A Sudden Suspicion
“My mana just doesn’t move very well.”
What?
I checked her expression again, but it was the same as before.
She was smiling as if she didn’t understand a thing, and that didn’t match at all with the girl who had been sniffling just a moment ago.
I looked at her status window again, but of course nothing had changed.
I hadn’t misread it.
[Class - Mage - Normal Grade]
Jung Hayan had already obtained a class.
Since when?
The last time I’d checked Jung Hayan’s status window had been only three days ago, give or take.
That was almost exactly when I’d started giving her what barely qualified as a lecture on magic.
She hadn’t shown it, but the moment I casually brought up magic, there was a chance she had already gained a class.
[Trait - How to Become a Mage - Heroic Grade]
[Perfectly absorbs the fundamentals and basic knowledge of magic. Mana points permanently increase by 2. Growth potential increases explosively.]
What the hell is this…?
Even her trait was absurd beyond belief. The instant she understood the concept of a mage, she’d acquired a related Heroic-grade trait.
That was the only explanation that made sense given the circumstances.
Simply accepting the basics of magic had not only granted her a class, but also a brand-new trait. I’d never seen anything like it before.
If this had been possible for anyone else, Kim Hyunsung would have chosen this method without hesitation.
Jung Hayan was definitely an exceptional case.
As my thoughts stretched on, she began to look at me with a slight trace of anxiety.
“U-um… O-Oppa?”
“Ah, sorry. I was just thinking about something else for a moment. You said moving mana, right?”
“Y-yes! Even when I tried doing it the way Oppa said, it still feels way too hard….”
There was no reason for it to feel difficult.
“Maybe it’s because you have a little too much mana… That’s strange.”
I saw her slowly extend her hand toward me.
I took her raised hand and began guiding the faint mana inside me through her.
I tried to let it flow into her body and build it up, but Jung Hayan’s mana didn’t budge in the slightest.
She wasn’t just dull.
She’s blocking it.
She was deliberately suppressing the movement of her own mana.
The moment I frowned, I could finally feel her mana moving along the path I’d taken.
“O-Oppa really is amazing.”
This girl is seriously…
“Let’s imagine it.”
“Huh?”
“Try imagining the spell. Fire blooming from your hand… You should be able to do it just like I did a moment ago, right?”
“A-ah! Y-yes!”
She had already gathered her mana perfectly to match the conditions.
By this point, imagining a small flame should have been easy for her.
And yet her mana crumbled at once. It wasn’t that time passed or that she failed naturally; Jung Hayan herself deliberately collapsed it.
“I-It’s still just too hard for me, then. W-why am I like this…? E-even though you’re teaching me so carefully….”
And the way tears welled up in her eyes was, frankly, a sight to behold.
What in the world is going on?
“No, failing is normal in the beginning. It might just be because you don’t have a class yet. If you went out hunting, you’d probably do better. Right?”
Even when I casually slipped the word class into the conversation, she didn’t react.
“C-can I try one more time?”
“No, look at the time. Let’s stop here for today. I’ve got things to do as well.”
“S-something important? Or… a-are you meeting with Hae, Hye-yeong again today?”
Park Hyeyeong was the woman Lee Jihye had assigned to this side.
After what had happened that day, Jihye had sent over someone who could serve as a link.
I’d been told she’d be useful in a number of ways, but nothing had happened so far.
For now, all she was doing was passing along information about the group’s situation and internal affairs.
Just as I was wondering what to say, a voice came from outside.
“Kiyoung? Do you have a moment?”
“Ah. Please wait just a second.”
Park Hyeyeong.
I couldn’t tell whether this was good timing or bad.
Still, Jung Hayan’s expression in front of me didn’t change much.
“Ah! Y-you had an appointment. I-I didn’t know….”
“No, I wasn’t meeting Hyeyeong for anything. Seems like she has business here. Could you step aside for a moment?”
“A-ah… yes.”
Jung Hayan slowly got to her feet, and Park Hyeyeong came into the room.
I didn’t remember calling her, so I was curious why she’d come here.
I could feel Jung Hayan’s gaze fixed on Park Hyeyeong. Using jealousy was, to some extent, exactly what I wanted, but not in this way.
“See you tomorrow, Hayan.”
“Ah! Y-yes!”
The moment Jung Hayan disappeared from view, Park Hyeyeong quietly took a seat.
“Did something happen?”
“I heard something interesting.”
“What kind of thing?”
“That next time you go hunting, you’ll be taking some of the people here with you.”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“If you don’t mind, could I be included?”
That was rather direct.
I gave Park Hyeyeong a quick scan with my Mind’s Eye, but nothing especially noteworthy stood out.
[Checking Player Park Hyeyeong’s status window and latent potential.]
[Name - Park Hyeyeong]
[Title - None. You’ll need to work a little harder.]
[Age - 27]
[Disposition - Calculating Diplomat]
[Class - Unemployed]
[Attributes]
[Strength - 10 / Growth Limit: Heroic or lower]
[Agility - 11 / Growth Limit: Rare or higher]
[Stamina - 20 / Growth Limit: Rare or higher]
[Intelligence - 10 / Growth Limit: Rare or higher]
[Endurance - 10 / Growth Limit: Normal or lower]
[Luck - 09 / Growth Limit: Normal or lower]
[Mana - 00 / Growth Limit: Rare or lower]
[Evaluation - It’s not the time to be saying there’s nothing remarkable about her stats or special traits. Overall, her balance is exceptionally solid. She seems capable of growing into a perfectly decent close-combat fighter, or even a ranged attacker like an archer.]
Her disposition was a calculating diplomat.
I didn’t even need to read too deeply to guess what kind of person that made her.
After looking at her for a moment, I answered.
“Well… I did recommend Hayan first.”
“That little kid isn’t any fun, is she?”
“You can think whatever you like, but that’s not really the reason.”
“Isn’t there any way around it? I think it would help the two of us more….”
I had no idea what exactly “the two of us” meant.
It seemed Jihye had told her a bunch of things after asking her to help me in various ways, and in the process she’d heard some nonsense she didn’t need to hear.
Apparently, Park Hyeyeong thought I was some lustful bastard obsessed with women.
Her stats were certainly decent enough, and her latent potential didn’t look bad either.
If she developed well, she might be useful to me, but I didn’t like her disposition being “calculating.”
Still, I figured she would understand that if there were things given, there were also things received in return.
“Your reason?”
“You need people who can actually fight, don’t you? The situation changed a little once Deokgu and Kiyoung joined this side. Very few people still think Hyunsung can simply take care of us. This place is somewhere women can become strong just like men, and there are all kinds of systems here that can enhance their existing physical abilities.”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“Everyone is afraid of monsters, of course, but more and more people are starting to think they can do it too. There are even people banding together to go out on their own. And if everyone ends up capable of fighting anyway, then from your perspective, it won’t exactly be a loss to have one more ally on your side. If Hayan comes back having gained some special power, then this trend will only accelerate.”
“You’re speaking as if I’m the one dividing people into sides.”
“Did I hit the nail on the head?”
“No. I don’t really care. By the way, does Hyunsung know you came here?”
“Probably, more or less? Who knows what Jihye’s thinking?”
“The reason you came to me specifically…?”
“I just thought you’d be able to understand me. I don’t like the way you’re favoring that little bitch Jung Hayan, either, and if you refuse me, then I’ll just have to wait until my turn comes around. But….”
“I understand what you’re saying.”
“See? I knew we’d speak the same language.”
“Once Hyunsung returns, I’ll probably start making arrangements. I’ll do my best to speak on your behalf. But if Hyunsung decides it’s too much, then it might still be rejected, so I’d rather you didn’t get your hopes up too much.”
“Just hearing that much is hopeful enough for me.”
“Then I’ll be counting on you.”
“The same goes for me.”
* * *
“How ridiculous. Seriously.”
“Shh. She’ll hear you, idiot.”
Voices drifted around her, but they barely registered.
What mattered more was the place where Oppa was.
“Hayan! What are you thinking about?”
“Ah! N-no. Nothing….”
“If you’re tired, you can rest. You must be exhausted from using your body all day… Heh. Wouldn’t it be hard to work here?”
“Huh? Wha?”
“Look at her pretending not to know.”
“I told you to stop.”
She couldn’t quite make out exactly what they were saying, but she could feel the hostility aimed at her.
She wasn’t especially tired, and she didn’t feel weak at all. This kind of work was something she was very used to.
Thinking about it now, it had always been that way. Compared to her two older sisters, she had always felt stupid, slow, and dim.
Her eldest sister, who always took care of her, and her second sister, who was so clever—maybe the reason they’d stopped contacting her at some point was because she was simply too foolish.
“Ugh… she reeks.”
“Wow, your taste is really something. And she isn’t even that pretty… pretending she doesn’t know anything… That’s why she’s a fox, isn’t it?”
“Shh. I said cut it out. She’ll hear you, you know. What if she runs to tell on us?”
“Then let her try. Maybe he’s already sick of her. No, I’m sure he is.”
At the voices from earlier, her hands started trembling without warning.
Oppa.
He was the only person she could rely on here.
She remembered him holding her hand, and her whole body shivered.
Sick of her?
Oppa didn’t look at her that way.
It had to be something else.
He was flustered.
His heart had definitely been racing like it might burst.
He said I was like a little sister.
When she remembered those words, a strange pleasure washed over her.
It was an utterly unfamiliar sensation, something she had never felt before in her life.
Her heart pounded like a hammer, and she found herself twisting her legs together for no reason at all.
Even she could hardly control her emotions.
I can see him again tomorrow.
Tomorrow, she would see him again.
They would be able to talk alone once more, and he would dote on her again.
She thought that maybe she could feel warm like she had when her family was still together.
This was a kind of drug.
The reason she had hidden the fact that she’d gained a class, the reason she had hidden the trait she received, was all because she wanted to spend as much time with Oppa as possible.
Her chest hurt terribly at the thought of having to lie, but if she didn’t do even this, she was afraid he might stop looking for her.
She was staring in the direction Oppa had gone, silently enduring the voices around her, when it happened.
“Oh? Were you waiting for me?”
It was Park Hyeyeong, the woman who had just been with Oppa.