The Conjurer of the Academy

Chapter 64

“Friends?”

“Yeah, a boy and a girl. I met them at the playground.”

Seol Ha-baek hadn’t always lived in the mountains like now. The seven-year-old Ha-baek in a small studio apartment, waving his hands around, looked as innocent as any child his age.

“How did you become friends?”

Seol Baek-san knelt down to meet Ha-baek’s eyes. He was curious how Ha-baek, who hadn’t even attended kindergarten, had made friends.

“I showed them this, and they were all amazed.”

When Ha-baek opened his palm, a small, dark orb floated above it. As the orb rose to a certain height, a crack appeared in the center, revealing a dark eye.

“Spin!”

At his command, the eye bounced and spun in his palm.

“A minor spirit?”

Seol Baek-san frowned at the sight. He didn’t like the idea of a minor spirit showing off its tricks, and he was even more surprised that his son had already started spirit conjuration, something he hadn’t taught Ha-baek.

“Hahaha! Look, Daddy.”

“The other kids liked this little fellow?”

“Of course!”

It was not uncommon for very young children to occasionally see spirits like this.

“…”

Seol Baek-san watched his son laughing brightly, pondering whether to scold him.

“Listen carefully, Ha-baek.”

Back then, Seol Baek-san couldn’t bring himself to scold his smiling son. Instead, he softened his expression as much as possible so as not to scare him.

“You’re still too inexperienced to control this little one properly. It might even hurt your friends, Ha-baek.”

“But it’s so kind.”

Seeing the dejected look on his son’s face, Seol Baek-san nodded.

“Don’t show it to your friends again. Can you promise me that with a pinky swear?”

Ha-baek silently extended his pinky finger. Their large and small fingers locked together in mid-air,

“Yes!”

And the memory faded away.

But I know how this story ends.

“Get out of here!”

A piercing woman’s voice marked the beginning of the next memory.

“Because of your son, my precious boy is in the hospital and can’t even open his eyes. What do you plan to do about it?”

“My daughter has a scar on her face! What if it never heals? How will you take responsibility?”

The scene was in the small studio apartment again.

Two women faces flushed with anger, raised their voices at a kneeling Seol Baek-san.

“I’m terribly sorry. It’s my fault for not raising my child properly…”

Seol Baek-san lowered his head deeply, repeatedly apologizing.

“What are you doing over there? Come here and apologize immediately!”

Seol Baek-san shouted in the direction of the bed. In the corner of the room where the bed was, Ha-baek was hugging his knees, trembling.

“It… it wasn’t me…”

Everyone in the room turned their heads toward where Ha-baek was pointing with his finger.

[Puhihihihi~.]

A black eye floated beside the window, narrowing as if enjoying the tormented expression on Ha-baek’s face.

“That thing is acting on its own!”

Both Seol Ha-baek and Seol Baek-san could see the minor spirit. However, the two parents, unaware of the situation, couldn’t see it.

“Instead of reflecting, are you mocking the adults?”

“How did you raise your child…? This is why children growing up without a mother—”

Suddenly, Seol Baek-san, who had been kneeling, stood up abruptly, causing the parents to flinch.

“Did we say something wrong?”

“What are you trying to do now?”

“…”

Seol Baek-san glared at the two parents as if he could kill them before striding purposefully toward Ha-baek.

“Daddy.”

Ha-baek called out to his father in a pitiful voice.

“It really wasn’t me—”

Smack!

Seol Baek-san suddenly slapped his son across the face. The moment he was hit, Seol Ha-baek froze completely, and the two parents watching could only open their mouths in shock.

“You broke the promise we made with a pinky swear! You brought this upon yourself! All your friends got hurt because of you!”

As Seol Baek-san’s thunderous voice roared, Ha-baek could only shed tears.

Memories continued to scatter.

After that incident, Seol Baek-san moved to a remote mountain area with fewer people, and his demeanor became more stern, favoring scolding over a gentle approach.

‘Again.’

A new memory reconstructed itself. The scenes of my childhood flashed by rapidly. The once smiling face of a seven-year-old boy gradually turned timid and drooped with time.

‘He has realized.’

Seol Ha-baek had come to understand.

He realized that his powers could hurt others. What he saw was lonely and dreadful, something he could never share with others.

Furthermore, Seol Ha-baek learned.

“What are you doing there?”

A grown-up Seol Ha-baek stood looking down at the garden bed, just like when he was a child. Seeing him stand motionless for a while, Seol Baek-san approached.

“…Just looking.”

Seol Ha-baek’s voice sounded unsure of itself. Seol Baek-san bent down to look at what Ha-baek was staring at.

“A ladybug.”

A tiny ladybug lay on its back. Remembering the past, Seol Baek-san spoke first.

“It has returned to the heavens.”

Seol Ha-baek remained silent for a while at those words.

“No.”

Instead, he twisted his cracked lips to squeeze out his voice.

“It’s just dead.”

That was the end of the memory.

These were the memories that Seol Ha-baek had locked away. As the scenes came to an end, like a curtain closing in a theater after a play, everything turned black.

“If only I had been more careful…”

Seol Ha-baek’s monologue echoed like a curtain call. My floating body slowly began to sink into the endless darkness.

“If only I had been more careful…”

The continuous monologue echoed in my ears. Just as I was about to clamp my hands over my ears to block out the dreadful noise,

“Huh…?”

I suddenly realized something.

“Dying might be better after all…”

The series of monologues weren’t coming from somewhere else—they were coming from my own mouth. Without noticing, my chin and cheeks were soaked with tears.

‘What the current me lacks and the past Seol Ha-baek had…’

The fear of death, knowing that fragile life could be destroyed at any moment.

The fear of life, believing I would never meet anyone who understood me.

The fear of distrust, knowing I might become a perpetrator at any time.

‘So Seol Ha-baek, you…’

Despite having the talent to handle spirit conjuration, he never used his powers. That was why, in the first chapter of the game, Seol Ha-baek, whose specialty was spirit conjuration, hadn’t conjured any spirits.

‘I need to get out of here.’

I knew it in my head.

But my body wouldn’t listen. It was as if the original Seol Ha-baek was an anchor, dragging me down with these emotions, and preventing me from breaking free.

[How long do you plan to lie there?]

A voice came from somewhere.

A thin beam of light extended from above. It warmly enveloped my body, and pieces of memories, hidden like the flip sides of a coin, began to resurface one by one.

[I’m really hungry right now!]

A fluffball descended along the beam of light. Yomi perched on my forehead and began to tap my brow with her front paws.

“Alright, let’s go back.”

The body that had felt so heavy began to float upward as soon as I decided to ascend.

“To the place where everyone is waiting.”

* * *

[You’re awake. Puhaha, I thought you’d never wake up.]

The first thing I saw upon waking was Yomi’s large face. She was perched on my forehead, looking at me with a gleeful expression.

“How long was I out?”

[About a day has passed.]

If Yomi was telling the truth, it made sense that my limbs felt stiff.

“Let’s begin right away.”

[Oh ho, seems like you’ve figured something out.]

As I sat up, Yomi hopped onto my shoulder with a pop.

“I think it’s okay to be a bit of a coward.”

I picked up the Sain-gum I had dropped. My body was trembling, but my mind was clear. As I swiped the blade, blue flames reignited along its edge.

Tremble, tremble, tremble

The trembling hadn’t fully subsided yet. My heart was pounding harder than usual, and cold sweat trickled down my forehead.

‘I see it.’

It’s a common system found in almost any game. When hidden conditions are met, additional rewards are added to quests, or hidden abilities of artifacts are unlocked. This principle applies equally to skills.

“If only I had been more careful.”

The tinnitus clung to my ears like leeches. Seol Ha-baek must have lived with these emotions continuously.

[You have recognized ‘fear.’]

At that moment, a faint pain stung my eyes, and a mark appeared above the navel of the Fortune Pig.

恐

Fear.

It is the primal emotion that all living beings possess, and the Fortune Pig’s only weakness.

“Phew.”

There’s no need to exert unnecessary force. There’s no need to drain my stamina with excessive spiritual energy.

[Originally, shamans and sorcerers exist on the boundary between life and death.]

I simply twisted the hilt and lowered my stance, like swinging a bat. I focused only on the minimum required amount of spiritual energy like a small needle piercing a giant balloon.

[As such, one must be close to both life and death, and possess a greater fear of and reverence for the boundary between them than anyone else.]

As I swung the sword, a thin and straight slashing arc extended forward, different from any slash before.

[In that sense, you have taken a significant step as a shaman.]

The strike hit the Fortune Pig’s navel.

“Oink…!”

The Fortune Pig, which hadn’t budged until now, flailed its short limbs and then fell backward.

Boom!

With a large amount of mist, the Fortune Pig completely vanished.

“I did it.”

Just one strike. I succeeded in defeating the Fortune Pig with a single blow.

[Goblin, goblin, goblin!]

As the Fortune Pig disappeared, the barrier gradually dissipated. The goblin clapped its hands joyfully.

“Yomi, thanks for earlier. You came to get me because you were worried, right?”

Yomi snorted.

[Hmph, nonsense. I was just hungry. I’ve never worried about you, not even once.]

Lie.

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Oh, is that so?”

[What’s with that tone?! Are you doubting my words?!]

“Of course not. Who would I trust if not you, Yomi?”

[Argh, stop petting me!]

Just before stepping beyond the barrier, I glanced at the mirror shard on the ground.

The face reflected in the mirror still looked hollow, but it seemed to have a bit more color than before.

‘Perspective is everything, they say.’

Spending two weeks in the dark underground, then passing out for an entire day—seeing myself look marginally better than before was something.

‘I’m alright now.’

The last thing I saw in the whirlpool of memories.

Shin Seo-ha and Han Yu-seong. Jin So-yul and Seo Geum-bi. And even the small fluffball on my shoulder, and Baek Ah, the bathroom ghost who resents the bidet.

‘I’m not alone anymore.’

I could handle the fear a bit better now.

As I exited the passage, I finally emerged back to the surface.