The Girl Behind the Locked Door

Fwoosh—

Beside the World Tree in Elvenheim, Kim Seonwoo breathed deeply and turned his gaze inward.

With the Hunter License Exam just ahead, he was measuring himself—confirming where he now stood, and how much farther he could go, as he continued to push beyond his limits again and again.

The body that had broken past the wall of E-grade while fighting Lee Maeng-ho had advanced further still, raising its stat to 35 by the System's standards.

If one insisted on making a comparison, it was growth on par with the pace of a genius fated to become an S-grade hunter in the future.

Truly dazzling growth.

But with the Hunter License Exam now right around the corner, it seemed unlikely that he would cross yet another wall before the day arrived.

Which meant that by the standards of the Seoul Hunter Academy students sitting for the exam before graduation, Seonwoo was still only E-grade.

Seoul Hunter Academy gathered awakened talents counted among the best in the nation.

There were even promising awakened students from overseas.

By the time those students approached graduation and took the license exam, their average level was C-grade.

At most schools, C-grade would place you near the top of the class. At Seoul Hunter Academy, it was merely average.

D-grade students were typically treated as lagging behind, the lower tier who couldn't keep up with the coursework.

The standard was that high.

Once they entered society, those students would go on to become future B-grade leaders of their groups.

The ones who succeeded even further would rise to A-grade and represent South Korea itself.

And by the standards of that Seoul Hunter Academy, Seonwoo—nearly a full year after graduating—had only now reached E-grade.

His mana, meanwhile, had not grown at all.

It remained exactly as he had been born with it.

But Seonwoo felt no regret over that.

After all, it was mana he had never been able to use to begin with.

The reason Kim Seonwoo had only ever managed to reach D-grade, even after piling up countless years, was not talent alone.

It was because he could not use mana.

Whether it was because Kim Seonwoo was a being from another dimension, or because he had been born and raised in a world without mana, Seonwoo possessed mana but was utterly incapable of making use of it.

It felt like telling a man without wings to fly through the sky.

In the end, Seonwoo had been unable to use mana, and he had accepted that.

So there was no reason, now of all times, to lament mana that refused to grow.

Because Seonwoo possessed another transcendent power—one that was not mana.

Internal Energy.

The foundational energy that allowed martial arts to transcend mere combat technique and manifest supernatural power.

The radiant force of life.

It was still only F-grade, but even that much had been accumulated in an unbelievably short time thanks to Elvenheim and the World Tree.

That alone was enough for him to wield the bare minimum of martial arts.

And the Path engraved into his body had reached D-grade.

Yes.

Seonwoo now possessed the qualifications to leave his own name behind in this Hunter License Exam—an exam already being called unprecedented—not just alongside Flame and Hero, but as one more name impossible to ignore.

Fwoosh—

Seonwoo drew in a deep breath and sank even further into himself.

Past the body.

Down to the soul.

And the first thing he encountered there was the pure white sphere settled at the center of his soul.

It was Baekseol's Core.

Because Baekseol's Core resided in Seonwoo's soul, it had been able to come with him through Restart.

If he had to put it into words, she was in a state of pure information.

It held countless possibilities, but for the moment it was little different from a tiny seed.

After giving up not only her body but even her soul's True Body, all Baekseol had left was this Core containing the information of her existence.

Only by manifesting the information stored within this Core would Seonwoo be able to meet Baekseol again, and speak with her.

Originally, he had come back with that as his top priority, believing he could accomplish it within ten years.

…Even with top priority, it was the kind of thing that would still take ten years.

Now that he had returned far later than planned, it should have become even more difficult.

But.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Rustle—

With the World Tree swaying gently beside him, the story changed.

Now that he had laid the proper groundwork, it seemed possible that he could meet Baekseol again in as little as three years.

Not simply because he had opened Elvenheim and planted the World Tree, but because he had become its Gardener.

That position let him enjoy many of Elvenheim's blessings far more quickly.

And for that, he needed to become a hunter. He ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠needed to grow fast.

And there was one more thing.

Companions.

Seonwoo intended to recruit the Spiritist who, all alone, had overwhelmed not just several S-grade powerhouses but even an army fighting alongside them.

In Goddess Saga, she had existed only as a boss in the story.

Only as an enemy.

But Seonwoo wanted to change her misfortune.

What had been impossible in Goddess Saga was not impossible here.

Even if the System, which symbolized absolute truth, declared the odds infinitely close to zero—

as long as they were not truly zero, he would repeat it however many times it took and make it succeed.

Fwoosh—

Breathing steadily, Seonwoo reached for the item that would become the key to that success in this latest alteration of the story.

Astrape.

A divine relic granted to him by the Thunderbolt Dragon, once a divine spirit who guarded the upper spirit realm.

Because it too had taken root in Seonwoo's soul alongside Baekseol's Core, it had crossed over with him through Restart.

It was an item he should never, under normal circumstances, have been able to possess at this point in time.

Unlike Baekseol's Core, Astrape had sunk into his soul in a complete state.

Unfortunately, though, this was another thing he could not yet use.

The problem was his specs.

Astrape, an SSS-grade item great enough to be called a divine relic, was practically pure lightning.

Not ordinary lightning, but catastrophic lightning that seemed capable of rending and incinerating the world.

If Seonwoo drew that out in his current state, his body would burn away before he ever got the chance to wield it—leaving not even ashes behind.

It was common for items on the level of an SSS-grade relic to demand a minimum baseline of specs simply to be controlled.

Which meant this was all the more a time to focus on raising his stats.

And yet—

Fwoosh—

Seonwoo focused, honing body and mind to their utmost limit, then carefully drew out a single strand of Astrape's lightning.

Only a fragment of a fragment.

Had he not reached the Path through slow but profound advancement, it would have been impossible at his current level.

Crackle-crackle-crackle!

Whirl!

Even that precisely extracted sliver was enough to send a small storm of lightning whipping around him.

The power was so great that even the World Tree, startled, hurriedly withdrew the branches it had been circling around Seonwoo with.

If he lost control for even an instant, that lightning would sweep through the area and turn part of the riotously blooming flower field into ashes.

But Seonwoo remained calm.

Breathing steadily, he controlled the lightning perfectly.

Crackle—!

And then, impossibly, a dimensional fissure opened.

It was far too small to function as a Gate, little more than a tiny tear in space.

Even that closed almost at once.

But before it shut, Seonwoo saw what lay beyond it—and bared a grin.

The owner of the divine relic Astrape.

The Thunderbolt Dragon's words had been true.

Seonwoo rose to his feet.

"I'll be back in a bit."

To change yet another misfortune.

It was time to go meet the Spiritist.

Step.

Step.

Seonwoo climbed a steep uphill road.

This was a moon village, a shantytown where the scenery grew harsher in direct proportion to how high you climbed.

Only after reaching nearly the very end of it did his destination come into view.

It was a house even more pitiful than the rest.

Rather than a building, it looked more like a place someone had thrown a sheet over and called shelter.

There, in that place missing everything a home ought to naturally have, lived the Spiritist, Seol Yun-ri.

Creak—

Before Seonwoo could knock, the blue vinyl flap hung outside ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for insulation opened, and an old woman stepped out.

Unlike Seonwoo's grandmother, whose elegance had been refined by layers upon layers of time—

"Who is it?"

—the white hair of the grandmother peering hard with dim eyes to identify her visitor looked as if all color had long since been leeched from it.

Facing that old woman, worn down by time itself—Seol Yun-ri's grandmother—Seonwoo bowed politely.

"Hello. I came because I'd like to see Yun-ri. Would that be alright?"

The old woman studied him for a moment at his respectful question.

"...Did you come here knowing?"

Ordinarily, anyone would have asked what she meant.

But Seonwoo simply nodded.

"Yes. I came because I want Yun-ri to come outside again. May I meet her just once?"

It was a statement filled with complete sincerity.

The old woman thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Come in."

Swallowing back many words, she said only that and turned away.

Seonwoo followed her inside.

The first thing he noticed was the chill in the floor, sharp enough to sting even through his socks.

Combined with the indoor temperature, which felt barely any different from outside, the place truly was a freezing room in every sense.

"I'm sorry. I don't have anything to offer you."

"No, it's alright."

"Then go on. Take care of what you came for."

And the old woman went back outside.

She had not left. She had simply stepped away to give him space.

Quietly, Seonwoo passed through the room that served as both living room and kitchen and stopped before a door.

A door he had reached in only a few steps.

Beyond that door was Seol Yun-ri, the girl destined to become the Elementalist Who Brings Ruin.

Raised by her grandmother without parents, Yun-ri had grown up in grinding poverty.

But she had been born with talent.

So much talent that she had been admitted to Seoul Hunter Academy on scholarship, with everyone expecting she would undoubtedly become an extraordinary spiritist.

At first, she had not suffered the kind of ostracism that usually came with a poor family background.

If anything, she had made many friends.

In this age, talent as a hunter was itself the most precious asset of all.

A talented hunter was all but guaranteed a brilliant future.

Corporations and guilds would bend over backward to recruit such a person.

It was only natural that students from families working in the industry treated Seol Yun-ri warmly.

But then—

When the first semester of first year was nearly over and she still couldn't summon even one basic spirit, everything became horrific.

A poor student who had shown enough promise to enter Seoul Hunter Academy on scholarship, yet couldn't summon even a single basic spirit.

The bullying began in the second semester, grew worse and worse, and eventually left her with trauma at the hands of one particularly vicious bastard.

"Hey, Yun-ri. It's me, your senior Seonwoo."

To call out to Seol Yun-ri, who had locked herself away in a dark, narrow prison of her own making, being from a similar situation was nowhere near enough.

In the original story that followed the orthodox route, Kim Seonwoo and Seol Yun-ri had no point of contact at all.

For him to show up out of nowhere like this, it was only reasonable for her to suspect he had some ulterior motive.

They knew of each other because their situations were somewhat alike, but that was all.

And Seonwoo was not a silver-tongued speaker.

He couldn't offer the kind of fluent ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠persuasion that would move her heart.

Bringing up her struggling grandmother would only amount to carving up her festering wounds.

Under normal circumstances, no matter how many times he repeated it, Seonwoo would never be able to talk her into coming out of that room.

"Yun-ri."

So, left with no other choice, Seonwoo decided to cheat.

"If you don't come out right now and talk to me, I'm posting a comment saying that StrawberryPrincess, the author of S-grade Saintess Smashes Iljins' Heads with a Mace—which is wildly beloved by a certain section of readers—is actually Seol Yun-ri."

Bang crash thud!

Something made an enormous racket inside the room.

Thump thump thump thump!

Then it rushed closer at terrifying speed.

Bang!

The door flew open, and a face appeared—hair in total disarray, cheeks blazing red.

Between the tangled strands, her huge eyes trembled violently.

She looked as if she had just seen the devil himself.

That devil—or rather, Seonwoo—smiled pleasantly and made an offer to the speechless Seol Yun-ri.

"Want to go get some chewy Dubai cookies?"