Baek Sangmin doubted his own ears.
There were two main things that shocked him.
The first was that the student named Kang Daehyun possessed the rare “Healer,” in other words, Healing-Type.
The second was…….
“He has Healer-Type, yet he is E-rank?”
Baek Sangmin exclaimed in disbelief.
It was only natural. What was a healer?
Were healers not the kind of existences that guilds across the nation, and even the state itself, desperately struggled to scout?
“Are you sure he was measured properly?”
Even if their combat power was low, the single advantage of “being able to heal wounds” covered everything. That was what a healer was.
Calling such a healer E-rank was surely the school’s mistake.
“He was measured properly.”
As if he had expected Baek Sangmin’s questioning, Park Chigwon shook his head and spoke.
“Student Kang Daehyun was born with very little mana. No, it would not be wrong to say he has none in the first place. After using a skill once or twice, he stops, and even the skill he was given can barely heal a scratch from being cut by paper.”
“……!”
A lack of mana! On top of that, even his skill was of the lowest level!
Baek Sangmin’s pupils widened.
Mana, skills, everything was the worst of the worst.
And if he was a healer, then his combat power was obvious even without seeing it. If the principal’s words were true, there was no longer any need for Baek Sangmin to keep doing this here.
However…….
“Please show me Student Kang Daehyun’s records. I will confirm it with my own eyes.”
Baek Sangmin did not back down.
His own two eyes would be more reliable than the principal’s words. He could not ignore the possibility that the man was lying.
“No.”
“Why not?”
At that, Park Chigwon also silently took his stance.
Normally, he would have readily handed over any other student’s records, but this time was a little different.
‘The virtual Gate Backflow report…… It is still there.’
The virtual Gate Backflow that had occurred a few days ago. The matter had not yet been fully sorted out. Because of that, Kang Daehyun’s record would likely still contain his “survival of the virtual Gate Backflow” exactly as it was.
‘Why is everyone so detailed with their reports only at times like this……!’
If he showed that as it was, everything would be exposed: the fact that he had tried to silence and cover up the incident.
“If you insist, then bring an official order from the court or the guild!”
He wanted to live. He did not want to be exposed.
Park Chigwon’s instincts, desperately yearning for survival, were squeezing out every possible method.
“……I understand well that you care for your students, but.”
He is more stubborn than I expected.
Since he had only dropped by to check, he had not brought the documents with him.
Baek Sangmin sighed and rose from his seat.
“……Understood.”
It would take a little time, but he had no choice but to prepare the appropriate documents.
“I will tell a guild member to prepare the documents and come immediately, so please wait here for a while.”
“……!”
An unexpectedly swift response.
Park Chigwon’s courage instantly dissolved into nothing.
Even stalling for time had now become meaningless.
‘I am finished!’
With a guild like “Ext,” they would probably be able to prepare and bring the documents within one or two hours. They had that much capability.
‘What should I do? What should I do?’
It was impossible to fabricate all the records and erase the virtual Gate Backflow entry in the meantime.
‘But I cannot show him everything either!’
His mind, yearning for survival, turned rapidly, and not long afterward, an answer appeared in Park Chigwon’s head.
“I-instead!”
He waved his hands with all his might and spoke to Baek Sangmin.
Of all students, it just had to be Kang Daehyun’s records.
There was nowhere left to retreat.
In the end, Park Chigwon decided to make his final move.
“Please speak with Student Kang Daehyun directly!”
***
At this very moment, Daehyun was standing in front of the principal’s office.
“So…… an outsider said there is something he is curious about, so you just have to answer that properly! Understood?”
If one were to ask why Daehyun, who should have been in the middle of class, was here, it was because he had been forcibly called out under the pretext of the principal’s summons.
‘It is not as though I cannot roughly guess.’
There was a high chance that someone from Ext Guild was inside. After seeing the news yesterday, he had thought they would come someday, but to think it would be the very next day. Their investigation speed seemed faster than expected.
‘……Putting that aside.’
“So…… you understand, right? Hm? You will know what to do!”
Daehyun looked at the man fawning desperately in front of him.
With his half-bald head, he was familiar yet strangely unpleasant-looking.
‘He is the one I saw during the virtual Gate Backflow incident last time.’
Judging by the atmosphere, Daehyun remembered that he had probably been Vice Principal Jang Taehoon.
“Do not say anything unless you are asked! You understand what I mean, right?”
Jang Taehoon held Daehyun’s hand and smiled brightly at him again and again.
The way he repeated himself several times sounded like half request and half threat.
‘A gag order?’
Apparently, he was trying to stop Daehyun from opening his mouth about the previous incident—the virtual Gate Backflow.
‘Hmm.’
Daehyun was neither on the school’s side nor the guild’s side, but thinking about it, it was better to remain at school for now. He had not grown sufficiently strong yet, and above all, if he stayed here, there was no need to rush to adapt to the outside world.
“Understood.”
Because of that, Daehyun lightly placed his hand on Jang Taehoon’s shoulder and smiled coldly. He did not want to hear this man explain any further. Talking with the guild representative inside seemed far more interesting.
“I will handle it myself.”
Saying that, Daehyun gently turned the doorknob of the principal’s office.
Click—.
“Oh! Finally!”
Then, as if he had been waiting, a man with a deep voice welcomed him by calling Daehyun’s name.
“…….”
When Daehyun turned his head, he saw two men inside.
One seemed to be the principal judging by the atmosphere, and the other was…….
‘Baek Sangmin.’
A guild Kang Shinhyuk was interested in.
One of the main figures of Ext Guild.
His face and name were now familiar.
“Come and sit beside me!”
The principal tapped the chair beside him and beckoned.
Going to sit beside someone he somehow disliked felt extremely reluctant, but what could he do?
Daehyun nodded and quietly sat beside the principal.
“…….”
For a moment, a very brief moment.
Silence flowed between the three of them. Feeling something strange, Daehyun looked back and forth between the two men, and Baek Sangmin was smiling coldly at the principal.
To put it simply, it meant, Leave.
“Oh, dear! Where is my head?”
Perhaps realizing it belatedly,
the principal rose from his seat, opened the door, and left.
In the end, only Daehyun and Baek Sangmin remained in the principal’s office.
“Then first…….”
The first to speak was Baek Sangmin.
“I am sorry for calling you out when you must be busy, Student Daehyun.”
“It is fine.”
Toward Baek Sangmin, who lightly bowed his head, Daehyun lightly raised his hand.
“Did you see yesterday’s news?”
“I did.”
“Then this will be quick.”
Baek Sangmin’s gaze turned toward the documents on the desk.
“The reason I called you here, Student Daehyun, is because there are a few things I would like to ask.”
After that, he pointed to one part of the document with his finger.
“Please take a look at this.”
It was a note. No, to be exact, it was a photograph of a note.
The note Kang Shinhyuk had given him, the one Daehyun had taken with him, and the one he had lost at some point.
“There are two clues on this note. One is the location of a workshop that takes artifact crafting commissions. And the other is the name ‘Daehyun.’”
He explained that the paper was so dirty that all fingerprints had been erased, then naturally continued.
“Of course, we are also trying to obtain clues from the workshop, but the owner has quite the stubborn personality.”
‘……That old man.’
Unlike when he had said he would push the responsibility onto Daehyun if anything happened, the old man was protecting him in his own way.
‘Or maybe he simply does not want to lose the commission fee.’
Either way was fine.
To Daehyun, this meant he had been given a chance to let this matter pass lightly.
“So you came looking for me because of the name ‘Daehyun.’”
“For now, yes.”
Daehyun could tell.
Baek Sangmin’s eyes seemed to be wavering between suspicion and distrust. In his mind, Daehyun had already been eliminated as the culprit.
‘A student, E-rank, and a healer on top of that…….’
And precisely there, Baek Sangmin’s thoughts ended.
No, they had ended.
There was the “coincidence” that yesterday had happened to be an outing day, but aside from that, there was nothing he could firmly latch onto.
However…….
‘Is he really E-rank?’
The moment Baek Sangmin saw the student named Kang Daehyun with his own eyes, the moment they were meeting each other’s gaze like this, that doubt arose in him.
“Student Kang Daehyun.”
“Yes.”
A firm and clean answer.
Even though he was facing a B-rank Superhuman right before his eyes, there was no sign that he was frightened.
Not only that, Baek Sangmin was subtly releasing his own mana, yet the student named Kang Daehyun showed no change whatsoever.
“……It is nothing.”
“Yes.”
At Daehyun’s still-composed reaction, Baek Sangmin, instead, became flustered and scratched his head.
‘Was it my imagination?’
For an instant, that one word had seemed to carry the majesty of an incredibly powerful person, but Baek Sangmin lightly brushed it off as nothing.
‘I do not feel any mana from him, and it does seem certain that he was born with abysmally poor mana reserves.’
There was no way the brat before him, from whom he could not even sense mana, could possess that kind of majesty.
‘I should keep watching him for now.’
Even so, he could not completely remove this student from the list of suspects. Since the name “Daehyun” had appeared on the note, he would need to keep watching him from now on, whether by visiting the school again later or putting someone on surveillance.
“Thank you for giving me your time when you are busy, Student Daehyun.”
For now, this much was enough.
Before the heat of this case, which had been revealed to the media, cooled down, he had to find the culprit quickly. He had to catch him and throw him in quickly.
‘If we resolve this case, the guild will grow even larger.’
If that happened, they might be able to catch up to “that guild” active overseas.
For the honor of Ext Guild.
And for his own money!
Baek Sangmin burned with enthusiasm as he gathered up the file he had brought.
It was then.
Beep— beep—.
Along with a ringtone, something vibrated in Baek Sangmin’s pocket.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Baek Sangmin quickly took something from his pocket.
It was a phone.
“Yeah, right. Yeah. Yeah. Understood. I will be there soon.”
As the call continued, Baek Sangmin’s expression gradually stiffened.
Ding—!
‘Hmm?’
After the call ended, Baek Sangmin immediately put the phone back into his pocket.
“They say there is an unregistered Gate around here as well. It seems to have been neglected for quite some time, so I will go there.”
Since students were at the school nearby, if monsters poured out, there was a possibility that it could lead to a major accident.
He had no equipment and no other reinforcements, but it was only a D-rank Gate. For him, a B-rank, it was not a level he could not handle.
“Then, I will take my leave.”
Click—.
Baek Sangmin opened the principal’s office door and stepped outside.
“…….”
In the principal’s office, where he had ultimately been left alone, Daehyun scratched his head and looked at something before his eyes.
[Newly Unlocked Quest: Hidden Hero]
“Do I have to go too?”