Chapter 296
Chapter 296
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 297
Chapter Title: After the Jungle Annihilation Battle
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With the additional exams held over the two days following the Jungle Annihilation Battle serving as the finale, the final exams came to an end.
The official results haven't been announced yet, but since I delivered an overwhelming performance in the 'Jungle Annihilation Battle'—the main event of the third-year exams—most people are speculating that I'll take first place.
And today, videos of my performance in the final exams hit the internet.
+Video Comments+
［Whoa, that's insane—what the hell is that? Dude's just pulling off crazy stunts?］
［Shooting a rainstorm spell from up in the sky? Totally nuts;;］
［I wanna see him go head-to-head with Lee Seo-jun.］
1_［Last year when they fought, Lee Seo-jun beat him］
1_［You can tell Kim Sun-woo went easy on him though］
As you can see, the reactions from people are explosive.
The flashy rainstorm spell fired off from mid-air has that cool factor that really gets the general public fired up.
And then.
「Wizard Academy's Kim Sun-woo Delivers One-Man Show with Unconventional Combat in Final Exams. First Place Frontrunner」
「Half a Year Until Graduation... Battle for the Five Great Wizard Guilds' Recruitment of 'Kim Sun-woo' Begins」
「Exceptional Spell Formula Comprehension; Enlightenment Runes Joins the Recruitment War」
'Korean Wizard Academy's BIG 3: Lee Seo-jun, Kim Sun-woo, Yoo Ah-ra. Special Task Force Career Path in Sight...'
Articles featuring me keep popping up one after another.
As a result, I've racked up a decent amount of points and karma.
[You've accomplished the achievement 'Receiving Attention from Bigwigs.']
[You've acquired 10,000 points as a reward.]
[A small change in the future has been detected.]
[Karma increases by 0.5.]
I was staring at the messages in front of me, waiting for the next class to start, when...
“Sometimes you just space out like this.”
Yoon Ha-young's voice came from beside me. I snapped out of it and turned my head.
“Huh? What?”
“Sometimes you just stare off into space all blankly.”
She waved her palm back and forth in front of my face and let out a small laugh.
“Like there's something right there in front of you.”
“Ah~ Just thinking about something for a sec.”
I dismissed the message window and shrugged like it was nothing.
Yoon Ha-young stared at me intently, then nodded and stretched her arms way up.
“Mmm~ Vacation's almost here.”
“Yeah.”
Summer vacation starts in two weeks. Just like always, once vacation begins, a bunch of major incidents are bound to pop off.
So unlike the other students, I'm not exactly looking forward to it.
“Sun-woo. Wanna gather up the gang and go have some fun over vacation?”
“Have fun?”
“This is our last summer break, after all. Gotta make some memories~ With Ah-ra, Seo-jun, Young-jun, kids like that. Ah! Or wanna come over to my place? There's a lake right nearby?”
Our last summer break...
“Dunno. Might be too busy with career practice.”
All third-years have to do their chosen career practice over break.
That's why I'll still be seeing Lee Seo-jun and Yoo Ah-ra around the Special Task Force during vacation.
Yoon Ha-young let out a sigh of disappointment.
“But you're not going in every day, right?”
“On top of that, I've got a ton of personal stuff to handle. And...”
I glanced around at the nearby eyes and whispered softly.
“We've gotta subjugate some demons together.”
“...Huh? Even over break?”
“Told you before. I'm gonna take down as many demons as possible before graduation.”
“You sure that's okay? With the Demon Gate stuff and all, surveillance has gotten way tighter lately.”
The Demon Gate incident is still under investigation by the Association.
No updates have leaked outside due to security concerns, but their probe has probably made solid progress by now.
The identities of the other Demon corporations will probably come to light soon.
“It's fine. I've got ways...”
That's when it happened. A message alert pinged from my smart student notebook.
［Sunbae-nim, I seriously panicked in the moment and gave a lame answer.］
［We went out for meals with Seung-ah in between, watched movies on the notebook, stuff like that?］
It was a message from Choi Seo-yoon.
She was trying to explain(?) away her seven-hour nap during the final exams.
She must be worried it'd make her look like a weirdo.
The way she's keep trying to clarify, she really seems wronged about it.
［Yeah, sure］
A reply came back almost immediately.
［What? You don't believe me (angry muscle bunny emoticon)］
“...Even if I say I do, she'll probably react like that.”
“Who is it?”
Yoon Ha-young asked as she peered at my smart student notebook.
“Choi Seo-yoon.”
“Ah, somehow I figured...”
Yoon Ha-young muttered under her breath. I glanced at her, then typed a reply.
[I really believe you.]
I sent the message and pocketed the notebook again. Another alert came in, but I didn't bother checking it.
“Kim Sun-woo.”
Yoo Ah-ra appeared in front of us without a sound.
“What?”
“You still in touch with my sister?”
“Sister?”
Yoon Ha-young perked up with keen interest at Yoo Ah-ra's words.
Yoo Ah-ra continued.
“I heard a rumor she observed the B Team exam. If that's true, she came to see you.”
“Dunno if she came to see me specifically, but we do chat occasionally.”
Very occasionally, though we'd started talking again recently because of the exams.
“...What do you guys talk about?”
Yoo Ah-ra asked with deep interest. But there's no reason to tell her about stuff involving Kim Chang-hyun.
That can wait.
“Secret.”
That afternoon, after all classes ended.
I was walking alone through a bustling street in Seoul. The roads were packed with people since it coincided with rush hour.
“...Isn't that Kim Sun-woo?”
“Nah, no way he'd walk around so openly like that.”
As I walked, I kept overhearing voices from people spotting me.
Ever since those incidents, I've definitely gotten more famous—lately, way more people recognize me.
Maybe I should start wearing a hat or sunglasses?
“Kim Sun-woo.”
When I arrived at the meeting spot, a voice called out to me.
A tall woman with long hair, wearing a black hat pulled low—Yoo A-yeon—was looking at me.
She'd pulled the hat down to avoid drawing eyes, but with her height and slim figure, it just made her look more mysterious and eye-catching.
“You're 30 seconds late.”
Yoo A-yeon tapped her wristwatch as she spoke.
“Cut me some slack for that much.”
“Kidding. Lots of eyes on us—let's move quick.”
Yoo A-yeon smirked and pointed to the car parked behind her.
I got into Yoo A-yeon's car. It pulled into a quiet alley with few people around and stopped.
“Like I mentioned in the message last time, I learned a few things while investigating Kim Chang-hyun.”
Yoo A-yeon picked up some documents from the back seat and handed them to me.
I took them and checked the contents right away.
There were four photos on the documents.
All of them showed Kim Chang-hyun, apparently captured on CCTV.
I examined the photos closely.
“When were these taken?”
“After Kim Chang-hyun graduated, so over the past seven months.”
“Seven months...”
I looked at the photos. The seasons were all different, judging by the clothing.
“Not in Korea, from the backgrounds.”
“Yeah, China, India, Greenland, Egypt. Dude's traveling the world or something—he's been all over.”
“Hmm...”
If only I could guess from the original story's memories, but nothing comes to mind. Even in the original, there was no common thread with those places.
Why did Kim Chang-hyun go to those countries?
Flipping to the next page, I saw his approximate travel route.
Records of the places he'd visited were there too.
Ruins, ancient spell formula books...
That's when Yoo A-yeon spoke up.
“I think Kim Chang-hyun's wandering around looking for some kind of spell formula.”
“A spell formula?”
“All the places he's been to have had ruins discovered recently. And those sites always had fragments of some spell formula drawn as murals on the walls.”
Fragments of a spell formula?
As I made a puzzled face, Yoo A-yeon continued.
“Exactly what it sounds like—fragments of a spell formula. In other words, incomplete spell formulas.”
“I get that much. But even fragments, you can usually tell what they are roughly.”
“According to a mysticism scholar I know, they seem like soul transplant spell formulas.”
“...Soul transplant spell formula?”
A soul transplant spell formula...
“Wait, you sure?”
“Yeah, she said so definitively. You know something about it?”
According to the original story, Jin Cheon-woo already knew about soul transplant spell formulas.
And there's no way his apostle, Kim Chang-hyun, wouldn't know them too.
“Any records on those spell formula fragments?”
“Flip a few pages ahead.”
I flipped through the documents quickly. About five pages in...
Four more photos appeared, just like before.
Each showed complex spell formulas painted on walls like murals.
Individually, they were incomplete, but vaguely, I could tell these four fragments formed one whole.
And.
Using an outsider's perk to combine the four incomplete spell formulas, an imperfect but roughly complete form took shape in my mind.
Just as Yoo A-yeon said, it resembled a soul transplant spell formula.
But there were major differences in the details.
The reason was simple. This wasn't a soul transplant spell formula.
This spell formula's true nature was a summoning spell for souls—a kind of necromancy.
‘Necromancy...’
Necromancy is a major magic that's heavily featured in the original story.
It was used when Lee Seo-jun met his mother, and it came up as Ja-un's means to revive Jin Cheon-woo.
But this spell formula had stark differences from the standard necromancy I knew.
It felt designed not for an ordinary human soul, but to call forth something else entirely.
If the spell formula had been complete, I could've figured out what it was, but with just these four fragments, it's impossible.
“Figure something out?”
I shook my head at Yoo A-yeon's question.
“It's definitely something related to souls. But with only four fragments, I can't pin down exactly what spell formula it is.”
“Hmm. Figures...”
Yoo A-yeon nodded and said to me.
“Got it. If any new info turns up, I'll let you know.”
Time flew by, and a week passed.
The usual peaceful days rolled on, and as summer vacation drew near, the students were buzzing with plans about trips and training regimens.
Most third-years had career practice ahead, so unlike the first- and second-years, they weren't over-the-moon excited.
Still, only going in three days a week was a big relief for the students.
And then, the final exam scores—which carry the heaviest weight in the overall grades—were announced.
[3rd Year Final Evaluation Scores]
[Kim Sun-woo][3-A]
［Practical - 1st］
［Theory - 1st］
［Final Total - 3rd］
[You've accomplished the 'Final Top 3' achievement.]
[You've acquired 15,000 points as a reward.]
Thanks to my dominant performance in the Jungle Annihilation Battle, I overtook Shin Young-jun for overall third place.
It was the expected—no, obvious—result, so I wasn't especially thrilled.
Still, scoring an unexpected 15,000 points put me in a good mood.
Just from this exam alone, I'd netted over 30,000 points.
Shin Young-jun, who'd held overall third before, reacted with a hollow look like he'd half-expected it, but he coolly acknowledged his loss and congratulated me.
Lee Seo-jun congratulated me on taking practical first, but the fierce competitive fire in his eyes—the vow not to lose next time—somehow put me on edge.
Yoo Ah-ra, seeing me close in tight, was amping up her training to the wee hours every day out of extreme tension.
The peaceful days continued.
No announcements on the Demon Gate incident that had felt primed to blow up, and Ja-un—who'd terrorized citizens into fear—had gone quiet, up to who-knows-what.
In what seemed like an endless stretch of calm...
The day before vacation began, news hit that would turn the world upside down.
［Breaking News］ Hanseong Group Chairman Han Dae-hyun Passes Away
Han Dae-hyun was dead.