NOVEL NEXT Chapter 58
Chapter 59
“Kreeaaak!!!!!”
“Eek!! I’m sorry, Dad!!”
“Careful, careful! Let go, Shar!”
Yeon-woo screamed in agony from the sudden pain in his right arm. A startled Shar, unsure of what to do, desperately tried to detach from him, while Na Yang-ho rushed to calm both of them down in a state of panic.
After Shar fell with minimum damage, Na Yang-ho examined the condition of Yeon-woo’s arm.
“It’s not broken. Just dislocated.”
“I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry! Are you okay, Dad!?”
The sensation returned to Yeon-woo’s right arm, and he felt pain, prompting him to scream. But as he sat still, he found it wasn’t that bad, leading to a calmer expression. In contrast, Shar looked ready to burst into tears.
While soothing Shar’s back with his good left arm, Yeon-woo said with a serious face to Na Yang-ho, “Could you possibly help realign it?”
Na Yang-ho looked at Yeon-woo with an incredulous expression.
“Do you think I’m some kind of walking hospital?”
“You do have that nickname.”
“Well, I do, but… are you imagining something like an FPS game’s emergency kit?”
“That’s also a nickname for you.”
“What? When did that one start? People really don’t see me as a person, huh?”
Yeon-woo was about to say that maybe it meant respect, when Na Yang-ho’s warm hand placed itself on Yeon-woo’s right shoulder.
The pain was brief and neat. Of course, he was a person whose skills were recognized by numerous specialists in internal and external medicine.
“Shar, does it hurt anymore? All better now? Look over here?”
“Daddyyyy…!”
“But you’re of the darkness property, huh? You don’t seem like it, but I guess there are dark corners. Should I tell you to go outside right now?”
“Wow, that’s property discrimination. Be careful!”
As Na Yang-ho calmed down the still sniffling Shar, they discussed the matter. Thinking it through, he concluded that there was no reason to maintain the property enhancement, so he withdrew the elemental mana starting from his right arm.
Then, the elemental mana flowed out, and the flesh gradually lost sensation from where it was exposed, before twitching and moving like a machine, attempting to choke Yeon-woo’s neck again.
“…Huh?”
The good news was that he hadn’t fully withdrawn the elemental mana from his whole arm at once. This meant that from his wrist up to his shoulder, it was still darkened by the elemental mana, and thus the enhanced part still retained some sensation.
“What in the world is going on?”
“Oh my, did you get cursed again? Is it not a one-time curse?”
“No, I didn’t feel that prickly sensation when I got cursed.”
“But just until a moment ago, I didn’t sense any trace of a curse…. Huh? No, even now, I don’t feel anything from the darkened part? This is indeed elemental enhancement, right? I’ve never seen darkness property enhancement. What kind of ability is that?”
“I don’t know either?”
Yeon-woo’s calm response clashed with Na Yang-ho’s astonished gaze.
“Then, why did it suddenly happen?”
“When I tested it before, it just felt like nothing changed even though it was enhanced. So, I thought maybe it’d be good to weaken the curse and tried it out, and it turned out like this. Do you know anything about this, Yong-ho?”
“I’m not an expert in that field…. But it’s amazing how mana can affect curses.”
“Is that its property, I wonder…. Well, I guess I’ll just gradually release the elemental enhancement to dispel the curse.”
“Yeah, yeah, but once it’s done, go home, okay? It’s already nighttime, kid. If you stay too long, weird rumors will start circulating.”
After saying that, Na Yang-ho gave a light pat on Yeon-woo’s right shoulder and returned to his desk. He must’ve already finished all his tasks yet stayed behind.
It was a sleepless night filled with guilt.
*
“It’s all done!”
Yeon-woo, sitting on the bed and wiggling his hands for a while, exclaimed while raising both arms. At the same moment, Shar, freed from Yeon-woo’s hold, stepped a few paces away.
“How’s it? Did it go well?”
“Uh, um, honestly, no.”
Yeon-woo had no choice but to admit it. He could make bombs and delicate traps if necessary, but for some reason, he was shockingly incompetent at tying someone’s hair.
Maybe he could blame it on lack of experience. Though he was the oldest at the orphanage, playing the role of the big brother, he was never awkward in dealing with children.
However, every time a child with a lisp came over asking for a hair tie, Claire would always appear out of nowhere to take care of it for him.
Claire probably knew he lacked talent in hairstyling.
But… after all that, was this really too much?
Thinking that, Yeon-woo looked at Shar, who seemed more excited about just having Yeon-woo tie her hair than actually having a good hairstyle.
The first thing that caught his eye about Shar was her blonde hair, which was now down. But her once golden locks, shining like golden threads, were somehow sticking out in a way that made them look more like a bundle of straw thrown in a field than glamorous hair.
Just to clarify, Yeon-woo hadn’t volunteered to braid her hair out of nowhere. Shar had actually asked him to do it.
Today’s outfit was cute, featuring denim overalls and a yellow T-shirt, topped off with a red ribbon to accentuate her cheerful spirit.
It seemed that after reaching that point, she had developed a desire for a hairstyle, as she had directly asked him to braid it. However, Yeon-woo thought it might be better to leave it down.
“This is a mess. Do you want to let it down, Shar?”
“No! I don’t wanna! If I don’t go out like this, I won’t go!”
Hugging her own hair as if it were a treasure, Shar shouted, clearly on guard against any chance of it being let down. Seeing her like this, Yeon-woo could only smile awkwardly, realizing he had no choice but to give in.
About a year from now, Yeon-woo would acquire Relin’s Warehouse in his previous life. Why? Because around that time, the Gate leading to Relin’s Archive would be discovered.
So, it could be assumed that at this time, the Gate leading to Relin’s Archive does not exist, right? But funnily enough, that’s not the case.
It was simply undiscovered. It might not look like a Gate at all, in a place where a Gate seemed improbable. Not to mention it hadn’t even triggered a Gate explosion.
“So, shall we start our adventure?”
Standing at the entrance of the Harmony City Public Library, Yeon-woo and Shar were equipped to some extent. Yeon-woo donned armor over his uniform, while Shar wore casual attire yet appeared geared for battle, causing passersby to look at them strangely.
It was only natural. The Harmony City Public Library was, in a sense, the most non-combat location in the city.
Of course, there were books related to combat. Yet compared to the commercial district selling hunting gear and the Academy nurturing Hunters, it was much less, and a heavily armed individual visiting the library was unheard of.
“Is, is this the right place?”
“Yeah, it is.”
Shar queried again, seeming uncomfortable under the gazes around. It was no surprise, as she naturally stood out. Yeon-woo walked ahead calmly into the library, with Shar trailing behind.
‘Should I use telepathy since we need to be quiet in the library?’
[Sounds good. But where exactly is the Gate? It doesn’t seem like there would be one here.]
‘I thought the same at first.’
That ambiguous atmosphere of stepping into the library as a porter for the Gate. Even thinking back, it only brought a smile.
The Harmony City Public Library was quite large. One could tell just from its two wings that were divided. One for Hunters, one for general use. Of course, there were no entry restrictions. The structure was merely to facilitate management.
Yeon-woo headed toward the Hunter section. As he turned the corner and entered the Hunter section, the noise abruptly vanished. It became quiet; one could say the people were observing library etiquette well, but the more significant reason was something else.
[There aren’t many people here….]
“Yeah, well…. That’s right.”
The Hunter section was generally empty. Despite a tremendous collection of books, the visible majority were library staff, and there weren’t many reading. Among them, armed individuals were even rarer.
Holding Shar’s hand, Yeon-woo approached the automated terminal. He operated it to reserve seats in the reading room. He found that only about 30 out of 300 seats were reserved at the top of the screen.
[Are you planning to read?]
‘Just check it out.’
After swiping a few times, the last screen quickly appeared. Seats numbered 250 to 300 filled the screen, with only the seat number 277 next to a column grayed out.
Having checked that, Yeon-woo lifted Shar and went up the stairs. They quietly walked through the spacious reading room toward Room 6.
[You’re saying there’s a Gate in the reading room? Are you sure you remember that correctly?]
‘I’m serious. Think about it. Gates only appear in similar environments.’
It wasn’t just any Gate; it was an archive. A space filled with tens of thousands of books. Undeniably, the only place capable of meeting such conditions in the vicinity of Harmony City was the public library itself. The Academy’s existence had inevitably led the library to expand in scope.
‘Shall I give you a hint about the location of the Gate?’
[Yes, please don’t hold back.]
Yeon-woo, rubbing his chin for a moment, spoke with a playful expression.
‘Actually, Seat 277 isn’t in Room 6.’
[…Huh?]
There were four great urban legends about the library.
The silver-haired ghost that appears in the dead of night.
A lack of users, yet an ever-increasing supply of books for Hunters.
Endless return tasks that never seem to end.
And the door that appears in unexpected places and then vanishes, making it four.
The middle two reflected the sorrow, pain, and grievances of the workers. However, the first and fourth felt plausible enough to be considered real.
‘It actually exists, though.’
The problem was right there. The middle two indeed existed, but so did the first and fourth; not as urban legends, but as actual occurrences.
It meant that there were not just four urban legends but four stark realities.
Among them, the most crucial was undoubtedly the fourth.
What good would hiding it do now that they’d come this far? The door that appears and then disappears. That door is the Gate. Instead of the usual swirling mana vortex people might expect, it merely takes the form of a wooden door.
But because one must be holding a book in hand to see it, it was doomed to remain an urban legend, having resulted in minimal eyewitness accounts.
(To be continued in the next episode)