Chapter 109
Terminally Ill, but It's Okay — Episode 109
The midterm exam held at Mount Geumgang.
It happened when I disciplined Lee Dong-wook after catching him red-handed playing pranks on Reina with sleeping herbs.
"I've planted my mana inside your body. The moment you reveal what happened today, or run your mouth in front of me one more time, you'll pop. Watch yourself."
I remember pretending to carve a terribly vicious and cursed sorcery into him.
In truth, it was Roots of Greed, a sorcery only used when transferring mana.
Maybe that was why.
When I shouted "pop" as a test, Lee Dong-wook clutched his head and screamed.
"Eek!"
Naturally, nothing happened.
If a single word could kill a person, would that person even be human?
That would be a dragon out of a fantasy novel.
This place is also a world based on a novel, but no such being exists. Well, dragons do exist, but they aren't that omnipotent.
"Ahh."
Lee Dong-wook, who had squeezed his eyes shut and groaned, cautiously opened them once nothing happened.
"What are you doing, you idiot."
The blond snickered, but I ignored him and kept my hands busy.
Head, chest, arms, legs.
He seemed to be checking that all his limbs were intact.
"O-oh, so it's nothing. Hah...."
Lee Dong-wook let out a deep sigh of relief, then glanced at me.
After muttering something or other about me being a lunatic under his breath, he started running away in a panic.
Pitter-patter.
His movements were unusually nimble for him.
"Where do you think you're going."
But I wasn't about to let him go like that.
Like a hunter eyeing his prey, I loaded one more round and shouted even louder than before, as if this one were real.
"Bang."
"Aaaagh!"
Lee Dong-wook's legs tangled and he crumpled as if he'd been hit by a shotgun.
"Bang."
"Aaaagh!"
It was fun, so I fired one more.
"Bang-bang-bang!"
"Agh, aaah, ugh......."
I just fired. This time it was a burst.
Lee Dong-wook, who had been rolling endlessly on the ground, sprawled out as if he'd fainted.
As befitted someone who had imagined death many times, his face had gone pale, and cold sweat had even formed on his forehead.
As expected... the mind really does rule the body.
The blond, still not fully grasping the situation, shook his head and grumbled.
"This is ridiculous. Since when did you two get close enough to play games? Hey, isn't this that thing? What's it called...."
"G-gun... gun... seven-bang."
"Oh, right. That."
For reference, the voice that cut in was Min Young-ji's.
I trudged over to Lee Dong-wook.
To turn him into a useful card, I figured I needed to handle him once more, so I activated Manifestation.
[Activating trait, Manifestation.]
As particles rose up, I manifested the sorcery Ring of Greed and carved it onto the back of Lee Dong-wook's hand, then linked it to the back of my own hand as well.
And I held it out.
"See it? It's still working."
"Y-you lunatic. If the professor finds out you're doing this, then...."
"Then what? You'll be dead before that."
I rolled the manifestation particles into a small wad like tissue and shoved them into Lee Dong-wook's nostril.
"I'll show you what happens if I get serious. Watch closely."
At the same time as materialization, I shaped my hand into a pistol and fired at Lee Dong-wook's chest.
"Bang."
"Ghk."
Lee Dong-wook's eyes flew open, and he clutched his chest instead of his nose.
"C-can't... breathe...."
"What was that?"
"I can't... breathe...."
"I can't hear you."
"Ghk. S-save me......."
As soon as I heard the answer I wanted, I removed the particles blocking his nostril.
Lee Dong-wook gasped for air, gulping down the breaths he'd been unable to take.
I waited until his breathing had calmed somewhat, then grabbed his shoulder.
"Just so you know, this is a secret art of the Sulga, so I'm the only one who can release it. Don't even think about trying to undo it recklessly. There's a 99% chance it'll burst midway."
"Ha. This crazy bastard, seriously...."
Lee Dong-wook's eyes even welled up with tears as he clawed at the innocent ground.
Tsk.
That's why you should live kindly in the first place.
Deciding this was enough, I got to the point.
"Listen carefully. There's one thing I'm going to have you do. If you do it properly, I'll release it before summer break. If you want to live, you'd better follow along."
"......You'll release this?"
"Yeah. I don't go back on my word. Want to do it?"
I grinned and held out my hand.
* * *
Achasan Sectors 1 and 2, where the barrier-release assignment was in full swing.
I was sitting alone with Lee Dong-wook, who was thoroughly cowed and hunched over like a shrimp.
When I revealed that my target was Joo Yeo-hoon and the Korea Social Contribution Youth Association, Lee Dong-wook continued in a voice full of fear.
"Hey, do you know how scary the president is? If we do this, we'll both die."
"Then do you want to die right now instead?"
"Ah, sorry."
Lee Dong-wook flared up out of habit, then saw my hand, which had already shifted into the shape of a pistol, and settled down.
He let out a deep sigh and looked up at the sky without a word, then finally opened his mouth weakly.
"Actually, I...."
But as it turned out, this guy.
He was the second-year vice representative of the Association and a fervent lackey of Joo Yeo-hoon, who also served as the new-member recruitment team leader.
Some fairly important information came out, so he turned out to be a surprisingly big help.
"Right. Also, once a month, the club holds an event called 'Executive Board Day.'"
The key part was this.
Executive Board Day.
A gathering of the main officers of Joo Yeo-hoon's faction, also known as "Communion."
"I'm not high enough rank yet, so I've only been as far as the VIP room entrance. But according to rumors...."
"According to rumors?"
"Hey, they say they do drugs and stuff."
"Drugs? Then does Joo Yeo-hoon too?"
"No. The president doesn't seem to. He always comes out clear-headed."
"Is that so?"
I swept the tip of my chin with an interested smile.
This much was at least one solid hit.
It seemed like it could serve as a weapon to pluck a few hairs from Joo Yeo-hoon's beard.
"When's the July meeting?"
"This Wednesday."
Fortunately, the date lined up perfectly.
"You're going too, right?"
"Yeah. I go, but I just pay my respects and leave right away."
As an actor, he wasn't bad.
"Then that's settled. You just act like you normally do. I'll handle the rest."
"You? What are you going to do? You have to explain so I can...."
"How could I trust you?"
"......Well, that's true."
"You're better off not knowing. It'll be easier on you too."
Anyway, since my business was done, I dusted off my pants and got up from my seat.
Now all that remained was Wednesday.
I just had to plant a few flies on Lee Dong-wook without him knowing and wait.
Once I got into the VIP room, video recording would be easier than breathing.
There was only one reason I was gathering weaknesses on Joo Yeo-hoon.
Outfighting.
I acknowledged that he was a heavyweight too hard to ram head-on, so I planned to dig up the crimes and corruption he had committed and get under his skin.
So that, in the end, he would have no choice but to come find me.
The condition for negotiation would be the second fragment.
The only problem was that I had no one capable of shaping public opinion.
"Um...."
But just then, Min Young-ji, who had been releasing a barrier nearby, hopped up and waved her hand.
"Wait, this."
The moment I remembered Min Young-ji's other occupation, a thought flashed through my head.
First, I walked over to her.
Min Young-ji pointed at the barrier with an awkward face and continued in a voice that was practically crawling.
"I don't think I can do it anyway. So instead...."
"You're telling me to do it?"
"Yes. I think that's the natural order of things...."
Min Young-ji glanced at Lee Dong-wook, then quietly backed away.
Watching that, my hand shot up for a moment—
"No, what did I do. I apologized already."
Since he seemed to have been punished enough, I turned my eyes to the barrier.
The barrier was about the size of a person's head, a circular membrane formed from several chaotically tangled lines.
"Hm."
But it really was difficult.
Thanks to all the knowledge I had accumulated through Appraisal, I could at least distinguish the beginning and end points that formed the basics of dispelling.
But this linear barrier had four correct answers in total.
It was called a quadruple mana formula, and if I had to compare it to something, it followed the same principle as a quartic equation.
There were four lines to solve in reverse order, and since each had different conditions, the order had to be observed as well.
"Ah, X—. So it was unsolvable anyway. This is a five-point problem. Maximum difficulty."
Lee Dong-wook, who had sidled over and was observing the barrier, also shook his head with a face like he'd bitten into shit.
[Activating trait, Appraisal.]
One, I possess the power to turn impossibility into possibility.
Zzzt—
The moment blue paint spread across my vision, a full three-quarters of my mana drained away, and the linear barrier before my eyes looked different.
Amid the apparent chaos, I realized there was a fixed pattern.
"Ah...."
And I let out a short sigh.
You see as much as you know, feel as much as you see, and resonate as much as you feel.
I gathered my remaining mana and honed it thin.
I drove it into the center of the barrier without hesitation and dismantled the first mana formula in reverse order, from its end back to its beginning.
The end of 1 connected to the start of 2, and the end of 2 to the start of 3.
Once all four formulas were solved, the membrane vanished with a crackling noise.
Only a slip of paper reading "5 points" remained.
"What the hell. He solved this in one minute? That's insane...."
"......Wow."
Leaving Lee Dong-wook and Min Young-ji's fussing behind, I picked up the slip.
"You take it."
And I handed it to Min Young-ji.
"What?"
"Hey, why are you giving that away? There's only thirty minutes left until the assignment ends."
"We should help each other out. I'll help you this time, so you help me next time."
Min Young-ji's club was the newspaper club.
She was the right person for gathering and spreading Joo Yeo-hoon's dirty secrets.
"No, but still."
"It's fine. I can get another one anyway."
I forced the slip into Min Young-ji's hand, then asked Lee Dong-wook.
"Do you have any score slips?"
"I do. One one-pointer."
Then that was enough.
"Hand it over."
* * *
A night glittering with stars.
I was sitting on a bench in the park in front of the dormitory, waiting for Joo A-rin.
With a phone in one hand and a diffuser in the other.
"What the."
But I kept letting out hollow laughs, completely dumbfounded.
I had bought it because Cheon Seo-yoon told me to, but now that I'd bought it, giving it to her felt so awkward.
Handing it over all formally felt a little weird.
I considered just using it myself, but then again, since I'd bought it to give, maybe I should give it after all.
And if I did, what should I say when giving it?
It wasn't a big deal, but I was mulling over this tricky dilemma when—
"Did you have a good trip?"
At the sound of a soft but firm voice, I hid the diffuser behind my back and answered nonchalantly.
"You're here?"
"Yes. But is it okay for you to reveal your abilities like that?"
Joo A-rin, dressed somewhat comfortably, asked a question as soon as she sat down next to me.
"Reveal what?"
"The spar. I heard you half-killed a Guard Knight captain....... no, beat him easily."
"Ah, that...."
As long as my Armament Manifestation wasn't discovered, there wasn't really a problem.
Everyone except Lee Dae-ho already knew to some extent, anyway.
"More importantly, I heard the news about the first nest occupation battle. It succeeded, right?"
I steered the conversation toward a more important topic.
"Yes. But how did you know? The investor report hasn't been sent out yet...."
"Well, it just happened. So, when is the second nest auction?"
The nest auction.
According to the original work, this was the scene where Joo Yeo-hoon first appeared, so I had to confirm the exact date.
"This Saturday at 3 p.m. You'll see when you read the report later, but this nest...."
Joo A-rin continued with a brief explanation since the topic had come up.
The grade was only D, but she couldn't hide her anticipation, saying it was a place where she had discovered potential no one else knew about.
It was probably a Magwang Ore mine.
In fact, it would be discovered inside the nest and become a huge topic soon.
The mining rights would naturally go to the person who won the nest auction rights.
To Joo Yeo-hoon, not Joo A-rin....
Because Joo A-rin was only guessing at the potential, while Joo Yeo-hoon had already finished confirming it and had even lobbied the association people into his pocket.
.......
But this time, things would be a little different.
Because I intended to help.
As a result, Joo A-rin's growth would accelerate, and Joo Yeo-hoon would falter.
But that much was within an acceptable range.
Joo Yeo-hoon would still be a formidable villain even without that.
"I understand for now. The enemy of my enemy is my comrade. Make sure you remember that."
"What?"
Joo A-rin looked like she had no idea what I meant, but I rose from my seat.
Since I had confirmed the exact date, all that remained was delivering the diffuser.
"You know, that question I couldn't ask before...."
Joo A-rin's lips twitched as if she had something to say, but since I felt awkward keeping it hidden any longer, I made the first move.
"And this."
"What's this?"
Joo A-rin stopped mid-sentence and opened her eyes wide.
I deliberated for a while and produced what I considered the most optimal line.
I muttered as naturally as I could.
"I just found it on the road."