Spirit Vein
"Me? Why?"
I blurt it out reflexively.
"I'm no opportunist chasing points or whatever."
"What'd you say?"
Shin Sua reacts to what I muttered to Gemma.
"It's not like joining the sparring match gets you extra credit."
-Thwack!
The moment I brush it off casually, Shin Sua slams her tiny hand on the table.
"S-Su, Sua, calm down..."
Mun Hee-jeong, who we're not even that close to, musters her courage and grabs Shin Sua's hand. Is that really the same nerdy girl? Her impressive chest confirms it, though.
"Let go."
Shin Sua pins her down with a venomous glare and continues.
"It's a spot normally reserved only for top entrants. This is your chance. Do you get what that means?"
"What?"
"Major clans, other Shangju academies, even relic makers—all gathering in one place. Prove your skills, and sponsorships and scouts will pour in even while you're still in school—"
"Your family's loaded, so none of that matters to you."
"Right. Exactly. For me, it's just the thrill of having my skills recognized. No real gains."
"Attention whore."
"But you're different. This could decide your future career. That's what I'm saying."
Shin Sua's attitude is insufferably arrogant, like she's bestowing some grand favor. I'd love to just smack her once.
"The sparring's 2v2. I'm spe-cial-ly! picking you because I respect the skill that beat me. Be grateful."
"Shouldn't it be the other way around? If you're recruiting me for beating you, you should be the one begging for my help."
"......"
Shin Sua freezes, unable to come back at that.
"I'm already living happily without attention from big shots, so no need for special picks or whatever."
At this point, getting noticed by a future sponsor isn't bad. The problem is those bastards gunning for Argo—they'll snag footage of the freshman-sophomore meet-and-greet sparring too, and leaving a deep impression on their heads isn't ideal. If terrorists or the like send a scout offer? Disaster. I'd never accept, obviously, but their reaction to rejection is predictable.
"You gonna live like a man with no ambition?"
Provocation this time. Guess that's the limit of a seventeen-year-old brain.
"...Not everyone has to live life in full-throttle mode like you."
Gong In-myeong answers Shin Sua's jab, not me.
"Shut your wellness bug mouth!"
"Where'd you pick up that nasty word..."
Under Shin Sua's shout, wellness bug Gong In-myeong shrinks, erasing his presence in an instant.
"Haa, you guys got no fire in you..."
Visibly frustrated, Shin Sua snatches my iced chestnut latte and chugs it.
-Thud!
She glares at me, licking foam from her lips like she's pulled off a petty revenge, but it just looks like a small animal's antics.
"Anyway, if you want to recruit me, dangle some decent bait. Isn't your dad a 'deal-making' pro?"
I can read her intentions clear as day. She lost top entrant spot to Seol Romi—plans to wash that grudge away by outshining her in this sparring. She's desperate to beat that second-year runner-up, so the knife's hilt is in my hand. All that's left is seeing what terms she offers.
Sparring has risks, but if the rewards outweigh, my heart'll tip that way.
"Um... sounds good, but this meetup's an afterparty, right? Can't we talk personal stuff one-on-one later?"
"...You can give it."
As Kim Yun-ju steps in to mediate, Shin Sua—who'd been silently fuming—finally speaks.
"Give what?"
Her voice is mosquito-tiny, so I ask again, and she drops a bomb.
"Just give me one day. You like me, so that should be plenty as payment."
-Clink.
The iced tea glass on the opposite table—where some shady woman had been sitting—tips over.
Pfft! Gemma bursts out laughing.
"U Hyo...?"
U Hyo-chung stares blankly, making weird noises in response.
"The Master said, 'In the Guan Ju, there is joy without lasciviousness, sorrow without injury.'"
As panicked Gong In-myeong spouts nonsense,
-Crack.
Mun Hee-jeong's mug handle snaps in her grip.
[It's not like that, sunbae. She's just deluding herself—]
[Accept.]
[Huh?]
[Tell her you'll team up for the sparring.]
[Why would I...]
[Reject her here, and she'll quit the club. Teachers won't investigate a newbie bailing right after joining?]
[How does that even...]
[You have any idea the hell I've gone through hiding servers and gear?]
"......"
I open the interface and check the favorability needed to raise my relationship rank with Shin Sua to 4.
New ability from last challenge reward after filling club to four members. Satisfy her enough, and one date fills it.
Shin Sua's Rank 4 reward unlocks the Portrait System. Portraits massively impact mid-to-late difficulty in . If she draws contracted ancestor spirits' faces and posts on SNS, their ancestor power strengthens. Plus, portraits are essential for evolving spirits' status to the next stage: Immortal Position.
Acquiring portraits way ahead of schedule boosts not just me, but the whole club's power. King Gojong's Shangju opened chains nationwide after spreading his portraits to amp ancestor power—precedent set.
"...Hmph. Not satisfied with that, huh? Biting off more than you can chew. Fine. How about two days?"
In the stunned silence, Shin Sua lifts her chin proudly and presses on.
Agreeing to this bratty, arrogant deal doesn't sit right, but the scale in my head—risks vs. rewards—has tipped heavily one way.
"Sua, I know it's a joke, but pushing like this in front of everyone puts Taeyang in a tough spot—"
"Deal. Don't need two days. One day's enough playtime."
Mun Hee-jeong's timing overlaps unintentionally, cutting her off. She's the only one here in my corner—sorry about that.
I nod with a light smile as apology, but she stares back with an indescribable expression.
Damn, she's straightforward. I like her. Way better than the big-tits nerd.
Gemma, who'd been praising Mun Hee-jeong lavishly, now cackles and hypes Shin Sua instead.
"You, shut it."
I shove Gemma aside and stand.
"Yun-ju sunbae, three of us from Map-making Club entering the freshman-sophomore sparring."
"Yeah, so?"
"When you're repping on the day, promote your map app in exchange for helping us out? Plenty of time till dinner anyway."
"Help how?!"
Kim Yun-ju reacts fiercely to my pitch—probably trying to regain control of the weird vibe. Club growth means nothing without results; room maintenance on the line. She's been grinding the map app lately. Plans to submit a sample map tomorrow using data from these contact lenses—approval's sure, but no distribution plan yet.
She can't resist this bait.
"Spill. We starting now?"
"Nothing big. Figured out rough locations of Argo's Spirit Veins. With your help, we could all go—"
-Scrape!
"Spirit Vein?!"
Everyone except Gong In-myeong and Mun Hee-jeong leaps up at those two words.
* * *
The Map-making Club members pile out of the cafe, heading to the spot I mentioned.
"No way. How's a Spirit Vein form on a ship?"
"Possible. Argo's city-sized. One wouldn't be weird..."
"Ultra lucky anyway. Thanks to our bro, we get rare experience."
"Eh, won't know till we check. Taeyang might be wrong..."
Shin Sua and Kim Yun-ju voice doubts, while Gong In-myeong and U Hyo-chung back me.
"Anyway, weird he knows a Spirit Vein's location. Not even a long-time third-year..."
The scorched-earth vibe from Shin Sua's bomb and my reply had thawed, flowing calmly into fresh topic.
Five minutes on the high-speed tram. We hop off at Argo's stern station, nearing the destination. Trailing a few steps behind, Mun Hee-jeong walks apart.
"Where'd you even hear about it? No way there's a Spirit Vein here..."
"Focus, sunbae. Solid info—"
Kim Taeyang's sporadic voice drifts back, stabbing her chest like thorns.
"That scent earlier..."
No doubt. The fragrance from his ancestor spirits—now thickly wafting from his body.
Mun Hee-jeong wasn't naive enough to buy it was just from diligent offerings. Earlier, he'd casually dropped reassuring talk; right after, I saw tense Taeyang and his spirits relax.
Something forbidden between Shangju and ancestor spirit had happened—no question, severity unknown.
-Squeeze.
Her thumbnail digs into the hedgehog keychain doll on her smartphone.
"Still, he's dead, so..."
She blurts it, then panics. What was that emotion? Disappointment her clubmate strayed from the path? Or fury at something else?
"Maybe the ancestor spirit just hung around like tucking in a kid while he slept..."
Floundering, she opts for denial—but hits another wall. The cafe scene flashes back.
Shin Sua, brazenly snatching Taeyang's chestnut latte for an indirect kiss. And declaring he likes her. How does a prim chaebol heiress act like that?
There, Mun Hee-jeong realizes something. If she has one strength, it's listening to her heart without ignoring it.
And her heart whispers: You're not mad at Shin Sua's behavior or Taeyang's slip-ups. Those don't matter.
"......"
She peers inward. An ugly, pitch-black emotion crawls out—first time seeing it.
She wants to snap that slender wrist she grabbed earlier, that fragile neck.
She knows it. This is jealousy.
From the moment Taeyang accepted Shin Sua's offer, pain like blood rushing backward tore at her heart.
Mun Hee-jeong admits: her feelings weren't mere aesthetic lust. Pale-skinned, black-haired Kim Taeyang—she craves him unbearably.
The instant she labels that huddled inner feeling, the locked warehouse of fantasies bursts loose, rampaging.
Black-and-white references flood her mind. Forbidden tales and knowledge from thin books she's devoured swirl in her hippocampus.
Standing out: a woman betraying her lover, melting in bliss in a tanned blond delinquent's arms.
Rational walls crumble; fantasy blends with reality. The world she sees shifts subtly.
Rebound from the mental shock? Something dormant inside flips.
The manga girl's ecstatic face—raped body and soul, smiling happily—overlaps briefly with Kim Taeyang's face.
Maybe I could 'plunder' someone's body and heart too, like that tanned blond delinquent.
The black beast from the well whispers in her ear.
"Being taken by me—"
Taeyang would be happy too.
Mumbling blankly, Mun Hee-jeong's lips curve into a smile like the 'plunderer' from her favorite manga.
* * *
"...Never thought a Spirit Vein actually existed in the academy."
Kim Yun-ju, finally pinpointing the spot, mutters in dismay.
Following her lead, we arrive at a dingy storefront near the stern. Shops shuttered, no residents nearby—zero foot traffic. Here, she detects potent residual spirit power flow.
-Whoooosh...
Freshly formed, thick spirit power surges from the empty shop interior. Even with intermittent bursts, someone else should've found it by now—but untouched. Grateful for that.
Spirit Veins: mysterious spots where residual spirit power gathers via feng shui in populous cities. Usually on land with proper ley lines—no one imagined one on ship-sized Argo.
Why Shangju hunt them? Simple.
"Enough here for the whole group to do a Grand Offering at once?"
Because you can perform the massive rite boosting ancestor power via soulstones: Grand Offering.
While everyone's awed, Shin Sua strides ahead.
"Yeah, halabeoji. It's me. Buy up the whole block at this address—cash only. Hurry."
Chaebol heiress, realtor shopping underway via mansion butler on standby, grins contentedly.