Who Could It Be?
I decided to set aside the bet I had lost for now and headed straight toward Peony.
“Peony, unnie!”
“Kim Si-woo! Lee Haneul! I won!”
Peony, who had spotted us, responded with a big thumbs-up.
“You were completely overwhelming! That was so cool, Peony!”
“Ehehehe… It was nothing. Actually, it was pretty fun.”
In contrast to the flashy battle she had just fought, Peony didn’t have a single scratch on her. For someone who had taken down a giant snake, the fact that there wasn’t even a speck of dust on her clothes said everything.
“You… You didn’t use some kind of cheat, did you? When I watched the entrance ceremony video over and over, you definitely weren’t this strong…!”
“Huh…? Oh! Miss Hanarim! That match just now was really fun, wasn’t it!”
“It wasn’t fun at all!”
“What? Even though you fought so hard?”
As she spoke, Peony turned toward Extra A. Perhaps because she was still holding her bow, Extra A instinctively took a step back.
“You coward…! You only went after my summons and then suddenly shot me with that bow! That’s cowardly!”
“Well, that’s because you couldn’t summon anymore. Only attacking your summons was actually a huge courtesy on my part.”
“No… Even Sir Si-woo…”
When even her idol said that, Extra A’s face twisted horribly. Damn it, I should have saved some popcorn. After being thoroughly crushed by skill and then rejected by the person she had a one-sided crush on, Extra A ran away sobbing in an ugly manner. The only consolation was that not many people had been watching, so hopefully the rumor wouldn’t spread.
Peony, who had been watching Extra A disappear into the distance, turned her head toward me.
“Haneul, I feel like I’ve gotten stronger, but my bow feels a bit strange.”
“The bow? Isn’t it the one you usually use?”
“That’s the thing… I feel like I could have ended it much faster, but it just wouldn’t stick to my hand, you know? It doesn’t feel like the bow I used before.”
When she tried to pull the string with the hand opposite the one holding the bow, the string moved forward on its own. The living tree being used as the bow stave spread itself out, rejecting her touch.
“Maybe you know something about it, Haneul?”
“No, why is it doing that?”
“Huh…? You don’t know either, Haneul?”
Something had felt off for a while now. During the gate erosion at the entrance ceremony, the trees had only targeted us. And now this. When I checked her status window, she had no connection to the Nature Sorcerer class, so I had put off worrying about it, but… it was definitely strange that not only monsters but even equipment was rejecting Peony.
“I’m not entirely sure either… but it seems like the trees are avoiding you, Peony unnie. Still, there is a solution.”
“Really?”
“Hehehe… And that is!”
I had prepared something just in case. And thanks to my performance at the entrance ceremony, I had been granted permission to use a dimensional bag.
“Just use a different bow!”
“That’s a compound bow, isn’t it?”
“Compound? Shouldn’t you use a different bow? What about my bow?”
“You won’t be able to use the original one, right? I don’t know the cause either, so I can’t fix it. In that case, it’s best to just switch to a different bow.”
“But… it’s a bow I’ve grown attached to! It’s my first bow! Plus, the only things that came from the World Tree are these clothes and this bow! And I can’t even wear the clothes!”
It was an element that hadn’t appeared in the game, so I hadn’t known, but apparently the bow was quite an important item. I had thought it was just basic equipment that couldn’t be sold.
“Hmm… Then couldn’t you just carry it around in its case…?”
Was that too insensitive? Carrying around a beloved weapon without even using it…
“Oh! That’s a great idea, Haneul! Thank you!”
“Ah… ahem… If you like it, then I’m happy too. Hehe…”
Contrary to my expectations, she seemed satisfied. Peony put her bow into a wooden case and slung it over her back, then accepted the compound bow and its case.
“But is it really okay to just take this bow? I heard humans rarely give things away for free.”
“You put up with my stubbornness for a whole week. This is my way of repaying you.”
“Then I’ll gratefully accept it!”
Peony, now holding the bow, examined it from various angles, pulling the string and testing it, but she still looked somewhat doubtful.
“It looks so strange for a bow… There are weird wheels attached and everything…”
“Then it might be good to try shooting it. How about we head to the training ground?”
“I think that would be best. This bow you gave me feels a bit off somehow…”
“Ahaha… Should I have prepared something more ordinary…?”
Damn it. I had given her the most efficient weapon for her level, but it seemed to have backfired. Next time, I should prepare a recurve bow that looks similar to her original one.
When we headed to the training ground, we happened to run into Timid and Mop, who were also going that way. Mop said he was going to train because he couldn’t accept his defeat, while Timid didn’t say much. The three of them entered the training room, leaving only the protagonist and me, who had no business there.
We moved to a relatively quiet spot away from the entrance so we wouldn’t block the path. That was when the protagonist spoke up.
“By the way, Haneul junior… You’re not thinking of just brushing this off, are you?”
“What do you mean? Si-woo sunbae? I don’t have anything to hide.”
“We made a bet, and I won, didn’t I? So you should keep your end of the deal.”
“Ah…”
“Are you scared? Haneul junior?”
Should I smash his head right now and give him amnesia? Or should I just run away? But since we were already tied together in a party, I couldn’t bash his head in or run off. At this point, there was only one option left.
“Umm… Could you please just let it slide this time, sunbae?”
I clasped my hands together and made the cutest, most pitiful expression possible. I really didn’t want to do this, but what choice did I have? Embarrassment lasts only a moment, but photos are forever. A saying from the great man Haneul.
Click!
“Ah.”
“Pfft!”
Now the embarrassment would last forever too. Even the great man Haneul could only shake his head. My face burned hot, and my ears felt clogged with the sound of my own heartbeat.
“Ah… Uh… Ah…”
“Hmm? What did you say? I can’t hear you very well.”
“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!”
Should I break his phone? Should I break it? I should break it, right? I have to break it!
When I tried to control the smartphone with my telekinesis, the protagonist quickly shoved it into his pocket and fled at full speed. Damn it! His mana was flowing through my clothes, making it difficult to control just the phone. In that case, I had no choice but to physically pin him down with my ability. With just that pathetic speed…!
Pop! Pop! Pop!
I teleported after him, trying to snatch the phone from his pocket, but he dodged me at every turn. At this point, even if it was rude, I should just control his pants along with—!
When I teleported around the corner after him, the protagonist was smiling as he showed me his phone. Cloud upload complete.
Ah. Game over. Time over.
Thud!
I collapsed to the floor like a broken robot vacuum.
“Don’t worry, junior. I won’t show this to anyone else.”
“Please delete it…”
“I definitely won’t delete it. I’m going to cherish it for the rest of my life~ Ebebe~”
“Hzzmlrggh…”
While I was wallowing in the bitterness of defeat, something suddenly caught my senses. It seemed like they had tried to hide, but I could clearly detect it.
“Si-woo. There’s something nearby.”
“What? We’re inside the academy, aren’t we?”
“I know that, but it seems like a rat has sneaked in from somewhere.”
Because we had been playing tag with my abilities, we had ended up in a deserted area. The surroundings were still just bare-boned construction sites, so besides us, there wasn’t even a single worker around. And yet they were wandering around while using their abilities so blatantly? It smelled incredibly suspicious.
“So… are they an enemy? Are they after us?”
“No. I’m not sure if they’re an enemy, but it doesn’t seem like we’re their target.”
After all, their presence was moving farther away. It looked like they hadn’t even noticed us in the first place.
“In that case, let’s follow them.”
“Follow them? Got it.”
And so we suddenly switched to tailing the suspicious group, quietly approaching them. However, when we arrived, there was no one there.
“Haneul. There’s no one here.”
“No, they’re definitely here. They probably used something like invisibility or perception interference.”
The protagonist stared hard, trying to detect anything, but all he would see was the desolate construction site.
“Hmm… How do you do that?”
“It’s hard to teach you right now, so later. They’re walking that way. Let’s follow.”
As we trailed behind, the protagonist, who had hidden himself behind a pile of bricks, asked in a small voice as if something had been bothering him.
“But won’t they notice us tailing them like this? What if the opponent senses our presence like you did?”
“They can’t. To put it simply, no one sneaks in while shining a flashlight in the middle of the night, right? It’s like that.”
“Then why didn’t they react to the flashlight you’re shining?”
“This is something not just anyone can do. So just know that if you hide well and stay quiet, you won’t get caught.”
Sometimes the protagonist could be unreliable, but other times his head worked surprisingly well. After all, this was something I had learned through years of effort that wasn’t even in the game, so it made sense he wouldn’t understand just by watching.
After following the ghost-like figures for about ten minutes, we reached a construction site that led deep underground. The ghosts descended without hesitation, and at some point, they disappeared from my detection.
“I can’t detect them anymore. There must be something down there.”
“Then should we take a quick peek?”
When we went down, concrete and rebar were scattered everywhere. At the spot where they had disappeared, construction materials were covered with a waterproof tarp.
“It’s that tarp.”
When I flicked my hand, the tarp slid off smoothly. And what lay beyond it was an unexpected structure.
“It’s a gate?”
“Why is this here?”
The arch-shaped structure made of limestone faintly reflected another world on the other side.