Chapter 22
Chapter 22
Academy’s Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Chapter 22
"Why are you all here...?"
The unexpected visitors weren't just one personthey were two.
And they were students, at that.
I wasn't the TA assisting with lectures, so I had no close ties with the students.
Even so, they were familiar faces.
"...Hello."
"TA! There you are. We've been looking everywhere for you since yesterday!"
They were lovely young women.
Perhaps because they were at that age when flowers first bloom. They were incredibly beautiful girls, but that wasn't what caught my interest.
I had only one curiosity: why they had come to find me.
"...Why did you come looking for me?"
I tilted my head slightly.
My face flushed with embarrassment.
It wasn't from rational excitement. It was the guilt squeezing my chest and the shame that made me want to crawl into a hole.
The two students looked at me and spoke.
'...I don't want to hear it.'
I didn't want to hear whatever they had to say.
I wanted to plug my ears.
But my ears were open, and they spoke.
"Thank you for saving us!"
"...Th-thank you."
Yes, those were the words I didn't want to hear.
I had no choice but to know who these two girls were.
After all, I had saved them both.
The bright and cheerful one was No Yu-ra, whom I'd rescued just before a monster could crush her. The quiet-spoken one was Seo Ye-rin, now so familiar she felt welcoming.
"You were so cool back then! The flames dancing all around, then whooshyou zipped in, and the monster went flying!"
"...Yu-ra, be quiet in front of a patient..."
"Oh, and Ye-rin told me. When you saved me last time, you saved her first, right?"
No Yu-ra cheerfully patted Seo Ye-rin's back.
"You should thank the TA properly too!"
"I just did..."
"Come on, he's still the TA. You can't thank him so casually."
"...B-but..."
"Ye-rin?"
As the socially awkward Seo Ye-rin bowed her head, No Yu-ra prodded her questioningly, as if asking if she really wouldn't say it.
Under that pressure, Seo Ye-rin hesitantly parted her lips.
Her mouth opened and closed like a goldfish, tilting No Yu-ra's head in confusion.
That silent pressure pushed at Seo Ye-rin's back. Recalling if she'd ever given a proper thank-you in polite speech in her life, she finally managed to speak.
"Th-thank... you... so... much..."
Seo Ye-rin's heartfelt gratitude.
Even if prompted, it didn't dilute her sincerity.
The genuine thanks pierced me like poison.
I bowed my head in shame, covering my face with my right hand.
I wasn't crying or in anguish. It was just my usual blank expression.
'...I have no idea what expression to make.'
Corpses were familiar to me.
From strangers' bodies to a mother and daughter who leaned on each other until the end.
Even comrades who'd overcome hardships together.
I'd seen so many varied corpses that death had numbed me, and I'd recovered plenty myself. So the deaths of nine students barely fazed me.
But this time was different.
'By saving those kids, I killed innocent ones.'
There's an economic term: equivalent exchange.
It means trading two things of equal value.
And I'd traded the lives of two equal groups of students.
That wasn't my original intent.
I wanted to save those nine unjustly dying students.
But as a price, another nine innocentskids unrelated to this episodedied. I saved nine innocents and doomed nine others to death.
What a pointless waste of life.
Seeing those students' bodies drove it home.
No matter what I did, this world wouldn't change.
It followed its original plot and scenarios.
That was good news, at least. It meant this world's ending was a happy one.
But the deaths along the way still gnawed at me.
Even so, I had no confidence to rebel.
What if I stepped in again and people died?
Unrelated people, at that. Could I endure it?
As I wallowed in those deep emotions, No Yu-ra pulled me out.
"TA, are you okay?"
She grabbed my hand and knelt to meet my eyes.
Her worried gaze made me lift my head. My haggard face reflected in her clear eyes.
If even I felt this way, how must she feel, watching up close?
No Yu-ra looked panicked.
"A-are you okay? No, you look anything but! Let's get you to the infirmary now!"
"No, really, I'm fine. Let go of my hand."
"...Really?"
"It'll heal completely in a week, so no need for the infirmary."
I persuaded her in a gentle tone.
Going to the infirmary now would just waste the health teacher's time. I looked like a corpse on death's door, but as the elixir's effects spread, I'd recover steadily.
In a week, it'd fully integrate into my body.
Lacking the energy to explain, I brushed it off as fine. No Yu-ra sighed in relief, seeming convinced.
"Phew, that's a relief. But then... is it a mental issue?"
"...Who knows."
"TA. Look me straight in the eyes."
She sat on the bench beside me and stared intently.
Why did everyone sit right next to me?
Had someone smeared honey there?
Regardless, No Yu-ra was determined to make eye contact. She cupped my face with both hands and turned my head.
My frail body couldn't resist her strength.
Our eyes met, and she beamed.
Her face filled my view. The moment I absentmindedly thought her eyes were pretty...
"...!"
"...You must have been suffering so much."
"...Wh-what..."
My mind flashed.
It felt like she'd glimpsed a fragment of my emotions.
As an inexplicable unease made my eyes dart, No Yu-ra was right there.
Right in front of my face.
Our noses touched; I could feel her breath.
Seo Ye-rin blushed and covered her eyes with her hands.
Yet she peeked through her fingers.
"What... what are you doing...?"
"I peeked at your emotions, TA. More precisely, your sensations."
"...What?"
Peeking at emotionsno, sensations.
A versatile ability with endless uses depending on application.
Over ten came to mind instantly. Such an impressive power.
A bit generous for a mere extra, I thought
No Yu-ra's eyes curved into crescents. She grabbed my hands again and spoke.
"You just thought my ability was impressive, right, TA?"
"...Yes."
"I like your honesty. I can easily spot lies."
Her eyes still sparkled beautifully.
That gleam unnerved me.
Afraid she'd peek at my sensations again.
More precisely, delve into their depths.
Those were emotions and memories I never wanted unearthed.
I couldn't tolerate dragging them up or letting anyone glimpse them. Sensing my mood, she shook her head.
"Don't worry. My ability only reads surface sensations. If you hide them tight, I can't see."
"Even so, it's impressive."
"Well, I'm a Chilseong Academy student. It's only natural."
She took a breath and continued.
"TA, do you know what newspapers and articles call us?"
"Students, I suppose."
"Wrong! The answer is cadets."
"...Cadets?"
Cadets meant students at a military academy.
It was a metaphor likening Chilseong Academy to an officer training institution. What was her intent?
No Yu-ra smiled and went on.
"We're cadets. Basically reserve soldiers. Of course, we're elite among elites."
I knew that well.
There were many player training institutions worldwide, and Chilseong Academy was top five. It drew promising talents domestically and abroad.
And it was the backdrop for countless scenarios and episodes.
"I'm not great academically. Theory and practicals are both flops. But out there?"
No need to finish.
She'd be seen as a talented prodigy.
But in this den of monsters called Chilseong Academy, her gifts seemed dimmed.
Yes, only prepared students could enter here.
"I get that you're hurting, TA. You wanted to save the dead students too."
I let out an involuntary snort at her words.
A girl four yearsno, eight years my junior, since I was originally 25comforting me.
It felt utterly ridiculous.
"But look at me, sir."
Ignoring that, No Yu-ra stared straight into my eyes.
She smiled brightly.
"I'm alive here because of you, TA."
"..."
"So grieve if you must, but don't blame yourself. I'm alive solely thanks to you."
That wouldn't do.
Not blaming myself was just self-justification. I had been careless and imprudent.
Her words pleased me but weren't enough to sway my heart.
No Yu-ra's ability caught that fragment immediately.
She squeezed my cheeks with both hands, lifting my head.
My turbid eyes reflected in hers.
Then something sliced the air.
Slap!
My vision jerked sideways.
Seo Ye-rin stood with her hand over her mouth.
Before I could react, the follow-up came.
Slap! My head whipped the other way.
After two slaps to the cheeks, her face beaming before me again.
No Yu-ra grinned and said,
"Looks like you're more stubborn than I thought, TA."
"...What is this."
"Don't worry. I'll help you this time."
My vision flipped again.
My weak body couldn't dodge her strikes, nor did I want to. Curiosity outweighed the pain.
Why was she hitting me?
Had I done something to deserve it?
Then it hit me: she might find me frustrating.
She could read my surface feelings.
Peeking into them, she'd surely feel exasperated, even choked.
But it was unavoidable. Without my interference, those students might not have died.
I'd killed those kids.
I'm alive here because of you, TA.
Her voice echoed like an auditory hallucination with each slap.
Yes, I saved students who were meant to die. But my narrow focus ignored the others.
If I'd steeled myself from the start and prepared...
Those kids wouldn't have died so pointlessly. Then a thought struck me.
Why did I think I had to save them?
Looks like you're more stubborn than I thought, TA.
Her words lingered in my ears amid the stinging pain.
She was rightI was stubborn.
I'd dismissed them as mere novel characters before, yet now I tormented myself over innocents dying due to my mistakes.
'...That's why I have to take responsibility.'
I caused this mess.
So I had to clean it up.
Even if the protagonist awakened as planned, my resolve didn't waver.
I'd do it, even if I failed.
That was my decision.
[Main Quest 'Responsibility' cleared.]
[Accepting reward.]
[Wind clings to your legs, raising Agility by one rank!]
[Agility: D- D]
The message popped up before my eyes.
Oh right, I had gotten that main quest.
Why now?
It had been two days already.
Why clear it only now?
[Following Main Quest 'Responsibility,' generating linked quest.]
[Main Quest: Resolve]
[Description: Your actions were clumsy and your preparations inadequate. As a result, the protagonist awakened on schedule, and unrelated students became sacrifices to the scenario.
Yet you resolved to walk this path to the end. What lies at the end of that resolve is unknown to all.]
[Clear Conditions: 1. Intervene in the next episode in advance. 2. Exclude the protagonist's involvement.]
[Success: 'Point Shop' unlocked, 'Trait Catalog' granted.]
[Failure: The protagonist will fully follow the original scenario.]
I see. Now I understood why the message appeared.
Because of this follow-up quest.
Reading it, I felt the urgent need to grow stronger soon.
I'd just painfully realized my weakness.
I had to power up before the next incident. And for that, there was a place I needed to visit first.
A place related to my eyes.
To head there, I said goodbye to No Yu-ra and Seo Ye-rin and left.
* * *
Baek Seung-woo strode off purposefully somewhere.
Watching his back, No Yu-ra's eyes widened.
How could his silhouette be so cool?
Her face flushed as she cherished an unforgettable memory.
That day she didn't even want to recall.
On the day the TA saved her, she'd seen that same back view.
Broad and reassuring.
And with it, he'd saved her from being trampled and crushed.
It was a memory she'd never forget for the rest of her life.
"...Yu-ra, your personality's gotten... weird."
"Hm? I don't think so."
"That's what's weird..."
Seo Ye-rin, standing right beside her, chided her.
The sudden change in her friend flustered her.
Unlike herself with almost no social ties, Yu-ra was always at the center of people. Polar opposites.
But that's how they became friends.
As friends, she'd seen it often and knew well.
"You... never showed interest in guys."
"Did I? I have tons of boyfriends."
"They're all. Guy friends."
"So?"
Sighing inwardly, Seo Ye-rin clutched her head.
Unlike her aloof self, Yu-ra befriended everyone regardless of gender, receiving confessions often.
It had been just a month since enrollment.
The number who'd confessed to the fresh, charming girl already exceeded ten fingers.
Seo Ye-rin had witnessed over twelve boys do it herself.
Who knew how many more when she wasn't around.
"...You always kept your distance from guys."
"I didn't mean to, really..."
They say no friendship between men and women.
True to that, the guys around Yu-ra, though called friends, all eyed a closer bond.
Aware of it, Yu-ra usually limited physical contact with men.
"Wow... Isn't he just too cool?"
"...What?"
"That back view. Even in patient clothes, you can't hide that beauty."
Seo Ye-rin shook her head at her friend's dopey expression.
This was terminal. How had her disinterested friend ended up like this?
His face was decent, she admitted.
Agreed on that. But his personality rubbed her wrong.
Naturally, since their first meeting started with a misunderstanding.
Of course, she no longer dwelled on the past.
Whatever, he was their savior.
She was too grateful to judge him harshly.
But seeing her friend's idiotic look, she didn't know how to react. Socially inept, it frustrated her.
While Seo Ye-rin hesitated,
Yu-ra blankly stared down the path he'd taken, even after he was gone.
She knew exactly what her feelings were.
Perhaps because she could glimpse others' emotions and sensationsshe never mistook her own.
The warmth welling in her chest was certain.
"The trigger was trivial, for sure."
Their first meeting was in the lecture hall.
The man who appeared as TA in famous Professor Nam Hwa-yeon's class. His looks captivated women and girls alikedangerously so.
The epitome of ideal beauty.
Yet she didn't fall at first sight.
It was an appearance that could spark love at first glance, but initially, he was just a handsome man.
Nearly a month passed after.
Enough time for that strong impression to fade. No Yu-ra had been gradually forgetting Baek Seung-woo.
That near-death day.
In a desperate situation where she couldn't expect help from friends or overcome with her own strength.
He saved her.
She realized it holding his hand just now.
He was weak. Pathetically so.
Frail enough to be dragged by her below-average strength. Yet he'd saved her despite that.
Even exhausted to the point breathing hurt, he'd stroked her head to calm her.
The situation was urgent, but the process was simple.
So why did thinking of it warm her heart?
That back protecting her. Flames illuminating the cold grip of death.
Roaring, they rose even now with closed eyes.
Frightening yet joyful, chilling yet warm.
That day's blaze still burned unquenched in the girl's heart.
Even if the spark was small.
Like young students, first love often sneaks up unawares.