Academy’s Genius Tamer Episode 153
The next day, Si-hyuk Han called me to the office.
It was such a big event.
I thought to some extent that he would call me again, so I casually went to the office.
[Han Si-hyuk’s Magic Investigation Room]
“You’re still a professor, but you still have a closet?”
“Sit down.”
Han Si-hyuk, as usual, spoke only what he had to say with a firm expression on his face.
At that time, I was so tired of being white that I didn’t know when he was defending me, but he looks quite haggard as the psychological damage was considerable.
He looked like he hadn’t slept well.
“What’s up?”
Although it was thrilling, the work with the emperor was completed safely.
There must be no reason to call me in such a hurry, but something was strange.
The current Han Si-hyuk looked unimpressed.
“I have one request.”
Han Si-hyuk nodded his head slowly.
“What?”
“Don’t get close to Adela.”
I turned my eyes and checked the investigation file that Han Si-hyuk was holding.
I don’t know what it was, but the documents the emperor gave me seemed to be correct.
I know roughly.
Were all the facts of the case written in it?
Han Si-hyuk spoke with a hard voice.
“It’s for you. Don’t get close to Adela.”
“why?”
I smiled and accepted that.
“Because the survivor of the unsolved Catablam case is Adela?”
“yes… you that… How?”
“I’ve been hearing that comment a lot lately. Stop feeling like a fortune teller. Looks like we’ll have to lay a mat soon.”
Come to think of it, the fortune teller is that person.
Han Si-hyuk’s face became complicated.
I know pretty much what you’re thinking.
You must be thinking about what to do with this relationship that has been twisted into the worst possible way.
My head feels like it’s going to explode, too.
He opened his mouth with a sullen face.
“… Shall I be honest with Adela?”
“Are you crazy?”
The answer came without even a second of hesitation.
It sounded crazy to me.
“Also… Isn’t it?”
A child who became a wizard only for revenge.
The fact that he joined Ardel Academy and that he worked so hard to become stronger.
In hindsight, it’s all because of that kid… .
“It’s impossible to tell that.”
At least when you’re ready to accept it.
Only then will you be able to speak out.
Then I have only one option to choose from.
A bitter smile leaked out.
“… I must lie, I For that kid for the rest of his life.”
I jumped up from my seat.
Han Si-hyuk looked up at me with surprised eyes.
“Where do you plan to go… .”
“I’m not going to her.”
There was someone else I had to find.
* * *
He left Han Si-hyuk and headed straight for Castica.
Arrived late at night.
Han Tae-soo greeted him warmly, but he looked embarrassed.
“What are you doing at this hour?”
Just like last time, the dinner was so big that my upper legs were bent. However, I didn’t feel like cutting steaks comfortably today.
I had to ask, I had to know, I had to go back.
“father.”
Tae-soo Han turned into a serious face at my slightly trembling voice.
“I want to ask you something.”
Adela’s words under the bonfire still echoed in my ears.
‘The villagers who are innocent… For no reason, it just disappeared overnight.’
‘I survived alone.’
Was it really the best?
Was it something that should have taken the family and the village from the arms of an innocent child?
To be honest, I couldn’t look at him like I used to.
So a slightly cold voice came out.
“Why did you erase an entire village?”
“What… what?”
Han Tae-soo’s eyes widened.
I quietly pressed the wedge.
“You’re talking about Catablam right.”
“Where did you get that… .”
“The village where I lived in peace… Why in a town that wasn’t even that small? You erased it from the map.”
My voice was calm, but it never came out fine.
No, it was getting a little more intense.
a moment of silence.
Han Tae-soo opened his mouth heavily.
“that is… It was the best.”
“How is that the best!”
For now, I have no choice but to assume the worst case scenario.
“Why one village? whole so… .”
Han Si-hyuk was going to ask about this.
That is the most rational and wise decision.
However.
In the original story, Adela would have figured out the full story of the unsolved Catablam case.
That’s why he killed Siha Han and took revenge on Castika.
It’s a truth you’ll find out later.
It’s not something you can hide.
I might be in danger
No, it didn’t really matter anymore.
I spoke in a trembling voice.
“My classmate also lived in that village.”
“sorry.”
“He… I remember them all.”
“It’s my fault.”
“why… Why did you… .”
The kid I know died because my town was cursed.
When you find out that you have buried an entire village to kill just one warlock.
Even if you find out that the person who executed it is Tae-soo Han.
“… You would get hurt.”
“I would be very hurt… .”
Adela will collapse.
He looks poisonous, but in fact, he’s a softer child.
It may just collapse.
This is a relationship that should have been avoided from the beginning.
The friendly relationship I made to live will rather strangle the two of us.
It would have been better for Adela if Han Si-ha was a dismal bastard who had nothing to do with it.
If I killed him, revenge would have been enough.
I’ve come too far for that now.
I vividly remember Adela as a child. Because I saw it with my own eyes.
A child with a cute and bright side, even without a little bit of frivolity.
At least, he was a kid who didn’t have to live like he is now.
But, ten years ago, everything was already messed up.
“father.”
Han Tae-soo was staring at me with a complicated expression.
I bit my lower lip until it bled.
“I took that child… How do you see… .”
* * *
Tae-soo Han was sitting on the sofa and staring at me.
I sip my servant’s tea and waited for him to speak.
It wasn’t calming, but I tried to calm myself down.
I need to hear the truth about the case.
“Han Si-hyuk, did that guy tell you?”
You must have already known that Han Si-hyuk was investigating the unsolved Catablam case.
To say that he met the emperor and got to know him was just weird, so he just kept his mouth shut.
Han Tae-soo opened his mouth, presuming that Han Si-hyuk had informed him.
“Adela? The child who survived there.”
“The only survivor of Catablam.”
Adela, a genius wizard who manipulates the earth.
To some extent it was a famous name, so I knew Taesoo Han.
However, my expression darkened when I said that I was the only survivor.
“Han Si-hyuk… I guess you didn’t tell me until then.”
“yes?”
Tae-soo Han spoke in a low-pitched voice.
“There is not one survivor of that village.”
What else is this?
“No, don’t fix it. I knew only one person had survived.”
“… .”
“By the way. The one I knew was Adela, not that child.”
“yes?”
“I didn’t know the child existed.”
My head was pounding.
Whatever Tae-soo Han was saying, it was full of words that were difficult to accept.
Are you saying that there were two survivors of the unsolved Catablam case?
Did the document that the emperor delivered to Han Si-hyuk contain the contents?
“Shiha.”
Han Tae-soo’s eyes were extremely calm.
However, his slightly trembling voice made it clear that he wasn’t much different from me either.
As if it was difficult to connect a single word, Han Tae-soo squeezed his voice and recalled the time.
“When the siege of Catablam was ordered… .”
“yes.”
“I had no intention of directly participating in the operation.”
Han Tae-soo frowned as he remembered that time.
“Knox was a very demanding warlock. It wasn’t a good match. It was a battle that wouldn’t be a big problem just by pretending to dispatch troops. There are many wizards who can take over that role.”
Tae-soo Han was thinking of withdrawing from the Catablam case because of Knox.
There were many warlocks to deal with, and if it was a wizard like Tae-soo Han, it was more efficient to deal with the strong ones rather than annoying opponents.
As it was originally, it should have been.
“At that time, a prophet came to me and said this to me.”
“… .”
“The one who survived that town is going to kill my son.”
Tae-soo Han took a deep breath and continued.
“After hearing such a prophecy, I couldn’t entrust it to anyone else. I had to see it with my own eyes.”
Did Tae-soo Han jump directly into the operation in order to deal with a single person without leaving out?
“I thought it was going to be clean. But… .”
Han Tae-soo frowned and pulled out the words with difficulty.
“… There was a living child.”
When the whole town of Catablam was sunk to the ground.
Han Tae-soo was confident that he had completed his mission and went round the village.
it was then discovered
A child sitting alone in the vacant lot.
Taesoo Han put a bitter smile on his lips.
“I think he saw a future where Ji would die, and he evacuated alone.”
“… .”
“I remember what the fortune teller said. That guy is big… You are going to kill my child.”
“that… then… .”
“So I brought it. I erased my memory. It’s illegal, but there’s nothing you can’t do.”
I sat quietly listening to Tae-soo Han’s words.
In the meantime, the doubts in my head did not disappear.
then replace.
Where did the survivors of the Catablam incident go?
The answer to that could be heard from Han Tae-soo.
“I brought him up as a bastard and raised him.”
“yes?”
“Because there is nothing strange about a child who has been picked up from somewhere.”
“Sleep, wait a minute.”
“You hated it too, but I wouldn’t have thought it particularly strange.”
“No, wait!”
I hurriedly stopped Han Tae-soo’s words.
I am now… If I understand correctly… .
No, is this right?
So.
The survivor who was brought from the village of Catablam… .
“right.”
Han Tae-soo calmly agreed.
“… This is Han Si-hyuk.”
* * *
‘Han Si-hyuk… Why do you hate it so much?’
Last time I asked so.
And I remember Han Tae-soo’s cold reply.
‘He’s not even my child.’
That’s what I said back then… .
Then it wasn’t empty.
Even the bastard would be my child, but I thought he hated it too much.
Now I know.
“under… hahaha… .”
I hated it because it wasn’t my child in the first place.
Not just someone else’s child, but a child destined to kill my own child.
Han Tae-soo couldn’t hold it.
“like that… did it happen… .”
Han Tae-soo’s eyes widened.
Even though he frowned as if he was afraid of thinking like this, Han Tae-soo did not stop talking.
“I regretted it.”
“You destroyed that village? Burying innocent people with my hands?”
“No, no. I regret keeping him alive.”
Han Tae-soo bit his lip hard as if in pain.
“I should have killed him then, but I didn’t… I regret it countless times.”
“that… that is… .”
“It was a mistake in my life. But there was one more mistake.”
I knew that ‘mistake’ was referring to Adela.
I looked at Han Tae-soo, who was reminiscing about the past with a bewildered face.
Just, be still.
I was just staring.
Han Tae-soo laughed bitterly.
“If you looked at me with those eyes, I would have made the same choice.”
Sad but realistic excuse.
“… It was the best.”
“It was the worst.”
“The best at that time can be the worst now.”
“… .”
“I’m not a prophet, I didn’t know that.”
Han Tae-soo added that and smiled sadly.
“Don’t get close to Han Si-hyuk.”
“that… .”
“Adela, so is the child.”
I shut my eyes tightly.
The choice I thought was the best at that time turned out to be the worst.
Han Si-hyuk and Adela. A future where one of them would try to kill me.
Maybe that’s right.
Because Adela actually killed Han Si-ha.
I stared at Han Tae-soo.
I should have complained, but I couldn’t.
Han Tae-soo’s choice must have been to protect Han Si-ha.
That’s why I can’t even listen to Taesoo Han.
“I’m sorry. I cannot leave him alone.”
Just like Han Tae-soo.
I just do what I think is best.
“Because that’s what I do best.”
Taesoo Han, who looked at me without saying a word, got up from his seat.
“Follow me, I have something to give you.”