Drunken Truths

Fuck! Before I could even process what was happening, Han Yuri smiled slyly and spoke.

"I prepared this because I figured it might be nice to let out some of the stuff we keep bottled up inside."

"Even so, this is going way too far… One bottle of this costs hundreds, doesn’t it?"

"Our team leader never shows his true feelings, so I went all out. Today, let’s be completely honest and unload everything that’s been piling up. What, you don’t want to?"

"Well… it’s not that I don’t want to."

This goddamn thing! Whenever I tried to lie, my mouth moved on its own.

"Why don’t you want to? Is drinking with me that unpleasant?"

"Yes."

"Hmm……"

Han Yuri’s expression froze over, turning ice-cold. This was the second time since my regression. Cold sweat poured down my back.

Relax. Stay calm. I have to stay calm.

I desperately spun my brain into gear.

"You know I don’t like alcohol that much."

"That’s true."

Han ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Yuri gave a small shrug and took another sip.

Phew. I somehow managed to get past it. My heart felt like it had shrunk a little. But Han Yuri’s real attack was only just beginning.

"Are you hiding anything from me?"

"……"

Yes or no. It was a vicious either-or question that stabbed straight into my solar plexus.

"You’re not answering? I asked if you’re hiding something from me."

"I am."

"What is it?"

"All kinds of things. Is there anyone in this world without a single secret?"

A deflection. It was my signal for her to drop it. But my response only made one corner of Han Yuri’s mouth curl upward.

"You’ve been slipping away like a loach since earlier, huh?"

"……"

"You find the weaknesses in artifacts like it’s nothing. Looks like our team leader has been through this a few times before, hasn’t he?"

"Obviously."

In the previous round, the three witches had caught me several times. I knew a few ways to handle it. As long as I didn’t speak a clear lie, I’d be fine. Or I could just keep my mouth shut. But shutting up would ruin the situation in its own way.

"Boring."

"Didn’t you learn you’re not supposed to use something like this recklessly? It can completely destroy relationships if you mess up."

"Who are you calling an idiot? I only did it because you and I don’t have a normal relationship anyway. I wouldn’t do it to Ahyeon."

Han Yuri smiled bitterly and licked her lips. She looked like she was debating whether to say something. The uneasy feeling made me want to seize the initiative, but—

"What do you think of me?"

"What?"

"I said, what do you think of me?"

"……"

My brain flatlined. It literally stopped working. My mouth was trying to move under the alcohol’s influence, and Han Yuri kept pressing.

"You’re not going to answer?"

She demanded a reply. Her eyes coiled around me like a snake tasting its prey. I wrung my brain dry and forced my mouth to move.

"A genius."

"……"

"You have a wide field of vision that sees the entire battlefield. Insight that looks several moves ahead. Intuition that lets you break through crises. Overwhelming talent in every sense."

I hadn’t lied. Separate from the fact that I hated her, I genuinely acknowledged her talent. Han Yuri simply ran her finger along her glass in response, as if deep in thought. Then, in a trembling voice, she spoke.

"Can I… rise above this wall?"

The limit. Throughout her first year, Han Yuri had been unable to climb past D-rank. No matter how hard she worked, no matter how much special training she did, she remained stuck in place. Her talent had kept her from falling out of the top five in the school, but as time went on, doubts about her had only grown.

Her biological father’s death had been the trigger for her awakening. After that, she chased right at Lee Seol’s heels and announced her revival to everyone around her. Only then did I finally understand.

It was a slump.

Lately Han Yuri had been self-studying every theory class and pouring her entire soul into real combat. The rank wall that used to break so easily refused to budge. She must have tried every trick in the book to overcome it. And now she was doubting herself. Doubting her limits. Doubting her talent.

Asking me for an answer like this meant she needed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠confirmation.

I hesitated. I couldn’t tell her she would waste another year digging in the dirt and only break through when her father died.

"If we have to say whether it’s possible or impossible… it’s possible."

She flinched. Her whole body trembled.

"I see… Got it."

She gave a weak smile and glanced at the clock. Only thirty seconds remained.

"Then I’ll ask one last thing."

I swallowed hard. The atmosphere had completely changed. If the person in front of me had been Han Yuri until now, this was something else entirely.

"When you used the Wishing Stone. What did you see?"

"What… do you mean, see?"

"This is the second time. The killing intent you aimed at me. It felt even stronger than the first time. What exactly did you see to react like that?"

I couldn’t say it. I would rather have my mouth ripped open than speak those words. Maybe she sensed my iron resolve, because Han Yuri asked again.

"You’re not going to tell me?"

"Yeah. It’s fucking cringe."

"I’m fine with it, though?"

"I’m not. I’d probably spend the rest of my life kicking my blankets in shame if I said it out loud."

"I see…?"

Han Yuri, who I expected to keep pressing, simply smiled bitterly and backed off. She slowly rose from her seat.

"It’s the first time I’ve been hated without doing anything… I’m not used to it. I’m heading in first, so clean up after yourself."

As Han Yuri walked to her room, her face was stained with an indescribable bitterness.

The clash between the first and second squads. On the surface it looked like their built-up resentment had finally exploded, but in reality they had simply been controlled by mental interference skills. By whom?

The Demon Sect bastards.

The Demon Sect was a lunatic organization devoted to resurrecting the Witches. Those madmen hid their identities, blended into society, and stirred up chaos. Most people dismissed the Demon Sect and the Witches as urban legends, but this incident would finally reveal their true nature to the world.

They were gathering energy for the Witches’ revival, right?

The fact that the Academy’s principal was the leader of the Demon Sect meant the entire school was essentially their playground. The real comedy was that even the Demon Sect had no idea where the Witches actually were. Their plan was to gather energy first and worry about the rest later.

So what could I gain by getting involved?

Cleaning up the trash and obtaining the Ring of Origin.

She would arrive in a few months. It would be problematic if the Academy was in complete chaos when that happened. It was the same principle as a division commander visiting a military unit—the whole place had to be turned upside down beforehand. And the Ring of Origin was the most important piece.

I had regressed. I knew her, but she didn’t know me. That was why I would pour my memories from the previous round into that ring and give it to her. I believed it would at least ease some of her wariness toward me.

The groundwork for this grand plan was already underway.

"Yuri! Three of them over there!"

"Confirmed."

Three meteors the size of buses slammed down onto three Iron Worms.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Any other monster would have died instantly, but because they were D-rank earth-attribute creatures, the Iron Worms refused to die easily. Me and Choi Ahyeon charged toward the three that were on the verge of death.

Thunder God.

I stretched out my hand and fired lightning. It was a long-range technique I had been practicing lately, but the attack scattered into sparks halfway and vanished.

Tsk. Still too much for me.

I withdrew my hand and poured the lightning into my sword instead. It was a massive improvement compared to the days when I could only produce sparks. But.

Why isn’t the message appearing?

Pushing down my disappointment, I drove the sword in.

"Kieeeeeek!"

Crispy outside, tender inside. The worm crushed under the meteor had no choice but to surrender its body to my electric skewer. After confirming the nicely grilled Iron Worm, I turned to Choi Ahyeon.

"Hup! Yah!"

She stabbed her sword into the other two while letting out strange battle cries. But her damage was lacking and they refused to die.

"Why are these things so damn tough!"

"I’ll help."

I swung my lightning-infused sword once and finished off the ones with barely any health left. Choi Ahyeon looked apologetic.

"Sorry, Seonghyun. My sword just isn’t cutting in properly……"

"It’s fine. These guys are D-rank, so it can’t be helped. Don’t worry about it too much."

"Okay……"

Even so, the dark shadow on her face didn’t disappear. I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠turned my gaze back to the worms.

Hunting is definitely easier now.

This was the nest of D-rank Iron Worms in an external dungeon. Normally an area first-years couldn’t even dream of challenging, but Han Yuri’s overwhelming damage output had made it possible for us to enter.

When I glanced at Han Yuri, she was smiling softly at me. The moment our eyes met, she returned to her usual icy expression.

"What are you looking at?"

"Nothing. Just."

"It’s gross, so stop staring."

Ever since that night we drank.

Our relationship hadn’t changed at all. We maintained a proper rival-like distance. Exactly the amount of space I wanted.

"Professor. At this rate, it feels like the three of us could handle it on our own?"

Professor Irena had been watching from the back the entire time. The moment I submitted the application for an external dungeon, she had practically leaped to follow us.

"I wonder if you would say that without Han Yuri in the party."

"Come on. It’s about using the right people in the right places."

"Even so. I’m curious why you specifically chose this dungeon with such poor compatibility instead of other perfectly good ones."

Earth-attribute Iron Worms had some resistance to Han Yuri’s attacks. That was why they hadn’t died in one hit earlier. But I knew about the hidden piece buried in this dungeon.

Super Recovery.

It was an insanely overpowered skill that would push the efficiency of Equivalent Exchange and Thunder God to the absolute limit. Treasures like this were scattered throughout external dungeons, which was exactly why I had fought so hard for the top student privilege.

"Anyway, since we’ve confirmed we can hunt here, let’s head inside."

"Yes."

The pattern repeated—Han Yuri dropping meteors while we delivered the finishing blows. After six hours of this, we finally reached the interior.

A river of bugs greeted us.

"Eww! What the hell is that!"

"The visuals are seriously disgusting……"

A cliff. Below it, countless worm larvae wriggled and squirmed. The sight of what had to be hundreds of thousands of earthworms floating in the river was pure revulsion.

But this was exactly where I needed to be.

"Professor. Let’s call it a day here and continue tomorrow."

"You are the leader of this party. Do as you wish."

Bingo. We pitched our tents roughly one kilometer away from the bug river and each crawled into our sleeping bags. Choi Ahyeon and Han Yuri fell asleep almost instantly, and Irena’s breathing was steady, so she seemed to be asleep as well.

I suppressed my presence as much as possible, slipped out of the tent, and headed for the bug river.

"Damn. What a view."

Earthworm feces and filth mixed with freshly hatched larvae flowed along in a disgusting sludge. I threw myself into ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that shit-topia without hesitation.

Splash!

The earthworms immediately latched onto my skin. They began gnawing at me like they had found fresh prey. As if trying to burrow deeper, they pierced through the surface, dug into my nerves, and reached my blood vessels. A sickening pain raced through my entire body.

Enduring the agony, I pushed deeper toward the riverbed. At the very bottom, a pure white glowing stone welcomed me.

Skill Stone.

I grabbed it and crushed it in my hand. White light enveloped my body.

Yes! The proficiency from Self-Recovery had merged with it, jumping straight from F to E-rank. Thanks to that, my half-destroyed body began recovering at blinding speed. It felt like upgrading from 2G to 5G. A smile crept across my face without me realizing.

While I was lost in that joy—

BOOOOM!

What the fuck!

The river shook violently. Massive waves surged as if struck by a tremendous impact. Then the bug river split apart left and right. For a brief moment I was mesmerized by the bizarre sight that looked like the Red Sea parting.

"P-Professor?"

"……"

Between the parted waters stood Irena, her face more terrifying than I had ever seen it.