NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7
‘I don’t know who it is.’
The top student, Olivia.
Seeing how she treats the proud French Knight Princess casually, she’s definitely not an ordinary person.
New World League?
No, they wouldn’t approach like this.
Then what on earth…
Yuji shook his head, shaking off the chain of questions.
Now’s not the time to worry.
‘Just remember this for now.’
Yuji engraved Kim Deok-Sung’s impression in his mind and headed towards the training ground where his childhood friend was waiting.
*
He walked out of the dormitory building.
A cool spring breeze brushed his cheek, scattering the numerous cherry blossoms blooming in the campus.
‘Someone really loves cherry blossoms.’
You wouldn’t think it’s Japan or anything. They’re absolutely crazy about cherry blossoms.
Well, cherry blossoms are an indispensable element in Japanese works during the spring semester.
“What do you want to say?”
Olivia, who had somehow come up beside him, asked.
Her blue eyes were calmly settled.
He continued walking in silence.
The sea sparkles in the distance.
Before long, the sun sets, and the moon and stars rise in the night sky.
He arrives at the open beach park overlooking Tokyo Bay established on campus.
Next to a bench, a lighted vending machine catches his eye.
As expected from a country famous for vending machines, the selection of drinks is unnecessarily vast.
“Anything you want to eat?”
“Not really… No, thanks.”
“I was just asking.”
He rummaged through his pockets and pulled out his coin purse.
As expected in a country where cards and mobile payments don’t always work, it’s disappointing that you still have to use cash in a vending machine.
He inserts three 100-yen coins.
The vending machine buttons light up.
He presses the buttons for oden can and sweet red bean soup drink.
It’s something he’s always wanted to try. What kind of taste could it have?
Clunk.
Two cans drop down.
The warm sweet red bean soup and oden can.
He tosses the sweet red bean soup can to Olivia.
“Are you giving this to me?”
“If you don’t want it, just don’t eat it.”
“I never said I didn’t want it!”
Sitting on the bench, Olivia pouts as she opens the sweet red bean soup can.
He sits down beside her and opens the oden can.
Inside the oden broth, he sees the ingredients submerged, along with skewered konjac.
He pops a konjac skewer into his mouth and chews.
“Doesn’t taste like much.”
He muttered quietly in Korean.
What could he expect from vending machine quality? It’s just the level of college MT oden.
Beside him, Olivia is slurping the sweet red bean soup can.
Viaga is sipping on a red bean soup can.
“It’s not bad, actually.”
That’s her way of saying she likes it.
I silently fished out some fish cakes and munched on them.
As I kept eating, it strangely started to seem okay.
“Hey there.”
I hear Olivia’s voice.
Finishing the toppings, I gulp down the soup.
The chilly sea breeze wraps around me.
I toss the empty can into the trash.
Score!
“Hey!”
“I can hear you without you yelling.”
“…What do you want to say?”
Olivia fiddles with the red bean soup can in her hand.
“Is that promise about being a maid still valid?”
“Excuse me?”
Olivia retorts.
I press my temples.
“Don’t make me say it twice.”
I never thought I’d have to repeat that damn thing.
I feel like my hands and feet are turning into squid.
“Of course! I, Olivia Napoleon Bonaparte, would never go back on a promise made in honor of the Bonaparte royal family!”
Olivia places her hand over her heart.
That posture again.
Now, it’s hardly inspiring.
“Then, fulfill it.”
Olivia’s ears turn red.
“Ok, leave it to me!”
She stammers.
Looks like she’s daydreaming like a typical light novel heroine.
A sigh slips out.
Why on earth did I end up in this crazy world?
If it were a school setting, at least it would be somewhat sensible, fitting the Korean sentiment, and an easy web novel world to navigate.
Or maybe one of those modern light novel trends with cheat abilities in another world.
Why did I have to land in a passionate royal academy battle genre of all things?
Clearly, the author is the one at fault.
“Excuse me…”
Olivia calls me in a small voice.
Maybe it’s the cold sea breeze hitting her, but her flushed cheeks are striking.
As the main heroine, she’s blatantly set up as a ‘publicly recognized beauty,’ and boy, is she pretty for no reason.
“Why did you change your mind?”
She throws the question at me.
There’s no particular reason for changing my mind.
I simply ran out of reasons and excuses to keep my distance.
Since the original story has already collapsed, I need strength to respond appropriately in case of emergencies.
And this French princess right in front of me is an excellent pawn.
Great grades, strong skills, and I’m holding the justification, so it’s perfect for using her.
Of course, there’s no obligation to explain this to the person involved.
“Just because.”
“What do you mean?! That half-hearted answer! I’m not saying I don’t like it, though.”
Oh really.
Now she’s playing the game before I even get to say I don’t want to do it anymore.
That’s some serious progress.
“You don’t want to tell me, huh?”
“You catch on quickly.”
“Okay, well, for now. I understand. Sounds good.”
Olivia places her hand over her heart again.
“I look forward to working with you, Mr. Kim Deok-Sung.”
She bows gracefully.
“Yeah.”
Now that Olivia is in my hands, it’s just a matter of sucking her dry for all she’s worth.
I put her greeting behind me and pull out my phone.
It should be about time for the duel results to come in.
I access the academy channel.
[Shocking news: Today’s hot issue. F-rank freshman knocks out the second place!]
[Isn’t there way too much chaos happening today? lol]
[More shocking than the news about that C-rank Korean earlier ∑(O_O;)]
[Who the heck is that? ( ・◇・)？]
[Kurosawa Yuji? The disgrace of the Kurosawa family?]
[No way, was he a hidden master all this time?]
The reactions from the community made me chuckle.
Alright. This is it.
Everything’s going smoothly.
Even if things got a little tangled, the protagonist revealed his hidden power.
So the story will move on to the next stage.
Finally, something I like happened in this crazy world.
“Are you feeling good about something?”
“No, don’t worry about it.”
I put my phone away and got up.
Olivia pouted her lips.
Looks like she’s sulking because I didn’t answer her properly.
It’s not like I need to explain myself.
“Don’t you have anything else to say? Commands, maybe…?”
Olivia timidly chimed in.
“Go in, take a shower, and sleep. You didn’t shower earlier, remember?”
“Ugh! You pervert! Scoundrel!”
Now that I’ve obtained a card for emergency situations, it’s time to claim the Black Stone.
Ignoring her voice echoing in the beach park, I headed back to the hospital room.
*
The next day.
I was discharged from the hospital.
Now I’m dragging my bag and looking for my assigned dorm room.
“Room 202, Room 202…”
My assigned dorm is Room 202.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t A-rank like Olivia, so I got a standard room instead of a special one.
That means it’s a double room, not a single.
‘A roommate, huh.’
I don’t know who I’ll get, but it’s probably just another extra.
I hope it’s a nice extra, I thought as I arrived in front of Room 202.
Beep.
As I tapped my student ID on the door lock, the dorm room opened.
A surprisingly spacious room for a double, with beds attached to both walls and a window at the front.
And then.
“Uh, uh?”
The protagonist, Kurosawa Yuji, looks at me with a shocked expression.
He’s here.
“You, you?”
The protagonist’s my roommate?
What the hell.
I remember him transferring in the day after the entrance ceremony and using the double room alone.
But really, what does the original matter now that everything’s gone haywire?
“Well, we meet again, Kurosawa.”
I casually greeted him and closed the door.
I plopped down on the bed.
“Thanks for taking my advice yesterday.”
That was sincere.
It would have been a disaster if things had tangled up any further.
“You… What is your true identity?”
The protagonist shot a question at me.
Looking at Yuji’s trembling black eyes, I sighed.
It seems peaceful academy life is already out the window.
Got your curiosity somewhat satisfied?
In response to the protagonist’s question, I grabbed my nametag on my school uniform and waved it around.
“Kim… Deok-Sung?”
He slowly read my name written in katakana.
“That’s my identity.”
“You’re Kim Deok-Sung, a Korean?”
Yuji’s expression warped strangely.
I nodded.
“So you’re that… black-haired Korean student who defeated the knight princess?”
“Since I’m the only black-haired Korean in this academy, that’s probably me.”
“The owner of Durandal?”
“That’s right. I guess I’m quite famous, huh?”
“That’s true. Right? I guess I got quite famous, huh?”
I smiled slyly and asked back.
It seems like I became quite well-known in just two days.
Well, I did defeat the famous Platinum Knight Princess, Olivia.
If I didn’t become famous, that wouldn’t make sense.
“Are you a little less curious now?”
“Not at all.”
Yuji shakes his head.
His gaze is fixed on me.
“How did you know about my background…?”
His tone is deadly serious.
But unfortunately, it’s a question I expected.
Usually, he acts like a ‘kind’ light novel protagonist, but he reacts sensitively when it comes to his identity and goals, according to the original setting.
Even if there wasn’t a setting, if a guy suddenly appears out of nowhere knowing more about my situation than I do, I’d be on guard too.
Since this is a recurring theme, I naturally prepared a model answer.
“I asked the National Intelligence Service to look into you a bit. Even though our country is somewhat weak, it’s still a country, so the information power is quite decent, you know?”
“The National Intelligence Service? Where’s that?”
Yuji’s eyebrows twitch.
“It’s the National Intelligence Service. Our country’s intelligence agency.”
“Why would you go as far as investigating my background?”
“I was curious. Why the Son of the Sword Master received an F rank during the compatibility evaluation.”
I lie smoothly without even moistening my lips.
After all, the protagonist doesn’t have the ability to discern the truth of my words.
Even if he did, the National Intelligence Service would definitely support me, the one and only hero candidate.
So whatever I say becomes the truth, even if it’s a lie.
If it relates to Korea, of course.
Ah, I feel proud. South Korea!
“Thanks to that, I learned about what kind of person you are and how you grew up, and what happened that day. But I never thought you would be the owner of that colorless power.”
Yuji’s cheek twitches.
He clenches his fist.
In this hellish world, all ability users have hair colors that match their magic color.
The reason I have black hair is that my magic color is black.
But the only exception to this absolute rule is the colorless magic light.
It’s a transparent magic color, like a transparent dragon.
The colorless magic light is created for the convenience of the protagonist, to borrow a term from Japanese web novels, it’s a cheat setting.
“……”
The protagonist falls silent.
“The attribute represented by the colorless magic light is the root. Therefore, the owner of the colorless power is superior in all attributes, can contain all attributes, and can manifest all magic colors. This is known as the Emperor’s magic color. In this world, the only one who has ever possessed it, now deceased, is the Sword Master, your father…”
“What are you trying to say?”
Yuji’s eyes carry an air of hostility.
Ah, I haven’t even finished outlining the setting yet.
The owner of the colorless magic light has top-level talents regarding magic control, magic sensitivity, and even fitting the criteria for the ultimate weapons—everything about magic is on the highest level, plus they even possess a magic amplification gift.
In a world where attributes vary based on innate magic colors, the colorless magic color is a cheating talent.
But honestly, I’m not scared.
After all, underneath it all, he’s just like every other light novel protagonist: kind-hearted and a bit soft.