I began to calmly read the contents of the handwritten poster.
The more I read, the more I frowned.
The handwritten poster read that in the past, Professor Alice Blesbuck had conducted research on the genetic sequence between humans and monsters, especially in relation to blood.The content of her research was very innovative and groundbreaking.And based on her research, the worst criminal group, the Red Case, kidnapped children in the past and conducted horrible human experiments on them.Even though all the people involved were severely punished, she was not punished in any way.And facts such as the fact that the higher echelons of the academy knew all this and yet hired her as a professor were filled with primitive and provocative words. At the end, I exhaled lamentingly when I saw it end with a demand for her dismissal and punishment, and at the same time a demand for the academy's stance and apology.
What really surprised me was that everything written on the handwritten poster was true, and that they had cleverly twisted the words to make it sound as if Alice Blesbuck had actively led the human experimentation of her own volition.
"That b*tch was a total f*cking b*tch!"
Someone shouted like that, and voices of agreement immediately erupted from around.
"What, so we've been taking classes from a b*tch who did human experimentations while being a professor until now?!"
"Oh, crazy! I drank the drink that woman gave me before!"
"Wow, my head feels numb. That's why she always kept her head up like that?"
"Is the academy insane? Letting a crazy b*tch like that in as a professor!?"
On the way, there were some who wanted to observe because it was not clear, but once the students got excited, the atmosphere did not calm down easily.
Meanwhile, I found Han Soo-Young, who was staring blankly at the handwritten poster.I walked straight up to her.
"Soo-Young."
"Oh, Ji-Hyuk."
She found me and immediately turned her head.
"What do you think?"
"…well."
This wasn't a topic I could talk about recklessly.I carefully watched her face, wondering if she was angry.But for some reason, Han Soo-Young was looking at it with a calm face.
"Indeed, it really does make the eyes dizzy. Had it been a few days ago, it really would have."
"Yes?"
"No, I'm just talking to myself."
Han Soo-Young nodded quietly.
"…This really scares me when it happens. Two of the things that have already been said are right."
Han Soo-Young, who was muttering like that, looked somewhere with an ah sound.I turned my head and saw professors and staff members approaching, pushing the students away and removing the handwritten posters.
"Get out of here, go back to your respective classes, hurry!"
"Professor, please tell me! Is what is written there true!?"
"Professor!"
Despite the sounds coming from all over the place, the professors just repeated the words, go back to your respective classes.In such a chaotic situation, Han Soo-Young seemed to be okay.
"By the way, you were talking to Ye-Seul earlier, right?"
"Yes."
Han Soo-Young nodded quietly.
"I hope it goes well."
"… let's see."
"Um, this is just my subjective opinion, and I absolutely don't mean to speak ill of Ye-Seul or anything like that." She said so.
"Things may be quite different between me, Hyun-Woo, and Ye-Seul."
"…… ."
"In any case, Hyun-Woo and I have been like family to each other since we were young. So… even though we were looked at with disdain because we were orphans without parents, we were able to rely on each other and endure. To us, each other was more than family."
She nodded.
"If I had to choose three people I would probably gladly give my life to, it would be Master, you, and Hyun-Woo."
I had already known that there was something strange about Ye-Seul.Hyun-Woo also said that.
"Back to what I was saying, things like that have happened to us a few times since we were young. The secrets we want to hide, that is, we were abandoned children, or we were originally strangers to each other... or hearing such stories from our master, or finding out ourselves… Anyway, a lot of things happened."
So in short, this is it.
"There may be a difference between us accepting your secret and Ye-Seul accepting it. And neither of us is wrong."
"I know it well."
I replied with a nod.
"And as you said, Soo-Young, I have to take responsibility for both sides."
"…you really only answer as expected."
With a small smile, Han Soo-Young stared at me.
"Anyway, be careful."
"…… ."
"Because I really don't want to fight with Ye-Seul."
She murmured as she looked at the poster board with the torn handwritten poster with cold eyes.
* * *
As soon as class was over, I headed to the alchemy club.However, the door to the club room, which was always open, was firmly locked.
"As expected… ."
I tried contacting Cass Lyle's number, but only a beep indicating that the power was turned off came out.I came because I was worried about him, but as expected, he seemed to have been quite shocked. … Professor Alice Blesbuck's story spread considerably in just a few hours.This was due to the steady and relentless spread of her story, with large hand-written posters being plastered all over the place, and someone anonymously transferring the text as it was and uploading it to the website used by the students in the academy. And it was pretty predictable who the culprits were.Urea's faculty, to be exact, Isaac McDowell, the leader of Big Watch and his followers.Of course, even knowing this fact, there is nothing I could do at this point.Because it was obvious that they ordered it over several legs, and they wouldn't have done anything to get their tail caught, and there was no way anyone would listen to me if I claimed they were the culprits without any evidence whatsoever.
On top of that, there was also a big factor that Alice Blesbuck, who now had to actively explain herself within the academy, was absent.
Above all, the problem was that even if the real culprit was revealed now, it would be difficult to do anything about it, since the story had already spread maliciously.Because in any case, what had been written was true, even if it had been maliciously edited.If it were her personality, she would probably humbly accept it as her own sin, rather than actively explaining it.It meant that it was ambiguous for me, a third party, to come forward.
‘… There's something much more important than that right now.'
After being forced to leave the alchemy club behind, I headed to the archery club this time.As always, I could hear the characteristic sharp sound of arrows cutting the wind.It was when I took a step in there.
"Oh."
"Hmm."
Some members of the archery club found me and put down their bows with their eyes shining.But before the others could come closer to me, Kung Yeon-Kyung quickly approached and tugged on my arm.
"Oh, Ji-Hyuk! Thanks for coming, like I said before, I need you to quickly deliver the item to the vice president... !"
She took me to a private room, exuding an aura from her whole body that seemed to say, don't come near.She immediately locked the door and took something out of her inner pocket and handed it to me.It was a small wooden box.
"This."
"What is this?"
"I don't know. I'm just giving it to you because she asked me to. Maybe you'll know as soon as you see it."
She shrugged her shoulders.As soon as I opened the wooden box, I knew what she meant.
"Ye-Eun said that she found it in the place where the two of you fell?"
Inside was a piece of wood, half turned to ash, that appeared to be Svengali's body.
"She said it's useless to her, but she's giving it to you just in case."
"… yes, I got it for sure."
I put it in the shadow, pretending to put it in my pocket.This needed to be looked into in detail later.
"And the reason I'm giving you this here is because when you and Mr. Woo-Seok met before, someone seemed to have got attached to you."
Kang Yeon-Kyung sniffed.
"The details are being investigated, but it's probably one of Lee Yoon-Seong, that person's gang. But just in case, she said to deliver like this through me."
I nodded.And Kang Yeon-Kyung added as if saying, don't forget.
"Oh, and just in case, unless you have been notified in advance, you should refuse to get a detailed physical examination or provide any information. Some of the World Tree clans are all legally accepted, but we don't know how the data could be misused."
Since you don't know the rules of the clan, I'm sure there will be people who will play useless tricks.Especially since you are a member of the clan with the branch of the World Tree, I'm sure there will be those who will approach you with their eyes lit up.
"And… ."
"Do you have anything else to tell me?"
"Yes. She asked you to call her later."
Kang Yeon-Kyung said in a voice that said it wasn't a big deal, but with a bitter smile.
"Ye-Eun seems very tired these days. So I guess she wants to hear her brother's voice."
Hearing her words, I nodded and said that I understood. After the business was over, I immediately left the archery club without looking back.There was not much time left before the appointment with Jin Ye-Seul.
It was just the right amount of time to go to the dormitory once and come back.
"…… ."
Without realizing it, I put my hand on the handle of the dagger that I was wearing around my waist as a habit.After doing that for a while, I immediately moved to the dormitory.
It wasn't long until the time of my appointment with her.I hurried my steps. * * * I opened the door to the simulation training room, which I hadn't been to in a really long time, and went inside.Besides me, there were many other people using the training room here and there.
I jogged my memory and began to adjust the settings in the training room as I did back then.I locked the door and lowered the outside window so that no one could see.And when I ran the program with the default settings, a strange yet nostalgic human-shaped hologram appeared.
There was still time left.
"All to the max."
As I mumbled, the hologram lagged for a moment, and soon a huge number of training dolls appeared.The weapons they held were of a different dimension than the crude ones in my memory.
"Start."
As soon as the word fell, the dolls that were standing as if surrounding me rushed in like a rushing wave.
With Henir's shadow wrapped around my body like armor, I immediately threw myself straight to one axis of the rushing wave.The dolls were shattered in an instant, and shards of light glowed.
I felt a pounding sensation all over my body, but I just moved my body as I was led without paying any attention.
I couldn't describe it in any way.It wasn't a battle, training, or anything.It was just an act of venting anger.
In fact, in less than five minutes, all the dolls that filled the training ground were destroyed without a trace.It was just the result of a dogfight with no technique, no skills, or anything.
"Huu."
I took a small breath and drew Henir's shadow in.And when I turned and looked at the entrance, Jin Ye-Seul was standing there looking at me as if she had been there from the beginning.
"Wow."
With a clapping sound, she clapped her hands.Then she looked around and muttered.
"It's amazing. Totally Ji-Hyuk."
Also, the words ‘the successor of Shadow Walker' and ‘using Henir's Shadow, the legacy of such Shadow Walker' are probably omitted for me.I caught my breath and stared at her.
"Ye-Seul."
"Huh? Why, Ji-Hyuk?" "No, Jin Ye-Seul."
I stared at her.The person who has made it her life-long desire to search for the Shadow Walker's legacy.The person who cooperated with me both physically and mentally to find such Shadow Walker's legacy.And the person I had deceived and used until now for my own safety. I closed my trembling eyes and exhaled.I know very well that this is a useless thing, literally poking a beehive.
But now that my memory has returned to some extent, I couldn't deceive her any more and stay the way we used to.Yoo Ji-Na, my sister said she resembled us the most, but she liked her the most.Above all, deceiving others and taking advantage of their goodwill was the thing I hated the most.Even now, I had to fix it.Only then could I forgive myself.
And no matter what the consequences of this are, it is something I have to bear.
"I'll apologize first. And, whatever you do... That would be your rightful right."
"Huh… ? Ji-Hyuk, why is this all of a sudden... ?"
Jin Ye-Seul looked at me with a puzzled expression.After catching my breath, I opened my mouth as if I was blocking her from reaching out to me.
She can read other people's emotions and see through their lies.
And the only reason I was able to escape such an instinctive ability of hers was because of the numerous skills and items I wore on my body.
Henir's Shadow, Branch of the World Tree, and Ring from Belluna.Removing everything, I revealed my energy and trace to her as they were.Now she could see through my lies and read my emotions.
"… Ji-Hyuk?"
"I am not of this world."
"What?"
She stopped and looked at me.
"I mean, this is not the world I originally lived in. I am a person who lived in a different world than this one."
"What do you mean, all of a sudden… Yeah, the joke is... ."
"You know better. I am not lying."
What I said was true.Through everything, starting from another person's pupils, breathing, and heartbeat, she was able to find out whether the other person was lying or not.
"Such a… ."
"Everything I just said is true. I am not of this world, and I fell into this world because of an accident I didn't know."
"What does it matter… ."
And.Jin Ye-Seul, who had been talking up to that point, stood tall and stopped.She closed her eyes once.
Twice.Thrice.She closed and opened her eyes, and stared intently at me.I couldn't tell what color her purple eyes were now.
"… um, Ji-Hyuk."
She spoke to me in a trembling voice.
"Right now, I have a very bad feeling… I'm wrong, right?"
She asked me almost as if pleading.
"I'm wrong, right? Right? Tell me I'm."
Please.I answered her plea.
"No."
Your thoughts are right.It was before the words were finished.
"――――――!!!" With a silent scream, she rushed in.
