Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: The Private Exhibition
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“Gah, you scared me!”
Turning around with my shoulders hunched, I saw Juyeol standing there with a defiant tilt.
“Are you really not going to take any commissions?”
“Yeah. Dealing with Villains is scary.”
Juyeol's brow furrowed at her words.
“Isn't having your building set on fire scary?”
“Of course it is, but the fire suppression system worked well.”
“...You know, you've gotten more timid, but for someone who's always saying things are scary, you still do everything you need to.”
He muttered as if he couldn't understand it at all, then held something out.
It was a lavishly decorated, wine-colored envelope.
“What's this?”
Haon checked what was inside and her eyes widened.
「Admission Ticket」
The paper, marked as such, looked more like an invitation than a ticket.
Haon tilted her head as she flipped the ticket over.
The only information was the date and time—tomorrow night—and a notice limiting escorts to one person.
“What do you want me to find out with this?”
“Take me there tomorrow as your escort.”
“Huh? What kind of place is it?”
“A private exhibition where you can preview smuggled goods before the illegal auction.”
Haon looked up, startled.
“What? Isn't that... a scary place?”
“Most of the attendees will be Villains, so it normally wouldn't be a scary place for you. I'll have to cover my face, though.”
“But there's no location listed...”
“I know where it is.”
As she hesitated with a frightened look, he sneered.
“I helped you find the Awakening Sphere, isn't it your turn to help me? Don't tell me that was a scam too?”
“It's not that, it's just... my memory isn't fully back, and...”
“The other guys will be careful on their own. Just take me there.”
As Haon hesitated, a thought struck her: maybe this was an opportunity.
A place where Villains gathered would be the perfect spot to quickly spread the rumor that she was no longer a threat.
Seeing as Juyeol wanted to sneak in, it might also be a place where useful information was exchanged.
“Alright. I'll do it. But why would they give you an admission ticket if they weren't going to let you in?”
“As if. I was already wondering if I'd have to sneak in. Turns out, the grave robber who was just here had it.”
Haon's face flushed with bewilderment.
“You... you stole it? But you're a Hero!”
“Anyway, it's tomorrow night. Don't forget to get ready.”
Juyeol spoke as if he hadn't heard her.
“The fact that they allow escorts means a fight could break out at any moment.”
* * *
The next day.
For someone who had fallen asleep feeling troubled, Haon woke up in a surprisingly good mood.
The previous night, she'd been consumed with worry about what to prepare for a place where Villains might suddenly start fighting.
But perhaps yesterday's good sleep wasn't a coincidence; she had fallen asleep quickly next to Juyeol and hadn't had any nightmares.
When she opened her eyes, she saw her friend's face as he inspected his gun, and her phone by her bedside had just been repaired, right on time.
The repairs had finished a little earlier than expected.
“Yay!”
As she threw her arms up and stomped her feet excitedly, Juyeol asked nonchalantly.
“So what's the deal with it?”
Haon fiddled with her phone before thrusting it in front of him.
“First, I need your voice.”
“What?”
“Well, the AI software's voice is completely broken.”
“I don't know what that is, but can't you just use yours?”
“It bugs out if I use the device owner's voice.”
As she grinned and pushed the phone toward him, Juyeol clicked his tongue in annoyance.
“This is so annoying. What do you want me to do?”
“Ah, got it.”
“...?”
Before he could even understand what she meant, Haon was already operating the phone.
“Good morning, Blue.”
As she called out to her long-missed AI assistant, a bluebird hologram materialized around the phone.
A heavy voice flowed from the bluebird.
[Good morning★ Did you sleep well, Haon? I hope you have a happy start to your day ≥▽≤ How about some of your favorite fruit cereal for your first meal? бɛб?]
“...”
The rough, low tone of Juyeol's voice was mixed with a cheerful, cutesy speech pattern that didn't suit it at all.
“Pfft.”
Haon bit her upper lip, but she couldn't hold back her laughter, her shoulders shaking.
Juyeol's head slowly turned toward Haon, his expression turning icy.
“You don't have to be so roundabout when you're asking for a death wish.”
“S-Sorry. I didn't mean to, ahem.”
Haon barely managed to swallow her laughter and calm down.
“It's because I set the first greeting of the day to be extra cute.”
“You're not actually planning to use it like that, are you?”
She waved her hands in response to his irritated question.
“N-No. It'll change to a different voice once I adjust the settings.”
Then she tapped the phone a few times and spoke to it again.
“Blue. Maintain auto-charge.”
[Understood, Haon. Activating the mana auto-charge system!]
This time, a cute, young boy's voice emerged, completely different from Juyeol's.
“The default settings were corrupted. Just like you need sand to build a sandcastle, I needed a voice to use as raw material.”
Excited, Haon started talking to the bluebird, Blue.
“The sync is perfect, right?”
[Perfect!]
Juyeol thought he didn't see what was so special about the phone, other than the fact that it answered well.
The bird hologram popping out of the phone was impressive, but holograms themselves were common.
He was doubtful whether she could really find his sister's killer with that thing.
But soon, an amazing sight unfolded as a single phone took control of the entire institute.
* * *
Haon went down to the lab, scanned the entire building with her mana, and sat down in front of the computer.
She placed the phone right next to the keyboard.
To send signals directly to the device with her internal mana circuits, she had to hold it, and to issue voice commands, it needed to be within arm's reach.
“Blue. I need to take over the institute's central system first.”
[Accessing institute server. Changing administrator privileges!]
Mana extended from the phone like a cable, connecting to the computer.
If the rumor that 'Eun Haon has changed' spread, Villains would come looking for anything they could get, so she had to repair the damaged facilities first.
'To make the work easier, I need to bring the entire building under my control.'
Blue mana infiltrated the institute's servers and computers, proceeding to change the institute's owner.
Haon tapped the keyboard, reading the formulas and code rapidly scrolling across the screen.
'Connect this here, change this like so—'
A look of enjoyment appeared on her focused face. She was completely absorbed in her work for the first time in a while.
She even forgot that Juyeol had come down to the lab with her to keep an eye on things.
He stared blankly at the spectacle of blue particles flowing throughout the lab.
He had seen engineers at Hero Headquarters work before, but never like this.
He didn't know what was what, but it seemed like the bright blue hologram fragments, the bluebird, and Haon's fingertips tapping the keyboard were all organically connected.
He was seeing it with his own two eyes, yet he couldn't understand it.
When Haon stopped and stretched, Juyeol went over to her and asked.
“Hey. What the hell are all these blue things?”
“Ah...!”
Only then remembering he was in the lab, Haon gave an awkward laugh.
“Oh, this is mana.”
“Mana... You mean that weird stuff you were talking about before?”
“It's not weird stuff!”
Her lips turned down in an aggrieved pout as she pointed to her phone and continued.
“The golden mana, which is normally invisible to your eyes, combines with structures like radio waves or electric currents through the phone, turning it blue and altering its properties.”
“So you can pull out electrical wires anytime, anywhere? Is that it?”
“W-Well, that's possible too, but I mostly use it for this kind of thing.”
Haon brought over an empty beaker, held her phone, and, picturing the structure of glass, synthesized mana into it.
The surface of the beaker broke down into tiny cubes, rippling upward with a soft whoosh.
Before Juyeol could even react with surprise, she dropped it onto the floor.
Just as he thought, *It's going to shatter*.
*Thunk! Thud, thud, thunk—.*
The beaker hit the floor without so much as a crack, making a sound like thin sheet metal.
“...?”
Juyeol picked up the beaker with a confused look and flinched.
What he touched was clearly thin, transparent glass, but it was much harder and heavier.
“If you completely understand a material's structure and add the structure of mana to it, you can transform it into something with similar properties to what you want. That's the basis of Mana Engineering.”
Haon did her best to explain it simply, but he still looked confused.
She decided it was only natural, since it was a field of study and technology that didn't exist in this world.
Juyeol, however, was thinking something different from what Haon assumed.
'If this is possible... isn't it too much of a waste to be used as a mere lackey for Villains?'
Lost in thought, he tossed the heavy beaker into the air and snatched it.
*Definitely a waste,* he concluded.
* * *
That night, at a large warehouse on the outskirts of an industrial complex.
Stepping out of a flashy supercar, a thoroughly intimidated Haon looked around.
Dangerous-looking people were entering the large warehouse.
“You'll look suspicious if you keep darting your eyes around. Better to act like a total maniac.”
Juyeol whispered. With a brown wig and sunglasses, he looked like a completely different person.
Tense, Haon nodded and approached the warehouse, holding out the admission ticket.
The guard who spotted Haon moved to open the door quickly, then paused.
“Hold on. I need to see the face of the escort you brought with you.”