Gabyul, I'll Definitely Save You·····! (7)
"In other words, the person you imagine me to be is very different from who I actually am. Do you understand?"
"I understand·····."
Kang Ha-seung, having talked things through with me at length, answered in a dejected voice.
Just then, the doorbell rang.
That would be Kim Gabyul.
"It seems Miss Gabyul has arrived."
I left the room and opened the front door.
There she stood — Kim Gabyul. White hair cascading over her shoulders, amber eyes shining with vivid light. Those amber eyes fixed on me.
"Ah, you've come."
"So what the hell is going on?"
Kim Gabyul looked as though she'd been working out until moments ago. She wore a sporty outfit: short shorts that left her pale legs bare, a black tank top, and a slightly oversized windbreaker draped over her shoulders.
Oh. So this is the kind of thing I like.
It felt like discovering a preference I hadn't even known I had.
No — no. I needed to bring her to Kang Ha-seung first.
I quickly led her to my bedroom, where Kang Ha-seung was waiting. When I opened the door, Kang Ha-seung had snatched up the sword she'd left on the desk, thrown open the window, and was already swinging one leg over the sill.
What on earth had she been about to do?
Surely she wasn't trying to climb out the window and escape this room.
Come on — this was the eighth floor.
"G-Gabyul····."
At the sight of Kim Gabyul, Kang Ha-seung's voice trembled as she eyed her warily.
"Haa·····."
Kim Gabyul pressed a hand to her forehead and sighed.
"Unnie, what are you doing here?"
The accusatory tone made Kang Ha-seung's face crumple.
"I didn't come here because I wanted to·····."
Well, yes — I had carried her home on my back. That alone drew more than enough stares from people on the street; carrying her multiplied them several times over, which had been rather awkward. The sensation against my back had been its own problem, too.
Kang Ha-seung, who had been watching Kim Gabyul with such caution, suddenly dropped her guard and went limp.
"·····So it really wasn't true."
"What was all that about you tailing him?"
Kim Gabyul stepped closer as she asked.
"Oh? Did I not explain that?"
"I came because I couldn't make sense of whatever you said."
Kim Gabyul shot me a sidelong glare, her voice prim and sharp.
"Ehh, I thought I'd explained it in great detail."
"That was your idea of a detailed explanation? 'She was tailing me, so I used the thing Moon Seyeon gave me, she collapsed, and I put her to bed'?"
Kim Gabyul let out a hollow laugh.
·····Wasn't that fairly detailed, though?
"It covers all the essential points, doesn't it? I'd call that detailed enough."
"First of all, I don't even know what Moon Seyeon gave you, and you never explained why Ha-seung unnie was following you in the first place."
Kim Gabyul sat Kang Ha-seung down on the bed and toyed with the tips of her hair as she spoke.
"Uh·····."
Suddenly having her hair stroked by Kim Gabyul, Kang Ha-seung's eyes fluttered as she looked back and forth between the two of us.
"Alright. Explain, unnie."
"Well·····."
Kang Ha-seung's story went like this.
She had been walking down an academy hallway when she happened to overhear a conversation between a young man and woman. The subject of that conversation was me — specifically, a rumor that I had coerced Kim Gabyul into joining the Magic Club through blackmail.
Upon hearing this, Kang Ha-seung had set out to rescue Kim Gabyul from my clutches. She gathered information about me from her club members and staked out the places I frequented lately to observe me. Today, for the first time in her life, she had attempted to tail me in order to map out my after-school route.
In short, Kang Ha-seung had tried tailing someone for the very first time — and been caught by me almost immediately.
She had followed me deep into an alley, where she encountered a monster. That was her last memory.
"·····Those kids who were badmouthing my relationship with Baek Sejin — do you know who they were?"
Kim Gabyul, who had been listening quietly, asked Kang Ha-seung.
"I don't really know either. All I can say is they're probably second-years·····."
"Is that so? What a shame."
Kim Gabyul said it in a perfectly casual voice. Neither her tone nor her expression looked particularly disappointed.
Gabriel is quiet today. Camael never talks much to begin with, but Gabriel is usually quite the chatterbox.
Marbas muttered from atop my shoulder.
Was that so? Now that Marbas mentioned it, it did seem that way. I didn't particularly mind. Everyone has days when they just don't feel like talking, don't they?
"Um·····."
Kang Ha-seung, glancing at my face for cues, carefully opened her mouth.
"What is it?"
"·····Can I go now?"
At her words, I looked past the window. Outside, night had already fallen dark and deep.
"Come to think of it, it's already night. You should head home promptly."
"Alright, I'm going. See you tomorrow."
Kim Gabyul opened the door and left first. Kang Ha-seung followed, then paused to bow her head toward me.
"I·····I'm really sorry. I completely misunderstood. If you ever need anything, just contact me."
With that, Kang Ha-seung hurried out of the house.
Once Kim Gabyul and Kang Ha-seung were gone, the house grew remarkably quiet. The moment they vanished, Miho darted out and rubbed her cheek against my leg. Both of them being high-level divine magic users had probably made her even more reluctant to show herself.
Kang Ha-seung had only shown her clumsy side so far, but she almost certainly possessed the bearing of a powerful holy magic user as well. Or so I assumed.
I scooped Miho into my arms and returned to the living room. Checking the clock, I saw it was already past ten at night.
—Growl.
·····I was hungry.
That made four contractors I knew of already.
Kim Gabyul, contracted with Gabriel. Moon Seyeon, contracted with Behemoth. Kang Ha-seung, contracted with Camael. And·····.
What was her name again? I was sure I'd heard it.
Ah, right — Kang Ye-eun, the "fake" contractor of Gamigin.
Every last one of them was contracted to a heavyweight Transcendent Being. That was Warna Academy for you, I supposed. It was almost hard to believe so much talent had gathered in one place.
There were probably more contractors if I looked. It was safe to assume at least one such person existed in each year. Even if this year's third-years were said to have the lowest overall combat strength, that was just the average — exceptional individuals always appeared somewhere.
It was a slight shame that third-years had so little contact with first-years, leaving me few ways to check. Third-years didn't even participate in club activities.
To prepare for "that episode" from the original novel, the more powerful ability users I had on hand, the better. Was there any way to establish contact with the third-years?
I ran through the academy schedule in my mind. For now, the only opportunity for first-years to cross paths with third-years that came to mind was the sports festival.
There's still some time before the sports festival, though.
We hadn't even taken the first midterms yet, so discussing a sports festival that fell before the second midterms felt a bit premature. Besides, several incidents would occur before the sports festival, and those needed preparing for as well.
For the smaller-scale ones, I could leave Seong Hyeon to handle them on his own. The problem was the incidents that produced casualties. Those, Seong Hyeon couldn't stop alone.
Incidents and accidents were everyday occurrences at the academy, but things changed when outsiders got involved. Students could be managed to some degree by the professors; outsiders had no reason to listen to professors at all. Naturally, most outsiders who entered the academy did so with ill intent — staging terrorist attacks, attempting assassinations, and generally exploding the academy's workload.
A prime example was the incident right after enrollment, when monsters had poured into the academy. Even with me regulating the numbers somewhat, a staggering volume of monsters had flooded the grounds. Principal Lee Seon-hee had created an enormous number of spirit clones to defend the academy, and if I hadn't reached the dormitory basement in time, the information on the Philosopher's Stone would have been stolen.
Thinking back on that, a question suddenly occurred to me.
Kang Ye-eun — the one who had broken into the dormitory basement that day — had definitely gone to prison. No, she was in prison. That much was certain; the principal had told me so herself.
But wasn't there more than enough possibility that, from inside the prison, Kang Ye-eun could pass information to Gamigin's real contractor?
Why hadn't I thought of this sooner? If they could infiltrate people into the academy, wasn't it only natural that they might have people inside the prison as well?
I sent a text to Principal Lee Seon-hee.
A reply came before long.
I conveyed my concerns to Lee Seon-hee. The moment she read my message, a reply arrived.
Fortunately, it seemed Lee Seon-hee had taken separate measures regarding Kang Ye-eun.
I nearly dropped my phone.
Not "CEO" — Boss?
That was only possible if she knew about the organization called Heuksa that had existed before the company of the same name. I considered playing dumb for a moment, then simply turned off my phone.
If she was using a word like "Boss," it was safe to assume she knew nearly everything. There was no point pretending ignorance with someone who already knew. Better to talk with her more and hear what she had to say about Heuksa.
"Haa·····."
My head already ached.