They Won't Listen (3)
They Won't Listen (3)
......Inside the closed office of the Department Head.
A silence so absolute that even breathing felt forbidden.
Lee Seon-yeong, who had been driving the atmosphere, was frozen in place. Even Kim Seong-won and Choi Min-sik, who had nothing to do with this incident, stood like statues, staring straight ahead, not daring to twitch a finger.
Gulp—
The sound of someone swallowing echoed through the room.
Claire, who had been gazing quietly at the empty desk, raised her head.
Her blue eyes, more radiant than her brilliant golden hair, moved slowly.
Every time that cold, piercing blue glare swept past, the students' eyes dropped to the floor.
Instinct screamed at them that if their gazes met, the composure they were barely clinging to would shatter like a thin sheet of ice.
It wasn't battle spirit, bloodlust, or even a release of mana.
She simply allowed her true presence as an Awakened named Claire Vin Asen to surface.
And at last, the person who had frozen the room spoke.
"Head of Academic Affairs."
"Y-yes......"
Choi Min-sik, who had gone rigid under the weight of Claire's fury-laced authority, lowered his head without thinking.
"As the associate professor of the Basic Riftology lecture, I will apply to become the guardian of the student Baek Ha-na, who took that course, until she graduates from the Academy."
Guardian.
A position with no rights—only responsibility.
The instant that word left Claire's lips, Lee Na-young and every student in the room felt their expressions shift.
It wasn't uncommon among the Awakened to find those who had lost their parents in childhood or adolescence.
Students entering the Academy were no exception.
The stronger the past trauma, the stronger the ability awakened.
To prevent such talented students from going astray or falling into ruin, the Academy operated a system. If a professor wished, they could become that student's guardian until graduation.
And since the arrangement was made in cooperation with the government, it naturally applied to matters outside the Academy as well.
"...Please excuse me for a moment."
Choi Min-sik sought permission from Claire—no one else—and stepped out of the room. He returned in under a minute and gave his answer.
"Since we lack the consent of Baek Ha-na herself, it can be terminated if she later files a rejection of the guardianship."
Claire nodded.
"Then I will ask this as Baek Ha-na's guardian."
Her blue eyes shifted.
They passed Lee Seon-yeong, who stood frozen in an awkward posture.
Then stopped on the female student at the heart of the incident.
"Na Min-seo."
"Y-yes......?"
The girl, Na Min-seo, flinched as she answered, her eyes still cast down toward the desk.
"Are you without fault in this matter?"
"I... I-I'm... n-not... a-at a-all......"
Terrified, her teeth chattered audibly, yet Na Min-seo forced out an answer.
Claire's eyes grew even colder.
"I will ask again. Truly, are you without fault in this matter?"
"...N-no, I am not......"
After a brief silence, Na Min-seo gave Claire the exact same answer as before.
"Can you swear to it?"
"......Y-yes."
Claire nodded, then turned toward Choi Min-sik.
"I request that all judgment on this incident be withheld until a reenactment reconstructs the events and the investigation is concluded."
"W-wait just a—"
Shiiing.
Something grazed Lee Seon-yeong's cheek as she opened her mouth.
Plip. Plop.
Trickling down her face, droplets of crimson blood fell onto the desk. Behind her, embedded in the wall, was a sword forged of softly glowing holy power.
"Your answer."
"Ah, y-yes. I-I-I, acc-cept."
Choi Min-sik forced his parched lips and tongue to move and squeezed out a reply.
She was standing right beside him, yet he had no idea what she had done or when the sword had embedded itself behind Lee Seon-yeong across from him. He had perceived none of it.
Claire extended a hand. The sword vanished into particles and seeped into her palm.
"Now speak."
Lee Seon-yeong pressed a hand to her bleeding cheek, her face pale.
A wound inflicted by Claire's sword could not be healed even by holy power. She could only wait for it to mend slowly on its own.
"Is the Executor now... using her social standing to manipulate this incident in her favor?"
"Manipulate."
"Yes. There is already an abundance of student witnesses, and the person in question offered no particular defense. Why, then, waste time restoring the scene and investigating again?"
Claire gazed at Lee Seon-yeong, who was staring at her while biting down on her blue-tinged lips, and spoke in a low voice.
"You misunderstand. I concede the act of violence itself."
"Th-then."
"What I seek is the reason the violence occurred."
"My child......"
Claire held up her hand.
The gesture said: not another word.
"The incident will be reenacted, and the investigation will proceed as planned. And."
WHOOOOSH—!!
A vicious killing intent exploded from Claire and crashed over the surrounding students in an instant.
Na Min-seo, Kang Seok-ho, Na Ju-hee—children of the Top 10 Guilds, every last one of them—foamed at the mouth and slumped face-first onto the desks.
Sssshhhhh—
Claire withdrew her killing intent and fixed Lee Seon-yeong with eyes colder than ice.
"If I truly wished to manipulate this incident, I would not demand a reenactment. I would simply have cut off your heads."
She had wanted to do exactly that. Even now, she was barely suppressing the impulse.
"Remember this well."
Claire turned away.
"It is not that I cannot do it. It is that I am choosing not to."
And then.
'Be grateful that this place serves as his sanctuary....'
She opened the door as quietly as she had entered and walked out. No one in the administrative office made a sound. No one even raised their head until she had left.
Still suppressing her bloodlust, she passed the people shrinking away from her and stepped out of the main building.
"Big sis."
"Ha-na?"
The foul emotions that had churned inside her vanished as if they'd been a lie.
"What about the other kids?"
"I sent them back already......"
"I see. You didn't need to wait for me. Hurry back now. I'll also be......"
Claire's eyes widened, caught off guard. She had forgotten this was outside, forgotten the eyes that might be watching them.
Baek Ha-na, who hadn't once let herself be held since her ability awakened, had reached out and hugged her.
"Ah, I, Ha-na......?"
"......Thank you."
"N-no, it's, not. I-I mean, we're outside......"
"You."
"Y-yes?"
Baek Ha-na, who had buried her face against Claire's chest, carefully lifted her head. In a very, very small voice, her lips trembled as she spoke.
"...If it's you, it's okay."
"......?"
"I'm, going now."
Leaving a dumbfounded Claire blinking behind her, Baek Ha-na bolted toward the dormitory, her ears and tail fully visible.
Claire stood there for a moment with a dazed expression. The instant Baek Ha-na disappeared from sight, her face reverted to its usual impassiveness.
She turned toward the mansion, using the rising moonlight to guide her way.
"Hmm-hmm."
She pressed down firmly on the corners of her lips, which kept trying to rise.
**
A rhythmic smacking against my cheek jolted my eyes open.
-Peep!!
.......
The little imp had planted itself insolently on the bridge of my nose and was tapping my glasses with hands smaller than fern fronds. It left no marks, which made it no less infuriating.
"Move."
-Peep~!!
As I sat up, it fluttered upward on translucent wings, then darted back and yanked at my hair—as if to say, follow me.
"...Annoying little thing."
I dragged my still-lethargic body out of bed.
Only after opening the bedroom door, which had been left slightly ajar, and stepping outside did I realize what it wanted. The study door, which should have been cracked open the same way, was shut tight.
'I'll have to install a pet door or something.'
The moment I opened the door, the creature shot through the gap and vanished toward the kitchen.
"Tsk."
I leaned back into the chair where moonlight fell in patterns that made me think of Baek Ha-na.
I had used Greed's Authority, and my soul had shouldered the insufficient cost. The resulting strain on my soul immediately affected my body, eroding the equilibrium I'd finally recovered by twenty percent.
My ability to act wouldn't be impaired, but considering what lay ahead, I'd need at least six months of proper deep sleep.
"Haa."
I closed my eyes, feeling the soft moonlight filtering in.
'Nothing but debts piling up.'
While I slept—thanks to the peculiar nature of my body and soul—I observed everything that had happened through the ring I'd gifted Baek Ha-na.
The duel with Na Ju-hee.
Na Ju-hee's rampage.
A character bristling with pride and a sense of chosen superiority above all others.
In the original story, she'd had no connection to Baek Ha-na because Ha-na served as an apprentice holy knight for the temple. But I'd seen Na Ju-hee lose to a classmate she'd always looked down on in her third year and fly into a berserk rage on the spot, more than once.
The rampage today was expected. It was no real problem. The training room had been wrecked, true, but Kim Seong-won and Choi Min-sik would handle the cleanup.
The problem was the vermin that didn't know its place.
Insects who thought they could run wild without recognizing heaven from earth, all because they had the puny kings of this tiny patch of land backing them.
"......Haa."
My eyes opened.
Using Greed's Authority meant my emotions would intensify if I didn't consciously keep them in check. A troublesome side effect. That aside, however, I had no intention of leaving this matter entirely to Claire.
'A little earlier than planned, but.'
I opened the drawer.
My smartphone was inside, the one that should have been in my jacket. When I woke, my coat had been removed—she must have tidied it away.
[ Name: Kim Seong-won ]
I pressed the name of the man I found oddly difficult to like.
-Yes. Professor.
He answered before the second ring.
"Tell Jaden to contact me now."
-...Is it all right if I give him your number?
"That's an odd question."
-Ah, sorry. I-I'll relay it right away.
I ended the call with Kim Seong-won. About three minutes passed.
[ 010-xxxx-xxxx ]
An unregistered number appeared on the screen.
Seeing as only three numbers were saved in my contacts, that wasn't particularly strange.
-...Is this Professor Baek Woo-jin?
"Yes."
-......This is Jaden Martel. I heard you were looking for me.
"What happened to that confidence you showed the day we first met?"
-Th-that's......!!
His voice, which had been thoroughly cowed, spiked as he stammered.
He'd clearly had his share of real combat—he was quick to read the situation.
"Jaden."
-Yes.......
"Deliver a message to your master in the Clock Tower."
-Master—cough!! H-how do you......?!
Officially, his master was dead.
I ignored his bewilderment and continued.
"Tell him that the one who constructed the barrier will show him something interesting, and to bring a capable reenactment and Psychometry-type Awakened by tomorrow evening."
-Master, no-no, wait, you just said barrier... d-do you mean the Academy's barrier?!
"Jaden."
-Y-yes...?
"If you want a seat at the table, stop wasting my time and deliver exactly what I told you to."
-Ah.......
There was a brief silence.
Slap—!! Slap—!!
The crisp sound of someone smacking his own cheeks came through. Then Jaden's voice followed.
-Understood. But by reenactment, you mean the psychometry branch, correct? My Korean is still a bit poor... my apologies.
"Yes."
-Understood. Is there anything else?
That was all I needed. I laid my finger on the end-call button.
"The Summer Festival. I'll look forward to it."
-Huh? No, that's—
The screen went dark, cutting off his voice.
I had been appreciating the moonlight seeping through the window. Now I swiveled my chair around.
A shadow slipped through the gap I'd left in the door. The opening widened, and Claire stepped into view.
She stood frozen before the door, her face tense. Her eyes fixed on me as I sat in the chair.
"Ah......."
Her eyes widened in surprise.
"You're... awake."
"Thanks to someone, yes."
"......?"
Not understanding, she blinked. Her blue eyes shimmered faintly in the moonlight.
"You closed the study door when you left. So that little pest woke me up screaming that it was hungry."
"Ah......!!"
Claire's eyes flew wide open.
I'd never seen her look so startled.
"I-I'm so sorry."
Her neatly arranged golden hair slipped across her shoulder.
I spoke to Claire, whose back was now bent nearly to her waist.
"I'm fairly certain I told you neither to apologize nor to bow your head."
"Ah... I'm, s-sorr... no, I......"
Claire hovered in an awkward posture, neither straightening nor bowing further, stammering like a broken machine. It was quite endearing.
"Baek Ha-na, you, and the one in the kitchen. None of you listen."
"Ah, uh, th-that......"
"Come closer."
"Y-yes...."
Unable to hide her fluster, Claire carefully stepped in front of me.
"Closer."
"...Yes."
She had been standing with the desk between us. At my request, she circled around and stood at my side.
Bathed in moonlight, her cold beauty seemed even more striking.
I rose from the chair. She quickly lifted her head, trying to meet my eyes.
I reached toward Claire's face.
"......?!"
Her eyes flew open wider than before.
Like a frightened small animal, her shoulders twitched every time my fingers brushed her skin.
Both of Claire's cheeks had flushed a vivid scarlet without my noticing.
I gently pulled up the corners of her lips.
"This is your punishment."
"......?"
Claire wore a slightly foolish expression, as though she could not comprehend the situation at all.
A sight no one else could see. One that only I could appreciate. Mine.
I spoke again to Claire, who was still blinking blankly, like an idiot.
"Until midnight tonight."
I carefully withdrew the hand that had been lifting her lips.
"Stay just like that. That's your punishment."
"Ah, uh...... th-that, uuuh......"
As if caught in a spasm, the corners of Claire's lips trembled faintly.
The smile that should have been natural twisted into something strange. No—was it less a smile and more a face on the verge of tears?
Committing yet another new side of her to memory, I sat back down.
"You'll have a report for me."
A beautiful crimson flush bloomed across her face. Above it, wisps of white steam seemed to rise.
I watched it for a moment, then spoke after brief consideration.
"A cup of coffee, please."
"Y-yes......"
At my request, Claire turned her back as if fleeing and escaped the study.
It took her two hours to return.