Lee Seol's Super Sensory (2)
The half-doubt solidified into near-certainty after this latest attack. Super Sensory was exactly what the name implied—a skill that warned its user in advance, through pure instinct, of anything that might affect them positively or negatively. Yet during the Demon Sect raid, Lee Seol had prepared with eerie precision: defense artifacts already placed in the cabinet, escape routes mapped, the works. This is weird.
She had only recently acquired the skill. The shorter the time since awakening, the less refined it should have been. That was why I decided to test her today.
“Wasn’t this the first time Hyun suggested we grab a meal together?”
“I guess. Feels like we ate once before, though.”
“Come on, that was just a team dinner.”
I walked across the academy grounds with Lee Seol, exchanging pointless small talk. The stares from every direction felt like needles on my skin. It’s not what you assholes think it is. Of course my inner thoughts didn’t reach them. I simply led her straight into the bar I’d chosen.
It was a private-room establishment—quiet, tasteful, and obviously expensive. Lee Seol leaned close to my ear and whispered.
“Hyun, this place looks crazy pricey… You really don’t have to push yourself like this.”
“You protected me during the Demon Sect attack. Let me at least repay you this much.”
“Hehe. Then it was worth overdoing it.”
We entered the reserved room and started eating. The first appetizer was Korean beef.
“Hyun, try this one. It’s perfectly cooked.”
“You eat it.”
“Aww, don’t be like that. Here—ah~”
Fuck. I forced the corners of my twitching mouth upward and accepted the meat.
“There we go! Good boy!”
Lee Seol beamed like she’d never been happier. I somehow managed to smile back. Fuck.
One piece of meat. One glass of liquor. As time passed, the atmosphere grew warmer. Lee Seol became increasingly drunk while my Super Recovery kept my mind painfully clear.
“Hehe. Hyun, want me to show you something cool?”
“What is it?”
“Ta-da! Frozen soju snack, complete! You can eat it in one bite like this!”
Her tongue was already slurring. She was getting wasted far faster than I’d expected. Was she always this weak to alcohol? I remembered her holding her liquor better than Han Yuri… but that wasn’t important right now.
What mattered was that the usual pure, fragile Lee Seol was beginning to reveal her true self.
Age regression.
Pure evil. That was the true nature of the Witch of Purity.
“Hic!”
She hiccupped.
“Ugh… it’s hot…”
Without thinking, she activated her ability. The temperature in the room plummeted at an exponential rate.
It’s about time.
Once I was certain she was properly drunk, I pulled a single chocolate from my bag and held it out.
“Seol, I bought some chocolate. Want to try it?”
“Chocolate? Yeah! I want it!”
Her eyes sparkled like a child’s. I offered her the tiny piece.
One-hundred-percent lethal dose of extreme poison. If she truly possessed Super Sensory, it should have been blaring every alarm in her head—sirens, warning bells, the works. And right now, soaked in alcohol, she had zero capacity to act.
This was the most honest version of Lee Seol I would ever see.
“Wow, it’s so pretty!”
She turned the chocolate over in her hands, examining it from every angle. I watched with every nerve stretched tight. Her throat bobbed.
She’s trembling.
Her pupils quivered minutely.
“I’ll enjoy it.”
But she popped the entire thing into her mouth as if nothing was wrong.
“Mmm~ This is really delicious!”
“Try this one too. It’s white chocolate, so it should taste even better.”
“Thank you.”
She ate the antidote chocolate, cupped her own cheeks, and melted into an expression of pure bliss. Meanwhile, my head was a storm of conflicting thoughts.
It looked like she does have Super Sensory…
But if she did, why the hell would she swallow it?
Fuck. It’d be easier if I could just feed her truth serum.
Except the moment I did that, every human relationship I had would collapse. And before that—
The Association would haul me in.
Force-feeding a confession drug to the Association President’s daughter was no small crime. It might not end with a simple detention. This was the best I could do.
At least the direction is clear now.
Whether she had Super Sensory or not was still ambiguous. However—
Somewhat Strange Pantoma's Olfaction C / F
I need to raise this.
My top priority. If I could evolve this skill to the point where I could even read a Witch’s status window, everything would be over. With a clear goal in mind, I decided to end the evening.
“Let’s head out.”
“Mmm… already?”
“If you drink any more you’ll suffer tomorrow. Let’s do this again next time, okay?”
“Hehe. Okay!”
She wobbled to her feet only to immediately tip toward the table. I caught her arm.
“You good?”
“Yeah…”
She nodded, but she was clearly blackout drunk. She really got pathetically weak to alcohol. She used to last much longer than this.
With no other choice, I ended up carrying her back to the academy. The constant fear that she might vomit down my back was an added bonus.
When we were almost at the dormitory, Lee Seol suddenly tightened the arms wrapped around my neck.
“Seol?”
“Hyun…”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t you want to be my Pocket Guy?”
“What? Pocket what?”
“Pocket Guy… hehe…”
She buried her face in my neck. The ticklish feeling lasted only a second.
“Hyun. I want to keep you in my pocket…”
“……”
“It’d be so cute… squeezing you every single day, hehe…”
A chill raced down my spine. Whining. Demanding. One of the most common behaviors of young children. The fact that these signs were appearing meant—
She’s already halfway there.
Straddling the line between human and Witch.
“Funny joke.”
“Hehe. It’s not a joke, though…”
Shit!
The arms around my neck gradually tightened, strangling me. I couldn’t breathe. Goosebumps erupted across my entire body. The moment I tried to force her arms away—
“……”
Her arms suddenly went limp.
What the—?
Steady breathing. She had fallen asleep.
“Haa…”
This was mentally exhausting. By the time I reached the dormitory, my mind was even more tangled than before.
Pantoma’s Olfaction. A Witch-exclusive skill, and one of the most notoriously difficult to level up. Even borrowing Shin Suyeon’s power had its limits, so I needed another method.
I’ll raise it all at once with a skill stone.
Pantoma’s Olfaction was hidden inside a C-rank dungeon called Blue Hill. To enter a C-rank dungeon, our party needed to be at least D-rank. Promotion was mandatory.
D-Rank Quest 5 Cleared
This was the test admission condition I had negotiated with Irena. We now had only one final clear left.
D-rank quest: Iron Golem’s Pyramid.
“Two in front, three behind!”
“Lee Seonghyun!”
“I’ll take the rear! Cut down the two in front first!”
After giving orders to the girls, I charged toward the three golems in the back. Four meters tall, bodies so dense that ordinary weapons couldn’t even scratch them. Hunting them would have been impossible for me and Choi Ahyeon alone. Thanks to Han Yuri, we were barely managing.
Thunder God (Lower) S / F
A derivative skill of the unique ability I obtained after dropping lightning during the last Demon Sect raid. It reduced the pain when using Thunder God and made control slightly easier.
Crackle.
Lightning coiled around my body. The moment I surrendered to the accelerated speed, the golems’ attacks looked slow.
Aggro.
All three pairs of eyes locked onto me. Thanks to the skill Well Done, my aggro ability—now D-rank—perfectly held their attention.
“Grrrrraaaah!”
While I kept their focus, a meteor fell.
BOOM!
“GRAAAAAH!”
Even after losing a quarter of its body, the golem kept moving. As expected, the compatibility is terrible. Most monsters around D-rank possessed earth attributes. They were a horrible match for Han Yuri. Because of that, Choi Ahyeon and I had to work twice as hard.
“Ahyeon, did you use it?!”
“Yeah! I used it earlier!”
Choi Ahyeon’s ultimate skill—limited to once per day—had already been spent. In that case…
“Hup!”
I poured every ounce of lightning into my sword. I crammed in as much power as the cheap blade could handle. Cracks spiderwebbed across the standard-issue weapon.
Once preparations were complete, I hurled the sword hard into the ground beneath the golems.
“Ha!”
BOOM!
All three golems froze in momentary paralysis. I didn’t miss the opening.
“Yah!”
Choi Ahyeon’s attack flew in. Unlike my disposable sword, I expected her strike to slice cleanly through the golem—except it bounced off with a metallic clang.
“Ugh!”
“Fall back! I’ll cover you!”
“O-okay!”
I pulled aggro again to buy time. Han Yuri’s meteor crashed down. After repeating the process twice, we finally brought the monsters down.
But the team’s mood had hit rock bottom.
“Hoo… We somehow killed them. Everyone okay?”
“Yeah… Sorry! I should have been more aggressive…”
It wasn’t a matter of aggression. The fundamental problem was lack of power. Taking on D-rank monsters with no skills and only basic weapons was simply too much.
“It’s fine. We’ll do better next time. Don’t get too down. Okay?”
“…Yeah.”
Even after my encouragement, she couldn’t straighten her shoulders. Guess it’s time to use the orb. I couldn’t put it off any longer. I walked over to Han Yuri.
She was glaring at the golem with a faint scowl.
“Good work.”
“Yeah.”
“Earth-attribute D-rank monsters really don’t take damage well, huh?”
“Is that really because of the earth attribute?”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Han Yuri spun on her heel and walked away. What the hell? Her behavior was strange, but it wasn’t the first time that crazy woman had acted out. She’d be back to normal by tomorrow.
After finishing the quest, we left the Hall of Challenge. Unfriendly gazes greeted us immediately. This was the area where students picked D-rank quests. As first-years, we were the only ones here.
“Tsk. Those bastards treat this place like their own living room.”
“Hey, watch your mouth. Han Yuri’s right there.”
“What? Did I say something wrong? Just because they’re honor students they get special treatment? Seriously, the world is so—”
“Dude, just stop!”
The voices were loud enough for us to hear everything. Choi Ahyeon forced a smile and ushered us along.
“Haha… Let’s get out of here quickly.”
“Yeah.”
We left under the stinging stares of the second-years. Once we sat on a nearby bench, Choi Ahyeon let out a deep sigh.
“Ugh. I really hate the way they look at us.”
“Just ignore them. They’re second-years who are still stuck on D-rank trash.”
Nice one, Han Yuri. Better to focus on something productive than waste energy on those losers. I changed the subject to lighten the mood.
“So what now? Want to take the D-rank test right away?”
“Um… I’m fine with anything. Yuri, what about you?”
“…I don’t care. But can we even clear it with our current strength? Isn’t this too rushed?”
A reasonable opinion. Honestly, the way our party had cleared D-rank dungeons so far felt like we’d been forcing it. It was more like Han Yuri had been dragging us up by the hair. Even she must have felt the burden.
Still, that was a problem we could solve by raising our power.
“Don’t worry about that. I’ve got something in mind.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah. I’ll apply for the test today. Starting tomorrow, Ahyeon and I will do separate special training. That okay?”
“Do whatever you want. You weren’t going to listen to me anyway.”
Han Yuri knew me far too well from past experience.
“Then let’s call it here for today. Shall we head back?”
“Seonghyun! Drinks! Let’s drink! We’re going to suffer starting tomorrow… Just a little… a tiny bit, okay?”
“Sigh. Fine. But only a little, got it?”
“Yes!”
We chatted about meaningless things on the way back to the dormitory. Someone was standing in front of our room.
Tanned skin, red hair that fell to her shoulders. It was Yeon Hyoju.
She smiled brightly, like someone who had found an oasis in the desert.
“Seonghyun, you’re back?”
“……”
Fuck. Nothing ever goes my way.