Gosul Girl (1)
Seoul, Yangcheon-gu, Mok-dong.
Thirty minutes before the black mages would carry out their grand scheme.
The area was still peaceful.
Even in an era where Gates erupted everywhere, the word “peace” might have felt out of place. Yet the world was like that. No matter what happened, it always found its way back to normal.
Part of it was thanks to the system of Awakened operating in teams gradually taking root, but humanity’s sheer inertia and adaptability played a far greater role.
Even with Gates visible right in front of them, the students crowding the academy district simply chatted with their friends and headed off to their usual schedules.
“Whoa, a Gate appeared.”
“Man, Awakened have it good. It’s like Pokémon GO.”
“Hey. They’re risking their lives, and you’re calling it Pokémon GO?”
“Nah, this one’s got a chill color. The Gym Leader’s only F-rank~”
“Okay, that I can respect. I could probably beat that guy myself.”
“If it’s F-rank, even I could one-shot it, right?”
The students snickered as they imagined themselves as Awakened heroes. But the closer they got to the academy building, the quicker they snapped back to reality.
“Did you do the homework?”
“……No.”
“Me neither……”
Trudge, trudge……
They dragged their feet toward the academy once more.
“If a Gate opens, does that mean no class today?”
“Haa…… Maybe.”
They even entertained the absurd fantasy of escaping school altogether.
That was when it happened.
Thud—
They bumped into a masked man.
“Huh……?”
The students jumped back in surprise.
“W-wait, Sagosul!?”
“H-he’s real! Sagosul is here!”
“But who’s that next to him……?”
The man wearing the black goblin mask was recognizable enough. Yet beside him stood a woman wearing a white puppy mask. Even with the mask on, her radiant golden hair cascading to her waist, porcelain skin, and slender figure instantly drew every eye.
“Whoa…… What the hell. Is that Sagosul’s girlfriend?”
“Dude, girlfriend! She’s insanely pretty!”
There were so many students that simply walking past them meant brushing shoulders.
“There are a lot of kids here.”
At Isilen’s single remark, Junil suddenly launched into a real-estate analysis he had picked up from his studies.
“It’s a characteristic of school districts. However, this area has poor accessibility to Gangnam and is far from the Han River. The school zone is basically the only thing preserving its value. Even then, only a few spots actually qualify……”
“……What are you talking about?”
When Isilen tilted her head, Junil finally stopped.
‘Ah…… I did it again.’
“……That was unnecessary. Please cast it here.”
“Right here?”
Isilen tapped the spot with her foot and asked.
“Yes. This should be the best spot.”
“Got it.”
Isilen raised her hand and closed her eyes. A masked blonde woman standing in the middle of a crosswalk doing this naturally drew curious stares, but it didn’t last long.
Vwoooooom!
A transparent barrier swallowed the entire district.
It was Isilen’s signature large-scale perception-altering magic.
“Huh…… Hey. W-wanna just go to a PC bang instead? They said there’s an event near O Mokgyo today.”
“Yeah, PC bang is the only option. Who cares about school, damn it. I’m aiming for med school anyway?”
“Med school’s impossible! PC bang it is~”
The children suddenly abandoned the academy and turned away. Not just the students—everyone began to leave one by one. In an instant, the academy street started emptying out.
“Now non-Awakened without mana can’t enter. Even Awakened who have no business with the World Boss won’t think of coming.”
“Thank you.”
“But……”
Isilen looked up at the sky, gauging the time.
“I can only maintain it for about half a day. The conditions are a bit strict.”
Perception alteration lasted longer the simpler it was. For example, the barrier at Pocheon Cemetery was maintained simply by Isilen’s presence because its condition was straightforward: “Those with no business at the cemetery have no reason to enter.”
This place, however, was different. Non-Awakened had to be expelled regardless of reason, and among Awakened, only those with business related to the “World Boss” were allowed entry. Without someone specialized in barriers like Isilen, it was nearly impossible.
“Half a day is more than enough.”
Junil believed half a day would suffice.
“Really? That was quick.”
Half a day being “quick” was Isilen’s standard. For humans, half a day could be enough time for a nation to fall.
That was when it happened.
Vroooooooom!
While everyone else was fleeing the area, a motorcycle came roaring down the road in the opposite direction with a thunderous exhaust note. The shape was familiar to Junil, yet unfamiliar at the same time—because the sidecar was no longer attached.
“……Kang Hae-il.”
The rider was Kang Hae-il.
‘So he came to kill the World Boss after all.’
Junil felt an odd sense of disappointment.
Screeech.
Kang Hae-il stopped in the middle of the road upon spotting Sagosul and the elf standing calmly.
“Sagosul……”
He no longer attacked on sight like before.
“What are you doing here?”
“Can’t you tell? I came to take down the World Boss.”
“……”
His gaze, however, remained hostile. It was only natural—he was the man who had killed his father not once, but twice.
‘But…… I owe him my life from the orc incident.’
Kang Hae-il knew that too. Without this guy during the Gangnam Station Gate, everyone would have died. His complicated gaze shifted sideways.
“Who’s that next to you?”
“A teammate.”
“Teammate?”
Isilen waved her hand while still wearing the mask.
“Hi.”
Junil had asked her to change her speech pattern so Isilen wouldn’t recognize her, and she was putting on quite the performance. Unfortunately, she didn’t need to try so hard. There was no way Isilen would recognize her anyway.
‘That mask is a Narrative Trick Mask, after all.’
When recruiting an elf who had lived for hundreds of years as a teammate, he couldn’t skimp on this level of investment.
“Do you know what kind of person he is?”
When Kang Hae-il asked Isilen, she displayed her full acting prowess.
“Of course. He’s a hero who saves people, isn’t he, oppa?”
Cough!
Junil nearly choked on his own saliva.
Cough, cough! Cough!
“Looks like even he feels guilty.”
Kang Hae-il shot a glare at Sagosul, who was still coughing, then turned back to Isilen.
“What’s your rank?”
“Se~cret.”
Wink.
Isilen winked and shook her head.
‘Unbelievable.’
Her acting was so convincing that Junil wondered who on earth she was basing it on. If there was no reference, he might have found it a little frightening.
Still, the Constellations’ reactions were explosive. Coins poured into Junil’s pouch with every jingle.
“Ha?”
Of course, Kang Hae-il remained cold. He treated women like stones, after all.
“Just who the hell are you?”
“My identity? Ah……”
As if she had been waiting for this exact question, Isilen suddenly struck a pose.
Thud!
“!?”
Junil had to work hard not to show his shock. It was the Sagosul pose. Yet something about it felt off.
“If I say I’m the Goblin Slayer Girl…… would that explain it?”
“Gosul Girl……”
Even Kang Hae-il’s lips twitched at the absurdity.
“Birds of a feather.”
Kang Hae-il summarized the bizarre situation with that single line and got to the point.
“Then there’s one thing I want to confirm.”
“What is it, oppa?”
“You two—are you really here to kill the World Boss? Or…… are you here to stop us from killing it?”
At that moment, Junil’s eyes behind the mask met Kang Hae-il’s.
Junil answered.
“I already said we came to kill it.”
“Yeah? Why?”
Kang Hae-il’s eyes were filled with suspicion. Junil raised his voice.
“Because we gotta kick the ladder out from under everyone else and hog it all for ourselves, duh?! We’re already way past level 30 anyway~! You came here with the exact same thought, so why are you asking!? Huh?!”
He was deliberately throwing Kang Hae-il’s own actions back at him.
Kang Hae-il felt an inexplicable discomfort and summed up Sagosul in one word.
“You piece of shit.”
Then he turned and rode off somewhere.
Vroooooom!
Junil watched as Kang Hae-il eventually rendezvoused with a car in the distance. From it stepped Suyeon, Jihun, and one unfamiliar man.
‘Obviously another A+.’
They were probably all top-tier Awakened. After all, they had come to kill the World Boss.
‘By the way, when are those guys showing up?’
A moment later—
Vwoooooom!
A massive academy building began to glow as the ritual commenced.
‘They’re here.’
Junil grinned and adjusted his mask.
* * *
Inside the building, black mages scattered to their positions on the rooftop and began chanting.
“Everyone! Become our offeringssss!”
Red magic circles erupted everywhere, and from them surged enormous chains.
Clatter-clatter-clatter!
Because each black mage was concentrating on pulling them out, the chains were long and thick. Those thick chains began wrapping around the massive building.
Rumble!
Exterior panels scraped against the chains and fell away as dust and chunks of stone tumbled into the streets one by one. Before long, the entire building was encased in chains.
The leader stepped forward and shouted, his voice booming with mana.
[Everyone inside the academy, listen well! You are all trapped within the great one’s sealing art! If you do not cooperate, you will all become offerings to the entity of judgment!]
The voice echoed not only through the academy but across the entire neighborhood.
Yet—
“?”
“Huh?”
“Hmm…… Something feels lacking, doesn’t it?”
The black mages tilted their heads.
“The sound is a bit off, isn’t it?”
This wasn’t their first time doing this. There was a sound that was supposed to accompany it without fail.
“There are no screams at all.”
“Is the education level here just that high?”
Not a single sound could be heard.