The Unreadable Body
Seong Sua was summoned alone to Ye-riel's office, and there she received a single request from her.
"Ye-riel-nim, could you please say that one more time…."
"That assistant instructor working with you—have him try out our VR capsule and pull some data for me."
Ye-riel sat at her ornate desk, tapping her fingers as she waited for Seong Sua's answer.
But the reply she had expected to come at once never arrived.
"It's a simple request. Just go have him take a physical exam…."
"I'm sorry."
"…"
Ye-riel did not let it show on her face, yet she was considerably flustered.
The reason she was flustered was not because Seong Sua refused to listen.
Does she think I'm asking her to sell out a colleague? Or….
As Ye-riel watched her, trying to read Seong Sua's psychology, Seong Sua opened her mouth and explained herself.
"Well… it might not be anything major, but I don't want to deceive Instructor Sung Suho like that."
"Hmm…."
Ye-riel closed her eyes and sank into thought.
Should I just drop it? But that sense of dissonance… something about it feels too off to simply let go.
The unease she had felt from the first moment she saw Sung Suho had not been strong enough to truly trouble her.
But when she shook his hand, Ye-riel had felt a bizarre sensation she had never experienced in her life wash over her completely.
…It wasn't malice or goodwill. It was the feeling of being sucked in all at once, of everything being swallowed whole.
If clear malice or goodwill had been present, she would have felt more at ease.
An utterly incomprehensible, unknown sensation had tried to devour Ye-riel, and her instincts would not allow her to simply pass over it without knowing what it was.
I was thinking of testing this new capsule since they said the measurements are far more precise….
In truth, there had never been much reason for the Tower to keep capsules around.
No matter how advanced the technology packed into a VR capsule, it had been impossible to measure mana and magic with true precision.
But the VR capsule provided by Evrica this time claimed to have compensated for even those shortcomings, and they had sent a prototype.
They explained that mana and magic—and even physical measurements that had been possible but insufficient before—were now far more precise.
No matter how I look at it, it's unsettling. I don't want to just let it go….
Yet even if she did not want to let it go, with Seong Sua showing such stubborn refusal, Ye-riel could not push hard.
Seong Sua was not some employee who always obeyed orders.
She was a strong woman who valued trust, and who would not bend her convictions even for a superior's command.
Has she gotten close to that assistant instructor so quickly?
In the era Ye-riel had lived through, there had been no Hero Academy, and of course no instructor service either.
But living in the Tower, she had some idea of where the position of assistant instructor stood.
Ye-riel spoke in a voice laced with mischief.
"The way you're talking, it sounds like you've taken quite a liking to him?"
"He… he's a truly diligent person. And his skills are excellent, too."
"…"
Seong Sua's reaction was not flustered—it was enjoyment.
No way? That can't be. Wait… I can't just dismiss it out of hand either….
Inferring from her reaction alone, Ye-riel, wanting confirmation, cut straight to the point.
"If he's that good, good enough that he could join the Tower?"
"To be honest… after he finishes his service this year, I'd like to seriously recommend that he get re-evaluated by the Hero Association."
"If you're saying that much, would it be alright for the Tower to scout him?"
"Oh my! Really? He's truly a wonderful person!"
"…"
Ye-riel was certain.
Is that man the reason she's swimming free now?
It had not been many years since Ye-riel had come to know Seong Sua directly.
Seong Sua's upright character and nature were something even people other than Ye-riel—who was good at reading others—would acknowledge.
She had simply learned that the man was the reason she was swimming free; it was still too early to conclude that she had simply turned her eyes to another man.
This girl likes the ones over there… and the ones over here… only the ones that make me uneasy.
Ye-riel of course knew about Seong Sua's engagement to Cho Kang-hyun.
Cho Kang-hyun… Sung Suho… right now, both of them were incomprehensible beings in Ye-riel's eyes.
So I need to look into him more carefully.
Ye-riel steeled herself and spoke to Seong Sua.
"In that case, all the more reason you should grant my request, no?"
"Th-that is…."
"I promise. I have absolutely no intention of harming you or him. While we're at it, I'd like to test you as well."
"…?"
Ye-riel explained the prototype VR device that had arrived this time to Seong Sua, and asked her to go in together with Sung Suho and run the checks.
Ye-riel-nim isn't the type to lie….
It was ambiguous as a firm answer, yet Ye-riel had said that if Sung Suho's skills were guaranteed to a certain degree, she was inclined to have him join the Tower.
Seong Sua trusted the person named Sung Suho, and she rated his skills fairly highly as well.
I'm not doing something unnecessary, am I?
No matter how renowned a mage guild the Tower was in the world, that only applied when the disposition matched.
If it did not suit one's tastes, even a major corporation was no different from a black company—that was the nature of workplaces.
…No, I'm sure he'll like it.
There was still a year left in his instructor service period, but she began to imagine the expression he would make when she proposed it to him after it ended.
His surprised face, and her own smiling self.
Just that imagination alone made Seong Sua smile contentedly.
And along with her smile, a voice came from beside her.
"Instructor Seong Sua? Did something fun come to mind?"
"Huh? Ah, ahaha…."
Sung Suho was smiling as he asked her.
Seong Sua snapped back to her senses and spoke to him.
"I'm sorry. I was just spacing out for a moment…."
"Well, nothing to apologize for. But why did you come here?"
"That's…."
Seong Sua explained that a new-model VR device had been installed at the Ivory Tower, and that the Tower side had requested they try it out as a test, which was why she had come.
"But when it came time to come alone, it felt lonely."
"Aha."
Sung Suho smiled and approached the capsules.
Unlike the Hero Academy, there were only four VR capsules, yet it was more than enough for Seong Sua and Sung Suho to enter.
"Then would you do it with me?"
"Yes, of course."
Sung Suho approached Seong Sua and prepared to enter the VR capsule.
…As expected, it's a bit much here.
When Seong Sua first entered the VR, she had been somewhat looking forward to it and started trying various things inside the virtual reality.
Since she was in there anyway, she had felt the urge to try all sorts of things with Sung Suho in the capsule.
But the VR capsules at the Ivory Tower were fundamentally made for training, and as a result the software was all set for training purposes.
What the two of them could do was mostly just the virtual training designed for mages.
Yet unlike the disappointed Seong Sua, Sung Suho was beaming as he proceeded with the training.
"Wow… the capsules at the Hero Academy were amazing, but the ones at the Ivory Tower seem even more precise, don't they?"
As Sung Suho said, it was stimulating the sensory organs even more highly than those impressive Hero Academy capsules.
And what stood out was the magic….
"Wow… it seems like it can measure the magic I have to some extent?"
"Right? It's still early stages, but even though I didn't specially set my mana, it's implementing it to a certain degree."
Seong Sua forgot the disappointment she had felt earlier and began spending time doing various training with Sung Suho.
His magic is wind attribute, lightning attribute. Lightning attribute? He's handling a very dangerous ability….
The new VR capsule recognized magic and mana, but ultimately its accuracy and recognition were lacking, so beyond basic attribute magic it could not measure separately.
This should be enough, right? Doing any more would feel too bad, after all.
Seong Sua would have liked to continue VR training with Sung Suho like this, but everything happening in this capsule right now was being recorded.
Because of the feeling of secretly monitoring Sung Suho, she no longer felt like doing more.
"Instructor Sung Suho, thank you for coming with me. Shall we head out soon?"
"I had fun myself. But…."
"…?"
Sung Suho muttered while looking at the hologram related to his physical functions.
"This still seems like a trial version, so other than magic the display is unstable."
"…"
Clearly the magic side had been output without issue.
But all the data related to the body—muscle strength, flexibility, and so on—was outputting broken as if it were malfunctioning.
In contrast, Seong Sua's data, though the numbers kept fluctuating, was clearly displaying well.
After that they tried examining a few more times, but Sung Suho's data kept glitching and causing errors.
…
Seong Sua arbitrarily deleted the recorded physical examination chart of Sung Suho.
"Huh? Instructor Seong Sua, is it okay to delete that?"
"Mm… it seems like there's a problem with the machine since it's a prototype. Leaving something like this in the records doesn't seem like it would do any good."
After coming out of the VR capsule, Seong Sua parted ways with Sung Suho.
"Then I'll be going for a bit—I have something to take care of."
"Yes, then I'll see you tomorrow."
After parting like that, Seong Sua headed straight for Ye-riel's office.
All the way to the office, she fretted endlessly.
…What if I get some strange misunderstanding for deleting it for no reason?
Seong Sua herself wondered why she had done such a thing.
If Sung Suho had gotten a record like that while being measured ordinarily at a place like the Hero Academy, she would not have attached much meaning to it.
Errors could happen anywhere, after all.
But with Ye-riel currently focusing on Sung Suho, when a measurement like that came out, she had pressed delete without realizing it.
For now I'll say the measurement didn't work well, and later when we have time to measure more it'll come out fine then….
Seong Sua resolved to lie, clutching her pricked conscience as she entered Ye-riel's office.
After hearing Seong Sua's explanation, Ye-riel nodded and spoke.
"Alright, good work. Go rest."
"Th… later when I have time, I'll try measuring more."
"Well, since it's a prototype, there must be all sorts of problems. You worked hard."
"Yes… then I'll see you tomorrow."
Seong Sua bowed her head as calmly as possible in greeting and left Ye-riel's office.
Confirming that Seong Sua had left, Ye-riel began muttering to herself.
"A girl who can't even lie properly, trying to hide something like that…."
Ye-riel touched the bottom of her desk and began checking the physical data extracted from Sung Suho.
"Good thing I recorded it while watching earlier."
The records had been arbitrarily deleted by Seong Sua, but the screen of the two of them moving around earlier remained intact in Ye-riel's office.
Ye-riel tapped her fingers on the desk as she carefully observed Sung Suho's data.
The bizarre feeling emanating from him, and a body whose numbers could not be measured.
Strange…. I'll save it for now and go ask Evrica directly later.
Ye-riel moved all the records from the server to her personal storage, then closed the screen.
On the second day of the field trip, I entered the dungeon together with Seong Sua, the cadets, the guards… and Ye-riel.
The cadets and guards, who were vulnerable to miasma, showed signs of exhaustion not long after entering the dungeon.
And I was starting to get exhausted by Ye-riel's gaze.
I feel like I'm going to get indigestion….
I hadn't done anything particularly suspicious, so I wondered why she was only looking at me.
Damn it, if only I hadn't shaken hands….
But I'd still like to know the reason.
Had she caught on to my affiliation with the freaks? Or my abilities? Or my personality of going around snatching women?
…That last one was a bit dangerous.
Haa… I don't know. For now I'll just do my job.
I looked around at the exhausted cadets and gave them encouragement.
And among them, the cadet who stood out the most was without a doubt Seo Jieun.
Man… even in the middle of this, that class of meditating.
Seo Jieun was alone, separated from the other cadets, eyes closed, sitting elegantly on a rock.
Just the sight of her sitting there alone radiated dignity, to the point of being awe-inspiring.
I carefully approached and spoke to her.
"Are you alright?"
"…Yes."
"If you're tired or exhausted…."
"Instructor."
"Hm?"
Seo Jieun turned her head and opened her mouth with a dignified air.
"Please don't concern yourself with me."
"Uh… okay…. Sorry."
I shouted to Armonia as if coughing blood.
If this were Shutra you'd get 10 demerits right away! Damn it!!
And you'd get demerits without fail for a whole month and get expelled!
While I was fuming inside like that, Seong Sua approached me with a refreshing smile and spoke.
"Instructor Sung Suho, are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine."
"Amazing. I heard it was your first time even on the academy field trip. You're completely unaffected by the miasma."
Seong Sua praised me while smiling brightly.
The reason I could endure the little witch's suspicious gaze and my disciple's cold shoulder was thanks to Seong Sua's smile.
And looking at her smile, I thought.
Hehe… I want to fuck her already.