Chapter 104 - Academy (2)
"Tch!"
Kang Su-ho's carefully crafted plan was falling apart before it even began. His twisted expression refused to relax. Shi-woo—no, that bastard Park Jin-gu—hadn't answered Park Sang-mi's call after all.
Why the hell...?
A call from his ex-girlfriend, or rather, his ex-fling. Honestly, if it were him, he'd have picked up out of sheer curiosity at least. He couldn't understand what the guy was doing that he'd just ignore the call like that.
"Ah, shit."
That Park Jin-gu bastard seemed different ever since he entered the Academy. Until recently, he'd been a toy Su-ho could manipulate however he wanted, but now he felt like he was slipping out of reach.
Something's weird... Can a person's personality really change that much...?
He hated to admit it, but it seemed like the guy had gotten stronger too. Just watching him spar briefly with the Sword Saint made Su-ho feel deflated. But he shook his head.
The Sword Saint said I have talent too. Once I become a Dark Swordsman, I'll—
He indulged in a pleasant fantasy. Beating that bastard to a pulp, then going on a date with Amelia, who'd fallen for him.
"Kuh...!"
He grabbed the wooden training sword he'd used as a child. Various enchantments had been applied to it, so it was still as good as new. Swinging it through the air, the form looked pretty decent. Spurred on, he headed to the room with the full-length mirror.
This was his house. Thanks to his wealthy parents, there was a training room right inside. He didn't commute from the dorms for nothing.
Pretty cool, right?
He lifted his chin and struck downward with the sword. It was quite the impressive sight. He almost wanted to record it and send it to Amelia, pretending it was an accident.
Should I film it?
Zing—
His phone screen flashed. Just as he was debating whether to pick it up or not.
...A text?
These days everyone used messenger apps. Hardly anyone sent actual texts. Unless it was an ad...
Gulp.
His throat felt parched. With trembling hands, he opened his phone.
"Haaah!"
It was that mysterious video again. The one that had gotten him caught in Ann's trap. He tried to delete it immediately, but his curiosity got the better of him. Last time, the video had contained something that stirred his heart.
Is it the same one...?
If it was the same footage, he felt like he could delete it without hesitation. But it wasn't. The composition was new. The background was similar to before, but the content was completely different. A sequel, you could call it.
He reflexively reached for his earphones, then paused. Having been badly burned by Ann, he'd grown cautious.
Ahem... No one's here.
There was nobody home. He immediately put in his earphones and focused on the video.
"Whoa, this is insane...!"
Once again, it was covered in shoddy square mosaics. Almost nothing was visible. He concentrated on the voice, which had been modulated.
- Don't film my face!
The woman was quite haughty. She reacted fiercely, demanding that her face not be recorded. There were even moments when she was so vicious it made him flinch.
- Heeuk... ♥
But in less than ten minutes, that same woman was calling him "Master" and using honorifics.
"Goddammit...!"
Amid the jealousy, a foreign emotion crept in. Respect. A beautiful woman was convulsing with her legs spread wide. Her entire body was covered in white, viscous fluid as if it were only natural.
Damn it...! I can't see a thing with those squares!
He wanted to shatter the black mosaics hiding her skin. Imagining the parts he couldn't see made his lower body grow tense. The woman seemed to have forgotten the camera's existence entirely, too busy moaning and crying out. With his eyes practically popping out, he focused on the sounds coming through his earphones.
"Su-ho, what are you doing?"
"Haaah!"
It was a scene that almost gave him PTSD. He flinched violently and tore out his earphones. Thankfully, it wasn't Ann. His sister had cracked the door open and was peeking in. She tilted her head.
"Didn't you hear me calling you to eat?"
"Uh, uh...! I was, uh, just watching something. Noona, um, when did you get here?"
"Just now... Huh?" Kang Hyun-ah tilted her head. Her brother looked different from usual. His flushed face made her worry he was sick.
But that concern was short-lived.
"Ah...!"
She was no longer a virgin. Seeing her brother fluster around gave her a clue.
"Oh my...! Well, even so, watching too much of that is bad for you. Hurry up and wrap it up, then come out. Let's eat."
"No, it's not that!!"
"Huh?"
"Th-this is... well... Yeah! I was watching a, uh, game video!"
Kang Hyun-ah stifled a laugh. If she asked what kind of game, he'd only get more flustered. She chuckled softly and left.
"Okay. The soup will get cold if you take too long, so hurry up."
"Yeah. Yeah..."
Click.
Watching his sister close the door carefully as she left, a wave of deflation washed over him. He punched the punching bag that was lying around in the corner of the training room.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Aaaargh!!!
Because of this damn, shoddy video...! He'd been burned twice already. In a fit of rage, his hand reached for the delete button. His fingers trembled violently. He couldn't bring himself to press it. In the end, he hit the save button and headed to the kitchen. He planned to take another look at it later.
Si-woo reviewed what needed to be done.
About a week left, huh.
Due to the accident during the dimensional rift practical training, all classes had been suspended for two weeks. Time had passed since then, so about a week remained. He wanted to secure the teleportation magic circle before the Academy reopened.
But when it actually came down to getting one, he realized he knew absolutely nothing about magic circles. Neither he nor his past life counterparts had any knowledge of this field.
I'll just ask.
The moment he'd come out of the training grounds came to mind. Helena had reached the same Peak realm as him. Growth speed befitting a regressor. At this point, it was almost a hundred percent certain. Of course, she'd been just as shocked by Si-woo's progress. From her perspective, he'd broken through to a higher realm in just a few days.
- Ah... as expected...!
Helena's eyes, filled with favor. That sparkle was still vivid in his memory.
He'd made an appointment with Helena. As a regressor, he had faith that she could solve just about anything.
"A teleportation circle?"
"Yeah. I was hoping I could get a portable one installed."
Helena wiped at the sweat beading on her forehead. Her reaction seemed a bit more flustered than he'd expected. It was like looking at a child asking where to buy a tank.
"P-...portable, you say?"
"Yeah. Is it that difficult?"
Even though the device malfunctioned due to an accident, they'd distributed escape equipment to each cadet during the rift practical training. Considering things like that, spatial teleportation seemed like a fairly commercialized technology here. Applied in everyday life, so he thought there wouldn't be a problem. Or so he'd believed.
Was I wrong?
After pondering for a moment, Helena spoke.
"A portable teleporter... You mean a model without a receiver as well, correct?"
"Huh?"
She continued her explanation. Teleportation magic circles were broadly divided into two components. Simply put, the departure point and the arrival point formed a pair. Both sides needed to be installed, and appropriate safety measures had to be arranged depending on the environment. Facilities of a certain scale and the manual labor of a magical engineer were indispensable.
"The emergency escape devices we handed out last time had a short range, and there was a separate building that served as the receiver."
"Ah... I see?"
Disappointment welled up inside him. What he'd envisioned was stamping down a magic circle like a seal. Like placing a warp point in a game. Seeing his disappointment, Helena hesitated before speaking.
"...It's not that there's no way."
"Hm...?"
"There's a useful technique I saw in my future visions... If we use that, we could install it quite conveniently. A truly portable teleportation magic circle."
"Oh...! That's exactly what I'm looking for."
Helena gave a small smile and continued.
"We just need to buy materials infused with spatial power. If we buy them now, it won't cost that much. About... 1 billion?"
"1 billion...?"
She really was a rich man's daughter — her spending habits were different. But thinking about it again, 1 billion. That was a perfectly reasonable price. Performing the miracle of folding space to travel for 1 billion. It was very cheap. The problem was that here, he was just a cadet — there was no way he had that kind of money.
"Hmm..."
He thought about how to earn it. Honestly, just from Helena's expression, she'd probably give it to him if he asked. Can't do that. He couldn't just take 1 billion for free, not even a small amount.
Ah...!
Come to think of it, he'd recently scored a huge haul. He'd taken all of Seo Ji-yoo's gold.
"Is there a gold shop around here somewhere?"
A middle-aged man with a pudgy belly was grinning from ear to ear.
"Is that all you have?! I'll give you a good price!"
"That's all. If I get more, I'll come back."
"Thank you! Take care!!"
The Shadowless God Thief's vault had gold piled up like a mountain. Selling just a few ingots would net him 1 billion. But he'd only sold one ingot — about 1kg — and earned 100 million.
"Is this really enough?"
"Yes. Trust me. Actually, we don't even need this much, but..."
"No, I need spending money for everyday use too."
That was because Helena had stopped him. She'd come dressed as if for a date. It was the first time he'd seen her in casual clothes. Noticing his gaze, Helena's face flushed slightly as she fanned herself with her hand.
"Is it... a bit much? It's, well, it's hot out..."
"No, it suits you."
She was wearing jeans and a white short-sleeved shirt. The form-fitting size showed off her superb figure perfectly. That voluptuousness contrasting with her narrow waist. She looked nothing like a powerhouse who could bring down an elephant with a single finger. The pure, innocent beauty was fidgeting her fingers and looking embarrassed.
"Well then... shall we go?"
"Yeah. But who's that?"
A woman was following Helena like a shadow.
"Ah... She's my escort. You don't need to mind her."
"Is that so?"
Actually, the escort looked more like the real Ice Princess. She stood silently behind Helena with no change in expression whatsoever. When her eyes met Si-woo's, she gave a small bow. Si-woo returned the greeting, but there was no further reaction.
It's a bit strange that there's only one escort, though...
But thinking again, this was an escort that Helena, a regressor, trusted enough to bring along. He didn't know how many times she'd repeated her life, but if this person had never betrayed her through all those cycles... she was an incredibly loyal guard.
The target's main attribute is 'Loyalty'.
As expected... Pretty face too. I'm jealous.
He wanted to find a guard like that for himself somewhere. As he was looking at her, Helena stepped into his line of sight. As if telling him to look at her instead. It seemed to be a reflexive action, because even she looked a little flustered.
"Ahem...! L-let's hurry before it gets late!"
As expected, Helena wasn't so much an Ice Princess as she was an adorable puppy. He followed after her, the back of her neck flushed red.
"Yeah, let's go. To gamble."