Chapter 68
After returning to the underground chapel from the Paladin Order, I immersed myself in practicing spells and blessings. Other than eating and going to the bathroom, I stayed locked in my room. In the most literal sense, I was doing seclusion training. The purpose, of course, was to achieve this state of “Acquirement,” or whatever it was.
Of course, I made no progress. I briefly lay down during training and fell asleep, only to wake up in the morning. I hurriedly got ready and headed to school, and spent the rest of the day, as usual, in training.
And finally, it was Wednesday.
[You seem to be in great condition today.] Legba suddenly spoke as I was putting on my school uniform.
His tone was slightly different from usual. His voice was louder, and his pronunciation seemed more muffled.
"Sleeping a lot yesterday really helped," I casually replied.
The change in his voice wasn't significant enough to concern me. I started packing my bag, putting in my textbooks, Holy Book, and the holy artifact.
[Right. It's good to get plenty of sleep. But don't sleep too much, not too much!]
"...Huh? You always nag me to sleep more."
[Oh, did I... Did I say that? Hmm, I don't remember.]
Just as I finished my preparations and was about to leave for the underground chapel, I sensed something odd about Legba's voice.
No, to be precise, this wasn't Legba. It was the voice of another Loa imitating him. There was only one Loa who would do such a thing—a Loa who could imitate Legba, openly mock him, and suffer no repercussions.
"Baron Samedi. When did you arrive?"
[Hmm! Legba's voice is unnecessarily deep, which makes it hard to imitate.] Finally, Baron Samedi revealed his own voice.
It seemed like he intended to surprise me with an imitation, but a bad one ?of Legba. L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøv€l--B1n.
"So, what's the matter?" I asked as I put on my shoes.
[What's the matter? Didn't you tell me to come once every five days? You didn't forget about our agreement, did you?]
"Oh... Of course, I remember! Thank you for coming."
Honestly, it had completely slipped my mind.
Baron Samedi spat out a displeased sigh. [Well, let's get straight to the point. Today will be an eventful day.]
"Eventful?"
[A lot of things will happen, but none are too major. It'll be better to see today as an ordinary day.]
An ordinary day. Hearing those words made me feel slightly better. I had been longing for an ordinary day for so long. I smiled faintly and nodded, and Baron Samedi continued speaking.
[My advice is to not be alone and always have someone with you at all times. Also, be careful of your back. Well then, I'm off!]
"My back? What do you mean all of a... Ah, he's gone."
With those words, Baron Samedi left. A purple mist swiftly flowed away from me as if fleeing from me...
Don't go alone. Be careful of your back.
I couldn't tell if he meant to literally watch my back or be cautious of betrayal. I couldn't even begin to fathom the meaning of ‘Don't go alone.’
Although I couldn’t understand the meaning behind his words at the moment, it wouldn't hurt to remember it.
Don't walk alone, be careful of your back, don't walk alone, be careful...
I engraved Baron Samedi's prophecy into my mind and stepped outside. It was early morning, and there were many students with sleepy eyes walking to school and employees heading to work. The weather looked to be slightly cloudy.
Paak!
As I walked through the alley, slowly making my way to school, someone pushed me from behind.
Was it a Satanist? This early? I turned my head, assuming a combative stance.
Fortunately, it wasn't a Satanist. In-Ah was looking back at me with a bright smile, her face filled to the brim with mischievous intent.
"You're up early."
"...Uh, yeah my body naturally woke up early today."
"That’s rare. Anyway, let's go."
The tension in my body seemed to melt away after seeing her cheerful smile and hearing her words. I let out a sigh of relief and walked with In-Ah. She seemed exceptionally happy today.
"Today is the re-election test, right? Did you say you applied as well?" In-Ah asked.
I nodded my head.
"Yeah. Jun-Hyuk said he applied as well. What about you?"
"I... I didn't apply. I wasn't confident that I’d do well anyway. I want to focus on studying for the upcoming test." In-Ah let out a laugh of disappointment and shifted her gaze to the notebook she was holding. It was a notebook holding organized concepts from 'Romanica Sacred Science,' a subject that required a lot of memorization. She seemed to use her commute time to study. Her concentration was impressive.
Min-Seo scrunched up her face in silence.
Judging from the reaction, ?Sun-Woo was indeed the one who left a blemish of one loss on Min-Seo's otherwise perfect record.
"Really? Did you lose to Sun-Woo? Seriously, you lost?"
“...Shut up.”
“Woah, look at Mrs. Scary over here~ But did you really lose? Can you go into detail? Pretty please?” Su-Ryeon said, digging into Min-Seo’s hide and making fun of her.
Min-Seo's face had frozen in place, and she sent death stares at Su-Ryeon. It was only then that Su-Ryeon stopped teasing her. However, she still couldn't hide her twitching lips from subduing her smile.
For a second, Min-Seo felt a strong urge to punch Su-Ryeon in the face but quickly suppressed it. Su-Ryeon, after teasing Min-Seo for a while, finally forced her smile down and plopped down in her seat. Then she looked over the document listing Sun-Woo's grades once again.
"Well... it doesn't seem so strange when I look at it again," Su-Ryeon said with a smirk.
Min-Seo tilted her head. "What makes you say that?"
"Well, maybe he's just the type with inconsistent performances. For example, he might not have been in the best condition during the physical test, but was in good condition during eradicating demon practice, you know?"
"Hey, no matter how inconsistent he is that—"
"Or maybe he's just not interested in grades?" Su-Ryeon said nonchalantly.
Min-Seo hung her head down for a moment. She seemed to be contemplating.
He didn't seem like the type who wasn’t interested in grades. No, he didn't seem like that type at all. In fact, Sun-Woo seemed to be the type who was too passionate, someone who would try his best and give it his all in everything... However, if that were the case, why did he attempt to forfeit during the practical sparring match?
"No, well, sigh, I don’t know," Min-Seo mumbled, shaking her head.
Although she had lost by disqualification, she had lost to Sun-Woo in their duel. She had even received disciplinary action of fifteen days of volunteer service within the school. The punishment was relatively light compared to her offense, but the fact that she was being disciplined remained unchanged.
Just recalling that memory made Min-Seo feel uncomfortable. It felt as if her insides were twisting up.
"Maybe he just got lucky. Sun-Woo is famous among the students, right? Maybe he's just a bubble," Su-Ryeon suggested.[1]
"Bullshit. They call him unbelieva’bubble."
Sun-Woo's name had become known when the evaluation results were announced. He had surpassed Ha-Yeon, who had entered F.A. as the top scorer and ranked first. Furthermore, in a recent practical sparring match, Sun-Woo accomplished the astonishing feat of beating Min-Seo, claiming a 3-0 score with no losses.
This became an opportunity for Sun-Woo to further improve his already renowned reputation. There were even rumors circulating that he was second only to Jin-Seo in terms of skill.
"Well, that's all just a joke. More people think he’s just a bubble."
Of course, praise and criticism went hand in hand. Many people considered all the rumors about Sun-Woo to be a mere exaggeration, and they attributed his good practical training scores to sheer luck.
"I don't give two shits about what the people have to say behind their backs. What do you think?"
"What do I think? You mean whether I think he’s a bubble or not?"
Min-Seo nodded her head. Su-Ryeon stroked her chin and pretended to contemplate. She glanced at her watch before speaking. "Well... The rumors may have inflated his true abilities a bit. But I hadn't really thought deeply about it, and I see no point in doing so."
"True."
"If it's all just a bluff, he'll fall off eventually by himself."
Min-Seo nodded slowly in response to Su-Ryeon's words. She had a valid point. Regardless of the rumors, what mattered was Sun-Woo’s real ability. However, Min-Seo herself wasn’t confident in assessing Sun-Woo's ‘true ability.’ Based on their sparring session, she could tell that he had better physical coordination than most. If they were to compare physical coordination alone, he would be on par with Dae-Man.
However, before the match had been settled, it had ended due to her impulsive action, and as a result, she suffered a disqualification loss. Therefore, she couldn't determine Sun-Woo's true ability or uncover the cards he had left unshown.
"Should we go soon? It seems like it's about to start." Su-Ryeon called out to Min-Seo.
Min-Seo, stranded in her sea of thoughts, finally came to her senses and looked at her watch. Lunch break was almost over, and afternoon classes were about to begin. Today, the Holy Name of Charity re-election test replaced the afternoon classes. Non-participating students could leave, but the candidates were supposed to gather at the Great Auditorium.
"Ah, let's go." Min-Seo got up from her seat and headed towards the Great Auditorium. She was also an exam participant for the re-election test, but it wasn't because she wanted to be elected as the new Holy Name of Charity. It was solely to help Jun-Hyuk and Sun-Woo as nominees.
‘Plus, I need to confirm a few things...’
Additionally, she wanted to see Sun-Woo's true abilities with her own eyes. He had struck down the flying demonic beasts and showcased his exceptional physical coordination during sparring. However, his grades were always unpredictable, and similarly, the evaluations from others varied greatly. This guy was a total enigma. She needed to see Sun-woo’s capability with her own eyes. Not that she needed to, of course, but she wanted to.
Of course, this Holy Name of Charity re-election test allowed the use of holy artifacts and would make it an extremely unfair fight for Sun-Woo, who lacked resources. It would be the equivalent of starting a hundred-meter race three seconds later than all the other contestants.
How would Sun-Woo make a fuss and turn the situation around? The thought made her laugh.
"Min-Seo, um, try not to laugh too much. People have told me it makes them feel uncomfortable."
"...Who cares if someone feels uncomfortable? And who said that? If they have a problem, they should say it to my face."
"Well, actually, I feel uncomfortable. That's why I am telling you myself." Su-Ryeon laughed brazenly, and Min-Seo stared at her with a bewildered expression.
They walked silently until they finally arrived in front of the Great Auditorium.
The auditorium was packed full of people, from the test-takers, friends who had come to support them, and teachers assigned to manage the crowd. Roughly two hundred people had gathered together.
"Oh, there they are.” At that moment, Su-Ryeon pointed with her finger beyond the crowd.
On the other side were Sun-Woo and Jun-Hyuk, the two soon-to-be competitors, engaged in a friendly conversation. Observing their interaction, Min-Seo felt an indescribable sense of unease.
1. Bubble is a metaphor used to show that something might look elevated and puffed up at first but will end up bursting and leaving nothing behind because it has no substance. ?