“Okay then… .”
Me and Han Soo-young were sitting side by side on a bench.
Feeling uncomfortable as if sitting on a thorn cushion, Han Soo-young looked at me with a hand as if holding a microphone.
“From now on, I will start hearing about Yoo Ji-hyuk. Yoo Ji-hyuk?”
Han Soo-young said so and pretended to hand over the microphone to me softly.
“Could you state your position?”
“… … .”
When I was speechless, Han Soo-young said with a shy expression.
“No, I would rather embarrass myself if I was just joking around like that… .”
She gently lowered the hand that was holding me and rubbed it against her leg.
“Is it something to do with the Seven Bells?”
She smiled slightly as she looked up at the sudden words that came out of her mouth.
“I’m not stupid either. Hyunwoo and her too. We’re both noticing it to some extent. … I didn’t say anything just because I was afraid it would make you uncomfortable.”
“… Does Hyeonu even know?”
“yes.”
Han Soo-young nodded her head.
“How sweet is he? You probably knew it before me. … And I’ve met that woman several times.”
Mumbling like that, Han Soo-young looked up at the sky for nothing.
“Something happened when you went alone or suddenly started hanging out with someone. It’s also related to the Chilak Bell.”
Han Soo-young said as she folded her fingers one by one.
“Even when I was dry, I suddenly burst out on my own, and that… It seemed that Yeeun Lee was going with her senior, but at some point it was a thorn cross, a seven-eight bell, a clan of the world tree… .”
She leaned her head against the bench and looked at me.
“And these days, you go out with Yesul. I don’t know if it’s just once or twice, so it’s definitely the same this time around. Am I right?”
I tried to answer no, but I nodded my head at the look of Han Soo-young, who was staring at me unwaveringly.
“Then just tell me. Dangerous?”
“right.”
“how much?”
“A lot of.”
“More than Margona and the World Tree?”
I nodded.
Han Soo-young took a deep breath.
“Okay, so what do you think I’m going to say now?”
“… sorry.”
“I don’t mean to apologize. If I don’t answer properly this time, I might be really upset, right?”
Han Soo-young looked at me with her arms crossed.
“… He said many times that he would tell you and Hyeonu if something important happened like this, but this time he acted without saying a word.”
“okay. I know it well.”
Han Soo-young nodded her head.
“Then what do you think I’m going to say now?”
She glanced at me and gently brushed her hair back.
The earrings hanging from her ears gleamed in the light.
“In the meantime, Jihyuk has your position, and you have your own thoughts, so let’s do what you want… I thought so.”
Saying so, she put her hand on her neck.
After a while, she picked up a necklace she had never seen before, pulled it out and showed it to me.
“That’s why we said before, that we’ll be there to help you, anytime.”
“… It did.”
“But now I’m going to do it my way.”
Han Soo-young made that decision.
“Again, I will tell you in words, and now I will surely ask for help, and as always, I will go to take care of it myself, right? And again, it was about to die, so it was brought in, and I and Hyeonu and other children who saw you like that were burned with love.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“I know, I didn’t mean to. If that was the intention, Jihyuk would have really scolded me.”
After saying that, Han Soo-young turned around and turned her back to me.
Soon after, she ruffled her hair down to her back, revealing her pure white neck.
“Will you release me? necklace.”
“… … .”
Without saying a word, I untied the necklace as she wished.
Then she carefully took the necklace in my hand and waved it at me once.
“Come on.”
As I approached and held out my neck, she filled me with the necklace that had just been hanging around her neck.
With a click, her hand that was tickling my neck fell apart.
“It was given to me by my master.”
“What? No, wait. Why do you do that to me… .”
“Did I tell you earlier? I will do it my way.”
She said so.
“This will definitely help you. Master told me it was a necklace with a powerful spell on it. I put my magic in it too. Master’s magic and mine will protect you. So, never let this go. Always wear it when taking a bath. When I eat, when I sleep. I always wear it.”
“No matter how much I think about it, I don’t think this is something I deserve.”
With that said, as I tried to untie the necklace, she gently grabbed my hand and stopped me.
“So, you should have listened to me earlier. You don’t listen to me, so I’m not doing this?”
She licked her lips and said.
“And since my magic is in it, of course I can detect your location.”
“… yes?”
For a moment I thought I heard it wrong.
When I looked at her to see what the hell she was saying, Han Soo-young was making an expression like it wasn’t a joke.
“Ji-hyeok, you won’t be doing that, but if you solve it, I’ll know right away. If that’s the case, I really won’t let you go.”
“No, wait. Are you saying that this is now being tracked?”
“yes.”
Han Soo-young nodded her head.
“No, yes. It’s so easy to nod your head… .”
“Then what? Also, you will come and go through a crisis of death, and if, really, I don’t want to say this, but you… .”
Han Soo-young frowned and bit her lip.
“… even if you’re wrong So, have you thought about what Hyeonu and I would feel? Who is Yesul? Yeeun senior? Ivan? Yuna? And what about the others?”
“… … .”
There was nothing I could say to return it.
When I shut my mouth, Han Soo-young said with a smirk.
“So, keep it in front of you. If you are in danger, Hyeonu and I will run to rescue you at any cost.”
Han Soo-young, who said that far, slowly reached out and took my hand.
“Now I can’t wait for you to tell me to help. Before you say anything, I’ll go and save you.”
“… … .”
“Do you have any complaints? If yes, tell me now.”
Without a word, I bowed my head and looked down at Han Soo-young’s hand, which was holding my hand tightly.
Her hands were trembling quietly.
Then Sbangali murmured quietly.
[…] Hey, can’t you understand the situation now? Now she’s leashing you on her leash. It is not the skill of an amateur to stimulate your sensibilities so that you cannot take them off by yourself. Congratulations. If you stay like this, you really won’t be able to run away!!!]
Hearing Sbangali’s scream, I nodded and looked at Han Soo-young.
“… no.”
And I said, holding the necklace carefully.
“I’ll be really careful in the future so that I don’t use this.”
“okay.”
Han Soo-young’s eyes, which were trembling anxiously at my answer, immediately gleamed.
She nodded slightly and muttered.
“… Oh, come to think of it, that necklace is very precious.”
“yes?”
“When I think about it, I want to get a certain price.”
While I was saying that, Han Soo-young suddenly grabbed me by the neck.
And then, in a violent way, she dragged me wildly, and her scent spread so deeply that it was dizzying.
[Wow.]
Sbangali still muttered in a calm voice.
[It was even stamped.]
Read At noblemtl.com
Once again the screams of Sbangali echoed in a loud roar.
* * *
“Then please.”
— … Yeah, it’s not something I can hide now.
With those words, I hung up Lee Myung-jun’s phone.
At that time, even after the guild branch had finished talking to a certain extent, the reward of continuing to talk with him for a long time was now visible.
“… come.”
I mumbled that no one was listening, and I answered the phone with trembling hands.
Then a trembling voice was heard from the other side as well.
— … hello?
“hello.”
— … Excuse me, is this student Yoo Ji-hyeok?
A trembling female voice.
I nodded.
“Yes. you’re right.”
He added, licking his dry lips with his tongue.
“Professor Blesbuck.”
— … ha.
She was none other than Alice Blesbuck.
As expected, she was secretly communicating with Lee Myung-jun.
It was thanks to Lee Myung-jun that Jin Jeong-jeong’s body was a homunculus, and the necessity of Alice Blesbuck, the master of alchemy, was mentioned several times in order to completely take care of her, who was in danger due to a sudden attack.
Read At noblemtl.com
Of course, along the way, I received a secret letter from Alice, I already knew that Lee Myung-jun was hiding her, and I had to tell several stories, such as knowing that she left because of the seal of the Seven Evil Orders.
… Thanks to this, Lee Myung-joon’s eyes looking at me changed dramatically.
“long time no see.”
― Yeah, I didn’t know you could communicate in this way.
“Did you call Cars Lyle?”
— … Not yet. I did it with you before that kid.
“okay.”
– Uh, what is it? How is the child doing?
I answered her question without hiding.
“For a while, I felt like I was going to die soon, but after receiving a call from the professor, I still live like a human.”
– Ahaha… .
Alice let out an awkward laugh and sighed quietly.
― I heard the story from Myung-jun. What about Jin Jeong-jeong’s body?
“Yes. To be honest, I can’t think of anyone to replace the professor. Besides, this is not a problem that can be easily overlooked.”
– right. Originally, I would have had to stay in a special solution for at least three years. It’s also something that mediocre alchemists can’t even touch.
Alice Blesbuck mumbled so.
— … Lyle, you should go to the boy and ask him. Right now, I have to move, and above all else, by the time I return, it will be too late. I’ll tell him today.
“Are you Lyle?”
In fact, I was well aware that Cass Lyle was better at alchemy than Alice Blesbuck.
But it was a fact that I should not have known in the first place, so I asked her with a voice as if it was really okay.
“… Well, it’s not that I don’t trust Lyle-senpai, but is it really okay? The professor was like that before. The mediocre alchemists wouldn’t even be able to touch it.”
– yes. So it’s okay. Lyle: Because that kid is so great that he can even compare with me.
“is that so… .”
I nodded.
“Well, if that’s the case with the professor, that would be it. Okay. First, I’ll ask Ryle-senpai for help.”
— … … .
“… professor?”
– Why do you believe in me like that?
“Yes?”
Beyond the phone, her voice was trembling enough for anyone to hear it.
– Is that right? To be honest, you and I haven’t really spent much time together… There, the great letter that went to the academy. That Jihyuk didn’t even see you.
“ah.”
It seemed to be referring to the great news that Alice Blesbuck conducted human experiments.
As it was an incident that made the academy buzz for a while, I couldn’t pretend that I didn’t know about it.
“I saw it.”
— … But do you still believe in me? The words of such an ugly and disgusting person who conducted human experiments?
“professor.”
I quietly opened my mouth.
It was also said to the man who was Jin Ye-seul’s father before.
“It’s not something I’m proud of, but there are things that I have been through a bit rough. I’ve been struggling… Well, there are a lot of things that overlap, but I’m a bit stubborn.”
— … … .
“One of my insistences is that I do not believe in things I have not experienced in person, and when I meet people, I only believe in what I have experienced. The kind of stubbornness I have to judge people with my own eyes and feelings, not the words of others.”
A quiet breath could be heard over the phone.
“And I don’t think the professors I’ve known so far are, of course, all of them, but at least they’re not going to do anything like that.”
And if that was the case, Myeong-Jun Lee, would that person have stayed still?
I smiled on purpose and said so.
“There, Cass Lyle, I can tell just by looking at that senior. The professor is never like that.”
Then for a while, only the sound of breathing could be heard over the phone.
After a while, she said in a very wet voice.
— … thanks
“Thank you.”
– Thank you so much for believing in me.
She said quietly and in a very happy voice.
There was a particularly loud sound of sniffling and swallowing tears.
– Really, thank you so much… … .
“… … .”
I listened quietly, silently, to her whimpering and sobbing.
Because she couldn’t figure out why she was so upset.
‘… what?’
As far as I know, the scene where she cries like this is when she makes atonement in front of the graves of her victims.
And the only time I had to confess to Cass Lyle was that you were subjected to such human trials and suffered because of your research.
Concealing my embarrassment, I had no choice but to listen to her sobbing.