Different Paths (2)
The path might be different, but—
I wandered around inside the magic beast stable for quite a while before finally spotting it. There, on one side of the floor, was a huge manhole-like entrance. The problem was there was no obvious handle, and the thing was ridiculously heavy. No way I could lift it with my own strength.
Yang Bok-ja asked, “Won’t it open?”
“Hmm…”
It didn’t look like something you were supposed to open by hand. Come to think of it, Professor Nakamori didn’t seem to have any special ability to handle magic beasts. That meant this entrance was probably operated remotely. Sure enough, thick hydraulic cylinders were attached to both sides of the heavy iron plate. But there was no control device visible anywhere inside the stable. It had to be somewhere inside the lab.
“Let’s head back to the lab. We need to find the control switch. Besides, we have to put the key back before Professor Nakamori returns.”
I left the iron-barred door slightly latched and returned with Yang Bok-ja to Professor Nakamori’s private laboratory.
As I opened the lab door, I said, “You put the key back where it belongs. And don’t turn on the lights. It’ll draw attention.”
“What do you mean by ‘draw attention’?”
“Ah, I mean… if you turn the lights on, people can see from far away. So don’t turn them on.”
“Got it!”
Once inside the darkened lab, I rummaged around until I finally found a long lever-like device in one corner. I ran my fingers over the cold metal and felt engraved characters: 開 and 閉. The lever was currently pushed to 閉—closed.
This is it.
A lever marked with open and close had to control the secret passage in the magic beast stable. Perfect. Pulling this would open the hidden entrance.
But Yang Bok-ja seemed to be struggling in the dark. “Ugh, it’s too dark. Can I turn the light on for just a second?”
She knew where the key cabinet was, but apparently couldn’t tell which hook held the right key in the pitch black. I nodded.
“Sure.”
“The switch is… Ah! Here it is.”
With a click, the lights blazed on. But when I looked at Yang Bok-ja, her face had gone deathly pale as she stared at something.
“G-ghost… Kyaa…”
She looked like she was about to scream any second. Oh no!
I rushed over and clapped a hand over her mouth. Then I turned to see what she was looking at—and there, outside the window! That face! Those eyes!
A maiden ghost with jet-black hair hanging long and loose, her deathly pale face pressed right up against the glass, eyes glowing blood-red as she glared inside. The more I looked, the more it seemed…
“…Renka?”
It was Renka.
She had been standing right outside the window, face practically glued to the glass, watching us. The moment the lab lights came on and our eyes met, she flinched.
Ah! Shirabayashi-san…!
Apparently the sudden flood of electric light had blinded her. She squeezed her eyes shut and flailed.
My eyes! My eyes!
Her voice drifted through the window.
What the hell. You scared the crap out of me.
Why the hell was she lurking out there like that? Unbelievable.
I opened the window and asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Oh my, Shirabayashi-kun. What a coincidence running into you here.”
“Don’t act like nothing happened just now. Did you follow me? How did you even know I was here?”
“I heard it from Aikawa-san.”
According to Renka, she’d heard we were going to the magic beast stable to see a ghost. Worried I might get hurt again, she dragged Aikawa along to follow us. But Aikawa had screamed at the sight of will-o’-the-wisps and run off, leaving Renka by herself.
So that’s what happened.
Yeah, there was no way the timid Aikawa Satomi would come to a place like this on her own. She must have been reluctantly dragged along when Renka insisted.
“So why exactly did you come looking for me?”
“Entering the inside of the magic beast stable is dangerous. When I heard the news, I became worried for my dear friend Shirabayashi-san and followed.”
Renka smiled sweetly as she spoke. But I wasn’t about to fall for that face. She had to have some ulterior motive, just like always.
I told her, “As you can see, the day before yesterday you and I pretty much wiped out all the decent magic beasts. Only the low-grade ones are left now. Do I look like someone who’d get hurt by a low-grade beast?”
“Weren’t you actually injured before?”
“Ugh.”
Out of things to say, I turned around and called out, “Hey, Bok-ja. The Renka you wanted to meet is here. She’s not a ghost… Huh? Bok-ja? Bok-ja?”
Yang Bok-ja had foamed at the mouth and fainted. I slapped her cheeks a few times, but she was completely out cold. Well, even I—who’d been through hell and high water—had been startled for a second there… Still, at least the magic beasts were already put to sleep. That was a relief.
I said to Renka, “Let’s move her first. She said she wanted to meet you, but the second she saw you she thought you were a ghost and passed out.”
I grabbed Yang Bok-ja under the arms while Renka took her legs.
“Hoo… ugh, she’s heavy,” Renka muttered, breathing hard from the effort. “Besides, no matter how lax the academy’s dress code is, for a student to wear peach-colored shoes and perfume…”
Together we carried her to a corner of the empty classroom next to the lab and set her down. When we returned to the laboratory, Renka asked, “So, Shirabayashi-san. Did you really come here to see a ghost, just like Aikawa-san said? Or did you come with that indecent girl to do something else entirely?”
Indecent girl? That was a bit harsh toward Yang Bok-ja. Anyway… I figured it was okay to tell Renka. After all, she had gone down into the basement with me the day before yesterday. There was no point hiding it.
“I’m planning to go back down to the basement we visited before.”
“The basement? Wasn’t that beneath the shrine? Why come here then?”
“Magic beasts came out of the basement, remember? There must be a hidden passage in this practice stable too.”
“I see. That makes sense.”
Renka nodded, then asked again, “What about that girl from earlier?”
“She has the ability to hypnotize magic beasts, so I was going to have her put them to sleep before we went in. Luckily, I already got them to sleep a little while ago.”
“Hmm. Is that so? I was worried that you and that girl might have been…”
Renka glanced around the lab before continuing. “I was afraid there might be ropes or something in here. I’m glad there aren’t.”
What the hell is she talking about?
“Why would we need ropes? You can’t tie up magic beasts with something like that anyway.”
“It’s nothing. But why do you want to go back underground? Is it because of that konpeito… or whatever that machine was?”
“Yeah. The ‘computer.’”
“But why that machine? Didn’t Dr. Higashinori say it was a barrier maintenance device?”
Right. That suspicious “doctor” had claimed it was a device to maintain the barrier surrounding the school. I hadn’t believed for a second that such over-technology existed just to maintain a barrier, but Renka seemed to accept the explanation without question.
I was wondering how to explain my suspicions to her when a thought suddenly occurred to me.
Maybe it’d be better if she came along.
The vacuum-tube computer in the basement was tied to several professors at the academy. Maybe even the principal and the school administration. If I tried to uncover such a secret alone, it wouldn’t be strange at all if something happened to me.
Would my status as the child of a Joseon noble protect me?
I wasn’t so sure. But if Renka, a member of the Japanese peerage, came with me, she would make for powerful backup. After all, when we ran into that “doctor” underground the other day, her presence had helped us get out of it without major trouble. On top of that, her combat ability was reliable. When magic beasts appeared, we had fought back-to-back, and in the end the credit for slaughtering them all had gone to her.
So I tried to rope her in. “Have you seen machines like that anywhere else?”
“……?”
Renka tilted her head.
I continued, “Think about it. Doesn’t it seem suspicious that something like that is hidden under the school?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t know much about machines or science.”
Hmm. Yeah, if she didn’t understand machines, she probably wouldn’t find it suspicious. It might be hard to convince her after all.
But Renka immediately added, “However… Shirabayashi-san wouldn’t act without any basis. All right. I’ll go with you.”
“What?”
I was caught off guard when she agreed so readily after just a few words. I had thought I’d need to persuade her more.
Just to be sure, I asked, “It might be dangerous. Are you okay with that?”
“It’s precisely because it might be dangerous.”
…Well, fine. I had no idea what she was really thinking, but if she was willing to come along, that was good enough for me.
I said, “The magic beasts are already asleep. I found the passage entrance too. If I just pull that lever, the entrance will open. All right then…”