I safely arrived at Gangwondo’s portal station with Chae Nayun at 10:55 P.M. Thankfully, many people weren’t around. I put her down on a nearby bench as she glanced at her smartwatch and murmured.

“It’s almost curfew.”

I was speechless at her priorities. Returning to Cube in her current state was ridiculous.

“Contact your father.”

“Why?”

“You know why. Go get treated at a hospital.”

I turned to the portal, leaving Chae Nayun alone.

“I’m going.”

“What? Where?” she exclaimed.

“To Cube. You can give my coat back later.”

“Take me too! Hey! Aak!”

Chae Nayun tried to get up and fell forward. I couldn’t help but sigh at her pitiful state.

“… You should go to a hospital.”

Her lips trembled because she didn’t want to call her father. I could understand why. Her father was a busy and influential man as the head of a chaebol group. Even though he would run over if his daughter was hurt, Chae Nayun didn’t want that.

“You have a butler or an attendant, right?”

“… Yeah, you can go,” Chae Nayun bitterly replied.

“Alright.”

I walked towards the portal employee, then stopped. I suddenly remembered something. Today, Chae Nayun had subconsciously unleashed her gift. She needed to develop that gift that cut down the djinn in a single slash.

“Hey, are you still going to use a bow?” I asked.

“What? What are you talking about?”

“You felt it today, didn’t you?”

Chae Nayun’s gift specialized in close ranged combat. More specifically, it specialized in war. She could amplify the length of her sword as long as she had a conductor of magic power. For example, her gift could transform a 2 meter sword into a monstrous 20 meter sword. Furthermore, the sword wouldn’t be any heavier because magic power was weightless.

It was similar to Sun Wukong’s Jingu Bang. [1] The only difference was that Chae Nayun didn’t need a legendary grade weapon to display similar strength. She would slaughter hundreds of monsters with a single blow, an imperial might that made djinns shudder in fear. They would call her Empress of the Battlefield.

“You should be using a sword, not a bow.”

Like the original story, large weapons like a zweihander or claymore suited her best. She even had the money to purchase the most expensive weapons.

“Oh yeah? What do you know about me?”

Chae Nayun didn’t know her future. She refused to accept the idea because she hadn’t yet overcome her fear of close ranged combat.

“… Never mind then.”

I stepped into the portal with a resentful gaze piercing at my back. She might have thought, ‘Is he going to just leave me?’ Yes, I did precisely that.

***

Nothing travels faster than words. Last night’s matter had already spread that a cadet named Sven turned into a djinn and attacked Chae Nayun. She won, but was seriously injured. Even amid such rumors, Friday’s class resumed like normal. I planned to meet Kim Suho today. He asked me to come to room 303 before 5 P.M.

“It’s an important matter, so don’t forget! If it goes well, your grades could go up too.”

He reminded me once more after class. He should have heard about what happened to Chae Nayun, so he probably planned to visit her after the meeting.

“Yeah.”

I nodded. Kim Suho tapped on my shoulder and busily walked away. I yawned while looking at his back. Since it was 3:30, I had some time. I wanted to go back and take a nap at the dorm.

While I was walking down the hallway…

“… What?”

It felt like someone was following me, but when I turned around, no one was there. The presence was too calm to be a djinn. Was it an assassin? Why would an assassin be following me?

“Hmm.”

Was I mistaken? I took out my laptop and continued walking.

[383,013,160 points have been deposited. These points can be used in Violet Banquet or traded for cash. (At least 10,000,000 points required)]

Violet Banquet’s enormous fee had shrunk the 600 million won to 400 million, but I knew that would happen. The first trade with Violet Banquet always cost more.

[Purchaser Youngfly has requested to speak with you. (Seller’s nickname will show up as anonymous.)] 

[If you have any more ginseng, I’d like to buy them.]

I rejected his request. I didn’t have any more ginseng to sell.

I turned around.

Shashashak— 

Someone quickly hid behind the wall, but my eyes could see through it. I was surprised to see Rachel. With her back against the wall, she held her beating heart.

“Hmm, was I mistaken?”

I pretended not to notice to find out why she was following me. Then I turned off the laptop and used its black screen as a mirror to look behind me. When I started walking, Rachel peeked her head out. Her gaze was fixed on my bag, but why my bag? The only thing in it was a notebook. Ah, thinking about it now, this was the way to the library. The dorm was right next to it.

“… Is she trying to steal my notebook?”

No, a princess wouldn't do something like that. Besides, it didn’t contain anything worthwhile.

I continued walking as Rachel tenaciously chased me. She didn’t stop until I entered my dorm.

“She followed me all the way here?”

She stared regretfully at the dorm when I looked out from the window. Interesting. I walked into my room with a grin.

***

After taking a short nap, I left and arrived at room 303. A small group had already gathered: Shin Jonghak, Yoo Yeonha, Kim Horak, and Yi Yeonghan. It almost looked like a scene from my novel, Kim Suho and his friend versus Shin Jonghak and his lackeys. Even Kim Horak, the weakest one here, had a somewhat important role until the middle of the story. I felt entirely out of place. They didn’t say anything when they saw me, so I opened my mouth first.

“Why did you call me?”

I asked, pretending not to know. Shin Jonghak frowned at my innocent question. Thankfully, Kim Suho explained before Shin Jonghak could express his dissatisfaction.

“I haven’t told Hajin why we’re meeting yet.”

“So, what is it?”

Kim Suho stood up at my question. He should’ve just stayed sitting. His height made me slightly uncomfortable. I set his height as 185 cm. Now, I somewhat regretted it.

“Hajin, you’ve heard about cadets going missing, right?”

“… Yeah.”

“It’s about that. Cube entrusted us with investigating the cause. Of course, they’re going to do their own investigation, but since the culprit is likely a student, they think it’ll be easier for students to also investigate.”

I was about to nod casually, but after realizing this was supposed to be my first time hearing about this, I pretended to be surprised.

“… But why me?”

“You have good eyes. I heard you can see over a thousand miles away.”

“Well, yeah… I do have good eyes.”

So it was for that single reason? I feigned a smile and sat down on a nearby chair. Kim Suho naturally sat at the head of the table. He looked at me and asked, “Will you help us?”

“I don’t know if I can, but…”

I didn't want to give up on potential SP.

“Thanks.”

Kim Suho smiled. Then he cleared his throat and brought up yesterday’s incident.

“First, I don’t think the djinn who attacked Nayun is this incident’s culprit. But…”

Shin Jonghak interrupted him. “Nayun?”

He interjected at the fact that Kim Suho didn’t address Chae Nayun with her last name.

“… But I think there’s a high chance that Chae Nayun is the real culprit’s next target. Djinns follow their contracted devil’s orders, so if Sven’s contracted devil ordered him to attack her, it makes sense that another djinn would also go after her.”

It was a good theory, but incorrect. Sven’s contracted devil and the culprit’s contracted devil weren’t the same. Asmodeus and Lilith had completely different dispositions.

“So I’m wondering, can you think of anyone suspicious? Someone who has been acting strange recently…”

Before the investigation began, Kim Suho asked for everyone’s opinions. No one stepped forward, but Yoo Yeonha stared at me. Soon, Shin Jonghak and Kim Horak also turned to me.

I knew the real culprit, but I hesitated to reveal his name without proof. The culprit should be leaving traces, but he proceeded faster than I thought. In the original story, six people went missing in two months, but three had already gone missing in two weeks. I felt guilty letting more people die for the story to catch up. There could be more victims than the original story at this rate. Perhaps I should mention his name to speed up the investigation.

“Yeah, I have someone in mind.”

Five pairs of eyes focused on me.

“Who?”

Kim Suho asked. I slowly opened my mouth and spoke the real culprit’s name.

“Yun Hyun.”

… A deep silence descended. No one reacted to my comment.

“Pft.”

Soon, Yoo Yeonha’s mocking laughter broke the silence, and Kim Suho gently rebutted.

“That person has an alibi. We already looked into him because he was close to the first victim.”

It was obvious that Yun Hyun had an alibi.

“But what if the victim went to Yun Hyun on her own?”

“A mental magic that could lure a cadet? Yeah, that makes sense.”

Shin Jonghak sarcastically remarked. He stared at me with contempt and disdain like I was an insect. As Shin Jonghak said, it wasn’t easy to lure a cadet with mental magic. Even if possible, it couldn’t have escaped people’s suspicion. After all, victims under mental magic moved like puppets or scarecrows. However…

“If it’s mental magic, yeah. But…”

It was different if it was love. That was the most significant difference between enchantment and mental magic. Someone who was in love wouldn’t realize they were bewitched.

“Screw the useless talk.”

Shin Jonghak cut me off before I could finish my sentence. He kicked an empty chair, which fell towards me.

“As for me…”

Yoo Yeonha smiled and slowly pointed at me. “I’m more suspicious of you.”

“… What?”

My head blanked because it was so sudden. I froze at a loss for words.

“Yoo Yeonha, that’s not correct either. Hajin also has an alibi.”

Kim Suho quickly refuted the idea, but Yoo Yeonha rebutted him.

“His alibi is a record of him using the portal. If he’s a djinn, tampering with something like that should be easy. Compared to senior Yun Hyun who was with others, that person is much more…”

“Why don’t we beat him up first?”

Kim Horak daringly stood up. He looked like a mini ogre as he cracked his knuckles and displayed his muscles.

“I’m sure he’ll sing or transform if he’s beaten. Hey, get up.”

Yoo Yeonha, Kim Horak, Shin Jonghak, and Yi Yeonghan. Everyone other than Kim Suho looked suspiciously at me. I became furious. This had never happened to me before even in a mafia game. So this was what it felt like to be falsely accused. Should I not have brought up Yun Hyun’s name? No, even if I didn’t, this would have happened anyways. Yoo Yeonha must have planned it.

“Jonghak, I can break an arm or two, right?”

The ogre asked for Shin Jonghak’s consent. Before Shin Jonghak could reply, I jumped out of my chair.

“Yeah, come at me, you fat son of a bitch. I’ll drill a hole in your head.”

“… What did you say? Look at this crazy motherfucker.”

Kim Horak raised his voice. I took out my gun from my back pocket, but he only snorted disdainfully.

“Retard, you think that can make me flinch?”

Kim Horak positioned himself to charge forward. I also lowered my center of gravity. I had aether. I could cook up some stupid pig whenever I wanted.

“Stop.”

Kim Suho stepped in between us. He even had his training sword out.

“Now’s not the time for this. Hajin, you calm down too.”

I snapped back to reality, looking at the chilling flash of his sword. Although I grandly shouted, Kim Horak was too strong of an opponent. Don’t get angry. If you get mad, it’s your loss. After telling myself that, I took a deep breath and pointed at Yoo Yeonha.

“You, if you’re doubtful, ask Chae Nayun.”

“… What does Nayun have to do with this?”

I spoke to Yoo Yeonha, but Shin Jonghak reacted sensitively.

“When the djinn attacked her, I was there too. We killed him together. She didn’t tell you yet?”

“…”

I said so as I glared at Yoo Yeonha. She received my look in a perfectly calm manner without a single word.

“Anyways, I made myself clear. The culprit is that piece of shit Yun Hyun.”

After saying that to Yoo Yeonha, the final victim, I turned around.

“Uk.”

In the middle of walking out, I accidentally tripped. My body slipped to the side as a fat boar suddenly flew in and smashed the wall. However, the charge was too quick and dangerous for a boar as a crack appeared on Cube’s reinforced wall.

“Oh? You dodged that?”

Shin Jonghak’s lips twisted up in interest. Kim Horak had tried to tackle me just now. It wouldn’t have ended with just a few broken bones if he had hit.

“You… son of a bitch.”

Kim Horak stood up. For someone who attacked first, he sure was angry. I pointed my gun at him.

“I think I need to teach you a lesson.”

Kim Suho stopped us again, but he did it with action rather than words. Magic power rose from his sword and separated me from Kim Horak.

“If you’re that suspicious, just ask Nayun! Yoo Yeonha!” He shouted at Yoo Yeonha. Kim Suho’s furious look even made the proud Yoo Yeonha shrink.

“… Wait one minute.”

Tsk. Yoo Yeonha clicked her tongue and turned on her smartwatch.

1. Jingu Bang is the magical staff used by Sun Wukong, which can elongate endlessly. ☜