episode_0188

While the entrance schedule is in progress, the professors in charge of each grade gather in one place.

The reason was to discuss the process of entering the tower, and it was also to respond immediately to any emergency that might occur.

The theme of this second semester’s pagoda is contemplation.

The content is simple.

A fight against a copy of yourself.

After overcoming oneself, other entities can be summoned at the cadet’s request, but it is basically a fight to the death against a copy.

As a result, the evaluation items are not as diverse and strict as the entrance exam of the first semester.

From the beginning…

“If this is going to be the case, can’t we just let it go? They don’t even provide real-time sharing…”

A voice rang out in the quiet space.

These were the remarks of Lee Soo-yeon, the professor in charge of the honors class.

Several professors nodded inwardly as she rested her chin and muttered something as if she was bored.

Unlike the first semester entrance exam, there were very few holograms radiating onto the table.

It wasn’t even a real-time video, it was just a table with simple formulas and charts.

For some reason, real-time video sharing was not possible at this stand.

Therefore, the first-year professors gathered here are also handling their own tasks.

An assistant professor near Suyeon Lee responded with a wry smile.

“Because there may be an emergency.”

“That emergency has never happened before. It may be a case of insensitivity to safety, but honestly, how could an accident happen here? At best, a fistfight between cadets?”

“Ahaha…”

Shiyoram’s defenses are notorious.

There were countless maneuvers, and not even a single minor intrusion was allowed. It is appropriate to say that it is impregnable.

It was difficult for Lee Su-yeon to imagine that a problem would arise in such a poetry cradle.

Still, because policy is policy, Lee Su-yeon is keeping her position.

In any case, since the professors in charge of first-year students had gathered, several meetings were held.

“Will this birthday celebration schedule proceed like last year?”

“ According to the Vice President’s remarks, it will be held on a grander scale this year.”

“Is that so? Last year was also a great event and it was fun. Especially as the cadets went around the open stalls… Ah, I’m in charge of the grade now…”

The main topic discussed was the birth ceremony.

The birth festival is a festival hosted by the city center at the end of the year.

It is a festival culture that has continued since the early days of Poetry with the meaning of celebrating the future of children who leave the cradle and go out into the world.

Although there have been many changes in the process and schedule from then to now, the fact that it is fundamentally a festival of eating, enjoying, and having fun has not changed.

Therefore, the schedule is also there.

Ultimately, it is a schedule for festival participants to enjoy.

Entertainment contests are held, competitions are held, and amazing magic tools are displayed.

And as with any festival, street stalls are opened to sell delicious food, drinks, and alcohol.

Self-employed people in commercial areas sometimes come out and open stalls, but sometimes cadets set up stalls among themselves.

Lee Soo-yeon’s expression brightened as she recalled the memories of having fun and drinking last year.

But soon, when I remembered that this time I was the first-year professor and was included in the festival preparations, my bright face quickly turned gloomy.

There’s nothing that prevents you from enjoying the festival just because you’re the professor in charge, but you probably won’t be able to enjoy it as comfortably as you did last year…

“……”

“……”

While the meeting was in full swing, there were two people who could not participate in the topic of the birth ceremony.

Liana and Atra.

Lyana closed her eyes and listened to the conversation around her, while Atra kept her eyes neatly closed.

In other words, he didn’t open his mouth.

To be honest, I couldn’t intervene.

“…Professor Atra, do you have any opinions?”

Liana, who was rolling her eyes nearby, whispered to Atra who was sitting next to her. Atra opened her closed eyes and glanced at Liana.

Atra is not a graduate of Poetry Cradle to begin with.

She is a British Academy graduate. It’s not that there weren’t festivals there, but at the time, Atra was a crazy training fanatic who always stayed in the training room with burning will.

“None. I need to know something before I add anything. And, aren’t you the one who should have an opinion? You’ve experienced it yourself.”

“…Me? I don’t really have an opinion either.”

Liana continued to talk and avoided answering.

She is a poetry yoram graduate. I am someone who has experienced a total of four birth ceremonies from 1st to 4th grade.

But Liana did not enjoy the festival.

While others were having fun by setting up stalls and participating in contests, Liana stayed in the library, devouring books or playing with spirits in deserted spaces.

There were many people who wanted to enjoy the festival with Rihanna, who had consecutively held the top position at the time, but no one responded actively.

At that time, Liana, who had not experienced the bitter taste of Demon Lord, had a strange personality that was difficult to describe.

In any case, both of them were far from the word festival.

Also, since the video of Lee Ha-yul’s entrance to the top is not shared in real time, it feels like time has flown by in many ways.

Liana had some work to do as the person in charge of the spring preparation class, but Atra really had nothing to do.

Therefore, Liana worked steadily, and Atra spent time thinking about Lee Ha-yul’s training schedule.

– Squeak…

“…Huh?”

A hologram appeared on the table.

The holographic screen showed the entrance to the tower slowly opening with ripples.

Everyone who looked at the screen opened their eyes wide. It is now the afternoon of the fourth day of Iptap. There is still about a day left until the entrance to the tower ends.

“Who is appearing? Wait a minute, view the records…”

Several professors busily handed over the hologram.

“…Cadet Lee Ha-yul?”

Someone let out a voice full of curiosity.

Before the words could be opened, Atra and Liana stood up from their seats.

On the screen, Lee Ha-yul, who was spit out at the entrance of the tower, was shaking precariously. Their hearts were pounding at that.

That mola mola again, again, again! What happened that caused you to leave the tower early? Why am I stumbling again?

Suppressing the anxious thoughts that came to my mind, I rushed out and headed towards the entrance of the tower.

“…!?”

Atra jumped out in fright and stopped.

Instinctively, I stepped on the ground hard and stopped my body from jumping forward.

My heart immediately wanted to rush to Lee Ha-yul and ask how she was doing.

“…what…”

The fluff stood out.

Instinct warned me not to approach. The experience I had accumulated so far prevented me from taking action, saying it was dangerous.

Lee Ha-yul’s momentum has changed.

Basically, the mood, which was very light and varied in severity, changed dramatically.

It seems as if the momentum has materialized into a blade and will literally grind the surroundings.

The feeling of a cool weapon on the back of my neck feels like a hallucination.

It was so ferocious that even Atra stiffened.

Without realizing it, a drop of cold sweat ran down my cheek.

“Oh my god.”

“…What on earth happened at the tower?”

Even Liana and the other professors who came after him later froze at the sight of that ferocious force.

A strange confrontation ensued.

Around the time someone swallowed dry saliva.

[Master?]

[Professor Liana]

The necklace hanging around Lee Ha-yul’s neck clicked. A stuttering voice rang out as if there were noise.

At the same time, the evil spirit subsided.

Lee Ha-yul’s complexion, which looked oddly cold, gradually cleared up, regaining his previous round expression.

Whether or not others were taken aback by the sudden change, Lee Ha-yul trudged on.

Some people stiffened in tension. These are the people who cannot relax due to the bloody momentum from earlier.

Lee Ha-yul didn’t care about those people at all.

It approached the target in a straight line.

And then he buried his face in the arms of Atra, who was closest to him.

“…?”

Likewise, Atra, who had been frozen still, closed her eyes.

Lee Ha-yul was held in his arms.

My body acted reflexively.

He stretched out his arms and offered his embrace without hesitation.

Naturally, I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her, and place one hand on her head and gently stroke and press it.

Following his touch, Lee Ha-yul snuggled into his arms.

Holding Lee Ha-yul in my arms is not a big deal.

With that in mind, I comforted Lee Ha-yul, who was acting like a child, in my arms.

“What happens again this time…”

Liana, who came next to him, was the same.

I don’t know why, but in order to comfort the child who suddenly became strange, he came over and devoted himself to coddling Lee Ha-yul, stroking her head and back.

.

.

.

“…It is gratifying that the relationship between priests and friends is strong, but is it possible to sort out the situation first?”

“Huh?”

“Oh?”

“Also, it’s not good to get involved in personal matters, but… I think I may have been too close to you in an open space like this…”

It became very long.

It was only when Professor Alberott, who could not wait, finally stopped them, that the two professors came to their senses.

When I suddenly raised my head and looked around, I noticed eyes looking in this direction with a very strange gaze.

“Oh my…”

Among them, there were many interesting looks. In particular, Lee Soo-yeon opened her eyes wide and covered her mouth with one hand, shedding admiration.

* * *

Silence suddenly fell in a world that was full of violent binge drinking.

The wasteland, where it was difficult to find even a single blade of grass, has long since become an unusable waste land.

Traces of deep dents, bursts, and cracks…

It was the aftereffects of armaments clashing over thousands of times and expansion abilities clashing countless times.

In the aftermath of the impact, the second player, who was sitting on a pile of dirt protruding out and looking around blankly, suddenly patted his shoulder.

The pain was felt.

A wound extending from the right shoulder to the left pelvis.

This is nothing new for the second time.

There are too many injuries sustained during life. Among them, some remained as aftereffects, and although functions returned, many externally disgusting scars remained.

It was so hideous that even a healthy adult might faint if he were to face it a second time.

“Ha…”

But now, for the second time, I was feeling complicated feelings about this wound.

Even though the second session lowered the physical level equally…

Because it was a wound inflicted by none other than the ‘real thing’. That is an injury that could never have been inflicted by nature.

This wound became the success judgment of the ordeal, and the real one had just left.

From the beginning, my mental strength was at an all-time low, so I was planning to stop for a while for the second round.

‘…haha..’

Looking at the wound, the second time, I couldn’t help but feel the difference between the fake and the real thing.

The things I had learned and established by rolling around in a puddle of blood for a long time were actually mastered, however clumsily, in just a few days.

It’s such an overwhelming gap.

The more I realized it, the more I laughed.

Also, is it correct to say that he was alive in the first place? A fake has never been real.

“…I guess my butt is quite light.”

I absent-mindedly stroked my wound and thought about the second episode. There was no sound. There was no vibration or movement of magical energy.

However, the senses of the second train and Manjong Tusul sensed a change. In the first place, the other party did not intentionally hide their existence.

Hearing the presence right behind him, the second time he continued without even looking back.

“This is absurd. When I was looking for you like crazy, you couldn’t even find a single hair, and then you turned into a ghost and then you showed me your face?”

There was no answer. The other person was just silent.

“Why are you keeping your mouth shut after revealing yourself? If that’s the case, why don’t you crawl back in? Or, did you come here to laugh at this idiotic idiot?”

“go…!? No…!』

A strange sound rang out in the second round of dry questions.

What should I say about that? Would it be similar to being submerged in water and listening to the sounds of the outside world with your deaf ears?

Of course, the sound quality was compromised to an incomparable level. I couldn’t understand it at all.

“It’s so damn sick… I’ll just lament alone.”

The second time, he scratched his ears and shook his head.

“The current method… I understand. Rather than dying miserably and losing everything later, it would be better to be sick now and be happy later.”

This is the second time I have actually touched the real thing. I had already noticed that Lee Ha-yul’s sense of apperception had been implemented. But the knocking didn’t stop.

This opportunity was too precious to stop for just that reason. The one with his head down in the back probably feels the same way.

In fact, Lee Ha-yul returned with results that were so bad that they ridiculed the expected results.

It’s still inexperienced, but at that level, he will be able to use it on his own.

It was an absurd existence.

Besides, I can understand the choices of top owners… understand… understand…

Suddenly, the second round stopped talking.

Instead, his own memories flashed by.

If it’s long, it’s long, if it’s short, it’s short.

A life that feels thick in some ways and thin in other ways.

A life that is nothing more than a fake life lived by a shell.

“…I understand. Considering your position, this would have been the best, most efficient, and surest choice.”

Likewise, the figure behind him did not respond.

“No matter how much I understand, I hate you so much.”

Pulse… My grip tightened. Thick veins protruded from the back of his scarred hand.

“I understand that your intentions were good, that you didn’t mean for me to experience this pain, and that it was the best decision. But… I can’t like you.”

Birth, growth, cradle, bitterness, longing, loss, helplessness, desperation, impatience, death…

In the second episode, Lee Ha-yul recalled his life. It was really curved and miserable.

Nothing has been accomplished. Compared to his wishes, his talents were woefully inadequate.

Even though he used all the effort he had and all the evil he had, he rolled and rolled around in an ugly way, but it wasn’t enough and he died an ugly death in the end.

Even that sordid life was not real.

It was just a branch that could have existed and was observed by chance.

That fact made me feel unbearably dirty. It felt like the life I had crawled so far away was being denied.

No, it is true that it was denied. My life wasn’t real.

『……』

There was no response.

Maybe I couldn’t do it, or maybe I could but was too shameless to do it, but I just bowed my head and accepted the criticism.

The second person, who looked at the signs, sighed and said.

“…Still, I don’t want to be punished to the point of death.”

It’s really hateful, but it’s not wrong.

If this plan succeeds, the world will not be destroyed, and the real Lee Ha-yul will eventually lead the happy life he longed for.

The presence behind me made me tremble greatly. Did I never expect to hear something like this?

“So help me properly. Anyway, there is no going back for you either.”

Episode 2… Lee Ha-yul was not a person who wanted others to experience the same pain just because he had suffered.

“You shouldn’t be as happy as you really are.”

The long conversation stopped. After finishing speaking, Lee Ha-yul’s body began to disintegrate into a halo of light.

* * *

Meanwhile, the common training room inside the Tower of Growth at that time.

“Can we have a conversation about Yeonhwa and Hayul?”

“…with Hayul?”

At what Elia said while clapping her hands together, Hong Yeon-hwa’s complexion became agitated.