51. Memory (1)
Kkotseorin dragged her heavy body toward Iphanel’s garden.
She had not suffered any major wounds in the battle against Cheolribeon, but the sheer amount of mental strength and mana she had consumed had left her with a splitting headache. Still, confirming Iphanel’s condition came first.
‘This scent…?’
The moment she arrived at the garden, Kkotseorin tilted her head, realizing that something about the atmosphere had changed from before.
She hurried deeper inside, but strangely enough, it did not feel ominous. If anything… one could say a rather pleasant fragrance was drifting through the air.
Of course, in a garden overflowing with turbid energy, how pleasant could any fragrance really be? And yet Kkotseorin, who was sensitive to the energy of divine beasts, could tell with certainty.
“Ah…!”
Iphanel.
She was still stained by turbid energy, her eyes closed and both hands clasped together in prayer, but she was clearly different from the last time Kkotseorin had seen her.
“Her heart…”
The space was still filled with violet light, but at Iphanel’s chest, a mysterious energy mingled with green and yellow shimmered like heat haze, kindling a tiny flame.
That power was still faint, but it was unmistakably an energy close to the sacred.
It was…
the energy of the spirit Iphanel, an energy that could completely purify the turbid force staining the World Tree.
“It’s returned…”
Kkotseorin carefully approached Iphanel and caressed her cheek.
The unknown membrane that had once wrapped around her body had long since vanished.
Her eyes were still closed, and she gave no answer, but the fact that she showed no sign of wariness toward Kkotseorin’s approach alone was proof enough that Iphanel welcomed her.
Kkotseorin spent a long while stroking Iphanel’s cheek and gazing at her face.
Because she had been born with a [Love-Attracting Body] from childhood, she had never been able to properly face others and speak with them.
And for her, the only one who had ever truly become a companion to talk to had been Iphanel.
Though she had the mental age of a child, she had lived for a very long time, and with wise, pure eyes she had always listened to Kkotseorin’s stories.
The truth was, they had needed each other.
Iphanel could not move from this place,
and Kkotseorin could not face anyone because of her curse.
“I’m so relieved… truly.”
Because of that, the one happiest that Iphanel had returned was not Baek Yuseol, nor anyone else.
It was Kkotseorin.
Though her curse had weakened now, and she could meet many different people and even had someone with whom she could look directly into their eyes and share sincere feelings, the return of the most precious bond that had once helped her endure those lonely days was a joy beyond compare.
And…
thinking of the boy who had brought back her most precious bond, Kkotseorin smiled softly.
Just stroking Iphanel’s cheek felt good, because of the soft, tender texture.
For now, she was still in no state to even speak, but that was all right. Now that her heart had returned as well, she would surely recover soon and return to how she once was.
“Just like before… I’ll tell you stories. This time, you have to tell me yours too, Iphanel.”
Kkotseorin pressed her lips to Iphanel’s forehead as she prayed with her eyes closed.
As she waited for the day they would meet again, whenever that might be.
When he opened his eyes, it was the weekend.
The last date he remembered before losing consciousness had been the weekend too.
That would normally count as a complete windfall, but Baek Yuseol pressed a hand to his forehead for a moment and sank into gloom.
From the second semester onward, all practical training counted toward grades, so absence was quite fatal.
And since Baek Yuseol’s entire goal was to graduate without studying, practical classes were an absolutely mandatory subject he could not afford to skip.
“Mm…”
He looked around and was greeted by a familiar space.
A hospital room at Stella Academy.
Stella’s hospital gown.
Just as always, after a violent battle and a blackout, he always wound up here.
That said, it was honestly strange that the school did not discipline him, considering how often he caused trouble outside campus.
Lately, he had started to think that for the treatment given to a mere commoner student, this all felt a little too special.
‘I survived again…’
Baek Yuseol lifted his head and looked at the System message drifting through the air.
Roughly speaking, a message was floating there saying that because he had cleared an episode that had been advanced in a very special way, he would receive a something-special reward.
But that was not what mattered right now.
Baek Yuseol recalled that sensation from just before he blacked out, and a thrill ran through his whole body.
‘I landed a hit on Cheolribeon.’
And not just anyone.
Frail little Baek Yuseol had done it.
Even if Cheolribeon’s absolute invincibility had been completely undone… he was still the kind of dark mage who, before obtaining his blessing, had trained himself in close combat just to survive, relying on nothing but that single trait.
Players may have given his magic attack a score of only around 10, but his physical offensive ability was still very high.
He was a 9-Risk dark mage to the bitter end. That kind of skill didn’t just disappear.
And against that Cheolribeon, he had actually driven a sword into his chest.
That moment.
He could still remember the sensation.
It felt as if…
the whole world had slowed.
The leaves drifting through the air seemed to stop, and he could even clearly catch the trembling shape of each falling droplet.
The whirling sandstorm, the trembling of Cheolribeon’s pupils, the twisting of his muscles and joints.
He had been able to catch all of it.
In that frozen world, Baek Yuseol had focused solely on Cheolribeon.
His attacks had seemed flawless, and he had thoroughly calculated even Baek Yuseol’s Blink to seal him in from all directions, and yet Baek Yuseol’s eyes had captured it all perfectly.
A fleeting instant had become eternity, and Baek Yuseol had controlled Blink in that instant and slipped into Cheolribeon’s opening.
‘I won.’
The attack had been timed so perfectly that the thought had come to him without meaning to.
And yet, in the end—
‘I didn’t hit the heart.’
At the exact moment, Cheolribeon had expelled dark mana and thrown off the trajectory of Baek Yuseol’s sword strike.
His reaction speed had been utterly absurd.
Until now, no one had ever reacted to the speed of Blink.
‘I could have won.’
If only he had had just a little more experience.
If only he had honed the blessing of Crimson Spring March more thoroughly and learned to control [Hyper Focus] freely.
Some might ask if he was not being too arrogant for someone whose stats were still only around 3 or 4 stars, but in this world, not everything was decided by stats alone.
Just as a 3-Class lightning mage could defeat a 6-Class lightning mage, strategy and experience mattered.
Baek Yuseol lacked experience.
The endless PvP experience he had accumulated in Aether World Online may have worked against young magic warriors, but against the real thing—a true dark mage like Cheolribeon—it had meant nothing.
From now on, Baek Yuseol would have to fight people like that.
‘I need to fully master Hyper Focus.’
In Baek Yuseol’s opinion, the power of Hyper Focus was far too special to be explained as a mere derivative of the blessing of Crimson Spring March alone.
Within that world, that sensation where it felt as though everything in existence had stopped, he had faintly sensed the presence of Silver Age November.
‘Combining two blessings to create a single derivative skill…’
He had never heard of such a case before, but he did not think it was impossible.
Baek Yuseol was certain of it.
If he properly combined the blessings he possessed—Blue Winter December, Silver Age November, and Crimson Spring March—then he would gain a special power capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with protagonist-class figures.
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‘This is no time to sit around.’
Baek Yuseol jumped to his feet at once and hurried straight toward the S-Class training grounds.
“Oh my—p-patient! You need to rest a little longer!”
“There’s no time for that.”
A nurse who had happened to arrive tried to stop him, but he abruptly filed for discharge on the spot and simply left.
“Goodness…”
The nurse could only stare in disbelief as Baek Yuseol, not even properly healed yet, forcibly left the hospital and headed straight for the training grounds.
It wasn’t long before word of that spread quietly through the Academy, and soon he was being discussed among the students under the title of “that lunatic who trains even while injured.”
“He was even worse than I thought.”
After hearing the news about Baek Yuseol, Pung Harang let out a disbelieving laugh.
He had skipped classes all week without permission, and Pung Harang had wondered what he was doing. But then rumors spread that he had suddenly fought a dark mage, been injured, and ended up hospitalized.
The identity of the opponent had not been revealed, but the students all assumed that if Baek Yuseol had been injured, then it had to be some formidable dark mage.
“So he went straight into training, huh? Even so, with that kind of injury, I guess there’s no way he can participate in the League of Spirit?”
At the words of his friend Mac, Pung Harang gave no particular answer.
Still, Mac seemed sincerely to be hoping Baek Yuseol would not join.
“Man, I really hope he doesn’t. That guy wipes the floor with everything he touches.”
“He wasn’t even on the official player roster. At this point, there’s no way Baek Yuseol can participate in the inter-school match.”
“Eh, you never know. There could be a special case like Flame. She wasn’t even planning to participate in the first place, but because of that Scarlven Crown Prince, her name got forced onto the roster, didn’t it?”
“Ah, man, I’d love to be on a team with a girl like Flame. Why is my team full of nothing but smelly guys? Ah, speaking of which, I heard Flame’s looking for new teammates. Think I should casually try my luck too?”
As Mac grinned and said that, Pung Harang glared sharply at him.
“What? Why are you looking at me so scary? You’ve already got a nasty enough face that when you stare like that, it actually freaks me out.”
“…My apologies.”
“Happens. Ah, right, were you interested in that girl Flame or something?”
At those words, Pung Harang was so genuinely flustered that his eyes widened.
“It’s not like that, so mind your own business.”
“Aw, come on, ‘not like that,’ sure… ah, all right. Just maybe try opening your eyes a little prettier? I don’t want to become Stella cadet number one to be murdered by a glare.”
With that, Mac got up from his seat like he was fleeing and headed into the hallway.
“I’ve got my next class anyway!”
Whether that was true or whether Mac had simply gotten scared of Pung Harang’s glare, it was hard to say… but knowing him, Pung Harang thought there was a high chance he had just wanted to tease him.
Pung Harang gathered his textbooks and rose as well.
There were no classes on Saturday, only self-study, but they were the sort who studied even on weekends without fail.
He was planning to go to the study room, review everything they had learned over the past week, and prepare in advance for the next one.
As he headed toward the S-Class-exclusive building, commonly known as the “Gods’ Domain,” he spotted a familiar figure there.
“Come on, just trust me and do it once, okay? Huh?”
“Mmm… I don’t know. I’m not interested in sports.”
“You little punk. No one’s gonna believe that with a build like yours. Hey, Eizel. You say something too.”
“I don’t want to either….”
“Nope. You have to.”
“What? Why do I—”
“Because you’re ridiculously pretty.”
“W-well, that is true, isn’t it? But was that really a reason I had to participate in the League of Spirit…?”
It was Flame, Eizel, and Ma Yuseong.
Since all three were elites among elites who consistently ranked within the top five of the year, their combination stole the attention of every passing student, and everyone who walked by glanced over at them.
‘League of Spirit…’
So what Mac had said was true.
It looked like she really was searching around and putting together a team.
“Ah, right. Then how about this? I’ll offer a deal you absolutely can’t refuse.”
At first, both Ma Yuseong and Eizel seemed ready to decline, but Flame apparently knew exactly what to say to stir their desires. Little by little, they seemed to grow tempted, and in the end they finally nodded.
“Nice! Make sure you fill out those applications, and I’ve got stuff to do, so I’m off first!”
After tossing the match participation forms at Ma Yuseong and Eizel, Flame dashed off into the inside of the S-Class training grounds.
Pung Harang tried to ignore it and head toward the study room, but the fact that the place she had gone was the training grounds kept bothering him.
‘If it’s the training grounds… then it’s Baek Yuseol after all.’
At this point, what else could it be?
If it was Flame, then of course she would ask him.
‘If that’s the case…’
Then this was finally the chance to face Baek Yuseol fair and square.
He too was a League of Spirit player for Stella, and even one of the candidates to win the whole thing.
‘I can’t let a good opportunity like this slip by.’
