Master (1)
Master (1)
Among the chief culprits behind the Sipnaha Incident, quite a few bastards had dared to flee.
They were worse than beasts—greedy as pigs, they set the stage, and when the disaster they caused spiraled beyond their control, they screamed for their own survival and ran instead of managing the fallout.
Some fled to other countries the instant the incident erupted. Others holed up in places utterly devoid of human contact and went to ground.
I went out personally to catch them.
I wanted to beat them to death with my own hands, and I couldn't risk letting a single one slip away, so I made it my mission to catch them myself.
The mere thought that even one of them might escape and go on living with their head held high made me grind my teeth.
I couldn't stomach it.
So I worked directly with the Association and moved across the globe.
A part of me wanted to return to Siyoram immediately.
Leaving Lee Ha-yul alone gnawed at the edges of my heart with anxiety.
He was a child who, if left on his own, seemed liable to get entangled in another disaster.
That was what my emotions told me.
My reason insisted he would be safe inside Siyoram, at least.
Even if the Headmaster had holed up in Siyoram for decades and never showed their face, they were still present. The Vice Headmaster almost never leaves Siyoram either, and beyond them there are defense heroes and facilities.
So I repeated to myself that he would be fine in Siyoram, and I pressed on without pause.
Atra had not expected to finish everything over the weekend. The number of escapees was no fewer than several dozen, and they had scattered like insects in all directions.
Even dashing around using Gates, it was a tall order to catch every last one in less than two days.
Still, I meant to finish as quickly as possible and return to Siyoram.
Atra moved at top speed.
"...Derace Blair and 23 other targets. All arrests are complete."
And by the weekend's end, she had caught them all.
By the time Monday's sun rose—cutting it close, perhaps—she had captured every last one of the cockroach-like runaways.
"......"
Her thoughts settled, Atra swept her gaze across the area.
Inside the underground shelter, the traces of splashed money stark, Association personnel bustled about, searching through criminal records and similar materials.
The ones on the list the Association had drawn up had long since been beaten and taken away. She had already crippled them, and after receiving just enough healing to keep them from dying, they would face their sentence.
It was a good outcome.
She had finished faster than expected. She had not missed a single one.
Now that the weekday had come, she could simply give Lee Ha-yul his combat major lecture.
'...I don't know.'
The results were good. Yet Atra could not feel entirely pleased.
She had rushed around tirelessly all weekend. She had certainly put in the effort.
But that didn't mean the job could be finished that fast.
No matter how strong she was, she was only one person with two hands and feet, and even working alongside Association personnel, you couldn't scour the entire world instantly.
"With this, the arrests are wrapped up for now. Thanks to your assistance, Ms. Clyde, things proceeded smoothly."
"Spare me the empty flattery."
"If I skip the empty flattery, someone will find fault with me later over attitude disputes. Should that happen, my performance evaluation will take a downward turn."
As Atra stood there vacantly, a man approached—a figure who looked like a doll.
It was Maxwell, an eccentric who clung to his immaculate suit even at a disaster site like this.
After organizing the site details on a hologram projected from his smartwatch, he spoke.
"As I mentioned, we have arrested all criminals on the tracking list. I will send the miscellaneous details your way as they are processed."
"Right, good work."
Atra fixed Maxwell with a complicated gaze as he delivered his report via the projected hologram.
Maxwell.
He was a superhuman from the Association's Disaster Management Department—fittingly, his duties involved the prevention and handling of dungeon-related incidents and accidents, as well as damage recovery.
She did not know his specific rank within the department. She did not know what exact tasks he handled there, either.
But she did know that Maxwell was the sort who took orders directly from the Association Council or the Association President.
When she had first met him at the Frontline, Maxwell had been operating under the Association Council's orders.
When he had requested Atra's cooperation inland, Maxwell had likewise been under the Association Council's orders.
- When you say "higher-ups," do you mean the Association Council members?
- No. Officials above them.
Now, he was following orders from an even higher authority.
She surveyed the bustling Association personnel with him in mind.
The Sipnaha Incident... the event called a calamity. Naturally, a great deal of manpower was being poured into pursuing its chief perpetrators.
...Even so, the devotion poured into tracking the masterminds was exceptional.
The observation magic tools carried by a few of the active personnel alone told that tale.
The mobilized manpower was substantial, and its quality was solid. The observation magic tools deployed were numerous and exceeded standard performance.
From the intelligence she had received beforehand and her own experience while capturing the fleeing perpetrators, she concluded that halving this force—or even cutting it to a quarter—would have posed no issue.
They would have caught them just as smoothly—maybe even more so.
It was excessive devotion, especially from people who lately never stopped whining about mountains of work and personnel shortages because dungeon stirrings worldwide had grown ominous.
"Ah, if it isn't too much trouble, could I ask you to pass along a message to Cadet Lee Ha-yul?"
"Tell me."
"There are compensation matters and items to communicate regarding this incident. Please just tell him that if he contacts us at his convenience, someone from the Association will come to see him."
"I heard they already asked him to reach out when he was discharged."
"Ah, the new recruit handled that well, then. Makes a senior look a bit sheepish."
Lee Ha-yul had rendered great service during the Sipnaha Incident.
From the moment the incident broke out, he had run himself ragged without rest and saved countless people, and he had single-handedly subjugated an Alpha Individual, collapsing the dungeon's outer wall so the external rescue team could enter with ease.
The incident's very cause stemmed from the region's foul and hideous web of collusion.
Even so, since the Association—charged with upholding the world's order—bears a share of responsibility, it must press some form of reward into Lee Ha-yul's hands, if only for the public eye.
...She understood that, but their attitude struck her as odd.
Normally, from the moment Lee Ha-yul regained consciousness, someone would have come to the recovery room to take his statement. Instead, they never showed up—they handled his discharge procedures on their end.
They told him to contact them at his convenience and simply left. And even now, they were urging that if he reached out again, they would come to see him—as if to make sure he hadn't forgotten.
Their attitude was cautious, as if dealing with someone extraordinarily precious.
They had poured excessive devotion into capturing the fugitive criminals.
They had not let a single problematic detail leak to the media, and the rare nonsense that did surface—sparse as beans in a drought—they crushed with swift, powerful legal blows.
The reason... was that Maxwell, and the Association, had received orders from the Association Presidents.
The Association President. Or Presidents.
Because the Tower Master of Space and Harmonization had given personal directives.
'......'
Atra didn't really know Lee Ha-yul.
She knew his basic personal details, but beyond that she had not looked, because she had not wished to form an attachment.
Because of that, she did not truly grasp the current situation.
It was certain that as a Special Admission Cadet, he was under the protection of the Tower Master of Growth.
Through this incident's aftermath, she learned that he was also receiving curious treatment from the Tower Master of Space and Harmonization.
She did not know the reason.
Beyond that, what Atra knew about Lee Ha-yul was woefully inadequate.
She did not know why Tower Masters gave him their protection.
She had not even heard why, at the time of the incident, he had not fled but saved people instead.
She did not know why he suffered nightmares every time he fell asleep.
Most of that was because Atra had not tried to learn about Lee Ha-yul, and had not asked.
"...Tsk."
Atra bit her lip.
Futile thoughts crept in. Shaking them off, she turned away.
It was time to return to Siyoram.
* * *
By the time she finally reached Siyoram, it was the small hours of Monday morning.
She had barely made it in time.
Atra let out a sigh of relief and headed toward her residence.
At such an early hour, with dawn still far off, most people would be asleep.
The same would hold for Lee Ha-yul. That child would probably be lying in bed, sleeping by now.
"......"
Imagining that sight did not sit well with her, absurdly enough.
The thought of him sleeping comfortably in a bed instead of in her arms rubbed her the wrong way.
The instant her thoughts reached that point, Atra shook her head fiercely.
'I must be more fatigued than I realized...'
Just how exhausted must one be to entertain such a nonsensical thought?
She needed to shut her eyes, even briefly.
Atra quickened her pace.
.
.
.
The next day came.
After noon, the combat major lecture hour arrived.
The lesson began, as it always did, with sparring.
Today was no different.
First, she checked Lee Ha-yul's condition and asked after his well-being with a few simple questions.
Inexplicably, an artifact hung around Lee Ha-yul's neck.
From what she heard, it was an artifact with mindscape manifestation and imprinting functions.
She had been searching for a similar artifact anyway, so this spared her the trouble.
[Yes, I received it as a gift from Ellia.]
"...A gift?"
Something about her mood felt strange, but she pushed past it.
She put off the other things she wanted to say for later, and they commenced sparring as a warm-up.
They had sparred when Lee Ha-yul's physical condition had been worse than an ordinary person's, and they sparred even now, after he had achieved so much growth.
It was unarmed sparring, nothing but bare hands.
Within it, Atra keenly felt Lee Ha-yul's staggering development.
The simple growth of his physical ability and mana was staggering enough, but what surpassed that was his technical skill.
Every hand she extended was shot down the moment she reached out. Even gestures meant to introduce variables and sow confusion were all parried away.
Engagements that past him would not have been able to handle, he now brushed aside with ease.
Attacks that previously would have landed one or two blows were now deflected without exception.
It was as though the very dimension at which he analyzed a fight had changed. As if following suit, his body's movement had transformed alongside it.
Even simple close-quarters combat was like this. Atra knew that the cards Lee Ha-yul held were not limited to straightforward hand-to-hand.
There was the magic he was not currently using, and the artifact slung across his back.
And the ability presumed to copy unique abilities—something unknown to the outside world.
He had many hidden cards. Even his current movement was not his full strength.
Atra, as she always did, raised her level.
'......'
In the process, her heart grew unsettled.
Atra's heart was deeply unsettled.
...He blocked and diverted her attacks.
Throughout, the minute shifts in Lee Ha-yul's expression—the way his face subtly twisted—were visible in excruciating detail to Atra's highly developed eyes.
It felt as though her body would seize up. A pressure pressed heavily on a corner of her chest, suffocating her.
At last, the moment came when Lee Ha-yul's guard cracked open.
She drove an attack through the gap. Her fist, sheathed in aura, bored into the opening.
The fist surged forward, tearing through the air.
It would connect.
Her judgment, built on all her experience, and her intuition told her so.
It would connect.
Her attack.
Onto Lee Ha-yul.
Her fist would drive into his face. It would contort in pain. Blood would flow.
Sipnaha, the path to the underground shelter, a pool of blood...
A corpse.
"......!!"
Fwoosh! A violent gust surged. Dust scattered from the floor, and hair lashed wildly.
The arm that had punched forward stopped in mid-motion, awkward and frozen.
The halted fist was trembling faintly.
Bewilderment settled on Lee Ha-yul's face—a reaction that said he did not understand why she had stopped.
Her arm was trembling. Atra could not believe the fact.
Power was scattering because of the trembling. In this state, even if she drove the fist forward, it would not produce even half its original force.
A hand shaking in the middle of an attack—that was a habit she had recognized before even graduating from the Academy and had corrected.
And now?
She could not stop the trembling no matter what.
"...I'm sorry. I will resume the session."
Atra steadied her trembling voice and spoke.
Lee Ha-yul briefly pursed his lips, then steadied his resolve and retook his stance.
The spar continued.
Atra ground her teeth.
It was a laughable state. She had managed just fine until now. She was still certain that teaching this way was the fastest, surest route to growth.
"I..."
There was absolutely nothing bad about Lee Ha-yul being strong. All that flowed now was sweat—and a little blood.
If he didn't shed it now, he would have to shed his life and future before a real threat later.
"I c..."
In this incident, Lee Ha-yul had faced a threat. Had Lee Ha-yul been even slightly weaker—had fortune not smiled upon him—he would have met his death.
"I can't... I can't do it..."
During the spar, there had been many chances to land a clean blow.
She had not landed a single one.
Unable to master her shaking voice, Atra abruptly pulled Lee Ha-yul into her arms.
[?]
[Safe]
[Warm]
[Soft]
[Cozy]
[Nice]
Suddenly embraced, Lee Ha-yul let his mouth fall open.
It was a familiar embrace. The soft and warm embrace he had been held in so often lately.
Almost like a habit, he burrowed into Atra's arms.
The Sky Wing Feather draped down his back fluttered.