Episode 555. Things Gone Wrong

A new day dawned.

Although it was only a short night’s rest, Lee Hoyeon’s body had fully recovered its condition.

‘If you’re not going to answer calls, why even wear a smartwatch?’

Lee Hoyeon grumbled as he pressed the elevator button.

Zzzzzzing-

The path to Im Sol’s laboratory, starting early in the morning.

The elevator in the magic academy lobby, now a familiar sight, descended.

‘She’s probably not asleep yet anyway.’

There was only one situation where Im Sol wouldn’t reply to a message.

When she was intensely focused on magic research.

Seeing as she hadn’t replied from yesterday until now, it meant she’d been completely absorbed in her magic research.

Researchers’ days and nights are naturally topsy-turvy.

She was probably in a half-asleep state right now, unable to sleep and pushing her research even further.

‘If she happens to be asleep, though… that’s a shame, but I guess I’ll go see Baek Ahyoung instead.’

‘If I leave even a small note on her desk, she’ll reply to my message.’

[Floor 2.]

Lee Hoyeon, riding the elevator, got off on the familiar second floor.

And a face he hadn’t seen in a while greeted him.

‘Oh? Student Hoyeon. It’s been a while.’

‘Ah, hello. Assistant-nim.’

Lee Hoyeon, seeing Im Sol’s assistant who was unexpectedly guarding the laboratory, gave a slight bow.

He knew Im Sol originally had an assistant, but when she focused on magic research, she’d leave the lab empty with no one inside, so she actually worked fewer days than she didn’t.

However, after she was rescued by Baek Ahyoung following a week of neglecting food and drink for magic research, the system changed so that the assistant would come to work if contact was lost for over 10 hours due to magic research.

In other words, her presence meant Im Sol was deep in her magic research.

Lee Hoyeon glanced at the lights in the training room and spoke to the assistant.

‘It’s nice to see you again. Is Professor-nim in the training room?’

‘Yes. Ah, but she said no one is allowed in right now.’

‘Me too?’

‘Um, she didn’t specifically mention you…’

Lee Hoyeon nodded, seeing the assistant’s expression of uncertainty.

Truthfully, even if Lee Hoyeon barged in without a word, he didn’t think Im Sol would scold him… but it seemed the assistant felt differently.

‘What can you do? Let’s just wait a bit instead of making things awkward.’

Since he came so early, he had plenty of time to spare.

‘Maybe I’ll just watch Professor Im Sol’s training for a while.’

Lee Hoyeon casually sat down next to the assistant and began watching Im Sol’s training.

[Executing Im Sol Special Curriculum #3]

‘What’s this ‘Im Sol Special Curriculum,’ anyway? Kkuhk.’

Judging by how straightforward it was and how anyone could tell it was exclusively for Im Sol, it seemed Professor Im Sol must have made it herself.

‘Since she’s the best, she has to make her own training system, huh.’

‘It feels a bit bittersweet, being at the top.’

But those useless thoughts didn’t last long.

Lee Hoyeon was quickly captivated by Im Sol’s movements.

‘Over there, like that… Oh, right. Oh. Wow. She’s insane, that one.’

I wish I had some popcorn.

Lee Hoyeon focused on Im Sol’s mana movements, letting out exclamations of admiration.

Anyone watching would think Im Sol was the main character. How can someone be so brutally strong?

‘Um, I don’t really understand anything even when I watch Professor-nim train. Student Hoyeon seems to be enjoying it.’

‘Haha… no, it’s nothing. Huh? Wait, why did she stop?’

Feeling a bit pressured by the assistant’s gaze, who was watching him with apparent curiosity, Im Sol suddenly stopped her training and began pondering something deeply.

‘Well… It’s hard for me to pay attention to Professor-nim’s every move when there’s so much I can’t understand.’

Unaware of what was happening inside, Lee Hoyeon and the assistant blankly watched Im Sol’s contemplation.

How much time passed?

Im Sol, having finished her thinking, sent a signal outwards.

[Chocolate.]

‘…What’s this?’

‘Professor-nim asks me to bring her chocolate every time she takes a break. Since Professor-nim rarely causes any accidents, this is usually my job.’

‘What kind of job is that?’

‘Still, since there’s no other work besides this, you have no idea how easy it is.’

‘Wow, an easy gig like that? I’m jealous.’

‘It seems like she’s on break right now, Student Hoyeon. Shall we go in together?’

‘I’d love to.’

‘I get to meet Im Sol faster than I expected.’

Lee Hoyeon entered the training room, holding the chocolate the assistant gave him.

*

‘Execute training.’

[Understood. Re-executing Im Sol Special Curriculum #3.]

The magic training room was strangely spacious for one person.

The silver-haired mage tucked her hair behind her ear and adjusted the training system with practiced ease.

[14 hours have passed since training began. Excessive training may disrupt physical balance, so please be cautious….]

She swiped the familiar warning message aside.

For Im Sol, 14 hours of training was practically a warm-up.

She still felt indignant about how many times she’d asked the Academy to remove that line, only to be ignored.

‘If only I hadn’t collapsed back then… Tsk.’

It must have been because of Ahyoung’s report. Ever since that day, the assistant was forced to come to work too.

This is why I wanted to keep it a secret.

To think my body would react strangely after just a week of starving. Humans are definitely poorly designed.

Kkwadeuk-!

Dozens of magic circles appeared before Im Sol’s eyes.

Her self-made ‘Im Sol Exclusive Curriculum.’ A training regimen of bizarre difficulty, featuring random combinations from thousands of magic circles.

‘…Hmm. Why did I do that?’

Im Sol parried the magic circles surging towards her with terrifying momentum, continuing her thoughts simultaneously.

The worry that had filled her mind ever since the battle with Lucifer.

‘That mana Lucifer used… Why didn’t you investigate it, Im Sol.’

She realized the sense of dissonance she’d felt since sparring with Lee Hoyeon only after the battle with Lucifer.

It was doubt towards Im Sol herself.

Im Sol had lived her entire life focused solely on magic.

Until now, she believed her views on magical opponents were flawless. No, they actually were flawless.

Im Sol’s magic had never been wrong.

She was always the best, received praise, and was ahead of everyone else.

…Of course, that was before Lee Hoyeon appeared, but that’s not important right now.

Im Sol had never once doubted the results of her magic research, and if something piqued her curiosity, she’d immediately dive in and figure it out.

Her research was perfect from topic selection to conclusion.

And yet, that Im Sol.

How could she have missed the emergence of a new type of mana?

‘A mistake? No. I missed new mana? …Me? There’s no way I could make a mistake like that.’

Im Sol shook her head as if unable to comprehend.

It was an absurd hypothesis, but the fact that it had actually happened gave her a headache.

‘It was called the mana of the Underworld, wasn’t it?’

Im Sol slowly retraced her memories.

It started with the sparring match against Lee Hoyeon.

Her disciple, audacious as ever, brought out a new kind of mana.

The ‘mana of the Underworld’ that erupted at the last moment.

The mana that makes up this world. And the magic that utilizes that mana.

These were things Im Sol was intimately familiar with. And precisely because of that, she couldn’t cope with the new mana.

That ominous mana negated the magical system Im Sol had built up until then.

A destructive mana that felt like it was devouring her own.

There was no information, so she couldn’t deduce it, nor could she inject mana to devise a countermeasure.

[Execute next stage (Im Sol Exclusive Curriculum #4)?]

The torrent of magic circles had stopped unnoticed, but Im Sol continued her contemplation after dismissing the notification window.

‘No. It wasn’t the first time.’

When she met the Incubus.

It was a vaguely unpleasant memory, but Im Sol slowly recalled the events of that day.

The low-class, unpleasant mana that creature had used.

And the destructive mana used by Lee Hoyeon and Lucifer.

Those two were, in the end, the same mana.

‘Why didn’t I react even after experiencing it?’

If I had prepared faster, it would have been much more helpful in the fight against Lucifer.

There was enough time to manage it, so why couldn’t I? Im Sol delved further back into her memories.

When the black pillars appeared across the world.

Im Sol, as a professor at the Academy, had also conducted a formal, albeit cursory, investigation.

‘I felt it back then too. Yes. It’s clear.’

It was mild dizziness, but it was definitely the same vein as the mana of the Underworld that Lucifer used.

Of course, there was an excuse for the black pillars.

When the black pillars first appeared, it was a national crisis, but after research concluded that they only caused mild dizziness when nearby with no other ill effects, they were simply treated as eyesores ruining the scenery.

‘…That itself is strange, Im Sol. Snap out of it.’

She shook her head vigorously, trying to erase useless thoughts.

Im Sol knew herself too well.

When an incident occurred related to magic, Im Sol would stick with it until it was resolved.

If she had been in her right state of mind, she would never have ignored the appearance of new, research-worthy mana.

However, Im Sol had ignored that mana until she experienced Lee Hoyeon’s.

Not just once, but multiple times.

There was definitely something wrong.

‘Im Sol. Why did you do that? Why didn’t you investigate? Was the topic I was researching more important then? No, that wasn’t important.’

No matter how important the research topic was, she wouldn’t miss out on a new discovery.

Im Sol wracked her brain once more, but naturally, no answer came.

After all, she couldn’t go back in time and ask her past self.

‘Maybe I’ll remember once I get my sugar fix.’

In her current state, she couldn’t even focus on training. Besides, she needed a sugar boost for her brain to work at full speed.

Im Sol ended the training session and sent a signal to the assistant waiting outside to bring chocolate.

Once she refueled with sugar and let her body recover from fatigue with sleep, maybe something would come to mind.

‘But I want to solve this before I sleep. Hmm…’

She felt like she was on the verge of grasping the thread of the problem consuming her thoughts.

Just a little. It felt like with just a tiny catalyst, she could figure it out immediately…

‘Professor Im Sol. Your unworthy disciple has arrived.’

Just then, a major catalyst entered the training room.

Seeing her disciple approach with a smile, holding the chocolate, Im Sol returned the smile and walked towards Lee Hoyeon.

Thwack-

‘Huh?’

She quickly approached, snatched the chocolate from Lee Hoyeon’s hand, and shoved it into her mouth.

The intensely sweet chocolate cleared Im Sol’s mind.

‘Are you angry? Why the chocolate…’

‘You came at just the right time. Spar with me.’

‘What? Wait, Professor-nim, just a moment. I didn’t come here for that…’

Im Sol ignored Lee Hoyeon’s response and adjusted the training room settings.

It was nearing time for sleep, but her body was still warm from the recent training, so her condition wasn’t bad.

Lee Hoyeon also looked like he was in good shape when she glanced at him.

‘Sparring mode. Safety: Maximum. Pain: On.’

‘Wait. Just wait! Professor Im Sol! No, Sol-ah!’

Only after seeing the assistant glance nervously before bowing and leaving the room did Lee Hoyeon grab Im Sol by the shoulders and shake her vigorously.

‘What’s gotten into her all of a sudden? Did her head snap from magic research?’

‘What’s wrong?’

‘That’s what I want to ask you! Why are you acting like this?’

‘Something’s bothering me.’

‘You should tell me what it is before we fight.’

‘The mana of the Underworld that Lucifer used. That’s what’s bothering me. I need to recall why I couldn’t prepare for it. I feel like I’m missing something.’

‘…’

Lee Hoyeon frowned the moment he heard Im Sol’s words.

Right. That feeling of something being off, which he’d felt since the black pillars and the dungeon rampages.

He couldn’t articulate it, but he too was feeling something similar to Im Sol.

‘I do have some suspicions myself.’

‘I think I can figure it out with just one spar. Are you in good condition?’

‘I’m fine, but are you sure you’re okay? You fought Lucifer just yesterday.’

‘Yep.’

Lee Hoyeon wasn’t the only one blessed by mana.

Im Sol’s talent regarding mana was also immense, and naturally, her recovery speed was just as fast.

There was a bit of physical fatigue left, but she could overcome that with sheer willpower.

‘Sigh. Fine. But keep it light, okay?’

Lee Hoyeon gave up trying to persuade her.

‘She’s lost it.’

‘It’s probably better to just go along with it for a bit and then talk.’

‘I’m dead tired.’

Lee Hoyeon sighed and began channeling his mana.