Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: The Missing Cat
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You could tell at a glance that she was filthy rich.
"Hmm... You're all just young students. I'm a little worried you can really handle my request."
The woman elegantly crossed her legs and murmured quietly. Jeong Ha-jun let out a hearty laugh.
"You can trust us with it. We're famous elite students, after all."
"In that case."
"Then why don't you explain the job to the students?"
The woman nodded, then opened her mouth with a worried expression.
"I want you to find my child. They suddenly ran away from home a few days ago, and I've been so worried."
"Your child?"
Choi Seo-yoon tilted her head, then continued.
"Um... Could you give us some basic personal info or a description?"
"My baby's name is Lucy. And they're very pretty and sweet-looking."
Everyone tilted their heads at the client's vague response.
"Lucy? Is your child foreign by any chance?"
At Choi Seo-yoon's question, the woman shook her head.
"Lucy isn't a person. They're a cat."
And so our first client's request—"Find the Cat"—began.
But as soon as the request started, a small problem arose. In the original story, we were all supposed to search for the cat together, but because of my intervention, we ended up splitting into pairs of two.
This would affect a later event. So I suggested we search together, but Lee Seo-jun dismissed it immediately as inefficient.
In the end, Lee Seo-jun paired with Lee Hyun-joo, and I got paired with Choi Seo-yoon.
"Hmm."
I pondered how to navigate this sudden change in situation.
Originally, the best outcome was for all of us, including Lee Seo-jun, to resolve the incident involving Choi Seo-yoon today together.
The more points of contact between Choi Seo-yoon and Lee Seo-jun, the safer Lee Seo-jun's survival would be. But my intervention had once again altered the progression.
As I made a troubled face, Choi Seo-yoon looked at me with concern.
"Sunbae, why the long face?"
I shook my head.
"It's nothing."
"It's not because you're unhappy pairing with me, is it?"
Choi Seo-yoon narrowed her eyes and said teasingly.
"No. I was just lost in thought for a sec."
"Hmm..."
She eyed me suspiciously, as if doubting something.
Who was suspecting whom here?
"Honestly, you're the one who doesn't like this pairing."
"Me? No, that's not it."
Her face said it was the first she'd heard of it.
"Didn't you want to pair with Lee Seo-jun?"
"No. I'm fine pairing with you, Sunbae."
Choi Seo-yoon grinned at me. Whether she meant it or not, I had no way to know.
"...Alright then."
With nothing else to say, I nodded.
"Anyway, let's find that cat."
"Okay."
"Lucy~ Where are you~?"
About 30 minutes had passed since we started searching for the cat.
Choi Seo-yoon had been calling out like that the whole time.
As if the cat could understand human speech.
"...Our first mercenary request as rookies, and it's finding a cat."
Choi Seo-yoon muttered with a sullen expression.
"That client sure has guts, huh? How loaded do you have to be to hire mercenaries for a cat?"
True enough. Even for an F-Rank Request, a mercenary job required at least 5 million won.
It meant money was practically spilling out of her pockets.
"We can find it before the end of the day, right?"
In the original story, the cat wasn't found until sunset. But I had no intention of wasting a whole day like that.
Since I knew the original plot, finding the cat would be a piece of cake.
The problem was the minor incident that kicked off the moment we found the cat.
The story had already derailed, and forcing it back would be foolish.
No matter how I thought about it, I was better off handling this incident myself.
The villain this time wasn't that strong anyway, and Choi Seo-yoon and I could handle him just fine.
"Follow me."
"Huh?"
I started walking ahead somewhere, and Choi Seo-yoon asked.
"Wait. Where are you going?"
"To find the cat."
Choi Seo-yoon stared at me blankly at my confident stride.
"You know where it is?"
"I have a hunch."
"A hunch?"
Choi Seo-yoon eyed me suspiciously for a moment before following.
The place I headed to was a small abandoned factory a short distance from the mercenary guild headquarters.
Scanning the surroundings, it matched the original description perfectly. If the plot hadn't changed from the original progression, the cat would be here.
And the first incident of the mercenary experience would erupt here too.
"Here?"
"Yeah. Probably."
Choi Seo-yoon looked at me with disbelief. Her face said she wanted to say something but was holding back.
Ignoring her, I stepped into the abandoned factory.
The inside was dark.
It felt like stepping into a haunted house.
Still, I'd been to far creepier dungeons multiple times, so I wasn't scared.
That was when it happened.
-Nyaang.
A cat's meow echoed from inside the factory.
Choi Seo-yoon startled and nearly cried out. In that instant, I clamped my hand over her mouth.
"Shh."
Choi Seo-yoon nodded slowly with a tense face.
"No footsteps either. Move quietly."
I slowly headed toward the direction of the cat's meow. The meowing continued intermittently.
"There it is."
A white cat with glossy fur sat in a haughty pose.
I approached the cat slowly and grabbed it by the scruff.
-Nyaang!
"Gotcha, you little rascal."
As soon as I caught the cat, I checked its collar. A blue gem-studded necklace hung there, just like the client described.
"Wow. Amazing! How did you know it was here, Sunbae?"
Choi Seo-yoon reacted with surprise, amazed by the situation.
Then she narrowed her eyes and looked at me suspiciously.
"You didn't set this up with the client, did you?"
"Don't talk nonsense."
I handed the cat to Choi Seo-yoon. She squealed "Kyaa!" and gazed at it with adoring eyes as she cradled it.
That wrapped up today's request...
But the original story's incident was still pending.
It was about time for it to show up.
Right then, goosebumps erupted all over my body, and a chilling aura washed over me.
It was that same sensation from before.
Killing intent.
My Killing Intent Detection trait activated when my life was in danger.
And I sensed mana powerfully condensing from somewhere nearby.
"Watch out!"
With my shout, a blast of potent magic energy erupted from somewhere.
I immediately stepped in front of Choi Seo-yoon and activated the alloy bracelet's spell barrier.
Kwaaaang!
Choi Seo-yoon trembled slightly from the sudden attack.
"W-What? What's going on?"
"Focus. It's an enemy."
I glared in the direction the magic had come from.
After a moment, a man emerged from the darkness.
A man in his thirties wearing a hat pulled low.
"...What? You're students? Didn't expect you to block that."
The man looked at me with an impressed expression.
Choi Seo-yoon's face hardened as she saw the man.
"You're..."
"Long time no see, Seo-yoon."
"Uncle Park Jin-su?"
Park Jin-su.
In the original story, he was one of many who held a grudge against the Choi family. He'd lost his brother because of Choi Seo-yoon's father, Choi Jae-hyung.
As I expected, Park Jin-su—the first villain of this mercenary activity—had been tailing Choi Seo-yoon all day.
Just like in the original, when Choi Seo-yoon arrived at this deserted factory, he judged it the perfect moment and attempted the assassination.
Park Jin-su glanced back and forth between me and Choi Seo-yoon, then smirked confidently.
"My plan got a bit messed up, but no big deal."
With that, fiery thorns of fire attribute manifested above his hand.
Lee Seo-jun and Lee Hyun-joo kept walking, searching for the cat.
They'd been at it so frantically that now even passing pigeons looked like cats.
"Ugh. How long is this gonna take?"
"...Yeah."
Time had slipped to 3 PM. Lee Hyun-joo was starting to feel bored and tired.
She'd been bending over constantly to scan low for the cat, and now her back ached too.
"By the way, you've been hanging out with Kim Sun-woo a lot lately, huh?"
A sudden question popped into her head, so she asked Lee Seo-jun.
Lee Seo-jun thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Yeah, we've been running into each other a lot lately."
"More than 'a lot,' it seems."
Lee Seo-jun smiled faintly at Lee Hyun-joo's words.
"Something about him is intriguing, so I kinda seek him out on purpose. He's surprisingly versatile. Pretty strong in combat too."
Lee Hyun-joo looked at Lee Seo-jun's face at his words.
She'd known him for over ten years. They'd grown up together, so she could read his thoughts with her eyes closed.
"You aren't feeling competitive with Kim Sun-woo, are you?"
"Hm?"
At Lee Hyun-joo's words, Lee Seo-jun looked startled for a moment.
Seeing his reaction, Lee Hyun-joo narrowed her eyes.
"...What. So it is true. You weren't even this rattled during that staring contest with Yoo Ah-ra at the start of freshman year."
"Haha."
Lee Seo-jun gave an awkward smile. As expected, he couldn't hide his true feelings from Lee Hyun-joo.
"Well, kinda."
"It's weird. Even so, he's not someone who'd make you feel competitive."
Lee Seo-jun smiled quietly at Lee Hyun-joo's mutter.
"Ah! Is it because of his theory scores? He got perfects."
"That's part of it. And other things."
For example, his unbelievably fast barrier dissolution speed. Or his mastery of compression manifestation techniques that even seasoned mages struggled with.
Kim Sun-woo handled everything he lacked or couldn't do with ease.
But to be precise, the emotion Kim Sun-woo stirred in him wasn't quite rivalry.
It was more like envy.
Of course, if Kim Sun-woo showed equal prowess in pure magic combat—not just utility—that envy would turn to rivalry.
"Anyway, there's that, and..."
Kuuung...
That was when it happened. A powerful mana aura pulsed from somewhere.
Lee Seo-jun and Lee Hyun-joo whipped their heads toward the direction simultaneously.
Something had gone down. And that direction was where Kim Sun-woo and Choi Seo-yoon had gone.
"Let's go!"
They bolted toward the source of the mana.
Several more mana explosions rocked the area along the way.
Something was definitely happening. Otherwise, multiple distinct mana signatures wouldn't surge simultaneously like that.
After sprinting for about a minute, they arrived at the site of the mana blasts.
A small abandoned factory.
Stepping inside, they saw Kim Sun-woo and Choi Seo-yoon battling a man.
Why had a fight broken out so suddenly? Before the question could form, Lee Seo-jun drew the sword at his waist, intent on helping them.
But in that moment.
"Huh?"
Lee Seo-jun sensed something off in the fight before him.
It was because Kim Sun-woo was displaying mage skills unbelievable for a student against the suspicious man.
He kept firing powerful magic orbs as if his mana were infinite, and the man was getting pushed back bit by bit, flustered by the barrage like an airstrike.
Seeing that fight, Lee Seo-jun blanked out for a second. Lee Hyun-joo beside him was the same.
"...What is that?"
Was Kim Sun-woo's magic skill at that level?
Of course, he'd known from the last dungeon raid that Kim Sun-woo had more mana than expected. But the mana Kim Sun-woo was outputting now far exceeded that.
No, before that.
Watching his combat, an odd sense of déjà vu crept in.
What was it?
...He'd definitely seen a fight just like this before.
-Kuuaaaak!
While he watched blankly.
The man took damage from Kim Sun-woo and Choi Seo-yoon's combined attack and screamed.
He collapsed to his knees weakly.
The fight was decided. The man writhed in agony before passing out on the floor.
Lee Hyun-joo rushed over to them, having watched the battle.
Left alone, Lee Seo-jun stared at them blankly.
And then.
Lee Seo-jun realized the source of the déjà vu.
About two months ago.
The Han River demon incident.
The fight he'd just seen from Kim Sun-woo was eerily similar to Mage Kim Jin-woo's.
"Phew... Good thing it ended quickly."
I wiped the sweat from my forehead and leaned against the wall to rest.
Across from me, Choi Seo-yoon sat on the floor, staring at the collapsed Park Jin-su for a long while.