The Academy's Deceased Ate It All

From Jin Ye-Seul's eyes, thick tears like chicken droppings were flowing restlessly.

With tears dripping as if it were broken, she looked at Yoo Ji-Hyuk and wept like a child.

"I don't like it, I don't like it…."

Seeing her like that, Yoo Ji-Hyuk looked blank for a moment, as if he had forgotten what to say.

When he came to his senses and opened his mouth to say something, Jin Ye-Seul lowered her head and murmured something before him.

The dripping tears began to wet the floor of the sparring area.

"You, what the hell are you…."

Jin Ye-Seul sobbed and muttered.

"You did something to me, right? Right? Huh?"

"……."

"Didn't you? Tell me right now that you did… Something, something with a method I don't know... Ha, Han Soo-Young... som, something from that girl...magical help or something like that...."

Jin Ye-Seul muttered something along the way whose meaning couldn't be understood.

Her shrunken body shook with each tear she shed.

Yoo Ji-Hyuk had never thought that her body would look so small.

"Why, why am I doing this… you, you did something to me... didn't you? Otherwise... it doesn't make sense, I, I've never done anything like this before...."

Jin Ye-Seul started wiping her tears away by rubbing her eyes with her arms.

"If, if it were anyone else… I would have just, just killed them."

She shook her head as if she couldn't understand.

"Still, I wouldn't have felt anything… why… even just imagining, you're, dead... like this…."

She kept mumbling and shaking her head, saying she didn't know.

She felt a throbbing pain for a moment and pressed her hand against her heart.

"Why, why am I doing like this only to you… you, you… even if I try to kill you, I can't... Why, do you keep making me do this... Why, me... it's my first time, like this, but...."

Yoo Ji-Hyuk first put down the bag he was carrying and carefully knelt down on one knee.

Jin Ye-Seul was still curled up, spitting out only meaningless sounds, as if she were talking using only the shell of her brain.

"Ye-Seul."

"Don't call my name!"

Jin Ye-Seul shouted loudly, as if she were getting desperate.

Yoo Ji-Hyuk was not surprised and just looked at her.

Whether she knew it or not, Jin Ye-Seul shook her head and spoke.

"Don't, call, my, name… If you now, now treat me like that...."

She shook her head.

"I, I can't stand what I did. I can't...."

I won't be able to forgive myself for strangling you.

I won't be able to forgive myself for trying to kill you.

Jin Ye-Seul sobbed and muttered.

"Ji, Ji-Hyuk… I'm begging you, okay? I'm really begging you."

At one point, Jin Ye-Seul raised her head in a half-collapsed position.

Ye-Seul, her face wet with tears, looked at him and muttered as if pleading.

"You, you actually lied to me, didn't you? Huh? You just, just tried me once, didn't you... Please tell me that you did... you actually lied to me, to check my loyalty... no, no…."

Jin Ye-Seul grabbed his arm, sobbing.

"I don't know anything now. What the hell is what... What, what was important? T, to me, I'm sure... His legacy was everything... Why, why… I…."

Her fingers, which formed a clenched fist and crushed the ground, were fitted with Mirror Twins.

Looking at it, Yoo Ji-Hyuk was able to finally notice.

It was not that Jin Ye-Seul had not been able to master the technique of the legacy until now.

It was just that she was acting in front of him as if she hadn't yet mastered it.

"……."

He didn't even have to ask himself why on earth.

He was just silently enduring Jin Ye-Seul's fist hitting him on the shoulder.

Her hands were bleeding from the shards of the shattered gems.

"Why, why did you make me like this…."

He said nothing to her, who was crying like a child.

Because he couldn't say anything.

"What am I supposed to do?"

She stared at him, muttering in a blank voice.

"I'll do whatever you ask me to do. Okay? Say anything, I can do it all. I'll kill the people you ask me to kill, bring what you ask me to bring, and do everything you ask me to do. Okay?"

So, please.

"He, help me… okay? I really don't know, what is this? Huh? My heart really hurts, my head hurts, too, and I really hurt. Ji-Hyuk...."

So please help me.

Please….

At her mutterings, he silently took out a bandage and disinfectant from his bag.

The branches of the World Tree flowed from his right arm and wrapped around her palm, and after a while, all the shards stuck in her hand were gone.

Yoo Ji-Hyuk applied medicine to her hand and carefully bandaged it.

"Ah…."

Jin Ye-Seul let out a voice as if sighing, and just covered her face with her hands without saying a word.

The bandage, which had been soaked in her blood, was now soaked in something else.

How much time has passed like that?

"… yo, you're someone from another world."

After crying for a while, Ye-Seul, who came to her senses to some extent, quietly opened her mouth.

She was squeezing Yoo Ji-Hyuk's collar, which was soaked with her tears, in case she missed it.

"Really?"

She sniffed, trembling little by little.

Yoo Ji-Hyuk nodded, and she asked quietly.

"Are you going back? Do you want to?"

Once more, he nodded.

Jin Ye-Seul bit her lips.

It is always just the first step that is difficult, the next one is easy.

There was nothing that could hold her back now that she had already vented her emotions to him.

"Ca, can you not go… ?"

It was a word she squeezed out with difficulty.

There was only one answer he could give back to that word.

"Sorry."

"Ah, aheu… eww… ugh...."

At his apology, Jin Ye-Seul grabbed him and sobbed, letting out only sounds whose meaning couldn't be understood.

Because she knew well what he meant.

Carefully wrapping his arms around the lowered Jin Ye-Seul's shoulders, Yoo Ji-Hyuk supported her with his body so that she would not fall.

And a voice that only he could hear came into his ear.

It is now.

Svengali.

It was the voice of the being who was a Seven Evil that penetrated and muddled the human mind.

Now, quickly embrace that woman.

Embrace her and whisper into her ear the words she wants.

Then she will become a faithful puppet who works only for you.

The moment when she has weakened to this point like this is the perfect moment that will never happen again...?!

To that whisper, without replying, he crushed Svengali's energy with all his might.

Listening to his heartbreaking screams, Yoo Ji-Hyuk took out the bracelet that Jin Ye-Jeong had given him from his pocket.

Perhaps… now may be the time she said.

The time she would get back what she had lost.

"……."

However, Yoo Ji-Hyuk couldn't feel anything being stuck, as she said, even when he infused it with mana.

No matter how many times he repeated it, it was the same.

There was no feeling, and no feeling of something being stuck.

It meant only one thing.

It meant that she still didn't trust him deep in her heart.

Yoo Ji-Hyuk quietly put the bracelet into his pocket.

He still needed time.

Jin Ye-Seul was still in his arms.

* * *

The next day.

Jin Ye-Seul didn't show up for class.

I could hear about it from the professor who called me, Han Soo-Young, and Choi Hyun-Woo.

It was the very same professor who had replaced Alice Blesbuck as the acting professor in charge of our class.

"What is that… The professor in charge of the dormitory said that her dormitory room was empty when he visited."

He said so and looked at the three of us in turn.

"I've checked it several times, but she hasn't got an outing permit, and I haven't been able to secure any evidence that she's slipped out of the campus. Up until yesterday, I had certainly heard stories of sightings, but...."

He kept pressing his forehead as if he had a headache and pressed it like acupressure.

"Do you know anything? Or anything that could give us an idea. From what I've heard, you guys are the closest in my class."

"There must have been other girls besides us who hanged out with her, right? Don't they know anything?"

"Uh, that's true, but…."

Hearing Han Soo-Young's words, he gave an uncomfortable look.

Then he shook his head and told us.

"Anyway, if you don't know, there's nothing we can do. If you get in touch or remember anything, let me know right away. Anyway… If there's continued to be no contact like this, things will get really serious."

After saying that, he got up from his seat.

He looked at us and gave an apologetic look for holding us for so long.

"Then go to the auditorium now. Maybe today, we'll have the faculty of Urea... and an unexpected surprise guest. They will be with us for a month or so, so wouldn't it be better to know their names and what they'll teach you?"

At his words, we said bye and walked out.

And on the way to the auditorium, Choi Hyun-Woo gave a small sigh.

"I have no idea what's going on."

"So do I."

Han Soo-Young also chimed in like that.

Then they both looked at me almost at the same time, as if they had talked beforehand.

"… why?"

"Ji-Hyuk, do you know anything?"

I shook my head at her question.

Because what happened yesterday wasn't something that could be told to anyone.

"No, I don't know either."

"Hmm…."

However, Han Soo-Young gave a somewhat meaningful expression.

And then she nodded as if she understood and asked me no more about Jin Ye-Seul.

"Gosh, so many people."

As soon as we arrived at the auditorium, Choi Hyun-Woo shook his head as if he were grossed out.

Then he took the lead and began to stride through the crowd towards the seats assigned to us.

Naturally, Han Soo-Young was behind him, and right behind her was me.

We were soon able to get to the seats assigned to our class.

Shortly after we sat down, we heard the sound of breaths into the microphone.

― Yes, everyone. Please be a little quiet.

It was Rev Dunkinson.

He flicked his fingers stiffly as he spoke, and each time he did, the buzzing noise began to decrease noticeably.

Soon the inside of the auditorium became quiet, and looking at it with satisfaction, he quietly opened his mouth.

― They'll be here soon, the three professors who have gladly come to visit us here at Orhe Academy for an exchange class from Urea, and a surprise guest. A total of four people will come up like this.

Come to think of it, Jin Ye-Jeong said she was one of the professors who decided to come here, too.

I looked up at the auditorium stage, concentrating on his words.

― Just do what you practiced a few days ago. When they come up, everyone will get up from their seats and clap, then sit down and be quiet. Each time an introduction is made, clap, then finally stand up according to what I said, clap again, sit down, then quiet. At the end, we exit in order.

He nodded as he said so.

― As the students of Orhe Academy, I hope that all of us will show discipline and restraint.

At the end of his words, he flicked his fingers.

Then, the sound returned to the inside of the auditorium, which had been dyed with silence.

"Amazing… that kind of magic isn't something anyone can exercise."

Should I try to compete with him in secret once?

Just as Han Soo-Young let out a sound of pure admiration like that, a young professor, who had been handed a microphone by Rev Dunkinson, opened his mouth.

― Now, then, everyone, get up from your seats!

At his command, we all stood up.

The professor, who looked at us as if he were quite pleased, said, pointing to the back of the auditorium with his hand.

― Let us all welcome with enthusiastic cheers, the three professors from Urea!

Following his words, first, a man walked in with a benevolent smile through the thunderous applause.

Isaac McDowell.

That was him.

― May I introduce to you, Urea's senior professor and advisor, and also a master of ability study, Professor Isaac McDowell!

And then a young man with a strange tattoo around his eye walked out after him.

He looked quite awkward as if he had never laughed much, with a stocky build that gave him a rugged impression.

― Likewise, Professor Breakvilles, who will also be lecturing on monster ecology.

And I thought Jin Ye-Jeong would finally walk out now.

However, after the man called Breakvilles, far from Jin Ye-Jeong, a young woman, who appeared to be of Latin descent with copper-colored skin, walked out.

― Professor Emilia, who will be lecturing on Manalogy.

"… what?"

I couldn't see Jin Ye-Jeong.

Did something go wrong and someone else came instead? It was when I was thinking that.

The phone vibrated.

I checked and it was a number I had never seen before.

[Hello, this is Yoo Ji-Hyuk-ssi's cell phone, right?]

It was a text I would normally ignore.

Because when it became known that I was a member of the World Tree clan, there were people who often sent texts with slanderous and abusive words, somehow finding out.

But for some reason, I wrote back that I was.

[Excuse me, my name is Jin Ye-Jun.]

[Jin Ye-Jeong and Jin Ye-Seul's younger brother.]

And the next moment.

When I saw his text message, I couldn't help but let out a breath.

[I am writing to inform you of the obituary of my eldest sister, Jin Ye-Jeong.]

If possible, according to the will of the deceased, could you please attend the funeral?