Chapter 70
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: Academy (21)
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Kang Su-ho.
A clear voice rang out from the smartphone. It was such a pleasant tone that you could easily believe she was an announcer.
-Su-ho, are you really okay?
"I'm fine. I didn't get hurt at all."
-Even so...
"Hey, I told you I'm okay."
-Do you know how shocked Mom was when she heard the news? Terrorism! I couldn't sleep from worrying!
"Don't worry too much. It's me, Kang Su-ho. The genius with 4-star innate mana!"
-Mom knows her son is great, but... Sigh...
"I'll probably take first place in this rift training, right? I'll be the one heading into the training holy land."
The training holy land was a place with incredibly high mana density, perfect for building up mana.
-Oh! That's great. As expected of my son... Wait, Su-ho, Mom has to go. Love you~
"Got it. Love you too."
Click.
"Jeez..."
Kang Su-ho felt good hearing his mom's voice after so long, but irritation soon bubbled up again.
'Damn, who the hell are those bastards.'
He had shone brilliantly in the rift training to restore his tarnished image. He'd racked up points by slaughtering zombies non-stop without a break.
He'd noticed midway that the zombies were getting stronger, but chalked it up to the training format. Without that sudden emergency broadcast, he might not have caught on until the end.
'Terrorism!'
Whose doing was it? The terrorism had turned the whole training into a fiasco.
'Argh, so frustrating... I was killing it.'
He'd struggled to fend off zombies while dodging Ahn's clinginess. It had been brutally tough.
'By the way, why isn't Amelia picking up?'
Of course, with her skills, she wouldn't go down to mere zombies. But he'd been worried sick since yesterday with no contact.
After digging around everywhere for news, his phone rang. It was from a cadet famous for her fast intel.
-Amelia's hospitalized?
"What?! Where?"
-Academy affiliated hospital. Mana exhaustion, they say.
Kang Su-ho's face twisted. Fury surged at this person knowing something about Amelia he didn't, but he barely clung to his reason.
He closed his eyes, took a small deep breath, and forced the words out.
"...How did you know?"
-Well, my sister's a nurse there. Anyway, you owe me food.
Click.
"Sigh..."
He paused just as he was about to rush out. He wanted to show her his cool side after so long.
An hour of trying on outfits later, he settled back on the first one.
"Heh... This face."
Even he had to admit his handsome looks were top-tier. He gave a nod to his mirror reflection and headed out.
As he reached the front door, his sister Kang Hyun-ah caught his eye. She was fiddling with her smartphone, gnawing at her nails.
"Ugh...! Why isn't he texting back?!"
"Sis, what're you doing?"
"Huh? Oh, nothing."
Her unusual demeanor made him scrutinize her closely. There was a small band-aid on the nape of her neck.
"What's that on your neck? Hurt yourself?"
Any decent wound vanished in seconds with potion-infused ointment. A band-aid? That was new.
She always slathered on pricey creams for even the tiniest skin scrape.
"Huh...? Oh, no big deal. Just... uh... scratched it somewhere."
"Why not use ointment? Band-aid for what?"
"Hmm... Don't sweat it. Too annoying."
"Want me to grab some?"
"No! I'm good."
Her sharp refusal killed any further prodding. His sister could be stubbornly set in her ways.
The house felt unusually chaotic today. Finally, she tore her glare from her phone and looked his way.
"Where you headed?"
"Uh... well."
Kang Su-ho hesitated. Bringing up Amelia soured her mood.
She didn't seem thrilled now, either, so he was even more reluctant. But lying wasn't his style, so he spoke up.
"Uh... going to visit Amelia in the hospital."
"Visit...? Oh! That Si-woo kid got hurt, right...? N-not that I'm curious or anything, just..."
He hadn't heard the guy was injured. While probing about Amelia, he'd heard Si-woo was fine and felt a twinge of regret.
"Nah. He's totally fine, from what I heard. Why him?"
Her face lit up instantly.
"No reason. We cleaned together last time... Just wondering. Anyway, off to visit her?"
Cleaning dredged up the humiliating memory of passing out, leaving him a bit embarrassed.
"Yeah..."
"Okay. Have a good time."
She showed zero reaction despite the Amelia mention, stirring an instinctive unease.
A sensation of something slipping away.
'What the...?'
His interest waned. That unnamed emotion bloomed in his chest as his sister's attention—once his—faded.
Her subtle smile as she stroked the band-aid sealed it. That grin flashed him back to the mysterious video from recently.
'No way, that's crazy.'
He'd rewatched it so much it haunted his thoughts randomly. The absurd fantasies made his trait twitch oddly.
-[Legendary] One Path Devotion: Once the path is set, shatter limits and advance endlessly.
The trait, dormant till twenty, finally stirred.
'Huh...?'
He snapped alert, zeroing in on the feeling. But it vanished like a hallucination.
'Nah, no way.'
His sister, still toying with her phone, cocked her head.
"Su-ho, you okay?"
"...Yeah, nothing. Be back later."
"Sure. Take care."
He dwelled a bit on whether the trait twitch was real. But scoring three numbers en route erased any trace of it.
He straightened his hair entering the hospital. It looked extra good today, lifting his spirits.
'Amelia... I'm coming!'
He approached the counter. Pretty nurses were giggling and chatting away. Mana pooled in his ears instinctively, amplifying his hearing.
"Oh my gosh, really?"
"Swear. How'd they even think to do it here."
"Heavens...! This class is speedy. How far'd they go?"
"Least a kiss, from what I saw. Opened the room and the air was scorching... Ugh! Even I got secondhand embarrassment."
One nurse gulped hard at the words.
"Sigh... Jealous. Maybe I should flirt with him?"
"Girl, you're nuts. You'd be toast."
"Pfft, whatever. With my looks..."
Kang Su-ho scowled at the eavesdropped gossip.
Most patients here were academy cadets. Whoever these idiots were, they were tarnishing the academy's rep hard.
"Ahem!"
"Oh! Cadet Kang Su-ho?!"
He startled slightly at the nurse's beaming greeting. No memory of her, but she knew him.
"Uh... who might you be?"
Disappointment flickered across her face. But she smiled warmly soon enough.
"You took a pic with me last time—don't remember?"
Kang Su-ho recalled now. She was the nurse from his prior hospital stay photo-op.
"Ah...! You're her. Sorry for blanking."
"No worries at all. Happens. What brings you?"
"Visiting a friend."
"Got it. Patient's name?"
Kang Su-ho nodded approvingly at her kind smile. Women always melted at his face, as expected.
"Amelia."
The nurse's typing hand froze.
"Hold on... Ms. Amelia?"
"Yes."
The two nurses locked eyes and swallowed. Then, with loaded looks, they asked Kang Su-ho.
"Wait... girlfriend?"
"Ah, haha! No. Um... more like, we're a thing?"
"I see... Hmph!"
The nurse's lip quivered. Puzzled for a beat, she pecked the keyboard and tilted her head.
"Hmm... She's refused all visits, so probably not?"
"What...? Aw, man!"
"Y-you'd need her direct okay for a visit."
"Tried that, no dice..."
"Oh my! Oh my!!"
As if visit denial was jackpot news, the nurses squealed at each other.
They eyed him with odd subtlety.
A gaze he'd never gotten before—he couldn't parse the pity in it. No one pitied him, ever.
"Sorry, no can do. Discharging tomorrow anyway, so don't stress. Saw her earlier... looked perfectly fine."
"Sigh... Gotcha."
'Dang. Hit up those girls from before?'
Dressed to kill, but bailing empty-handed stung. The number girls weren't bad; good for a fun night.
Academy life's been rough lately—he craved stress relief.
Mulling it over, Kang Su-ho glanced at the nurses.
They whispered and laughed till their faces flushed, whatever was so hilarious.
"Tch... Some work ethic."
He whipped out his phone, firing texts to the recent pickups. Looks were similar, so first reply wins.
Sent all at once.
-Wanna meet tonight?
The second girl rang back instantly.
"Heh heh... Predictable."
She flirted hard over drinks all night, but he held firm. She was just boredom fodder.
'Not her... No way.'
His first was already decided—he shut her down cold.