Chapter 15
Terminally Ill, but It's Okay — Episode 15
So Yi-hyeon, who had seen the same scene, also opened her eyes wide.
As befitting a magic-type Awakener, she had grasped it more concretely.
"That's quite something. They combined a 1-star Fire-Style Sorcery, Flame Bullet, with a 1-star Water-Style Sorcery, Ring of Water."
"Combined? Don't tell me...."
"Yes. An attribute combination. To be precise, the latent heat of the Art of Evaporation. It's a sorcery that amplifies a substance's change of state with mana to cause multiple explosions and intense heat."
"Then are they from that family?"
"Probably. The only family that uses sorcery that bizarre is his."
"Oh-ho."
The two evaluators stared at the monitor with highly interested expressions.
Meanwhile, the fireball wrapped in streams of water struck the boss.
"Ah. That really was dangerous."
A sigh of regret different from before burst from Lee Ha-joon's lips.
The problem was that, for all its power, the point of impact was disappointing.
"It should have manifested earlier. Or the targeting should have been set further back. That nearly went badly."
So Yi-hyeon's reaction was the same.
Her assessment was that using it was fine, but the manifestation was clumsy.
It was only because Joo A-rin reacted immediately that things turned out all right; otherwise, the aftermath alone could have caused serious injury.
Lee Taek-jin, who had been watching the two react, spoke up at just the right moment.
"As it happens, a team penalty has already been issued."
"A team penalty?"
"Yes. An act that threatened a teammate's safety is a deduction factor."
His tone was calm, but in truth, he had been just as surprised when he first heard the news.
An attribute combination, no less.
Even if his manifestation had been clumsy, wasn't attribute combination a secret art of that sorcerer family, usable only by someone with exceptional talent?
And yet, of all people, Park Ha-yul had manifested it....
It was a moment that once again revealed that the diagnostic evaluation result had not been mere luck.
"I see."
"It's only fair. It's a team assignment, after all."
So Yi-hyeon and Lee Ha-joon nodded slightly, as if in agreement.
But their interest had not cooled.
"Doesn't something seem off? Someone who can use attribute combination is that bad at manifestation?"
"The order is off, isn't it? It's like not being able to walk but being able to run."
Their gazes, which had been fixed only on Joo A-rin, now turned toward Park Ha-yul.
"He couldn't have not known the damage range of the latent heat, right?"
"Come on, no way. It's probably not his first time using it."
"But was there a second-year from that sorcerer family? Why hasn't talent like that been noticed until now?"
It was precisely because he was not famous that they made such a fuss.
A pearl buried in the dirt belonged to whoever found it first.
In the end, the two, unable to contain their curiosity, asked at the same time.
"Professor, what is that student's name?"
"What's his name?"
* * *
There was one thing Joo A-rin had heard practically every day since childhood.
"Wow, she's really pretty."
"She's so young, but how does she carry herself like that?"
Most of them were compliments about her appearance.
Some people went under the knife for that one thing, but for her, it was simply a given.
To the point that it stirred no emotion at all, like looking at pure white snow in the Antarctic.
"Are you all right?"
"Yes, miss."
"......Really?"
"Of course. You've already fully recovered."
But today was unexpected.
With expensive healing mana cream slathered on thickly, she kept sneaking glances at the mirror.
"No matter how I look, the area around my eyes is a little...."
"You're worrying for nothing. I'm telling you, it's truly nothing."
The white-haired old secretary smiled faintly at the childlike side of Joo A-rin that she had not seen in a long time.
Having served her since birth, the old secretary naturally felt especially attached to her.
"Ahem."
Realizing she was more excited than usual, Joo A-rin flushed.
"Sorry for troubling you."
"Troubling me? Not at all. Thanks to you, I got to reminisce about the old days, and it was lovely. And please don't dislike him too much. If not for him, you would have been hurt far worse."
"That may be true, but.... Anyway, don't bring him up anymore. It'll only put me in a worse mood. And...."
Joo A-rin hesitated as if uneasy, then carefully continued.
"Please keep it as secret as possible from the family. You never know. It might interfere with Seol-a's treatment...."
"Surely it wouldn't go that far...."
"No. We can't let our guard down. You know my brothers well."
"......Understood."
"Thank you."
Only then did Joo A-rin quietly smooth her chest, as if relieved.
"Ah! And about the matter of forming the direct team."
Revealing an intelligent gleam in her eyes, she discussed the family matter she would be taking charge of.
Just like that, an hour flew by.
"Anyway, I'll be counting on you."
"Yes, miss. I'll contact you as soon as the candidates are selected. Don't worry too much, and please rest well today."
A brief look of sympathy crossed the old secretary's face, but it was only for a moment, as the words said.
Soon she wore her usual kindly smile and checked the watch on her wrist.
Regrettably, it was time to leave.
"Visiting hours are almost over, so I'm afraid I should be going."
"Already? It can't be helped. All right."
Contrary to her calm tone, Joo A-rin lifted her chin slightly.
It was a habit she had whenever she didn't want to show weakness.
Plop.
Left alone again, Joo A-rin lay down on the bed.
Bzzzz.
Just then, her phone vibrated, and she reached out and grabbed it.
If it was a text asking if she was okay, she had already received enough of those to be sick of them, so she intended to ignore it.
-Team Training Assignment Midterm Results.txt
......She would almost have preferred the other kind.
The moment she saw the mass text sent from the department office, her heart sank.
She had hoped it would appear as late as possible....
Normally she would have checked it calmly, but this time was different.
The first penalty she had ever received weighed heavily on her mind.
"What if I'm in the lower ranks?"
She knew it was only a midterm result and that she could recover.
......But.
But unacceptable was unacceptable.
What if she became a laughingstock, people started gossiping about her, and word reached her other half-siblings?
.......
The thought alone made her blood run cold.
Even over something trivial, she knew all too well what could happen if she showed weakness—her own younger sister, Joo Seol-a.......
She had already learned that lesson well enough through her.
"Check it? Or not?"
For that reason, she moved her finger toward the screen, then stopped again.
Joo A-rin, who had been unconsciously biting her nails, finally squeezed her eyes shut and touched the attachment.
Did it load?
When she opened her eyes into a squint, her vision gradually cleared.
......But.
"Huh?"
The number she could make out through the gap looked strangely out of place.
"Th-th-three?"
Third place?!
The result was unexpected.
No, third place, of all things.
"That's ridiculous."
Wondering if it was an error, she pressed refresh, but it wasn't.
Cheon Seo-yoon's name, which had always been ahead, was now below her own.
Joo A-rin, who had been blinking blankly, suddenly snapped to attention and examined the details.
Looking closely, her completion time and difficulty scores were at the maximum.
"Ah......."
Once the anxiety faded, what remained was deep regret.
If she hadn't received the penalty....
If Park Ha-yul's targeting had been a little more accurate and she had been fine.......
First place would have belonged to Team 4.
.......
But it didn't last long.
She knew better than anyone that she had placed third not because of that, but thanks to it.
Without Park Ha-yul's performance, she probably wouldn't have placed third at all; the place she'd be lying now would be a hospital reeking of disinfectant.
Perhaps the resentment now lodged in her heart, the target of that anger, might be her own lacking self.
She had let her ranking blind her and gotten too greedy.
"...I really am pathetic."
Plop—
Lying back down on the bed, Joo A-rin found herself recalling old memories involving Park Ha-yul.
The origin was the Junior Cheonji Association, a gathering of heirs from the ten great families.
As befitting a thriving social gathering, the main topic of conversation was gossip about the great families.
So-and-so dated so-and-so, but it turned out they were two-timing.
Someone with a wholesome image turned out to be a total piece of work, and so on.
Stories of the disgraceful dominated over stories of the admirable, and in that sense, Park Ha-yul, despite never once attending, was occasionally summoned into conversation.
The rumors were always the same.
Living proof of how far the sorcerer family's fortunes had fallen.
A hallucinogenic drug addict.
A social misfit with severe avoidant personality disorder.
A dullard worse than an ordinary person.
.
.
It was so off-putting that those three syllables had unconsciously been memorized.
"Is it true?"
But today.......
Joo A-rin questioned a fact she had always taken for granted.
The cause was the sorcery he had manifested.
Its power was so astonishing that it was hard to believe the subject of all those vile rumors had manifested it.
Enough to rival the freezing power she prided herself on.......
He was still a person who made her frown and whom she didn't want to get close to, but it was a moment when one small question mark was added.
* * *
Unlike the other great families, which specialized in a single attribute, this family specialized specifically in sorcery.
It was one-off in nature, but by combining basic attributes, it could create original higher attributes.
The Art of Evaporation I had used was in the same vein.
"But who knew the range would be that wide and the mana consumption that huge?"
Hurting Joo A-rin was one problem, but I was so dizzy the entire way out of the Initial Stage that I thought I might die.
So as soon as I got back to the dorm, I lay sprawled out for a while.
Bzzzz.
If not for the ceaseless vibration of my phone, I would have opened my eyes even later.
"The results are out already?"
After letting it ring for a bit, I clicked the file attached to the message.
[Midterm Results Ranking Announcement]
1st. Team 3 / Total Score: 144 points
2nd. Team 1 / Total Score: 143 points
3rd. Team 4 / Total Score: 142 points
4th. Team 5 / Total Score: 140 points
.
Phew—
Fortunately, it was a success.
And third place was, in its own way, the best possible position.
That was roughly the rank I had been aiming for from the start.
In the next Final Stage Occupation Battle, teams would be sent in at staggered times according to the rankings above, making our third-place position perfect for moving with Baek Sa-young's second-place team.
[Main Quest #2 complete: Place in the top 3 of the Initial Stage Occupation Battle]
[10 days are added as a reward]
[As a reward, you receive 15 SP.]
[Remaining Time: 13 days 18 hours 52 minutes]
[SP Held: 45]
Once I confirmed the reward messages, I looked at the clock in an even more satisfied mood.
"Has it already gotten this late?"
It was already 5 p.m.
It was time to start getting ready for the special scholarship student orientation scheduled for 6.
After gulping down a glass of water, I headed to the shower.
[The effect of the 'Nameless Shaman's Bracelet' activates.]
[Mana recovery rate increases by 10%.]
It had been worth spending the time, after all.
As time passed, I could feel myself recovering faster than before.
* * *
Since I had already visited the department office once, I had no trouble finding it.
I entered the familiar building and headed to the third floor.
"Great work out there."
"Yes. Good luck to you too, Assistant Instructor."
"See you again."
Just then, I heard voices in conversation. Along with them, I saw people coming out of the department office.
"The A-track really has a lot of desirable talents."
"You know formal offers start from third year, right?"
"Oh, there you go again. Squad 8 already has plenty. What exactly is your strategy? You always snatch up the decent ones first."
"Is there any strategy? We're just grateful to have been chosen."
A man and a woman were bickering as they walked this way.
Age-wise, early to mid-thirties?
A gentle-looking man and a beauty whose red-dyed hair suited her well.
I was thinking it was a combination I had seen somewhere before when—
"Hm?"
My eyes met the woman's.
"Why? Huh? You're......."
The man also noticed me belatedly and looked slightly startled.
Were they acquainted with Park Ha-yul?
While I was tense about how to handle the sudden development—
"You're Park Ha-yul of the Geunwon Sulga, right? Nice to meet you. I'm So Yi-hyeon."
Fortunately, they didn't seem to be acquaintances.
"I hold the position of vice-commander of Squad 8 of the Yosal Corps."
So Yi-hyeon smiled brightly and extended her hand. Only then did I remember.
So Yi-hyeon of the Yosal Corps.
Better known by her alias than her name: the Red Witch.
She was a magic-type Awakener who mainly handled the fire attribute.
"Ah, yes."
As we awkwardly clasped hands, the man hurriedly spoke up as well.
"Hey, fancy meeting you here. I'm Lee Ha-joon, vice-commander of Squad 13. Nice to meet you."
He was also someone I knew well.
They probably came because of the evaluation.
Considering the timing, I thought I understood why we had met here.
I extended my hand and shook hands with Lee Ha-joon as well.
It was a somewhat out-of-the-blue encounter, but since they were characters who appeared often from the middle of the original work, it didn't feel unfamiliar.
"We came to evaluate. I got a good look at that attribute-combination sorcery. But there's something I'm curious about."
Lee Ha-joon in particular was exactly his original-work personality. He was friendly, but for a first meeting, he was a bit overwhelming.
"You've said hello. Now hurry up and come with me."
Still, So Yi-hyeon beside him cut in appropriately.
"Why? I can at least ask."
"Don't you think that's burdensome? Park Ha-yul, don't mind us. If you keep working hard, we'll meet again soon enough."
"No, wait. If you're interested in Squad 13......."
"Now, now."
"Our operational area is also Ilsan, so city life is possible......."
"Stop talking nonsense and hurry up."
So Yi-hyeon covered Lee Ha-joon's mouth and winked one eye.
I bowed my head once more in greeting.
It was just as the two of them were receding into the distance.
Zap.
Suddenly my palm stung. Wondering what was going on, I looked at it.
Contact me if you ever run into trouble.
So Yi-hyeon: 010-1234-5678
Before I knew it, a distinctive recruitment message had been inscribed there.
Good grief.
She must have worked on it while we shook hands in greeting.
Her salesmanship alone was truly admirable.
"As expected of Squad 8?"
They had been a fairly famous group in the original work too, so I knew them well.
Their operational area was the countryside, teeming with all sorts of Monsters. Among those, the southern part of Gangwon Province, notorious for being especially brutal.
Even though it was a region so busy there was no time to blink, the number of applicants was always overflowing.
This kind of tactful approach must have been the secret to their recruiting.
[You have attracted the interest of an external force.]
[Achievement-119: The Red Witch's Note]
[10 hours are provided as a reward.]
[You now have somewhere to request help when you need it.]
[You acquire 5 SP for the promising development.]
[SP Held: 50]
Oh-ho, even a handout of time?
It was news that raised Squad 8's image considerably, but a question deliberately arose.
"Will I still be around by then?"
The point when the work's setting shifts from Taehak to the Yosal Corps is after graduation, so roughly two years from now.
Not meeting them would be a good thing for me, but well.......
I couldn't guarantee it.
It was only a hope, after all.
......But.
[SP Held has reached 50.]
[Upon reaching 100, the boundary of Causality will briefly dull.]
[Within the permitted range, a reward you truly need will be provided.]
......Causality?
A reward I need?