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Chapter 149

“Na Na Yang-ho teacher! Are you there!?”

Alisa’s urgent voice echoed through the dark hallway. The only bright light shining inside the dimly lit school building was coming from the infirmary.

Whenever there was an emergency, Yang-ho often took care of things in the infirmary.

“Oh my, Professor Alisa, what happened… Kyaa!?”

Upon seeing Alisa, Na Yang-ho let out a shrill scream and hurriedly swung open the door to the infirmary. Alisa, supporting Yeon-woo, brought him inside and laid him on the white bed.

In an instant, the bedspread began to soak in red. Na Yang-ho rushed in with a tray filled with medical tools and put on some sanitary gloves.

“W-What can I help with…!?”

“It’s okay. If you’re worried, just wipe the sweat off.”

Surprised for a moment, Na Yang-ho responded calmly and folded her hands lightly.

The sunflower-shaped stigmata on her nape began to glow, and she felt the atmosphere around them change dramatically.

Suddenly, a golden aura began to swirl around the infirmary. A purifying space. The most basic divine art of Solaris. It was the power to create a sacred space that repelled any impure entities existing within.

In this space, even the movements of bacteria slowed down, so it was frequently used for medical purposes.

Na Yang-ho looked down at Yeon-woo, who was sweating profusely before her. His left arm hung at a strange angle, as if it would fall off his shoulder.

“Yeon-woo, are you conscious?”

“Of course. I’m just busy soothing the kids…”

Na Yang-ho’s inquiry received Yeon-woo’s response, leaving Alisa nearly fainting at his demeanor.

How could he still be conscious with his arm half pulled out? And he was responding too—no matter how much they mitigated the pain, there must be a limit. How could he manage that?

Na Yang-ho touched the injured area several times to understand the situation before picking up her tools.

Coincidentally, using anesthesia would only increase the pain.

While passing out during the operation might be good, afterward, he’d be hit with severe pain. Normally, this wouldn’t be done, but in this case, it would be better to control his mana to suppress the pain.

“I’ll start the surgery. Hold on, Yeon-woo.”

“Please… Ugh.”

Both Yeon-woo, who was still conscious, and Na Yang-ho, who was about to wield a blade against him, made Alisa feel like she was about to lose her mind.

The surgery, filled with a suffocating silence and tension, ended after some time had passed.

“Surgery complete. I’ve placed mid-level divine art on you, so if you take care, you might be able to participate in the final match.”

“Huhaa….”

Alisa, who seemed more exhausted than both the surgeon and the patient, slumped down.

Yeon-woo felt the pain in his left arm, which was wrapped firmly in a cast, was significantly less than before and hung his head.

“It definitely hurts less. Thank you, Nurse.”

“I really hate solving things this way with divine art. But it can’t be helped.”

Na Yang-ho tossed her gloves into the disposal bin with a wry smile and shoved her hands in the pockets of her gown.

For Yeon-woo, it was nothing but gratitude. After all, Na Yang-ho had put aside her own beliefs to prevent the kids from worrying.

“However, the wound didn’t seem nearly this severe at first, and suddenly it got worse. What happened? I heard something about a murderer.”

At her words, Alisa shuddered. Just to be clear, Yeon-woo intended to keep this a secret until the grave. When he had taken a hit from the Gloomy Monster, it wasn’t that deep of a wound thanks to his defensive maneuvers.

A compound fracture and a significant impact to the shoulder?

Even so, it hadn’t been nearly that severe. Perhaps defending himself had inadvertently triggered the flow of Uyun swordsmanship. Plus, it was also the time when the crescent moon mark given by Lunaria began strengthening his body.

So, when did his arm end up in this state? Considering that, Yeon-woo clearly knew the answer as the injured party.

It was in that moment, when Alisa had been momentarily caught, that a fireball exploded right in front of him. In such a tense and fleeting moment, the shockwave of the uncontrolled power struck Yeon-woo’s left arm directly.

Yeon-woo had no intentions of blaming Alisa for that. After all, if it weren’t for the Fire Pillar, he could’ve potentially died.

Besides, if he had been caught at that moment, Alisa would have likely had her ankle completely ripped off. In essence, Alisa’s judgment was not wrong.

He wasn’t such a petty person as to blame his lifesaver.

[Professor, how could you keep panicking over there…!!]

[I’m sorry! But…!!]

Well, Alisa was probably expressing her apologies. That’s nice, but Yeon-woo felt like his desperate attempts to hide things were in vain now…

“I can hear everything, both of you.”

“Gah! Could it be there’s a listening device in my ear??”

Apparently, the purifying space had some function that allowed it to eavesdrop, whether telepathically or via sound.

That made sense. A purifying space was essentially a kind of makeshift sanctuary. Within this space, Na Yang-ho was almost akin to a vessel of Solaris.

“I’m sorry…. Yeon-woo, I really am, I didn’t mean it…”

Na Yang-ho’s inquiry, which felt less like a questioning and more like an offer for forgiveness, and her unspoken smile that seemed to say she’d forgive if Alisa came clean made Alisa eventually spill everything. She must have regretted it too.

The two, witnessing Alisa groveling on her knees and begging for forgiveness, couldn’t help but share a troubled smile.

Seeing the notoriously temperamental witch of the night apologizing with a face and voice as subdued as a stone at the bottom of a river left them speechless.

“It’s okay, you didn’t do it on purpose.”

“As long as Yeon-woo is alright, I won’t say much, but you do recognize there’s a need for caution, don’t you, Professor Alisa?”

“Yes… I always try to be cautious, but in urgent situations, that’s just not how it goes…”

Nodding repeatedly at their words, Alisa replied.

If anyone saw this, they would likely come away with quite a misunderstanding, thought Yeon-woo, extending his right hand towards Alisa. The forlorn girl took his hand and stood up.

“Honestly, I don’t even deserve an apology…”

“Hahaha…”

Indeed, that was true. If she were apologizing for adding to Na Yang-ho’s trouble, that would be one thing, but was it really worth kneeling for that?

Honestly, as someone who had operated on all kinds of patients, Na Yang-ho found it a rather easy procedure.

“Ah-ah. I wish someone would treat me to a meal. I’m so hungry—”

“Then I’ll treat you to a meal, Professor! How about you too, Na Yang-ho? Do you have time?”

At Yeon-woo’s obvious act, Alisa couldn’t help but jump in.

Just a single meal might ease Alisa’s guilt a bit. Na Yang-ho, noticing his thoughtful gesture, gave a gentle smile.

“I’ll take Yeon-woo’s kids too.”

“Then let’s do that?”

*

The children were waiting for Yeon-woo in front of the Bronze Class Dormitory. Even though they had called him to come out early, they ended up feeling his painful emotions for a moment.

Soothing the teary-eyed kids, they headed towards a restaurant in the city. Although Yeon-woo wasn’t a fan of the smaller portions, the children liked Western food.

‘After all, it’s not my money, so I guess it doesn’t matter.’

Thinking that way, Yeon-woo ordered enough food to feel full, and both Alisa and Na Yang-ho looked at him in amazement.

“…Sharr usually eats way more than I do, you know?”

“Mmm! Sharr unni is a total pig!”

“Ta-eo, you!!”

Ta-eo began to race in circles around the table, trying to escape from Sharr. What had started as a punishment for his cocky younger brother soon turned into a game.

In a normal restaurant setting, Yeon-woo might have intervened, but fortunately, it was a restaurant with a separate quiet room for dining.

Watching the kids play joyfully, Yeon-woo was warm-hearted when Alisa spoke to him with a serious expression.

“So what’s that about? Do you know what kind of person he is, Yeon-woo?”

“Huh? Why would Professor Alisa say that?”

“…Ugh, it’s honestly a bit humiliating, but I got no injuries at all from being hit by my magic.”

“Eh?”

“You even saw the bruise on my foot. It must have come from trying to grab your ankle but colliding with my fingers instead.”

In their conversation, Yeon-woo quietly sipped water.

If you asked him what he knew, he knew something, but honestly not all that much, and it was a bit awkward.

‘How do I explain this?’

For some reason, he couldn’t openly say, “I was targeted by the Demon King of Despair, and it seems an assassin was sent by the Gloomy Monster cult,” could he?

In the end, just like with Yuri or Kim Hyun-soo, the things he could say were limited.

“…He seems to be some kind of officer from the Gloomy Cult.”

“The Demon King’s cult? Why is the Demon King’s cult here, especially during the finals!?”

“Well… maybe it’s because the rumor about my contract with a Dragon has spread too wide?”

“Well… that could be it.”

“Surely if the Demon King’s cult pinpointed you, Yeon-woo, as an academy student, that’s probably the only reason…”

Na Yang-ho gazed at Yeon-woo with a suspicious look, as if he were examining him. Naturally, Yeon-woo feigned ignorance.

Na Yang-ho wasn’t someone who would maintain suspicion over someone he didn’t understand for long, and soon sighed, resting his chin on his hand.

“Having been targeted by such a monster…”

“Wow, it was impressive. To think he’s a bearer of enhancement-type elemental mana, using his body as a weapon. I didn’t expect him to be that strong.”

He spoke earnestly. What Yeon-woo knew was limited to the Gloomy Monster ten years after this point. Though he knew that version of it was monstrous, he never thought he’d be this strong at this stage.

Speed, destructive power, and physical robustness on every front. He far surpassed Kai during the gate practice. Because he had been gauging the distance, he managed to respond — had he not created space, it would had been perfectly reasonable to hear, “But Choi Yeon-woo, your arm…!!”

‘This is genuinely unsettling.’

The speed with which his mana flowed was on a whole different dimension than his own. He could only catch a glimpse of it for just a moment with his intuition.

‘…But I still remembered the color and the sensation.’

Assuming his expertise was at the beginning of mastering, while Yeon-woo, at the onset of expert status, felt a considerable gap. That alone already felt like a massive discrepancy compared to what he could handle before his regression.

Of course, it was impossible for any form of combat to hold up between the mastery stage and the expert level. In other words, even if he was a master, the Gloomy Monster must still be in an incomplete state.

“Perhaps he’s feeling unbalance between his level of expertise and his body.”

Now that he hadn’t even unlocked his unique mana, this was the perfect chance to take down the Gloomy Monster.

Resolved, Yeon-woo picked up his fork to dig into the carbonara that had appeared before him.

(To be continued)

 

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