The Conjurer of the Academy

Chapter 19

“…Who are you?”

Bloodshot eyes and gritted teeth, ready to tear someone apart. If I had to compare, it resembled not an animal but a child whose toy was snatched away.

Crack

Cheon Tae-sung must have just barely applied more pressure with his hand, but I felt like all the bones in my body were clattering.

“Ugh, ughhh…!”

Taking advantage of Cheon Tae-sung’s distraction, Hong Seok-woo hurriedly moved away. The initial determination to overpower Cheon Tae-sung vanished as he made a hasty retreat without looking back.

‘I’ve changed the predetermined scenario.’

Originally, the Protector would have been shattered, and Hong Seok-woo would have been sent straight to the emergency room. Once again, I had deviated from the original storyline.

“Who are you?”

“What kind of strength….”

The problem is, at this rate, I might end up being the one taken to the emergency room…

No, having just finished my duel, I wasn’t wearing any Protectors. Completely defenseless, Cheon Tae-sung was glaring at me with a clear intent to kill.

“Are you planning to kill me? Take it easy.”

“Take it easy?”

Cheon Tae-sung frowned.

Ah, this guy. He’s not even aware of what he’s doing.

[Get out of the way!]

The oppressive weight on my body eased momentarily, but then Cheon Tae-sung raised Gram again. Far from stopping his attack, he was preparing for the next one.

‘Ugh, my legs…’

Perhaps due to summoning my maximum spiritual energy all at once, my legs wouldn’t respond.

Whooong-!

The replica of Gram descended towards me like a guillotine. Just before it could reach my neck,

“The duel is over. Return to your positions.”

Choi Tae-min, arriving belatedly, interposed himself between me and Cheon Tae-sung.

Choi Tae-min caught the descending blade of Gram with his bare hand and glared sidelong at Cheon Tae-sung.

“……”

The heated emotion instantly drained from Cheon Tae-sung’s face. The distinctly formed Gram also fragmented into particles of mana and evaporated instantly.

Cheon Tae-sung turned as if nothing had happened and went down from the arena. As the match ended, the usual cheers were conspicuously absent this time, leaving a deathly silence.

Even the group lingering around Cheon Tae-sung fell silent.

“Wait a moment.”

After Cheon Tae-sung left, Choi Tae-min called out to me. He approached me with a relaxed stride and looked down at me.

“Well done. If it weren’t for you, the other student would have been seriously injured.”

Choi Tae-min stroked his chin.

Staying behind in the arena to convey these words seemed like an effort to avoid embarrassing me in front of the other students.

“My body just moved on its own.”

Knowing Choi Tae-min, he probably wouldn’t mind, but a half-hearted lie could invite trouble.

“I thought the Protector might break from Cheon Tae-sung’s final attack.”

“At your level, as non-official hunters, it’s rare for a Protector to break.”

Still feeling uneasy, Choi Tae-min glanced towards the bottom of the arena.

“But that mana level just now…”

An individual who could shatter a Protector with a trial attack and return to their place without any noticeable physical strain.

Even though Choi Tae-min’s mind told him the Protector wouldn’t break, his body reacted first. He wouldn’t have moved if he didn’t sense a threat from Cheon Tae-sung’s attack.

“No, never mind.”

After observing Cheon Tae-sung for a while, Choi Tae-min shook his head and turned his attention back to me.

“Regardless, what you did just now was wrong. If you charged in without a Protector, it wouldn’t have ended with just minor injuries.”

“I understand.”

“You’re very calm about this.”

Choi Tae-min rolled his eyes. Soon, he seemed to find even thinking about it tiresome and let out a big yawn.

“According to the rules, you intervening in someone else’s duel is subject to disciplinary action, but since I don’t feel like writing a report, I’ll let it go this time.”

“You are the best teacher.”

“Save the flattery.”

After leaving those words, I followed Choi Tae-min down from the arena.

On the way down, I happened to see Cheon Tae-sung, who, as if nothing had happened, was looking down at his smartphone again.

‘What a psychopath.’

How saintly must the original Han Yu-seong have been to keep someone like this psychopath by his side until the end? Unless he was just as much of a psychopath.

‘One day…’

I’ll take him down.

* * *

After all the classes for the day ended, I dragged my exhausted body back to my room and collapsed onto the bed.

“Ugh, I thought I was going to die.”

As I stretched out, the unnoticed muscle aches flooded in all at once.

[You’ve gotten quite accustomed to using spiritual energy, haven’t you?]

“Would be a problem if I weren’t. What did I endure all this time for?”

I don’t know about mana since I’ve never used it, but using spiritual energy drains my stamina as if my life force is being sucked out. Enduring Han Yu-seong’s hellish training three times a week paid off.

“You worked hard too, Baek-Ah.”

[Hehe.]

As I gently stroked the Sain-gum, it clattered with Baek-Ah’s laughter.

[By the way, that guy earlier is dangerous. Be careful not to get involved with him from now on.]

“…You mean Cheon Tae-sung.”

I glanced at Yomi perched on my shoulder. Unlike usual, there was a lot of weight behind its words.

Just as Yomi read my emotions through spiritual energy, I could sense something as well.

“Yomi, did you see something in Cheon Tae-sung that I couldn’t?”

[……]

The rank of my Spirit Sight was still B.

Yomi, once a great yokai, had a broader and deeper vision than mine. His immediate silence in response to my question was proof enough.

[Do you remember the grudges that were clinging all over that boy’s body?]

“Not fondly, but yes…”

The countless human grudges attached to Cheon Tae-sung’s body that I saw during the entrance ceremony.

I saw them again during today’s mock duel, but there was nothing particularly noteworthy. Just like before, I merely saw those grudges clinging to him.

[What I saw was not something special.]

Yomi trailed off.

[I saw the expressions of those grudges.]

“The expressions of the grudges?”

[Yes.]

The grudges, also known as remnants of the dead, are called Sa-nyeom. As with the concept of Sa-nyeom in general, in this world as well, it is not considered a good thing.

[Grudges are, quite literally, evil cursed emotions. They are intense feelings wishing for the ruin or death of their target.]

Yomi’s voice growled even lower.

[Do you think it’s possible for such cursed emotions to feel fear?]

“…The grudges were scared?”

[Yes, when that kid got serious about the fight, the spirits started wailing in terror.]

After a brief pause, Yomi added,

[They were begging to be spared.]

“…”

Though I couldn’t see the same sight as Yomi, I understood it.

He attacked without worrying about breaking the Protector.

He wielded his sword to the throat of an opponent without a Protector, intending to kill.

The series of actions Cheon Tae-sung showed were not things that could be replaced by a few lines of narration seen in the game.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t avoid him.”

[…Is that so.]

Cheon Tae-sung was ultimately just another obstacle to overcome.

Yomi, who had been holding its head, now rested it roundly on its body.

“Thanks for worrying anyway.”

[Hmph, if you die a premature death before the contract’s due date, only I would lose out!]

“Yes, yes, I understand.”

Lying flat on my back, I reached up towards the void. As my index finger pointed vertically, the status window appeared.

[Skill Points]

– Skill Points: 170

– Spirit Conjuration (B): 30/300

* Yomi (B)

* Baek-Ah (C)

– Spirit Sight (B): 0/300

After joining a club, conjuring Baek-Ah’s spirit, and winning the duel, I had accumulated quite a few skill points unnoticed.

‘I did increase the rank of Spirit Sight, but…’

The rank of my most essential ability, ‘Spirit Conjuration,’ remains stagnant. Only when the rank of Spirit Conjuration goes up will the linked artifact ‘Sain-gum’ and the spirits’ ranks increase correspondingly.

‘Maybe I’ll save them for now.’

I closed the skill window without making any changes. Even though I’d grown accustomed to it, Spirit Conjuration is a skill that didn’t exist in the original storyline. I needed to watch a bit longer to fully understand its true value.

“Come to think of it…”

Suddenly recalling something I had forgotten, I sat up. Yomi, probably reacting to my sullen expression, raised its head slightly.

[What is it? Weren’t you going to keep resting?]

“No, I’m planning to rest.”

I picked up a remote control that was buried in a corner of the bed. When I pressed the power button, an old-fashioned television in the room turned on with a popping sound.

“Just felt a bit lonely.”

[…You sound like an old man.]

I mechanically changed the channels.

Of course, the dormitory provided to low-ranking students was certainly narrow and lonely, but there was a slightly different reason for turning on the television.

‘If I remember correctly, it was not long after the mock duel ended.’

The world of Rolling Hunters was not bleak from the beginning. The active hunters were capable of curbing the rampages of the monsters. It felt like the supply closely matched the demand, so to speak.

However, as the monsters increasingly began to rampage, the world of Rolling Hunters transformed into an apocalyptic scenario where masses of people perished.

[Breaking News]

At that moment, my hand stopped changing channels, and I turned my attention to the announcer on the screen.

[Last night around 7 PM, a large-scale monster attack occurred near Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, causing citizens to flee in chaos. Experts attribute the recent string of monster rampages to…]

Behind the announcer, debris from buildings was scattered, and beyond the restricted area fence, hunters could be seen moving busily.

The first time a large-scale monster rampage is encountered in the storyline is right after the mock duel. The announcer on the screen was always the one to deliver that news.

However, the cause of the monster rampages was revealed surprisingly early in the story…

[Recently, the government confirmed that the blood of the rampaging monsters had turned purple, and they suspect it might be due to an unidentified virus. Experts have named this virus the ‘C-Virus’…]

“C-Virus.”

C-Virus.

The bodily fluids and bloodstains of infected monsters turn purple, causing them to lose their rationality and rampage. However, even in the original storyline, the exact cause and who spread the virus were never revealed.

‘Or maybe I just never reached that point.’

Being unable to prevent the massive monster invasion, and of course, the last boss, I have no way of knowing if these details were revealed afterward.

“Anyway, now that I’ve confirmed the flow—”

Just as I was about to turn off the television after roughly confirming the flow of the scenario,

[Wait.]

Yomi, in a voice lower and more growling than usual, stopped me.

“What is it?”

[…Don’t you see that?]

At Yomi’s words, I turned my gaze back to the screen, where a research lab was shown. A cylinder containing what appeared to be the purple fluid from the beasts’ blood was being transported somewhere.

‘I don’t see anything… Ah, could it be…’

Yomi questioned if I didn’t see something clearly implied that it was something invisible to humans. Since Spirit Sight consumes spiritual energy, I usually keep it turned off.

When I belatedly activated Spirit Sight and looked at the screen—

“…”

After a moment of silence, I recalled what Yomi had said earlier.

“The expressions of the grudges.”

Inside the cylinder filled with the liquid known as the C-virus, countless grudges were trapped, writhing in agony.