06. Evolution?
06. Evolution?
"Missing? What the hell does that mean?"
A massive office.
The Jin Family on the 5th floor wasn't comparable to the Five Great Families in terms of power, but within the 5th floor alone, they wielded influence that even the top committee members couldn't envy.
The power to impact the entire floor with a single decision from the Clan Head.
The Jin Family possessed that kind of strength.
"It's... exactly as I reported."
"So, what the fuck does that mean?"
Jin Ji-hye, the head of the Jin Family, shot back at the Steward's words that her son was missing.
She had to say something that made sense, for fuck's sake.
Not anywhere else, but on the safest 1st floor, and in the most famous and historic Academy of all places—how could a Noblesse like him just up and vanish out of nowhere?
How the hell was she supposed to believe that?
Even if he was a man, he was still a Noblesse. He could crush an Elf or Dwarf without breaking a sweat, though a Demon Race member might be a bit tricky.
Among the Advanced 7 Races, no one would dare mess with him insolently, and kidnapping? That was even more absurd.
The Steward spilled everything he had been told.
That day, when Jin Seong-hyeon stormed out, he had assigned subordinates on the Clan Head's orders to monitor and protect Seong-hyeon.
The subordinate tailed him secretly and followed all the way to the 1st floor Academy.
And then waited there.
The Academy of the Ha Family, one of the Five Great Families, was crawling with powerhouses.
Approaching it carelessly could lead to unnecessary misunderstandings.
In the meantime, Jin Seong-hyeon entered the Academy, and after that, his whereabouts became unknown.
Of course, he got kicked out later, but since he was kidnapped by Bari before they even noticed, from their perspective, it just looked like he went in and never came out.
"What? So he's not even missing yet. He's probably still in the Academy."
"Well, basically, the Academy prohibits outsiders from entering. Unless you enroll, you can't get in, and even if you do, you can't stay longer than a day. But..."
"Ah. So did he enroll on his own whim or something?"
"Pardon?"
She hadn't even dreamed he was actually missing.
"Outsiders aren't allowed, right? But he got in? They probably blocked him at the entrance at first, but he was dying to see that bitch... so he just up and said he'd enroll. That sounds like him. The Academy wouldn't turn down a Noblesse wanting to join."
"Well... yeah, that's true, but... wouldn't it be better to say he's missing...?"
"Does that make sense? A Noblesse doesn't just go missing. Especially not on the 1st floor."
"..."
The Steward wanted to say something but held back.
He wasn't confident he could convince her, and honestly, she wasn't wrong.
'Well, yeah. Even for the young master, going missing on the 1st floor... Sigh... Have I been too on edge lately?'
"Anyway, if he's enrolled there, I hope he gets his shit together and comes out. Should I go say hi and thank them or something?"
"Shall I at least send a letter?"
"Yeah, good idea. We'll set a time later... And he'll need money to live at the Academy, right? Can't have him looking cheap."
"I'll prepare it."
"Yeah. And prepare plenty to give to the Chief Instructor too."
"Yes."
She tossed aside any worries about her son, over whom the word 'missing' had been tossed around.
Right now, she was only thinking about impressing the daughter of the Ha Family.
+++
"Gaaahhhhhhh!!!!!"
A scream filled with agony.
It was a horrific pitch high enough to shatter glass, but the listener didn't even blink.
"Shut up already."
She just coldly spat that out and shoved a gag stick into his mouth.
"Even swapping the organ positions doesn't cause any issues? Fascinating."
Live dissection.
Without anesthesia, no less.
To her, a worthless bug of a man who was utterly useless was hardly worth wasting anesthetic on.
For reference, Sihwan, who had briefly peeked in at the start, had stuck out his tongue at the increasingly gruesome scene and left the room quite a while ago.
It might've been bearable if they'd dissected him in a smaller state, but Bari had deliberately restored Seong-hyeon to full size for the dissection, so the stench and grotesque eyeball terrorism were too much to endure.
Thanks to that, only Bari and Seong-hyeon remained.
And perhaps because of it, her cruelty knew no bounds.
Stab.
"!!!!"
"I'll cut out half your heart. From what I've figured out so far, you won't die, so don't worry."
Ignoring his writhing in pain, she just emotionlessly sliced away.
What the fuck kind of bitch is she?
Seong-hyeon couldn't even curse anymore.
Enlightenment.
He had already let go of his will to live over these past few hours.
He just kept repeating to himself that he wished he'd die right now.
But there was no hope.
He was just being tortured like this.
Plop.
She placed the halved heart—still spurting blood and twitching—on the metal table beside her.
An unknown energy emanated from the half-heart.
Something other than mana.
Completely colorless and odorless, yet it somehow felt and smelled blue.
"It definitely emitted this energy when you bared your teeth at Master. This is your Nobling."
So Nobling really comes from a Noblesse's heart, huh.
As she organized her hypothesis, she sliced into the remaining organs one by one.
Data was always better in abundance.
Especially when it was firsthand.
"Noblesse males are much weaker than females, right? I can feel it. Definitely a league below Yu Inassi or the Chief Instructor."
Was she making small talk or something?
She kept muttering nonstop while slicing into Seong-hyeon's body here and there.
"We can't apply this inferior DNA to Master. I'd love to dissect a female Noblesse, but... not yet."
Seong-hyeon was an idiot who walked right into it, making him easy to kidnap, but other Noblesse would be different.
Plus, females would be incomparably stronger than a male like Seong-hyeon.
Just Yu Ina or Ha Yeon-seo alone weren't easy opponents, and the Yu Family Clan Head he'd faced just days ago was at least beyond her current capabilities.
So messing with another Noblesse at this point would be unwise.
It could draw aggro, alert Noblesse society, and put Sihwan in danger.
"...!"
Her gaze suddenly drifted to Seong-hyeon's genitals.
Ice-cold expression.
No different from before, but Seong-hyeon felt a horrific dread, like he was being dragged into the deep sea.
It wasn't just the pain.
An instinctual 'racial' crisis sense.
He detected it.
"No choice. I didn't want to use this method if possible."
Secure high-grade DNA as fast as possible, build up forces as fast as possible.
That was her current goal.
To achieve it, she'd have to resort to methods that defied human ethics.
"It's useless anyway, so I'll take it. You don't need it, right?"
She mercilessly extracted Seong-hyeon's testicles.
+++
"Ow... that hurts there."
"Weakling."
Sting!
Sihwan winced at the sharp pain.
"You're my husband now. Stop whining and man up."
"It hurts, what do you want?"
Smack!
"Guh!"
"You're so damn weak. How do you plan to be the representative like this?"
Yu Ina grumbled but carefully treated Sihwan's wounds.
She could heal it instantly with magic or Nobling, but since he wasn't heading straight to the battlefield, there was no need.
So she did it by hand.
Applying ointment here and there, brewing weakly diluted potions and medicine for him to drink.
"You didn't charge in too recklessly, did you?"
"No. You're just pathetically weak. Humans really live up to their rep—unbelievably frail. It's impressive."
"Yeah, thanks for the admiration."
Sihwan's wounds.
All from Yu Ina and Eleonore.
Assaults under the pretext of toughening him up.
Yu Ina, who had been seething from the other day's events, cranked up the intensity even more.
Punches clearly loaded with emotion, obvious to anyone.
It had been brutal, but seeing her treat him personally like this melted away the resentment.
"Cute."
"What?"
"Nothing. Anyway, shouldn't we try some skinship as a couple?"
"What's that out of nowhere?"
"We're married, aren't we?"
"Enemies first."
Sihwan poked her cheek as she turned away, pulling a pouty face.
"?"
"Come on. Peck."
"W-what?!"
"We can't do everything at once. I'd love to, but it'd be too much for you, right?"
"What do you take me for! It's not too much—it's that I hate it!"
"Anyway. Let's take it step by step. You hate even kissing right now? So cheek peck first."
"Ha..."
She stared at him like he was ridiculous.
But her cheeks were flushing red.
Unable to stand her hesitation, Sihwan took action first.
He surprise-kissed her frozen cheek.
"Eek!"
"There. Your turn."
"Grr... W-why the hell should I...!"
"You're my wife. Hurry up."
"Mmph..."
From what he'd gauged so far, she surprisingly had a 'reluctantly goes along if you push hard enough' trait.
Of course, only once you'd built some rapport and affection(?). Pushing on someone worthless like Seong-hyeon would just get you punched.
In that sense, Sihwan could pull it off.
He was her husband, and someone she cared about.
"Damn punk...!"
Grumbling like that, she squeezed her eyes shut, her body trembling, and reluctantly pressed her lips to Sihwan's cheek.
Smack.
"Hah!"
Then she jolted back in shock, scampering away.
The icy beauty instructor at the Academy, but in the room like this, an endlessly cute girl.
That gap moe made him want to pounce right then, but Sihwan held back.
For the big event, you had to restrain momentary urges.
He'd vent this throbbing to Ellie and Bari first, and take things slow with Yu Ina.
Anyway, scoring a cheek peck was progress from yesterday.
"Ahem... Treatment's done... Now get out and train...!"
Embarrassed, Yu Ina yelled with her flushed face, avoiding eye contact and turning away.
"More training?"
"Of course! Weaklings like you need to roll all day and then some!"
Leaving behind 'I'll bring Eleonore!', she bolted out.
"Jeez. Over a little peck... Long road ahead."
Soon after, Eleonore arrived.
She'd been dragged to bathrooms or rooftops during breaks at the Academy to get ravaged by Sihwan, then showered clean.
Already carrying that sweet apple scent, now mixed with cozy soap—hard to hold back.
"More training—?"
"Like hell."
Sihwan immediately dragged her to the next room.