Retire 433

433 Aptitude (1)

“A question about Mont Saint-Michel, you say?”

Jean Robinson had arrived at the Training High.

Even this taciturn man had changed a great deal since our first meeting. He was a better father than I’d expected, and an impressive Hunter as well.

This is why you can’t trust first impressions. Look at Noah Michel… she turned out the same way.

Not that I’m saying Jean Robinson is perfect. But for someone his age, it’s only natural to have a few personal issues.

I didn’t want to get involved in family matters. Eva Robinson sometimes seemed intimidated by her father, but it wasn’t fear or dislike. That was enough.

“Mont Saint-Michel…”

Jean Robinson stroked his chin.

“Nicolas hasn’t entered a dungeon since then.”

When we left Okinawa, Robinson was still unfailingly formal with me and Kim Chaemin, but after coming all the way to the Training High, he finally let down those towering walls.

Well, maybe that’s overstating it, but I decided to take it as a sign he’d accepted us in his own way. The same was true for Funès, and since I’d have to keep seeing both of them, it was better to get along.

After all, the Hunter world runs on connections.

Besides, I was a junior by a long shot, and having a Hunter of my father’s generation constantly defer to me made me uncomfortable.

Especially for a European—no, a French Hunter—Robinson was unusually straight-laced, but I didn’t think he’d suddenly start throwing his weight around. And as a Hunter who’d stayed active in the field longer than Funès, Robinson probably knew more.

In the end, how much you say depends on how close you are.

Or, looking at it another way, maybe something had changed in Jean Robinson as well. After seeing the Training High with his own eyes, maybe he decided it was better to be on good terms with us.

He seemed deeply impressed by Kim Chaemin’s greenhouse. He claimed it was to teach students how to handle plants found in dungeons, but for Hunters of Robinson and Funès’s caliber, it was obvious this was far more serious than a regular class.

And though we hadn’t told them, the Training High also housed Guild Mimi’s research lab. For an ordinary school, it was… a strange facility. We hadn’t even tried to hide it.

“So… I don’t mean to disparage him. But as a result of the Mont Saint-Michel raid, it’s as if he retired.”

“You think Funès sees Mont Saint-Michel as more difficult than it really is?”

“No. The opposite.”

Robinson shook his head.

“He tends to think of it as less serious than it actually was.”

……

I didn’t understand.

Robinson saw my confusion and explained.

“He blames himself. Thinks that if he’d just done better… even though he did everything he could at the time. It’s a kind of self-reproach.”

It was a cold assessment. And that made it even harder to understand.

What kind of place was Mont Saint-Michel’s Library, to inspire such horror?

The more I heard…

……

…I really don’t want to go in.

But will I have to? I probably will. Usually, the moment you think you won’t go, something comes up that forces you to.

In the end, Gamble is our only hope. Gamble is our future. Want to close dungeons without going inside?

For a once-in-a-lifetime genius, nothing is impossible. She asked for something again this time. Some state-of-the-art engineering equipment from Germany or Switzerland…

If she needs it, I’ll get it. It’s not my money anyway.

“Just to be sure… you’re not really planning to go in, are you?”

Robinson studied my face intently.

If I said yes, he looked ready to reconsider our entire educational partnership.

I understood. If someone I warned about a dungeon insisted on going in, I’d want nothing to do with them, too.

I shook my head.

“No. It’s really half curiosity.”

“And the other half?”

“As I told Funès, it’s for the students’ education.”

Robinson watched me, as if trying to gauge my sincerity. I didn’t look away.

I looked at the greenhouse, shining brilliantly. The magic-infused glasshouse sparkled like a rainbow, or like jewels.

And inside were the students. Nineteen-year-olds, laughing and chattering, knowing nothing.

“I have a younger sibling.”

“A sibling?”

“Yes. She Awakened recently. She’s been making a fuss about wanting to be a Hunter like me.”

Understanding flickered across Robinson’s face—a man with a Hunter daughter himself.

“I just want to teach her as much as I can.”

Now I understood why my father used to take me hiking whenever he had time.

How did I feel about it then? At first, I liked the attention, so even when I pretended to complain, I always went along. Later, I thought learning something might help me someday…

Eventually, it just became a habit. I liked that he made time for me, no matter how busy he was.

But for my father, carrying all those burdens, maybe those times were desperate, too.

Even though I never called him “father,” still…

Was I a good son?

I hope so.

---

“Why are you picking a fight all of a sudden?”

“A fight?”

I looked at Gamble in disbelief as I sat at the table tucked in the corner of the lab.

“If you show up out of nowhere and ask how the research is going, of course it’s picking a fight!”

“Why, am I not allowed to check on the progress?”

“It’s not that you’re not allowed, but you should give me time to work before you ask!”

“Haven’t I given you time?”

“Don’t you remember all the stuff you made me do?”

……

I hesitated at Gamble’s question.

“Most of it’s done, isn’t it?”

“My body is only one! I can only do one thing at a time!”

“That’s… unfortunate.”

Gamble looked like she wanted to curse me out right then and there.

But then she seemed to remember the new equipment I’d promised, and she cleared her throat, regaining her composure.

“…Anyway! Whatever you want, the answer’s no. Go away. I don’t have time.”

“Do you know why I’m here?”

“Probably to make me do more work.”

……

Had I really made her do that much? I didn’t think so. If Lee Miseon had said that, I might have felt a bit guilty.

“Well, maybe a little.”

“See!”

“But it’s something only you can do.”

“I really have too much to do! I was promised a job where I could just do research, but this is a scam…”

But Gamble’s complaints didn’t last.

I took off my mana watch and dangled it in front of her eyes. Like a cat chasing a toy, Gamble’s head followed the watch.

She knew what it was. Ever since she learned I was from the future and realized where the blueprints I’d given her came from, she’d been after this thing.

Of course, aside from the blueprints, there wasn’t much in the mana watch to interest her. Well, maybe the watch itself.

But what I wanted wasn’t that.

“I mentioned it before, right?”

……

“Doctor?”

“…Yes?”

“Focus. I’m not letting you take this apart.”

……

Gamble looked disappointed, but didn’t argue.

“I told you before. There’s a locked document inside.”

“Oh. That? You asked if I could unlock it, right? You should have given me time to really look at it. You’re always off on trips… What do you want me to check?”

“That’s why I brought the watch now.”

“…Can I open it up? Not take it apart, just… can I look at the contents?”

“Check everything. I might have missed something. The locked document is the priority.”

A document I thought was useless might look different to someone else. Maybe I was too familiar with the information to see what mattered.

“I’ll register your mana pattern. I’ll be at the school for a while, so… I’ll leave it here. Take a look.”

“Okay.”

A new name appeared on the mana watch, alongside mine and my father’s. Actually, ever since I’d fastened the watch on little Yoo Ji-eun’s wrist, her name had been registered too.

Not Yoo Ji-eun, but Hong Ji-eun.

Should have just adopted her, really. He’d looked after her like a daughter since forever.

Successor, indeed.

I shook my head, remembering how I used to be jealous of my “sister,” thinking I was supposed to be my father’s heir. Not a successor, not a disciple—just a daughter and a son. For my father, that was enough.

The only difference… was eldest and youngest? That’s how it is with siblings far apart in age.

I smiled as I handed the mana watch to Gamble, who was practically gleeful.

“I’ve unlocked all the permissions I can.”

They didn’t matter anymore, anyway.

“If you find anything, let me know right away. And—”

I grabbed Gamble, who was still mesmerized by the watch, and made her sit back down.

She looked at me, disgruntled. Her reaction was so transparent, I couldn’t even be annoyed.

“About your goal, Doctor. Closing dungeons from the outside.”

“…Yes?”

“Honestly, how feasible do you think it is?”

“Oh, another tough question out of nowhere.”

But the mischief was gone from Gamble’s voice. She might grumble, but she was serious about her research.

“Honestly? I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“How could I? If I’d ever gotten anywhere, I’d know. Last time… I guess I should say, whatever I was doing, if you don’t know about it, I probably didn’t get far. But I don’t really know why I didn’t. I must have kept at it, since I made the mana detector.”

Gamble tilted her head thoughtfully.

“If I was going to give up because it was impossible, I would have done that back in school.”

…Maybe Gamble had just lost her reason to keep going.

But I didn’t say that. If she hadn’t realized it herself, there was no need for me to point it out.

“Still, I can say the odds aren’t zero right now.”

Not zero.

Not something I could call possible, but as long as I didn’t think it was impossible, that was enough.

“See, there are limits, but we did observe and interfere with the inside of a dungeon from outside. Mr. Han and Ms. Kim.”

“Right.”

“So it’s not zero. We know where to start. As long as we don’t give up, there’s a chance.”

Gamble straightened her shoulders and grinned.

“So, how about some emotional support so your researcher can focus on her research?”

Why is she taking it in that direction?

I just stared at Gamble, and she pointed to a corner of the lab.

“When are those guests leaving, anyway? Take him with you.”

“Hmm.”

In one corner, a boy had taken over Gamble’s computer and was watching dramas, munching on snacks as if he and the chair were one.

I nodded.

“I’ll come back later.”

“Mr. Woo!”

“If you need anything… get some fresh air now and then.”

“Take him with you!”

“Good luck, then.”