The Novel's Extra-Chapter ss54: Side Story 54 – Chae Nayun (9)

Chae Nayun stood at the VIP ward surrounded by a military grade manatech barrier that didn’t allow even a single ray of sunlight to enter. She stared at Chae Jinyoon lying on the bed.

“I’m here…”

Her precious person was fast asleep as he had always been. He wasted almost a decade of his youth in this ward and his final moments had been filled with anguish and agony because of those devils.

“Hey…”

However, Chae Nayun shook her head to forget the past. Bell and Baal no longer existed in this world. That tragedy wouldn’t happen to Chae Jinyoon here. A devil would no longer hatch from him.

“You can get up if you try, right?”

Chae Nayun sighed while caressing her brother’s forehead. He looked younger than her now.

“I believe in you.”

She took out a forever flower she foraged from New Alliance and placed it in a vase. The forever flower was a mysterious flower that remained beautiful throughout numerous seasons as its name suggested.

“They say this flower doesn’t wilt for three years. I’ll come back to wake you up before it wilts,” Chae Nayun said while resolving herself.

She wiped the tears from her eyes and left the ward like nothing happened.

“Are you alright, Young Lady?”

Two gigantic bodyguards waited for her outside.

Chae Nayun greeted them with a quick bow and walked out of the hospital.

“Please get on, Young Lady.”

A driver from Daehyun waited for her at the hospital entrance. She didn’t say anything as she got into the car.

“Shall I drive you directly to Cube or do you wish to rest at the house first?”

“Please go directly to Cube.”

“As you wish, Young Lady.”

The Goldwood limousine smoothly accelerated as if floating above the ground.

Chae Nayun leaned against the window and looked at the scenery outside before suddenly messaging Kim Hajin.

[What are you doing?]

He quickly replied this time.

[Playing a game.]

[Oh? What game?]

[Half of Legend]

[Awesome. I play that too. Do you want to play together? I’m really good. I can carry you keke!]

[I only play solo.]

“Bastard…”

She knew he would respond like that, so she didn’t expect much in the first place. She proudly smirked at her foresight and thought of the next topic to talk about.

“The product you requested has been prepared, Young Lady,” the bodyguard in the passenger seat said as he extended a box to Chae Nayun.

“Ah, thank you,” Chae Nayun took the box and opened it. “Ohh…”

It contained numerous bottles of elixirs and potions, even a wild ginseng that was known to be extremely precious.

Chae Nayun had personally requested these items from her father.

“The chairman says you may ask for more if you need anything else,” the bodyguard added.

Chae Nayun didn’t plan to receive any help from her family after regressing. She even lashed out when her father and grandfather offered to help. It was nothing more than her stubbornness and pride. However, there was something more important than her pride right now. That’s why Chae Nayun had no choice but to seek help from her family.

“There should be another one aside from this, right?” she asked.

“Yes, Young Lady. The other product is currently being shipped from overseas. It should arrive within the week,” the bodyguard replied.

“Ah, alright,” Chae Nayun smiled.

She had prepared a gift for Kim Hajin and it was quite an awesome one. She planned to shove it at him and pretend it was her way of paying him back for the hope plant.

“Let’s see…” Chae Nayun muttered as she ripped a root from the wild ginseng and munched on it.

Munch… Munch… She could feel the energy seeping out from the root as she chewed it. She happily ate as many roots as she wanted until she suddenly stopped.

“Hmm…”

She couldn’t help but think of that guy while eating something good. She had no idea if he would like it, but decided to share some with him later.

After all, a saying went that people would become closer if they shared a single bean… or something like that…

***

[Yyy uuu isss whoooo]

I received a strange message at four in the morning. It said something along the lines of, ‘Who are you?’

“Haaa…”

“Why did you want my number if you had no idea who I was?” I grumbled while sighing and yawning at the same time.

Rather than that, she could’ve just typed what she wanted to say with a keyboard. Why was she struggling so much?

“Could it be… she doesn’t know how to activate the keyboard?”

That theory sounded somewhat plausible if she didn’t know that the smartwatch was actually just a tool to project holograms of what one needed.

[A Cube cadet.]

I replied since I didn’t want to get into trouble.

However, no reply came from the other end. Five minutes… ten minutes… fifteen minutes… thirty minutes… I waited until five in the morning and concluded that she probably had no idea how to reply.

“What a strange fellow.”

I closed my eyes while hoping that Jin Sahyuk would continue having trouble operating her smartwatch and slowly fell asleep.

Ring… Ring… Ring…

It felt like only seconds had passed since I closed my eyes.

“Ah… Damn it… I had a nightmare…”

I dreamt that Jin Sahyuk went on a killing spree and Kim Suho’s neck lay on the ground with my limbs torn apart.

“Ah… I think I have a neck cramp…”

I dragged my feet to the restroom like a corpse and showered before leaving the dormitory. I arrived to class soon afterwards.

Creak…

I opened the door and found a camera in one corner like Yoo Yeonha told me. The camera seemed to be remotely controlled with no cameraman around.

“What the hell is that?” I grumbled and felt uncomfortable when the camera zoomed in on my face.

I walked over and sat in the corner like usual. I plopped down on my desk because I felt quite tired.

Time passed as my consciousness drifted. I only woke up after the murmuring in the classroom grew louder.

“What the?”

I saw a head that looked familiar, which made me think twice if I was in the right place. However, I confirmed that I was indeed in the right place after looking around.

I stared at the head. It was Chae Nayun no matter how I looked at it, but why was she here?

“Pharmacy Club? Why so suddenly?”

“Ah… Nothing, I just thought it would be nice to join. I’m also a supporter, right?”

“Hmm… Nah.”

“Come on, don’t be like that. Let me join too, President Chae. President Chae…”

Chae Nayun and Yi Jiyoon noisily spoke.

Ddrrk!

The classroom door opened and everyone fell silent as a man wearing a robe walked in.

“Hello, it’s nice to meet all of you in the Veritas class.”

I opened my eyes and looked at the golden emblem on his robe.

[Head of Seoul Magic Tower, Kim Hyojun]

“I will be assisting all of you in your specialization classes. My name is Kim Hyojun. I am the head magician of the Seoul Magic Tower. I believe a few of you may have heard of me.”

I furrowed my brows when I recognized this magician. He was basically a scumbag.

This guy, according to my story setting, was born as the third generation of a renowned magic family. However, he lacked talent and became an educator instead. He had a bad temper and was ruthless.

He often got extremely jealous and obsessed with others to the point of stalking them. He always acted like the victim of the problems he caused. In short, the word trash suited him quite well.

“I’ll only be in charge of a part of your specialization class. I won’t be teaching all of it. Haha! Don’t look so regretful. First, shall we all stand?” Kim Hyojun said with a friendly smile.

The cadets looked lost for a while before they stood one by one.

“Then, shall we all move to the auditorium?” Kim Hyojun said as he led the way.

All the cadets still looked lost, but followed him nevertheless. The cadets noisily murmured as they walked to the specialization class that would soon start.

“Nayun, Nayun! Let’s be on the same team,” Yi Jiyoon clung to Chae Nayun’s arm and pestered her.

Chae Nayun pushed away Yi Jiyoon, who kept rubbing on her arm like a hamster.

“What same team? Who said anything about forming teams?”

“Still…”

“It could be a theory class.”

“Really? Oh, if it’s theory then…”

Yi Jiyoon transformed from a cute hamster to a fox as she slowly moved away from Chae Nayun.

Chae Nayun scoffed and glared at Yi Jiyoon in disbelief.

Yi Jiyoon flashed a smile and clung back to Chae Nayun as if she had just been joking.

However, I somehow felt that Yi Jiyoon was just biding her time and would leave Chae Nayun the first chance she got. She was probably eyeing Yoo Yeonha next.

We suddenly locked eyes and I immediately moved away when she stepped towards my direction.

“…?”

Thud—

I bumped into the blonde princess. Rachel tilted her head in confusion.

I flashed an awkward smile and asked out of courtesy, “What do you think about the specialization class?”

Rachel smiled as if to say she had no idea. I awkwardly scratched my neck as she passed by and walked a few meters behind her.

Soon, I reached the main auditorium after an awkward walk.

The main auditorium was a large hall befitting its name. It probably equaled the size of three or four football pitches put together. A viewing deck above filled with cameras zoomed down on us.

“Everyone is here, right?” Kim Hyojun asked.

Yi Yeonghan used his gifted vision to scout the auditorium and reported to Kim Hyojun.

“Thank you, class president. Alright, please line up on the side. All freshmen will be participating in this class.”

The cadets lined up to the side and sat with their backs against the wall.

It didn’t take long for the auditorium to fill up as nearly a thousand cadets came in from ten classes: Moral, Intelligence, Wisdom, Character, Honor, Veritas, etc.

Instructor Kim Suhyeok appeared out of nowhere and stood beside Kim Hyojun.

“Listen up all of you!”

His thunderous voice grabbed everyone’s attention.

“We will conduct a small test before commencing the specialization class. Line up according to your roles!”

The cadets separated into warriors, sharpshooters, and supporters. Of course, I lined up with the other sharpshooters.

“The test will check your basic capabilities in dueling, sharpshooting, healing, decision making, etc. to see how much you’ve grown!”

Various rectangular arenas shot up from the ground surrounded by mana barriers. Each one had a different theme like a desert, forest, sea, or cave.

The story had progressed in an entirely different manner from the original plot, but I remained calm. I mean, the storyline had already been screwed up beyond repair like Jin Sahyuk’s appearance.

“We will start in thirty minutes! Proceed to warm up!”

I decided to compose myself and do some light stretches.

***

On the other hand, representatives from each guild sat in the VIP viewing box located at the auditorium’s top section. These prestigious guilds had been granted a sneak peek into Cube.

“There are quite a lot…” Yun Seung-Ah grumbled as she hadn’t expected a crowd.

She expected most of them to ignore such a small event since guilds were usually busy during this time of the season, but everyone dropped what they were doing and came running. This could only mean one thing.

‘This year’s cadets must be quite promising,’ she thought.

“That’s because the average potential of these cadets is quite promising even if you exclude Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak,” Yi Jun, Yun Seung-Ah’s subordinate, replied while busily typing on his laptop.

Yun Seung-Ah stole a glance around the VIP viewing box. A lot of world-renowned guilds had come, like Essence of the Straits, Desolate Moon, Frost Sanctuary, General, Rothschild, etc.

However, a hooded person among them caught her eye.

“Who is that?”

Yi Jun looked at the hooded person before shaking his head, “I have no idea. Perhaps Cube specially invited that person?”

“Hmm… You think so? Well, that’s the only explanation, I guess…” Yun Seung-Ah shrugged it off and turned to the auditorium.

The auditorium bustled with nearly a thousand cadets, but only half of them would survive the test.

“Nice to meet all of you. Thank you for making this event an even brighter one,” a hero appeared at the entrance and greeted the viewers.

Seo Youngji had been sent by the association to assist Cube. She was also quite skilled at handling the VIPs.

“Due to the monster invasion that occurred last time, Cube has decided to abandon its stubborn educational policies and allow outsiders to… (omitted)… so we have decided to seek your guidance on the specialization of our cadets. Also, you may find a brief introduction of our cadets in this pamphlet.”

Yun Seung-Ah took out the pamphlet and scanned through it. This pamphlet provided by Cube could arguably be considered a treasure trove of information for guilds.

“There are two main characters. It seems they had a hard time choosing only one.”

As expected, the main characters were Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak. These two handsome boys stood side by side and made the pamphlet look like a photo shoot with models.

She turned to the next page and found Chae Nayun, Rachel, Yoo Yeonha, Yi Yeonghan, Kim Horak, Yi Jiyoon, Shen Wuiyan, Miyamoto Yohei, etc. Not only guilds, but even the entertainment industry would covet these cadets.

“Hmm?” An interesting name caught Yun Seung-Ah’s eye.

The name didn’t appear on any particularly interesting page.

?934. Kim Hajin (金河珍)

— Gunner

— Cube’s only mutant this year.

A gunner sounded interesting.

“Oh, this guy even has a picture.”

The last bunch in the rankings usually only had a few words to describe them, but rank 934 Kim Hajin had a picture of him holding a pistol. The impact of him beating Kim Horak during the midterm exam left a lasting impression on everyone.

Well, that duel had been impressive on account of Kim Horak’s stupidity and Kim Hajin’s craftiness.

“What do you think about that gunner?” Yi Jun asked while typing on his laptop.

“Who knows? I just find him interesting. That’s all. It’s interesting if his gift uses guns, right?”

The gun didn’t have a long history and not a single gun-related gift had ever appeared among heroes. It would be interesting if Kim Hajin possessed a gun-related gift because he would be the first in the world.

“That’s all, right? Nothing more than just interesting?”

“Yeah, seems like it.”

“The first test will now commence,” Seo Youngji announced.

Every eye in the viewing box darted towards the auditorium after her announcement. Yun Seung-Ah busily browsed through the pamphlet and instantly shifted her gaze to the auditorium.

However, something kept bothering her and she suddenly glanced sideways.

The mysterious hooded person continued looking down at the pamphlet even as the test began.

“Oh, Vice Leader. It’s Chae Nayun,” Yi Jun said.

Yun Seung-Ah looked back to the auditorium at his words.

Chae Nayun walked up to the arena as a sharpshooter and leisurely drew her bowstring. Her movements didn’t contain a hint of nervousness. Instead, she kept licking her lips as if she couldn’t wait for the test to start.

Everyone in the viewing box intently watched her full of expectations.