Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: A Welcome Routine
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A pleasant week of cookie-cutter normalcy has passed.
Tuesday brought practical training with the History Department.
Wednesday was classes in the spellcasting series.
This week had been mostly theory-focused, so my body felt at ease, and a continuous peace settled over my mind.
Thanks to that, my routine gradually took shape.
I'd wake up early in the morning and head to the physical training room, then return to the dorm after lectures and pour everything into the Three Talents Technique.
If things kept flowing like this, it would've been perfect.
But a pebble dropped into my lake-smooth daily life on Thursday during Demonic Beast Studies.
I'd arrived a bit early and was just about to enter the lecture hall.
"What? Why'd you check out of the hospital already?"
"Already? It's been over a week lying there, dude!"
From a distance came a fairly familiar voice.
I had a rough guess and opened the door.
Sure enough.
Cheon Seo-yun.
The wild colt back from the hospital was rampaging through the lecture hall like a fish in water.
Was returning such a thrill?
Figuring it was all the pent-up energy bursting out at once, I headed to the back row as usual.
"Huh? Hey, hold up."
But Cheon Seo-yun, who had been chattering excitedly, scurried after me and struck up a conversation.
"Uh, um. Park Ha-yul. You doing okay?"
"Guess you made it back today. I'm fine. You?"
"Me? I'm good too. Spent the whole week doing nothing but resting."
There was some awkwardness, but considering our past relationship, it was a huge step forward.
Having a normal conversation like this was pretty much a first.
"Ahem... Anyway, thanks for saving me."
Cheon Seo-yun rubbed the bridge of her nose sheepishly and turned away in a hurry.
I acted nonchalant too, but somehow I felt a flutter.
She was the outgoing type who hated embarrassment, yet here she was extending the first hand.
She must have thought it over and mustered her courage.
Considering the quests ahead, it wasn't a bad turn in our relationship.
Of course, Yoo So-young's shadow still loomed over Cheon Seo-yun...
...But anyway.
The moment I sat in the back row, I checked my phone.
I figured the acceptance message from the conversation club would come around now, but today it was still crickets.
"Did I not make it?"
No way...
With Jeong Ae-ri's eye for talent, she wouldn't have overlooked it.
...Or had my skills really rusted?
As I frowned in untimely worry.
"I'm confirmed for the field trip too. Plus, there's a spot I want to swing by during free time that day."
"Where?"
"The auction house."
"The auction house? That one at Sejong Cultural Center?"
The group over there was buzzing with club talk too.
"Oh, you knew?"
"Yeah, saw it on the news. They're running events for the Signed Sword exhibit, right? Auction's one of them, I think?"
"Wow, so we get to see the Signed Sword if we go?"
Cheon Seo-yun was doing a stellar job as the club's promo ambassador with Baek Sa-young and Lee Dae-ho.
That's how the main characters end up together—but inevitably get tangled in incidents.
Namely, the auction house bombing.
The villains are demons, aiming to steal the exhibited Signed Sword via a terror attack on the auction house.
To lure the sword's security to the auction, they plant bombs in auction items and detonate them.
The moment the auction turns into chaos, they execute their planned diversion.
One team takes auction-goers hostage while the other goes for the Signed Sword.
But if plans went off without a hitch, they wouldn't be plans.
There's always a variable, and in that sense, these guys were downright unlucky.
Because Cheon Seo-yun, participating as a bidder, and Baek Sa-young's crew tagging along for the fun happened to be there.
True to their heroic natures, they jump right into the fray.
They crush the demons with stellar performances and protect the civilians, foiling the theft.
Casualties: about six or seven, including those caught in the initial blast?
Not nothing, but miraculously light for the scale, and it wraps up.
"But what're you bidding on?"
"Just something. Been eyeing it for a while, and lucked out—it showed up as a lot."
"Ooh, you've been saving up all this time and finally ready to spend? What's the item?"
"Secret."
"Hey, why ask? Obvious at a glance. What else would she buy besides weapons or armor?"
"Want to die?"
When Lee Dae-ho butted in with a jab, Cheon Seo-yun swiftly grabbed his head in a headlock.
Looks like she was fully recovered.
Anyway, this episode had no real spot for me.
Just show up at the auction and lend a hand—that was it.
As I tried to tune them out and focus on Three Talents Technique practice.
[Some settings have been changed to increase difficulty.]
[The exploding item has been changed to 'Lorelei Necklace.']
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[Main Quest #5]
[Objective: Thwart the auction house terror incident]
[Reward: +20 days to remaining time, 35 SP]
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What?
"That's what Cheon Seo-yun..."
Startled, I shot up from my seat.
* * *
"This lecture is abbreviated as Demonic Beast Studies. However, the two most crucial characters are omitted: analysis. That's why I call it Demonic Beast Studies in writing, but Demonic Beast Analysis in speech."
Lee Taek-jin's voice grated on my ears, and a virtual human diagram I'd set up ages ago floated in the air, arms spread wide, glaring down.
But I couldn't focus on any of it, just repeating the same words in my head.
"The exploding item changed..."
It was absurd—I kept letting out dry chuckles without realizing.
Just one change, but the difficulty had skyrocketed beyond comparison.
"...4885."
The bastard played a cunning hand.
One wrong move, and Cheon Seo-yun could die.
This was no longer just about stopping a terror attack.
In the original, the man who won the bid on the longsword from the demon soldiers' gear was the example.
The instant he touched it to inspect, a massive blast hit him dead-on, incinerating him without a trace.
Even as an Awakener—not a civilian—he couldn't resist the flames that erupted in an instant.
Because the bomb was a special one derived from the demons' unique properties.
But would Cheon Seo-yun fare any better?
Her becoming one of the world's top powerhouses was far in the future—not now.
If caught in that blast, she'd be gone in a flash.
So what choice was there?
"I have to stop it."
She was essential for the episodes ahead.
As the original author, I couldn't afford to lose the weapon of foresight.
"...So how?"
Direction set, now for the method.
I rubbed my temples, brainstorming solutions.
Best case: get her to give up the Lorelei Necklace herself.
But that wasn't easy, to put it mildly.
Because the necklace's original owner was Cheon Seo-yun...
And not just any trinket—it was a birthday gift from her late father at age seven.
The Lorelei Necklace was one of the few items that Cheon Seo-yun, who refused all aid from the Cheon family after her father's death, had tearfully sold off due to money troubles.
No way she'd give it up willingly.
She'd scraped together scholarships and such to buy them back.
"Or..."
I considered coming clean but quickly scrapped it.
Success odds were slim there too.
She wouldn't listen properly.
Just dismiss it as ravings from a lunatic.
By that logic, warning the organizers about the terror was pointless too.
...In the end.
No matter how I turned it over, one answer.
"I'll just buy it myself..."
And destroy it in secret.
Because it was an explosive that reacted with demonic energy on contact—no other way to disarm.
Sad as it was for her late father's gift, if she ever found out, I'd have no excuse...
No helping it.
I couldn't sacrifice Cheon Seo-yun's life or the episodes centered on her.
ID checks were strict, so no masks.
Had to go as Park Ha-yul, but winning the bid was easy with enough cash.
I knew her finances inside out.
She'd saved every scholarship since middle school—totaling about 150 million won?
Original bid price was around there, I recalled.
So with 200 million, I could outbid her...
Did I have that much?
As I Do Hyun, it'd be a fortune, but now I was part of a prestigious family.
"Well..."
Even the house was no joke.
A Han River view penthouse.
Inside, packed with high-end exhibits like a national museum.
Roughly chaebol third-gen position—200 million might be pocket change for a month.
"After class, check the bank balance first."
Hoping I don't faint if I do.
As my chaotic thoughts sorted out.
Sudden murmurs rose.
"Hey, it's starting again."
"Same as last week. Why's she so desperate to eat him up?"
I could guess the situation.
The front screen was crammed with dense text combos, and Lee Taek-jin scanned the students like a monster picking prey.
Under the excuse of gauging student levels, he slips in an obscure beast and hunts for a sacrifice.
In these cases, nine out of ten pick the reluctant student or the one they want to screw over.
"Student Park Ha-yul?"
I dodged it last week by luck, but no escape this time.
Eyes met, and without hesitation, Lee Taek-jin called my name.
"What do you think is the problem in this scenario?"
Sneering shortly, certain I wouldn't know, he pointed to the front screen.
But talk about luck. It was a beast I recognized...
Judging by appearance, 'Venom.'
A Grade 7 demonic beast modeled after the alien.
So I answered without hesitation.
"It's that bastard's maw."
"..."
Uh? Did that slip...
"...I mean. Venom's maw."
"..."
"So it has another mouth inside its mouth..."
I tried to salvage it somehow.
"Pfft."
"Khkh."
But the laughter had already spread.
Students bit their lips desperately, but once it burst, it spread uncontrollably.
"Puhaha!"
Amid it, some guy was doubled over wheezing—I spotted who.
...Why you, of all people.
"Enjoying yourself, I see. Student Cheon Seo-yun."
"Yes? P-Professor. That's not..."
"For disrupting class. One demerit point. Show manners befitting your top grades."
"Eung? Professor, I just got back today."
"Eung?"
"...Sorry."
Cheon Seo-yun made a pouty face and bowed deeply.
It was like a sitcom scene, but maybe because my feelings had shifted.
My lips felt heavy.