The Boundary of Dreams (8)
As I tightened my grip, the female student’s struggles grew more violent with every squeeze. The badge pinned to her jacket lapel marked her as a second-year senior. I poured strength into my hand until the very edge of crushing bone, then shifted my weight and shoved her hard toward the opposite side of Yeon Minha.
“Kyaaak…!”
“Harin, are you all right?”
“You…!”
Her companions rushed to the girl who had been flung to the ground. Three pairs of eyes immediately locked onto me, brimming with hostility.
“What an insolent little— Who did I think it was? A mere freshman dares lay hands on a senior?”
The student who had risen after brushing off dirt glared at me, teeth grinding. The wrist I had seized was already blooming into a deep, ugly bruise.
“You were the one who reached out first, Senior. Yeon Minha has a mentoring group meeting scheduled shortly and must attend. I would appreciate it if you stepped aside.”
“Ha, what is this…? Yeon Minha. So the rumor about you keeping a dog lately is true?”
The girl snorted, ignoring my words entirely. Blood surged to my head. My fists clenched and unclenched on reflex. I had tried to send them off nicely, but she refused to listen. I took a step forward, closing the distance.
The pressure of our height difference must have hit her; unlike before, panic flickered across her face.
“Hik… W-what do you want?”
“I asked you to move. Or perhaps at this point I should simply—”
“Stop! Stop it right now!”
A loud voice suddenly cut in from behind. Yeon Minha had stepped up beside me. Her face still wore its usual mask of arrogance.
“Hey, Cheon Harin. I’m busy, so get lost. What is this pathetic display? You’ll disgrace the name of the Myeongwon Cheon family.”
“This bitch really—!”
“Didn’t you hear me tell you to scram? If you have a complaint, file for a duel. Or shall we settle it here? Maybe I need to burn that face of yours before you learn your place.”
“Eek…”
The student reflexively touched her cheek. Pure terror filled her expression. It seemed the fear she felt toward Yeon Minha—someone she had already clashed with—was far greater than any wariness toward an insolent freshman.
“Harin, we should go…”
“Ha, birds of a feather. What a perfect pair you two make, Yeon Minha. Don’t think this is over.”
Now outnumbered two to three, the girls’ momentum had visibly collapsed. In the end, Cheon Harin yielded to her companions’ urging and left. She kept glaring at Yeon Minha with pure hatred, grinding her teeth the entire way.
Only then did I turn to check on Yeon Minha. Her perfectly composed, haughty face crumbled the instant our eyes met, betrayed by a tiny flinch.
“What… why…”
“…It’s nothing. But why did you intervene?”
“I-if you touch them here, it becomes a hassle… If you’re going to step on someone, do it in a proper duel… I was only trying to scare them off… or accept a duel application if it came to that…”
Her words matched my own thoughts exactly. We had simply misunderstood, each assuming the other had made the first move. It was surprisingly reassuring to discover she maintained such clear standards. No wonder she had been able to slip away after thoroughly trampling her opponent in their last duel.
“Are you… angry that I cut in? I didn’t mean to… I just…”
“Who would get angry over something like that?”
“…”
She said nothing, only giving me a look that seemed to ask, Then you’re not?
After a brief silence, we began walking in the same direction without either of us taking the lead. After all, the reason Yeon Minha had come here was to attend the mentoring group meeting she herself would preside over.
“I-it wasn’t me…”
“…?”
As we left the rear of the building and walked down the annex corridor, Yeon Minha’s small voice drifted from behind.
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t… start it. They were the ones who picked the fight first…”
Only then did I understand what she was worried about.
Even after the contract was signed, our daily routine had not changed drastically. I now slept in the room next to hers, spreading my Blockade throughout the night, then rose early and slipped out of the beech dormitory grounds before anyone noticed.
I had written “absolute obedience” because I could not think of a better term, yet the actual demands I placed on her were minor: do not initiate fights, refrain from using derogatory language that might provoke others. That was all.
“Who said anything? I can tell just by looking. And I already told you—responding to provocations that come your way is fine.”
“Y-yes…”
“But what was that about a finger?”
“T-that… During a previous duel, I cut it off… It wasn’t like the conditions I set when I fought you… In the heat of the moment I lost control of my strength… It was an accident…”
No wonder her hand had felt strange when I grabbed it earlier. The spot where her pinky finger should have been was empty.
“Heat of the moment?”
“That bitch… I mean, she was insulting my parents… So… I got angry…”
“Is that so? You did well.”
“H-huh…?”
Yeon Minha’s reaction did not seem excessive. It was something worth getting angry over. Besides, it had not been intentional but occurred during a spar. If anything, the other girl had brought it upon herself.
“Who are they?”
“The one earlier—Cheon Harin, that girl—is the successor of the Myeongwon Cheon family… One of the 27 Magic Families. Our families’ business interests overlap, so we clash constantly… And because she’s close with that Baek Seoyeon bitch, it’s gotten even worse lately…”
“…It seems the two of you truly do not get along.”
“How could I like that filthy hypocrite…? And…”
“More importantly, how have your nightmares been lately?”
“H-huh?”
The subject of slander had somehow calmed my mind, so I unconsciously changed the topic.
“…It feels better. I don’t dream at all… I don’t see the shadows anymore… I don’t hear the hallucinations either…”
Fear still lingered beneath Yeon Minha’s attitude toward me. Yet alongside it, I could sense a faint thread of satisfaction.
I had been walking ahead, so I turned briefly to look at her. Her skin was smooth, her hair glossy. The obvious exhaustion that once clung to her face had vanished completely, leaving only her natural beauty behind.
After the contract, the now-resigned Yeon Minha had revealed several additional facts. What the world called the Spirit Mage’s Curse, they referred to internally as Mental Pollution. Yeon Minha suffered from a severe case proportional to her exceptional talent. Even after the pharmaceutical company owned by her mother’s family poured in every resource, they had seen no improvement.
Yet her mental fortitude was truly astonishing. She had spent well over ten years balanced on the boundary between reality and illusion—or something that felt like illusion. She had recently reached her limit, but if I had been exposed to the same environment, could I have held onto my sanity for so long? The answer did not come easily.
It was fortunate there was still room for recovery. At the same time, it reinforced my belief that choosing a forceful approach when I first approached her had been the right decision. Someone with that level of mental strength and pride would never have accepted a leash through ordinary means.
“You mentioned seeing strange things during the day as well. How is it now?”
“It’s fine. I don’t see anything nearby. And I don’t hear anything…”
I was not spreading the Blockade at the moment, only keeping it coiled near my heart, yet the mental strength she had recovered during the night continued to exert a positive influence even in daylight.
“Is that so? That’s good. Then it might be all right to begin adjusting the duration little by little. Since I don’t know the exact timing yet, we can reduce it gradually and—”
“…Hup. W-what…?”
The moment the words left my mouth, fear slowly flooded Yeon Minha’s eyes. It was as if she could not bear even the slightest possibility of witnessing those old illusions again.
“…I misspoke. For the time being we will continue as usual, so forget what I said.”
“…Yes.”
Yeon Minha gave a small nod, as though finally reassured. In an instant she restored her usual arrogant, confident expression.
Before we knew it, we had reached the door of the small conference room. I opened it outward and let her enter first. She flinched in surprise but naturally took the lead. I followed her inside.
About twenty students had already arrived. Roughly half were second-years; the rest wore freshman badges like mine. The number seemed large at first glance, yet when I considered that these were all the people still within the influence of the Red Fire Yeon clan among the five families, the turnout looked utterly shabby.
Moreover, I sensed no genuine human connection between them and Yeon Minha. Half seemed to survive on flattery and sycophancy, while even those who appeared decent gave the impression they were present only because of entangled obligations.
Yeon Minha walked straight to the empty seat of honor with perfect naturalness. Without so much as a conventional greeting, she began conducting the meeting.
“So… what do you think…?”
“About what?”
“This request… I mean.”
After the meeting ended and we left the annex, Yeon Minha asked the question.
“Is my opinion that important?”
“Y-yeah… If you say no, then it’s no, isn’t it…?”
Yeon Minha lifted her gaze slightly as she spoke. The upcoming second request had been the main topic of today’s mentoring group meeting. The request she had brought was a B-grade regular commission—an escort mission for a southern grain company’s transport. Because the volume was so large, a single mentoring group could not handle it alone. She had gathered everyone still faintly within her influence and accepted the commission jointly.
“To be honest, I’m not very inclined.”
But as far as I knew, the south was far from peaceful. I had heard rumors about the southern rebels even back when I lived in the village. If the name had reached all the way to our northern village, its scale needed no explanation.
The People’s Liberation Front. Commonly known as PLF. Every member of its leadership was a powerful dark mage. Unlike ordinary dark mages who hid in the shadows barely surviving, they actively committed terrorism and struggle. They even colluded with demons in an attempt to overthrow the state—traitors.
They incited and deceived the poor masses, swelling their ranks day by day like cockroaches. There were even rumors that their agents had infiltrated the capital itself.
After enlisting in the 66th Brigade, I had faced the reality behind those rumors. By then a PLF branch had already been established in the northeast. They carried out daily terrorism and assassinations to punch holes in the defense line and widen their connection to the demons beyond the barrier.
We had poured considerable effort into the so-called “Northeast Pacification Operation” to eliminate them and the demon spies. Coinciding with that, several subjugation campaigns had taken place in other regions. As far as I knew, their once formidable momentum had now waned, entering a period of calm.
Still, the south had once been little more than the rebels’ headquarters. There seemed no reason to deliberately set foot in such a place.
“W-why…? Come to think of it, you were from the south, weren’t you? Do you know something… Hup.”
Yeon Minha suddenly covered her mouth as if she had made a slip of the tongue. Her complexion turned deathly pale as she kept stealing glances at me. Come to think of it, my fabricated identity had listed the south as my origin. It seemed she had finally run a background check, albeit belatedly.
“…”
I did not know how much she had uncovered, but that level of investigation revealed nothing of real importance. In the cradle such checks were routine, and I was hardly in a position to complain about being investigated.
“U-um, you know…? This is, well…”
Watching her stammer in obvious terror, I decided to simply change the subject.
“It’s fine. The south is where the rebels’ power was strongest, correct? And I understand Ungju Jinling is at the southernmost tip. Hoseo Han Farm? Why would that company choose to establish itself there of all places?”
“…The Masada metropolitan area is already saturated in population, and the climate is too cool for large-scale food production. The eastern development plan was completely scrapped a few years ago after the five calamities erupted. The southern agricultural district is a national project created to overcome that crisis.”
Yeon Minha continued her explanation while cautiously watching my reaction. The Republic’s chronic food shortage was growing worse by the day. To solve it, they had planned large-scale agricultural development in the warm, spacious south. Hoseo Han Farm was the company that won the bid, and one of the few enterprises that still maintained close ties with Red Fire. Therefore this was effectively a designated request for her. For the successor of Red Fire to accept it carried a relationship that went far beyond what was visible. Although the mission was rated B-level, escort duties were always assessed at higher difficulty due to the possibility of ambush; strictly speaking, this request sat at around C-level. Moreover, following the designated route according to established procedures meant the chance of ambush was virtually zero. A large-scale military operation several years ago had nearly annihilated the rebel forces, so even if they were attacked, the threat would likely be nothing more than low-grade monsters native to the south.
“…And even if every one of those risks actually occurred, a successor of the five families refusing a request out of fear would be something worth a hundred years of mockery…”
“…”
There was nothing obviously wrong with her reasoning. In fact, it contained a broader perspective that I lacked. According to Yeon Minha’s explanation, this escort mission could not be dismissed as unimportant relative to its difficulty. If successful, it could become an opportunity to restore her standing to some degree.
Besides, perhaps thanks to her recent recovery, Yeon Minha had begun showing genuine enthusiasm in various cradle activities. Considering my own goals, there was no need to deliberately crush that motivation.
“I understand. Do as you wish.”
“…!”
Joy flooded her eyes, but she quickly suppressed it, forcing her expression back into solemn dignity. It vanished in an instant.
“…Ahem.”
“I’ll be going now. I have some business outside. Then…”
I had attended the meeting; now there was someone I needed to meet. I was about to leave to obtain permission to go out, but Yeon Minha’s face instantly filled with fear.
“W-where…?”
“…Didn’t you say it’s fine during the day?”
“Y-yes, but…”
“Didn’t I tell you? During the day I’m not using that ability anyway. Nothing will happen, so stop worrying needlessly.”
“Who’s worrying—!”
“I’m simply stepping out for a while. I’ll return before it gets too late today.”
Yeon Minha had flared up to argue, but at my next words her head dropped with a small thud.
“…Yes.”
Her body trembled. The sight caused an uncomfortable feeling to rise slowly in a corner of my heart. Every dependent gesture she made was painfully poignant. It dragged me back into a village that no longer existed. No matter how hard I tried to shake it off, the vivid memories continued to cling to me. In her deeply bowed head, I kept seeing someone else overlapping.