The Conjurer of the Academy

Chapter 39

In an instant, Jin So-yul’s eyes wavered, her expression turning vacant as if possessed by a ghost.

“You hear a voice?”

Jin So-yul stared at the infected creature, half out of her mind. Judging by her expression, she didn’t seem to be joking.

“Are you really not hearing that voice…?”

“If you mean the cackling—”

“No, not that.”

Jin So-yul pointed her finger at the infected creature.

“Don’t you hear the crying sound?”

No matter how hard I strained my ears, there were no sounds of crying. All I could hear was the infected creature’s teeth chattering.

‘Could it be…?’

A curious spiritual energy emanated from Jin So-yul. Maybe she could really hear something that we couldn’t.

As I pondered the possibility,

“What are you doing? Hurry up and draw your sword!”

Yomi shouted angrily.

At that moment, the battlefield dynamics shifted dramatically.

“S-so s-scary!”

“Ugh!”

The infected creature, charging swiftly towards Yomi, seemed to melt into the shadows of dawn as Yomi swung her arms to grab it, only for the creature to vanish.

“Disappearing right in front of me? What kind of sorcery is this?”

“An innate ability!”

It was an innate ability possessed by Awakeners that Yomi couldn’t have known about. Given that this was my first time seeing this, I too was lacking information.

‘The floor?’

The infected creature melded into the floor, and a sticky spiritual energy spread across it. As its form changed, the detectable range of the spiritual energy naturally increased.

‘Behind!’

The only moment to pinpoint its exact location would be when it re-emerged from the shadows.

“Ahhh!”

Jin So-yul screamed loudly.

The infected creature suddenly appeared from the darkness and grabbed her.

“N-now Jeonghwa and Jeongju are it~!”

“Senior!”

“Ha-baek! Ha-na!”

Jin So-yul, held captive, desperately reached out. She struggled vigorously but couldn’t match the pure strength of the infected creature.

“I’ll save you!”

I thrust the Sain-gum towards the infected creature, but it had already sunk half its body into the ground. The boundary rippled like a water surface.

“Don’t worry about me—”

Plop!

Before I could swing the sword, the infected creature and Jin So-yul completely disappeared beneath the shadows.

“Catch me if you can~!”

As they vanished, the previously defined spiritual energy dispersed into nothingness. Only the distorted voice echoed through the hallway.

* * *

Brrr

Something heavy and massive was pressing down on Jin So-yul’s entire body. Every labored exhale sent bubbles shooting in the opposite direction of her fall.

‘It hurts…’

She couldn’t breathe.

The more she flailed, the deeper she sank. Everything around her was sticky and black, like swimming in a sea of oil.

‘But somehow it feels warm.’

Despite the discomfort, Jin So-yul didn’t feel entirely bad. An inexplicable warmth permeated the sticky, dark currents.

‘A light?’

The end of her descent wasn’t darkness. Below her, a bright light, warm as the sun, illuminated the entire current. The warmth Jin So-yul felt was emanating from below.

‘…’

As she sank, Jin So-yul found herself unconsciously reaching toward the source of the light.

Whoosh-!

The moment she touched the unknown light, a halo of light enveloped her entire body.

“Daddy!”

A child’s voice tickled her ears. At the same time, the outlines of the scene became clearer, and various small and large silhouettes began to take shape.

“Daddy, when are you coming home today?”

“Are you going to be late again?”

Two young children clung to her feet.

They still hadn’t lost their baby fat and were looking up with imploring eyes. However, above their waists, the image became blurry and indistinct, making it hard to recognize their forms.

“I’ll come home early today.”

A large, rugged hand reached out to the two children, its calloused fingers gently caressing their cheeks.

“Daddy always says he’ll come home early but always comes back late!”

“You said lying is bad for us, but you lie to us all the time!”

The two children waved their arms around in a fuss.

Then, the figure knelt down, making eye contact with his daughters.

‘That face, it looks familiar.’

As he bent down, the face of the man, which had been obscured by the light, became visible. It was a rough yet kind face, one you might see on any typical father.

“Shall we make a promise then?”

The man extended his pinky finger towards the children.

“When I come home today, I’ll bring something tasty. And… shall we play hide and seek, which Jeonghwa and Jeongju love?”

“Yay, hide and seek!”

“Promise with our pinkies!”

Two small fingers wrapped around his large one. A bright smile spread across the man’s face.

“Promise.”

Whoosh-!

The light radiated brilliantly.

Like white paint spreading on a canvas, the vision of the family, whether an illusion or not, was enveloped and vanished in the light.

“Why…”

The halo seemed to flicker before dying out completely, leaving the undersea world in darkness, like a lost paradise.

“I promised… the kids…”

Then came the desolate sound of sobbing. It emanated from even deeper below, the bottom of the dark sea.

“Is it you, mister?”

Whoosh

A faint but distinct ray of light emerged from Jin So-yul’s tightly clenched fist. That single beam illuminated the figure lying at the seabed.

“Were you the one who showed me that?”

The back of a man crouching, with his knees drawn to his chest like a child. His thin, emaciated back. A body that had turned deathly pale without any blood and was trembling for no reason.

“Why did you show me that…?”

Just as Jin So-yul reached out her hand towards the man,

[I will kill you!]

[Why am I the only one…]

[Forgive meeeeee!]

Dark grudges surged out and overwhelmed Jin So-yul. They lunged at her, baring their teeth and claws, trying to devour her.

Shaa!

The beam of light intensified, soon enveloping the entire space. The overwhelming sensation of floating,

“Gasp!”

was enough to jolt her awake.

“Where am I…?”

On an improvised bed made of several desks pushed together, Jin So-yul opened her eyes. Piled books served as her pillow.

“G-g-g-good morning.”

The infected creature’s face suddenly loomed above her. Its eyes were still unfocused, but it wore a wide grin.

“…Was that just now your memory, mister?”

Jin So-yul asked cautiously.

It was a dream, but it felt like a vivid memory. The voices of the two children and the father still seemed to linger in her ears.

‘It was definitely said to be more like a monster than a creature…’

A faint light emanated from the talisman. Even in the dream, it was this talisman that guided Jin So-yul.

“Mister?”

Although the outline was blurred, the face of the man seen in the dream closely resembled that of the infected entity. If so, what did the talisman want by showing Jin So-yul the man’s memories?

“Shhh!”

The infected creature pressed its index finger to its lips, speaking in a mischievous tone.

“A-aah, we’re still playing hide and seek.”

* * *

It was strange.

Normally, using abilities would make it difficult to detect spiritual energy, but this creature was openly showing itself.

“Third floor.”

“Yes, it’s up there.”

Yomi glanced sideways at the upper floor. She looked disgruntled, perhaps annoyed at having lost track of the target.

‘But why isn’t it attacking first?’

There are many possibilities.

It could take Jin So-yul hostage and attack, or it could use the same ability to ambush us from the darkness.

In any case, the creature definitely had the upper hand in this situation.

But it wasn’t doing that.

It wasn’t moving and seemed to be waiting for us in one place. Moreover, from the feeling of Jin So-yul’s spiritual energy, it didn’t seem like she had been harmed.

“Ha-na, what do you think?”

“…Just call me Yomi.”

Still not used to the pseudonym, Yomi shuddered slightly.

“Hmph, well. There might be another motive.”

“It recognized me right away.”

Right after falling from the ceiling, it recognized me instantly. And the quest that appeared afterward was simply ‘Eliminate the Infected creature.’ Logically, it seemed its aim was to kill me.

[Some spirits sometimes get obsessed with strange things.]

The Sain-gum rattled.

“Baek-ah, do you mean like how you wanted to get out of the restroom?”

[Y-Yomi-sama, you try being trapped for hundreds of years! I endured it, but you wouldn’t last five minutes!]

Yomi chuckled, retaliating with laughter.

It was an amusing conversation, but there was something that stuck with me.

“What happens if you fulfill that spirit’s desire? You got out of the restroom, Baek-ah.”

[That’s because I made a contract with you, so I could come out.]

“What if you had come out without making a contract?”

The Sain-gum trembled slightly.

[I suppose I would have found peace, wouldn’t I? I don’t really know; I’ve never tried.]

“Usually, as you saw with Baek-ah, spirits freed from their bindings just wander the afterlife aimlessly.”

Yomi continued from where Baek-ah left off.

“So, what happens when a spirit finds peace?”

“Well, it would likely return to the cycle of reincarnation (육도). Most spirits wandering aimlessly have broken away from it for some reason.”

That means the spirits I handle with spirit conjuration are those who couldn’t find peace and are wandering in the afterlife.

Suddenly, the thought crossed my mind: am I forcibly binding these two who haven’t found peace in the living world?

I glanced sideways at Yomi, who was calmly climbing the stairs.

“Yomi, Baek-ah. Do you both want to find peace?”

Yomi snorted dismissively at my question.

“How absurd. Even if I look like this, I’m a great yokai who once ruled the world. I’m not someone who fits into such trivial logic.”

“Yeah, that’s a very you answer.”

Then, I looked down at the Sain-gum.

[Hmm, I’m not sure yet. They say finding peace is good, but who can guarantee that reincarnation will bring happiness? I don’t feel like I’m suffering right now, so I’m not sure I want to.]

“That’s quite practical.”

Luckily, both of them seemed more attached to this world rather than wanting peace. I almost took on unnecessary guilt, possibly influenced by Shin Seo-ha and Han Yu-seong.

“One last question, then.”

“What is it?”

“As you mentioned, Yomi, what happens if I pierce the heart of something that’s neither a spirit nor a human with the Sain-gum?”

At my question, Yomi rolled her eyes.

“The body will die, and the spirit will dissipate.”

“Dissipate?”

“That’s right. The Sain-gum is a weapon that can touch the soul. If you pierce the heart with it, the being will completely disappear, as if it never existed.”

Come to think of it, I’ve never stabbed and killed anyone—spirit or infected—with the Sain-gum.

‘Dissipate…’

Vanishing as if they never existed. I just thought of it as an old relic, but it turned out to be a more powerful weapon than expected.

“There it is.”

While we were talking, we had already arrived at the third-floor hallway again.

“Oh, y-you’re here?”

It wasn’t until we reached the third floor that the infected creature revealed itself.

“N-now, am I ‘it’ again?”

An eerie laugh echoed through the third-floor hallway. Somehow, I got the feeling that getting caught would be a very bad idea.