episode_0132

“Speak. If you are dissatisfied, it would be better to challenge for a duel. What do you keep telling me to do?”

The masked male student growled nervously.

There was not the slightest hint of sympathy or kindness in that voice.

“… ”

However, Jin Ye-seo’s dazed head lightly dismissed his words. She didn’t move at all, as if she were deaf.

I just think that I would like to see the fluid movements like that dance again as soon as possible.

“Ha… ”

When Jin Ye-seo showed no reaction at all, he could not bear it anymore and let out a deep sigh full of despair.

Before her eyes, a fist with bulging blue blood vessels opened and clenched repeatedly.

“… Do you keep wasting time like that? It’s my business. Looking at it, it looks like he will lose to Choi Woojin next time.”

When his attempt to drive Jin Ye-seo out failed again this time, he eventually blurted out an irritated remark and turned away again.

“What… What?”

However, at the last words he left, Jin Ye-seo suddenly receives a violent rejection reaction.

Her sense of competition with Choi Woo-jin was her annoyance. Seongsan, who dares to rival the five families in the subject of being a wealthy man. And Choi Woo-jin was a bastard who was at the forefront of the attack.

The masked male student immediately turned around at the unexpected response.

Jin Ye-seo was glaring at him with eyes that had slightly regained focus.

“Now… What did you say?”

“Didn’t you hear? He said he also lost to Choi Woojin.”

“… Cancel.”

“What?”

Jin Ye-seo gritted her teeth at the words that pierced her lungs.

“Please cancel the nonsense you just said. Who would lose to a monkey like that? !”

“It’s not nonsense. Choi Woojin was more difficult.”

“What… ?”

“Choi Woojin was more difficult to deal with than you. Even more so.”

The masked male student was the only student to win against both Jin Ye-seo and Choi Woo-jin in the ranking match.

At his assertion, Jin Ye-seo, who had been lashing out harshly, became momentarily mute.

“Isn’t it obvious? Others are busy training magic that suits their aptitude. Whether it’s Choi Woo-jin, Moon Yeo-ul, anyone.”

The male student who was looking at her blank face added one more word.

“They are still getting stronger quickly. But you’re just wasting time holding on to an emitter that doesn’t fit. It’s natural to become weak. What do you do if you are born with talent? I don’t even use it.”

“You… How… !”

Jin Ye-seo’s heart sank for a moment. I thought I had been discovered secretly handling the blade. Why are you suddenly saying that? Are you trying to threaten me?

However, the male student continued to speak in an irritated voice as if he had no interest in it.

“You will find out when you fight. And there’s no way the professors don’t know what I know. Of course, you may not know. Am I wrong?”

As said, Jin Ye-seo has already been recommended several times to change her major during consultations after the attribute compass test at the beginning of the semester.

However, at the time, she flatly rejected all of those recommendations.

“Even while causing a nuisance to others. under… What are we really going to do? ”

-Far away…

“You… How dare you say something like that.”

Suddenly, Jin Ye-seo’s tightly clenched hands trembled from the overwhelming sadness. It’s not like she wanted to do that.

There was a time when she too was swinging her practice blade with excitement, full of dreams.

However, after coming to terms with it, he accepted the reality he was facing.

“What do you know! How hard and difficult it is to carry the burden of a family… ”

“Is that your goal?”

“… What?”

“A black flame or something. Your unique magic. Is it your goal to achieve that?”

“Of course… !”

Jin Ye-seo, who was trying to argue with her eyes wide open, momentarily closed her mouth. For some reason, my voice no longer came out.

The masked male student continued his words regardless.

“There are many more people in the world who are not blessed. And people like that can’t get what they want or protect what’s precious. There’s nothing you can do except breathe. Just have to watch. Like being carried away by a flowing river. Helplessly.”

The masked boy continued what he wanted to say regardless of whether she did so or not. A person who is not blessed. A self-deprecatory term for those who have not developed into wizards.

“What does it matter whether it is an emission system, a circulatory system, or a rootless force from which we do not know where it came from? The only thing that matters is absolute strength. It’s the only one that can grant everything you wish for. If you can get it in your hand, what are the importance of means and methods?”

The words he spoke pierced Jin Ye-seo’s ears like needles.

“And you are not a person who is not blessed. You have the ability to get what you want on your own. You can reach out whenever you want.”

“… ”

“But I don’t do that. You’re just wasting time because of that foolish stubbornness. I am… I really hate people like you.”

In that way, he vomited out everything he had in his heart to Jin Ye-seo. The masked male student, still angry, headed back outside the sparring room.

Jin Ye-seo stood like a scarecrow for a while with his head down. Jin Ye-seo was empty, and all the words he had left were crammed into the empty space.

And after a long time had passed.

“Means and methods… It’s not important?”

Jin Ye-seo, who was standing blankly, muttered softly to herself.

In her eyes, the fire that once was shining again, albeit faintly.

***

“… Are you listening to me?”

“Yes?”

I turned my head when I suddenly heard a distressed voice.

While walking through the corridors of the cradle. Yeon Myeong-ha stopped walking and looked up at me with her characteristic venomous gaze.

“… I wasn’t listening and was thinking about something else.”

“I heard. Why the 3rd request coming soon?”

“What is it? You were listening… Am I mistaken… ?”

When I finally managed to recall the conversation, Yeon Myeong-ha tilted her head. I don’t know if it’s because she’s a spiritist, but she’s a woman with great senses.

Before I knew it, I was thinking back to the childish argument I had with Jin Ye-seo yesterday.

I felt a little relieved after spitting out all the words I had accumulated, and I also wondered if I had gone too far…

Anyway, it’s not as refreshing as you might think. I think it was quite a shock to see that I couldn’t say a word at the end…

“… Anyway, since you have completed all of the 2nd quests, the 3rd quest will come as a nomination. The ranking was also maintained neatly in first place throughout. And if you complete the third request… ”

“Senior. Wait a minute.”

In order to shake off that feeling of discomfort, I was trying to focus on the conversation with Yeon Yeon-ha again.

I sensed someone approaching from the other side of the narrow corridor we were walking through. The sound of two people’s footsteps. female. And what I feel is not just popularity.

What is currently filling the air around me is the scent of particles resembling daffodils. But trying to sneak in on him… The familiar yet tingling scent of forget-me-nots.

When I realized who the owner was, I froze in my seat.

“… ? Why suddenly… ”

Yeon-ha, who was tilting her head while looking at me, also immediately stopped walking. She, too, seemed to sense someone approaching from beyond the corridor. If you see a frowning face, even the owner.

Even in the midst of my panic, I looked at the realistic situation. Now, Yeon-ha and I were walking side by side, so close that our shoulders were bumping into each other.

I finally came to my senses and spoke in a whisper to Yeon Myeong-ha.

“Senior. It’s a little far away. If you find any fault… ”

What I was worried about was Compassionate’s reputation. Although it is said that it was because there were no people around, by the standards of Cradle, which values distance between the opposite sex, this behavior is enough to give an excuse for attack.

“… Senior?”

“… ”

But he didn’t even move in sympathy. Even though I called again, there was no answer. He just looked up at me for a moment with his eyes shaking a little angrily and somehow uneasily.

And just a split second. Instead of pitying me, he put his thin arm around my forearm and narrowed the distance even further.

“Senior? What is this suddenly… ”

“… You stay still.”

He left only incomprehensible words of pity and bound me even more tightly. Then, his expression changed in an instant, and he stared at the other side of the corridor with his characteristic cynicism.

Before we knew it, we were tightly entangled like a pair of slugs.

And before I can even say anything, the owner of the castle finally appears near the corner of the corridor.

“… What is it?”

A female student with her hair braided on both sides and wearing round glasses. As soon as Choi Ire sees us, he frowns.

This unexpected encounter was unpleasant for both sides.

Also, she was accompanying the group as if it was natural.

Due to my pounding heart and narrowed vision, I couldn’t even look at each other… You can know its true identity without having to see it in person.

For some reason, my fortune doesn’t seem to be very good today. In such a wide cradle, what else would you encounter in a narrow corridor with no way out?

“Compassionate. Now you’re doing something like that so blatantly?”

Choi I-re’s expression distorted when she saw us sticking together as one body.

Unlike Choi Ire, her companions stood there and did not say anything.

“Am I gutsy or stupid… This is a violation of morals that cannot be ignored. It feels like punishment.”

“What should I do? Punishment or not.”

However, he accepted Choi Ire’s sympathetic words as if they were no big deal. I couldn’t understand the principles of behavior she was showing right now.

Even though Yeon Myeong-ha has a somewhat deviant personality, she is by no means a stupid person. There is no way she doesn’t know that there is a time and place for provocation and fighting.

But why give an excuse to be attacked in a place like this… ?

“What does it matter to you that I enjoy being promiscuous? It’s really funny.”

He continued speaking with an arrogant, pitiful smile.

Then, he suddenly turns his arrow at the person who had been standing silently next to Choi Ire.

“Isn’t that so? west. kite. Ah.”

No matter how you look at it, it’s a half-sarcastic tone full of provocation.

And at the same time as those words were said, the warm spring air that had filled the hallway began to quickly disappear.

A chill lingers over my body, like the beginning of winter. Before you know it, a light breath comes out of your mouth.

At the same time, a gloomy yet trembling voice came from the front, someone gritting his teeth and shooting back.

“… I pity you. I, I definitely should have said it… In moderation… Do it… !”

“So. Please, in moderation… Huh?”

Choi I-re, who was about to agree as if he had been waiting, suddenly let out a confused voice.

-Jeojeok… Okay!

The floor-to-ceiling windows installed along the corridor were gradually becoming dull. The discordant sound noisily hits my ears.

Regardless of the reason, unauthorized use of magic is absolutely prohibited on campus. So, it is not unreasonable for Choi I-re to be embarrassed.

But why…

You were fooled by such obvious sarcasm and a provocation that didn’t even seem like a provocation?

“Seo, Seoyeon… ? Why suddenly… ”

Choi I-re also limped, perhaps because he had not anticipated the situation.

He was still staring at someone with a cold, pitiful smile on his lips.

She clucked her fingers on the other side of her crossed arms. A crackling ember appears and quickly increases in size.

“… Let’s do it, right? Good.”

My mind goes blank at Yeon Yeon-ha’s words. Everyone is crazy. Did we all eat something wrong today?

I couldn’t watch this situation any longer. Unlike that kid, who has a decent reputation, if he falls even once out of pity, it will be an even bigger blow.

Even if I would ask Yeon Myeong-ha why later, I had to put an end to this imminent situation now.

I was about to stop Yeon-yeonha’s actions and leave the place immediately.

“Chick… Junior!”

The voice of a female student, full of cheerfulness, comes from nowhere and resonates in the narrow corridor.

Kwon Yuri came running down the stairs in a huff and appeared in front of us.

“Oh, indeed! How much did I find!”

After taking a moment to catch her breath, Kwon Yuri came straight up to me and greeted me as if she was friendly. It is as nonchalant as its unexpected appearance. Does this person have no eyes?

“Ha… What is this again?”

“Minha, hello! Did you get good makeup today? It’s pretty~!”

It was a cold, compassionate remark, but Kwon Yuri brushed it off as if it was nothing.

“1st year professor Shin Jae-yu was looking for our junior in a hurry. So I was helping out for a while. If nothing happens, I’ll take you with me?”

“Anyone can do whatever they want… Wait.”

Yeon Myeong-ha was in the midst of resolutely expressing her refusal.

She suddenly sniffed and looked like she had realized something.

“This smell… at that time… ! you… !”

And he was about to pour out murderous words on Kwon Yuri with his evil eyes.

“Sorry! I’m a little busy! I’ll take my junior! Seo-yeon, Ire! See you later!”

Kwon Yuri didn’t even listen to Yeon Gyeon Ha’s words, but grabbed my wrist in an instant and quickly ran out of the corridor.