Chapter 190
Chapter 190
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 191
Chapter Title: The Mysterious Kim Chang-hyun
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Chapter 191
“The outpost’s mystery must have told you some useless nonsense.”
Kim Chang-hyun said to me with a faint smile.
The fact that he brought up the mystery first suggested he had something to hide, but his tone and demeanor overflowed with composure.
“What did the outpost’s mystery say to you?”
“That it couldn’t see your origins and felt a sense of familiarity from you.”
“I see?”
Kim Chang-hyun’s face returned to its expressionless state as he nodded. He looked lost in deep thought.
I quietly watched Kim Chang-hyun.
Kim Chang-hyun.
Despite his top rank as first in the third years, he was a character who barely appeared in the original story, which was oddly unnatural.
I’d thought he was just an extra whose role had naturally faded away, but that wasn’t the case.
Kim Chang-hyun had a special backstory that wasn’t revealed in the original.
I couldn’t tell if this was a new setting that had been added or just something that had never been disclosed.
But if it was a new addition, this wasn’t something I could simply overlook.
It had the potential to become a major obstacle in future developments.
I used ‘Character Insight’ on Kim Chang-hyun.
Name: Kim Chang-hyun
Age: 19
Race: Human
Status: Tense
Mana Rank: A-
Interest Level: 0
Character Insight revealed nothing unusual in Kim Chang-hyun’s status window. Nineteen years old, human, mana rank A-.
And in my opinion, it’s impossible to deceive Character Insight.
That meant the information on Kim Chang-hyun standing before me was accurate.
What on earth was his true identity?
“Tell me. What’s your true identity?”
Kim Chang-hyun stared at me silently before opening his mouth.
“True identity...”
He muttered to himself, then spoke again.
“Sorry, but I can’t tell you.”
“What?”
“To be precise, I want to tell you, but I can’t.”
He wants to tell me but can’t?
What did that mean?
Was there some kind of restriction?
“Why not?”
“I’m not as free as you are.”
His vague words made me furrow my brow.
“What do you mean, not as free as I am?”
Kim Chang-hyun shook his head.
“As I said earlier, I can’t tell you anything.”
I felt confused.
If he didn’t want to tell me, he could just say so, but this ‘I can’t tell you’ was frustrating.
One thing was clear: Kim Chang-hyun was hiding something.
As I sank into my own thoughts,
“...Hoo. I’m reaching my limit.”
Kim Chang-hyun muttered to himself.
I looked at him, wondering what was wrong, and saw his face had gone pale, as if he were in pain somewhere.
“I should get going.”
“Where are you running off to all of a sudden?”
“I told you. There’s nothing I can say.”
“Hey!”
Was he messing with me right now?
Teasing me with all these questions and then just leaving?
“Oh, and just in case, don’t bother looking for me. Even if you find me, I won’t have anything to say.”
With that, Kim Chang-hyun turned around.
“...See you later.”
With those final words, Kim Chang-hyun reinforced his body with mana and dashed off somewhere.
It was a speed rivaling reinforcement magic, impressive even for a manifestation wizard.
But I had no intention of letting him go just like that.
I compressed my magic to its utmost and fired it at Kim Chang-hyun.
Bang!
But a powerful barrier unfolded around Kim Chang-hyun’s body, blocking my attack.
It was a far more solid form than any magic I’d seen from him before.
A barrier of this caliber wouldn’t be out of place for S-rank.
I stood frozen in place, staring blankly at Kim Chang-hyun’s retreating figure.
As expected, Kim Chang-hyun had been hiding his true power.
And.
Kim Chang-hyun’s speed as he fled was far too fast for me to pursue.
As I was lost in a sea of questions, a message appeared before my eyes.
[The world’s changes have been detected.]
[Causality rate increases by 1.5.]
“......What?”
Why did the causality rate go up?
After finishing things with Kim Chang-hyun, I returned to the dorm. It was already 1 a.m.
Having gone through so much in a single day, I was exhausted both physically and mentally.
“Wahh.”
Gretel greeted me upon hearing the door open.
Not having seen her for three days due to finals made her feel especially welcoming.
“Did you behave?”
Gretel nodded at my question.
Sausage wrappers piled up in her dedicated trash bin in the corner suggested she’d eaten well in my absence.
And over those three days, the yellow hue on the fruit growing from her head had deepened.
It wouldn’t be long before the fruit fully ripened.
My mouth watered in anticipation, but I didn’t let it show.
“You must be tired. Go to sleep.”
Gretel nodded, waddled to her little blanket, flopped down, and fell asleep.
I smiled faintly at her, then grabbed a canned beer from the fridge.
Tomorrow was a holiday, so a little indulgence like this was fine.
Thud.
I sat on the sofa and took a sip of the beer.
“Phew.”
The cool beer sliding down my throat made my fatigue melt away.
At the same time, all sorts of questions flooded my mind.
“...Kim Chang-hyun.”
What was his deal?
The mystery said it couldn’t see Kim Chang-hyun’s origins, just like with me.
Did that mean he was a possessor from another world, like me?
The thought made my head hurt even more.
Another possessor in this world besides me?
“...No.”
Kim Chang-hyun had almost no presence in the original, but he was still a named character.
If he were a possessor, shouldn’t a completely new character appear, like ‘Kim Sun-woo’ did?
Of course, it was just speculation.
It was possible someone from another world had possessed the existing Kim Chang-hyun.
“But what’s with the mystery feeling familiarity?”
Hmm.
No matter how much I thought about it, no answers came. The more I pondered, the deeper into the maze I fell.
I had several hypotheses about the mystery, but they were just hypotheses, leading nowhere.
Maybe a human created by the mystery. Or one infused with its power.
There was already a disease called ‘mystery fever’ from having mystery inside one’s body, so it wasn’t impossible.
“...Should I use that?”
I activated Outsider’s Benefit to check my ‘Authorities.’
［Authorities］
Dimensional Observation [Causality 10]
—You can briefly observe all dimensions and timelines you’ve experienced.
With the original story’s flow clearly altered now, it felt like the time had come to use it.
I had a strong feeling that using it would unravel one of the world’s secrets.
The observation point would be before regression, at the moment Lee Seo-jun died.
“...It’s a shame.”
Causality 10.
It would use up nearly all my causality rate.
Hesitation was inevitable after painstakingly saving it over nearly a year.
“Ugh...”
No helping it.
It was time for a bold decision.
Hoarding it and letting a bigger disaster strike could be worse.
I immediately activated Dimensional Observation.
[Causality 10 consumed.]
[Authority ‘Dimensional Observation’ activated.]
Woooong....
Using the authority, I felt a new energy I hadn’t known about coursing through my body and skin.
Then, moments later, mana began rapidly draining from my body.
I’d somewhat expected mana consumption with authority use, so I wasn’t surprised.
“Huh?”
But as time passed, the mana drain accelerated.
At this rate, it was more than using Rune Binding and Mana Storm simultaneously.
And.
“Gah!”
Naturally, this level of mana drain was beyond what I could handle.
Shoooo!
Unable to contain the mana pouring out, my whole body went limp, and I fell into mana exhaustion.
[Insufficient mana. ‘Dimensional Observation’ terminated.]
[Causality 10 refunded.]
“Damn it. What the hell?!”
I’d psyched myself up to use the causality, only for this completely unexpected result.
I never dreamed mana shortage would cause failure.
Judging by the drain speed, even using Heart of Nature and Battle Lust together wouldn’t help.
In other words, Dimensional Observation was impossible with normal methods.
“Wow. This is ridiculous.”
Then why have authorities? Why have causality?
In my stunned daze, Gretel, seemingly woken from sleep, stared at me with blank eyes.
She must have been roused by my muttering.
“Sorry. Go back to sleep.”
Time flew by, and it was Monday.
The first week after finals—the last exam of the second semester—began.
As expected, with all school exams over, the atmosphere turned into a playground.
It had been bad after first semester, but this marked the end of the year, so it was worse.
After lunch, a small commotion stirred among the students.
“Hey, Lee Seo-jun. Rumor has it Kim Chang-hyun sunbae isn’t showing up for the third-year graduation. Is it true?”
Lee Seo-jun nodded at Shin Young-jun’s question.
“Probably. I heard from the teachers during the closing ceremony—he’s not coming.”
“Yeah? He didn’t come to school today either.”
Pretending to check my smart student handbook, I eavesdropped on their conversation.
Whether due to what happened with me or not, Kim Chang-hyun hadn’t come to school today.
Rumor had it he wouldn’t show up until graduation.
“But it doesn’t matter. Graduation’s already confirmed, so no need to show.”
“Still, as third-year rep, he should for image management.”
I tuned out their talk and looked out the window.
Through the free period, I saw students playing on the sports field.
Cool wind slipped through the window cracks. Autumn was ending, winter approaching.
Between regression and all these incidents, the school year was nearly over.
‘Winter break soon.’
I slowly recalled the events slated for this winter break.
Like last summer, major incidents would erupt.
Two came to mind immediately.
One was life-threateningly dangerous.
Thinking of them darkened my vision.
No, before dealing with those, other matters were piling up.
“Sigh.”
When would I get through it all?
If only days were 48 hours.
“Why the heavy sighs?”
As my vision clouded thinking of the future, Yu Ara unexpectedly spoke to me.
“Just. Kinda tired.”
Yu Ara glared at me before sitting in the seat next to mine.
“I saw the confirmed article about your Sacred Martial Tournament qualification. School made it official too.”
“Yeah?”
No grades out yet, but I wasn’t surprised—it was expected.
Missing qualification after that performance would be weirder.
“And they say you could take first.”
First place. Might be doable if things went well.
Though while I was resting from mana exhaustion at the end, Lee Seo-jun pulled off a huge feat against the bosses worth the most points, so who knew.
...Wait.
If Lee Seo-jun and I took first and second? Then...
“You’d be third? First time, right?”
“...What are you saying?”
Yu Ara panicked and shot me a glare.
Then, moments later, she glanced at me as if she had something to say.
“But that storm form you used in finals—was it applying simultaneous manifestation? Or dispersed form?”
Yu Ara asked in a subtle tone.
I wondered why she was talking to me, and this was it.
Defeated in the exam, but her thirst for knowledge was impressive.
“Both. Use simultaneous manifestation as a base, then disperse into multiples.”
Yu Ara’s eyes widened at my answer.
“...Is that possible?”
“Yeah. It is.”
I thought it impossible too, until I spent the points.
Soon, Yu Ara’s face turned serious as she pondered.
Simulating post-simultaneous manifestation dispersion in her head, probably.
Moments later, her expression soured, as if it wasn’t clicking.
“How did you pull that off?”
As if it’d be easy.
It was a 120,000-point ability, after all.