Chapter 216
Chapter 216
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 217
Chapter Title: Revelations from Yoo Ah-yeon
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After finishing the dinner that Yoo Ah-yeon had prepared, I set down my utensils.
A pleasant sense of fullness made my body feel light, almost floating.
The menu she had put together was a Western-style steak along with various stir-fried dishes.
Honestly, I hadn't expected much, but it was so good I would've happily paid for it.
Of course, with something like steak, as long as the quality of the meat is good, it's hard to mess it up since you're just grilling it.
But the aroma wafting from the meat, and the juices bursting out with every bite—they told me that someone who really knew how to cook had prepared it.
"That was delicious. It was perfect for my taste."
At my words, Yoo Ah-yeon revealed a satisfied smile.
"I'm glad. I wasn't sure what you'd like, so I went with the most popular options."
Unless you're a vegetarian, meat dishes rarely fail.
I took a sip of water and said to her,
"Then, shall we get into the main conversation now?"
"Sure. That's exactly what I was hoping for."
As Yoo Ah-yeon replied, she stood up from her seat.
I followed suit and rose as well.
Yoo Ah-ra, who had been sitting across from me, blinked in surprise at the sudden development.
"Where are you going? We can talk right here."
"This isn't something for casual chit-chat."
At Yoo Ah-yeon's words, a look of bewilderment settled on Yoo Ah-ra's face.
Yoo Ah-yeon gave me a glance that said to follow her, then walked down the hallway.
I trailed behind her. Soon enough, we arrived in front of a door at the end of the corridor.
Creak.
The door opened.
Yoo Ah-yeon and I stepped inside.
Yoo Ah-ra, who had been following us, tried to enter the room as well.
At that moment, Yoo Ah-yeon stopped her.
"Ah-ra."
When Yoo Ah-yeon called out, Yoo Ah-ra let out a sigh.
". . . Fine. I'll go, okay?"
Yoo Ah-ra grumbled in a disappointed tone before disappearing somewhere.
Thud.
The door closed, leaving just Yoo Ah-yeon and me.
"Now we're finally alone."
Yoo Ah-yeon sat down in a chair by the table. I sat in the chair opposite her.
"So, please tell me what you know about the Seonhyeon family."
At my words, Yoo Ah-yeon fell into thought for a moment before speaking.
"Before that, I'd like you to tell me why you were investigating the Seonhyeon family. That way, I can decide what to share. I'm only at the suspicion stage myself, after all."
. . . Suspicion stage?
Suspicious of what, exactly?
Curiosity flared up for a moment, but I decided to mix in just enough truth and tell her what I knew.
"After finals ended, I happened to see some magic that Senior Kim Chang-hyeon was using."
". . . Kim Chang-hyeon?"
A puzzled look crossed Yoo Ah-yeon's face. She clearly hadn't expected Kim Chang-hyeon's name to come up.
". . . What kind of magic was it?"
"It looked like something an S-Rank wizard would use."
"By that logic, you do the same thing. I clearly saw you manifesting golden mana, even if it wasn't perfect."
. . . She had a point; I had nothing to say to that.
"Ahem. It takes me at least two minutes of compressing my mana as much as possible, but he pulled it off effortlessly."
Yoo Ah-yeon lapsed into thought.
"You're saying Kim Chang-hyeon is an S-Rank wizard? Hmm. Now that you mention it, that does seem off. There've been no cases of anyone reaching S-Rank at that age so far."
"Yeah, so out of personal curiosity, I looked into Senior Kim Chang-hyeon. That's how I learned about the Seonhyeon family."
I pulled a photo from my pocket. I decided to show her all my cards, as long as it didn't make me look suspicious.
"Do you recognize this photo by any chance?"
The photo I pulled out was one of Kim Chang-hyeon from his childhood.
Yoo Ah-yeon stared at it with a suddenly serious expression.
"Where did you get this? It's Kim Chang-hyeon, right?"
"Yes. I got it from the Seonhyeon family estate. It was hidden behind a magic lock."
"You even infiltrated their estate? That's weird, though. When I looked into him, there was nothing suspicious or off about Kim Chang-hyeon. Even when I talked to him three years ago, he didn't seem like anything was wrong."
". . . You investigated Kim Chang-hyeon?"
At my question, Yoo Ah-yeon shook her head.
"Not exactly me personally. Back when I was on the Special Task Force, I came across it in a classified document."
That caught me off guard a little.
A classified Special Task Force document.
That meant there was something about the Seonhyeon family worth the Association pursuing.
I decided to show her the writing on the back of the photo while I was at it.
Maybe she'd know what it meant.
"Do you know what this inscription means?"
I handed her the photo, flipping it over.
[Only about a year left until the promised time. I'll visit in a week. 2018/4/22]
Yoo Ah-yeon's expression hardened instantly. Her pupils dilated, and her usually steady fingertips began to tremble.
It looked like she'd figured out the hidden meaning in the photo.
"So you do know what this inscription means."
". . . Whew. Yeah, I do. And seeing this photo confirms it for me."
Yoo Ah-yeon gripped the photo and examined the inscription again. Then she pointed to one part with her finger.
". . . See the date here?"
I could see it.
2018.
"And it says only a year is left."
I nodded.
"That means the writer of this note was hinting at some event in 2019. Think about what happened in 2019, and you'll understand what it means."
2019—that was 14 years ago.
14 years ago . . .
My thoughts ground to a halt.
. . . No way.
"Looks like something just clicked for you."
It had. But the unbelievable truth left me silently closing my mouth.
Even so, my mind had already locked in on the identity of the note's writer.
Yoo Ah-yeon nodded and continued.
"2019 was the year Ja-un and Jin Cheon-woo were defeated by Chairman Kim Jin-cheol."
I looked back at the inscription with trembling eyes.
Once the truth dawned, details I'd overlooked started jumping out.
The familiar handwriting.
The traces of a soul that the mysteries of reinforcement spells told me couldn't be called by photography.
. . . Jin Cheon-woo. You again?
". . . Impressive. You've already dug this deep?"
Choi Il-hyeon looked at Lee Seo-jun and murmured in quiet admiration.
Lee Seo-jun inwardly panicked at those words.
. . . Dug this deep?
It carried the nuance that the Seonhyeon family was connected to Jin Cheon-woo.
In that brief moment, countless thoughts raced through Lee Seo-jun's mind.
Why was the Seonhyeon family, which Kim Sun-woo had been investigating, linked to Jin Cheon-woo?
And why had Kim Sun-woo been looking into the Seonhyeon family?
Come to think of it, this must've been why Yoo Ah-yeon had briefly suspected Kim Sun-woo of being Ja-un . . .
Choi Il-hyeon spoke first.
"Now that you've figured it out that far, no point hiding the rest. Fine. I'll tell you what I know. By the way, this is top secret even within the Association, so don't tell the old man I spilled."
Lee Seo-jun nodded with a tense expression.
". . . Where to start. I don't know much about the Seonhyeon family myself. But after Jin Cheon-woo's defeat, the Association uncovered one organization connected to him."
"That was the Seonhyeon family?"
"Right. They were conducting some kind of experiment with Jin Cheon-woo. Without even Ja-un knowing, apparently. But after his defeat, they sealed away all their records ahead of time, so we couldn't find out what the experiment was."
"Everyone involved in the experiment had already died from mystery fever by then."
Deaths from mystery fever.
That was something I'd already known from news articles.
"Was the experiment about immortality?"
"No idea. But personally, I don't think it was related to immortality. Because . . ."
Choi Il-hyeon trailed off for a moment, then shook his head.
"Never mind. Forget I said that."
Lee Seo-jun sank back into thought.
Choi Il-hyeon had cleared up a lot of questions, but a few still lingered.
"I understand Senior Kim Chang-hyeon is a survivor of the Seonhyeon family. Didn't the Association investigate him? Surely talking to him would've turned up something."
"Kim Chang-hyeon was too young at the time. And he knew nothing about the experiment. We checked him for anything suspicious and tailed him for a long time."
"And nothing came up?"
"Yeah. The kid lived like he was completely clueless for years. With no leads despite constant surveillance, the Association concluded he wasn't involved. They wrapped up the investigation into Jin Cheon-woo's experiments at the same time."
The Association doesn't jump to conclusions lightly.
For them to have done so meant Kim Chang-hyeon really might have no connection to Jin Cheon-woo.
"Haa . . ."
Lee Seo-jun let out a pained sigh.
The unexpected story left his mind reeling with questions.
But one thing was clear: the Seonhyeon family was tied to Jin Cheon-woo.
And Kim Sun-woo was pursuing that family for some reason.
'Kim Sun-woo . . .'
Why was he after the Seonhyeon family?
Could it be that his unusually proactive help had some other motive?
After wrapping up my conversation with Yoo Ah-yeon, I left the Yoo family estate.
The chilly night air brushed against my face.
I blankly gazed up at the darkened night sky.
A brightly shining moon and stars.
Seeing them brought a flood of thoughts.
What is this world, exactly?
How many secrets does it hide that I don't know about?
Do that moon and those stars up there even really exist?
. . . Caught up in such philosophical musings, I realized they were pointless and sighed deeply before stepping forward.
As I walked along the road, I heard the creak of a door opening behind me.
Soon, footsteps rushed toward me, and someone fell into step beside me with a patter.
I glanced sideways.
". . . Why'd you follow me?"
"To see you off. You're a guest."
Yoo Ah-ra's unexpected reply left me briefly dumbfounded.
The excuse . . .
She was just curious about what we'd talked about with her sister.
It was an uncharacteristically cute side of Yoo Ah-ra, but I decided to play along without comment.
And so, Yoo Ah-ra and I walked side by side down the night path.
With no one else around, the silence stretched on.
Yoo Ah-ra glanced at me cautiously before asking point-blank,
"What did you talk about with my sister? It seemed pretty important."
"Secret talk."
At my curt reply, Yoo Ah-ra made her signature frustrated face.
I couldn't help chuckling inwardly at the urge to tease.
"So what secret?"
"I'll tell you later when you're older."
". . . Anyone would think you're the older one."
Yoo Ah-ra muttered in a dissatisfied tone.
I responded with a small laugh instead of words.
"Ah, come on, tell me."
"You're still not giving up? I said later."
"Ah, that's not fair!"
Yoo Ah-ra, who had been walking alongside me, stopped in her tracks.
"Fine. Go on alone."
With that, she whipped her head around and headed back toward the estate.
The next day.
The day before school started, I visited the Wizard Academy for the first time in a while.
Not for anything else—to unpack my things in the dorm ahead of time.
"Gretel, you have to stay quiet even if it's cramped, okay?"
"Nngae."
Since I'd be living in the dorms, Gretel had to come along too, so I'd snuck her into my backpack.
It'd be great if I could permanently relocate her with summoning magic, but summons return to their original spot when the spell ends, so no dice.
If it weren't for the fact that Gretel being Kim Jin-woo's summon from the dungeon mine was still a secret, I wouldn't have to go to these lengths. A bit of a shame.
"Hmm. More people here than I expected."
I slowly took in the scenery of the Wizard Academy.
With only a day until classes began, there were plenty of students like me hauling luggage.
It finally started to feel real that the new semester was right around the corner.
I scanned the area for any familiar faces when a familiar voice called from behind.
"Senior?"
Turning around, I saw a silver-haired girl drawing everyone's eyes, blinking up at me.
"Ah, Seol-ah."
"Ah, hello, Senior."
Eun Seol-ah bowed politely. She didn't seem shy or awkward like before.
Still, from how she subtly minded the stares, it seemed she wasn't fully over it—just more comfortable around me.
"You here to move in your stuff too, Senior?"
"Yeah. You as well, I take it. How do you feel about dorm life from now on?"
"Excited but nervous. It's my first time living away from home . . ."
Eun Seol-ah smiled shyly.
"You'll adjust fine. The first bit is tough, but after a week . . ."
"Ungae."
Uh-oh.
Eun Seol-ah blinked and tilted her head.
"Didn't you hear a baby crying nearby?"
"Huh? No, I didn't hear anything."
". . . Really? Maybe I imagined it."
"Ung, why would a baby be h—"
"Nngae."
As the voice sounded again, Eun Seol-ah looked around.
". . . I swear I just heard it again."
"R-Really? Maybe someone brought a baby? Haha."
Saying that, I slowly backed away.
"Ah, it's getting late. I gotta run—see you!"
"Ah! Yes! Take care!"
Eun Seol-ah bowed politely once more.
I half-jogged forward, then swung my backpack around to the front and opened it.
"Ongae."
Gretel was hiccuping.