Chapter 300: Aftermath.
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 300: Aftermath.
No matter how insane an incident may be, it eventually comes to an end. and once it ends, it is only right to handle the aftermath.
The culprit who caused the incident would likely head to prison on terrorism charges, while Lilac and I, who suppressed the threat, would probably receive Points.
However, as is often the case with such incidents, what remained with us wasn’t the joy of earning Points or the relief of resolution, but rather the stinging pain of the wounds the terror had left behind.
To be specific, it meant that even after the brainwashing villain’s influence had completely worn off, no one’s memories had disappeared.
“Let go of me, Cathy! I’m either going to smash my own head in or Kang So-hyun’s, but I’m definitely doing one of the two…!”
“A-ram Unnie, please just endure it…! I had to walk around with pigtails at my age too…!”
“Our cute little Cathy might have gotten off easy with just pigtails, but I didn’t! I wore a chick hat and called Kang So-hyun ‘Oppa’! Do you have any idea how this feels!?”
The starting point was Professor Park A-ram, who had flown into a frenzy the moment she regained her senses.
“Yes, let’s all just calm down for a moment.”
“See? Even Leilan is telling you to calm down. Unnie, please…!”
“What are you talking about, Cathy? You’re the one who needs to calm down, not Professor Park. I also think it’s necessary to erase some memories. Don’t you agree, Cadet Kang So-hyun?”
Then there was the Chairperson, who was radiating a murderous intent usually reserved for villains.
“Um, does anyone have a pair of pants…?”
Meanwhile, Ha-ni was trembling, seemingly worried about the fact that she was wearing a skirt, while Luna and Wolf had been glaring at the villain for some reason for a while now.
If there was any positive element to be found, it was perhaps that the Sun Wukong incident might be glossed over amidst the chaos caused by the two women who had come to their senses.
“It’s fine. I don’t particularly want to see a cadet in pain either. I’ll just find a way to cleanly wipe the memories…!”
“Exactly. It’s not like I’m actually going to kill So-hyun, right? I’m just going to blow his memories away…!”
“I’m sorry, but if either of you takes one more step toward So-hyun, I really won’t let it slide.”
…Is this really a positive element?
It was reassuring to have Cathy Noona desperately blocking the impending disasters on my behalf, but seeing her sharp attitude made me wonder what she was thinking, which was scary in its own right.
I even felt a surge of resentment toward Sun Wukong for just laughing after creating this whole situation.
— If it weren’t for me, you would’ve been in big trouble, kid.
…Well, that certainly shuts me up.
As I hesitated, having no clue where to even begin untangling this situation, Baek Seol—who had been restraining the culprit—suddenly began to react strangely.
“Huh? Why is this…?”
For a moment, I wondered if the culprit had tried to use hypnosis again, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
Baek Seol examined the culprit here and there as if something was off. Eventually, she seemed to reach a conclusion, bound the culprit simply, and approached us.
“Seol, that person seems to have hypnosis-related abilities. Is it okay to step away?”
My Master asked warily, but Baek Seol only scratched her cheek with an uncharacteristically flustered expression.
“The thing is… this person isn’t an Awakened. No matter how much I look, she’s just an ordinary person with no Talent.”
“…What?”
Naturally, my Master wasn’t the only one who reacted to those words.
After everything everyone here had been through, she was a non-Awakened?
“Not only did my Talent not react at all, but I even used an observation artifact just in case, and she’s definitely a non-Awakened. To be more precise, it’s as if her Talent was erased by something. It looks like her superhuman body is rapidly reverting to that of an ordinary person.”
I wondered what on earth that meant, but the villain herself seemed shocked by the words. She immediately reached out her hand toward us to test her power.
However, she felt nothing. She struggled even more desperately as if to deny the reality, but nothing changed.
“…Loss of Talent due to a berserk state isn’t entirely unheard of, but I’ve never seen someone lose their superhuman strength so quickly.”
Unlike me, who wondered if she really lost her Talent just because of a berserk state, the others seemed to have a specific suspicion. They exchanged glances and nodded to one another.
Ugh, I really hope it’s not what I think it is.
“Could it be the work of that Red Mask?”
Lilac finally gave voice to the anxiety I was harboring.
“…Perhaps.”
“I think it’s a possibility.”
And one by one, they began to agree.
It seemed that today, once again, misunderstandings I never wanted were piling up.
‘…So, what are you actually going to do about this?’
— What? Don’t worry. Everything will follow its natural course.
Which meant he had no plan at all.
Haha, I don’t even know anymore. Fuck it, whatever happens, happens.
* * *
Inside Kang So-hyun’s mind.
Sun Wukong had succeeded in soothing her furious Authority and returning it to its sealed form.
“Phew, I can finally catch my breath. That brat, grumbling away without knowing how hard I’m working.”
She wondered if she had taken the joke a bit too far, but well, she had successfully provided some stimulation, so she decided to call it a win.
“…I wonder. Don’t you think your prank was a bit excessive?”
“Hmm?”
Turning his head, he saw a very welcome sight.
“Oh? Seeing as you’re intervening in the mind in your true form, I suppose you’ve expanded your contract a bit while I was away?”
It was the Demon King Lucifer, wielder of black wings and Holy-Demonic Energy. They weren’t particularly close acquaintances, but since they both presided over ‘Pride’ and had many opportunities to talk after contracting with Kang So-hyun, they could be considered somewhat friendly.
“…It wouldn’t have been much different even if you were here, but… yes.”
For some reason, however, Lucifer didn’t seem particularly glad to see him after his long absence.
“Ah…! What! You really are back!?”
“Oh, look at you. Your contract must have deepened while I was gone too, eh? So that’s what you look like.”
The same went for the blonde angel, presumed to be the Will of the Saint, and the Black Shadow who appeared last.
“Back. Back?”
“Yes, yes. It’s good to see you all looking healthy, but why do you all look like you’re not happy to see me?”
“My, how could that be? It’s just because you started playing such mischievous pranks the moment you returned.”
Lucifer spoke in polite speech, which she rarely used, claiming it was a misunderstanding, but Sun Wukong was no fool to be deceived by such words.
She had a rough idea of why they were wary of her, and her guess was nearly spot on.
Seeing as their contracts had all deepened, they must have been competing for the position of his first artifact while she was away. Now that she had returned sooner than expected, they were naturally on guard.
It was likely also because they had seen her suppress an Authority on her own—one they couldn’t have subdued even if they had all worked together.
“My prank was ‘excessive,’ you say?”
She had to struggle to suppress a laugh.
They looked so pathetic yet somewhat cute that she found herself wondering how to play with them. What more was there to say?
In the past, he would have preferred to let things slide smoothly, but perhaps because the lingering regrets within the Gourd had merged into one, his mischievous streak had definitely grown.
“That might be true, but I don’t particularly want to hear it from you lot, who were sprawled out without being of any help.”
So, he decided to just throw out a blatant provocation.
“…Excuse me?”
“…Oh? Was Mr. Sun Wukong always this kind of person?”
“Grrr.”
“I said something similar outside as well. How is it that the three of you together couldn’t even do as much as I did alone just because I stepped out for a moment?”
“…Watch your mouth. If there wasn’t an output limit on the Touch of the Devil, I could have suppressed a masterless Authority myself.”
“Grrr! Grrr…!”
“Ah, um. If only he had trusted me a bit more and allowed me to use my power…”
“Yep, excuses, excuses~”
Seeing them seethe was nothing short of adorable.
“It seems you three were having a little contest to see who’s the most helpful while I was gone.”
All three artifacts flinched and looked away.
Even if it wasn’t exact, it was likely a similar situation.
“Seeing this state of affairs the moment I return makes it clear.”
“…What is?”
“What else? That I’m the best, and you three are destined to spend the rest of your lives competing for second place.”
Since he had set a fire outside, he figured he should provide some motivation on the inside too, right?
Hmph, to think they’d complain about a little prank without realizing how much he was looking out for them. How wicked.
He felt like his mood wouldn’t be fully restored unless he played an even more interesting prank the next time he went out.
Well, regardless, seeing them all trembling, it seemed the motivation had worked quite well. Should he wrap things up now?
“Well then, I’ll be off. I’m tired after my first big performance in a while, so I’m going to rest!”
“Ah, wait! Just a moment!”
“Haha! I can’t hear the voices of losers who couldn’t even stop an Authority with three people!”
“Get back here!”
However, as they watched Sun Wukong flee after saying only what she wanted to say, the three artifacts made a resolution.
“…It seems this isn’t the time for us to be fighting amongst ourselves, doesn’t it?”
“I agree. Let’s put the infighting on hold for now.”
“Grrr…!”
“Let’s continue our competition after we’ve cleared the biggest obstacle first.”
“Liquidation of deep-seated evils…!”
“Gra!”
It was the moment an Anti-Sun Wukong Alliance was born among the artifacts.
* * *
…Well, after that, the containment team arrived following our report. There was a small incident where they debated whether to treat the culprit as an ordinary criminal or a superhuman criminal after hearing she had lost her abilities, but other than that, we were able to part ways relatively peacefully.
— Kang So-hyun! Stop right there! Do you think Cathy can protect you forever!? Take responsibility and either date me or erase your memories, choose one…! Ah!? You’re running away!? Do you think you won’t see me in the next class!?
— Yes, thinking about it, that could happen since you know the future. Cadet Kang So-hyun. I’ll believe you feigned ignorance for the sake of my honor. But I have a position to maintain as well, so surely a Restriction… a Restriction wouldn’t be too much, would it? Just a promise not to tell anyone else! Don’t run away! A Restriction is fine, right!?
— So-hyun. Don’t worry. Noona will get stronger. Then, coveting someone else’s? Absolutely not. You’re mine. No, you’re ‘ours.’ You’re already too precious as you are, so where do they think they’re looking…? From the beginning. I’m going to polish everything from the basics again. I just need to build up brainwashing resistance too. Yes, Noona can overcome it. Really.
— …Um, So-hyun. I know what I said, but you know that was all because the villain made things weird, right? Of course, if you ask if I didn’t want to try it, that’s not exactly true, but doing it like that is a bit much, isn’t it…?
…We did part ways peacefully, right? For the sake of my mental health, let’s just say we did.
It pained me that I kept learning about others’ secret tastes lately, even though I didn’t want to.
None of this was written in the Setting Book.
If I think of it as proof that this is no longer a novel but a real world, my heart feels a bit more… comfortable? Like hell it does.
“…And more than half of them are people who say they like me.”
My head throbbed. Setting aside whether I could even keep up with their secret tastes, I decided to check what needed checking first.
I held the Ruyi, currently in the form of a short sword, in my hand for the first time in a long while.
According to Sun Wukong’s brief explanation of the changes:
Its maximum weight could now become even heavier, and ‘Division’ was now possible even without Reinforcement.
Additionally, the number of clones I could summon at once had increased, and I could now use a skill close to a finishing move, similar to Synchronization. This was the identity of the Sun Wukong who had appeared just moments ago.
Great Sage Descent.
Unlike Synchronization, where Sun Wukong possesses me, this technique consumes a massive amount of Mana to temporarily summon the real Sun Wukong.
It can only be used when I possess both the Purple Gold Red Gourd and the Ruyi.
“And this side is quite flashy in its own right.”
The aforementioned Purple Gold Red Gourd also had various Taoist Magics recorded in it, fitting for something described as a lingering regret regarding Taoist arts, in addition to its basic functions.
I was now able to wield these freely as long as my Mana… or in my case, my Innate True Qi, allowed.
However, there was one very minor problem.
“…Summoning the Nimbus Cloud once takes about one person’s worth of life force.”
Except for the signature technique, the Cloning Technique, the amount of Mana consumed by all of them was astronomical.
There were ways to reduce the consumption, but it was safe to say they weren’t practical for immediate use.
Well, even excluding the Taoist Magic part, it was already a huge jackpot.
“It would have been even better if he hadn’t played those pranks, though.”
“What pranks?”
“Whoa, when did you get here?”
“I’ve been following you for a while, but my disciple was so deep in thought he didn’t even notice.”
Turning my head, I saw my Master smiling. I had no idea how long she’d been there.
“Hmm, my dear disciple. No, wait. Disciple? Hmm, that’s a bit awkward too. Actually, I called you So-hyun once in the dungeon, so if it doesn’t make you uncomfortable, can I call you by your name from now on?”
“Of course, that’s fine with me.”
In fact, I had been secretly hoping she would, so it was exactly what I wanted.
“Right. Then, So-hyun. I’ve thought about it a lot and considered many things, but I think it’s best to just say it directly.”
“Yes? Go ahead. If there’s something you want to ask of me, as long as it’s not an unreasonable request…”
“Will you date me?”
…Pardon?
“I think I’ve fallen for you.”
Uh, wow. You’re being very direct, aren’t you…?