NOVEL NEXT Chapter 57
Chapter 57
Persona Gate Practice (3)
After sending Hong Bi-yeon away, Hong Si-hwa went to meet Milkenon, a wizard from the Stella Academy board, which was her original purpose. She wanted to discuss the ‘Aslan Seminar,’ an event only the top prospects could attend.
“Hmm…”
She arrived earlier than expected, and Milkenon hadn’t arrived yet. Sipping on tea while sitting in the reception room, she felt bored.
T h i s w a s co p i e d f r om k i n g m t l . o r g
‘Was that too much earlier?’
Mentioning their elder sister to Hong Bi-yeon would surely be a deep wound.
Th i s w as c o p i e d f r om ki ng mtl . o r g
‘No, it had to be done.’
She had discarded her emotions.
Living while suppressing her emotions.
Mentioning their elder sister was painful for her too, but she had no choice.
For the greater good, she had to act as a cold-hearted person in front of Hong Bi-yeon.
“Princess.”
“Yes, what is it?”
Fiddling with her fingers, Hong Si-hwa turned to her knight who had addressed her.
“I received a file from a Stella staff member. It contains a brief history of a student named Baek Yu-seol.”
“Oh, really? Even though we couldn’t find anything about his past, they wrote something about it?”
“I’m not sure. However, when I asked the professors who read it about its authenticity, they seemed reluctant and avoided answering.”
T hi s was c opie d f r o m k i n g m t l. o r g
“Is that so?”
That meant there was something interesting in it, regardless of its truth.
“Alright. Let’s take a look.”
With a light tear, she opened the envelope and pulled out the contents, chuckling at the title.
[Title: To Mother]
“Oh, how cute. He’s just a kid after all.”
The first sentence began with ‘I miss you, Mother,’ which made her giggle.
‘He’s such an adorable kid.’
With that thought, Hong Si-hwa continued to read slowly.
As she read, her expression gradually softened.
“Hmm…”
The story, presumably from Baek Yu-seol’s past, was written like a poem.
It described the struggles of a poor Baek Yu-seol’s childhood, where even buying a meal outside was difficult.
‘…Poverty.’
Most of the staff and students at Stella Academy were either nobles or wealthy.
Poverty? If they were that poor, they wouldn’t even be near Stella.
That was true for Hong Si-hwa as well. Poverty was a distant concept to her, something she vaguely thought meant not having enough to eat.
She didn’t need to care.
There was such a vast distance between her and them. They held no value to her.
T hi s w a s c o p i e d f r o m ki ng m t l . org
Yet, Baek Yu-seol’s writing vividly conveyed the anguish of poverty.
Baek Yu-seol, tired of eating instant noodles every day, once begged his mother for something delicious. His mother, who couldn’t even afford cheap food, had to use her emergency money.
But for some reason, she only ordered one bowl of black bean noodles. For some reason, she didn’t eat the noodles herself.
[Mother said she didn’t like black bean noodles.]
A pang struck Hong Si-hwa’s chest.
The immature son didn’t understand.
His mother’s feelings, unable to afford even a cheap bowl of noodles.
T h is w a s c o p ied f ro m kin g mt l . o r g
Only after growing up did he realize.
His mother didn’t actually dislike black bean noodles.
‘He had such a past…’
She had never imagined it. She thought of him as just an unusual commoner.
She had never deeply considered poverty.
How the impoverished commoners lived was none of her concern.
Yet.
Baek Yu-seol, living like that.
Fighting against the poverty that prevented him from even eating a bowl of noodles, entered Stella Academy and steadfastly upheld the ‘knighthood.’
T h i s w as co p i e d fr o m ki ngmt l. o r g
Despite living with regret, he could still smile.
Perhaps because he was accepted into Stella Academy.
…Then, Hong Si-hwa recalled the pre-investigation into Baek Yu-seol’s past.
‘The day before his admission, Baek Yu-seol’s hometown was destroyed by Dark Mages.’
Zero survivors.
All his family, neighbors, friends, and residents turned to dust.
‘What is this…’
As she read further, her expression twisted. Not realizing her face was contorting, she continued to read Baek Yu-seol’s writing to the end.
But she couldn’t.
The sentence about his mother falling into a deep sleep and never waking made her vision blur.
T h i s w as co p i e d f r o m k in g m t l . or g
‘Oh, why am I…?’
It was her first time feeling this way, and she panicked as the door to the reception room suddenly opened, and Milkenon entered.
“Ah, I’m late because of a meeting. I apologize, Princess… Oh?”
Milkenon doubted if she was really the Hong Si-hwa he knew.
She looked like Hong Si-hwa, but tears were streaming down her face.
“P-Princess…?”
Realizing the change in herself, Hong Si-hwa wiped her tears, but it was too late. Milkenon had already seen her ’emotions.’
‘Ah, no…’
She had hidden her emotions her whole life.
It was revealed so pathetically.
But the tears wouldn’t stop.
The last sentence kept echoing in her head, overwhelming her reason.
“…Go back today.”
This was Milkenon’s reception room, so it was proper for Hong Si-hwa to leave.
But Milkenon, understanding the atmosphere, nodded.
“Yes, I will.”
T h i s w a s cop i e d f r om ki ng m tl . o r g
As Milkenon quietly exited, Hong Si-hwa, left alone, leaned back on the sofa, accepting the handkerchief from her knight.
“Sigh… I feel like I’ve been played. Don’t you think so?”
Watching her princess still sniffle, the knight only bowed his head.
With a hollow laugh, Hong Si-hwa gazed out the window. She couldn’t forget the words she had just read.
Maybe she never would.
* * *
There’s an amazing secret I discovered in my 29 years of life.
‘Black bean noodles are best ordered from a place that specializes in spicy seafood noodles.’
This is no joke.
It’s a fact certified by 27 million black bean noodle lovers. The reason I mention this is that the opposite is also true.
‘Spicy seafood noodles are best ordered from a place that specializes in black bean noodles.’
That’s why I deliberately look for black bean noodle shops and order spicy seafood noodles. I don’t particularly like black bean noodles, and I love spicy food, so I often eat spicy seafood noodles.
With my high basal metabolic rate due to Mana Leakage Syndrome, I have to order three bowls of spicy seafood noodles and some sweet and sour pork to feel full.
I wanted to order more, but I held back, fearing someone might report a gathering of more than five people.
“Slurp! Bulbul. Activate voice output.”
-‘Activating voice output.’ What would you like me to read?
Despite having lost many functions, the Bulbul Glasses still had several useful features.
The most frequently used feature was automatically storing the text I read. Although not all information could be recorded, I still visited the library often to ‘read.’
Or rather, to pretend to read.
“Read ‘The Prelude to the Cukuntl War and the Beginning of the Persona Gates.'”
-The Prelude to the Cukuntl War. Chapter 1…
I didn’t have to read the book with my eyes. The Bulbul Glasses had a great feature of reading books aloud.
Thanks to that, I could read with my ears while eating, working out, or doing other activities, making efficient use of my time.
-Cukuntl was later named by humans as ‘Void and Meaningless.’
In games, I used to skip the story, but since this world became my reality, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to learn about it, so I started reading history books.
And these weren’t bad.
No, honestly, they were quite interesting.
Unlike the tedious image of world history on Earth—who did what in the Goryeo Dynasty or about Napoleon—this world’s history, combined with ‘fantasy’ elements, was full of fascinating aspects.
-Humans believed they could gain mysterious powers from the ‘Stele of the New Moon,’ and thus started the war.
“Always fighting.”
-The war was long. 10 years, 20 years, and finally 50 years. But the humans who won the war gained no power from the Stele of the New Moon. It only brought disaster.
“Humans are the problem again.”
The war history of this world was mostly about humans being the cause, starting the war, and being the problem.
Elves and spirits sought peace, dwarves and giants of the earth were only interested in hammering iron, and non-human species like the feline and canine tribes enjoyed small lives, picking fruits and singing.
Only humans desired and took things to make them their own. It was hard to say who the real demons were.
-The Dark Mage religion ‘Dark God Cult’ started to become active when it was confirmed that the Stele of the New Moon was no longer favorable to humans.
“Ah…”
After drinking every last drop of the spicy seafood noodle soup, I patted my belly. The shop owner looked at me like I was a strange creature.
-The Dark God Cult leader said, ‘The power of the New Moon is no longer yours alone. We can draw power from it.’ The wizards didn’t believe him, but it soon became true. Because…
“Oh, my head.”
Most things were good, but the Bulbul Glasses consumed mental energy, causing headaches.
[Mental Energy XP +0.01%]
Still, it’s good to continuously train my mental energy. Just using the Bulbul Glasses slightly increased my mental energy stats.
-The Dark Mages borrowed mysterious power from another realm, using magic to create Persona Gates. These gates defied common sense…
“Wait, Bulbul.”
-Yes, go ahead.
“Your voice is dull. Can you read it more warmly?”
It sounded too much like a machine. Well, it was a machine, but still.
-How exactly would you like me to read it?
“Uh… like a lover.”
-Such a function does not exist.
“Or like a girlfriend.”
-It would be faster to get a girlfriend and ask her to read.
“You’re really asking to be broken.”
With my headache worsening, I deactivated the voice output feature and checked my stats.
[Baek Yu-seol]
* Stats
[Strength: 2-stars 61%] [Senses: 2-stars 45%]
[Agility: 2-stars 42%] [Stamina: 2-stars 12%]
[Endurance: 0-stars 97%] [Mental Energy: 1-star 59%]
[Mana: -]
Thanks to my consistent exercise commuting to and from Leafanel’s Garden, my stats had increased significantly. However, using that place was reaching its limit.
‘Divine Beast Erosion.’
T h i s w a s c o pi e d f ro m k i n g m t l .o rg
Other people wouldn’t see much effect from training in the Spirit Garden.
They don’t suffer from Mana Leakage Syndrome.
Other people don’t lose lifespan training in the Spirit Garden.
They don’t suffer from Mana Leakage Syndrome.
Although Leafanel’s Garden was a great training site, the immense penalty of ‘Divine Beast Erosion’ meant it was time to start refraining.
I had no idea how to reduce the erosion level either.
Once increased, the erosion level likely wouldn’t decrease, so I had to be cautious.
Th is w as c o pi e d f r o m k i n g m t l . or g
‘Anyway, it’s time to restore more functions of the Bulbul Glasses.’
One of the many lost functions was ‘Persona Gate Pattern Analysis.’
It perfectly analyzed the Persona Gate, providing the fastest and easiest path to the solution. Thanks to this, players could navigate the Persona Gate without getting lost, making clear decisions.
It was similar to an RPG’s ‘quest notification’ system indicating where to go on the minimap.
Without this, I would wander aimlessly in the next [Episode]. Unlike other wizards who could analyze the Persona Gate’s pattern using mana, I didn’t have such abilities.
Thanks to helping Alterisha at the academic presentation, I received some rewards.
I could inherit items and skills possessed by [Character Baek Yu-seol], or restore some functions of my current downgraded items.
Of course, restoring a downgraded item didn’t mean recovering all its functions, so I couldn’t expect ancient relic-grade items.
However, it was enough to restore one of the main functions of the Bulbul Glasses.
[Some functions of item [Bulbul Glasses] have been activated.]
[A Phenomenon Analysis]
[A Telescope]
[A Infrared Vision]
With sufficient narrative power, some lost functions of the Bulbul Glasses were restored as a bonus. Perhaps other items wouldn’t be severely downgraded either.
In any case, now I wouldn’t get lost in the Persona Gate, so I felt relieved.
The next day.
First-year students, please choose the Persona Gate for practice.
When the message was delivered through the school broadcast, I immediately went to the class bulletin board. It was already crowded with students.
[First-year S Class, Student Number 1141, Baek Yu-seol]
[You have chosen the C-7 practice site.]
Tapping the hologram bulletin board, I selected the gate where the incident was predicted to occur. Fortunately, the quota wasn’t exceeded yet.
I was slightly worried, as the maximum number for the C-7 Persona Gate where the incident would occur was 16 people.
Taking someone’s place meant one person couldn’t enter. What if key figures like Flame or Aiselle couldn’t join?
[C-7 Team List]
[Flame, Jackie, Baek Yu-seol, Ivan, Aiselle, Karchel, Gelion…]
Only 7 spots were filled. Most key figures had already applied.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t team up with Ma Yuseong or Hae Wonryang for this practice, but with Aiselle and Flame, we wouldn’t fail to clear the Persona Gate.
I didn’t intend to be heavily involved in clearing the final boss anyway.
The hidden reward, ‘Petal of the Enchantment Tree.’
Getting that one thing would be enough.
End of Chapter