Retire 279

279 Betting (3)

The world is noisy right now.

Among the runes that had been revealed one after another through Dayeon were some developed by Noah Michel but never made public, as well as runes released by magicians associated with Noah Michel. With such a blatant provocation, I wondered how they would respond now.

“Ah, I can’t believe the new semester is already here! I’m so nervous!”

Kim Chaemin deliberately came to my side, where I was working, and chattered away.

This person was curious in her own right. At first, she had seemed awkward in the role of a teacher.

“Not that anything will really change,” I replied.

“Why not? Now we’ll be taking the kids into dungeons, and there’s even a new student.”

“Yoo Ji-eun? I’m not sure you can really call her a new student.”

“She’s the only first-year, you know!”

“We’ll all be taking the same classes anyway… More importantly, is there any new movement from Noah Michel?”

“You’re really only going to pay attention to Michel when I’m right here?”

Kim Chaemin feigned a hurt expression. Unbelievable.

“What else would I do?”

“So cold. You never let me win, not even once.”

“I was taught that if you can win, there’s no reason to lose.”

“Hmph.”

Kim Chaemin narrowed her eyes and snorted.

“You learned that from Teacher Hong, didn’t you?”

“Pfft, cough—what?”

Caught off guard by her unexpected remark, I choked on my coffee. Kim Chaemin grinned slyly.

“Oh, this is fun. I can see why Teacher Woo acts the way he does.”

“…I’m glad you’re amused.”

I had never told Kim Chaemin that I was Hong Seok-young’s foster son… but she had seen enough of how Hong Seok-young treated Woo I-rok to have guessed something.

It wasn’t as though I was trying to hide it, but I didn’t feel like announcing it myself, either.

Fortunately, Kim Chaemin quickly moved on to the next topic.

“I’m not sure what Michel is planning, but there’s a rumor going around that he’s digging into my background.”

I was startled. Not me?

“He’s investigating you, Teacher Kim?”

“It’s secondhand information, but the fact that I even know who said it makes it pretty certain.”

“Really?”

“There’s a French magician named Jacques Bell…”

“French?”

“Just because someone’s from France doesn’t mean they all like Noah Michel. In fact, there are quite a few magicians who dislike him, think he’s arrogant for his age.”

People are the same everywhere, whether in France or here. Even magicians, for all their airs, are still just people.

“Anyway, it seems he’s looking into me.”

“…I thought if he was going to investigate anyone, it would be me.”

“Well, maybe it’s because I’m a magician?”

Kim Chaemin shrugged lightly.

“It’s hard to believe Noah Michel is capable of managing everything that happens at the Far East research institute. As a magician… well, his talent is enviable, especially when it comes to dealing with monsters.”

It was fortunate that such talent was limited to magic.

The more I learned, the more I wondered how things had played out in the original timeline. Did tying my father’s hands and feet with the Myeong-dong incident really have that much impact?

…If it hadn’t been for Hong Seok-young, Sam Bloom wouldn’t have died, and then Alex Hope would probably have given up on making contact with us early on. The fact that the Pharos family was established separately was proof enough.

And if that were the case, there would have been no reason to be wary of Henry Lehmann, either…

Sometimes, the smallest things can change everything.

So many people had returned with objects capable of changing it all, and yet the world had only been conquered once?

It said a lot about the monsters’ level.

“And this research institute used to be something else, right? Where was it? A pharmaceutical company?”

“People from there. They got caught up in some strange religion…”

“So that ridiculous pamphlet Ji-eun brought at first might have been from an actual religion?”

“As far as I know, it’s defunct now…”

I shook my head.

“Anyway, what does that have to do with anything right now?”

“Oh. No, it’s nothing. I just meant that it’s hard for Noah Michel to trace your identity. When Hope spirited the children away, he killed some of the research institute’s executives, so a lot of records were lost. I heard even Hunter Lee said you’re hard to track.”

“Hm. It’s frustrating for us, but it’s a loss for Noah Michel as well?”

“Yes. He probably suspects you’re from the Ark. Honestly, you haven’t exactly been hiding it, have you? You even brought I-rok.”

“That’s true.”

I nodded.

Even though Lee Miseon had created a new identity for me, there was no way to hide the existence of Woo I-rok, whom I’d more or less abducted from the orphanage.

“But you’re not a magician.”

“…Right. And you are, Teacher Kim. So what does that matter?”

Kim Chaemin grinned playfully.

“It’s because you came from a place where even non-magicians could draw runes.”

“……!”

“In this timeline, the common knowledge is that only magicians can draw runes.”

My eyes widened.

“Michel assumes a magician is teaching people about mana pens and runes. And conveniently, there’s a great magician right next to Teacher Hong who’s more than capable—and who happens to have a bad relationship with the Ark, too.”

I carefully voiced the thought that had occurred to me.

“…You think Noah Michel suspects that you, Teacher Kim, are someone who returned from the future?”

“Oh, I wish! If I really were from the future, I’d grab that person and demand they teach me the evolved version of my magic right away.”

Her laughter was light, but her voice carried a surprising amount of sincerity. Kim Chaemin from the future?

…Now, I might actually get to see her.

I cleared my throat and responded to Kim Chaemin.

“If there are two great magicians, that’s twice the manpower. Sounds good to me.”

“You can’t live life so ruthlessly!”

“If you don’t work, you don’t eat.”

“Do you know why there’s social welfare in modern society?”

“If I know you, Teacher Kim, I’d say you hate sitting still even more.”

“…Well, that’s true, but still!”

Regardless, Kim Chaemin had a point. If Noah Michel really was investigating her…

I nodded.

“From now on, I’ll refer to you as the kind great magician who wanted to save as many people as possible.”

“Ugh, no thanks!”

Kim Chaemin looked appalled.

“If we go by your story, that person’s already dead! Just give the title to Noah Michel.”

“If you say so.”

“……”

It was only after a round of laughter that Kim Chaemin settled down.

“That’s all I can say about Michel for now. Even if he digs through my past, he won’t find anything interesting.”

“Why not? The things you’re growing in your domain are interesting.”

“The mana plants? Oh, they’re still just sprouts. Their growth is so slow. I need to find another way… But what have you been writing for so long?”

Kim Chaemin craned her neck to look.

“That watch amazes me every time I see it. When will it be released? I want one, too.”

“Just wait twenty years.”

“Are you copying the data here? Can’t you connect it to a computer or something?”

“I could, but this has a high security clearance. I can’t transfer it to a regular computer.”

“So you’re doing it by hand?”

“What else can I do?”

“What is it?”

Kim Chaemin approached cautiously, as if seeking my permission. If it was something she shouldn’t see, I wouldn’t have been working on it here in the first place.

Since I didn’t stop her, her face brightened as she came closer. I set down my pencil. Copying those tiny letters had quickly tired me out.

When she saw what was displayed on the mana watch, Kim Chaemin’s expression crumpled.

“…Ugh. What is this?”

“Aren’t you being a bit too obvious about your dislike?”

“I’m just not good with numbers.”

“You’ll have to get used to them if you want to work in a lab.”

“That’s what Sandra’s for. Huh?”

Kim Chaemin bent over again to check the screen. It was obvious what she had discovered.

“This is our lab’s logo!”

“Yes.”

“Why is it here?”

“Do you know who designed the lab’s logo?”

“Well…”

Kim Chaemin gasped and looked at the logo again.

Sandra Gamble had created the logo at the same time she named Pharos. She was a dreamer. But she also had the ability to make those dreams reality, so it couldn’t be dismissed as mere dreaming.

“Are you going to tell Sandra, too?”

“Teacher Hong said to do as I see fit…”

That man always says the same thing.

I don’t know if it’s because he trusts me that much or just doesn’t want to think about it… but I decided to do as I pleased.

“It would be good if we could really save time.”

“Hm.”

“If we’re lucky enough to close the dungeon from outside, everything will be resolved easily.”

“Is that really possible?”

I had already shared my conversation with Gamble with Kim Chaemin.

Unlike Hong Seok-young, who told me to do as I wished, Kim Chaemin was skeptical.

“Still, we have to try. And if we can quickly set up a system to detect dungeon breaks, we’ll be able to save a lot more people.”

“That’s… yes, that’s true.”

“And we could further confuse Noah Michel.”

After a moment’s thought, I added,

“And… we can’t just sit around waiting for them to make a move.”

“We have to act, too?”

“We can’t always take the safe route.”

Even with a twenty-year grace period, with all the changes I’d made, there was no way the other side would stay the same.

“In the past… we were probably always scrambling to clean up after whatever they did. Actually, it’s still like that.”

That was why Daseon and the Association were always so busy. Tracking Henry Lehmann wasn’t going well, and neither was the warehouse investigation… We kept getting dragged around by them.

We needed something to turn the tables, at least once.

Kim Chaemin thought hard about what I said. But in the end, she agreed.

“You’re right. If we keep going like this, we’ll just keep pruning branches and never get to the root.”

But at the same time, she tilted her head.

“But runes aside, isn’t this a bit too specific?”

“Specific?”

“If they’re investigating me because of the runes, and it’s about mana engineering, of course they’ll be wary of Sandra, right?”

I wasn’t sure if that would really change anything now.

“As long as Gamble is here, they can’t do anything.”

“…What about Hope?”

“Sorry?”

Kim Chaemin frowned.

“Hope. If Michel thinks Sandra returned from the future, wouldn’t he target Alex Hope first?”

“……”

“You didn’t think of that?”

“…No.”

I frowned as well, looking down at the blueprint for the mana detector I’d been copying.

“I was only thinking about saving time… If we release this before the impact of the rune revelation fades, it’ll be good, so I guess I was in a hurry.”

In truth, I hadn’t come for the mana detector at all—I’d gone to see if Sandra Gamble had any research she’d kept hidden, unreleased.

It was just that she hadn’t expected that question.

Thinking of Hope, who had boasted that if Noah Michel ever came after him, he wouldn’t go down alone, I figured he’d manage to escape somehow, but the problem was his parents.

“We have an ace up our sleeve that can make anything possible, don’t we?”

“An ace up our sleeve?”

I nodded.

“Do you know where Hunter Lee is right now?”