Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Lee Seo-yeon (1)
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There was an event that triggered once Lee Seo-yeon's favorability started to rise.
It was her so-called followers—those who admired or revered her—coming to threaten the player.
The reason they sought out the player and threatened him was simple enough.
Jealousy.
They, her devoted followers, couldn't even muster the courage to speak to her and could only watch from afar.
Yet here was the player, chatting casually with her, which rubbed them the wrong way.
And the second event was interference from Lee Seo-yeon's father, the Sword Saint Lee Jung-baek.
The conditions for triggering the Sword Saint event were straightforward.
Build up enough favorability with her to hold a conversation.
But since she had approached him first and started talking, he'd not only met the conditions—he'd blown right past them.
'Ah, honestly, I feel so wronged.'
From the very first time he'd laid eyes on Lee Seo-yeon, he'd tried to delay raising her favorability as much as possible.
No, more than that—he'd tried to avoid running into her altogether.
But contrary to his resolutions, Lee Seo-yeon had approached him first. She'd initiated the conversations.
And going even further, she'd started using guns on her own without him even suggesting it.
Yet to the followers or the Sword Saint, he was the one who'd approached her first.
Maybe that's why the seniors who'd come looking for him didn't buy a word he said.
"Hah, I've looked into it all. You're the only one in the academy using firearms. You gonna lie and say you're not?"
"Right! You're the only one who could've taught Seo-yeon about guns!"
"And you took down a high-rank Fallen all by yourself? That true? What'd you do to get in the article? How's a newbie who just enrolled...?"
What the hell were these people trying to say?
It was like they were dying to tear him down.
"So spit it out. You taught Seo-yeon how to use guns, didn't you? Huh?!"
The leader of the group of seniors standing in front of him... Nah, too much effort to call him that. Senior A would do.
Anyway, Senior A jabbed a finger at him with a feigned angry scowl.
"You think we're a joke? Huh?!"
Where the hell did "a joke" come from out of nowhere?
He let out an incredulous chuckle.
Senior A, along with the other seniors watching from behind, bristled with even more killing intent.
They must've taken his laugh as confirmation.
'Even so, killing intent like this?'
And from second-years, no less, toward a newbie who hadn't even been enrolled long?
'Are they all crazy?'
He wasn't the only one who thought so. The trainees who'd been practicing stared over with looks of utter disbelief.
The main cast was no exception, and Lee Seo-yeon was among them.
He beckoned her over.
"What's going on?"
She marched right up and demanded an explanation.
He started to explain the situation, but Senior A—amped up at the sight of his idol so close—cut him off.
"S-Seo-yeon! D-Do you remember me?"
"...Who are you?"
"I-I'm Pa-Park..."
But Senior A's self-introduction never finished.
"Excuse me, but I don't know who you are. And I don't care to."
Lee Seo-yeon shut him down with an icy expression.
Watching that jogged his memory of something he'd forgotten.
Originally, Lee Seo-yeon was known as the "Ice Princess" for her utter coldness toward everyone around her.
She only showed an exception to him.
"And I was asking Lee Yoo-jin, not you."
"......"
Her voice, laced with chill, silenced Senior A.
Only then did she turn back to him.
"So, what's the situation here?"
Her tone was completely different from moments ago.
As if switching from a cold draft to warm sunlight, her voice softened. Senior A and the watching seniors glared daggers at him.
He shot back a sneer at their piercing stares and explained the situation to Lee Seo-yeon.
Having heard him out, she turned to Senior A.
"......Ugh!"
Senior A staggered back.
Shocked by her gaze, which went beyond cold to outright hostile.
"Did I learn to use guns from Yoo-jin? No. I haven't learned from him yet."
"......"
"Did Yoo-jin approach me? No. I approached him first. I spoke to him first."
"......"
"That answer all your questions?"
Senior A couldn't respond.
Neither could the seniors behind him.
The heavy, razor-sharp aura emanating from Lee Seo-yeon crushed them, sealing their lips.
"But... why do you care?"
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Lee Seo-yeon's Talent, "Sword-Gun Prodigy (S+)", says it's angry. "......?"
He blinked in confusion at the sudden system message.
More precisely, at what it said.
'What the...?'
Why was Lee Seo-yeon's talent suddenly revving up like this?
He glanced back and forth between the message and her in bewilderment.
"Who the hell are you to...?"
Her right hand drifted toward her sword.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Lee Seo-yeon's Talent, "Sword-Gun Prodigy (S+)", says it wants to slice them up! "Who the hell are you to...?"
Her left hand moved toward her gun.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Lee Seo-yeon's Talent, "Sword-Gun Prodigy (S+)", says it wants to gun them down!! "Who the hell...?"
She raised her sword and gun...
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Lee Seo-yeon's Talent, "Sword-Gun Prodigy (S+)", is... Wait, hold up! Stop right there!!
He hurriedly grabbed her shoulder and yanked her back.
"Seo-yeon, calm down."
She stared blankly at his hand on her shoulder.
Then her gaze shifted to his face.
"......Ah."
With a short sigh, she halted.
She looked down at the weapons in her hands.
The sword wreathed in sword aura. The gun with its safety off.
Sensing the bloodlust in them, she sighed again and holstered both.
Then she looked up ahead.
Shiver, shiver.
Senior A had collapsed to the ground, trembling uncontrollably.
The seniors behind him watched her with terrified faces.
Only then did Lee Seo-yeon realize it.
She'd lost control of her talent.
"Yoo-jin."
He could hear the tremor in her voice as she called his name.
"I... I lost control of my talent, didn't I?"
"......"
The fear in her voice left him speechless.
Asuka, nearby, felt the same.
"Seo-yeon..."
Asuka gazed at her with a pained expression.
The terror of losing control over one's talent.
Asuka knew it all too well, so she pitied her deeply.
He sighed heavily, looking at the two women.
What had just happened to Lee Seo-yeon wasn't assimilation with her talent—it was erosion by it.
She'd nearly been devoured by it and turned into a Fallen.
The thought filled him with complicated eyes for her.
'Damn... I thought it was fine since it didn't happen back then...'
She really couldn't handle the talent after all.
Normally, an 'S+' grade talent was something you earned only after reaching the pinnacle.
In other words, it was beyond her current level.
But strangely, through contact with him, she'd evolved her talent to S+.
Her current state was like a vessel overflowing—not just spilling over, but on the verge of shattering.
"Yoo-jin, tell me... I can't control my talent anymore, can I?"
Her voice, now laced with sorrow beyond fear, drew another heavy sigh from him as he nodded.
"...Yeah. You lost control. And it'll be hard to regain it."
"......"
Her face darkened at his confirmation.
"Seo-yeon, you've felt it too, right? That at your current level, you can't handle the talent. Isn't that so?"
She nodded vigorously.
To her, he delivered the brutal truth.
"In that state, it probably won't even take a few weeks."
And then she'll change.
Into a Fallen.
"Yoo-jin!"
Asuka stared at him in shock.
As if she never expected him to say that—her voice carried dismay.
But he pressed on, ignoring it.
"So, hang in there."
"......Huh?"
"......Eh?"
Lee Seo-yeon, her face clouding with sorrow and despair, looked at him with puzzlement.
Asuka, who had been about to snap at him, gaped in surprise.
Yeah, Asuka. You need to hear this too.
He placed hands on both their shoulders.
"I'll figure something out."
"...H-How?"
"Right... how?"
A flicker of hope mixed with doubt on their faces.
He grinned at them.
"Somehow."
"......"
"......"
With no real answer, they stared at him blankly.
Then, they nodded.
Seeing their trust, he patted their shoulders.
"Oh, right. Asuka."
"Yes?"
"It'll take you a bit longer than Seo-yeon, but you're good, right?"
"......"
Asuka blinked wordlessly.
A moment later, she smiled brightly.
“Top student, give me back my inspiration.”
He smiled back.
"Nope."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "...So you want me to get you an audience with the Chairman?"
Kang Cheol-su set down the coffee cup in front of him with a baffled look.
"How am I supposed to make that happen? And more importantly, why do you wanna see the Chairman?"
He picked up the cup and replied.
"I figured Instructor Kang Cheol-su could make it happen. And..."
He took a sip of the coffee.
Oh... Coffee 1, sugar 2.5, cream 2? Delicious.
"I think the Chairman has the elixir I'm looking for."
"......"
"Instructor, you make great coffee. Can I come back next time too?"
If you don't set up the meeting, I'll keep coming.
...Not exactly praise, more like a threat. Kang Cheol-su eyed him in disbelief.
Then he chuckled.
"No way, kid. This stuff's expensive."
He snatched the cup and downed the rest.
Standing from his chair, he said,
"Fine, I'll get you in. But just this once. Pull this stunt again, and I'll flick your forehead. Got it?"
"...Instructor, a flick from you would kill me."
"Got it?"
"...Yes, sir."
Nodding at his affirmation, Kang Cheol-su left the instructor's office.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "We're here."
Kang Cheol-su stopped at an elevator.
He pressed his faculty ID to the keypad beside it.
Clunk.
The doors slid open as if waiting.
He pointed inside.
"Get in."
"What about you, Instructor?"
"You're the one who wants to see the Chairman, not me."
"...Still, aren't you coming?"
"Not that I don't want to— I can't."
Kang Cheol-su stepped toward the elevator.
A sharp zap repelled his foot with some barrier.
"As you can see, you need permission to meet the Chairman. I don't have it."
He shoved him inside.
This time, no resistance—the barrier let him through smoothly.
"You do. So go get 'em."
Ding.
[Going up.]
The doors closed as the announcement played.
The ascent was brief.
Ding.
[Doors opening.]
They parted again.
Nothing but empty space greeted him.
But he knew it was an illusion crafted by a grand archmage.
Without hesitation, he stepped out.
As if correct, the space tore open.
"...Whoa."
A vast, grand, opulent chamber appeared—enough to leave him speechless.
In its center sat a woman on a massive chair, legs crossed.
Deep black hair.
Obsidian eyes flecked with red.
White dress shirt, black pants, black coat draped over.
The transcendent who'd held the apex for centuries in this brutally difficult world.
The Martial God Baek Yu-hwa.
She rested her chin on her hand, eyeing him.
He approached and bowed politely.
She smiled.
"So, what brings you to see me?"
Rumble...
Her light words made the vast space resonate.
Yet his ears felt no pain.
She was accommodating him.
Straight to the point, he said,
"I've come to make a deal."
Her eyes sparkled with interest.