang simultaneously several times.

“What is it?”

“Wait, let me check. It’s not an emergency message. It seems they just want to inform the S-rank personnel about the situation, hmm… it’s nothing major. And it’s not in Korea.”

“What is it? Tell me properly.”

“An S-rank gate appeared in Japan, and it seems to be stronger than usual. All the Japanese S-rank ability users who were dispatched have been recalled, and they might request support from neighboring countries in case of emergency.”

It seems a considerably powerful monster has emerged.

If all S-rank personnel are being recalled for emergency, it must be an urgent situation.

“They’ll handle it themselves. It’s not like we need to care about overseas matters. Especially if it’s Japan, I absolutely refuse.”

“I don’t know about others, but it’s a bit strange hearing you say that…”

“Did you forget? I’m Korean. Korean! I dislike Japan because I’m Korean! And I dislike China because I’m human!”

Buzz!—

“New information just came in. …What? Of all places, it appeared near the Japanese National Academy…”

Grab!—

“I’ll be back soon.”

“Huh? W-what?! Oppa! Where are you going!”

“I’ll tell the Association President, so don’t worry! Just let them know there won’t be any evaluations today!”

*

After the great cataclysm, one of the problems was the frequent dispatch of high-ranking ability users.

With the emerging ranks and monsters being different from before, it couldn’t be helped.

For B-rank gates, A-rank users with sufficient numbers stand by.

But for A-rank gates, S-rank users need to stand by just in case, which is the biggest problem.

It would be good if they just stood by and nothing happened, but if a real S-rank gate appeared during that time, things would get very troublesome.

And the National Academy located in Kyoto, Japan, found itself in exactly such a situation.

An S-rank gate manifested right nearby, but there was only one S-rank ability user available.

The S-rank ability user on standby at the Academy first evacuated the students.

Then he immediately tried to lure the monster, but it was more intelligent than expected.

Instead of following the human trying to lure it, it started chasing after those who were fleeing.

In desperation, he even unleashed reckless attacks, but the monster remained unmoved.

You do your job, I’ll do what I want to do. That was its attitude.

Even the S-rank user’s strike only resulted in a superficial wound, merely peeling off some of its outer skin.

‘This is bad!’

As the S-rank ability user was regretting his mistake due to the monster’s unexpected behavior—

Crash!—

A flash of light struck down from the sky, piercing through the monster.

Keueeek!—

Dark red blood gushed from the hideous hole, soaking the ground.

Looking around at the sudden event, he soon discovered someone he had never seen before.

It was none other than Seojin Baek, who had been at the United Academy just moments ago.

“I’ll handle this, so please help with the evacuation over there!”

“…?”

“Go! I can handle this!”

The ability user remained motionless despite his shouting.

As Seojin Baek was about to shout again, he let out an “Ah” of frustration.

‘This was set to listen to foreign languages only.’

Quickly changing the settings, Seojin Baek conveyed his message to the other ability user again.

He would take care of this place, so hurry and safely complete the evacuation of the students.

Fortunately, this time the ability user seemed to understand and nodded.

Given the urgency of the situation, he seemed to have judged that evacuation took priority over identifying who this newcomer was.

‘Good. The interference is gone now.’

Turning his head, Seojin Baek looked at the monster that was writhing and getting up.

The hideous hole that had been there was already more than half filled.

It was his best surprise attack, but with that level of self-healing, this was an extraordinary creature.

‘It’s at least comparable to two Elders. That’s good. It’s not just an ordinary S-rank. Now that I’ve confirmed the monster’s high level, that’s fine.’

Finally, just to be sure, he uses The Third Eye one more time.

– The Third Eye is activated.

◎ The Silver Gatekeeper

: Your ability is activated.

: Recognizing the evaluation area as the Academy.

‘Good. Confirmed that the ability works.’

He can use his ability outside the Academy, but he wants to maximize its efficiency.

If so, it’s right to use this fully enhanced ability inside the Academy!

‘Stopping even gods, and all that embarrassingly cheesy description. Let’s see how it tastes.’

With a smile, Seojin Baek rushed toward the giant monster without hesitation.

*

Thud—

Seojin Baek collapsed to the floor, grabbing his forehead.

‘Damn it.’

He never thought it would die in one hit.