บท 58: 472
[Chapter 132]
[To Pluck the Flower (3)]
The academy was busy preparing for the cultural festival.
Students who were setting up booths in their free time turned their heads towards a woman entering through the main gate.
The fact that she confidently entered through the academy's main gate, which restricts entry for outsiders, likely meant she was affiliated with the academy.
But none of the students knew who she was.
""""...""""
It's an unfamiliar face.
Yet the reason students' gazes were drawn to her was because she exuded a distinctive presence.
"—To think they transformed the dungeon that made Seoul people shudder like this. Seems they put in quite some effort."
She's a woman of indeterminate age.
The woman muttered in a tone that seemed quite old for her appearance.
A woman with her hair rolled up with a few hairpins, wearing a pure white martial arts uniform.
She ignored the students' gazes and headed towards the building housing the administrative support office.
"I never thought I'd be working as a guest instructor at this age..."
The woman clicked her tongue.
She who had been planning to live a life of wandering the country doing good deeds before dying smiled faintly.
Somehow she ended up spending the rest of her life here as a guest instructor.
"If it weren't for Seoyoung's request, I wouldn't have even come to Seoul..."
She took on a disciple this time.
A disciple with quite some potential.
If there had been no potential, she was planning to just teach the basics and look for another disciple, but even though learning was slow, it was rewarding to teach.
It was then that <Divine Wind>, no, now <Empress> Shin Seoyoung suggested to her.
Since that's the case, why not come as a guest instructor and teach her disciple Choi Eunhyuk primarily while also enlightening other students?
The woman who had a connection with Shin Seoyoung in the past accepted her proposal.
"But it seems I chose the wrong timing."
The woman who had been looking around the academy soon stopped walking.
She had confirmed when entering the main gate that there would be a cultural festival soon.
Students setting up temporary tents around caught her eye.
It didn't seem to be an atmosphere where she could teach students.
It seemed she had chosen the wrong timing.
"Well, you should play when you can play. Though I don't want to see my disciple playing around..."
Anyway, those who will make it will make it no matter what they do.
The woman started walking again.
First, she decided to stop by the administrative support office to officially obtain guest instructor qualifications.
And then—
"—Let's go find that disciple... Surely he's not slacking off and not training just because I'm not here? Hmm..."
—Find Choi Eunhyuk.
Living Myth, <Sword Empress> Hwang Jinhee looked forward to the reunion between master and disciple.
☆
The comprehensive division competition where players compete in all areas using their skills and ingenuity.
The comprehensive division competition was a stage where students could showcase their skills to clan officials visiting from outside.
It was natural for many high school academy students to participate.
"Here, a towel."
"Thanks, Seona. Whew... I never knew dealing with a caster would be this hard."
"You just realized that now? Don't you get a sense from looking at Soobin?"
"Casters are weak in individual matches, right? So I think I was a bit careless. I didn't know it would be this tricky. Soobin... yeah, I don't want to face her."
"Why are you pretending to be weak so unattractively?"
"Okay, I won't do it."
Many students applied for the comprehensive division competition this year too.
It's said even more students than usual participated after news spread that Eunha, who students had been watching, wasn't participating in the comprehensive division competition.
He fully understood their feelings.
Eunhyuk, who had just finished his first preliminary match, sympathized as he wiped his sweat with a towel.
It was this difficult dealing with the caster he just faced, so he wondered how strong the captain must be.
"But Seona, are you really okay not participating?"
The second preliminary round is tomorrow.
In other words, it meant you could still participate in the comprehensive division competition until today when the first preliminary round was held.
So he asked Seona, who hadn't participated in the competition.
Asking if it was really okay to let go of this opportunity to confirm her skills and raise her value.
Then Seona opened her mouth as if it didn't matter.
"It would be good to participate... But I'm not interested in raising my value. It's enough if just you guys recognize my value. Even if I join Eunha's party later, I think Eunha won't undervalue me. If he does, I'll take everyone and leave."
"..."
Seona's eyes flashed red for a moment.
Eunhyuk was too scared to say anything as she muttered softly.
Then Seona quickly changed her expression and smiled brightly.
"You'll follow me and leave too, right Eunhyuk?"
"Oh, y-yeah... of course."
"That's right, people should know which way the wind blows."
Since becoming a branch family of KK Group.
Seona seemed to have become even more cunning.
Eunhyuk made a sour face as he watched her grab and shake his arm.
Though her face was still pretty regardless.
...I want to touch her casually like the captain too.
Seona's triangular ears twitched.
Eunhyuk swallowed as he watched her chattering happily.
He wanted to reach out and touch those ears.
He was just envious of the captain who carelessly stretched Jung Hayang's cheeks.
"What's wrong? You keep staring at me."
"Ah, it's nothing!"
"...Oh, really?"
Just then, Seona tilted her head.
He quickly backed away, feeling like she had seen through his thoughts.
Then she narrowed her eyes.
Eunhyuk avoided her gaze as much as possible.
"Ah, and there's one more reason why I'm not participating in the competition."
"What is it?"
Soon Seona clapped her hands together.
She held her smartphone right up to his face.
Adding a "ta-da" sound effect.
Eunhyuk was bewildered.
"I'm going to film you guys participating in the competition from the audience seats with this. Eunwoo will probably film Minho more, so I'll focus on filming you instead, Eunhyuk."
"Really? Thank you! Film me looking cool."
"Leave it to this noona. I'm confident I can take good photos like Eunwoo too, so look forward to it."
Seona smiled showing her white teeth.
She who turned 17 this year had now become a woman who could catch anyone's eye at least once.
She seemed to be glowing.
Eunhyuk's face relaxed as he watched her looking up at him and speaking.
Actually, he had been gauging when to tell her.
But now seemed like the opportunity.
"—Seona."
"Yeah, what?"
"What are you doing on the fourth day of the cultural festival?"
"..."
"Do you have any plans that day?"
Eunhyuk spoke in a serious tone.
Seona abruptly stopped chattering.
She silently shook her head.
Meaning she had no plans.
That's how Eunhyuk interpreted it.
"Then do you want to look around together with me that day? There's a competition that day too, but I don't know how far I'll be able to go, though it should end before 6 PM. So after it ends—"
—Let's look around the cultural festival together, and watch the fireworks in the evening.
Eunhyuk tried to convey the words he had been preparing to her.
If only a nuisance didn't appear.
"—I've been quietly watching for a while, but your skills are pathetic. What are you doing in a place like this without doing the training you're supposed to do?"
"M-Master!?"
<Sword Empress> Hwang Jinhee suddenly appeared.
Choi Eunhyuk had a shocked expression seeing her suddenly appear behind him.
"No, why is Master here..."
"I was hired as a guest instructor this time. Seona, it's been a while."
"...Yes... Hello."
"Anyway... It seems you're participating in some competition called the comprehensive division competition or whatever, but I can't watch my disciple participate with such skills."
"M-Master!? First, put this down...!"
"So I'm going to train you intensively. Let's see how much you've learned."
Choi Eunhyuk gasping for breath while being grabbed by the nape of his neck by Hwang Jinhee.
She started walking away without checking his condition, just grabbing him by the nape of his neck.
Choi Eunhyuk was dragged along.
"W-Wait a moment, Master! I just need to say one thing to Seona...ack...!"
Hwang Jinhee clicked her tongue without even listening to his words.
In the end, all Choi Eunhyuk could do was reach out his hand towards the receding Seona.
"S-Seona...!"
"Sigh..."
Meanwhile, Seona who witnessed this absurd scene burst out laughing seeing Choi Eunhyuk shouting as if begging to be saved.
Then she sighed.
"Oh geez, you idiot. You can just contact me by phone later. And if you want to touch my ears, just say you want to touch them."
Seona smiled gently.
Soon she took a photo with her smartphone of him being dragged away by Hwang Jinhee.
☆
Not long after the second semester started, the academy had conducted a pre-cultural festival demand survey.
As a result, statistics showed that far more people than usual would visit.
170% increase compared to last year's demand survey.
It was all because of No Eunha.
"...Why is that because of me?"
"Yeah, it's because of you. It's only you."
Academy Instructor's Hall.
Eunha who had been contacted by <Empress> Shin Seoyoung and visited her research lab soon had a dumbfounded expression.
But she sitting across from him had quite a serious expression.
She opened her mouth.
"You became a high school academy student this time. So people in the industry are expecting you to participate in the comprehensive division competition."
"...Come on, no way..."
"They say 'no way' kills people. And I've been killed by 'no way' several times because of you."
"..."
"On top of that, you know your stock has risen tremendously because of what you did in Japan recently and what you did at the end-of-semester party, right?"
"...I guess?"
"If you're being unofficially called <Cutting the Gordian Knot> even though you haven't even debuted yet, that says it all."
Eunha was at a loss for words.
He couldn't say anything back.
Because everything Shin Seoyoung said wasn't wrong.
"So what?"
Even if it wasn't his intention.
In the end, he had to acknowledge what needed to be acknowledged.
Eunha adapted to the current situation and asked her reason for calling him.
"Most of the people coming to see this cultural festival are coming thinking you'll be participating in the comprehensive division competition."
"But I'm not participating?"
"That's the problem."
Shin Seoyoung crossed her legs the other way.
She openly sighed.
"Then how do you think the people coming to see the cultural festival will react if you don't participate? People who increased by 170% compared to last year."
"..."
"There might even be a riot at the academy."
Shin Seoyoung put strength in her words and intimidated him.
Eunha frowned.
So does that mean he has to participate in the competition now?
He silently asked.
Fortunately, Shin Seoyoung shook her head saying that wasn't it.
"But we do need something to appease people. And of course that something has to be you, Eunha."
"So?"
"I had a meeting with the instructors and we decided to create a stage event showcasing your skills on the day of the comprehensive division competition opening ceremony."
"..."
"I know you don't like it, Eunha, but don't you think you need to do at least this much?"
Shin Seoyoung said with a huff.
Eunha could only silently listen to her words with a face like he had bitten a bug.
He did owe her a lot.
Surely she had persuaded the instructors to end it with just showing his strength on the opening ceremony stage.
"...Alright. I'll do it."
"Good, you thought well."
"So what should I do for the opening stage? Should I perform a sword dance?"
"Who would expect that from you? Do you think influential clan officials would come to the cultural festival to see that? Of course, you need to show yourself having a duel or something for them to be somewhat satisfied."
"So I'm having a duel?"
"But there's no student who can duel with you, Eunha, so we decided to show you fighting monsters."
"Oh, really? What rank?"
"Three 6th rank monsters. Can you do it?"
"...Isn't 6th rank too dangerous for an academy student?"
"We need to show at least that much for them to be satisfied. And you're only a student in name, where are you acting like a student?"
"...Noona, I am a student though."
Eunha couldn't hide his sour expression.
Nevertheless, he decided to accept her request.
I should practice dual wielding while I'm at it.
It's not easy to encounter high-rank monsters in Seoul anyway...
Eunha resigned himself.
Since it's come to this, he decided to test out the swords he made during vacation.
Above all, nothing helps hone practical skills like fighting monsters.
"—But absolutely no using Platinum Cross?"
"...I know that too. Why would I reveal all my skills there? It's a world where skill is everything..."
Shin Seoyoung cautioned at that moment.
Eunha nodded.
Eunha also had no intention of revealing all his skills at the cultural festival.
He planned to keep people curious about Platinum Cross which he used to subjugate Ryuki in Japan.
Even observant players could create countermeasures just from seeing a magic once.
He couldn't reveal his trump card.
"Then I'll be going now."
"Okay, go back to the dorm quietly without causing trouble."
"...Do I look like a walking time bomb in your eyes, noona?"
"Time bomb? More like a nuclear bomb. Nuclear bomb! Boom!"
"...I'm leaving."
He couldn't find even a speck of trust in her eyes.
He wondered if he really lacked that much credibility.
Eunha sighed and left the research lab, deciding to train at the training hall until dinner time.
"I want to master this perfectly today but it's not working well..."
He had somewhat mastered dual wielding.
It wasn't too difficult since it was a matter of reviving his sense from before the regression.
The problem was Wubo.
A footwork technique that could cover a very long distance in just one step.
He failed nine times out of ten...
No, it was almost all failures.
Since manifesting Wubo in Japan.
Eunha had been struggling to use Wubo since then.
He could see the flow of mana.
But he couldn't tell which of the numerous flows he should trace.
He couldn't just try this recklessly...
Wubo was a magic that inserted oneself into the flow of mana.
In other words, there was a risk of accidents if one didn't completely entrust their body to the flow.
He could also end up moving to an unintended place and in an awkward posture.
As a result, the times Eunha had actually realized Wubo could be counted on one hand.
Mostly he just focused on observing the mana flow and seeing the flow he wanted to move to.
There were too many flows...
It's not easy to accurately specify coordinates either.
Eunha regulated his breathing.
He decided to try using Wubo while infusing mana into his legs.
—Wubo
The target point was the corner where wall meets wall.
Eunha who was standing in
But he appeared in front of the entrance, and in a position where his head was falling towards the ground.
"...Ugh...!"
He couldn't even break his fall properly.
Eunha hit his head and sprawled out flat on the floor.
He exhaled with a groan.
His head was spinning and his stomach churned.
He would get motion sickness like this if he didn't use Wubo perfectly.
Motion sickness was fortunate.
At least he didn't lose any body parts.
How on earth can I find the flow I want...
He blankly stared up at the ceiling while lying on the floor.
Countless flows could be seen.
Eunha traced those flows with his eyes as he fell into thought.
Just then, someone's face entered his field of vision.
Eunha's eyes widened as he recognized who it was.
"—How fascinating."
"..."
"To think there was someone who could use magic similar to mine..."
The darkness that could be called the shadow of the Fairy Government.
The master of that darkness.
One of the Twelve Seats, <King of Darkness> Baek Seo-jin.
He was also Eunha's mentor before the regression.
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