72. My Buff is a Drug
72. My Buff is a Drug
After saying goodbye to Choi Ah-young yesterday, today was back to the usual routine.
"Alright, that concludes today's session. Thank you all for listening attentively."
Ah, finally over.
All the day's lectures had ended. Not that he'd been taking many to start with — just two.
"And Choi Hye-yong, could you come to the instructor's office for a moment?"
Huh?
The completely unexpected summons from Yoo Ji-ah threw him off a bit.
'Did I screw something up?'
Back in the day, whenever a teacher or professor called him in, that was always the first thought. Age hadn't changed a damn thing about that reflex.
Well, if she was calling, he had to go.
Hye-yong followed her out and took a seat in the instructor's office.
"Sit comfortably on the sofa."
[ Warm Resonance ]
Stamina stat +8 levels
Fatigue recovery +5 levels
Warm resonance effect +3 levels
The moment he sat down, Yoo Ji-ah's buff settled over him.
'Ah... yeah, this really does put your mind at ease. Should I make a knockoff version and keep it saved on a page?'
While he was thinking that, Yoo Ji-ah spoke.
"Choi Hye-yong, how has life been lately? Do you feel like you're managing well on your own?"
Standard counseling, then.
'Is there a reason she'd call me out separately for this? Giving me special treatment... nah, probably not.'
Hye-yong figured it was just his own overinflated self-importance.
She was probably calling in other students and doing the same thing.
Still, Yoo Ji-ah was someone who had literally carved off her own flesh to give him Divine Power — someone he was genuinely grateful to.
Divine Power was the stat that amplified and sustained blessings, the very foundation of a Blessing Mage. Sure, it couldn't boost the raw power of skills created through Buff Custom, but it still affected things like cast range and duration.
Less critical for him than for other Blessing Mages, but it was still an important stat for Hye-yong.
And he couldn't show an insincere face to a model instructor like her.
Hye-yong answered earnestly.
"I do think I'm managing pretty well. Last promotion, I managed a two-rank jump and made D-rank. My party members grew alongside me too — we're at the point where we're seriously considering D-rank raids. And that's all thanks to you, Instructor."
At the words thanks to you, a bloom of warmth spread across Yoo Ji-ah's face.
She looked genuinely delighted that a student had achieved something under her guidance.
She was just too kind.
The kind that made you want to sink into it.
'How happy would I have been if someone like Yoo Ji-ah had been my mom?'
Was she married?
Actually, given the overflowing maternal warmth, she might even have a son.
'She looks like she's in her late twenties, but...'
For Awakeneds of a certain level, age was supposedly impossible to guess until they hit their forties. She could easily be thirty-seven or thirty-eight for all he knew.
"By the way, Choi Hye-yong, there's something I need to discuss regarding your reawakening."
"Ah, yes."
"When reawakening occurs, sometimes the very foundation of a person's traits and skills is overturned. I'm sure you know this, but just in case — do you still possess the Blessing Mage trait?"
"Of course."
"Given the two-rank promotion, I imagine you acquired some considerably useful new blessings. Would you mind telling your instructor what kind of blessings they are?"
Hye-yong's mind went blank for a split second, then he snapped his focus back hard.
'Hm, the time has come to talk about the Exclusive Buff.'
It was a perfectly reasonable question for an instructor to ask.
Hye-yong first pulled up an empty page and, using the knowledge he'd accumulated, whipped up a plausible-looking buff.
[ Token of Bond ]
Judging by the game's other buffs, whoever had named them had followed that kind of convention.
Supposedly, blessings generated by traits varied from person to person — so a little smooth-talking would cover it.
'If I set it up like this, she won't suspect anything even if she checks the terminal.'
From what Hye-yong had tested last time, the buffs he created did show up on the terminal. So he'd prepped one just in case.
'And the rest is just bullshitting my way through it...'
Sure, it was unusual, but Hye-yong had done his homework.
He'd never heard the term "Exclusive Buff" before, but it wasn't like there were no buffs that applied differently depending on the recipient.
Hye-yong deliberately let a thoughtful expression linger on his face for a moment, then opened his mouth.
"I'm not entirely sure how to explain this exactly... it's a single blessing, but it applies differently depending on who I cast it on. It's even labeled as an Exclusive Blessing."
"Exclusive Blessing?"
Yoo Ji-ah's eyes widened slightly.
Even as a Blessing Mage instructor, it seemed she'd never heard of such an unusual blessing before.
When Hye-yong had finally gotten around to actually studying this world a bit, he'd learned that there were still plenty of never-before-seen ability cases cropping up. So an Exclusive Buff shouldn't raise any eyebrows.
She placed her right hand over her chest, gesturing to herself.
"Could you cast it on me as well?"
"W-well, you see. There's a condition for using the blessing."
"A condition...?"
"Yes. A sense of bond... I suppose you'd call it? It doesn't seem to work unless the person registers as a comrade of some sort."
Yoo Ji-ah's surprised expression smoothed out — then the corners of her eyes and lips both curved upward together.
"Choi Hye-yong, do you not feel a sense of bond with me?"
She was clearly smiling, but a strange pressure radiated from her.
'No, that's actual pressure I'm feeling.'
Not the response he'd expected!
If he'd been drinking tea, he definitely would have spat it out.
"I-I, what I feel toward you, Instructor, is respect, so... the condition for casting the blessing is more like a, an equal footing, I guess? Like close friends? That kind of comrade, and..."
What the hell was he even saying?
Swept up in the aura Yoo Ji-ah seemed to have let slip, momentarily rattled, Hye-yong babbled on without even knowing what was coming out of his mouth.
"Calm yourself, Choi Hye-yong. I was being a little mischievous, I admit."
"Ah, yes."
The aura withdrew, and at the words calm yourself, Hye-yong quickly collected his wits.
'Ugh, so this is what it means to be an instructor, huh... that just now felt like a prank... if she'd been serious, she could probably kill someone with her aura alone.'
The fact that she'd shown genuine disappointment at the lack of a bond meant Yoo Ji-ah must have looked after him quite a bit.
From Hye-yong's perspective, though, he didn't remember any of it.
"So, it's... a bit of an unusual case, right? That's why I wasn't quite sure how to explain it either."
"Yes, it's quite an unusual blessing indeed. Fitting for an ability gained through reawakening."
Oh, fitting for a reawakened ability?
'Her eyes don't look suspicious.'
Apparently, the prevailing theory was that reawakening tended to produce unusual results.
That worked in his favor.
"Exclusive Blessing... was it? It sounds like something that could earn you affection from many people. Although I am a little disappointed I can't receive it myself."
"Haha... I'll, I'll try to work on it."
"I'll look forward to it. The reason I called you in today was to ask about this. You're free to go now."
"Thank you for your time!"
Hye-yong bowed his head and made his exit.
'That went well, right?'
She hadn't checked his terminal either.
She'd seemed a bit disappointed, but there was no trace of suspicion in it.
'I'll just call it a win.'
Hye-yong headed back toward the dorms to join his party members for a raid.
-
.......
The space Hye-yong had just left.
Yoo Ji-ah rose, pulled out a cigarette, a lighter, and an old-model player — the kind no longer even being manufactured — and went to stand by the window.
She plugged the earphones in, put on a song from before the Heterogeneous Species invasions, and gazed at the bare branches of the tree outside, her eyes steeped in melancholy.
Click, click!
She lit the cigarette and drew in a long, deep drag.
'An Exclusive Blessing that changes depending on who you cast it on, huh...'
Fwooosh.
The exhaled smoke was thick.
A soft, wry laugh escaped her.
'A combination of both parents' traits, mixed together so perfectly.'
It almost made her wonder if some god was playing a prank.
Choi Jun-yong, a protection-type Blessing Mage.
Seo Hye-rim, whose ability changed depending on who she faced.
If those two had a son, was there any ability more fitting than that?
"Fuuu..."
The cigarette cloud dispersed into the air once more.
Once again, Yoo Ji-ah found herself viscerally reminded that Choi Hye-yong was the child of those two.
— My son... please take care of him.
After that catastrophe, Choi Hye-yong had completely shut himself away, struck with a severe case of aphasia.
Though not yet fully accepted as established theory, psychological factors were said to have no small influence on one's wavelength.
Maybe that was why.
Choi Hye-yong's abilities as a Blessing Mage hadn't grown in the slightest — so little that it was hard to believe he was the offspring of two Awakeneds who had once ranked among the world's most powerful.
So Yoo Ji-ah had assumed Hye-yong would live out a completely ordinary life.
When she'd suddenly heard he'd decided to enroll in the Facility, for a moment she could only wonder if she was dreaming.
'Reawakening... the fact that he reawakened means something happened to him. Maybe he sensed something was off himself and felt that something was strange.'
After much deliberation, Yoo Ji-ah had decided to become an instructor at the Facility.
Choi Hye-yong — the son of her closest friend and the man she had once loved.
He had always deliberately avoided her, and if he happened to run into her while hanging around nearby, he'd openly display his dislike.
But if she were his class instructor, no matter how much he hated it, he wouldn't be able to avoid meeting her.
Even after enrolling in the Facility, he still dodged her just the same — but since she was his instructor, he at least didn't openly broadcast his distaste.
Even so, he still refused and shied away from her help, his heart sealed shut, his abilities stagnating, rejected even by his fellow students, drifting on the periphery. She could only watch it all with a heavy ache in her chest.
After the second semester began, she didn't even have a pretext to seek him out separately, so she had to content herself with sporadic news through other people's lips.
And then, amidst all that, she'd heard from Baek Yun-seo.
That none other than Choi Hye-yong had come to her for firearms training.
The Choi Hye-yong she'd seen afterward looked remarkably well.
His aphasia had completely healed, and he'd regained the sociable warmth he'd had before the catastrophe.
— I-I'm just, it's so sudden... I'm not sure if I should really accept something like this.
The one thing that nagged at her, though... was that Choi Hye-yong treated her like a total stranger.
Even though she'd known him since he was a child — there was no way he wouldn't recognize her.
'I kept some deliberate distance on my end too, since I thought I made him uncomfortable, but still...'
"Fuu."
Sssss.
Click, click!
Having burned the cigarette nearly to the filter, Yoo Ji-ah stubbed it out in the ashtray, then pulled out another and lit it.
"Hup—"
Just then, someone vaulted up and caught hold of a tree branch.
It was Baek Yun-seo.
With her one free arm, she made a quick smoking gesture, then dropped back down.
'I just lit this one.'
Normally she would have walked out properly through the office door, but it wasn't even that high. She pulled out her earphones and opted to jump right out the window instead.
Beneath the bare tree, the two women blew out cigarette smoke.
"You said you were gonna ask the kid today. How'd it go?"
"It's really fascinating. The blessing changes depending on who it's cast on, he says. Calls it an Exclusive Blessing."
"Huh, for real...?"
Baek Yun-seo, marveling with a touch of disbelief, asked again.
"That kid... he really doesn't remember you, does he?"
"It's not an act. He seems to have completely lost his memories. Not even a flicker of discomfort when he looks at me. He even thanked me, said he was able to adjust easily thanks to me."
— And that's all thanks to you, Instructor.
Honestly, hearing those words had made her genuinely happy.
She'd never imagined she would hear something like that from Choi Hye-yong — the boy she'd assumed simply resented her for failing to protect his parents, who had died right before her eyes.
But at the same time, it confirmed it for her.
That he had no memory of her at all.
"Couldn't it be some kind of escape personality, something like that?"
"Either way, it's heartbreaking. It means he was cornered so badly psychologically that it was the only way he could cope..."
"Thought he was just some weird kid. Never expected him to be their son."
In Baek Yun-seo's case, at first she'd simply found him interesting and wanted to know what kind of student he was — so she'd done a light background check.
But one thing had immediately jumped out.
Why, when digging into an ordinary F-rank student, did the name of the Yoon Jun family's shadow organization come up?
Puzzled, she'd dug deeper — and discovered that he was none other than Choi Hye-yong, the boy Yoo Ji-ah had always referred to as being like a nephew to her.
F-rank, Blessing Mage, gloomy demeanor, aphasia.
She'd only known the traits, not the name, and the only info she'd ever heard was F-rank and Blessing Mage — so of course she hadn't recognized him right away.
Naturally, she'd had to tell Yoo Ji-ah.
"What are you going to do?"
"If he can live like that, having forgotten everything... maybe it's for the best."
Yoo Ji-ah exhaled cigarette smoke, her face tangled with a dozen emotions, and said,
"All I've ever wanted is for that child to find his own happiness, and to live a life he can feel satisfied with."
"So it's better for him to live a new life like this? Without even knowing about you?"
"Yes. All I need to do is watch over him. Not as a close friend of his dead parents, but..."
Simply as one instructor who cared for her student.