Chapter 60: It's Not a Technology Leak, It's Advice! (1)

Chapter 60: It's Not a Technology Leak, It's Advice! (1)

The morning had come.

The sun was shining outside, and the birds were chirping to announce the morning of Ulleung Island.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yes. Wasn’t the bed uncomfortable for you, Ms. Seol-hee?”

“Not at all. ...Hmm.”

Baek Seol-hee bent her legs slightly but soon shrugged her shoulders, fiddled with her hair with a towel, and sat down in front of the dressing table.

Vroom.

For some reason, I felt awkward watching her naturally pick up the hairdryer and start drying her hair.

This woman, dressed only in a white robe, was doing this in front of me.

She even took off her Taeguk Watch and came all the way to Ulleung Island, tormenting people all night under the pretext of consultation.

Whether I was the one tormented or the one telling the story was tormented, only Baek Seol-hee herself would know, but there was something quite embarrassing at this point where quite a lot of time had passed.

“Ms. Seol-hee.”

“Yes.”

“Shouldn’t we check on the Taeguk Watch soon?”

“.......”

Baek Seol-hee, who momentarily turned off the dryer, pouted.

“I want to talk a little more.”

“Today is Monday. You should go back and work.”

“That’s okay. Actually, I’m on vacation today.”

Baek Seol-hee playfully winked at me and turned on the dryer again.

“There was such a major incident with the devil running amok, so I received orders to rest at home for a day. That’s why I came here.”

“Wouldn’t someone be looking for you, Ms. Seol-hee?”

“After arguing and blushing with my superiors yesterday, nobody would dare contact me. At least... until noon?”

“Noon.”

Coincidentally, the check-out time was also noon.

“I understand that you’re worried about who might call the Taeguk Watch and that I might get caught here in Ulleung Island instead of Sejong Island, but you don’t have to worry too much. I’ll take responsibility if a scandal breaks out. For you, Ji-hwan.”

“Your words alone are reassuring, but if I were an ability user, my mind might run wild and cause a rampage when the scandal breaks out. Haha....”

“Why?”

“The moment I’m known as the guy who had a ‘secret’ meeting with the national hero Snow White, wouldn’t I receive death threats and cursed letters from all around?”

“I’ll arrange a quiet house somewhere on Sejong Island to avoid that. If I request the government, they’ll arrange such a place.”

“In return, don’t I owe the government?”

“If I say it’s for the sake of the nation, the government would be pleased, right? At least, on the surface.”

Baek Seol-hee patted her stomach lightly, and I felt dizzy at her words.

“Ms. Seol-hee...”

“I’m kidding. I don’t intend to trap you because of my circumstances. I just wanted to see you uncomfortable.”

“Me?”

“Yes. ... if only the risk of someone noticing my disappearance from Sejong Island was resolved, you’d like to have more conversations here... that kind of feeling?”

“It’s true. Although I would like to avoid the conversation heading that way.”

I had things to discuss with Baek Seol-hee.

Things I wanted to talk about after sorting out my thoughts about what we talked about until dawn, and some things about her abilities.

‘If I don’t say this now, she will ‘cast off’ in front of the protagonist, so I should tell her now.’

To prepare for a time when she won’t be embarrassed.

Although the protagonist hadn’t been determined yet, one of the events in the original story was that Baek Seol-hee ‘casts off’ in front of everyone at the beginning of the semester.

‘I can’t allow that as a friend.’

I had to guide the conversation naturally.

“Ms. Seol-hee. How are you planning to go back?”

“...I suppose I should wear a long padded jacket.”

Baek Seol-hee started to watch my reaction with a flustered face.

“How many outfits do you have now? Or rather, what do you have that could be considered as clothes?”

“A robe, a swimsuit, and a long padded jacket...?”

“It might be fine at night, but it’s now noon, and it’s a Monday. Wouldn’t everyone be surprised to see Ms. Seol-hee appearing in a long padded jacket in the middle of a weekday? Especially if it’s fully zipped?”

“If the weather today is cold....”

“Create... clothes?”

“Yes. Just like creating a shield with magic power, you make clothes with magic power. Very intricate and delicate, and in a color that others would just think is normal clothing.”

“Clothes with magic power.”

Baek Seol-hee fell into serious thought.

She furrowed her brows, gathered her hands forward, invoked magic power, and began to concentrate with her eyes closed.

“......”

While she was fully focused on controlling her magic power, I quietly headed to the kitchen and closed the room door.

“Good. Today, it’s nude kimbap.”

I wouldn’t quibble about it being a California roll.

Gather the magic power.

Move the magic power like a thread and form a shape.

Visualizing it was like a 3D scanner.

Based on the image that came to mind, build up layer by layer from the bottom to match a 1:1 scale.

And what was created was a set of clothes.

“...Huh.”

Baek Seol-hee savored the clothes that appeared before her eyes.

“Did it... resemble it?”

It was a white short-sleeved T-shirt that someone had worn, taken off at night, but put on again in the morning. It was much thicker than the cotton T-shirts worn in winter, but for a first attempt, it was quite decent.

“...Hmmm.”

Baek Seol-hee hugged the T-shirt and closed her eyes.

The clothes she created with her magic power were incredibly simple, but they were enough to cover the clothes she wore underneath.

If she wore a swimsuit and put on this shirt made with magic power, she would definitely draw people’s attention.

“Thanks to Ji-hwan.”

Do Ji-hwan was always a man who gave her new experiences.

Full of different experiences she didn’t have before, she looked forward to what new experiences he would give in the future.

If she could use this to create some kind of weapon or suit, the next time she met the Goblin-

“...Ah!”

Baek Seol-hee clenched the shirt.

“What if this is transformed at a super high speed that others cannot recognize with their eyes? Ah...!”

It occurred to her.

During the second transformation, the Goblin had covered his body by spreading a golden storm of mana around him.

Could that perhaps have been some kind of device to hide his transformation?

Beyond some gimmick to block attacks, wasn’t it a measure to hide the fact that he had created the form of clothing by releasing his mana outside?

“...Phew.”

Baek Seol-hee stood in the middle of the room.

After setting the shirt aside, Baek Seol-hee refined her magic power with the thought of emitting magic power from her entire body.

And then-

“Trans...form.”

Baamm!!

Magic power exploded from her body and scattered in all directions.

Knock, knock, knock.

“I’m coming in.”

Creak.

The door opened.

Do Ji-hwan came into the room with a bowl of nude kimbap - and stopped right there.

“...Did you not make clothes but erase them?”

He quietly went out.

“......”

Baek Seol-hee slumped down in the chair.

The whole room was frosted, and the chair was frozen, but Baek Seol-hee’s head heated up like an active volcano.

On this day, in the morning.

Baek Seol-hee learned a new technique called self-destruction.

Sacrificing the clothes she was wearing, she had a self-destruct function that caused a massive explosion of magic power centered on herself.