Chapter 43
Chapter 43
Academy’s Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Chapter 43
"How dare you say that after doing something like that because of your family... Do you even have the right?!"
The atmosphere turned hostile in an instant.
What the hell? Weren't we just having a normal conversation?
No, actually, it was never a normal conversation to begin with.
One side had been on edge the whole time, while the other was desperately trying to extract information.
And that wasn't all.
Isabel might know all about the old Baek Seung-woo, but I didn't.
I had no idea what kind of backstory he had or what secrets he shared with her.
The subtle distance born from that information gap was fanning the flames of this tense, chilly atmosphere.
But the real root of the problem was something else.
She has no idea what went down between Isabel and Baek Seung-woo. Not a clue.
I wasn't sure how much distance to keep from her.
Whatever the case, one thing was clear right now.
My words had provoked her.
Family, huh...
Had something happened between the Heavenly Fox Baek Family and Sirius?
Or had Baek Seung-woo gone through something in the Heavenly Fox Baek Family?
Speculation and questions swirled, but nothing clicked.
It was only natural; I didn't have enough info to turn suspicions into certainties.
I'll look into this later. For now, I need to smooth things over with Isabel.
"Reconciliation" wasn't the right word.
We hadn't fought.
If anything, she'd been the one laying into me unilaterally.
She was the only one getting angry, too.
Now that I thought about it, yeah.
How the hell do you reconcile in a situation like this?
Blindly seeking peace without even knowing why she was mad could just make her angrier.
But I couldn't just let this awkward, heavy vibe linger either.
Now that we were on the same team, building rapport was crucial.
"Courage training, huh."
Not a bad idea.
Nothing beat it for bonding and testing guts.
I nodded at the unexpected suggestion.
"Sounds good. So, where's the spot?"
"Around the cliffs and waterfall between the gorges!"
"...Gorges and a waterfall?"
The fact that such a place existed on academy grounds was surprise enough.
But if it was the spot I knew, we couldn't just waltz in.
That area was Professor "Hunting Studies"'s private turfher specialty was monster hunting.
"That might be tough..."
"W-why?"
"I don't know Professor Tiger personally."
Tiger Grills.
A professor who'd made her name as a legendary hunter in her youth.
She wasn't that old now, but she'd long since hung up her adventurous spirit for a career in education.
She lived in a cabin atop the gorge.
And since her lectures were all held in natural settings like gorges and fields, Iwho stuck to the labhad zero overlap with her.
No way I could barge into a stranger's private property.
"Oh, don't worry about that. We don't need Professor Tiger's permission for it."
"From what I know, your TA ID is enough to get in. It's private property, sure, but it's still academy grounds. TAs should be free to come and go."
My TA ID.
The one I'd shown Lee Ji before.
I'd only used it for borrowing books from the library till now. Who knew it had perks like this?
News to me.
Once we confirmed access was fine, we set a date.
Two days from now, at dawn, in front of the training hall.
Meet up there and go ghost-hunting together.
Ghosts or no ghosts, it'd be a great chance to bond and test our nerves.
"Ghosts, huh..."
It's been a while.
I used to get excited about rumors like that too.
Probably with Eve, come to think of it.
Why are most of my memories tied to her?
Maybe because she's my oldest living friend.
"Feels off."
Why did so many memories with that guy stick?
An uncomfortable, unpleasant feeling washed over me.
* * *
Back before I'd taken a key position in the military.
Back when I was still attending school like a normal kid.
I heard something ridiculous from my friend Eve.
"So. You got a tip about ghosts haunting the foothills of Geumgang Mountain?"
"Yeah! They say eerie cries echo through the mountains at night."
"Probably a magibeast. Or maybe a dungeon leaking into reality, with a few changgwi slipping out of Changgwi Cave."
Changgwi were ghosts devoured by tigers.
Vengeful spirits who lured innocents into tigers' jaws, but like most ghosts, they were just figures from folklore passed down orally.
But in a world where mana and magibeasts were real, they could very well exist.
Magibeasts reproduced meteorically by default.
But some spawned from folklore people whispered about.
That's why Geumgang Mountainendless with tiger taleshosted a massive dungeon called [Changgwi Cave] and a sangun monster.
"Doesn't prove it's not ghosts, though."
"Isn't it just a wraith or specter-type magibeast? Ghosts aren't real."
"Were magibeasts always real?"
"Tch, you got me there."
As Eve said, it was a world with magibeasts.
No reason ghosts couldn't exist too.
Still, personally, I'd prefer they didn't.
The world was grim enough without extra entities beyond magibeasts.
Not that I was scared of ghosts or anything.
Definitely not.
"Why bring it up, anyway? Wanna go ghost-hunting in Geumgang this weekend?"
"[Changgwi Cave]'s gotta be cleared anyway. Come with!"
"Sounds like a hassle... Oh, bring Wei. He's on leave."
Wei was my friend's name. No, my friend.
A guy I'd met after the world fell apart and nations blurred.
Two years older than me, but weaker, so I treated him like a peer.
He hated being called "hyung" anyway.
...Or maybe that was after I "educated" him a few times?
"Nah, leave him out. Wei's not in the country."
"Where is he?"
"Beijing."
"...Beijing?"
The guy who'd been in Gyeonggi Province days ago just up and went to Beijing without a word?
Wei was Chinese by nationality.
But he hadn't lived in China long.
To me, he felt like a local buddy who just happened to speak Chinese well.
How'd he end up there?
"He's obsessed with Tai Chi or Bajiquan now, chasing hidden masters left and right. No idea why he'd look in a city."
"Haha, classic Wei."
I wasn't laughing because it was funny.
Wei, that walking disaster, always chased his curiosities.
And cleanup was always on me.
Wei messes weren't that hard to fix, honestly.
The problem was cleaning up Eve's messes too.
I clutched my throbbing head and said impatiently,
"Geumgang's sangun is at least 4th Hierarchy."
"So? Scared? Fine then."
"Hey, who said I was scared? Just saying be careful."
"That's proof you are. Pfft, scaredy-cat."
"What nonsense. You're the one with zero sense of danger."
I'd tried scaring her with the sangun's hierarchy, but Eve seized control of the convo.
Makes senseshe handled high hierarchies like it was nothing, a monster herself.
4th Hierarchy was no biggie for her.
Instead, she teased me for being scared.
Her bright, innocent grin was infuriating.
Ugh, pissing me off for real.
"Stop laughing. Even a three-year-old wouldn't cackle like that."
"Sometimes I think it, but you talk like such an old soul."
"Old... soul?"
"Yeah. Who says 'three-year-old' these days? You hang with adults too much."
Fair pointmy vocab and speech mimicked adults.
I'd enlisted as a boy soldier at five, but they couldn't officially make a kid a soldier.
So officers took turns teaching me.
Not just that, though.
I was a prodigy, soaking up lessons like a sponge, earning the military's favor.
That's how I learned skills and survival from retired vets and active ones.
In that process, I met my swordmaster and the mentor who shaped my life.
I took pride in my adult-honed speech.
Calling it "old soul" stung.
"Don't say that. I might brush it off, but those folks could grab their blades and go berserk if they heard."
"True, could get messy. But it's not wrong."
"You've got guts. Explains dragging me ghost-hunting in Geumgang."
Eve and I bantered as we walked.
What if real ghosts showed? What gear for [Changgwi Cave]? Pointless chit-chat.
"If a ghost shows, skewer it with your sword. Even a scaredy-cat can manage that."
"Scaredy-cat my ass. Wouldn't your magic wipe 'em out easier? Nah, might collapse the whole mountain."
"Treating me like a monster. You blew up a few hills last op."
Our carefree laughter and chatter looked just like any teens'.