The Candy Concept and the Knocking at the Door
"Cheer up!" Yu Yeoleum encouraged Seo Gaeul. "Put more strength into it!"
"Hey! Do you think awakening a new Concept is like giving birth, where you just clench your stomach and push? I need to concentrate, so please be quiet!"
Seo Gaeul was struggling with all her might to acquire a new Concept. The one she was trying to obtain was none other than Candy.
The reason for seeking the CandyConcept was simple. It was to strike a deal the next time the secret window high up in the ceiling opened and the mysterious fairy Inonoi appeared again.
While Seo Gaeul desperately worked to obtain her new Concept, Yu Yeoleum found herself thinking about the girl who had once been her group member in F-class. The student named Inonoi, who possessed the NymphConcept, had been an incredibly strange girl. Her speech was odd, her behavior was odd, and her appearance resembled a first-year middle schooler more than a high school senior.
She often said bizarre things, and one of the strangest was her claim that she had met a fairy inside the Great Labyrinth. The fairies supposedly loved candy. And it turned out Inonoi's story had been true. Fairies really did live in this Great Labyrinth, and they really did love candy.
"Done! I've acquired the CandyConcept!"
"...Already? Can new Concepts really be gained that easily?"
Yu Yeoleum stared at Seo Gaeul with a mixture of genuine admiration and utter shock. When she recalled how much blood, sweat, and sacrifice had gone into acquiring her own new Concept, X-ray Vision, the reaction was inevitable.
Awakening a new Concept literally demanded blood, sweat, and sacrifice. Yet Seo Gaeul had picked one up as casually as if she were shopping.
So Seo Gaeul was this incredible...?
Among all the multiple-Concept awakeners Yu Yeoleum knew, Seo Gaeul's potential stood head and shoulders above the rest. At this point it was almost puzzling why she had never properly trained her aptitude and talent until now.
Could Ha Namjin have seen through Seo Gaeul's talent from the very beginning?
Swoosh—.
At that moment Seo Gaeul touched Yu Yeoleum's shoulder. Her intention was crystal clear.
"...Seo Gaeul, you—!"
Yu Yeoleum flared up, but Seo Gaeul was already sticking her tongue out with a cheeky blep. Then she burst into laughter.
"Bwahahat! How's that? The CandyConcept!"
The CandyConcept had taken root inside Yu Yeoleum. Her total now stood at five: Light, Photosynthesis, Chastity, X-ray Vision, and Candy.
The problem lay in the unique trait of the CandyConcept. The instant a sweet fragrance began wafting from her body, Yu Yeoleum realized what had happened—her sweat had turned sugary. Whether it was her imagination or not, even the inside of her mouth felt strangely sweet.
Rattle—.
Just then the secret window in the ceiling slid open.
"This Inonoi wonders if candy can be eaten now, it is...!"
"Lick this girl's body! She's human candy! And help us while you're at it!"
Seo Gaeul pointed straight at Yu Yeoleum. The very idea of someone licking her body was mortifying to the chaste Yu Yeoleum.
"This Inonoi cannot enter that room, it is...! A special spell has been cast upon that room, so only the Fairy King or those who possess special Bogu may enter, it is...!"
"What?"
Seo Gaeul could not hide her disappointment and irritation. Even that bizarre fairy could not enter this room.
Then a question suddenly occurred to her.
"Then how on earth did we get inside? How does Ha Namjin come and go so freely? There must be a secret here. There must be...!"
A hint—perhaps the very clue they needed to escape this room. Yu Yeoleum thought she already knew what that hint was.
Ever since acquiring the X-ray VisionConcept, the ring on Ha Namjin's finger had been bothering her.
Could the "special Bogu" be...?
It was then that an icy chill licked across the back of Yu Yeoleum's neck.
"Hieek...! This Inonoi must hurry back to her nest, it is...! The Kores have said that no matter who speaks to you or asks you questions, you must never answer, it is...!"
Rustle, rustle—.
After rapidly spitting out words that made no sense, the fairy Inonoi vanished down the narrow ventilation shaft in the ceiling.
Yu Yeoleum and Seo Gaeul wanted to call the fairy back and ask more questions, but they could not. As if by some silent agreement, both girls froze.
"...Yu Yeoleum, am I the only one who felt that?"
"...Shh."
There was something on the other side of the stone door. Something savage and horrific.
The voice was wrong. It felt like something was clumsily imitating a human voice. A deep, instinctive wave of disgust and rejection rose from the pit of their stomachs.
Suddenly Seo Gaeul remembered the concept of the uncanny valley. Humans hated things that "awkwardly resembled humans" even more than things that bore no resemblance at all.
That left the question—why had humans evolved to instinctively loathe things that mimicked them so poorly? Could it be that, somewhere in the long process of evolution, humanity had natural enemies that looked or acted like crude imitations of people?
What was certain was that they now understood why this room was built so unusually sturdy and sealed with such a strange spell. Both girls found themselves unconsciously relieved that the prison holding them was far stronger than necessary.
# # #
In the end I never made it to where Seo Gaeul and Yu Yeoleum were being held yesterday. There simply wasn't enough time. But it was fine. They wouldn't die from skipping a single meal. Moderate fasting was even supposed to be healthy.
When I arrived at school bright and early, everyone looked at me like they'd seen a ghost.
"Ha Namjin! Weren't you arrested by the police?"
"How are you even at school right now!"
With midterms over, school had slipped back into its normal routine. The same went for me. I hadn't known it, but apparently someone had filmed what happened at the villa yesterday and uploaded it online.
The story of me giving Jin Eunbyeol a proper lesson and shutting Wang Jayeon up completely had spread everywhere. A jolt like electricity shot through my entire body; my tailbone tingled. The most famous middle-school dropout in the entire country right now was none other than me—Ha Namjin!
I never imagined being the center of so much attention could feel this good. I immediately pulled out my phone and searched for "Ha Namjin." The results were overwhelming. The feeling was incredible. There were even tons of hate comments, and I enjoyed those too!
After years of fighting crushing boredom and loneliness, this flood of attention was almost too stimulating.
"Ha Nam-jjin, are you really okay?"
Swoosh—.
Someone poked my side. It was plump-bottomed Baek Yeoul.
"You turned both Jin Eunbyeol and Wang Jayeon into enemies! You even dragged the President into it. Won't you get arrested for something?"
The other students' eyes quietly drifted toward me. They were clearly waiting to see how I would handle this situation.
"No one can touch me. Because even the smallest truth beats the biggest lie. What's important right now is what's for lunch today."
"...Lunch."
Baek Yeoul narrowed her eyes. Maybe the menu didn't agree with her.
Rattle—.
The classroom door opened and Captain walked in. Once the noisy atmosphere settled, he spoke.
"You little punk, Ha Namjin! Do you have any idea how many calls I got in a single day because of you? You're probably the only person in all of South Korea who could pull off something that reckless and still stroll around without a care."
"Captain, don't sell yourself short. Any real man would do the same thing I did."
"I'm a tax-eating civil servant. And while you're sitting in these seats, remember that you are my students and my subordinates who must follow my orders. Therefore, Ha Namjin, you are hereby assigned twenty additional hours of school service!"
"I... I don't think Namjin did anything wrong."
Someone raised their hand. All eyes turned to Oh Deokhui. The fact that the usually silent girl was speaking drew everyone's attention naturally.
"Was that Deoksoon who just spoke?"
"I've never heard her voice before."
"Isn't it Deokhui, not Deoksoon?"
The murmuring made Oh Deokhui's face flush bright red. She seemed to shrink under all the sudden attention.
"A-at school we shouldn't do bad things... and we should use our strength to help people in need... that's what I was taught. I don't think Namjin did anything wrong. The bad ones are the other people..."
She stuttered, but she got her point across clearly. For an introverted, shy girl like Deokhui to speak up like that was honestly impressive.
"I was bullied by Jin Eunbyeol... I even developed alopecia... My father lost his job and we had to move to D City. No one believed me..."
Everyone was shocked by Deokhui's story. It seemed many hadn't realized just how vicious Jin Eunbyeol truly was.
"It's wrong for the person who did wrong to live comfortably while the person doing the right thing gets punished. If that's how things work, then everything we learn in school loses its meaning."
At Deokhui's words the students began to murmur in agreement—"She's right," "Yeah, that's true." Even if they argued about many things, the students of Hero Academy generally had a strong sense of justice. After all, the school's full name was Hero Academy.
It meant that, despite their individual differences, they all wanted to do what was right. That was probably why they would one day be called Supernovas and become humanity's hope.
And standing at the forefront of that hope had always been Seo Gaeul.
# # #
Lunchtime. For the first time in a while I gathered with the Clean Plate Club kids and headed to the fancy restaurant Noble. Geum Taeseong was missing, though.
"Taeseong must be really busy. He didn't even show up to school today."
Baek Yeoul sounded disappointed. As she spoke she was busy piling buffet food into her lunchbox. Choi Changsik and I did the same. Pile it high! We had to get our money's worth from the meal ticket!
Once he'd satisfactorily filled his container, Changsik spoke up.
"It seems Taeseong has a lot of part-time work. Does anyone know exactly what kind of jobs he does or where? He hasn't been answering his phone much lately."
I knew Geum Taeseong worked hard at his part-time jobs, but it looked like none of us knew the specifics.
As the meal continued, Ppang-daeng-i suddenly had a fit while eating.
"What if Jin Eunbyeol comes after us for revenge? After hearing Deokhui's story, that girl sounds like a total monster. Wicked girls like Seo Gaeul love getting payback!"
Now that she mentioned it, I remembered that Ppang-daeng-i and Deokhui had been at Jin Eunbyeol's villa yesterday too. For some reason they had been imprisoned by her as well.
"...She's scary. Really..."
Deokhui trembled as if deeply frightened. A faint trace of anger mixed into her fear.
That was perfect.
"Don't worry. I've already discovered Jin Eunbyeol's weakness. We just need to strike before she does. First strike wins. An eternal truth."
Swoosh—.
I played the video labeled 6 that I'd saved on my phone. Everyone who had been eating turned their eyes to the screen.
Changsik was horrified.
"I-isn't that Jin Eunbyeol! Jin Eunbyeol tied to a bed! This scene looks just like...!"
It seemed everyone had caught on.
"As you can all see, Jin Eunbyeol's weakness is—"
"Her weakness is exorcism!"
"—No. As you can clearly tell at a glance, her weakness is 'kidnapping' and 'imprisonment.'"
Everyone's expressions darkened. Probably because kidnapping and imprisonment weren't easy tasks. Luckily for them, I was practically an expert on kidnapping and imprisoning high school girls!
The basement next door was conveniently empty. And this time I had a trustworthy team as well.
"Kids, I'm going to need your help. We're carrying this out tonight—right away!"