Esteemed Intelligence Officer (2)
Whatever the excuse that it had happened in the underground passage of a fake building, it was still an incident in which illusion magic had been directly involved inside Cheonmu Academy.
It was only natural, then, that the Academy, having detected the anomaly, would order a search of the fake Magic Department training grounds.
"So, you're telling me this man suddenly attacked all of you?"
"That's correct!! A suspicious bastard tried to attack my friend Seonho out of nowhere, so as an aspiring student of righteous hunters, I knocked him flat!!"
"I couldn't tell exactly what it was, but he definitely seemed to carry hostility. The same goes for the strange men who were chasing Isabel at the beginning."
"Hmm. Hard to make heads or tails of it. I've never seen anyone like this among the Physical Enhancement Type professors…."
Whether by coincidence or fate, the professor who had come to handle the situation was Professor Shin Youngjoo, which meant explaining the circumstances naturally fell to me and Park Cheonho—his own students.
Well, Cheonho could really only manage something along the lines of a suspicious guy did suspicious things so I smashed him, so in practice my testimony would make up pretty much all of it.
"Ah, Isabel. Now that I think of it, what happened to those suspicious men who were chasing you at the start?"
"As for them, I bound them with binding magic in the corridor deeper inside."
"She says they're restrained. If we interrogate them, I imagine we'll be able to learn everything, won't we?"
"…You say that so calmly for someone who's still a student."
Then again, a hunter academy was, at its core, a paramilitary organization wearing the mask of an educational institution. Extracting information through interrogation would hardly even count as work for them.
…Though considering the ability of Cheonmu Academy's Board Chairman, I had to wonder whether anything so cumbersome as an interrogation would even be necessary.
-Tap, tap.
Speak of the tiger, and it comes running.
A blonde girl who stood out even in the pitch-black underground passage.
No—more precisely, Baek Young-ui, the Chairman of Cheonmu Academy, whose appearance merely resembled a girl's.
"Ch-Chairman!"
"……."
Flanked on both sides by a man and woman who appeared to be her secretaries, Baek Young-ui entered the underground passage without a word and swept her gaze across the scene once.
The moment I saw those cold eyes, instinct took over—I fed mana into my head and layered a fresh Suggestion over the one I'd just used.
Suggestion: Natural Actor — Target: Lee Seonho
Responding brazenly in front of Baek Young-ui was apparently a little beyond my courage after all.
Rather than risk a half-baked performance, it was safer to borrow my ability and commit fully to the role.
Meanwhile, Baek Young-ui slowly crouched down and quietly brought her hand to each of the fallen corpses one by one, leaving the others no choice but to watch her actions in tense silence.
-Siiide.
"……."
As she touched each of the five fallen bodies—Jeong Seok-hoon and the rest—and drew out their information, a peculiar tension settled over the mansion's passage.
"Jeong Seok-hoon, 53. Lee Hyung-ju, 37. Jo Tae-woon, 35. Moon Ji-hwi, 32. Ma Hyeon-cheol, 39."
-Scratch, scratch-scratch.
"Jeong Seok-hoon has Mana Hardening, Ma Hyeon-cheol has Flame Serpent, and the remaining three are non-ability. Have the identity files on all of them compiled and on my desk within the week."
"Yes, ma'am!"
Baek Young-ui extracted the information from the corpses as calmly as if it were a daily routine, and her secretaries absorbed her orders with surgical precision.
Seeing it up close, I had to admit it did make me a little nervous. Even for a moment, that girlish figure exuded a fairly intimidating charisma. …And that was before accounting for the fact that her ability wasn't limited to that one thing.
Even Professor Shin Youngjoo kept his mouth shut and tiptoed through the delicate atmosphere as Baek Young-ui glided silently over to me.
"Were you the leader, student?"
"……."
Strictly speaking, I was the leader, but accepting that too readily was not the way to go.
I deliberately exchanged a glance with each of the others, as if asking whether I could really claim the title in front of Baek Young-ui.
-Blink.
-Thumbs up!
-Nod, nod.
Three people, each cleverly sending their signal—one blinking, one thrusting up a thumb, one nodding furiously.
Only after receiving all three signals did I nod quietly, as if I'd just now understood.
"Yes. I'm the leader."
"…Good work. I'll contact you separately later. Leave the cleanup to the Academy and head back."
"Ah, th-that's right. There are apparently two men still bound by Isabel's binding magic deeper in the corridor. They may be connected to these people."
"…Understood. Go take a look."
I'd deliberately played at being a slightly indecisive sort of leader, and though I couldn't tell if it had landed, her expression hadn't changed an inch. Typical.
Baek Young-ui… honestly, she was an attractive character, but on the whole it was better not to get entangled with her at all rather than strain myself trying to win her over.
Her ability was strong, she was dangerous, and above all, information about her was nearly nonexistent.
The honest truth was that I had no desire to poke a hornet's nest only to have the honey I'd so carefully gathered stolen from me.
"Good work, Lee Seonho. I'll hear the full story later—go on in."
"Yes. Thank you for your hard work, Professor."
"Right. See you in Thursday's class."
"Thank you for your hard work, Professor!! Chairman!!"
And so we fled the scene—practically bolting—under an atmosphere that had grown considerably heavier with the appearance of just one Baek Young-ui.
…The way she'd looked at me just now had felt somehow odd, but surely it would be fine.
The underground passage, after the students had withdrawn.
Baek Young-ui, who had watched Lee Seonho's retreating back until the very last moment, quietly opened her mouth.
"You heard what the leader said just now, yes? Go check whether anyone remains deeper in the passage."
"Yes, ma'am!"
"We'll be off, then—"
"…Professor Shin Youngjoo stays behind. There is something I wish to discuss."
"……Yes, ma'am."
Having smoothly ushered the two of them deeper into the underground passage, she kept only Shin Youngjoo behind.
In the corridor where only the two of them remained—apart from the five corpses—the blonde girl quietly spoke.
"Professor Shin Youngjoo."
"Yes, Chairman."
"There is a person who carries good in their heart at all times, yet makes a mistake in everything they do and, in the end, causes harm."
"I'm sorry?"
"And there is a person who acts selfishly, following their own desires, yet whose actions ultimately end up helping others."
"Yes…."
"If you could keep only one of the two at your side, Professor Shin Youngjoo—which would you choose?"
"……."
Was this some kind of test?
The thought that a single word from him might shape his own evaluation made him tense, but he opened his mouth carefully all the same.
"If it were me, I believe the latter would be the better choice."
"Why is that?"
"Even if an act springs from selfish desire, if it ultimately helps another, then in effect it is no different from doing good. In that case, I wonder whether the motive even needs to be examined at all."
"Is that so?"
"Ah—that is not to say the person who makes mistakes and causes harm is bad. If someone stands beside them to properly rein in their errors, even a person of fundamentally good heart has room to grow."
"……."
"…Did I answer incorrectly, somehow?"
Baek Young-ui listened to Shin Youngjoo's words with a thoughtful expression and walked a few quiet steps down the underground passage.
Then, with the faintest of smiles—the corner of her mouth lifting just barely—she spoke again.
"…No. I think so as well."
"I-I see."
"That student, Lee Seonho—he takes your class, Professor Shin Youngjoo, doesn't he?"
"Yes, he does. He attends alongside the student who was with him just now, Park Cheonho."
"Keep him close, and watch him carefully for me. He seems to be quite a promising seed."
"Yes, ma'am!"
It was a rather loaded remark, but Professor Shin Youngjoo could hardly muster the courage to ask what it meant, and simply answered.
"Chairman, we've brought the remaining intruders."
"We've 'processed' them in advance for your convenience."
"Good work. Put them there."
It was right after that when Baek Young-ui's secretary returned from deeper in the underground passage, dragging two bodies behind her.
By the time we'd been more or less shooed out of the underground passage by Baek Young-ui, roughly two hours had passed.
It wasn't quite evening yet, but it was an awkward hour for attempting anything.
"First things first, Cheonho—you'd better get treated at the church today. With that hand, I don't think you could even hold a spoon on your own."
"Haha!! Worry not, Lee Seonho!! For a man, an injury of this degree is nothing at—"
-Crack!
"AAAAGH, AAAAAAAGH!!!"
"One moment, Mr. Park Cheonho! I told you just now not to put any force into your right arm!"
More than anything, with Cheonho's arm in that state, doing anything with Kim Isabel would have been a bit awkward. Someone else—a senior priest—would presumably take over once we got him to the church, but escorting Cheonho there was a role that fell to her as a member of the Recovery Department.
Reluctantly, it seemed the 'Androphobia training' I'd planned to do with Isabel today would have to be pushed back. My apologies to her.
'In terms of results alone, I probably stacked up a fair amount of affection… but it's still a shame.'
Even knowing we'd resume in a week, a shame was a shame. This kind of conditioning worked best when you made them ache for it week after week, imprinting it into the body through sheer conditioned reflex.
Isabel was already fairly deep into her own build-up, considering I'd stopped right before the finish last week. Failing to harvest that in time was bound to sting a little.
"AAAGH—Isabel, you said it was attached just now!!"
"It was barely attached, which is why I told you to be careful! No matter how much Holy Power I wrap around it, bone doesn't knit back together completely in an hour or two!"
'If he pulls that stunt every single day, it won't be a day of recovery—it'll take a week and then some.'
After all, with Cheonho injured, I'd have no one to call on if some other random event cropped up.
I slipped a single card out of my wallet and handed it to Kim Isabel, who had just finished rejoining Cheonho's broken bones with Holy Power.
"Isabel. Here."
"Yes?"
"Use this to buy two bottles of Holy Water for Cheonho and get them into him. The sooner he heals, the better."
"Y-yes?"
Kim Isabel rolled her eyes at me, slightly flustered by my sudden offer, and asked me to repeat myself.
Considering Holy Water in this world cost roughly 500,000 won a bottle, it was no small expense even for me.
"A-are you sure? Holy Water, without a reservation… it usually runs close to a mil—"
"It's fine. Cheonho got hurt blocking a punch that was flying at me, so it's only right I cover at least that much."
"But you did your share of the work too, Mr. Seonho…."
"Still, Cheonho took the worst of it. Being hurt is miserable enough—having to stay in pain that much longer just makes a man sour."
"…I understand. Then I'll explain it to Mr. Park Cheonho and—"
"Ah—don't tell Cheonho. If he knows I bought it, he'll feel burdened."
"……."
"Just hand it over naturally, like it's the standard thing they give patients when they're admitted. I'm counting on you."
"…Understood, Mr. Seonho."
Kim Isabel, wearing a subtly enigmatic expression, carefully took the card from my hand.
"Honestly, Mr. Seonho—your problem is that you're far too kind for your own good."
"Oh, come on. I'm just an ordinary guy."
It was a performance so convincing that she never even suspected it was a facade put on to raise her affection for me.