So Yihyeon, who had been watching the same footage, widened her eyes as well.
As an Awakened specializing in magic, she understood what she was seeing in greater detail.
“That is rather impressive. He combined the one-star Fire Release Art, Flame Bullet, with the one-star Water Release Art, Water Ring.”
“Combined them? Do you mean……?”
“Yes. Attribute Combination. More precisely, the Evaporation Art, Latent Heat. It is a Sorcery Art that amplifies a material’s change of state with mana, producing multiple explosions and intense heat.”
“Then he is from that family?”
“Most likely. The only people who use Sorcery Arts that bizarre are sorcerers.”
“Oh?”
The two evaluators stared at the monitor with keen interest.
Meanwhile, the ball of fire wrapped in streams of water struck the leader.
“Ah. That was seriously dangerous.”
A disappointed exclamation, different from before, escaped Lee Hajoon.
The power was impressive, but the point of impact left much to be desired.
“He should have invoked it earlier. Or aimed farther behind the target. That could have ended very badly.”
So Yihyeon reacted similarly.
Using the technique itself was impressive, but his execution was immature.
It was fortunate that Joo Arin had reacted immediately. Otherwise, the aftershock alone could have seriously injured her.
Lee Taekjin, who had been watching their reactions, spoke at the appropriate moment.
“We have already imposed a team penalty.”
“A team penalty?”
“Yes. Endangering the safety of a teammate is grounds for a deduction.”
His tone was calm, but when he had first received the report, he had been just as surprised.
Attribute Combination.
Even if the execution had been crude, was it not a secret technique of sorcerers that could only be performed by those with exceptional talent?
And yet, of all people, Park Hayul had managed to invoke it…….
It was another moment that demonstrated that the results of the Diagnostic Assessment had not merely been a stroke of luck.
“I see.”
“That is certainly a mistake. This is a team assignment, after all.”
So Yihyeon and Lee Hajoon nodded slightly in agreement.
Their interest, however, had not diminished.
“Does something not seem strange? Someone capable of Attribute Combination has execution that crude?”
“The order is backward, certainly. It is like being able to run before learning how to walk.”
Their gazes, which had previously been fixed solely on Joo Arin, now turned toward Park Hayul.
“He could not possibly have been unaware of Latent Heat’s effective range, could he?”
“Surely not. It could not have been his first time using it.”
“Was there a second-year student from the Origin Sorcerer Family? Why has someone with talent like that remained unknown until now?”
The fact that he was unknown only made them more excited.
A pearl buried in the dirt belonged to whoever discovered it first.
In the end, unable to contain their curiosity, the two asked at the same time.
“Professor, what is that student’s name?”
“What is his name?”
***
There was something Joo Arin had heard so often since childhood that it was practically part of her daily life.
“Wow, she is truly beautiful.”
“How can someone so young already have such elegance?”
Most of it had been praise concerning her appearance.
Some people went under the knife for that alone, but to her, beauty was simply something she had always possessed.
It inspired as little emotion in her as seeing white snow in Antarctica.
“Does it look all right?”
“Yes, Young Lady.”
“……Really?”
“Of course. You have already recovered completely.”
But today, unusually, she cared.
With expensive restorative mana cream smeared liberally over her skin, she kept glancing at the mirror.
“No matter how I look at it, around my eye seems a little…….”
“You are worrying unnecessarily. I assure you, there is nothing wrong at all.”
The elderly secretary with white hair smiled faintly at the rare sight of Joo Arin acting like a child.
He had served her since the day she was born, so naturally his feelings toward her ran deep.
“Ahem.”
Realizing that she had become more agitated than usual, Joo Arin flushed.
“I am sorry for troubling you.”
“Troubling me? Not at all. It has been pleasant. It even brings back old memories. And please do not hate him too much. If it had not been for him, you would have been injured far more seriously.”
“That is true, but……. In any case, please stop talking about that person. It will only put me in a worse mood. And…….”
Joo Arin hesitated uneasily before continuing with caution.
“Please keep this from the family as much as possible. You never know. It might interfere with Seola’s treatment…….”
“Surely they would not go that far…….”
“No. We cannot let our guard down. You know my brothers.”
“……Understood.”
“Thank you.”
Only then did Joo Arin seem relieved, quietly smoothing a hand over her chest.
“Ah! And about establishing my personal team.”
Her eyes sharpened with intelligence as she began discussing the family affairs that she would soon be responsible for.
An hour passed before they knew it.
“In any case, I am counting on you.”
“Yes, Young Lady. I will contact you as soon as the candidates have been selected. Please do not worry too much, and get plenty of rest today.”
A trace of pity briefly crossed the elderly secretary’s face, but only for a moment.
Soon, he was wearing his usual benevolent smile again as he checked the watch on his wrist.
Regrettably, it was time for him to leave.
“Visiting hours are almost over, so I believe I should be going.”
“Already? It cannot be helped. All right.”
Despite her indifferent tone, Joo Arin raised her chin slightly.
It was a habit she had whenever she did not want to show weakness.
THUMP.
Once she was alone again, Joo Arin lay back on the bed.
BUZZZZ.
Her phone vibrated at just the right moment, and she reached out to pick it up.
She had already received more than enough messages asking whether she was all right, so she intended to ignore it if it was another one of those.
-Team Training Assignment Interim Results.txt
……She almost wished it had been.
The moment she saw the mass message from the department office, her heart sank.
She had hoped the results would come out as late as possible…….
Normally, she would have checked them without a second thought, but this time was different.
The first penalty she had ever received weighed heavily on her mind.
“What if we are near the bottom?”
She knew these were only interim results and that they would have a chance to make up for it.
……But.
Some things were simply unacceptable regardless.
What if she became a laughingstock and word somehow reached her other half-siblings?
…….
The thought alone made her dizzy.
She already knew all too well what happened when someone displayed weakness, no matter how trivial the matter.
Her own younger sister, Joo Seola……
Had taught her that lesson more than sufficiently.
“Should I check it? Or not?”
She placed a finger against the screen, only to pull it away again.
After unconsciously biting her nails for a while, Joo Arin finally squeezed her eyes shut and tapped the attached file.
Was it open?
She slowly cracked her eyes open, and her vision gradually widened.
……But then.
“Huh?”
The number she could see through the narrow slit looked strangely unfamiliar.
“Th-three?”
Third place?!
The result was completely unexpected.
No, third place?
“That cannot be right.”
Thinking there might be an error, she refreshed the file, but nothing changed.
The name of Cheon Seoyoon, who had always been ahead of her, was now listed below her own.
After blinking blankly for several moments, Joo Arin suddenly came to her senses and examined the detailed breakdown.
Looking closely, their completion-time and difficulty scores were the highest of all the teams.
“Ah…….”
Once her anxiety disappeared, what remained was a deep sense of regret.
If they had not received the penalty….
If Park Hayul’s targeting had been a little more precise and she had come away unharmed…….
Team 4 would have taken first place.
…….
But the feeling did not last long.
Because she herself knew perfectly well that they had not placed third because of him, but thanks to him.
If Park Hayul had not performed as he had, forget third place—the place she was lying in now would probably have been a hospital room reeking of disinfectant.
Perhaps the knot of anger lodged in her heart was actually directed at herself for not being good enough.
She had become blinded by the rankings and grown too greedy.
“…How pathetic of me.”
THUMP—
Joo Arin lay back down on the bed and naturally recalled old memories concerning Park Hayul.
Their origin was Socheonjihoe, a gathering of heirs from the Ten Great Families.
As befitted a prominent social gathering, the main topic of conversation was usually gossip involving the prestigious families.
Someone was dating someone else, only for it to turn out that they had been seeing two people at once.
Someone with an upright reputation had turned out to be an insufferable disaster in private.
Things like that.
Stories about people’s shortcomings vastly outnumbered stories about their virtues, and in that sense, Park Hayul was occasionally brought up despite never once attending the gatherings himself.
The rumors were always the same.
Living proof of the Origin Sorcerer Family’s decline.
A hallucinogenic drug addict.
A socially maladjusted recluse with severe social anxiety.
A dullard inferior to an ordinary person.
.
.
The rumors had been so unpleasant that, without realizing it, she had come to remember the name Park Hayul.
“Were they really true?”
But today…….
Joo Arin found herself questioning what she had always accepted as fact.
The reason was the Sorcery Art he had invoked.
Its power had been astonishing enough that it was difficult to believe it had come from someone who was the subject of so many vicious rumors.
It had been comparable even to the Ice she took such pride in…….
He was still someone who made her frown and whom she had no desire to get close to.
But now, a small question mark had been added to her opinion of him.
***
Unlike the other prestigious families, each of which specialized in a particular Attribute, sorcerers possessed a unique ability limited specifically to Sorcery Arts.
Although it was only temporary, they could combine basic Attributes to create original higher-order Attributes.
The Evaporation Art I had used worked on the same principle.
“But how was I supposed to know the range would be that wide and the mana consumption that high?”
Hurting Joo Arin had been a problem, but I had also spent the entire journey out of the Opening Stage so dizzy that I thought I might die.
As a result, I collapsed the moment I returned to the dormitory and remained there for quite some time.
BUZZZZZ.
If my phone had not kept vibrating incessantly, I probably would have woken up even later.
“The results are already out?”
Once my head had cleared a little, I opened the file attached to the message.
[Interim Results Ranking Announcement]
1st. Team 3 / Total Score: 144
2nd. Team 1 / Total Score: 143
3rd. Team 4 / Total Score: 142
4th. Team 5 / Total Score: 140
.
Whew—
Thankfully, we had succeeded.
And third place was, in its own way, the ideal position.
It was roughly where I had hoped to place from the beginning.
For the upcoming Final Stage Conquest Battle, teams would enter at staggered intervals based on these rankings, which meant third place put us in the perfect position to move alongside Baek Sayoung’s second-place team.
[Main Quest #2: Place within the top 3 in the Opening Stage Conquest Battle — Completed.]
[10 days have been added as a reward.]
[15 SP have been awarded.]
[Remaining Time: 13 days, 18 hours, 52 minutes]
[SP Held: 45]
After confirming the reward messages as well, I looked at the clock with even greater satisfaction.
“It is already this late?”
It was already five in the afternoon.
The Special Scholarship Student orientation was scheduled for six, so it was about time to start getting ready.
After gulping down a glass of water, I headed for the shower.
[The effect of ‘Unnamed Shaman’s Bracelet’ has activated.]
[Mana recovery increased by 10%.]
At least the time I had spent had been worthwhile.
As time passed, I could feel my mana recovering faster than before.
***
I had already visited the department office once, so finding it again was easy.
I entered the familiar building and headed to the third floor.
“Thank you for all your hard work.”
“Yes. Good luck to you too.”
“See you again.”
I heard voices just as I arrived, and at the same time, I saw two people emerging from the department office.
“Class A has quite a lot of tempting prospects.”
“You know formal offers cannot be made until their third year, correct?”
“There you go again. The 8th Unit already has plenty of people. What exactly is your strategy? Somehow, you always snatch up the good ones first.”
“I would hardly call it a strategy. We are simply grateful that they choose us.”
A man and a woman were walking toward me while bickering.
They looked to be in their early to mid-thirties.
The man had a gentle appearance, while the woman was strikingly beautiful, with dyed red hair that suited her remarkably well.
Just as I thought there was something very familiar about the pairing—
“Hmm?”
My eyes met the woman’s.
“Why? Oh? You are…….”
The man noticed me a moment later and looked slightly surprised as well.
Did they know Park Hayul?
I tensed at the unexpected development, unsure how I should react.
“You are Park Hayul, a student from the Origin Sorcerer Family, correct? It is nice to meet you. My name is So Yihyeon.”
Fortunately, it seemed they did not know me personally.
“I serve as the deputy commander of the Monster-Slaying Corps’ 8th Unit.”
So Yihyeon smiled and extended her hand.
Only then did I remember her.
So Yihyeon of the Monster-Slaying Corps.
The Red Witch, better known by her alias than her actual name.
She was a magic-type Awakened who primarily wielded the Fire Attribute.
“Ah, yes.”
As I awkwardly shook her hand, the man hurriedly spoke up as well.
“Well, look at this. I never expected to meet my junior here. I am Lee Hajoon, deputy commander of the 13th Unit. Nice to meet you.”
I knew him well too.
They had probably come here as evaluators.
Considering the timing, I could understand why I had encountered them here.
I extended my hand and shook Lee Hajoon’s as well.
It was a somewhat unexpected meeting, but he did not feel unfamiliar because he appeared frequently from the middle portion of the original story onward.
“We came to evaluate the students. I saw that Attribute Combination Sorcery Art of yours. There is something I am curious about, though.”
Lee Hajoon in particular was exactly as he had been in the original story.
He was friendly, but for someone I had only just met, he was also somewhat overwhelming.
“Senior. Be satisfied that you got to introduce yourself and come along.”
Fortunately, So Yihyeon beside him cut him off at the right moment.
“Why? Surely I can at least ask him.”
“Do you not realize how much pressure that puts on him? Student Park Hayul, do not worry about us. If you keep working hard, we will probably meet again before long.”
“No, Junior. If you have any interest in our 13th Unit…….”
“Enough, enough.”
“Our operational district is Ilsan, so you can even enjoy city life…….”
“Stop talking nonsense and come along.”
So Yihyeon covered Lee Hajoon’s mouth and winked at me.
I bowed my head once more in farewell.
The two of them were just disappearing into the distance when—
TINGE.
My palm suddenly began to sting.
Wondering what had happened, I looked down at it.
Junior, contact me if you ever run into trouble.
So Yihyeon: 010-1234-5678
An unusual recruitment message had been inscribed across my palm.
Well, now.
She must have done it while shaking my hand.
Her recruiting skills were genuinely impressive.
“As expected of the 8th Unit?”
They had been quite a famous group in the original story as well, so I knew plenty about them.
Their operational region was in the provinces, where all manner of Magical Beasts ran rampant.
More specifically, southern Gangwon Province, which was notorious even among such regions.
Despite being so busy that its members barely had a moment to breathe, the unit always had more applicants than it could accept.
Perhaps this kind of clever approach was the secret behind their recruitment success.
[You have attracted the interest of an external faction.]
[Achievement-119: The Red Witch’s Note]
[10 hours have been provided as a reward.]
[You now have somewhere to turn when you need help.]
[5 SP have been acquired for a promising development.]
[SP Held: 50]
Oh? Free time as well?
That certainly raised my opinion of the 8th Unit, but a question occurred to me.
“Will it still exist by then?”
The setting of the story shifted from Taehak to the Monster-Slaying Corps after graduation, so roughly two years from now.
For my sake, it would be better if I never had to meet them again, but…….
I could not guarantee that.
That was only what I hoped would happen.
……But then.
[SP Held has reached 50.]
[Upon reaching 100, the boundaries of causality will temporarily weaken.]
[Within the permitted limits, you will be provided with a reward that you desperately need.]
……Causality?
A reward that I desperately needed?