NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 113
Hah… hah…!
Jin Yeseo was spending another day at the Training Room.
Her eyes were sunken and her pale skin was glistening with sweat, but she didn’t stop her training.
Standing in the center of the Training Room, Jin Yeseo manipulated the Particle Arranger.
Delicately specifying points, she connected lines with particles, forming a predetermined shape.
Tick… Tick-tick…
Then, a friction sound came from somewhere, and soon a blazing ring of flames began to inscribe itself in the air around her.
The jet-black flames radiated an exceptionally unique atmosphere.
She quickly widened the diameter of the ring, spreading it in all directions.
The circle of black flames spread at an incredibly fast pace, almost reaching her intended target.
Boom!
However, once again, the flames scattered into the air before reaching their target.
Jin Yeseo’s face contorted in disappointment at the sight.
“…”
She stood there vacantly with an expression of despair.
Her mother had managed to pull their declining finances back on track, but the family’s unique magic, the black flames, remained incomplete.
And now the burden had passed on to Jin Yeseo.
With her innate magical talent and her perseverance in hard work, she was the one destined to realize the black flames, and the expectations following her from a young age felt quite heavy.
So far, she had been faithfully living up to those expectations, but recently her skills had been stagnant.
No matter how rigorous her training was, she couldn’t advance beyond a certain point.
The achievement of the singularity, which seemed so close, still felt far away.
Hah…
Jin Yeseo let out a sigh mixed with irritation.
Then suddenly, her eyes wandered around the Training Room, catching sight of an old practice dagger.
“…”
Without realizing it, she trudged over and reached down to pick up the dagger that was lying on the floor.
After a moment of hesitation, she swung the dagger a couple of times. What had looked like a shabby, cheap dagger cut through the air with a light and graceful motion.
Jin Yeseo then took a stance, almost in a trance.
Though her major was in emission magic, she had kept some foundational techniques from the circulation department in her mind.
She quickly performed a few simple continuous movements.
With movements as smooth as a single body, a small smile appeared on her lips.
It was a natural sense of achievement and fulfillment she hadn’t felt while forcing herself to practice the black flames.
However, in the next moment, Jin Yeseo abruptly stopped.
With a dark expression, she threw the dagger back to the Training Room floor helplessly.
Clang!
The dagger that had previously sliced through the air now lay amidst the dust and debris.
She didn’t have time to waste on toys like that.
The Student Council’s executive committee had already informed her of the duel schedule a long time ago.
The duel was for the first-year representative position in the Student Council, and naturally, her opponent was the Masked Male Student.
Before she knew it, Jin Yeseo’s expression turned to one filled with rage.
He was the most malicious obstacle in her path.
It was a chance to reclaim the humiliation she suffered. The faction led by Yeon Minha, who was hostile to Baek Seoyeon.
There were plenty of reasons to duel him, even if it wasn’t for the Student Council seat.
Overcoming him was her immediate task.
Taking a couple of deep breaths, Jin Yeseo focused back on her training.
It was clear he would be a tough opponent, but now there was no place left for her to retreat.
“This time… I will definitely win.”
*
The atmosphere around the Cradle was buzzing and chaotic.
Even though it was the day of the Nakseongil Festival, nothing really changed. Weekday outings were, of course, prohibited. Lectures would proceed as normal, and the only event planned was a simple dinner at Hwayangkwan in the evening.
Yet, that alone seemed to excite the students far too much.
In fact, the Nakseongil Festival wasn’t the only event scheduled for this week.
The time for the second ranking matches was approaching.
Moreover, I still had to engage in a duel with Jin Yeseo for the first-year representative position.
I instinctively sensed that it was going to be a hectic week, one way or another.
“So, how many?”
“At least five are confirmed. If things go well, maybe ten…”
During the Magic Combat class, I overheard two male students sitting behind me discussing their bets on who would get more candy.
Other students around them weren’t talking about anything much different.
The word ‘candy’ was being tossed around a lot here and there.
I learned that during the Nakseongil Festival, there was a custom of girls handing out candy to boys.
Someone, like Muyeong, even complained that it was just a big corporation’s marketing ploy, but most students, always short on entertainment, didn’t seem to care about such details.
“Ha ha… you? That’s ridiculous…”
“I’m serious! I’m feeling really good about this. If things go well, I might get a basket full of candy…”
Despite the scoffing, someone continued to spill grand hopes.
“…”
I thought I had no interest in such topics.
However, for some reason, my heart was quite disturbed.
The candy received during the Nakseongil Festival was said to have two meanings: friendship or something deeper.
Maybe I could also receive some from the two. Yeon Minha had straightforwardly asked if she liked candy, and Yena had a similar hint in her words.
Yet, my scattered thoughts were troubled by something else.
My gaze unknowingly shifted to my left hand.
My fourth finger felt oddly bare.
Surely someone would hand over gifts filled with deeper affection, not just friendly ones.
And that girl had stated that she had a fiancé…
Bang!
Just as I was about to dive deeper into my sticky, gloomy thoughts, a loud crash resonated, yanking me back to reality.
Looking up, I saw a sly-looking male student stuck upside down against the wall of the Dueling Grounds.
“Cough!”
The male student trembled, moaning in pain.
Before him stood a woman in short training garb, shaking her head disapprovingly.
“Gu Jae-ryong, even after thinking it through, you seem better suited for the emission magic department.”
Short, flowing hair and a well-defined athletic build that was impressively youthful for a professor.
Shin Jae-yu, the professor in charge of Magic Combat at the Cradle.
“Isn’t it a bit much to last less than five seconds? Hm? It’s been several weeks since you enrolled…”
“Professor… I think my… bone might be broken…”
“Don’t exaggerate… rest assured, I controlled my strength properly. Teaching Assistant?”
She cut off Gu Jae-ryong’s words and waved her hand.
The teaching assistants carefully helped the fallen student out of the Dueling Grounds.
In the adjacent resting area, a dozen or so students were already writhing in pain.
Even while engaging with over a dozen students, the female professor showed no sign of fatigue.
Only a light sheen of sweat glistened on her perfectly sculpted abs.
Aren’t students supposed to have superior physical abilities? Wizards were said to be strongest right after blooming.
I was struck once again by her extraordinary strength and combat sense.
“What’s with this batch… sigh, this is why they keep losing to the emission magic kids…”
She shook her head in dissatisfaction, scribbling notes in a document binder.
“Alright, next!”
At her call, a male student who had been placing bets just behind me walked forward with a frightened expression.
And less than a minute later, a familiar loud crash echoed again as the teaching assistants dragged the student who had fallen out of the ring to the side.
However, I didn’t put much significance into this class.
More than that, I had matters to discuss with Shin Jae-yu, not just the Cradle.
*
After a long session of combat training concluded, I approached Professor Shin Jae-yu, who was organizing tools alongside the teaching assistants.
“Excuse me, Professor.”
Detecting my presence, she peeked over with a curious look.
“Yeah? What’s the matter? Is it about your class score? Sorry, but I don’t accept bribes.”
“…”
As I struggled to think of a response, she sighed dramatically and grumbled.
“Sigh, just kidding. That was no fun at all.”
We had only exchanged a couple of words, but I could sense something peculiar about her attitude towards me immediately.
She was known for her good nature among her students, but somehow she felt even more approachable.
Now that I think about it, she had been like that since the first class.
She had asked for different demonstrations and seemed to expect the best outcome possible, giving full marks when I delivered it well…
I could only recently begin to speculate about the source of that strange trust.
The Head of the Blackryeon family, Kwon Chanyul, had once been her mentor.
And I recalled that Professor Shin Jae-yu had shown a warm relationship with him.
While the head had been perceived as a real wild card by the public, Professor Kwon had been quite defensive of him.
Thus, it wouldn’t be surprising if Professor Shin Jae-yu had a considerable connection with him as well.
Being a junior to the head at the Cradle, she could indeed be seen as someone close to him.
If that’s true, then I could somewhat comprehend the origin of her friendly attitude towards me.
And perhaps… she might know something about the girl who appeared in my dreams.
“What’s this? Our ‘Prince of the Blackryeon’ has come to find me for something?”
She continued with her teasing tone.
“Are you looking for advice on the upcoming duel?”
“That would be against the rules. No, I wanted to discuss something else…”
“Discuss…?”
She paused for a moment, tilting her head before nodding.
“Alright. I understand. Just give me a moment. I’ll wrap this up.”
*
I followed her to the office of the professors’ building.
As soon as I opened the door, a chaotic mess of papers and junk littered the office immediately caught my eye.
Just taking in that sight gave me a rough idea of her personality.
She left me standing and began to busily tidy up.
“Could you wait there for a moment? I need to clean up a bit… eek!”
“…”
Suddenly, she stepped on a can lying on the floor and stumbled.
How on earth does she manage to live in this dump?
While I waited and glanced around, an object atop a stack of papers, towering up to my height, suddenly caught my eye.
It was something that felt wildly out of place in a professional office.
A silky, soft black fabric. Ribbons and lace fluttered all over, with two small holes and one larger hole.
It looked remarkably like underwear…
“Oh my! Why is this here?!”
With that, the female professor let out a yell and snatched the object away at light speed.