Vol 2. Chapter 19: Tutorial (1)
But I never met my brother. Instead, I was reading a letter that somehow made its way into my bag.
You"re finally stepping into this d.a.m.ned world. I hoped this day would never come, but I"m frustrated because I always knew it would turn out this way in the end. You were too extraordinary to live out your life on the surface world.>
"No, what?"
I became speechless at the unexpected letter. What was this talking about? I was too what?
Even though it was dumbfounded, I kept reading the letter.
"…Quite a lot must have happened."
While I was out in s.p.a.ce, no, maybe from long before that, my brother must have experienced many things in the parallel world. I wasn"t sure exactly what, but I could still feel his deep anger etched in the letter.
"Any requests I may have will be granted… It"s shocking, but I guess that is a given."
The Lee Family would have lost to the Zhu Family without even putting up a decent fight. My brother had saved the entire family with his personal strength. They weren"t simply indebted to him. He literally saved all of their a.s.ses. What would happen if he decided to take his hands off this matter? I wouldn"t be joking if I said that the Lee Family would be free falling into a deep abyss, sharing a fate far worse than simply being taken over by the Zhu Family.
For the Lee Family, my brother was a lifeline and a way out, graced to them by the heavens. Due to his intervention, the Lee Family would be able to take an extremely advantageous position in a negotiation with the Zhu Family, but at the same time, their life would be hanging in my brother"s hands. Unless they could produce a strong Selected One who could beat the Chinese in the two remaining matches, the situation would not change.
I"m sorry, and I"m worried for you.
I hope to see you again with a smile.
Your hyung.>
"Why is the tone so tragic?"
I smiled bitterly, but I guess it could not be helped. He was standing up to a great power as a representative of a small, weak country.
"Genie. Observe my brother"s condition 24 hours a day, and have the Golden Lion Unit on standby immediately. If there is an emergency situation, act first and brief me afterward."
Yes, captain-nim.
I placed the letter back into the bag as Genie gave the affirmative.
Drrrrk!
"Anyway."
I looked around as I exited the cla.s.sroom. Unlike yesterday, no one approached me.
"Everyone must be busy with what"s going on."
I saw neither Jae-seok nor Kyung-eun. It"s not that they weren"t coming to see me. They had not come to school at all today. Actually, it wasn"t just the two of them either.
"What do they mean an infectious viral eye disease? It"s so out of the blue. Wasn"t everyone fine just yesterday?"
"This is stupidly ridiculous. Almost a quarter of the entire school is missing?"
"I want to get infected with the eye disease too."
"Ah, I wanted Chan-seuk to hook me up, but I can"t reach him."
"Huh? Him too? I couldn"t contact Ji-sun either. I think her profile message said something along the lines of Taking a break cuz I"m sick T.T. Do you think it"s a very bad virus?"
I could hear students whispering on their way home from school. The atmosphere was quite strange, as if they had also sensed something strange in the air.
"Isn"t it a little weird?"
"Yeah. Quite a few teachers were absent today, and the teachers who were here seemed like they were kind of out of it too…"
The surface world was separated from the parallel world, but many people had their place in both worlds. Even if they were ability holders, they weren"t living in the parallel world all the time. Many of them had a life in the surface world as well.
"Especially in my school."
Wasn"t it obvious? Two princesses from the Lee Family were attending the same school. This was a place directly run by the Lee Family, so many children of ability holders belonging to the Lee Family attended this school.
"Genie. How many of the absent students are presumed to be ability holders?"
Almost none. Even if they happened to awaken their powers, it"s almost negligible. I predict that the ability holders have evacuated their families in preparation for war.
"Well, some of those who are involved might be regular people."
Not all of the people who were involved in the parallel world had to be ability holders. Wasn"t Bae Jae-seok a "regular" third-generation chaebol, but deeply related?
"Kwan Dae-ha."
"Hmm?"
I had been standing in place while thinking. I turned my head at someone"s voice.
Won-il High School
Level 3
Depressed Lee Seon-ae
"…Hi."
We weren"t close. We couldn"t really be called friends either. She was my cla.s.smate and she had sat right next to me, but since I returned to Earth, she had been avoiding me. We had never really engaged in a conversation.
"You too?"
"Me too… Yeah. Me, too. Me too since I was born. But I thought it was nice to be able to go to school."
She started to walk weakly while muttering, and I followed behind her as she headed to the school gate. Even though Kyung-eun wasn"t here, the black sedan I saw yesterday was waiting in front of the school gate. But unlike yesterday, Mountain Sword was sitting in the driver"s seat.
"Get in."
The door opened without any accompanying explanations. I got in without asking any questions, and Seon-ae followed me in.
Pat!
In the blink of an eye, Seon-ae"s outfit changed. It wasn"t like a transformation, but more of a simple attire change. However, her dress had changed to clothes that were very familiar to me.
"…You are a court lady?"
"Why. Is it weird that a court lady goes to school?"
I shook my head at her strangely sharp words.
"Not particularly."
I wasn"t surprised by the fact that one of our school"s students was a court lady. However, I was surprised because I had no idea that she was an ability holder until now, before the level system had been added.
"Even though she"s a court lady, her affiliation is with the school, and not the Lee Family."
I thought of Celestia – my "ex"-wife and the best idol in the universe. Even though it hadn"t been too long since we broke up, it felt like an event from a distant past. Even though Celestia was a princess of the Leonhardt Empire, her representative affiliation was not with the Leonhardt Empire, but rather a mere a.s.sault Squadron of the Detro Galaxy Union. It was a result of the rough life she had lived. She had been mistreated since birth because she had been born between Emperor Angelos III and a chimera. She didn"t even have the tiniest sense of belonging to the Leonhardt Empire.
"That means Seon-ae is the same."
"You, court lady. Don"t be rude to the guest."
"Yes, Mountain Sword-nim."
Seon-ae immediately bowed her head. The car departed, and soon, they were driving along the main road.
Mountain Sword spoke, "I apologize for not having introduced myself yet. I am Mountain Sword. How would you like me to address you?"
"You can just call me Dae-ha."
"Yes, Dae-ha-nim. Have you chosen your spiritual power?"
I pondered for a moment at his words. Was this supposed to be a secret? I disregarded my thoughts as I didn"t think it mattered. My brother had already drawn all the agro, so there was no use trying to keep on the down-low.
"Yes."
"Then your teacher must have been decided already."
The mission system activated at the words of Mountain Sword. I felt a burning sensation on the back of my hand and a line of text appeared in front of my eyes.
Mission Generated!
Let"s acquire spiritual power!
You have chosen: Elemental Summoner, Blacksmith (aura), and Strongman!
Matching a teacher. Matching… Matching successful!
Lee Do-geom of the Armament Temple[1], has been matched as your teacher! Navigate to the Armament Temple before 6 PM to enter the discipline of spiritual power!
Objective 1: Spirit Contract
Objective 2: Access Aura
Objective 3: Life Energy Awakening
Rewards for Success – Elemental Summoner (1st cla.s.s). Blacksmith (1st cla.s.s). strongman (1st cla.s.s).
Penalty for Failure – None.
I had chosen my cla.s.s last night. When I saw the mission appear, I realized that the system was kinder than I initially thought. It didn"t leave one to fend for themselves. It had a way of connecting people to each other.
"Well, I guess there was no way I would acquire any abilities through a text system… With this system, there must be some reward for the teacher as well."
"It says Lee Do-geom-nim from the Armament Temple. I need to be there by 6 PM."
"What did you say?"
Mountain Sword looked to be fl.u.s.tered. He muttered "Why is someone like him being tasked with something like tutorial guidance?".
"Is there a problem?"
"No… It"s nothing. Let"s move."
The sedan smoothly entered into a residential zone. In a process similar to what I had experienced in the past, we entered the parallel world, to the Lee Family"s zone.
"Guide him well."
"Yes, Mountain Sword-nim."
After arriving at the Lee Family"s territory, Seon-ae guided me instead of Mountain Sword. We arrived at the National Palace Museum, the same place where I had met Yul.
"Is the place called Armament Temple also located here?"
"Yeah. It"s four floors underground."
The structure of the buildings in Gyeongbokgung Palace was unique. Even though they looked to be a single floor from the outside, that wasn"t the case. Gangneyongjeon Hall, where I slept, had 5 floors above ground and 13 floors underground. In addition, these freakishly tall buildings had no elevators nor any teleportation devices. The only set of stairs connecting the floors was narrow enough to barely allow two adult males to walk shoulder to shoulder.
"Oh, the stairs here are so narrow. It"s frustrating."
"It"s a security measure."
"Even if it"s a security measure, I can"t believe that the people who live here put up with the discomfort."
It was quite ridiculous. I followed Seon-ae down to the fourth bas.e.m.e.nt floor and pa.s.sed a long hallway. There were a total of eight doors on the fourth bas.e.m.e.nt floor, and Seon-ae stopped in front of one of them.
"Here you go."
"Are you going to be waiting here?"
"That"s what a court lady does."
"Hmm."
When I thought back to it, the court ladies had been standing like dolls throughout Gyeongbokgung Palace.
Dreukk.
I barely touched it, but the door opened wide as if it had been waiting.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
As soon as the door opened, I could hear loud noises of metal clashing and felt a rush of hot wind. It was so loud that my ears were hurting. I was amazed that I didn"t hear anything when the door was closed.
"What? At this time of day… Ah, I see. Are you my disciple?"
1. the original term was for a military office from the 1400 & 1500s in ancient Joseon. They were in charge of creating equipment, flags & other stuff as well