Gabyul, I'll Definitely Save You! (1)
Quite some time had passed since the career experience event—about a week, by the clock. In the meantime, I had been diligently going about my academy life. As quietly as possible, of course.
In the original story, the protagonist hadn't been at the academy during this period. But now I was strolling around the academy with my head held high. The original plot had already been twisted quite a bit, yet I still had no choice but to keep a low profile if I wanted to slow things down even a little. Though it seemed I'd have to drop this act before long.
"As I announced previously, today is the day we spend our time in our clubs. Homeroom and end-of-day assembly will be held in this classroom, but the rest of the time will be spent entirely in the club rooms. Homeroom is over. Everyone, dismiss."
True to Warna Academy's encouragement of club activities, the moment every student joined a club, they devoted an entire day to it.
"Let's go too."
As the students rose from their seats and headed for their respective club rooms, Kim Gabyul also stood up. With her bag slung over her shoulder, she left through the back door of the classroom. I followed her toward the Magic Club room.
The Magic Club room, which I hadn't seen in a while, was still spacious. But with so many people packed inside, it no longer felt as wide open and airy as before.
The moment Kim Gabyul and I stepped into the Magic Club room, every pair of eyes in the bustling crowd locked onto us. People looked back and forth between Kim Gabyul and me as if they couldn't believe what they were seeing, their gazes fixed in place without so much as a twitch.
What's with them?
I slowly surveyed the now-silent Magic Club room. The reactions of those who met my eyes fell into two categories: either they averted their gaze, or they stared even harder.
"Isn't that Kim Gabyul? Why is she coming to the Magic Club? What happened to the Divine Arts Club?"
"Who's the guy next to her? ......Is Kim Gabyul okay?"
Whispers drifted over to me.
"Haa......"
Kim Gabyul sighed as if she'd expected exactly this. While I stood there flustered by the suddenly frigid atmosphere, the Magic Club president Ha Ye-song opened the door and walked in.
"What's this? Why's the atmosphere like this? Are this year's first-years all the quiet type?"
It seemed it wasn't Ha Ye-song but Ha Ye-seo.
"Haha, right?"
"Ah, you two are here."
Ha Ye-seo looked at us and spoke as if everything made sense. Then she turned toward the gathered students.
"The president will probably be here a little later. She said she had something to discuss with the vice president. Until then, feel free to hang out. Congrats on joining the Magic Club, first-years!"
After finishing, Ha Ye-seo guided us to suitable seats.
"Huh?"
Kim Gabyul made a surprised sound at something she saw. Following her gaze, I found Moon Seyeon sitting there.
Moon Seyeon of the dark-violet short hair opened her previously closed eyes. Those eyes shone purple.
"Ah, it's you two."
"......Why are you in this club?"
Kim Gabyul spoke while looking at her.
"I came because they said a Black Magic Division was formed. And you? You didn't join the Divine Arts Club and came to the Magic Club instead?"
Kim Gabyul and Moon Seyeon exchanged a few more words, but my mind had latched onto the phrase "Black Magic Division" that Moon Seyeon had just used.
"Excuse me, Seyeon, what is the Black Magic Division?"
"Hm? You didn't know? There's a Black Magic Division inside the Magic Club."
Ah, so it was simply the black magic group within the Magic Club with a new name. I understood it that simply.
"Then Seyeon, you're also in the Black Magic Division."
Had Moon Seyeon been a Magic Club member? I didn't know. It wasn't as if I remembered every single episode of the original.
"Oh right. Baek Sejin, you're the head of the Black Magic Division? You have to attend the executive meetings from now on."
"Pardon? I'm the head?"
Ha Ye-seo left after dropping only that one line about me becoming head of the Black Magic Division.
Having no choice, I sat down and waited a little. Before long, Ha Ye-song and Park Min-seo arrived at the club room.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. We had some things to discuss......"
Park Min-seo and Ha Ye-song entered smiling, only to look flustered by the oddly subdued atmosphere.
"Did something happen? Did you cause another accident?"
Park Min-seo approached Ha Ye-seo.
"Don't talk like I cause accidents every day. Nothing happened."
"Hahaha, okay, sorry."
Ha Ye-seo glared at her. The moment she did, Park Min-seo smiled with her eyes and pulled Ha Ye-seo into a quick hug.
"Fifty-five...... fifty-six...... fifty-seven. Including me, Ye-seo, and Min-seo, sixty...... Min-seo, everyone's here."
Ha Ye-song, who had been counting heads, confirmed that every club member had gathered. Park Min-seo nodded at her words, then clapped her hands loudly enough for everyone to hear and raised her voice.
"Alright. First, I want to welcome the first-years who are new to the Magic Club, and the second-years as well. The Magic Club welcomes anyone with interest and passion for magic."
Park Min-seo continued while looking at each club member's face in turn.
"There are quite a few faces I saw last year. Congrats on rejoining the Magic Club."
"As if you didn't interview and select them yourself. Stop pretending."
At a second-year's grumbling, laughter burst out from the second-years who had been members last year.
"I have to do proper image-making for the first-years, don't I?"
Park Min-seo tossed out the joke with a bright smile.
As I was passing through the hallway, my body automatically stopped at the sound of a man and woman's conversation.
"Did you hear? Kim Gabyul went to the Magic Club instead of the Divine Arts Club? And to the Black Magic Division, no less."
"Who's Kim Gabyul?"
The man answered the woman in a nonchalant tone.
"You know her. The one who contracted with Gabriel......"
"Ah, that person? But well...... Clubs are something you can join however you like, right......"
"That's not the problem. I heard Kim Gabyul joining the Magic Club wasn't her own will—it was forced."
The man asked in a surprised voice.
"Really? Forced?"
Forced......?
Did that mean Kim Gabyul not joining the Divine Arts Club had actually been forced?
I kept listening to their conversation.
"That's what I'm saying! Do you know Baek Sejin?"
"Who's that again?"
"Aigoo, why do you know so few people. You know, the one with the squinting eyes who looks super suspicious......"
"Ah, that guy? But why him?"
"He's the head of the Black Magic Division, right? I heard he blackmailed Kim Gabyul into joining the Magic Club."
"Whoa...... but Kim Gabyul is a divine arts user."
"That's why she must have been blackmailed. Maybe he got some dirt on her?"
Got dirt on her......?
Kim Gabyul got blackmailed?
My hands and feet began to tremble.
Yeah, I'd already been bothered that Kim Gabyul hadn't joined our Divine Arts Club. As the president of the Divine Arts Club, I'd wanted her with us, but out of respect for my longtime friend Kim Gabyul's wishes, I'd let her go.
But the thought that she had actually been blackmailed made my hands shake so hard that afterimages appeared. She had been in such a dangerous situation and I hadn't even known......
"Gabyul......"
Suddenly my vision blurred.
"Huh, what's this......"
When I squeezed my eyes shut, thick tears rolled down my cheeks and dripped onto the floor.
"What's with that person......?"
"Let's avoid her."
You're making a huge fucking scene.
"What's wrong, Camael......"
What the hell are you doing in a place where everyone can see.
Those words snapped me back to my senses. Ah, right—I was still in the hallway. I ducked into a nearby restroom, sat on the toilet, and tried to organize my thoughts.
Kim Gabyul and I had known each other since we were little. I was a year older, so I'd played the big-sister role and dragged her around. We still kept in touch, even if not all that often.
And that Kim Gabyul—my precious Gabyul, the one I wouldn't hurt even if I put her in my eye—had been blackmailed by some guy. I had no idea how it had come to that. Maybe she'd been hit with something like hypnosis?
Baek Sejin was a black mage, they said. It was entirely possible that the wicked black mage had basely used hypnosis to get dirt on Gabyul......
Th-then, did that mean he'd done those things too......?
Like in the comics I usually read—using hypnosis so that Kim Gabyul couldn't resist, freely revealing his desires to her...... After enjoying himself, he'd roughly take photos for blackmail. If she reported it or resisted, he'd threaten to spread those photos. Gabyul had no choice but to endure it without resisting that despicable black mage.
Suddenly I felt as if my heart had dropped straight through my chest. The thought that Gabyul had suffered such things left my mouth bone-dry.
I have to save Gabyul.
That single thought seized complete control of my mind. I stood up from the toilet and burst out the door.
"Kyaaak!"
A female student looking in the mirror at the sink screamed in surprise at the sudden loud noise.
First, I sent a message to Kim Gabyul.
A reply came from Kim Gabyul almost immediately. The moment I saw the content, tears poured out. It seemed Gabyul was being monitored by him so thoroughly that she couldn't even send personal texts freely.
"Gabyul, I'll definitely save you......!"