Chapter 139
Chapter 139
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 139
Chapter Title: Echoes from the Past
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"I have to hustle because I haven't gathered enough magic stones yet. Good luck to you too, senior..."
"Huh? What?! We're parting ways already?!"
At that moment, Song Seung-ah cut off Choi Seo-yoon and shouted. Choi Seo-yoon narrowed her eyes as she looked at her.
"Well, we have to. We haven't gathered nearly enough magic stones."
"No way! It's scary, I said! You drag me here saying you really don't want to go alone, and now this!"
Song Seung-ah burst out in anger. Choi Seo-yoon fell silent, apparently at a loss for words.
Lee Seo-jun, who had been watching the exchange, smiled and spoke up.
"How about we travel together for a bit, then?"
"Really? Is that okay?"
"Yeah. No problem. You don't mind, right?"
Lee Seo-jun turned to Lee Hyun-joo and asked. Lee Hyun-joo stared blankly at Choi Seo-yoon's face before nodding.
"Yeah. It's fine."
With permission granted, Song Seung-ah's expression brightened instantly.
"Hehe. I'll be super quiet so I don't get in the way!"
And so, with this sudden addition to the group, they resumed walking through the forest.
Lee Seo-jun took the lead, followed by Song Seung-ah. Behind her walked Choi Seo-yoon and Lee Hyun-joo side by side.
Lee Hyun-joo glanced cautiously at Lee Seo-jun and Song Seung-ah ahead before whispering to Choi Seo-yoon.
"...You've been avoiding Seo-jun lately."
"Huh?"
Choi Seo-yoon looked at her in surprise at the out-of-nowhere comment.
"You used to follow him everywhere before."
"...I didn't."
"You're in denial. Did you find someone else or what?"
Lee Hyun-joo poked Choi Seo-yoon's side with her elbow. Choi Seo-yoon clamped her mouth shut.
Like that, they passed through the forest and arrived at a new location.
A wide plain. And a massive boulder in a place that looked like ancient ruins might emerge.
Sitting atop the boulder were a familiar man and woman.
The sight of them made Choi Seo-yoon's heart skip a beat.
"Oh. It's Kim Sun-woo and Yoo Ah-ra."
Lee Seo-jun said in a pleased voice.
"You made it?"
Kim Sun-woo spoke as if he'd been waiting forever.
"What do you mean 'made it'? Someone might think we scheduled to meet here."
Kim Sun-woo smiled at Lee Seo-jun's teasing remark.
"But did you two fight or something? Why do you look so serious?"
Lee Seo-jun asked, eyeing Yoo Ah-ra's expression. Choi Seo-yoon followed his gaze. Yoo Ah-ra truly looked grave, as if they'd had a fight.
"You don't need to know."
"...Alright, then."
Just then, Kim Sun-woo's gaze shifted to Choi Seo-yoon.
"Choi Seo-yoon's here too. Traveling together?"
Caught off guard by her name, Choi Seo-yoon stammered a reply.
"Uh, we ran into each other by chance. We were going to split up to hunt monsters, but Seung-ah kept saying it was scary and insisted on sticking together..."
"...I didn't ask for all that."
"Oh."
Choi Seo-yoon let out an embarrassed chuckle.
Kim Sun-woo stared at her intently, his face lost in thought for a moment.
Choi Seo-yoon felt unnecessarily tense. Lately, she'd started reading meaning into every little action like this.
Lee Seo-jun broke the awkward atmosphere.
"Did you guys see the ghosts too?"
"Of course. They're still popping up nonstop."
Lee Seo-jun nodded.
Sure enough, as they drew closer to the forest's center, the ghosts appeared much more frequently.
"But what's the deal with those ghosts?"
Choi Seo-yoon asked Kim Sun-woo. He seemed to ponder briefly before speaking.
"It's something related to time. A type of mana disaster. This island probably has a habit of storing strong emotions and mana beyond a certain level."
"Emotions and mana?"
"Yeah. It recreates illusions of the past based on that. So the ghosts we've seen are people from the past. Pretty far back, too—maybe 20 or 30 years ago."
Everyone nodded at Kim Sun-woo's confident explanation.
No one else, but you could trust Kim Sun-woo's words.
"And the ghosts appear on dates like today, when the Wizard Academy's Taehwi Festival is held."
"Ah, so that's why most of the ghosts we saw were in uniforms. The fear means they had strong emotions. Right?"
"Yeah. Spot on. You get it quick."
Choi Seo-yoon's lips curved up at Kim Sun-woo's praise.
"Who knows? Maybe our current selves will show up as ghosts on this island 20 or 30 years from now."
"Amazing. How do you know all this, senior?"
"You pick it up if you study hard to top the theory rankings."
"...I'm number one in theory too. What kind of studying do you even do?"
It was then.
—You here?
—Yeah. Come on, Yun-kyung, hurry up.
Ghostly voices echoed from somewhere again. Everyone jumped in surprise and looked around.
Soon, a translucent woman appeared from nowhere.
Long, swaying black hair.
A woman with alluring beauty.
—The others?
—Those two should be here soon.
—Really?
"That woman..."
Lee Hyun-joo's expression hardened slightly. Then she turned to check Lee Seo-jun's face. He too stared at the woman with a stiff expression.
—Why'd you pick this spot to meet? It's so stuffy.
—To look for traces of the immortality spell, right? Anyway, those two are hopeless. Especially Choi Il-hyun.
Lee Seo-jun could instinctively tell who she was. And what kind of connection she had to him.
—Lee Yun-kyung. Been waiting long?
—Why're you so late?
Time passed.
The woman vanished like dust. The ghost was gone, leaving only the living behind.
But everyone pondered her face.
The woman's features strongly resembled Lee Seo-jun's.
After the ghost vanished.
All eyes turned to Lee Seo-jun. He stared into the empty space where the ghost had been, lost in complicated thoughts.
The ghost's conversation, the woman who looked just like him, and Choi Il-hyun.
Something felt off. Deep in his chest, he sensed something amiss about this situation.
Lee Hyun-joo watched him carefully before asking in a hesitant voice.
"...That person earlier. Did you recognize her?"
Lee Seo-jun shook his head.
"No. First time seeing her."
"Really? She kinda looked like you."
"Yeah. I thought so too."
Song Seung-ah chimed in.
Even Lee Seo-jun himself had vaguely sensed the resemblance, so he nodded.
"You guys felt it too, huh."
"Could she be your mom?"
Lee Hyun-joo knew Lee Seo-jun had been wrestling with questions about his birth.
It was a sensitive topic, not something to toss out lightly, but knowing his deep concerns, she mustered the courage to say it.
But Lee Seo-jun shook his head.
"It's too much of a leap just because she looks similar."
"Yeah. Fair enough."
"Lee Seo-jun."
Yoo Ah-ra called his name then.
"I saw my dad here too."
"......What?"
"I don't know much about your family, but since I ran into mine here, it might not hurt to keep an open mind."
Lee Seo-jun was slightly taken aback by Yoo Ah-ra's words.
She'd met her father here. A pang of discomfort and bitterness stirred in Lee Seo-jun's chest.
He knew some of Yoo Ah-ra's family history.
What Ja-un had done to them, and how it had wrecked her life.
And now, learning that Jin Cheon-woo, their leader, was connected to him made it all the more unsettling.
What would Yoo Ah-ra do if she found out?
He had no intention of hiding it forever. He'd explain when he was certain about his connection to Jin Cheon-woo.
"So what now? Honestly, I'm over hunting and all that."
Lee Seo-jun nodded in agreement with Yoo Ah-ra.
After something this supernatural, they couldn't just keep hunting like nothing happened.
"Same here."
Kim Sun-woo, who had been quietly observing, spoke up.
"You want to see those ghosts again, right?"
"Yeah."
Yoo Ah-ra nodded, then added in a small voice.
"...If you say we should hunt, I'd tag along since we're a team, but."
"Nah. We've got enough magic stones, so it's fine. Even if we slack off for a few hours, first place is locked in."
Song Seung-ah blinked at Kim Sun-woo's confident claim.
"Only three hours in, and first place is locked? How many did you get?"
"58."
"58?!"
Lee Seo-jun and Choi Seo-yoon's eyes widened as they stared at Kim Sun-woo.
Just three hours since the event started.
That meant catching a monster every three minutes or so. Impossible by normal means.
"Wow. How'd you rack them up that fast? Some magic tool cheat?"
Yoo Ah-ra answered Song Seung-ah's question.
"No idea. I just followed where Kim Sun-woo led, and monsters were everywhere."
"But 58 is insane... We barely got 12."
"Kim Sun-woo is a natural at scaring people."
Lee Seo-jun muttered, shooting Kim Sun-woo a side-eye. Yoo Ah-ra glanced around.
"But when will the ghosts show up again?"
"If we wait, they'll come eventually."
Kim Sun-woo replied curtly. Then he turned to Choi Seo-yoon.
"You guys okay sticking around? Don't you need to hunt more magic stones?"
Choi Seo-yoon met his gaze and shook her head.
"No. We'll stay too. It's not like this is the exam—it's just an event."
"...Fine. Let's wait for ghosts here, then."
"Got it."
Everyone sat down and waited for a ghost to appear.
About ten minutes passed.
—Hey. Come here.
As if on cue, ghostly voices rang out again.
Everyone's eyes snapped toward the sound.
A man was walking along, looking around.
A face familiar to everyone now.
It was Choi Il-hyun from his youth—the practical instructor who had just joined.
—There should be ruins around here. Clues to the immortality spell are this way.
—Really? Let's search quick.
Multiple ghostly voices, but only one visible ghost.
The island's unstable natural mana had failed to fully manifest a complete "vision of the past."
Choi Il-hyun moved onward as if searching for something.
Lee Seo-jun's group silently followed behind.
—Ah! Found it. Here!
Choi Il-hyun shouted loudly at the ground. With those words, his form vanished.
Everyone stood there blankly, puzzled, until Kim Sun-woo stepped forward to the spot Choi Il-hyun had stared at.
"Kim Sun-woo?"
He crouched down, gravely brushing the sand with his palm.
Then he turned to the group.
"I can faintly sense mana here."
"You can sense mana?"
Instead of answering, Kim Sun-woo gathered mana in his hand and released it into the ground.
Something astonishing happened.
Ruuuuumble...
Bright light burst from the earth, revealing a staircase descending below.
Kim Sun-woo dusted off his hands and stood, smiling.
"Ruins discovered."
Having found the ruins, we descended the stairs underground.
The space was so narrow we had to go single file.
I led the way, with Choi Seo-yoon gripping my shoulder right behind me. I wasn't sure who was after her.
As we went down the stairs, I kept feeling her breath on my neck. It tickled, giving me goosebumps.
I finally said something.
"Back off a bit. Your breath tickles."
"Ah. Sorry."
...No need to apologize so formally.
Feeling awkwardly embarrassed, I added as if looking out for her.
"Watch your step so you don't slip."
"...Okay."
I kept descending the stairs.
Everything was unfolding just as I'd hoped, step by step.
Arriving at Ghost Island, linking up with Lee Seo-jun's group, discovering and entering the ruins—all of it.
The raid party was larger than in the original, but it wasn't a big issue.
If anything, sharing one of this dungeon's rewards, the "Grace of Life" effect, might make it even better.
After descending a ways, it grew pitch black, impossible to see ahead.
I conjured a mana orb to light up the surroundings.
A minute later, we reached a long corridor.
[You have entered the 'Boundary Ruins.']
[You have achieved the 'Tracker of the Past' accomplishment.]
[You acquire 3,000 points as a reward.]
Oh. An unexpected accomplishment.
3,000 points. Decent haul—puts me in a good mood. That's when Yoo Ah-ra pushed ahead.
"We made it down, but why isn't this place charted?"