Chapter 48
Chapter 48
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: The Hidden Stage
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As she stepped forward, the excited gazes of several male students turned toward her. They all looked like they were hoping she'd pick them.
"Wow, why am I so nervous about this?"
"Yeah, I wonder who she'll pair with."
The question was whether she'd pick Lee Seojun.
At that moment, Choi Seoyun drew a lot.
Choi Seoyun stared at it with a blank expression.
She looked a bit flustered.
One thing was clear—that expression wasn't joy.
According to the original story's description, her face had lit up the instant she drew the lot. That meant she'd drawn someone other than Lee Seojun.
And then Choi Seoyun's gaze turned toward me.
Time passed, and all the teams were formed. The team compositions were completely different from the original.
Especially Lee Seojun's partner—it was a seriously headache-inducing match-up.
His partner was Jang Ye, daughter of Jang Han.
Jang Ye had been acting so inscrutably lately that she was already giving me a migraine, and now I worried something bad might happen to Lee Seojun because of this.
"Senior, you've been glancing at someone since earlier?"
Apparently, I'd been too obvious about focusing on Lee Seojun.
Choi Seoyun, sitting next to me, followed my gaze to him.
"Ah..."
Choi Seoyun nodded as if realizing something.
"You wanted to be on the same team as Senior Park Minye. Sorry. It's my fault for picking you..."
"What are you talking about?"
Choi Seoyun giggled playfully at my response.
Park Jungwan looked around at the students and spoke.
"Since it's the first day, we'll end the special class here. Now, about the next schedule. The next special class will be outdoors on Tuesday. Gather in front of the bus stop at the main gate by 7 p.m. That's all."
The special class's first gathering ended.
I was in the mana training room, deep into mana training.
After about four hours, I opened my eyes.
[Mana has increased by 0.01.]
[Due to the Blessing of Great Nature effect, you gain an additional 0.015 mana.]
[Blessing of Great Nature proficiency has increased by 3%.]
"Hmm... It's not going well."
I'd been putting a lot of time into magic training and mana practice lately, but I still hadn't unlocked the additional trait from the 'Secret Art of Evolution and Adaptation.'
Physical stats were easy—I could push my body to the limit and gain traits quickly—but mana wasn't something I could grind that way, so it was tough.
There were no shortcuts to acquiring Evolution and Adaptation traits.
I just had to work harder.
I stood up.
It was already 10 p.m.
Time to head back to the dorms.
As I opened the door to leave the mana training room, I spotted Yoo Ara training alone.
She always seemed to be training whenever she came here.
If it was just about effort, she was unparalleled at the Magic Academy.
'Come to think of it, today was Yoo Ara's episode.'
The one where she gets caught in the Seoul Station terrorist attack.
It revealed her backstory and strengthened her bond with Lee Seojun—an important episode. But I'd erased it by dealing with Jo Sung-hoon's gang last week.
"Is it okay for the plot to change like this?"
Yoo Ara and Choi Seoyun. With their exceptional talents, they were essential allies for Lee Seojun.
Even aside from the story progression, the number of his allies directly affected his survival rate, so I had to care.
No matter how much I intervened in the story and took down the villains, if Lee Seojun died, it was all over.
I hoped these two would get closer to him than they were now.
"Sigh."
As I let out a deep sigh, an alarm rang from my smart student notebook.
[Senior, just to confirm—please don't be late next week!!]
It was Choi Seoyun. She'd said she wouldn't message me anymore, but here she was again.
If I ignored this one, she'd really get upset, so I replied.
[Got it.]
It might seem insincere, but better than ghosting.
As I went to put the notebook away, another message alarm went off.
[Guys, you know we have dungeon exploration class tomorrow, right?]
[Yeah! It's been a while~]
[Let's do great! Hehe]
"...Right."
I'd forgotten—tomorrow was dungeon exploration class.
We skipped it last week because of exams, so this time it was the 4th floor.
"Hmm."
The artificial dungeon's 4th floor reminded me of a pretty important event from the original.
The hidden special device on the 4th floor.
Lee Seojun gets caught up in an incident because of it.
I could avoid it if I wanted, but I had no intention of doing so.
On the contrary, I planned to use this incident to my advantage.
'To do that, I need to prepare in advance.'
I left the training grounds. Not heading to the dorms, but to the school store.
"Brr, cold."
The next day, Thursday.
Dungeon exploration class started as scheduled. As we entered the 4th floor, a biting cold wind blew.
Who knew where the wind was coming from in an underground cave, but dungeons got like this the deeper you went.
Scorching hot, freezing cold. Pitch black or blindingly bright.
"Should've brought thicker clothes."
"Yeah."
Shin Ji-hyeok and Jeong Jin-tae huddled up. Next to me, Yoon Ha-young sniffled with a runny nose.
"Guys, let's move and warm up."
Even the once-in-a-generation genius Lee Seojun was human and couldn't handle the cold.
"Hey, aren't you cold?"
Jeong Jin-tae glanced at me and asked.
"I'm fine."
[Your body is adapting to the cold!]
My Secret Art of Evolution and Adaptation was blocking the chill.
"...Man, you're weird. I'm freezing my butt off."
We pressed deeper into the dungeon, enduring the cold.
The wind grew stronger, and soon the floor was iced over and slippery.
Just as I started feeling the chill myself, a message appeared.
[Your body has fully adapted to the cold!]
[Adaptive trait, 'Cold Resistance (F)', has been added.]
"Oh."
A new trait.
Cold Resistance.
As the name suggested, the chill vanished from my body again. I could probably handle it even without my outer layer now.
As I quietly marveled, Yoon Ha-young looked at me.
"What's up?"
"Huh? Oh, just thought I saw something."
"You're so weird sometimes."
Yoon Ha-young laughed, sniffling. I smiled awkwardly and checked the new trait.
[Cold Resistance (F)]
Classification: Trait
Description: Your body gains strong resistance to cold.
[Passive Effect]
>Cryogenic Human
Mana increases by 1.
Cold tolerance increases by 50%.
Ice attribute magic resistance increases by 10%.
Unlike the 'Extreme Endurance Spirit' I'd gotten before, the effects were modest. It really just blocked cold.
But I was thrilled to get it for free without spending points.
'Plus a free mana point.'
Collecting these little traits would lead to big stat changes eventually.
- Grraaah!
A monster's roar echoed nearby. The students immediately got into combat stance. Soon, a gorilla covered in pure white fur emerged from the darkness.
A C-Rank monster, Giant Yeti.
—Kraaah!
The Giant Yeti roared, and Lee Seojun drew his sword from his waist.
He dashed forward swiftly and cleaved the creature in two with one strike.
"As expected of Seojun. So fast."
"...No, I'm stiff from the cold. The floor's slippery too."
He'd taken down the monster coolly, but Lee Seojun seemed unsatisfied with his performance.
Then another roar echoed. This time, not just one. Five Giant Yetis appeared from the darkness.
"What? Too many."
"I'll support from the back."
Lee Seojun gripped his sword and said.
"Out of the way. I'll handle them."
I stepped in front of Lee Seojun and fired magic.
Bang!
—Kraaah!
One Giant Yeti dropped with a hole through its head. I cast the next spell immediately. Then another. And another. Soon, all five were down.
"...Whoa."
I glanced back to see Lee Seojun impressed.
"Impressive. Super clean."
At his praise, the others chimed in.
"I've felt it since the midterms, but how does your skill improve so much? Amazing."
"Sunwoo doesn't show his real skills usually."
Yoon Ha-young smiled as she said it.
"...Let's go."
The dungeon progressed smoothly and quickly. Not just Lee Seojun—my and Yoon Ha-young's contributions made the pace possible.
After about an hour of mowing down monsters, we reached a dead end.
"What? Dead end?"
"Where are we?"
"A barrier? Maybe there's a secret door hidden."
We'd finally arrived.
This was the starting point of the 'minor incident' during today's dungeon exploration.
I slowly examined the wall. Outsider's Benefit activated, revealing a faintly glowing tiny pattern on the wall.
Looking closer, it was a small magic circle.
In the original, one of Lee Seojun's other extra teammates had found it. But my intervention changed the team.
No one else noticed, so I had to pretend to discover it myself.
"Something here?"
As I muttered to myself, everyone's eyes turned this way.
"Huh? Yeah? Looks like a pattern."
"Is this the door to the next area?"
Shin Ji-hyeok approached and inspected it.
"Looks like a magic circle."
Jeong Jin-tae reached to touch it with his hand. I startled and yelled at him.
"Stop!"
"Huh? Why?"
"You don't touch magic circles recklessly. Could be a trap that kills you instantly."
"R-Really?"
My exaggerated words scared Jeong Jin-tae off.
Phew. Close call. My plan nearly went up in smoke.
"I'll check it."
I examined the magic circle.
Outsider's Benefit revealed its structure in my mind.
It was the same as the original.
This magic circle was a special portal to the dungeon's 'hidden stage.'
This training artificial dungeon was remodeled from a real conquered one, but not all stages had been cleared.
The hidden stage unknown even to its remodeler was the setup for this episode.
Today, I planned to take Lee Seojun to the hidden place like in the original.
Though the progression would differ slightly.
In the original, they thought it was a passage to another area and all held hands to go together, but I had no intention of dragging extras along.
For the hidden stage, just me and Lee Seojun. That was enough.
I didn't plan to share the dungeon rewards with anyone else.
The issue was pressing the magic circle while holding Lee Seojun—and how to arrange that.
...Screw it.
"Seojun, come here a sec."
"Hm?"
Lee Seojun approached. I casually grabbed his arm.
"Just press it."
"Huh? Hey, wait!"
I pressed the magic circle with my finger.
A blinding light filled the entire dungeon, swallowing me and Lee Seojun.
Flash!
When the light faded, the location had changed.
Same cave, but a different one. We'd ridden the hidden portal to the hidden stage.
Good—things were going according to plan.
Now, clear the hidden stage and grab the special reward...
"Hey! How could you just press that on your own!"
But Lee Seojun, unaware, yelled at me. I gave an awkward smile and apologized.
"Ah, sorry. Didn't expect this."
My nonchalant attitude left him staring in disbelief.
I did feel bad. But since the original Lee Seojun was fated to end up in the hidden stage anyway, maybe it wasn't so bad.
"...You knew this would happen, didn't you?"
"Nah, no way."
Doubt filled Lee Seojun's gaze. He shook his head and looked around.
"But where is this?"
I tossed out casually, feigning ignorance.
"Hidden stage?"
Lee Seojun whipped his head toward me.
"Hidden stage? In an artificial dungeon?"
"Even artificial dungeons are remodeled from real ones. They might've missed the hidden stage portal during remodeling."
Lee Seojun narrowed his eyes at my words.