Chapter 56
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 56 - How to Deal with Abnormal Situations (5)
When you live as an orphan, it’s common for people to treat you as if you’re lower than them.
Sympathy, ridicule… Getting looked down, I’m now tired of all that.
“As a student at Guardian Academy, I demand that the person in charge of my field training treat me properly.”
So, I want to ask for everything I can.
It’s not like the good kid I’ve been acting like up until now, though. Did I feel more relaxed now that Scammer wasn’t around?
Shin Bareun, who was silent for a moment, responded to my words.
“That is correct. It seems I thought wrong.”
Shin Bareun’s eyes met mine. She grinned and spoke.
“Please take care of me. Kang Nahyun, Min Jaeyoon.”
Then she turned around and shouted.
“I’m taking you to your accommodations! Follow me!”
We passed by the glances of the other hunters and silently followed Shin Barun.
“What on earth is Miss Yggdrasil thinking?”
“No matter how recently she has been refined to a stable state, a descendant of that Black Dragon…”
The hunters lined up around were looking at Min Jaeyoon and whispering. It wasn’t a whisper in a good sense.
Moreover, my eyes met directly with the ‘very familiar face’ I had seen behind Shin Bareun earlier.
The person waved their hand and greeted me as if nothing was wrong, but I pretended not to notice. We didn’t separate on good terms, so it had to be that way.
The reason I was more upset than I thought before was because that person reminded me of nightmares from the past.
While I was thinking about that, Calmy quietly came to my side and spoke to me.
“You were cool. And… I’m glad you can now live more comfortably than before.”
He handed me a long bag.
“It’s a gift.”
“Ah, thanks.”
I smiled gratefully when I received the gift, but I couldn’t help but feel bothered by what he said as if it was no big deal.
I was prepared for the reaction that it was unfamiliar or so unlike me, though.
“Don’t hesitate and follow me!”
Anyway, since Scammer isn’t here, things have become a bit more relaxed these days. I need to come to my senses.
I erased all my random thoughts, carried the bag I had just received, and walked along with the hunters.
Not long after, we arrived at the accommodation.
Shin Baran, who had a pale complexion the whole time, seemed a little relieved when we arrived at the accommodation and it was only when Shin Bareun left.
Fortunately for me, she was so nervous that she didn’t have the time to pay attention to my subtle behavior.
Min Jaeyoon, Shin Baran, and I stayed in one room.
When Min Jaeyoon went to the bathroom, I was putting my luggage away and asked Shin Baran to confirm.
“But the Captain is Baran’s older sister, right?”
She smiled weakly and answered.
“Yeah. She’s my sister.”
Then she added various things as if she was trying to make excuses.
“Mm, she’s a bit strict, but she’s capable… She’s not a bad person…”
I smiled brightly and accepted the message.
“Mmhm. She seemed like a cool guy. It’s her, right? Rising Hunter! Shin Bareun, Commander of Light! I saw her on TV!”
Actually, I found out about it through a novel.
Shin Baran’s face brightened at my words.
“Yeah! My sister is really amazing!”
Shin Baran smiled brightly and proudly began pouring out praises for her older sister.
“Ever since my sister was little, she has been so much better than anyone like me! She was good at everything! So—”
To a certain extent, Min Jaeyoon, who would normally approach me quickly, saw the scene and quietly avoided it. Jaeyoon, she seems to have grown more independent, this sister is happy…
As I was quietly smiling and listening to those words with one ear and letting them go with the other, I heard someone knocking on our door.
“Kang Nahyun, are you there?”
A voice so familiar.
It was him.
Shin Baran, who seemed to have noticed my slightly stiff face without realizing it, asked me why I was like that. I responded to the words asking for me by replying that it was nothing.
Choi Garam.
My dead mother’s friend.
And…
No, let’s not think about this now.
“I’m here. What’s the matter?”
“Our captain is looking for you.”
“Captain?”
“I mean, Hunter Shin Bareun.”
Why Shin Bareun, towards me? I walked out of the room feeling puzzled.
But in reality, she just walked with me in silence for a while.
After an awkward moment passed, Choi Garam stopped and finally spoke.
“It’s been a while, kid.”
“Yes.”
I was silent for a moment, then asked what I was curious about.
“I guess you’ve cleaned your hands now?”
“Right. That’s why I proudly appeared in front of you.”
Is that so. I said calmly.
“Then come visit anytime.”
Then she chuckled, put her hat down for no reason, and started walking again. A small voice was heard in the wind.
“…Alright.”
Those words made my heart feel a little lighter.
“But it seems like your personality has changed a bit? Or are you doing it on purpose?”
Choi Garam suddenly launched a mental attack. I was so embarrassed that I cleared my throat.
“…Ahem. Well, please pretend not to know that. There are circumstances.”
The woman chuckled as if teasing me and shrugged her shoulders.
“Alright.”
There was no further conversation after that.
We walked in silence, and when we arrived in front of a door, she disappeared without saying anything.
When I hesitated for a moment,
[Confirming the existence of Oracle near the meta system user.]
[Starting component analysis for updates.]
[Analyzing the transmission route through fragments of previously acquired stories.]
The system window opened a window containing strange words.
Oracle!
Although they weren’t in the original game, they’re a collaborator of Scammer who appears in the novel <Academy’s F-Class Commander>. I took a deep breath.
At the same time,
“Come in.”
A soft voice came from the other side of the door.
Even if I stay like this, there is nothing much I can do. I opened the door nervously.
Inside the room,
“Nice to meet you, Irregular.”
Shin Bareun, no, someone wearing Shin Bareun’s body was sitting there.
“I’m Oracle. The protector of this world.”
I was holding the doorknob, wary of Oracle possessing Shin Bareun’s body. Then Oracle smiled and spoke softly.
“Please come and sit down. I have no intention of harming you.”
I asked, pretending not to know anything.
“Who are you? Why did you come to see me?”
Then Oracle leisurely took a sip of tea and rolled the teacup in their hand.
“I already answered who I am.”
Eyes with a strange light were bent as they looked at me.
“You probably know why I came here, right? Soul of this world.”
Of course I do.
Plus, they know that I know something.
Not surprising. Because Oracle can see and hear everywhere in the world except inside the tower and gate.
“I’ll say it again, I have no intention of harming you. Please sit down.”
“…”
I’m now a colleague of Scammer, and he’s quite fond of me. There is no way Oracle doesn’t know this fact.
Since Oracle wants to maintain a friendly relationship with Scammer, they won’t be able to harm me, on whom Scammer has a crush.
First of all, let’s believe that.
I glanced at Oracle, took my hand off the doorknob, and walked over to sit on the other side of the sofa where they were sitting.
“What’s your business?”
Oracle’s eyes widened at my words and then they burst into laughter.
“You’re a person with a short temper.”
“We’re not in a relationship where we talk about trivial matters, are we?”
They answered my words slyly.
“It could be something like that. If you continue to cooperate with our player.”
“…By that player, do you mean Na Yuhan?”
I asked about the truth I had been guessing all along. Oracle obediently agreed.
“Yes. That’s right. He’s the one we called from the other world to purify this world. He’s our player.”
I was silent for a moment and then asked another question.
“Then what about me? “You call me ‘Irregular,’ but you didn’t call me here, right?”
“You’re not what either side wants to call. You’re just a variable that arrived in this world by chance.”
“…Ah, yes.”
…I thought maybe Oracle called me and reincarnated me in this world, though.
In the end, I’m more like a being who arrived in this world by accident, slipping on my feet, without any luck or fate.
I felt my hope for the mystery of my reincarnation dying once again, as it had never existed before.
“Have a cup of tea.”
Oracle held out a teacup towards me and poured some tea. Warm tea smoke floated in the air.
I took a long look at myself reflected in the tea. My current life is clearly different from the previous life.
Since I was born here by chance, I had somehow managed to live a turbulent life.
So, I have no choice but to live again.
After fiddling with the teacup for a while, I asked what was most needed.
“Oracle, are you willing to cooperate with me?”
Whether or not Oracle had called me to this world, I knew that as I was a soul of this world, I would approach it at least once. What’s important is what kind of intention you approach it with.
For a moment, silence dominated the space.
“The variables are unknown.”
The deep silence was broken by those unexpected words.
I lifted my gaze from the tea and looked at Oracle.
“Variables are unknown and must be controlled. This is especially true if the variable is close to the most important thing.”
Oracle’s deep eyes were focused on me.
“You’re cooperating with our player now, but the future is unknown.”
“Yes. I can change sides depending on the situation.”
In fact, in the past, he had a deal with Black Libra, one of the creators of the tower.
However, I have no intention of being particularly hostile towards Oracle. Rather, I think it will be mutually beneficial—
“That’s why I decided you needed a leash.”
“…Leash?”
What does this mean again?
“We have been observing you from the moment you awakened and became a significant variable.”
Oracle continued calmly.
“You seem to care quite a bit about the children from the same orphanage as you. Even if some of them are byproducts of the tower.”
A chilling feeling went up my spine. This bastard, no way…?
I clenched my fists. My teeth automatically clenched.
“You don’t have to glare at me like that. If you cooperate with us obediently, your precious ones will also be safe.”
This bastard, they plan to harm my family if I don’t listen.