Entering the Academy (2)
Academy entrance ceremonies are always a raucous affair.
Whether that noise is the joy of students reuniting with old friends after a long time apart, or the shy murmur of strangers exchanging first words with people they have never met, is hard to say. It could just as easily be the shouts and screams of those confronted with something entirely unexpected.
But one thing is certain.
The details may differ, yet the result is always the same: it is loud.
Warna Academy was no exception.
Some people were happily catching up with friends they had not seen in ages. Others were awkwardly trying to strike up conversations and make new acquaintances. And then there were those who stood clustered together, murmuring about a particular someone.
"Doesn't that guy look super suspicious?"
"He looks like a villain no matter how you look at him."
"Think he killed some student and stole their identity to get in?"
"Hey, keep your voice down. He might hear you."
The people whispering about that one man all shared a common trait: none of them would dare approach him beyond a certain distance. And they kept their voices carefully low, murmuring only among themselves — determined that the suspicious man with the squinting eyes would never overhear a word of what they said, and thus never seek revenge that would erase them from this world entirely.
But no matter how carefully they watched themselves, words once spoken do not simply vanish into thin air. Someone with no connection to them at all had already overheard every syllable.
"Interesting conversation?"
To be precise, an angel had heard it.
"There's a suspicious person?"
At the angel's mention of someone suspicious, the girl's brow furrowed.
"Where is he right now?"
At the sudden sharpness in the girl's tone, the angel chuckled softly.
"…Fine, Gabriel."
At the angel's suggestion that she check for herself, the girl rose reluctantly and approached the group still murmuring among themselves.
"I'm telling you, it's true! I was in Yongsan a few days ago and I saw that guy!"
"Come on… making stuff up is a bit much, even for you…"
"I'm serious! There was a crowd, so I went to look, and that guy was threatening a couple!"
"Sorry, but could you tell me who this suspicious person is?"
"Huh? Who are you— …gasp!"
The conversation, which had been heating up nicely, went ice-cold the moment the girl cut in.
"Wait… Kim Gabyul?"
One of them ventured the question, and Kim Gabyul answered with a slight nod.
"Where is he?"
"S-sorry? I'm not sure who you mean…"
"The person you were just talking about. You kept saying how suspicious he was."
"Ah— aah, that guy… He's the one up front talking to the red-haired guy."
Following their directions, Kim Gabyul looked ahead and spotted a black-coated man conversing with a red-haired young man and a black-bobbed girl beside him.
"So that's him. Thanks for telling me."
Having located the "suspicious person" with ease, Kim Gabyul turned to leave — only for the group to grab hold of her.
"Wait! Don't go!"
"Hold on!"
"Don't tell him what we said! Got it?"
"You absolutely cannot say we told you!"
All four of them cried out with desperate urgency. Two of them tried to hold her back; the other two attempted to destroy the evidence. The first pair was trying to stop her because they feared for her safety. The second pair was trying to cover their tracks because they feared for their own.
And they succeeded.
"Alright. I won't mention you guys."
They had extracted a promise that she would not reveal anything about them. The thought that the man looked extremely dangerous still refused to leave their minds, but…
Who was Kim Gabyul, after all? Korea's youngest Divine Magic User! The very person upon whom Archangel Gabriel — that Archangel Gabriel — had bestowed a blessing at birth and who remained at her side ever since.
Of course, the Gabriel currently with Kim Gabyul was not the main body. But then again, how could a being of that caliber possibly descend into this world in their true form?
As a rule, for a Transcendent Being from another realm to manifest in this world, a commensurate price must be paid. The higher the being's power and rank as a Transcendent, the steeper that price becomes. That is why the so-called "higher-tier" Transcendents — those of elevated rank — tend to appear in this world in diminished size. The cost is simply too great otherwise. And even in a smaller form, the power they can output in this world is not all that different from when they appear at full size.
Yes. That was how remarkable Kim Gabyul was. She walked alongside Archangel Gabriel herself. And so no one truly believed she would come to harm so easily.
They were not wrong. Unless a Transcendent Being regarded Archangel Gabriel as utterly beneath them, they would not dare touch the girl who bore his blessing and held his contract. The same held true for their own contractors.
Unless that thoroughly suspicious man with the squinting eyes had contracted with a fellow Archangel, or one of Solomon's Seventy-Two Demons — and a high-ranking one at that — who could possibly stand against Gabriel?
And so the people put their minds at ease.
Huh. He's actually handsome?
That was her first impression upon seeing the so-called "suspicious person."
From the way those people had been carrying on, one would have thought:
— He was so terrifying I nearly wet myself.
— His face and presence were exactly like those of a major criminal.
— He even has a familiar, and that familiar has pitch-black fur like a piece of the night sky itself, with the form of a ferocious beast.
Of course they had not said any of that directly, but that was how it had sounded to her.
The "suspicious man" in person, however, was not quite that extreme. He did look rather suspicious, just as they had said. No — he looked very suspicious. By contrast, the people he was speaking with were a refreshingly handsome red-haired young man and an adorable short-haired beauty. The combination did not match at all.
Looking at his face alone, you would expect him to be barking orders at hulking thugs with savage faces… or assassinating someone.
Having noticed her gaze, the squint-eyed man stiffened for a brief moment as if startled, then broke into a smile.
Smiling just makes him look even more suspicious.
He seemed to think he was offering a friendly smile, but whether the other party would fully grasp his intentions was another matter entirely. Of course, this was how most people reacted upon seeing him. Kim Gabyul was not special in that regard. In fact, she herself believed her impression was nothing unique — that anyone who saw that man would find him suspicious at first glance.
Kim Gabyul turned on her heel, intending to return to her seat. The entrance ceremony would begin soon. But her steps came to an abrupt halt, then redirected themselves back toward the "suspicious man." He had moved somewhere less crowded, making it easier to approach.
At those words, Kim Gabyul infused her eyes with Holy Power and looked at the man again. Something was floating beside him. The silhouette was hard to make out clearly, but she could roughly guess what it was. Was there any being Gabriel herself called an "adorable little lion" other than the Great Demon Marbas — the demon who spreads plagues among humans and transforms them into animals?
"Not very well…"
"Hi."
"A pleasure to meet you. My, this is truly surprising. You must be Kim Gabyul, are you not?"
In the end, Kim Gabyul walked right up to the man and greeted him. Startled by the sudden greeting, the squint-eyed man received it with an exaggerated reaction.
"Yeah. What's your name?"
"I am Baek Sejin. It is an honor to make your acquaintance."
"Why the formal speech all of a sudden?"
"Formal speech, you say? Haha, well… I have tried to correct it, but it does not seem to stick very well."
Even faced with a question that could easily have come off as rude, he merely smiled as though his mood had not been ruffled in the slightest.
Alongside those words, the blurry shape floating beside the man rapidly sharpened into focus, revealing itself as a lion plushie.
Baek Sejin's gaze locked onto Kim Gabyul's left shoulder. Gabriel was currently perched there in the form of a tiny angel. Just as Kim Gabyul could see Marbas's manifested form, Baek Sejin could see Gabriel's.
"Would this be Lady Gabriel?"
"Yeah, something like that. And that cute little lion plushie over there is Marbas?"
When she asked if the lion plushie was Marbas, Baek Sejin's smile deepened.
"That is correct. Fate brought us together, and we were able to form a contract."
"I see. But hey — why do you keep smiling like that?"
Faced with a question whose intent he could not begin to fathom, Baek Sejin's expression filled with genuine confusion.
"I beg your pardon…? What is wrong with my friendly smile?"
"It looked like you were plotting to bury someone."
"Pardon?"
"Bwahahahahahaha! Did you hear that, Contractor? Bwahahahahahaha!"