episode_0038

After the Daeseol Mountain clean-up operation.

After hearing the news that Julian had barely recovered, I went to the Dustin household and was able to meet my friend who was lying in bed.

“Oh, you’re here?”

No, I mean someone who was pretending to be a friend.

A person who is accustomed to actual combat and handles his body in a certain way is bound to have a good eye.

Especially, since I trained my body with the family’s vision, my senses were sharper, so I could sense the discomfort the moment I met him.

But at that time, instead of immediately responding to the greeting of someone who was acting as my friend, I quickly put the puzzle together in my head.

Julian’s thoughts on twins, which he often asked about while floating.

The story about the person I mentioned before the sweep operation that I wanted to meet.

“Haha, what’s wrong? If you came to visit the patient, don’t just stand there blankly in front of them! Are you worried?”

I don’t know if it was because I found the silence strange or because my feet were numb… when the other person brought up the subject.

‘Were they twins?’

I could guess that the person in front of me was his twin, who was playing Julian.

Because it didn’t have that peculiar, creepy, and alien vibe that you’d expect from a transformation by magic or something similar.

So then I started thinking, where did the real Julian go, and why is the twin playing him in his place?

‘…I couldn’t hold out.’

It was not difficult to predict that my friend, who had been sent away after being treated for bleeding with emergency measures, would never recover and would pass away forever.

My head was on fire. I could have saved him. If only I had been a little faster, if only I had been a little more capable.

But due to my own lack of ability, I was unable to do so, and once again had to send the people around me away in vain.

I felt resentful of my own inability to properly protect even one friend.

“Eugene… ?”

That’s when Julian’s twins called my name again.

I had to make a choice.

Should I tell him to stop acting like that?

Or should I pretend not to know and treat him like Julian?

-I have a child I’d like to introduce to you.

Suddenly, I remembered the last request my friend made just before the cleanup operation.

-If it’s okay with you, I’d like you to be his friend.

Obviously, the person he wanted to meet was the twin in front of him.

I’ve been living my life without really caring about religious doctrines… .

Because the eyes of the world will look coldly upon the existence of twins.

The reason the Dustin family didn’t announce the existence of twins until now may have been along similar lines.

Still, my friend trusted me and tried to introduce me to his brother.

If so, then it would be right for me to also live up to that belief.

‘… I promised to meet you and become your friend. So don’t worry and rest comfortably.’

From now on, I will support you instead.

“Looking at it, it seems better than I thought? Anyway, I’m glad you’re safe.”

Julian.

***

Late at night.

After leaving the Orion Hall and the Academy, I was wandering around the Academy City.

‘I never thought my identity would be revealed.’

Aria was vague about the inside story, but she said that the saints of the church, including her, had discovered Julian’s true identity.

As soon as Julian realized that fact, he disappeared.

The answer to why he made that choice was easy to guess.

‘It must have been scary.’

As I realized his true identity, I was afraid that the surroundings would change from before.

I’m afraid I’ll be scolded for lying.

But I felt aggrieved there.

‘Am I that unattractive?’

Even if I didn’t notice and was fooled by him from the beginning.

Even if you felt a little betrayed, you probably didn’t hate him.

Because the old Julian was the first friend who approached me.

Because the current Julian is my most precious friend who has cried and laughed with me for over 10 years.

‘There’s no end to this.’

The academy city was too big to run around and look for someone, and there were so many corners where even one person could hide.

At that time, I was contemplating whether I should raise the mana of my available danjeon to the maximum and spread the energy widely around me.

“Hehe! Hehe! Yoo, Eugene!”

A familiar voice was heard from behind, along with a gasp of breath.

“Aria? And…the saintess?”

When I looked back, there was Aria running towards me with her white hair fluttering in the wind, and a girl with light green hair walking leisurely behind her.

“Why did you come all the way here? I told you to wait in the dorm.”

“Hehe… But, I can help Eugene too!”

Aria, who doesn’t usually train, came all the way to my nose and was panting for breath.

“Anyway, panting so hard… It’s not dignified.”

Rene, who arrived there without a single flaw, clicked his tongue and turned his gaze to me.

“It’s a noisy night. Has it been since the commotion of the entrance exam that we’ve seen each other this close?”

“…Why is the saint here?”

“Well, I was concerned about the identity of the brown-haired brother… and more than anything, I wanted to see you again.”

But during the entrance ceremony and class placement test, we didn’t have an environment to talk properly, right?

Aria’s eyes lit up as she couldn’t understand why she wanted to meet me.

“Go back, I don’t need your help now that I’m here.”

“Oh my, didn’t I tell you last time? I have no intention of following your orders.”

“I can’t just sit by and watch someone wagging their tail in front of someone else’s fiancée.”

At that moment, René’s smiling face, which had always been relaxed, cracked.

“About, alone…? Who, who said that?”

“Of course, this is about Eugene and me here!”

“Is this statement that feels like a lie true?”

When she suddenly turned her gaze and asked, I nodded my head even though I knew I didn’t have time for that.

Otherwise, I felt like something would go wrong on her part at any moment.

“Huh? Is that so? It wasn’t a lie… .”

“Huh! Do you understand now? You have no place to interfere, so get out of here quickly.”

“You don’t like it? I don’t know why you’re fussing so much about the power of an engagement relationship.”

“What, what did you say!?”

“We’re not a couple who swore a hundred-year promise to the goddess. It’s just a ridiculous promise in the human world. There’s no way I, a saint, can keep that.”

Well… even if they were a married couple, it would be over if they took it away, right?

Aria’s face turned red with anger as she heard those words containing such dangerous thoughts, and the saint watched her with one corner of her mouth raised.

I couldn’t stand to see it go any further than that.

“You two, if you’re going to help me, then help me. If you’re going to keep fighting like that, then just go back. Now is not the time for that.”

Speaking so strongly, the two women glared at each other one last time and then turned their heads to the other side.

“Is it okay to understand that you both want to help? Well, let’s start by thinking about how to find Julian in this big city.”

“Hey Eugene, is that person actually in Academy City?”

“You probably couldn’t get out of the city. You had to stop by the checkpoint to check the entry and exit list and your physical appearance.”

There wouldn’t have been time to sneak out.

“So I tried to spread the word and search for it, but… in that case, it would be hard to find someone specific.”

Even if a response was detected in a place with few people, it was said that it was impossible to know whether it was a simple homeless person or Julian.

“I know how to use search magic. However, the downside is that it requires the person searching for something and the range is not wide.”

As she said that, Aria took out a comb with brown hair stuck in it from her pocket.

“First, before leaving the dorm, I went to the bathroom on the first floor to get the comb. Even if the item is taken care of, I’ll have to go back and forth because of the magic’s range.”

Aria said it nonchalantly.

The fact that she, a woman, had broken into the men’s bathroom on the first floor was something that should have been a concern for the housekeeper.

One, because the situation is what it is right now… I decided to pretend not to know for now.

“Hmm… I don’t really have any special searching abilities, but I do have a knack for detecting ominous auras, right?”

“Wait, how does that help in this situation?”

“If it had been a different case, it would have been useless… but for some reason, I felt an uneasy aura around that brother.”

It’s a sinister, disgusting thing that will make your nose turn crooked.

When Rene spoke in a low voice, Aria hesitated and asked.

“You, are you saying that a ghost has possessed you?”

“Well? Maybe, maybe not?”

“I, I think I’m afraid of ghosts!?”

“… Huh? No one said anything like that? ”

Although it was less than before, I sighed at the sight of the two people bickering again, unable to hold back any longer.

‘If I combine the three methods I just used… I think I’ll be able to find Julian in no time.’

Thanks to that, it seemed like a way out was in sight.