Madmen (1)
Madmen (1)
Soft moonlight filled the study.
"...That is all."
Claire, who had barely managed to calm herself and return, set a cup of coffee in front of Baek Woo-jin and reported what had happened in the main building.
"I see."
An emotionless voice, carrying no particular feeling, rippled quietly through the study.
Clink.
An empty teacup settled onto the saucer on the desk.
"......."
"......."
A short silence followed.
"Claire."
A voice that made her heart tremble just to hear it speak her name. At the same moment, she felt a gaze she had only recently learned to perceive brush her left cheek.
"If you keep staring straight ahead, I can't properly see your face."
"Ye... yes...?"
Claire's rigidly fixed eyes slowly widened, then filled with bewilderment.
Swish.
"......?!"
The warmth that brushed her cheek was not her own, and an odd sound slipped out before she could stop it.
Baek Woo-jin paid no attention at all to Claire's strange reaction and slowly moved his hand.
His fingers passed her cheek, then touched the corner of her mouth again, gently smoothing out the foolishly parted lips.
"I did wonder whether it was too gentle to call a punishment, but judging by your reaction, it seems it was the right punishment after all."
Whoooosh—!!
Claire clamped her mouth shut to prevent another foolish noise, and once again pure white steam rose above her head.
-Peep?
Just as Claire was breaking down under Baek Woo-jin's touch, the fairy who had finished eating came fluttering into the study. Its eyes sparkled at the puffy white steam rising from Claire's head, and it flew toward it.
-Peep?!
The fairy, which had been reaching its tiny hand toward the white steam, started in alarm and immediately beat its wings, fleeing toward the bedroom.
"Claire."
"...U-uh, y-yes...."
Claire mustered every ounce of strength at the corners of her lips and managed to answer without her voice cracking.
"Is there anything else you have to tell me?"
"......Ah."
Caught off guard by yet another sudden development, Claire's lips parted slightly and her eyes widened.
Baek Woo-jin was right. There was still something she needed to say.
"Ah, um...."
But the words would not come easily.
It was terribly difficult to speak while keeping the corners of her mouth lifted as he had done for her.
"I'll fix it every time it droops, so don't worry about it."
"......."
Once again that warm hand touched her face.
Whoosh—!!
Claire's face flushed so red it could not possibly turn any deeper.
"Th-that is... to take care of what happened today... I think I will have to be away until tomorrow...."
Having barely forced out everything she needed to say, Claire quickly fell silent. The corners of her lips trembled as if in a spasm, but she tried as hard as she could not to let them droop.
Watching her effort, Baek Woo-jin murmured softly.
"To find an Awakened willing to cooperate—Seo-in."
"Th-that's right...."
"You'll have to use your reputation."
"......Yes."
If this were Europe, there would be no need for that, nor would such an incident have happened in the first place. But the incident had already occurred and time was limited. To summon an Awakened of an appropriate level on time, she had no choice but to use her name and fame.
"Then."
Baek Woo-jin's hand, which had been resting on the desk, moved again.
Claire's blue eyes naturally followed his hand.
"Ah...."
The large hand gently clasping her own drew another involuntary sound from her.
"I will take care of that, so stay here and do not go anywhere."
For an instant, Claire's breath stopped.
"Answer me."
"Ah, uh... I-I will...."
Baek Woo-jin released Claire's dangerously heated hand and slowly rose from his seat.
"Claire."
"...Yes."
Her voice had grown so small that he would not have heard it unless he concentrated.
"You are a special human to me. No—a special person."
"......?"
Claire's head lifted dazedly.
Averting his gaze from her, Baek Woo-jin turned toward the bedroom. He set one foot into the bedroom and spoke in a quiet murmur.
"I need a little more time."
Leaving only those words behind, he disappeared silently into the bedroom.
Left alone, Claire stared blankly at the door through which Baek Woo-jin had vanished, blinking again and again.
-Special to me....
-Special to me....
Tick, tock.
The clock on the desk sounded unusually loud today. But even louder was the pounding of her own heart.
Clink.
A little later, Claire picked up the empty teacup and saucer and rose to her feet.
She left the study quietly and went to the kitchen, wiped the crumbs from the table, and put the saucer back in its place. She was about to turn around to wash the teacup when—
The glass of the cupboard reflected in the moonlight.
And her own face reflected in it.
"......."
There in the reflection was her own face, wearing a smile she had never seen before.
*****
[ Temple of the God of Luck ]
Late evening, after students and faculty worshippers had all gone home.
The tightly closed temple was heavier than it had ever been.
Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch—!!
With a pale, bloodless face, Lee Seon-yeong spoke to the apprentice priest who was ceaselessly biting her own fingernails.
"Na Min-seo."
"Ye-yes...."
Watching the girl still gnawing at her nails even as she answered, Lee Seon-yeong bit her lip briefly.
Normally she would have shouted at her for her rudeness, but knowing the gravity of the situation they were in, Lee Seon-yeong had no choice but to understand Na Min-seo.
'Fucking bitch...!!'
Everything had been going smoothly.
She had managed to get one over on Lee Ye-sol, who always got under people's skin with her smug smile, and she had been one step away from putting the children of the Red Flame group heavily in her debt.
One more step.
Just one single step, and it would all have been over—when a being capable of overturning everything appeared.
An agent of the God of Amusement and an Executor who carried out the god's will.
'Claire Vin Asen.'
Eight years ago, she had abruptly ceased all external activities and no longer even showed her face at the God of Amusement's own events, giving rise to all sorts of sinister rumors.
She had broken a taboo and been stripped of her holy power.
She had retired after a grave injury.
Her heart had drifted away from amusement.
Along with numerous other rumors that crossed the line, the God of Amusement took no measures and simply observed. As if he had truly discarded the one called Claire.
Then, shortly after the new students enrolled, a fresh rumor about Claire spread.
She was involved with some utterly unheard-of professor.
Recently, word had even circulated that the two were living together.
The academy branches of the various temples had reported this to their headquarters, lending weight to the assumption that Claire had retired.
But the Claire Vin Asen she had seen today was still a powerhouse, and still an Executor who carried out the god's will.
She remained an absolute being.
"H-high priest... what, what should I do?"
"Stay calm."
"B-but...!"
Lee Seon-yeong grasped Na Min-seo's hand before another fit could erupt and infused it with her own holy power. Before long, color began to return to the girl's sheet-white face.
"Calm. Stay calm."
"......Y-yes."
Lee Seon-yeong let go of her hand and spoke.
"If this were Europe... yes. If this were Europe, there would be no hope. But this is Korea. Fortunately, there is no teleport portal connecting to Europe."
True. It was truly fortunate that Korea had no portal linked to Europe. The cost alone would have been prohibitive, but the real reason was that the Korean guilds had opposed the government's proposal out of fear that their own territories would be invaded.
"The Executor's renown is exceptional, but there is nearly a decade of absence to consider, and no one is likely to make enemies of all of us just to do her a single favor."
"R-right...?"
"Yes. Even if someone does, Miss Min-seo will be safe. The children of the Top 10 Guilds... may face regrettable outcomes, however."
For psychometry to 'perfectly' reproduce past events, numerous conditions had to be met.
Reproducing the scene itself was not difficult, but to reproduce the use of abilities and magic at the scene required the residual mana left behind by the individuals involved.
And the site of the incident, the destroyed training room, had been absolutely saturated in Na Ju-hee's mana. On top of that, other students' mana, released to protect themselves from the explosion, was scattered everywhere.
Meeting the still-uneasy gaze Na Min-seo was directing at her, Lee Seon-yeong thought:
'There will still be traces of mana, but picking out Min-seo's mana from that chaos is practically impossible.'
Even if it were possible, it was highly likely to disperse during the process of separation and rearrangement.
'Yes. There's no need to be afraid.'
Nobody was putting their life on the line in direct combat.
As far as her side was concerned, all they had to do was hold out.
Failing to form ties with the Top 10 Guilds was a little disappointing, but ties could always be forged anew with those rising up to take their places.
"Miss Min-seo."
"Y-yes."
"I will contact headquarters once again overseas and use every means at my disposal. In the meantime, please contact the guild heirs and keep urging them to hold firmly onto the Awakened here in Korea."
"U-understood."
Na Min-seo scrambled to her feet and rushed out of Lee Seon-yeong's room, forgetting even to offer a proper bow.
"I fully acknowledge that you are still going strong. However...."
Closing her open door, Lee Seon-yeong touched her scarred cheek.
"I will show you exactly what an eight-year absence can bring."