Ch.71Chapter 3. Riders Aren’t the Only Ones Who Transform! (8)

At that moment when students were busily searching everywhere for treasures, in the command center of the March 2022 Ability User Outdoor Training “Treasure Hunt”:

“Busan Zone 1, treasure has been discovered.”

“Busan Zone 1, first treasure has arrived at the target point.”

“Yesss!!!”

The professors in formal attire erupted in cheers at the command center. They were ecstatic watching the large screen showing a twin-tailed girl sitting on top of a treasure box she had brought to the destination.

“Hahaha! As expected, ‘Young-ae’ takes first place again this year! Hahaha!”

“Indeed. What a relief. Whew, there was almost a disaster at ‘Dongbaek Island.’ Hehe.”

While the professors checked the real-time treasure hunt results on their Taeguk Watches, Baek Seol-hee, who was with them, stared grimly at one section of the chart.

Injured: 43 people.

Requiring emergency personnel: 7 people.

More than expected.

Even in the military, training is suspended when accidents occur, but here, despite having seven people who would normally be rushed to the ER, the outdoor training continues without pause.

“Oh my, Teacher Baek Seol-hee. What are you looking at?”

“…The injury report for the wounded students, Professor.”

“Hohoho, don’t worry about that. Kids grow up getting hurt, and ability users are no different. Ah, you might not know this, but the ability users here have been looking forward to the treasure hunt since the beginning of the year. Hehe.”

The professors just laughed with no sense of tension.

“Are you saying these injuries are normal?”

“Of course. When ability users compete against each other, injuries happen. Fortunately, thanks to their abilities, as long as they’re not cut in half or decapitated, minor stab wounds can heal completely in a day. With the power of abilities.”

“You mean healing-type ability users?”

“Yes. Oh, I suppose you wouldn’t know since you’ve never been injured.”

“…I’ve been injured a few times myself.”

She had been stabbed a few times, but never seriously enough to require hospital care or a healer’s help.

“But does that justify this many injuries…?”

“Oh, Teacher Baek. Everyone says that at first. But this is what the ability user students wanted. We’re just creating the environment they asked for. Later on, they’ll all be excitedly fighting each other, you know? ‘Legally.'”

“…So you’re saying you’ll overlook them fighting each other? As long as they don’t die?”

“That’s right. Of course, we monitor through the Taeguk Watches to prevent A-class or B-class users from fighting to the death, but…”

The professors looked at each other and chuckled softly.

As if everyone except Baek Seol-hee had implicitly agreed to something.

“Anyway, Teacher Baek, let’s eat. Don’t look so serious. The food has arrived.”

“Yes, Professor.”

As the command center door opened, steaming hot soup in stone bowls was delivered to each seat.

The food wasn’t in plastic containers but delivered as if they were in an actual restaurant.

Baek Seol-hee almost laughed at the neatly arranged individual meal before her, but then felt her whole body twist as a hand reached out from beside her.

“Radish kimchi broth really needs to be poured in. You were going to pour it in anyway, right, Teacher Baek?”

“Wow, Professor! Your assertiveness is amazing even in front of an S-class hero!”

“What? Haha, of course!”

“……”

Baek Seol-hee watched the white soup turn red and clenched her fist under the table.

“…Let’s eat at our seats, Professor.”

“Y-yes. Hehe. People these days… when someone shows kindness… hmph.”

“……”

Baek Seol-hee quietly closed her eyes.

But she couldn’t keep them fully closed with the red broth shimmering before her and the number of injured students on the screen continuing to rise.

* * *

Gradually, the students’ lunch hour approached.

The funny thing about this lunch hour was that eating was entirely optional for students.

Teams confident in their treasure hunting could go to restaurants for meals, while desperate students could fill their stomachs with water and devote all their time to the treasure hunt.

-Back in my day, we’d fill our stomachs with water from the tap, put cream buns in our pockets, and take them home for the kids!

That’s truly an old story, but those old-timers now occupy key positions at the academy.

As a result, students now solve minor missions in each zone based on information sent to their Taeguk Watches, then use those clues to search for treasures.

With no time to eat.

-Sejong Zone 2, treasure has been discovered.

-Busan Zone 5, treasure has been discovered.

-Seoul Zone 9, treasure has been discovered. Third treasure has arrived at the target point.

News of treasure discoveries rings out on many people’s Taeguk Watches.

Fortunately, no treasure has been found in Gangwon Zone 10, where Ymir is with Ermina.

How do I know?

Because I just found the treasure.

‘This follows the original story.’

I’m currently at the rocky shore in the Gangwon zone of Sejong Island during the treasure hunt competition.

This is a very secluded area, comparable to the waters off Sokcho if we were to use real geography as a reference.

‘The box left by the staff is still here.’

It’s not actually that spacious, but inside the sheer cliff sits a treasure chest that looks like something from a fantasy game.

I didn’t touch the treasure directly.

That’s because opening the treasure requires synchronization with a Taeguk Watch, which I don’t have.

Even if I had one, I wouldn’t want to open it.

Because the real treasure isn’t there.

A little distance from where the treasure is hidden, there’s a dark hole not easily visible from the outside.

‘There it is.’

Ducking into the hole, I found a cave on the right that was just barely big enough to crawl through.

[Found it.]

I released my spirit form to take on the Goblin’s physical form, then carefully approached the inside of the sea cave.

And I discovered it.

[These are traces of the ‘culling.’]

In a spot where waves don’t reach, where no one would notice unless they came close and looked carefully.

There was a skeleton.

The skeleton, neatly propped against the wall like a decoration, was unfortunately the bones of an actual person.

Why mince words?

These are the bones of an ability user who was “murdered” here.

Some bones were missing, with only the torso remaining to give a rough estimate of the body type.

An adult male?

No.

That’s the build of a high school boy.

I’m not a psychometrist, so I can’t specifically grasp what happened here, but just looking at the condition of the bones, I can immediately guess what occurred.

‘He was attacked and killed. By another ability user.’

There are no signs of battle.

That means he was either killed one-sidedly or died instantly, and someone waited until the body decomposed to bones before collecting some of them.

‘Probably an E-class ability user who went missing during last year’s or the year before’s treasure hunt.’

On Sejong Island, there are people who kill others and walk around without batting an eye.

On the surface, they call themselves “hero aspirants” or “heroes,” but in reality, they’re people who kill others and act like nothing happened.

[If I find the one who killed you, I will surely destroy them with my club.]

The moment I reached out to the skeleton, it crumbled as if it had heard my words.

The skeleton disintegrated into white powder, maintaining its original posture.

It had probably maintained its form until now due to lingering resentment after death, or perhaps a desire for someone to acknowledge its death.

[This world is truly hell.]

There are probably more than a few “ability users” who died unjustly like this skeleton on Sejong Island.

For deaths to be quietly classified as disappearances requires the tacit consent of the academy’s higher-ups.

And the reason they died, by my estimation, is mainly two things:

One is to secure the mana powder that emerges after their death.

And the other is…

“Found it!”

A voice came from outside.

It was Ermina’s voice.

“Sigh, really. Trying to drag around this useless burden… huh?”

Ermina sniffs the air.

“Could this be…”

I immediately hid in a shadowy spot.

With the intention of blending into the darkness, I hid in a crevice in the cave and held my breath.

“I smell it, I smell something…”

Ermina finally came inside.

Shining her Taeguk Watch’s flashlight inside, Ermina came in and discovered the mana powder scattered on the floor.

“Ugh, uugh, aaaah!!”

She stomped her feet in agitation.

I thought I should record this on video to tease her later, but Ermina soon did something even worse.

“Haah. Natural mana powder… it shouldn’t be spoiled, right? Hmm. No, I shouldn’t… just a little…?”

Forgetting all about the treasure, she got down on all fours like a dog, facing the mana powder.

“Hssss.”

Just as Ermina was about to do something terrible—

“What are you doing in there?”

“…Huh?”

“…What are you doing in there?”

Her eyes met Ymir’s, who had just followed her in.

“What is that white powder…?”

*Gulp*

“You saw, didn’t you?”

Ah.

Did I accidentally cause things to go off track?

Come to think of it.

Isn’t this around when the protagonist notices Ermina’s mana powder in the original story?

And then tries to hide it for her but gets betrayed by Ermina and almost becomes a mana powder user?

Wait a minute.

A question forms in my mind:

Q. Which of the following is the correct reason for the deviation from the original storyline? (3 points)

1. Because the Goblin turned the skeleton into mana powder

2. Because Ymir is female, not male

3. Because Ermina’s teammate isn’t male

4. Because Ermina isn’t the Goblin’s heroine

5. Because the original author left plot holes unresolved

Conclusion.

Considering why the original story has twisted…

Is she just an unfortunate extra who was paired with Ermina because the protagonist is missing?

Or is she the “protagonist” following the original storyline but with one element changed?

-Hmph! Don’t think I’m keeping you around because you’re handsome, E-class! I’m only bringing you along because your face is S-class, so consider it an honor! Understand?

-Yes, yes. I’ll attend to the young lady wherever she goes.

-Hmph!

This scene should have played out, but it’s gone because of Ymir’s gender?

Is everything twisted now because the protagonist Ymir is a “woman”?

Was it actually the protagonist who possessed that tremendous magical power as Solar Platina?

‘That can’t be.’

She can’t be the protagonist.

‘I came to kill the protagonist, but the protagonist is a woman?’

Because…

‘Isn’t that too convenient for me?’

If she’s a woman.

‘That would be perfect.’

It would be too easy.

‘Couldn’t I just seduce her and keep her close to prevent her from going berserk?’

If I could persuade Ymir with pure love, I could prevent the meteor apocalypse.

In other words.

If I approach Ymir with romance instead of assassination…