Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"For the first generation, entering a Gate at all was an adventure. There was this one time—"

Meanwhile, the Chancellor had been rattling off war stories in an increasingly animated voice.

'No need to sit here listening to things I already know.'

Sahyeon cracked his neck side to side and peeled his upper body off the chair's backrest.

"Are we done talking?"

"...I was still going, actually,"

The Chancellor answered tepidly.

All that pointless rambling meant he'd probably finished delivering the essentials.

"I'll use Haje's room, then?"

Might as well start there.

There could be clues worth finding.

The Chancellor furrowed his brow with a puzzled look.

"Hmm, Professor Lee Haje's office probably isn't in any state to be used."

"Was it sealed off?"

"No, it's not that, but......"

"Then it's fine."

When Sahyeon rose from his seat, the Chancellor scrambled up with him.

Sahyeon brushed past the Chancellor and gave the back of his neck a few light taps.

The field team's youngest — now the Academy Chancellor......

"You've done well for yourself."

"Huh?!"

The Chancellor rubbed the back of his neck with a baffled expression.

A sensation that was somehow both familiar and foreign.

'Why does that snap feel familiar?'

By the time he turned around to look, Sahyeon was already opening the door and stepping out of the office.

"...I'm so sorry! We'll be going ahead!"

Haeseong let out a silent internal scream, bowed deeply, and scurried after Sahyeon.

"M-Mr. Sahyeon! You can't go that way!"

***

The Academy had everything.

From all manner of athletic facilities to recreation.

Given its distance from any civilian area, everything could be handled within the campus itself.

It was that vast.

Even so, Haeseong navigated without a hitch.

[Lee Haje | Combat A]

Two people standing before Lee Haje's office.

"...Uh, if it's like this......"

Haeseong stared blankly at the office door, then chose his words and spoke again.

"This might be a problem, wouldn't it......?"

[We won't forget you.]

[We were always grateful. We'll remember you forever.]

[We'll walk the path you left behind. Rest in peace.]

.......

Memorial messages plastered across the office door, all the way down to the doorknob.

The surrounding floor was packed solid with memorial bouquets.

"What problem."

There was a perfectly fine memorial hall somewhere — why did they have to do this here?

Sahyeon swept the papers off the doorknob without hesitation and opened the door.

"Aaagh, Mr. Sahyeon!"

Whether Haeseong was horrified or not, Sahyeon walked slowly inside.

Haeseong sheepishly gathered the fallen notes and followed in after him.

Perhaps because the outside had been wallpapered shut with messages—

The inside appeared to be preserved exactly as Lee Haje had left it.

"Perfect."

Sahyeon surveyed the space with a flat expression.

A wide, open window straight ahead. A work desk in front of it.

"Let's start organizing."

Haeseong said, looking over the assistant's desk along the wall.

Sahyeon nodded and pointed to Lee Haje's desk.

"Don't touch this side. I'll handle it."

"Oh...... are you sure? There seems to be a lot to sort through."

Indeed, compared to the other desks, Lee Haje's was cluttered with odds and ends.

Sahyeon shrugged.

"Doesn't matter."

I'm only going to rummage through his things anyway.

I won't be filling it with my own stuff — I don't plan on staying at this Academy long.

"Understood."

Haeseong answered dutifully, then promptly pulled a large moving box out of his inventory.

Why does he keep things like this in his inventory?

Leaving Haeseong bustling around — telling him to put anything that needed clearing into the box — Sahyeon turned his attention to the desk.

The most eye-catching thing was a trophy shaped like a crown.

Small text engraved beneath it.

"Popularity Award?"

They give hunters all sorts of things.

Sahyeon tossed the trophy into the box without hesitation.

He glanced at the framed photo beside it — and paused.

A familiar group photo.

Four dust-covered people sitting on the rubble of a destroyed building.

Haeseong, who had come over to peer at the photo alongside him, spoke.

"Those are the first-generation Rankers."

"......"

The era when monsters first appeared.

The entire world had been a lawless zone.

Awakened individuals and Gates being born every day.

Amid that chaos, four S-rank Hunters had fought to bring stability.

Sahyeon's eyes grazed over one person in the photo.

The hooded figure with Lee Haje's arm around his shoulders.

Shadows made the face impossible to identify.

"Most of them are dead now."

Sahyeon tossed the frame into the box.

Haeseong barely caught it before it shattered and carefully placed it inside.

Once Haeseong returned to his own area, the search resumed.

Sahyeon checked the desk drawers one by one.

The first drawer held items that appeared to have been used for classes. The second was filled with fan letters and gift packages.

Dead ends.

Just as he was about to open the last drawer—

CLUNK—

Something was caught. The drawer was firmly locked.

'Sealed with a Mana Crystal or a skill, at this level.'

Sahyeon's lips curved upward.

Why was only this drawer locked?

Suspicious as could be.

His grip on the drawer tightened.

The line of his jaw sharpened beneath his chin.

CRUNCH— CRACK!

A cascade of crumpling and breaking sounds came from the drawer in his grip.

Haeseong, who had been absorbed in cleaning, went wide-eyed.

"? Mr. Sahyeon, did I hear something breaking......?"

"Don't worry about it."

"How am I supposed to not worry......"

Sahyeon answered offhandedly and tried pulling the last compartment again.

It rattled loosely open.

The hidden contents were finally revealed.

A black, round......

"...A hat?"

A hat with a black brim.

Not just any hat, of course.

Sahyeon placed the hat on his head and checked his reflection in the window.

Facial features transformed to look like someone else entirely.

An item for disguising one's identity.

'Why was he hiding something like this? Was he leading a double life?'

It was a strange item for Lee Haje, who had always been open and straightforward with people.

I'll need to dig deeper.

Just as he was stowing the hat in his inventory—

"...!"

He discovered a tablet that had been lying beneath the hat.

The battery hanging on by a thread.

Sahyeon dropped into the chair and examined the tablet.

A clean device with only the default apps installed.

He clicked on the memo app first.

But—

[Screen Lock]

A prompt asking for a password greeted him.

"Can't exactly smash this one."

Sahyeon clicked his tongue and searched for other information, but found nothing of note.

He'd need to find the password......

Lost in thought, he tapped the photo album.

"!"

He found a recently captured article clipping.

An article with a date from five full years ago.

The contents were familiar to Sahyeon.

[National Hero 'Veil' Dies in Awakened Rampage]

South Korea's first S-rank Awakened and Ranking 1st, 'Veil' (codename), was killed in action during an operation this morning.

The Hunter Association announced in an emergency briefing this morning that "Veil and three teammates deployed with him were killed during the suppression of an A-rank Gate."

Abnormal phenomena were detected in the Gate energy at the time of the incident, and the rescue team—

Sahyeon's brow creased as he read through the article, then he pulled his gaze away.

He let out a thin breath and turned his attention back to the screen. Belatedly, he noticed a blank space beside the article.

Handwritten notes interspersed with check marks throughout the article.

— Combat Zone

— Gate energy, reddish light?

Handwriting that appeared to be Lee Haje's own.

'That incident happened in the Combat Zone too?'

And reddish light in the Gate energy......

Sahyeon was rolling the thought around, mulling over Lee Haje's notes, when—

"Um. Mr. Sahyeon."

Haeseong's voice broke the silence.

"It's almost time."

Sahyeon looked up.

The wall clock read 4:45.

Fifteen minutes before the Gate test.

"...Still, work needs doing."

Unless he wanted the Association President retaliating with that contract skill for slacking off.

Sahyeon reluctantly closed the tablet and stored it in his inventory.

"Here are the documents for today's test."

Haeseong handed over a crisp sheet of paper.

A signature stamped in the approval box, upper right.

It appeared to be Lee Haje's.

"Even his signature looks like it was designed by a celebrity."

Sahyeon clucked his tongue at the flashy signature and read down the page.

Student information was listed at the top.

Stats exceeding B-rank across the board.

The Chancellor's confidence in their abilities wasn't empty talk, it seemed.

However, the stronger the power, the more critical the ability to control it.

They'd need at least a few months of training before pulling their own weight......

Sahyeon's eyes, reading steadily, came to a dead stop at one point.

— Tae Euno, A-rank, 7 days since Awakening

"...Someone seven days into their Awakening is going into a Gate."

Are they out of their minds?

***

The Academy's domed training hall.

"Are we really going to be okay today......"

Jaeyun murmured timidly.

He'd hidden his body behind a pillar, but his massive frame was still fully visible.

A flash of wine-red hair popped out from behind him.

"You can do it, man! Think about your abilities!"

Euno slapped Jaeyun's back in encouragement.

But the one who took damage was—

"OWWW!! My palm!!"

Himself.

"I'm sorry......"

Jaeyun drooped his brows in apology.

CRUMBLE—

Just then, the pillar Jaeyun had been gripping began to disintegrate like a cracker.

Gyeol, who had been watching while twirling his short curly hair around one finger, let out a sigh.

"If you get demerits again, that's a suspension."

"EEK!"

Jaeyun jolted in alarm, fingers splaying wide as he backed away.

The pillar was already dented in the shape of five fingers.

"No...!"

Jaeyun despaired.

Jaeyun possessed the ability to absorb damage and reflect it back.

The problem was, he was still clumsy with controlling his strength — resulting in numerous instances of campus property destruction.

Gyeol clicked his tongue and checked his wristwatch with a faint sigh.

"But is this new professor even trustworthy?"

Jaeyun said, sweeping debris from the base of the pillar.

"Didn't they say the person coming today was the one who took down the Creature Falcon......?"

"That's just a rumor. Nothing's been confirmed. If Professor Haje were coming along, fine — but what reason do we have to follow some stranger?"

"Aw, come on~ you're just scared of going into the Gate, aren't you?"

When Euno grinned provocatively, Gyeol's expression soured.

"Unbelievable. Do I look like Ha Jaeyun to you?"

"...! That's so mean......"

Jaeyun's shoulders slumped.

"No — hey. Why are you getting all mopey over that?!"

Gyeol panicked visibly and snapped back in frustration.

While the training hall descended into noise—

Euno was humming to himself, gazing out the window as if it were someone else's problem.

Perfect day for a first Gate trip!

Then his eyes caught two figures crossing the garden, heading toward the training hall building.

"Well~ if you're curious whether he's got the goods or not—"

The moment Euno parted his lips, the noise died down and both Jaeyun's and Gyeol's eyes converged on him.

Euno turned to his two friends with an amused smile.

"We can find out right now."