NOVEL NEXT chapter 41
Chapter 41
The morning air is chilly.
The young sky felt the cold on her legs, causing her body to shiver.
“Ugh….”
It was so cold.
Her forehead wrinkled involuntarily from the cold, and slowly, she started losing consciousness.
Yet, despite the fatigue from the previous night, the young sky didn’t want to wake up.
‘Just a little more….’
The alarm hadn’t gone off yet.
It meant she could sleep a little longer.
So, instead of opening her eyes, the young sky groped for the blanket with her eyes closed.
She tried to pull it over.
“Hmm?”
But for some reason.
There was no sign of the blanket being pulled over.
It felt like it was firmly laid on top of something.
‘…What’s this?’
A faint annoyance crept in.
The young sky’s eyebrows twitched.
However, the desire to sleep further prevailed over rational thought.
Giving up on covering her legs with the blanket, she curled up her body.
Then, following her instincts towards where warmth was felt, she moved.
‘Ah, it’s warm.’
Something warm was felt.
Just a slight touch made her body warm and comfortable.
A smile appeared on the young sky’s face.
Rustle, rustle.
She wanted to feel this warmth more.
The young sky pressed her body closer.
Her fingertips touched something solid and wide like a wall.
She delved towards that place.
“Ah….”
The feeling of her body getting pleasantly warm.
Above all, the solid, low, and rhythmic sound seemed to calm her mind without any irritation in her ears.
Rustle, rustle.
Meanwhile, the leg sticking out from the blanket found a warm spot outside.
There was an empty space in something harder than what her fingertips touched.
Quickly, the young sky slid her leg into that space.
Unfortunately, the space wasn’t wide enough for both legs to fit comfortably.
Regrettably, there was no other choice.
Instead, she placed the remaining leg on top of something.
The leg with a larger area of bare skin could feel the warmth more directly.
‘Ah, this is so nice.’
The corners of Yeonhaneul’s lips turned up.
She decided to snuggle into something’s embrace and drift off to sleep just like this.
It was at that moment that she went crazy.
‘…Wait.’
Snuggle into something’s embrace?
In that instant.
Her dozing consciousness snapped back.
“….”
She blinked her eyes several times.
No matter how much she tried to deny reality, the presence in front of her didn’t disappear.
Softly.
In the distance, where the sound of breathing could be heard.
Doh Yeonwoo was sleeping soundly.
He was so close that she could see his sleeping face clearly.
It was only then that she realized the situation.
‘I’m going crazy, I’m going crazy, I’m going crazy…!’
She was snuggled up to Doh Yeonwoo!
She was so startled, she didn’t know what to do.
Perhaps luckily, he was asleep and unaware of the situation.
“….”
With that realization, the turmoil settled.
Yeonhaneul, unlike a little while ago, calmly gazed at Doh Yeonwoo’s face.
His eyelashes were really long.
Although she had seen him from the side before, it was the first time she was looking at him so closely from the front.
‘His skin is really nice.’
His face was so clean and bright, not a single blemish in sight.
He looked good even without makeup.
She had always thought this, his skin seemed to have inherited from his mother.
‘He’s going to tan this beautiful skin…’
It’s a shame to tan such good skin.
Even though he was a childhood friend she had known for five years, Doh Yeonwoo was still unknowable.
Her gaze soon shifted to his lips.
‘…Beautiful.’
Is it because of his bright complexion?
His lips were particularly red.
As she kept staring at those lips, it felt like her consciousness was being drawn in.
Almost absentmindedly, Yeonhaneul reached out her finger to touch his lips….
“….”
“….”
At that moment, Do Gyunwoo and Yeo Naha locked eyes.
In the empty air, Yeo Naha’s hand hesitated awkwardly, and her mind seemed to freeze.
Immediately after.
“Eek!”
“What, what’s wrong!? Why are you like this!?”
Yeo Naha let out a sudden scream.
Startled, her rabbit ears shot up, trembling in sync with her movements.
In the midst of it, her rabbit ear accidentally brushed against Do Gyunwoo.
Meanwhile.
“Haneul, over there! Ah….”
Thud!
Yeo Naha pushed Do Gyunwoo’s chest and tumbled under the bed.
“Ouch….”
“Hey, are you okay?”
“I-I’m fine….”
Yeo Naha couldn’t bring herself to look up.
It wasn’t the pain from falling that held her back, but rather the overwhelming embarrassment and shame that kept her from meeting Do Gyunwoo’s gaze.
—
I couldn’t get a proper night’s sleep last night.
As a result, I only managed to doze off in the late hours.
It wasn’t because I was tense from sleeping with Yeo Naha.
There was a more fundamental reason behind it.
It was the environment typical of the Academy City.
“It should have been quiet enough to sleep.”
In crowded places, people unconsciously release mana that naturally circulates around them.
Wills, emotions, thoughts, remnants, etc., imbued in mana, drift around and mix with the pure mana present in the atmosphere, creating ruptures in dimensions.
Monsters emerge from these ruptures.
However, this was the Academy City.
A city primarily populated by those who can manipulate mana.
The mana unconsciously released by them is more stimulating than that of ordinary people.
Even if the residual mana is not that potent, meddling with the unstable atmospheric mana of the Academy City, coupled with the influx of people arriving for exams starting yesterday, inevitably increased the frequency and scale of ruptures.
As a result, *Kieeek!*
I couldn’t sleep properly.
The presence of monsters in the middle of the night and their unsettling noises made it hard to relax.
“Still, luckily I didn’t have to wake up and go deal with them….”
Such incidents were so frequent in the academy city that there were people prepared to handle emergencies.
Moreover, the hotel where we were staying was enchanted with protective magic to prepare for most situations.
Thanks to that, I didn’t have to worry about being attacked by monsters.
It was just noisy outside.
“If I have to live in this city in the future, do I have to listen to the sounds of monsters every day and live like this?”
I hoped that the soundproofing in Geumgang Academy’s dormitory was good.
Taking a deep breath, I changed my clothes and pinned on my exam badge.
Then I called out to Yeonhae.
“Yeonhae, you can come out now. I’ve changed my clothes.”
“Uh, yeah….”
Shortly after, Yeonhae, who had changed her clothes first, awkwardly emerged from the bathroom.
She was still embarrassed after falling off the bed and hitting her bottom.
She couldn’t meet my eyes.
“How long are you going to be like this?”
“Give me a little time….”
“I’ll give you 10 seconds to change your mood.”
“Okay. Can you count down for me?”
“10, 9, 8….”
“Phew….”
“…3, 2, 1. Done.”
“What? Why didn’t you count in between?”
“I thought I didn’t need to since you were here. Let’s go eat breakfast.”
I was also surprised by what happened in the morning, but I decided to act as if it was nothing.
I had to think of it as trivial, so Yeonhae would too.
I decided to treat it as a minor incident.
A very minor incident….
To distract my thoughts, I went with Yeonhae to have breakfast.
At the same time, we decided to discuss our schedule.
“Since we’re not solving the same problems, let’s act separately.”
“In terms of time, that’s better… but how about having dinner together? Maybe lunch too if possible.”
“Not a bad idea. Shall we do that? We’ll decide on lunch based on the situation, and have dinner together.”
“Yeah, sounds good.”
After that conversation, Yeonhae and I infused our mana into the exam badge to check the problems.
Then, unlike the questions we solved yesterday, points appeared in the air.
“What are we supposed to do with these points?”
Similar points also appeared on her exam badge as she sat across from me.
However, the number and distribution of the black points were different.
It was then that she opened her mouth.
“Gyeonu, try looking at it with mana vision.”
“It’s a similar problem to yesterday.”
Upon hearing those words, I focused my senses and manifested my inner mana, once again examining the dots.
Only then could I uncover the black dots disguised as white dots.
[⠻⠍⠶⠊⠮⠺⠀⠘⠂⠨⠰⠍⠗⠫⠀⠑⠥⠕⠉⠵⠀⠈⠥⠄⠲⠀]
[⠫⠨⠶⠀⠈⠍⠗⠚⠒⠀⠘⠥⠠⠹⠺⠀⠠⠞⠐⠕⠃⠨⠲]
[⠘⠯⠘⠡⠚⠉⠵⠀⠻⠈⠧⠶⠺⠀⠘⠂⠣⠐⠗⠲]
“Is this… Hey, do you have paper?”
“Right here.”
In the game, to make players feel as if they had entered the game world, they were tasked with solving cipher puzzles using various characters.
Recalling memories from a past life, I immediately transcribed the dots onto paper.
‘…Braille.’
I was undoubtedly correct.
Around that time, she seemed to have reached a similar conclusion as me.
“Hey, can you search for a Braille dictionary on the internet…?”
“I’m looking for one right now. Ah, found it. I’ll send you the link.”
“Thanks.”
It saved the trouble of searching for a dictionary.
I deciphered the Braille through the link Yeonha sent me.
The interpretation was as follows:
[Where the footsteps of heroes converge]
[The founder of the most precious gem]
[Beneath the unchanging glory]
It was a highly abstract phrase.
Translating it was not straightforward.
However, the first sentence was familiar.
As a veteran of “Brave Hearts,” I had no doubt about what that sentence indicated.
I recalled a brief mention from the game.
“Curator of the Hall of Honor.”
“Welcome, students. Please come in, to where the footsteps of heroes converge, the Hall of Honor.”
The Hall of Honor, a content that reviewed gameplay records in the game.
Naturally, there must be a Hall of Honor in this world too.
Consumed by these thoughts, I quickly shared with Yeonha.
“It seems like it’s telling us to solve the problem in a specific location.”
“A specific location? Did you interpret it?”
First, just the first sentence. I think I can roughly guess the rest. If it’s related to the first one…
“Could you also take a look at mine? I am the oldest superintendent of the Gemstone Society.”
“Gemstones refer to the students of Geumgang Academy. And the latter part… is probably the Brilliant Cafe inside Geumgang Academy.”
After that, it wasn’t difficult to pinpoint the exact location.
Yeongha and I stood up from our seats.
From now on, we had to move separately.
“I’ll go to the Hall of Fame.”
“Yeah, I’ll go too. I’ll contact you later.”
◈
The Hall of Fame located in Sector 23.
I moved forward without hesitation.
“I must be right.”
The most precious gem is subjective.
However, considering the intention of the questioner, the most precious gem can only be a diamond.
A diamond is a metaphorical representation of Geumgang Academy.
Therefore, the founder of the most precious gem refers to the founder of Geumgang Academy.
Connecting the first and second sentences implies finding the founder of Geumgang Academy in the Hall of Fame.
“Where is it….”
Naturally, the founder is no longer alive.
In this case, it means to find traces of the founder in the Hall of Fame.
On the other hand, the clues to those traces are continued in the third sentence.
“Beneath the unchanging glory….”
In the Hall of Fame, glory refers to achievements.
Or the person who achieved those accomplishments themselves.
In other words, glory points to the founder.
The fact that the founder remains unchanged means….
“It must mean finding traces that remain unchanged over time.”
There is much to infer here.
It is unlikely to be faded or worn-out paintings or photos over time.
The probability is high for memorials or statues.
At this point, pay attention to “beneath.”
“Taking ‘beneath’ literally, it couldn’t be just a memorial with a face showing.”
In the same vein, busts or statues showing only the upper part of the body should be excluded.
To show the entire body, only a full-body statue is required.
Coincidentally, there was only one full-body statue of the founder here.
“…Is this it.”
I stood in front of that full-body statue.
If my guess is correct, there should be a clue related to the problem here.
At that moment.
“…Sticker?”
My gaze went down to the foot of the mannequin.
Someone had played a prank; there was a sticker under the foot.
“No, that’s not it.”
There was mana imbued in the sticker.
It was a type of artifact.
As I infused mana into my body to activate the artifact, text appeared on the sticker.
[Confirming exam number….]
[Exam number confirmed.]
[Geumgang 1532]
[Clear!]
[Color: White(2)]
“…So, that’s how it is.”
It seemed like solving a code to find the designated location and authenticate the exam ticket.
There didn’t seem to be separate questions to solve.
To confirm this, I decided to display the questions on the exam ticket.
If I had solved the current question correctly, a new question would appear.
“…The question has changed.”
It was a different question from before.
The third question appeared.
It seemed that solving the second question on the exam ticket was properly reflected.
Therefore, there was no need to stay here any longer.
Having finished my business, I decided to move on to solve the new question.
“This should do it.”
The third question involved removing unnecessary parts from the Strengsth magic formula that enhances physical strength.
The fourth question involved identifying errors in the formula and correcting them for precise activation.
The fifth question was a coordinates problem.
However, unlike the second question, an additional task requiring physical abilities had to be performed at the coordinates visited.
That’s how I completed up to the fifth question.
[Confirming exam number….]
[Exam number confirmed.]
[Geumgang 1532]
[Clear!]
[Color: White(4) → Gray(5)]
The exam ticket turned gray.
It was due to the bonus points acquired.
“Do I have to solve 25 more questions to dye the exam ticket black?”
The road ahead was still long.
With a bitter smile, I decided to continue solving the problems.
Meanwhile, at this moment.
“…The number of followers is increasing.”
There were people treading on my heels now.
People like hyenas.
In their eyes, I seemed like a tempting rabbit holding the exam ticket.
As the color of my exam ticket changed, and as time passed, the gazes aiming at me were increasing.
“…”
It was perfect timing.
I was already itching to stretch my body.
Not having many chances to wield a sword, I didn’t know how much I missed it.
Now is the time to swing the sword a bit.
“More, more, keep increasing.”
The hyenas were waiting eagerly as if watching a rabbit plump up.
I decided to shake my hips to make them unable to resist and rush towards me.
And then, days passed.
[Checking exam number….]
[Exam number confirmed.]
[Golden 1532]
[Clear!]
[Color: Red(24) → Blue(25)]
The exam ticket changed to blue.
As the hyenas were about to go on a hunt, I decided to shed the rabbit’s disguise.
“Roar! No, was it Grrr?”
[Would you like to change the alias ‘Rabbit’ to ‘Lion Cub’?]
[Yes (select) / No]