Chapter 4: Heart-Pounding Secret Friends (1)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 4: Heart-Pounding Secret Friends (1)
The Academy’s entrance ceremony is in March, but formal academic activities don’t begin until April.
Since Academy cadets are, in principle, required to live in the dormitories, the school claims this period is to give them time to move their belongings or spend time with the families they’ll be away from for a long while. In reality, however, the curriculum in the original work was pushed back to May because of a terrorist attack.
To some, it might just be a boring stretch of time; to others, a precious moment to share with family. But to me, this one month was exceptionally precious and valuable.
Now, from the unique perspective of a transmigrator, what was the very first thing I did immediately after the entrance ceremony?
Assassinating a traitor hiding within the school?
Struggling to resolve a massive incident that’s about to occur?
Socializing to get close to the protagonist?
None of the above.
That’s right. I was hiking up a mountain.
“…Fuck. Seriously.”
I barely ever hiked in my original world, and here I am doing it in a novel.
Haha, the sensation of hiking while your internal organs feel like they’re being wrung out is truly something special.
“I feel like I’m gonna die…”
Special, my ass.
While most Academy cadets are superhumans who physically surpass ordinary people, Kang So-hyun—the character I possessed—was far from that description.
He was born with a weak constitution, and because he had already used his ability several times before I took over, consuming his Innate True Qi in the process, he was the definition of a weakling.
I wanted to complain about why this guy was in such a state, but surprisingly, the model for this character was myself.
Yes. I was originally a weakling and a klutz.
“Uwaaaaagh!”
Then why was a klutz like me hiking?
To get healthy, of course.
Whether I’m going to overhaul the novel’s plot or do anything else, I need to be healthy first.
This wretched body isn’t a joke; it’s at a level where I could drop dead while walking down the street tomorrow. What could I possibly achieve in this state?
Oh, of course, I’m not saying I’ve suddenly decided on a long-term health regimen of hiking and breathing fresh air.
A transmigrator has their own ways.
I came here to find a Fortuitous Encounter hidden in these woods.
Though, for someone like me who has the Setting Book memorized, it’s hardly “hidden.” The treasure was as good as mine already.
* * *
I, too, once had a time when I thought that way.
Ta-da! But it turns out there’s no such thing as “absolute”!
To think that a problem would arise because this body is even more pathetic than my original one.
To put it simply:
I’m too exhausted to move.
“Huff… huff… wheeze… huff…”
Again, I knew this body was pathetic.
The problem was that it was so much more pathetic than I had anticipated. I didn’t expect my stamina to be completely depleted in less than an hour of hiking.
This was absolute bullshit.
Actually, there was a clear reason why I sought this place out first.
The primary reason was that among the Fortuitous Encounters I could challenge in my current physical state, the one sleeping here was the most helpful. The second reason was that in the original story, a relatively minor extra takes this encounter early on and ends up wasting it.
Since I couldn’t even attempt the major encounters yet—aside from the minor ones—my choice was infinitely rational and calculated.
Everyone has a plan.
Until they get fucked over by a mountain.
But I couldn’t give up.
A wretched body that might die soon—some might find that appealing depending on their tastes, but I, for one, have never felt the desire to live like a ticking time bomb.
“Dammit…”
The moment I couldn’t hold back a curse.
“Um, are you alright?”
It seemed the heavens hadn’t abandoned me yet; a lifeline had descended.
* * *
Cathy.
An Academy professor and the self-proclaimed right hand of the Chairperson, she was currently indulging the Chairperson’s hobby.
She wondered what her friend and boss actually thought of her. Whenever the Chairperson took a liking to a student, she would always assign Cathy to keep an eye on them.
Surprisingly, every one of those students had turned out to be a “hit” in some sense so far, but this time, Cathy felt confident that the Chairperson’s intuition was wrong.
She should have taken the bet when the Chairperson confidently challenged her.
Kang So-hyun.
A prospective Academy freshman, a Reinforcement-type ability user, and a cadet with A-rank talent.
When she first found him in the registry and saw the A-rank, she was a bit surprised. However, after checking the penalty on his ability in the subsequent investigation report, she couldn’t help but shake her head.
Possessed Talent: Reinforcement (A-rank)
Elevates the stage of the target without limitations.
Note: Consumes Innate True Qi upon use.
The reason his originally unhealthy body became too frail to be considered a superhuman appears to be a side effect of his ability.
This caused domestic strife.
Relationship with family is currently poor.
The records became more disastrous the further she read.
The fact that it had no limitations on the target was quite impressive, but what use was an ability that brought the user closer to death every time it was used?
Reinforcement-type users were common enough, even if their limitations were usually stricter. She couldn’t understand why that talent was given an A-rank.
She had watched him quietly to see if the records were forged, but they were the absolute truth.
To be panting like that during a hike that wasn’t even particularly steep—he couldn’t be considered a superhuman by any stretch of the imagination.
Unless, of course, he had a hobby of acting in the middle of a deserted mountain.
Reaching a conclusion, she decided to speak to him.
If he was just a poor student with a weak body struggling in the mountains, she couldn’t just leave him be. Besides, she wasn’t the type of person who could ignore someone trying to do something about their own circumstances.
“Um, are you alright?”
Because she approached with such unguarded and pure kindness, she failed to see it.
The way the corners of his mouth curved into a faint, subtle arc for a split second.
* * *
“Yes, I’m fine.”
I started by giving her a kind, gentle smile.
I couldn’t afford to lose this golden opportunity by failing to control my expression. Fortunately, one of my few strengths was not letting my face betray me when something unexpected happened.
“You look like you’re struggling quite a bit. It might be better if you headed back down.”
She was pretending to be a random hiker and wore a kind smile of her own, but I knew exactly who she was.
The Chairperson’s right hand and friend.
Cathy.
She was an Academy professor and the person who would become the protagonist’s homeroom teacher.
She was a beauty with brilliant, warm blonde hair and emerald-green eyes. Her appearance wasn’t exactly common on a hiking trail, but my certainty came from something else.
Hanging from her ears were earrings set with green gems that matched her eyes—a gift the Chairperson had personally made for her when they were young.
I could pretty much see the full picture.
Either my reckless remarks, which sounded like I’d predicted the terrorist attack on the professor, or the sight of me using Reinforcement must have reached the Chairperson’s ears.
Cathy was the Chairperson’s friend, but also her loyal lackey… I mean, subordinate.
She had probably been monitoring me the whole time.
…You could’ve helped a bit sooner. Dammit.
“No, thank you, but I’d like to go up a bit further.”
“…You’re sweating so much and you’re out of breath. Something bad might happen.”
“I’ve always had a weak constitution. I wanted to go a bit further for the sake of my health.”
For the record, this is the kind of person she is in the novel:
“Exercise is good, but…”
She thinks she has a very “cool” personality, but she’s incredibly meddlesome and kind-hearted.
Could such a person really tell someone who had exhausted their Innate True Qi that they couldn’t get healthy through something like hiking?
But she also couldn’t just let a student die.
“Actually, I heard there’s a medicinal spring around the halfway point of this mountain that’s good for the body. My health is so poor that I wanted to try anything.”
Sympathy began to cloud her expression.
“Ah, I’ve brought up such a heavy topic to a stranger. I’ll be on my way now.”
With those words, I forced my heavy feet to move.
I made myself look as pitiful and strained as possible. Since I actually was struggling and exhausted, I didn’t even need to act.
In this moment, I was a challenger facing my own limits, a poor youth refusing to submit to fate.
“I… I’ll!”
“Yes…?”
“I’ll help you up.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that.”
“No, I’ll feel better if I do.”
Wow! A superhuman bus! Just kidding. I was grateful, but she was so kind it was almost worrying.
The problem was made worse by her delusion that she was a cautious and “cool” person.
How bad was the problem? In this crazy, godforsaken novel, she was a fairly popular character who ended up dying because of this very personality trait.
Meeting one of the representative victims of “Heroine Dies First”—the trope where the heroine is killed off before she can even become one—made me feel quite complicated.
If there had been some grand reason for her death, the backlash might have been manageable, but she met her end quite abruptly.
“You’re sweating a lot. Are you sure you’re okay?”
I couldn’t allow this kind and beautiful teacher to be killed by some random criminal, especially when it wasn’t even for the sake of the protagonist’s awakening.
* * *
We climbed the mountain path for about thirty minutes, which felt more like three years.
Even with a superhuman’s help, it took thirty minutes to reach the halfway point. How long would it have taken if I were alone?
Actually, would I have even arrived at all?
“Thank you. I might not have made it here without your help.”
“It’s nothing. I helped because I wanted to. I guess that’s the spring over there.”
“Yes, thank you.”
I walked slowly toward the spring.
I couldn’t afford any mistakes from here on out.
Even if this was a place discovered by a moronic extra villain, a Fortuitous Encounter was still a Fortuitous Encounter. Meaning, it was indeed hidden.
However, the method to obtain the encounter at this spring was so simple it was almost anticlimactic once you knew it.
“Um, student. What are you doing…?”
I guess that’s the face people make when someone suddenly starts bowing toward a mountain spring.
But what can I do? This is the way.
“I just… they say this water is good for the body, right? If it can really make me healthy, I’d be grateful.”
I just said the first excuse that came to mind, but her gaze shifted into the lukewarm look one gives a pitiful cat drenched in the rain.
No, it’s fine. As of today, my life as a terminally ill patient is over.
I’ll definitely pay you back.
The moment I finished my third bow.
The spring vibrated and began to emit a brilliant light.
It was time to meet the first Fortuitous Encounter that would fix this garbage constitution of mine.
* * *
When the blinding light faded, I was standing in a space I had never seen before.
This, too, was exactly as described in the novel, which fortunately meant I would soon encounter the prize.
The entity that hid this encounter here was quite a nutcase. The conditions to enter the secret chamber where the encounter could be obtained were truly absurd.
One must be someone who knows how to be grateful for the small things, or someone who can truly sacrifice themselves for others.
The easiest way to pass the first condition was to bow three times toward the spring.
In the original work, this encounter was surprisingly picked up by a moronic villain. The guy, who had luckily fled into the mountains, found the spring and was so overjoyed he started acting like a fool, accidentally bowing and discovering it.
Ridiculous, right? I think so too.
Now, enough small talk.
“Where are we?”
Huh?
I turned my head to see a beautiful face I’d become familiar with over the last thirty minutes.
Cathy.
Why are you here?
“It looks like we’ve entered a dungeon. Stay close to me.”
Under the circumstances, she had every right to suspect I knew about the dungeon, but it seemed such a thought hadn’t even entered the professor’s head.
Uh, but this is a bit of a problem, isn’t it?