Shadow Stepping (1)
In the original story, the Phantasm Selection Rite had been held in the second week.
Apparently, at this point in the timeline, it happened on the very first day. Fifteen years from now, it gets pushed back two full weeks? I'd love to know what that is about.
"One: obey all instructor commands. Two: from the moment you enter, you are never to speak a name aloud—especially your own. Three……"
Anyway. Our afternoon classes ended at four o'clock sharp.
Just as Instructor Choi Ye-na had promised, we were here to go through the Selection Rite. The officer accompanying us was our homeroom instructor, Seo Ha-shin.
"Now, did everyone memorize that?"
"Yes, sir!!"
"That answer was too quiet. Did you really memorize it?"
"YES, sir!!!"
The list of precautions had been long, but the individual points were mostly concise. Memorizing them hadn't been much of a challenge.
Hearing our response, the instructor broke into a satisfied grin.
"Then Platoon 1 will enter first."
At Seo Ha-shin's gesture, a soldier guarding the building swung the door open for us. It was a double door, so we couldn't see inside right away.
The inner door only opened after all of Platoon 1 had filed in and the outer door had closed behind us.
In an instant, the whole view flooded with green.
"We'll begin with the plant-type phantasms. Wait here until the other platoons come in."
The interior was bursting with vegetation. Fences divided the space into separate territories, giving it the feel of an impromptu field trip to an arboretum.
They're not wilting or curling up their leaves this time…… thankfully.
Back on that earlier day, the soldiers with bamboo insignia had swarmed over and done whatever this "sealing" business was to me. At the time, I couldn't feel that anything had changed, so I'd honestly wondered if the whole thing even worked.
But it seemed the seal did have an effect after all. The phantasms no longer flinched in terror at the sight of me.
"Right. From now on, you'll move as one squad at a time."
Each squad was assigned a squad leader and two escorts. Seo Ha-shin's role, as far as I could tell, was to circulate between the squads and keep watch over everything.
We split off into three squads and began.
"Extend your hand toward the tree, like this."
We did as the squad leader demonstrated, stretching our hands out toward a tree. Nothing happened.
The squad leader promptly ordered us to withdraw our hands.
"Next."
Then the next, and the next. We kept repeating the exercise until there was no target left that we hadn't reached toward.
"Waaahk!"
While our squad made it through without incident, somewhere else, drama was unfolding.
Crack!
"You okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine."
Pyo Do-seok of Squad 2 had gotten himself wrapped up by a tree. If anything, it was a vivid, borderline over-the-top illustration of what the word "Selection Rite" actually meant.
"You've been chosen by the Man-Eating Tree."
"Hmm. The Man-Eating Tree, is it…… how distinguished."
Anyone else would have been trembling at the news that a man-eating tree had coiled itself around them, but not Pyo Do-seok. He studied the phantasm that had chosen him for a moment, then drew out his die.
The white die arced through the air and landed neatly in Pyo Do-seok's palm.
"Even. I accept the contract."
"No need to look any further, then?"
"No. I'd decided that if it came up even, I'd contract."
As he said it, that greasy smile of his somehow carried no warmth at all.
Kim To-eun, who was standing near me, visibly soured.
"……Gross."
"Agreed."
You too? Me too. We swapped opinions in tiny voices and meaningful glances until finally my fist met Kim To-eun's in a soft bump.
"Ahem. I'd say we can move on now. To HQ: this is Pavilion S, Dangso. The plant-type selection for Platoon 1 is complete. Over."
«Acknowledged. Proceed to the humanoid room.»
With that, the plant-type selection wrapped up. Next came the humanoid types.
The format was similar to before, though there was even less to do. All we had to do was stand before the humanoid phantasms while they sized us up like appraisers at an auction.
『When a man of seventy sires a son, it is not his own son; his estate shall pass to his daughter's husband—let no outsider lay claim to it. Tell me—how do you interpret this?』
Among them were phantasms that actually addressed us. It took me a half-beat too long to realize that the words were classical Chinese.
"……I believe the meaning would shift depending on the position from which one reads it."
As the question hung in the air, a cadet with brown hair, forest-green eyes, twin braids draped over her shoulders, and round spectacles—every inch the model literary heroine—offered her answer.
Sa Seo-yeon. Same squad as me.
"Reading it as a son would, one would break the phrase at 'seventy sired a son, not my own son.' That yields 'a child born to a man of seventy, yet not his true son,' which naturally recasts the rest of the passage as……"
At Sa Seo-yeon's flowing recitation, the phantasm let out a rumbling laugh. To anyone who couldn't read classical Chinese, the exchange looked like two people communicating in an alien tongue.
I stole a glance at Kim To-eun.
"Seo-yeon is crazy smart. Right?"
"Tell me about it. I couldn't parse that with a dictionary in hand."
"……Um, um, to be fair, even WITH a dictionary it'd be pretty weird to translate that? Now I'm suddenly feeling all distant from you two?"
But that was the end of it. The only member of our squad chosen by a humanoid phantasm was Sa Seo-yeon.
"Wow. She's insane."
"How many selections did she rack up, exactly?"
Word was that some cadet in another squad had earned even more picks than Sa Seo-yeon, but…… not our squad, so not my problem.
"The beast-type room, now. Be careful not to agitate any of the phantasms—"
Arf arf arf!
Woof!
Shashashashak.
The third room was the beast-type room, and this was where things went wrong fastest and hardest.
"Cadet Seong Gwon, are you all right?"
"I'm fine."
The moment we entered, Seong Gwon was buried under an avalanche of phantasms. The soldiers had the dangerous specimens restrained, but they hadn't seen fit to block the small-animal varieties.
The sight of her swamped under a mountain of fur looked for all the world like a giant cotton ball tumbling about.
Our squad, naturally, went still—and so did every other squad in the room.
"I choose this one."
Even amid all that, Seong Gwon made her pick with remarkable speed.
She peeled the cotton balls off herself, rose to her feet, strode out with measured steps, and zeroed in on a single phantasm without hesitation.
Chrrr.
The tiger she'd selected let out a contented growl. It felt a little like the chooser and the chosen had traded places, but either way, it was cause for congratulations.
"Congrats. By the way, is that spot you fell on okay?"
"……Yes. It's fine. Thank you."
Seong Gwon answered me while scratching the tiger's scruff. The tiger phantasm was absolutely beside itself with joy, and the surrounding phantasms watched with eyes green with envy.
"My, my, our Cadet Seong Gwon. Quite the crowd-pleaser! But if we let this go on, the other cadets won't get their turn, so why don't you step outside for a bit?"
"Yes, sir."
And so Seo Ha-shin sent Seong Gwon out temporarily. Chasing down the phantasms that tried to follow her out also fell to him.
Even with his eye patch on, the man caught every last tiny bird without missing a single one. The skill on display was genuinely impressive.
"All right, all right. Should be calm now. Among the phantasms that approach you, if you spot one you like, reach out your hand. When a phantasm touches your hand or climbs onto it, you've been chosen."
"Yes, sir!"
With Seong Gwon gone, the room finally settled into some semblance of order. The phantasms scattered in every direction, each seeking out a person they liked.
"Eek! Look at this! It's SO cute!"
"It's a rabbit."
Kim To-eun got chosen by the fluffiest rabbit in the room.
"I'm picking this one!"
"Hm. You won't regret it? It doesn't exactly look like a combat-useful specimen."
"There's no WAY I'd make something this adorable fight for me!"
Yeah, you're gonna regret it……
"Well, it's your choice. It's not like you can only ever contract one."
"Exactly! Hehe. When we get back I have to name her. Hmm, naming her is okay, right? I just have to not tell her my own name, so that's fine."
"Shouldn't be an issue, as long as it doesn't already have a name."
Anyway—Kim To-eun had picked her partner too. That left me, Pyo Do-hyeok, and Lee Hoe-uk from our squad.
"Oh no."
"Him too, huh……"
"How did it come to this……"
Correction required: it looked like Lee Hoe-uk would be contracting soon as well. He was simply surrounded by insect-type phantasms—which, granted, would be a problem for anyone who hated bugs.
So it's just me and Pyo Do-hyeok left, huh?
As luck would have it, we were the only two who hadn't received a single selection—of any type—so far.
While every other cadet had earned at least one pick, the two of us stood there radiating pure emptiness. Not exactly a predicament I was eager to share with anyone.
Even Pyo Do-seok is getting steady picks, for crying out loud……!
Had Pyo Do-seok been sneaking glances at me this whole time? He'd smirked when our eyes met earlier.
Frankly, I couldn't have cared less about that guy smirking. But the thought that he could get picked while I couldn't—that stung a little. What, exactly, was I supposed to be lacking compared to him?
At this point, is it possible something went wrong with that sealing?
And honestly, that hypothesis looked pretty plausible.
Pyo Do-hyeok was at least earning the occasional sidelong glance from the phantasms. I wasn't even getting that much—the phantasms wouldn't spare me a single flicker of attention.
It was as if they were collectively treating me as nothing. Not fear. Not avoidance. This went beyond either of those reactions entirely.
"Curious. It's not that they're avoiding you…… they simply don't register you as a contract candidate at all, is that it?"
Apparently Seo Ha-shin had landed on much the same thought.
The instructor, having just chased down Seong Gwon's entourage, strolled over and looked me up and down. It was a little depressing.
"It's possible the 'sealing' you received the other day is the culprit. I'll file a report—consider your case deferred until later."
If there was one mercy in all this, it was that Seo Ha-shin hadn't just shrugged and moved on. Even if it didn't improve my situation right this second.
Well, this isn't the only chance I'll ever get.
Platoon assignments were, as a rule, only ever shuffled at the end of a semester. Which meant that failing to get selected today wouldn't land me in another platoon, nor earn me any other penalties.
And honestly, picking up a new partner while I can't even control the Twin Dragon Blades would be overreach.
Though that statement came with a small asterisk.
Strictly speaking, it wasn't that I couldn't control the Twin Dragon Blades—I'd simply never been given the chance to try.
Before enrollment, I'd been a civilian and forbidden from touching them. During onboarding week, there'd been no time to spare. And attempting it solo? The fallout from even a single mistake was too terrifying to contemplate.
Even if I strike out here, whatever. I'll just pick something from the object-types.
Object-types were the only category where getting chosen wasn't required. They generally didn't discriminate about their masters, which meant the choosing was entirely up to me.
The only question was how much output the object I picked would actually deliver—that was what determined aptitude.
"We'll be moving to the next room shortly."
Considering the original Yahui's track record, I doubted my object-type aptitude was low. So it would be fine.
I turned my attention to Seo Ha-shin, who clapped his hands to gather the cadets' attention.
"Next is the object-type room. Irregular and phenomenon types are not offered in the Selection Rite during a first-year's first semester, so we'll skip those."
Skipping the irregular and phenomenon types made sense—they were just that rare. We proceeded straight to the object-type room.
Firepower-wise, the Twin Dragon Blades have me covered, so I'll look for something else.
Something offering regeneration, protection, physical enhancement, or mobility would be ideal. Though those tended to be rare and precious, so as a first-year I probably couldn't get my hands on one yet.
"Object-types rarely do the choosing themselves, so browse freely. And don't forget your contract capacity."
Fortunately, my contract capacity was generous. Even with the Twin Dragon Blades already aboard, I'd yet to see a single phantasm where I thought, that one I couldn't afford to contract.
Still, grabbing too many would make them a pain to haul around. I'll limit myself to two or three.
What they called summoning and recall was only possible after a binding contract. Under a provisional contract, you carried everything on your person, no exceptions.
So even with capacity to spare, trying to fill it to the brim was a bad move.
I took my time reviewing the registry. It had been handed out before we entered the object-type room—a list of the object-type phantasms the Academy had on hand, along with brief profiles.
"Pardon me—may I ask a question?"
"Depends on the question."
"……I would like to find a [redacted] type phantasm."
Just then, Pyo Do-hyeok brushed past me and spoke to the escort soldier.
His voice was so quiet that I couldn't make out the words properly. But I could tell that the voice asking the soldier for a favor was remarkably firm.
After coming up empty in the entire selection so far, sulking would have been only human. The cadet had a spine of solid steel, apparently.
And that's without a trusty safety net like the Twin Dragon Blades to fall back on, unlike me……
If it weren't for the uncomfortable looks he kept throwing my way, I might even have wanted to get along with him. Given that his twin Pyo Do-seok was openly hostile to me, and Pyo Do-hyeok himself seemed to harbor his own grudges, though—fat chance.
……And this is not the time for me to be lost in thought.
I fanned through the registry and swept the surrounding phantasms with sidelong glances. Just in case any of them had appeared in the original story.
Hold on a second.
Why is that. Here. Right now?
"Cadet Yahui, no running."
"Sorry, sir."
Even as I offered the apology, I couldn't quite steady my hurried footsteps. There was no helping it.
"Hm. Did you read the profiles before choosing? If not, I'd advise reading them properly first—"
"No need."
At a glance, a perfectly ordinary pair of leather shoes.
"I choose this one."
Except these shoes were absolutely not ordinary.
This was Shadow Stepping—the phantasm the original Yahui had wielded.
"……Will you come with me?"
I lifted the worn old shoes up carefully. And in that instant, something that had been hollow in me for so long quietly filled in.
Hello.
An emotion that had never made it out as words seared the corners of my eyes, and the shoes held in my hands melted straight through, slumping into a black, shapeless mass.
"……!"
"What in the—"
If you were wondering whether something had gone wrong: no. The essence of Shadow Stepping had never lain in its "shoe-shaped" form.
"……Welcome home."
The black fluid spilling between my fingers touched the floor. Then it seeped into my shadow.
All that remained on the spot was a phantasm with its shell shed—and me, bound to it.