NOVEL NEXT Chapter 54
“Ack… It hurts…!”
Every time I tightened my grip, the female student’s struggles intensified. By the badge on her jacket, I could tell she was a second-year senior.
I applied pressure right up until the point of crushing her, then shifted my weight and whoosh pushed her straight toward Yeon Minha’s side.
“Kyaaaah…!”
“Harin, are you okay?”
“You…!”
The group of students rushed to check on the girl who had just been tossed to the ground. Three pairs of eyes pierced through me, filled with hostility.
“Who does she think she is… A freshman daring to lay hands on a senior?”
The student who dusted herself off glared at me with her teeth bared. Her right wrist, which I had just grabbed, was now tainted a deep crimson.
“Wasn’t it you who tried to make the first move, Senior? Yeon Minha has a mentoring group meeting coming up, so I would appreciate it if you let her go.”
“Hah, what is this… Yeon Minha? I heard you got a dog recently; is that true?”
The girl scoffed, not even pretending to listen. Seeing her mock me made my blood boil, and my fists instinctively clenched and unclenched. I was trying to be nice, but this was just unacceptable.
I stepped closer to her. Perhaps it was the intimidation from my height, but her expression shifted to one of panic unlike before.
“Hik… W-What’s this?”
“I told you to step aside. Or should I…?”
“Stop! Stop it!”
A loud voice echoed from behind. Yeon Minha had walked up beside me, her face still adorned with that familiar arrogant expression.
“Hey, Chun Harin. I’m busy, so why don’t you just scram? Don’t lower yourself with this nonsense. The name of the Cheon family will be embarrassed.”
“This girl is really…!”
“Can’t you hear me saying to get lost? If you have a problem, challenge me to a duel. Or should we settle this here? This time, you might actually get burned on the face to understand your place?”
“Ugh…”
The girl reflexively raised her hand to her cheek, her much-feared expression clear as day. It seems she felt more fear toward someone she had already encountered rather than just a bratty freshman.
“Harin, maybe it’s better to leave now…”
“Hah, they say birds of a feather flock together. Quite the pair you make, Yeon Minha. Don’t think this is over.”
Perhaps it was the shift in numbers to a 2:3 ratio, but the energy of the female students drastically dwindled. Eventually, unable to withstand the ongoing pressure from her friends, she left, glaring at Yeon Minha like a sworn enemy until the very end.
It was only then that I turned to check on Yeon Minha.
The haughty visage, completely composed, faltered without warning as our eyes met, revealing her vulnerability.
“W-What’s wrong…?”
“…It’s nothing. But why did you interfere?”
“I told you, touching her here would lead to unnecessary trouble… I meant to push her away without confrontation… Or at least challenge her to a duel…”
Yeon Minha’s thoughts mirrored mine. It was just a misunderstanding on both sides, thinking the other would start something.
It was surprisingly astonishing how established the guidelines were. Perhaps that’s why I managed to slip away despite trampling my opponent repeatedly during sparring.
“Um, you’re not mad I interrupted you, are you…? I didn’t mean to… I…?”
“Who would be mad over something like that?”
“…”
She said nothing. Only a questioning gaze seemed to ask, “Isn’t that the case?”
After a brief silence, we began to walk in the same direction, with neither taking the lead. After all, the reason Yeon Minha was here was likely to attend the mentoring group meeting she was hosting soon.
“I-I didn’t…”
“…?”
While walking through the hallway at the back of the building, I faintly heard Yeon Minha’s voice from behind.
“What do you mean?”
“I didn’t mean to… They provoked me first…”
I finally understood Yeon Minha’s concern.
Even after signing the contract, our daily lives hadn’t changed all that much. I now slept next door to Yeon Minha, spreading my blockade around during the night, and would wake early to leave the dormitory unnoticed.
I had specified absolute obedience mainly because I couldn’t think of any better expression, but what I had requested were minor things like not starting a fight or using provocative insults.
“Who said anything? I can tell what’s what. And I told you, it’s fine to respond to the provocations.”
“Uh, okay…”
“But what’s with the finger?”
“W-Well… I cut it during a duel… It wasn’t like I set conditions when I confronted you… I just lost control of my strength out of anger… It was an accident…”
Somehow, it all made sense now. When I grabbed her, her hand had looked oddly empty.
“Anger, huh?”
“That girl… no, she talks bad about our parents… So…”
“Is that so? Good job.”
“Um, uh…?”
Yeon Minha’s reaction didn’t seem excessive. It was understandable to be angry in that situation. Moreover, it wasn’t intentional; it happened during a spar. If anything, she brought this on herself.
“Who are those people?”
“Earlier, that girl was Chun Harin, the heir of the Cheon family… She’s from the Mage Twenty-Seven Clan… Our families overlap in business fields, so we constantly clash… And because she’s close with Baek Seoyeon, it’s worse these days…”
“…It seems like you and she don’t get along very well.”
“How could I like that fake piece of trash… And…”
“More importantly, how are your nightmares these days?”
“Uh, huh?”
The conversation changed unexpectedly, as my mood had somehow dipped, causing me to shift the topic.
“…I think it’s gotten better. I haven’t dreamt at all… No shadows in sight… No more hallucinations…”
Yeon Minha’s demeanor toward me was underlined by fear, yet there was a flicker of satisfaction mixed in.
Since I had been walking ahead, I turned slightly to confirm her condition.
Her skin looked fresh, and her hair was shiny. The tiredness that had been so prominent on her face was gone, leaving only her natural beauty.
Since signing the contract, I had been able to learn more about her life than I had realized.
What people refer to as the Spirit Mage’s curse, they call mental contamination.
Yeon Minha had been suffering from severe mental contamination proportional to her incredible talent. Her family’s pharmaceutical company had mobilized all its resources but saw no effective results.
But Yeon Minha’s mental fortitude was nothing short of admirable. She had spent over ten years caught between reality and something that felt like a fantasy.
While it seemed she had reached her limit recently, I couldn’t help but wonder if I could have kept my sanity for that long if placed in a similar situation. The answer wasn’t easy to find.
So it was fortunate that there remained a chance for recovery, but at the same time, I felt grateful for the aggressive approach I had taken to connect with her.
With that level of mental strength along with high pride, there was no way I could have kept her under control as I did now with conventional methods.
“You mentioned you’ve been seeing strange things during the day. How is it now?”
“It’s fine. I can’t see anything around me. And I can’t hear anything either…”
Now, I was keeping my blockade close to my heart without actively deploying it, but the mental energy recovered at night seemed to have a positive effect even during the day.
“Is that so? That’s a relief. Well, then, it might be okay to try adjusting your timing a bit. Since I don’t know the exact time, let’s reduce it little by little…”
“…Huh? W-What…?”
The moment I spoke, fear began to bubble up in Yeon Minha’s eyes.
As if she couldn’t even bear the slightest possibility of witnessing her former visions again.
“…I spoke out of turn. Let’s stick to the original plan for now; just forget what I said.”
“…Okay.”
Yeon Minha nodded almost timidly, as though reassured.
In an instant, her usual haughty confidence returned.
Before I knew it, we had arrived at the door of the conference room. I opened the door, allowing her to enter first, and although she was startled, she naturally stepped inside.
I followed her into the room, where about twenty students were already gathered. Roughly half were second-years, and the rest were freshmen like myself.
The number of attendees seemed surprisingly large, yet thinking of them as all that remained under the influence of the Jeokhwa family made it feel rather pitiful.
Also, there seemed to be no genuine bonds between these students and Yeon Minha. Half of them looked like they were living off flattery, and those that seemed decent also had an aura that suggested they were merely filling seats due to some obligation.
Yeon Minha smoothly walked toward the empty head table. Without the customary greeting, she immediately began the meeting.
*
“So… what do you think…?”
“What do you mean?”
“About this request… I mean.”
As we exited the conference room, Yeon Minha asked.
“Is my opinion really important?”
“Well, if you don’t want it, then it won’t happen…”
Yeon Minha raised her gaze slightly as she spoke.
The subject of the upcoming second request was the main theme of today’s mentoring group meeting. Yeon Minha’s request was for an ordinary B-grade mission—safeguarding the transportation of goods for a grain company in the South.
However, since the quantity being transported was quite large, it was impossible for a mentoring group to undertake it alone. Thus, she gathered everyone who could muster her influence, even slightly, for a joint request.
“Honestly, I’m not too keen on it.”
But from what I knew, the South wasn’t exactly a peaceful area.
I had heard rumors about rebel forces in the South even when I still lived in the village. Given that even the name of our village in the North had reached here, discussing their scale was unnecessary.
The People’s Liberation Front—the PLF.
All its leaders were powerful warlocks, actively engaging in terrorist acts rather than simply existing as ordinary warlocks hidden in the shadows. They even conspired with demonic forces to overthrow the nation.
Stirring and deceiving the impoverished masses, their number grew like cockroaches day by day to the point where rumors spread that their members were lurking even in the capital.
After joining the 66th Brigade, I came face to face with the truths behind these rumors. By then, branches of the PLF had already been established in the northeastern area as well, and they regularly perpetrated acts of terror to create holes in the defenses for connecting with the demonic forces beyond the walls.
We were deeply engaged in a so-called “Northeast Flattening Operation” to eradicate terrorists and demonic spies. Around this time, several other regions also conducted their own raids, and while I knew the force had somewhat quelled, they entered a period of calm.
However, the South was formerly the home base of the rebels.
There seemed to be no need to directly step into such a place.
“Why, why…? Come to think of it, you’re from the South, aren’t you? Do you know something…?”
Yeon Minha suddenly clamped her mouth shut as if she’d let something slip. Her face turned pale, and she began to nervously check my reaction.
I recalled that my cover identity listed my origins as being from the South. It seemed she’d done her homework on my background a bit late.
“…”
I wasn’t sure how much she had figured out, but with that little bit of digging, I felt no real concern. It was already commonplace behavior in the cradle, and moreover, I had no claims to defend regarding my own digs…
“Um, you know…? This is…”
She stammered, looking very much scared, so I decided to change the subject.
“Never mind. The South was indeed the strongest place for the rebel forces, wasn’t it? And the base of the JW Jinryeong is at the southernmost tip, right? Why did that company happen to establish itself there?”
“…The Masada area is already at population saturation and the climate is cool, making it impossible to produce a large quantity of food. The plan to develop the East was scrapped a few years ago due to the emergence of the Five Calamities. Thus, the Southern Agricultural District was a state project initiated to combat that crisis.”
Yeon Minha cautiously continued, keeping an eye on me.
The Republic’s chronic food shortage was worsening day by day, and to tackle this, they planned a large-scale agricultural district in the South, where the climate was warmer and the land vast.
The Ho-Seo Farm Company was the business that won this contract and is one of the few companies still closely related to the Jeokhwa family.
This meant accepting the designated request was essentially an act that came with visible correlations.
Though this mission was classified as a B-level request, transport protection missions were always graded higher due to potential ambushes, so in a strict sense, it carried about a C-level difficulty rating.
Moreover, when using the designated paths according to established procedures, the chances of an ambush were nearly nonexistent; given that large-scale military operations had nearly eradicated the rebel forces years ago, if an ambush did occur, it would at most involve low-grade monsters that roamed the South.
“…And even if all those risks do materialize, the heir of the Five Families wouldn’t run away from a request out of fear, or both will be ridiculed for the next century…”
“…”
There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with her statement. In fact, she appeared to possess strategic insight I lacked.
According to Yeon Minha’s explanation, this escort duty couldn’t be deemed trivial, given its actual significance—even if it was B-level. If successful, it could restore her standing to some extent.
Moreover, perhaps due to her newfound health, Yeon Minha had shown remarkable enthusiasm in various activities in the cradle.
Considering my objectives, there seemed to be no need to dampen that enthusiasm.
“I understand. Do as you see fit.”
“…!”
Her eyes sparkled with excitement, but she quickly suppressed it in an effort to maintain her seriousness.
“…Ahem.”
“I’ll take my leave now; I have an errand to run. Until next time…”
Having attended the meeting, I was on my way to receive outdoor permission since I had another person I needed to meet afterward.
However, Yeon Minha’s face swiftly turned filled with dread.
“W-Where…?”
“…Didn’t you say you’d be fine during the day?”
“W-Well, true enough…”
“Didn’t I mention? I’m not using that ability during the day; nothing will happen, so there’s no need for unnecessary worries.”
“Who’s worried…!”
“I’m simply stepping out for a moment. I’ll be back before it gets late.”
Yeon Minha was about to get indignant but lowered her head in defeat thanks to my words.
“…Okay.”
Yeon Minha trembled slightly. Seeing her like this stirred an uncomfortable feeling within me.
Her dependent actions were painfully reminiscent. They drew me into a village that no longer existed.
No matter how hard I tried to shake it off, those vivid memories continued to cling to me.
In that downcast posture, someone kept overlapping in my mind.