Chapter 57
Chapter 57
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: Library Committee Chair (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Main Storyline, ‘Act 1 Chapter 3’ has sprouted!] 【Undetermined】
│Category: Main Storyline
│You have denied the fate that sought to confine you and chosen to forge your own path.
│Moreover, you have now entered the stage of building your own tale.
│Thus, the name and content of Act 1 Chapter 3 remain unset. However, each of your actions will influence the main storyline, shaping its course.
│Exert your influence upon the world—and upon the storyline itself.
......
Shin Bi-hyeong silently gazed at the main storyline that had appeared.
‘This is unexpected.’
The message that had popped up earlier when he brought Mi-na into the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons.
And now, thanks to the heritage opportunity he'd gained alongside it.
‘The main storyline's name and content are unset... Even the game didn't have something like this.’
The chatty veterans had never breathed a word about anything like it.
In other words, even they hadn't accomplished this.
‘No info on how to clear it.’
Still, he had a hunch about one thing.
‘Derivative storylines.’
They were the side stories that trailed after his every step.
By gathering and resolving them, the main storyline would naturally clear itself.
‘The sides have overtaken the main.’
Normally, the main storyline took priority, while derivative ones were optional quests you could ignore.
But now, to progress the main, he'd have no choice but to tackle the derivatives.
The situation was amusing in a way, and he figured it worked out for the best.
‘It said it'd serve as the foundation for the heritage, after all.’
Shin Bi-hyeong's eyes gleamed coldly as he picked up his phone.
The library committee chair had been looking for him, hadn't she?
It reeked of a derivative storyline.
A short while later.
Ring ring ring~♪
His phone rang.
"Hello?"
And then,
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Haa... haa...] The moment he answered, a sickly sweet panting filled his ear for some reason.
Ugh. My ear's getting all moist.
"...Hello?"
He said it again, and a response came.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Junior...? I... I can't hold back anymore...] Shin Bi-hyeong immediately hung up.
Then he stared holes into his phone screen.
"Tch. Not a spam monstrosity call?"
What the hell was that?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ A bit more time passed, and contact came again.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [...Junior?] "Yes. Senior."
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [That earlier... um, you know...!] She seemed to have calmed down a bit and was embarrassed about her earlier blunder.
He got it.
Everyone goes through a phase where they want to show off a different side of themselves.
Even if it meant learning about the chair's shady hobby, it had nothing to do with him.
Shin Bi-hyeong grinned brightly.
"Yes. I respect that."
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Respect? W-wait! You're misunderstanding something. That just now was, like...] The chair lost even her usual composure, rambling on to explain the whole incident to Shin Bi-hyeong.
"So, it's because of the 'curse,' right?"
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Yeah...] "It had stopped for a while, but it flared up again, and those sounds slipped out without me realizing?"
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [...Yeah.] Should he believe this or not?
‘The chair said her fits felt like needles stabbing her energy channels.’
So what happened to turn a fit into breathy panting?
Shin Bi-hyeong racked his brain for anything he might have done, but nothing came to mind.
‘Story-wise and character-wise, there's barely any connection for it to twist like this.’
That said,
Thinking differently, there was something odd.
‘Why's she been so nice to me?’
Just look at the disciplinary committee incident.
She went and fetched the professor for him when he didn't show up.
And she'd actively advocated for his reward and agreed to it.
Shin Bi-hyeong decided to just ask her straight up.
Of course, he wouldn't pry too deep into her curse's symptoms.
The result?
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [It, it wasn't like this at first, you know? It felt like my dantian was being ripped out, like my energy channels were tearing apart.] ⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [But remember when we first met and you released your aura? After that, the symptoms changed to this.] It was his doing again.
‘...What the hell. Am I the protagonist or something?’
Why did problems keep flocking to him when he was just minding his own business?
‘...In the end, I affected her too.’
Now that he knew the full story, Shin Bi-hyeong decided to help her.
He needed to test his senses for detecting her curse and monstrosity anyway.
And well... she'd done a lot for him, so he had to keep his promise.
"In that case, when should we meet?"
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ [Hmm... After school tomorrow?] "Got it."
They set the appointment, and he hung up.
Eoduk-i, who had been waiting silently for the call to end, spoke up.
"Looks like you'll be busy tomorrow."
"Yeah. Not just tomorrow—for a while."
"Hmmm. In that case, I'll pack today's schedule even tighter. To advance the industrial complex even a little."
"Please do."
It was just what he wanted, so Shin Bi-hyeong smiled and followed Eoduk-i into the training room.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Fists rained down like a storm.
From all directions, front and back.
Disregarding any spatial limits, ferocious gales carried immense power capable of crushing a person with ease.
Shin Bi-hyeong closed his eyes and perceived him solely through the spatial mass.
‘Feel it.’
The empty space generated within his body.
Roots began spreading from there, soon enveloping his flesh and establishing their domain in the air.
The moment a portion of those roots quivered finely,
Shin Bi-hyeong's body moved.
Boom! Rumble rumble crash!
It looked like simultaneous strikes at first glance,
but the roots detected minute time differences in the tremors.
Through them, he constructed efficient movements. His body traced a trajectory that dodged the fists instantly.
Clap clap clap!
Eoduk-i's applause filled the training room.
"You're already wielding the spatial mass's senses freely, Boss. At this rate, you'll master the next stage in no time."
"What's next after spatial mass?"
"It's called spatial sense. The step just before entering the Aural Realm."
Spatial sense meant awakening to space.
"But it's not just mere spatial awareness. That much can be handled by spatial mass alone."
"Then?"
"Spatial sense lets you create a 'domain' across an area, based on the info from your spatial mass."
"Domain?"
"It's a grand term, but really, it's just accelerating your thought processes faster than others within the spatial mass's range."
That alone was impressive.
As the spatial mass's range expanded, so would the spatial sense's domain.
"It also lets you perceive your own condition in greater detail as a bonus."
"What do you mean?"
"Your current state, muscle fatigue levels, stress, presence of poisons or toxins, and so on. You'll sense and grasp all that acutely."
A faint smile played on Eoduk-i's lips.
"Master spatial sense well, and gain dominance over senses within that domain, and you've reached the Aural Realm. Where you place not just your own senses, but others' beneath your feet."
Even more impressive than he'd thought.
Which was why he had to learn it.
"Can I use spatial sense in my current state?"
"Yes. My body's recovered a bit."
"Then use it."
"...You might not learn anything."
"It's fine."
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ [Bloodline Ability, ‘Mimicry’ activates!] "I'm confident in copying."
With that, he sparred again with Eoduk-i, who had activated spatial sense.
"This is spatial sense."
With those words, he felt an aura spread across the area in an instant.
Like stepping into a monstrosity's domain, or thrusting his neck into an exorcist's attack range,
his keen senses rang alarm bells on instinct.
Within that space,
Shin Bi-hyeong's gaze turned to Eoduk-i.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ [Bloodline Ability, ‘Mimicry’ is active!] He could see it.
The second stage of the Aural Realm, beyond spatial mass.
Ding!
⚔ STATUS ⚔ [Mimicking the Hundred Ghosts' ‘Eoduk-i's Spatial Sense (空覺).] [Skill ‘Spatial Mass (空團)’ proficiency rises sharply!] And then,
‘I see it!’
Shin Bi-hyeong's world entered a domain matching Eoduk-i's spatial sense.
Whoosh!
The aura from the spatial mass, the senses, the roots spread out.
Weaving a domain that opposed Eoduk-i's spatial sense.
"Hah. Already?"
Deep admiration leaked from Eoduk-i's mouth.
He'd shown it just once.
Yet the boss handled it like it was his own technique from the start.
‘I've heard goblins are good at mimicry, but this surpasses that by leaps and bounds.’
As Eoduk-i's shock flashed through his mind,
Shin Bi-hyeong wasn't satisfied with this much.
‘Everything around me slowed down. No—my thoughts sped up. Even this alone gives a huge edge in close combat.’
But why?
‘It feels lacking.’
Something... could be even sweeter.
‘What?’
He intensely craved the longing surfacing in his mind,
and his veteran experience granted unbiased inspiration.
‘Add sorcery to it.’
‘Like blending sorcery into Demon Combat Technique, blend sorcery into spatial mass.’
‘It's empty space, right? No reason it can't work.’
In that instant of inspiration, his spatial mass began to change.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ [Skill ‘Spatial Mass’ potential surpasses its limits!] [The path to the next stage becomes clear!] He ignored the message.
Instead, he prioritized what his eyes and senses told him.
‘Can I amp up the accelerated thought flow even more?’
Wind sorcery settled into the spatial mass.
‘No matter how fast thoughts get, I need to handle them fluidly.’
Water sorcery followed, then earth and fire in sequence, completing the five elements within his spatial mass.
A distinct change occurred.
Whoosh!
Shin Bi-hyeong's fist and Eoduk-i's crossed, halting inches from each other's faces.
Eoduk-i let out an incredulous chuckle.
"...Hah. You mastered it already? No, it's more than that."
"You can tell, huh."
"Yes. Even if it's the same spatial sense, my experience gives me the edge. Yet you pierced through it, our fists this close... You've undoubtedly created something superior to mine."
Shin Bi-hyeong grinned.
As if to prove it, a message appeared before his eyes.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ [Skill ‘Spatial Mass (空團)’ has evolved into ‘Five Elements Harmony (五大共)’!] 【Five Elements Harmony (五大共)】
│Category: Skill.
│Rank: 6th Hierarchy (+)
He'd acquired a 6th hierarchy sense— and not just any, but plus rank!
Shin Bi-hyeong gazed at it with considerable satisfaction.
‘With this, I've finished the bare-minimum prep.’
For the library committee chair's storyline ahead.
And the countless trials waiting beyond.
He'd set up the basic safety net to detect them.
"Alright, then."
But Shin Bi-hyeong didn't rest on his laurels. He loosened up again and eyed Eoduk-i.
"Mimicry's checked. Now for the others."
The goblin's competitive spirit showed no signs of waning, even as night deepened.
Time passed.
"Alright, that's class for today."
Regular classes ended, and after-school hours arrived.
Time to meet the library committee chair.