Note (1)
Note (1)
"You've been the talk of the campus lately."
The natural park I'd chosen as our meeting spot. I sat on a random bench, and before long the two I'd been waiting for arrived.
[The talk?]
"You've been attending only craft-major lectures for days. Last year you focused on magic—are you pivoting to crafting this time?"
Baek A-rin approached from behind the bench and rested a hand on my shoulder as she asked. When I tilted my head, she opened a hologram.
- Click-click-click...!
- ...What the hell is that? Telekinesis?
- It's too precise for magic. And it can't be a unique ability... right?
- This is seriously insane. Some of us can't even finish one with both hands...
On the hologram was the scene from the lecture hall I'd just come from.
Specifically, it showed me with over a dozen puzzles hovering around me, all self-aligning, while I used one hand each to simultaneously solve two of them.
[Ah.]
"That's an overwhelmingly flashy sideshow act. You've been doing this lecture after lecture, for days—do you think that would start a rumor, or not?"
[It would...]
"Right?"
Covering her mouth with one hand, Baek A-rin let out a soft laugh. Awkwardly, I gave a wry smile.
I'd been a little pressed for time, so I'd tuned out the people around me and focused, which is how scenes like that kept happening.
"Even seeing it again, it's astonishing. How fine-tuned must your mana control be..."
Baek A-rin wasn't the only one who'd arrived. Lee Ji-yeon, who had met up with Baek A-rin along the way and come together with her, glanced at my complexion and then gave a faint smile.
"Anyway, the timing was perfect—you called us right when the lecture ended."
"big sister, it wasn't good timing."
"Huh?"
Baek A-rin shook her head. When Lee Ji-yeon blinked at the denial, Baek A-rin clicked her tongue and wagged a finger.
"All of this is going exactly according to Ha-yul's design."
"Design? What do you mean?"
"Think about Ha-yul's detection ability. You know, the one that was incredible even back in China. It picked out the monsters and the Twin-headed Poison Dragon with pinpoint accuracy."
"Detection? What does that have to do with..."
Lee Ji-yeon's voice trailed off as she tilted her head. At her reaction, Baek A-rin nodded.
"Exactly. With that kind of range, he can probably cover most of Siyoram, too. And the information is clear enough for real-time visual countermeasures."
"......."
"We're essentially in the palm of Ha-yul's hand twenty-four hours a day. The fact that we got the message the moment we left the lecture hall..."
[No, wait a moment.]
As I listened quietly, sparks suddenly flew at me. I hurriedly waved both hands at Lee Ji-yeon, who was undergoing pupil dilation.
[That's slander. I absolutely respect other people's privacy. Normally I reduce the range, and I filter out any information I don't need...]
It had been over a year since I began handling the Observation Authority. Strictly speaking, I'd handled the Observation Authority even before I touched mana.
Meaning I've become quite adept at controlling it by now. True, every so often I slip and pick up some odd information, but I've never done it on purpose...
"...Right. My junior would never be that kind of person."
[Senioooor...]
The protest had worked. Lee Ji-yeon steadied her slightly quivering eyes and looked at me with a gaze full of trust.
I knew Lee Ji-yeon would believe me. We'd entrusted our lives to each other and fought side by side in China.
As emotion settled on my face, Lee Ji-yeon gave a gentle smile.
"Then what was that just now? Was it really coincidence? Or did you detect us this time because you needed something, and called us?"
[......]
"...Junior?"
At Baek A-rin's question, which stabbed me from behind, I clutched the Confession Necklace. The corners of Lee Ji-yeon's smile twitched.
* * *
[It's really not like that... please believe me...]
Whine-whine-whine. The onomatopoeia rose in my head unbidden. Lee Ji-yeon, who had been walking, glanced down.
Lee Ha-yul was circling around her, appealing his innocence.
Given that he looked exactly like a puppy clinging to its owner, "whining" was a more fitting description than "appealing."
Looking down at that adorable behavior, Lee Ji-yeon fought to keep her facial muscles still.
'This is why people keep pranking him.'
Before arriving at the park, Baek A-rin had relayed to her a plan to tease Lee Ha-yul.
- I'm bored—want to play a little prank?
- A prank? What are you scheming now...?
- How dare you treat me like a repeat offender
Lee Ji-yeon, who had been on the receiving end of Baek A-rin's pranks many times, was appalled, but after hearing the explanation she accepted, since it didn't seem like the kind that crossed any lines.
This was the result.
[I really didn't...]
"Hmm, and on the day of the closing ceremony, you came straight into my room as if you were fully convinced I'd be there... hmmm..."
[That's... that's a stretch...]
Just as Baek A-rin had planned, she got to watch the sight of Lee Ha-yul whining and sticking close.
His reactions are so bouncy and endearing. No wonder the people around him periodically feel the urge to tease.
'He really doesn't seem to know.'
His reaction only deepened her trust. If he really had been monitoring them twenty-four hours a day, he would have known about Baek A-rin's prank conspiracy in advance.
It didn't feel like an act. There wasn't a trace of pretense in it. She didn't blindly trust her own judgment, but she didn't distrust it either.
Right now, she couldn't sense a single speck of malice from Lee Ha-yul.
That kind of kid, surveilling her with malice? Impossible. Even if he had detected her, there must have been a good reason for it.
"Last time I saw you, you were breezing through monster carapaces and resistances, pinpointing all their weaknesses. And since you can't even be counter-detected... does that mean you could secretly figure out what underwear I have on right now?"
[......]
"He's going silent."
...It was a little dubious, but... anyway.
"Ahem. Junior. So, where exactly is our destination?"
As Lee Ji-yeon cleared her throat and cut off the risqué talk, Baek A-rin, her expression regretful, gently fell back.
It was true that they'd followed Lee Ha-yul's lead, but they hadn't been told the exact destination.
[Umm... we're here.]
We're here? Lee Ji-yeon and Baek A-rin looked around. A spring-scented forest met their eyes. It was one of the wooded areas in Siyoram's central district.
"What kind of place is this?"
[The Siyoram Secret Vault. The entrance is somewhere around here. I could get in from farther off, but it's better to follow the proper procedure.]
"Aha, I see. The Siyoram Secret Vault. So this is where the entrance was, where..."
Her lips moving, Lee Ji-yeon tilted her head. The what vault?
Baek A-rin's reaction was similar. Tilting her own head in the same way, she turned back to look at Lee Ha-yul.
- Wooooong!
Before they knew it, Lee Ha-yul had pulled his hand out of the subspace. In his emerged hand was a brilliant golden key.
A key whose aura was clearly extraordinary at a single glance. As soon as he channeled pure-white mana into it, the key vibrated.
Nodding once, Lee Ha-yul thrust the key into empty air.
Pook! A vertical line was drawn, centered on the key driven into the void. The vertical line looked like a seam. Through it, a golden light seeped steadily out.
Clank! When he turned the key, the seam widened. The air on either side of the vertical line split apart, like a door.
The open space stretched wide. On either side of an endless corridor hung countless doors.
[It's open. Let's go in together now.]
The Siyoram Secret Vault.
It was a place whose key I'd already received from the Vice Headmaster before entering the Tower of Knowledge. I'd already come and gone a few times.
Storing the key away in a pocket, Lee Ha-yul turned his head.
Lee Ji-yeon and Baek A-rin. The two, stunned nearly to the point of shock, had been peering inside the vault before shifting their gazes to Lee Ha-yul.
From between them, Lee Ji-yeon, who hadn't managed to close her mouth, stammered out her words.
"...Junior, you aren't... secretly the Headmaster... right?"
[What do you mean by that?]
"...Just on the off chance. I thought I'd ask, just in case."
At Lee Ha-yul's dumbfounded expression, Lee Ji-yeon's face reddened a touch and she turned her head away.
.
.
.
The layout of the Siyoram Secret Vault was simple.
A long, stretched corridor. Through the doors to the left and right were rooms filled with items sorted by category.
"Wow... what is all this?"
Following obediently behind Lee Ha-yul, who was leading the way, Baek A-rin let out a murmur of admiration.
The end of the corridor hadn't been visible from outside the entrance, and even now that they were inside and walking, it was the same.
No matter how much they walked, the end of the corridor remained out of sight. Even when she secretly focused mana into her eyes to enhance her vision, it made no difference.
- Clank!
"And this one is full of magic stones..."
When she cracked open a door they were passing, a faint blue light spilled into the corridor. Inside a room large enough to swallow any ordinary building, magic stones were piled up like mountains.
"Their purity is upper-grade or higher, too..."
On top of that, the quality was no joke. Watching the thick mana that flowed and pooled across the floor, Baek A-rin shrugged her shoulders.
After closing the door again, Baek A-rin looked back at the path they'd walked.
The countless doors they'd already passed. Golden light leaked through the cracks of some door. A room filled with common gold, silver, and jewels.
Other rooms glowed blue. For the most part, those were rooms filled with magic stones.
"Just the magic stones we've already walked past have to be years' worth of stockpile... With upper-grade quality, how much longer would they last...?"
"Even at a rough estimate, they're all top-grade or above, so I'd guess much, much longer."
"I thought so. Wow... the Siyoram Secret Vault. I never expected to set foot here myself during my lifetime."
Absolutely. Nodding in agreement, Lee Ji-yeon stole a glance at Lee Ha-yul.
The nature of Siyoram's Secret Vault was known.
The artifacts, elixirs, and materials that Siyoram was famed for were all stored here.
In other words, it was the warehouse storing Siyoram's entire assets, a place known only in name.
There wasn't a person alive who had set foot here, let alone seen it with their own eyes.
You weren't supposed to come to the vault yourself and look through it; the procedure was to view the items listed in the Catalog and select from that.
That was how tightly secured the place was.
'Is he really not the Headmaster?'
And Lee Ha-yul held the key to that vault. From what she'd heard, he'd already come in by himself several times and even taken things out when he needed them.
Behavior practically indistinguishable from actual ownership. For a moment, she couldn't help but recall the formula Lee Ha-yul = Headmaster.
[?]
[What's wrong?]
"...Nothing."
She had entertained the suspicion for a brief moment, but it fizzled out at the sight of him tilting his head with pure, innocent curiosity.
"...So what did you come here to get?"
[I'm planning to craft unique weapons for you, Baek A-rin, and for Senior Lee Ji-yeon—something akin to the Beacon Fire Sword. I came to find the right materials to use for that.]
"Weapons? I'd certainly be grateful if you made them, but... uh..."
Weapons. A gift. Lee Ji-yeon had started to smile at those words, but the word that followed made her blink.
"The Beacon Fire Sword?"
The Calamity Flame Family. The exclusive weapon possessed by its family head.
But neither the Changhae Family nor the Taesan Family had anything you could call an exclusive weapon.
The Beacon Fire Sword had been crafted thanks to Calamity Flame's unique distinctiveness.
Azure Sea and Taesan, which did not share that distinctiveness, had no unique weapons like the Beacon Fire Sword.
[Yes, I plan to make them this time.]
And yet Lee Ha-yul was declaring, with remarkable confidence, that he would make them.
"...Isn't that going to be, a little... difficult..."
Just as she was about to offer her opinion, Lee Ji-yeon suddenly recalled the video she'd just witnessed on the hologram.
The dozen-plus puzzles floating in the air. She'd heard they were extremely difficult training-type magic tools—and the extraordinary feat of him solving them all simultaneously at high speed with telekinesis...
That wasn't all. Within the span of a single year, he had built up martial technique, physical ability, magic, a unique ability, Calamity Flame, Taesan, Azure Sea...
"If it's my junior... it might be possible..."
Lee Ji-yeon swallowed back the rest of her words.