34. Summer Vacation (4)
Second Main Tower, Lee Hanwol’s office.
“A trip, huh…”
Instructor Lee Hanwol looked at the girls who had brought in a travel application form with a peculiar expression.
Princess Hong Biyeon Adolevit, Eizel Morf, and Flame.
Would there really be anyone who wouldn’t be curious when three girls who looked so utterly mismatched suddenly said they wanted to go on a trip together?
“Is it not allowed?”
“It’s not that.”
There wasn’t really any proper reason to refuse them either.
It was summer vacation, after all.
“The period is one week. And where exactly are you planning to go?”
“To Diamond Coast on Laplati Island. It’s famous as a vacation resort.”
“Ah, yes. Though… isn’t that place even more famous as a pickup spot? Don’t tell me you lot are planning to pretend to be adults.”
Flinch.
At Lee Hanwol’s words, Flame visibly jolted.
She had just blurted out the name of some famous vacation spot she vaguely remembered from the original romance fantasy, never imagining it had that kind of reputation behind it.
“Heheh… of course not.”
“Well, considering all three of your faces are famous enough, even if you wanted to go flirting around, the fact that you’re underage would be exposed right away. In any case, don’t go causing any pointless trouble.”
“Surfing and tanning! And wine under the warm sunlight… I mean grape juice! We’ll do everything there is to do at the beach and come back!”
Thunk!
Lee Hanwol stamped the form, and the girls all rushed out of the office together.
“Whew. Who knew Laplati Island was basically a marketplace for men and women meeting each other?”
“How would we know something like that? We’re teenagers…”
“More people know than you’d think.”
The one who answered was Hong Biyeon.
When Flame and Eizel stared at her, she gave a small cough and then explained,
“Even among my faction members, some of them kept loudly bragging that they were going to pretend to be adults and go to the beach to seduce the opposite sex.”
“Woooow… There really are people like that.”
“Kids these days, getting that rotten already.”
“Ms. Flame, you’re talking as if you’re some adult yourself.”
“I’m mature mentally.”
“Ah… yes… I see…”
As the conversation began drifting into pointless territory, Hong Biyeon cut it off sharply.
“That’s enough small talk. We’re leaving immediately, yes?”
“Yes. That’s right. There’s no reason to delay.”
“Then pack your things and meet at Warp Hall Gate No. 4.”
After saying that, Hong Biyeon coolly disappeared.
Eizel watched her go, then glanced toward somewhere from which cheers could be heard.
The Stella Dome.
Right about now…
they were probably holding the screening test to choose applicants for the Inter-School Tournament.
“What? Are you disappointed?”
When Flame asked with a knowing expression, Eizel gave a bitter shake of her head.
“It was something I was looking forward to, yes, but priorities exist. Things like that can be entered next year just as easily.”
“That’s true too. Still, if we solve everything the way we planned and come back, we should at least be able to watch the main event, right? I wonder who’ll represent our school.”
“I wonder…”
The Inter-School Tournament was, after all, an event where one’s magic ability could properly be shown to the world, so Eizel had been looking forward to it as well.
But now, it was fine.
Through the Aslan Seminar, she had already succeeded in spreading magic under the name of Morf, so there was no longer any need to cling to the Inter-School Tournament.
And even aside from that, comparing the Constellatio Project to any other event at all was absurd to begin with.
“Anyway, if we want to come back and enjoy watching the main tournament, then we need to successfully finish what we’re doing first, right?”
“Of course.”
When Eizel nodded with a determined expression, Flame gave her back a few pats with the sort of eyes one might turn on a cute little sister.
“All right, then. Let’s go.”
Their trip seemed smooth,
but it wasn’t truly smooth.
Because too many famous people had gathered together, and that naturally made things noisy.
The airship airport for Laplati-bound flights.
“Wow… that’s Princess Hong Biyeon over there.”
“Looks like she’s going on vacation…”
“I thought she was a model.”
Hong Biyeon, dressed in a simple white one-piece dress, had one hand resting on a silver travel suitcase and the other placed on her hip.
Looking out somewhere into the distance through the black sunglasses perched on the bridge of her nose, she seemed to be saying only one thing.
Take the picture.
Perhaps the reporters clinging to Hong Biyeon had heard that telepathy, because they were photographing her from every possible angle.
Of course, she was enjoying it too.
She knew that people followed her every movement, that it all became a topic of conversation, and that even the clothes she wore instantly turned into trends among teenage girls.
That was exactly why she had chosen this simple dress today too.
[Fashion That Stands Out Because It Is Not Flashy]
[June Fashion Under the Microscope]
[A Full Breakdown of Princess Hong Biyeon’s Fashion!]
[Is the Face Still the Final Touch of Fashion?]
[Top 10 Outfits Ordinary People Should Never Try]
Before long, this dress would probably become a worldwide trend, and many girls would buy it only to shed tears when they realized they could not wear it the way Hong Biyeon did.
“Ughhh… I’m dying of the heat.”
Naturally, there was someone who couldn’t care less about any of that.
Flame was wearing blue hot pants, a blue cap, and a white sleeveless shirt.
Anyone looking at her would call it an ordinary outfit.
But by wearing it so perfectly, she proved that, in the end, fashion was all about the face.
Compared to that, Eizel, who had shown up in an awkward half-and-half outfit of cropped pants and a sky-blue T-shirt, kept touching her hair while being keenly aware of the gazes pouring at her from all sides.
‘Maybe I should have put more thought into what I wore…’
Internally, she was a little envious of how summery and effortlessly stylish Hong Biyeon and Flame looked, but she pretended not to care.
The attention no longer bothered her too much now.
It was still quite burdensome, but Eizel had lived while drinking in malicious stares all her life, so this level of interest was nothing.
A little while later, after boarding the airship, the three girls each opened their books without exchanging a single word.
Hong Biyeon read a celebrity magazine.
Flame read This Month’s Trends: June Issue.
And Eizel…
read a philosophy book that objectively organized the historical flow and the meaningful effects on the development and transformation of civilization once magic advanced out of ancient civilizations and humanity gained power.
‘This is comfortable…’
Thanks to Hong Biyeon paying out of her own pocket, all three of them had been able to board in business class.
For Eizel, who had never experienced such a thing in her life, everything felt unfamiliar.
Aside from the flight attendant mistakenly trying to serve Hong Biyeon wine after assuming she was an adult, there was nothing at all to worry about.
‘So this is the power of money and status…’
Flame, who had been reading her magazine, was already dozing off.
Hong Biyeon, even in the midst of this tedious flight, sat elegantly gazing out the window.
For some reason, Eizel alone felt as though she was carrying all the burden, so she forced herself to relax back into her seat.
Her body was comfortable.
The problem was that her mind was not.
And yet she did not realize that at all.
They flew on in silence for quite some time like that.
Then—
“Eizel.”
Suddenly, Hong Biyeon called to her.
Even though she had just spoken Eizel’s name, her voice flowed so naturally that Eizel almost failed to recognize that she herself had been addressed.
“Ah… yes?”
“Once you save that commoner, what do you plan to do?”
“…What do you mean by that?”
Still looking out the window, Hong Biyeon turned her head and met Eizel’s blue eyes.
“There must be some reason you’re so obsessed with that commoner’s life. That’s what I’m asking.”
“That’s…”
Eizel hesitated, unable to answer properly, and as though she had expected that, Hong Biyeon spoke first in a firm voice.
“I intend to make that commoner… Baek Yuseol, mine.”
“…What?”
It was such a sudden declaration that Eizel’s eyes went round before she could properly take it in.
“What do you mean, make him yours…?”
“I mean exactly what I said. I intend to keep Baek Yuseol by my side. And in order to do that… I won’t care what methods I have to use.”
Even Eizel could understand that an awful lot was included in those “methods.”
“I’m grateful that you worked so hard for Baek Yuseol’s life. But this is the last time I’ll move together with you. If you interfere with my goal… I’m fully confident I can remove you from the picture without hesitation.”
At those words, Eizel lowered her trembling gaze.
What should she even say in response?
That had been, in a sense, a declaration of war.
‘That thing is mine, so don’t touch it. Just get lost.’
But why was she saying that…
to me?
Flame was sitting right there beside them too.
That was what her head thought.
But her heart had already accepted the answer.
Why else?
It was obvious.
“…Do as you please.”
Eizel lifted her head again and stared straight into Hong Biyeon’s red eyes.
“You’re free to try.”
At that, Hong Biyeon let out a small laugh and turned back to the window.
It was an attitude that said she did not care what Eizel did, and for a moment anger flared through Eizel, but she realized this too was part of Hong Biyeon’s way of provoking people, so she endured it through clenched teeth.
‘Just wait and see.’
A quiet café in Arcanium.
The affordable price of $5,000 for a single cup of coffee was more than enough to capture the hearts of what few commoners existed.
That applied to Baek Yuseol too.
Those who knew already knew this, but Baek Yuseol was rich now.
Filthy rich.
Which was why many people found it strange that he always headed to cafés like this…
but in truth, there was no special reason.
‘Going farther is a pain.’
They said that when choosing a gym membership, rather than perfect equipment, ideal facilities, or an excellent trainer, your first priority should be somewhere close.
That way you actually keep going.
Of course, Baek Yuseol wasn’t coming to this café to train.
The reason he came out here for thirty minutes every day to enjoy a cup of coffee was really nothing more than wanting to enjoy a little leisure.
This was…
a habit from his days living on Earth.
His life after entering Stella had been incredibly busy, balancing training and school, but his life on Earth had not been all that different.
For someone who had lived frantically in reality, the small pleasures of life had been a brief coffee after lunch and games after work.
But he couldn’t play games here.
So he at least drank coffee, out of habit from real life.
‘Man, what a pain.’
Lately, though, even that leisure had become difficult to enjoy.
This world didn’t have televisions or computers, but it did have something called Magic Screens, where newspapers and news were uploaded pointlessly fast, making the spread of issues absurdly quick.
Maybe because he had become rather famous recently, the prickling stares of the reporters lurking all over the café felt burdensome.
A few students were openly glancing this way too.
They had clearly come just to gawk.
‘Exchange students, probably.’
Still, at least no one had actually come over to talk to him.
“Um…”
That was what he thought,
right as someone approached.
He lifted his head to check, and there stood some cute-faced girl with twin braids, twisting her whole body awkwardly.
“What? You here to give me a love letter or something?”
“N-no! I-it’s not that…”
“Hm…”
Unfamiliar uniform.
Unfamiliar face.
The name was Anella…
Nope. Never heard it before.
He wanted to take out the glasses, but before he could, Anella held something out.
“Could you… maybe sign this for me…?”
“…A signature?”
It was the first time in his life anyone had made a ridiculous request like that, but then again, he supposed it made sense.
He really had become famous, after all.
‘Come to think of it, didn’t the original game have something like this too…’
If you unlocked a certain route and gained the ability to play as Character Ma Yuseong, then sometimes absurd events called “signing sessions” would open up for players.
Each time, bonus stats like disposition or charm would go up, so players who wanted to make their character prettier and cooler often did them.
Still, he had never expected to receive something like that himself, which made the whole thing rather absurd.
“Sure, why not.”
It wasn’t like it cost him anything, and she had come all this way because she liked him enough to ask, so there was no reason to refuse.
Baek Yuseol promptly took the paper and popped the cap off his pen.
And then, all of a sudden, Anella grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved her face close.
“Hey, what are you—”
“Look into my eyes.”
“What?”
Creeping, swirling…
something like a black current was spinning inside Anella’s pupils.
“What exactly are you trying to—”
As Baek Yuseol stared blankly at it, his pupils gradually began to unfocus.
Seeing that, Anella smiled in triumph.
‘Good. It worked!’
Anella’s greatest trait:
[Nightmare Recurrence].
It dug deep into the target’s mind and evoked their deepest trauma…
one of the rarest mental attacks in existence.
Splash!
Falling into the sea called Baek Yuseol, Anella looked around with a refreshed expression.
This was his inner world.
A ridiculous ability like true mind-reading was impossible, but Anella had partially inherited the traits of the long-extinct dream-demon race, allowing her to skim through the most painful past the target had experienced by turning it into dreams.
If there was one flaw, it was this:
she could not choose which dream to view.
The dream that appeared before her would always, without exception, be the most painful memory of all.
Because if the caster could not endure it, then in that moment, their mind could collapse alongside the victim’s.
But that problem did not apply to Anella.
To someone like her, who had survived after going through every kind of horror imaginable, ordinary pain and trauma were little more than watching a slightly sad tragedy.
‘Now then… shall I poke at your painful past a little?’
From what she had investigated, Baek Yuseol’s past had to be filled with pain.
‘When were you the most desperate?’
When you lost your homeland?
When you lost your parents?
When you lost your closest friend?
‘Go on. I’ll take a look for you.’
Thinking that, Anella spread her arms wide toward the sea with force—
Stab!
And in that instant, a sharp thorn pierced through her chest.
Thud!
“Ghk…?”
With trembling hands, she looked at the thorn embedded in her chest.
Her heart was no longer beating.
Bright red blood spilled down.
Death.
Baek Yuseol’s most painful past was…
death.
And not just any death.
His own.
‘H-how…?!’
How could…
death be his most painful past?
‘That makes no—’
Before she could finish that thought, a massive stone monument fell from the sky and crushed her body flat.
“Khh…”
She died, crushed to death, unable even to scream.
“Kraaaaah!!”
But before she could even cast off that pain, some monster flying in from somewhere tore at her body, a gigantic blaze surged up and pierced straight through her, sharp spears shredded her all over, and then she was smashed to pieces under a festival of countless spells.
‘S-save me…’
Beneath the unending torrent of death,
Anella slowly, slowly…
began to break.
