NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 59
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“Why are you here?”
“Why are you so late?”
Hong Yu-ri answered a question with another question. Seeing her shamelessly occupying the chair, Gu Jin-ha had to suppress a sigh.
‘I’m so tired.’
The reason was obvious: it was the night in Daejeon. Given the scale of the incidents, suffering was inevitable. The clan leader told him to chase after Alpha, but he simply didn’t have the time.
‘Well, she’s in this state anyway.’
Gu Jin-ha glanced at Hong Yu-ri. She looked fine on the surface, but under that hoodie, she was still bandaged up. Chasing Alpha was out of the question. As time passed, Alpha’s whereabouts were bound to become elusive. It had already been proven that deploying other personnel wouldn’t help in chasing Alpha either.
‘People are raising their voices about the plateau.’
If Hong Yu-ri is a problem, then Guang-hui should step in. That was, in fact, true. If it was Guang-hui the archer, he could probably chase after things even more significant than Alpha.
‘But.’
Would the plateau really move? No, it would probably just pretend to. It’s questionable whether there’s any real will to chase.
“Move aside, dude.”
Setting aside the headache, he shoved Hong Yu-ri’s chair to the side.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve been this tired.’
He thought he was a workaholic, but apparently, he still had a long way to go.
Suddenly recalling Euna, Gu Jin-ha shivered. The representative clan of Daejeon. He heard she had been suffering from all-day press conferences and other tribulations. And now, even Alpha’s footage was exposed to the public…
‘She’s gonna have a tough time.’
“Hey.”
Gu Jin-ha beckoned with his eyes instead of answering. Hong Yu-ri rested her chin on her arm and sat cross-legged on the chair.
“You disrespectful brat.”
Hearing that loud enough to be obvious complaints, she replied, “Why?”
“Are you going to Daejeon tomorrow?”
“Well… I’d like to rest, but I’ll probably have to go.”
“Then take me with you.”
“No way.”
“Why?”
“Don’t you know? Stop talking nonsense.”
“You know it too. I’m the only one who can chase after it.”
Gu Jin-ha maintained a firm attitude.
“Still, no.”
“Come on. If someone saw me, they’d think I’m a helpless idiot who can’t even move.”
To Hong Yu-ri, who questioned the situation, Gu Jin-ha calmly responded.
“Yeah. It’s true that I need you. But it’s not completely hopeless.”
At those words, Hong Yu-ri tilted her head.
“A method? What method?”
“The footage.”
“Footage? That thing wandering around on NewTube?”
“Yeah. That.”
Even with dark circles under his eyes, Gu Jin-ha’s eyes lit up.
“Stealth skill is confirmed. But it’s not invisible. If we search through the city’s CCTV, we could potentially track Alpha.”
But that would require some legwork. Thinking deeply, Hong Yu-ri hugged her knees.
“Hey, Gu Jin-ha.”
“What?”
“The bastards I saw in Busan were probably no-good punks, right?”
“Probably.”
Yeo-myeong had sent Hong Yu-ri to Busan. They figured there must be a human trafficking organization involved in the ongoing missing-person cases, but they hadn’t caught any leads for months. Then, they accidentally sensed a fight in the sewer and found a hidden spot.
‘…Those must be punks too.’
The route Alpha took from Jirisan to Gyeongsan. He might have passed through Busan before that. In other words, the presence that Hong Yu-ri sensed might also be Alpha.
“…….”
It seemed like Hong Yu-ri had her thoughts too.
‘Either way, we can’t leave them be.’
The organization had been a blind spot and an ally. With no clear identity or purpose identified, doubts remained, but there were leads.
‘The representative clan.’
The Temple of War and Euna’s Forest.
They were truly the clans representing the region. There were no certainties, but if they had indeed planted someone like that…
‘If we find the pawn planted in the representative clan.’
They could chase the punks down. In doing so, they might just run into Alpha, and if they could capture him…
‘All questions would be resolved.’
***
“This is the last one. It’s almost time to enter the dungeon.”
“Alright.”
How much time had passed? Just as he loosened his tension, Baeknok released a Magic Sphere with a slightly tired expression.
“Wow.”
The wolf skillfully dodged all the numerous magic spheres, impressing Baeknok.
‘The results are the same, but.’
Over the past three days, the wolf had changed.
Not in the way Baeknok intended to teach. What he wanted to awaken was instinct. Just like being surprised when touching something hot. Like closing one’s eyes in surprise at a suddenly appearing object. Baeknok called that intuition.
‘For some reason, he lacked that intuition.’
Was it because his body felt no pain? No, that wasn’t it.
‘As if he had entered a different body.’
It felt awkward, like the mind and body weren’t aligned. Was it due to evolution? It seemed to lack instinct as a living being, not a sense of battle. That’s why he tried to awaken that intuition, that instinct, but…
‘I never expected he would find another way.’
Yeah. Of course, the results remain the same.
Dodging by intuitive reaction or…
***
‘It’s coming.’
It’s not just about seeing. As Baeknok said, they had to feel it.
‘You can do this.’
Four in front. Five behind. Dodging the incoming magic spheres, he avoided a rising attack from the 7 o’clock direction.
‘Next.’
Three to the left. Twisting his body to dodge, he sprang back to normal position, evading four magic spheres flying up from below. At first, it seemed impossible, but it was just as Baeknok said.
‘It’s possible!’
Those little habits Baeknok wanted to fix. They buy crucial time with minimal movement. The repeated training made that difference tangible.
Dodging, dodging, and dodging again.
‘Good. What’s next?’
27 ahead. He dodged 7 using perception, and the next ones he felt with intuition.
‘Adding intuition.’
The muddled sense of the magic spheres became clearer. When perception read something, intuition sharpened it.
‘—Here!’
Eight magic spheres. The remaining twelve.
[Your “Exceptional Intuition (D) Lv.5” has reached its maximum proficiency. Exceptional Intuition (D) Lv.5 → Exceptional Intuition (D) Lv.6]
Still unfamiliar, so he couldn’t maintain it for long. At the moment his concentration broke, the synergy of the two skills was undone.
‘Now!’
As he twisted his head, two magic spheres skimmed past his skull. In that moment, one shot into his empty eye socket and— just as he turned his head back, the magic sphere that slipped inside exited through the opposite eye.
Exhaling heavily, he prepared for the next move.
‘9 more.’
None were coming from the direction he was facing. That meant,
‘Behind!
He turned his body, dodging two, twisting and lifting his forefoot. A magic sphere lodged underfoot, and he twisted again to dodge five more. Now just one left…?
“Ah.”
A sound of disappointment escaped his lips. The last shot had pierced his hind foot.
“…261st failure.”
It was disappointing. He thought he could dodge all of them, but he was too late. Why?
‘If I had used elasticity?’
If he hadn’t used it, he wouldn’t have been able to evade. Thinking it twice, he believed he had done his best at the optimal moment.
‘But still failed.’
Where? What was lacking? While thinking it over, sensing that practice had ended, the Fairy Dragon approached.
“Kkyu-ru-ru-k~.”
It seemed tired, curling up with its wings over its head, and Baeknok was impressed.
“Amazing.”
“I failed, though.”
At the wolf’s disgruntled remark, Baeknok chuckled.
“You can’t really call it a failure. It’s impossible at your current level to dodge all the magic spheres.”
“…Impossible?”
If it were impossible, he wouldn’t have asked. Who said that? Receiving a blunt stare, Baeknok answered nonchalantly.
“I never asked you to dodge all of them. Didn’t I tell you to remember the purpose of training?”
The wolf let out an incredulous chuckle. While that was the case, in that situation, it sounded like ‘Even if you can’t dodge them all, fixing your habit is impossible’ rather than ‘You can dodge them all, so just work harder.’ As time went by, he realized, Baeknok was shameless.
‘I was tricked this time.’
In the meantime, Baeknok looked at the wolf’s foot, which had been pierced. The regeneration was already healing the wound.
‘Read ahead and prepare the next move.’
It was not intuition but anticipation. Not the way of the summoner but more of a trick that humans might use, albeit a high-level trick.
‘Even if it didn’t go as intended…’
He had fixed his habits. He thought it was a blessing if he managed to dodge half of them, but he had exceeded the initial expectations.
‘I didn’t think he could keep up this much.’
Over these three days, the wolf had created a brand new movement and style for itself, in a way he never thought possible. He couldn’t complain for not mastering intuition.
“Let’s start heading out.”
Baeknok took the lead as they moved. The wolf stepped carefully so as not to wake the softly sleeping Fairy Dragon and finally arrived at their destination.
“Is this it?”
“Yeah.”
They were supposed to head to Seoul, where the academy was located, but they had come back down to Gyeongsangnam-do. It didn’t matter in the end, as they could cross that distance in one or two hours if they put their minds to it.
‘It’s been a while. Here.’
It was a place he had visited as a child. He never expected it would still be standing at this future point in time. Around then, the Fairy Dragon woke up with a yawn.
“Kkyu-luck?”
With half-opened eyes, it looked up at the archway, and its eyes sparkled.
[Ancient Dinosaur Museum]
Crossing the arch and heading up the path, the museum’s main entrance finally came into view.
‘I came here when I was a kid.’
Even in 2069, it hadn’t changed much. The moment Baeknok opened the museum’s door, the Fairy Dragon dashed inside as if it had been waiting.
As soon as they stepped in, the scenery inside the museum changed.
“…Awesome.”
An endless expanse of wasteland. A place where no grass grew. If it weren’t a dungeon, he would never believe any creatures could survive here.
“The Dragon Waste. One of the oldest places in the fantasy world.”
“The Dragon Waste?”
“Yes. Most of the monsters here belong to the dragon clan, which is why it got that name.”
Birds and snakes. The term “serpent” connecting avians and reptiles came to mind first.
“The dungeon’s level is high, so it took quite some time to send magic to the present world.”
“And that’s today?”
“Yes.”
Just then, he saw a long snake with the wings of a bird soaring in the sky and used Insight.
[Coatl]
[Length 7.64m] [Height 72.1cm] [Weight 453kg]
[Strength 324] [Agility 288] [Stamina 311] [Magic 271]
It looked lighter than it should be considering its size, probably for flying. Coatl seemed to have noticed them, letting out a shriek and attacking.
“It’s coming.”
As it glided in place a couple of times, it saw them as prey and lowered its altitude. Though it was called lowering, it was more like falling at high speed. Gu Jin-ha was prepared to counterattack with a windstorm and transformation…
“Kiiiaaaak!”
The shriek of Coatl’s neck slowly twisted, and it soon stopped breathing.
“……?!”
His eyes widened.
It was similar to a dragon but with its front legs evolved away. Something that had snatched Coatl in an instant broke its neck with its hind legs and cried out. As if shouting to clear the way, it flapped its wings and vanished into the sky.
“A wyvern… That’s not the boss?”
Glancing at its status with Insight revealed it was strong enough to chew up even Aranea. It was comparable to the swamp dragon. A wyvern is undoubtedly a subspecies of dragon. Especially considering it could fly in the air, it was incredibly tricky. And that wasn’t the boss?
“I thought so at first too. But if it were the boss, I wouldn’t have needed to call you.”
“….”
“Didn’t I tell you? That’s the Earth Serpent. Look over there.”
What lay beyond was a scene where something coiled around a mountain was thrashing, sending dust clouds up as if they were volcanic ash.
“Kkyu-ru-ru-k!”
The startled Fairy Dragon dove into its eye sockets.
“…….”
He almost asked if they were out of their minds. It was more dismal than he had imagined. A giant snake. It reminded him of that movie about anaconda. The one where people gathered to find the elixir of immortality only to be chased by the gigantic anaconda grown due to the elixir.
‘That one’s way bigger.’
It was several times larger than that fictional anaconda. The skin, almost as if it were made with rocks, seemed to explain why it was called ‘Earth.’
“Are you serious?”
“Why do you think it’s not?”
Baeknok tilted his head, and Gu Jin-ha frowned.
His gaze held the question of how one could even think of killing something like that. Baeknok nodded.
“It would be so in direct combat. But do we really need to do that?”
“……?”
“I lack firepower. I have no means to kill a giant snake.”
Baeknok struck the wasteland ground with his hoof.
“But the important thing is that it can’t catch me.”
That’s when Gu Jin-ha realized what Baeknok was thinking.
“What if your flames keep burning and spreading on it?”
“Are you saying you’ll carry me while running away?”
“Exactly. That’s why I didn’t call other summonings. They’re just not needed.”
If they’d be a hindrance rather than a help. If the summoned creatures weren’t all as fast as Baeknok, and he didn’t have the firepower to kill the Earth Serpent, then it would all be pointless, even if they all gathered.
“What you lack in firepower, I have. What you lack in legs, I have. What’s the problem?”
He ran a simulation in his head of Baeknok’s proposed plan.
‘…….’
Baeknok would carry him while running from the Earth Serpent, and he would burn it to death with Transformation…?
‘That’s completely freeloading, isn’t it?’
“Looks like you’ve made up your mind.”
Gu Jin-ha swallowed hard. Not doing this would be foolish. They slowly moved across the Dragon’s Wasteland.
***
‘Finally wrapped up after three days.’
All seven pieces of chalk had turned to dust. Even when tossing eight or nine, the result was the same.
‘The numbers don’t matter.’
If she didn’t make a real effort to throw, nothing would reach her now. Not just chalk, but anything she’d throw. Talented people had sharpened their unique intuition, and in this short time, they had grasped the essence.
‘Ha Yeon took two days.’
But that was during her days as a C-class. No, it was when she was preparing for B-class. Euna was just a rookie Hunter. Comparing the two was meaningless.
‘At this rate.’
With steady training and increased stamina, becoming C-class would be a piece of cake. Watching Euna maintain her focus, Hong Yu-ri muttered.
“Hmph. At least she’s taken her first steps.”
“Isn’t this taking baby steps?”
“Of course! Isn’t it normal she hasn’t even reached C-class yet?”
“…Euna isn’t an academy graduate.”
“So? Do monsters acknowledge that?”
The frank words were indisputable facts. Although Hong Yu-ri had only provided support, Woo Taek began to understand her feelings.
‘So this is how it feels.’
Like cutting a rough stone into a gem. Meanwhile, Woo Taek bit his lip.
‘What if she had been an academy graduate?’
If she had understood magic just a bit earlier. If she had honed her skills as a hunter instead of being in the administrative department?
‘It’s pointless to think about.’
He brushed aside the thoughts that surfaced. But unable to hide his disappointment, Hong Yu-ri smirked as if she could see into his mind.
“Stop daydreaming. It’s only just begun.”
“Are you going to teach her magic?”
“Why? Do you want to send her to the Square?”
Finally, his expression hardened.
Those not from the Square were only allowed to reach 2nd-level spell chanting. Granted, a few were permitted to reach 3rd, but that was all. Magic itself came with substantial risks.
‘If it’s Euna, she’ll definitely reach level 5.’
It might take time, but he believed without a doubt she could master it. Those not from the square wouldn’t be taught any magic above level 4, no matter how talented Hong Yu-ri was.
‘…Maybe sending her to the Square would be better.’
Once they returned to Yeomyeong, it wouldn’t matter. With Euna’s talent, it wouldn’t take a long time.
“Wake up. I won’t be sending her.”
“Then are you seriously just leaving her like this?”
“You idiot. Didn’t I tell you to stop daydreaming?”
“…….”
“I’ll handle it, so just go and get your work done.”
He agreed with her firm words. No one in Yeomyeong could surpass her as a mage. What she chose to do, whether to send her to the Square or not, would be entirely at her discretion… It was hardly something to meddle in.
‘Speaking of which.’
Hadn’t he said just a few days ago that he wasn’t a mage? What was Hong Yu-ri even thinking?
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