The sun hung low in the sky, breaking over the horizon of Seoul. Its radiance enriched the cold morning with the warmth of flame and light.
Cars drove onto the roads from every nook and cranny, pedestrians began to wander the roads and the world revived once again.
On this day, high above the world, standing- or rather twirling at the tip of a sky scraper was a figure in white.
The robe flowed like rivers of marble, trickling with gold embroidery. The hood was up to obscure the face but even so, one could make out that the figure was a young boy, maybe around 17 or 18. He was sickly pale, with sunken eyes, despite this his expression kept changing, smiling energetically before sticking his tongue out.
The boy belched a high pitched laugh that was clearly not his own. His head tilting back to reveal his neck with rope marks that resembled ones received from strangulation.
The voice, clearly a girl, was energetic and bright, much like the sun spoke.
"Hahaha~! This puppet is so much more mana rich than the last! Just check out this crazy balance! It's almost a shame it belongs to such an untalented young man!"
The voice spoke of its body as though it were trash, just a broken machine a few steps away from a replacement.
Despite this, the voice possessed a cheerful disposition as it continued to twirl and dance at the tip of the sky scraper.
And then spontaneously, without warning, she stopped and pointed directly left of the rising sun. The flow of the white robe had stopped going with the flow of the wind and had instead begun pointing to the left of the sun as well.
"There! Finally, it's back online!" The voice, although energetic, had an exasperated and slightly relieved undertone.
The boy clapped their hands together and the white robe expanded into a long cape.
"That damn tracker is finally working again! I knew it had something to do with catching a signal!" The voice huffed before leaping off the edge, the cape catching an invisible flow of wind as it drifted to the nearest building, heading towards where the boy had pointed before.
…
[Notice: Ryan Thompson of the Novice - Virtue class has been reported missing. If you have any information on this, please let faculty know at your earliest convenience.]
A message was sent out to every Cube smartwatch during the middle of the first break. Rachel, Hajin and I had stopped our conversation to check the message.
"Another disappearance… I thought Cube security was supposed to be tighter." Minori made a jaded comment, his face contorting into what was supposed to be a frown.
'The speed of that announcement is a little worrying. It should've taken at least another period for anyone to really suspect anything.' His eyes traced the words once again, concealing the hint of scheming coolness his eyes brought.
Rachel nodded her head in agreement and flicked the message away with a complicated expression.
"...This happened before the midterms too. I thought Cube..." She trailed off, her hands balling into fists but then releasing them.
Hajin made a similar expression, but the way he stared at Minori showed his suspicion.
He had, after all, been keeping a close eye on this guy. From his perspective, Minori hadn't changed drastically from the original setting. He was still getting close to the main cast, sticking close to Rachel a bit more than he should, but otherwise, it seemed fine.
Though things were not what they seemed, the book of truth wasn't giving him clear answers. Sometimes they would cut off, other times they would be blurry… but the worst of all was when the information was given, but was completely wrong. The amount of SP he had spent on trying to get useful information was ridiculous, it was almost to the point where he had given up entirely.
It made every day in this goddamn story so stressful.
Hajin brought his hand to his hair and pushed the bangs out of his eyes. He could go for a smoke around now.
…Minori POV…
Later that day, a little after class, I was heading towards the male dorms. Intending to locate Hajin and have the same chat as I had with Yeonha… only this time, I was going to be a little more honest.
Hajin was like a sealed vending machine. I knew close to nothing about him, he appears to be entirely irrelevant or rather inept at times and more often than not is the center of terrible rumours.
In spite of all of this, he is a fountain of knowledge and a lot stronger than he looks. From the moment he fired those light element bullets, I knew he was a lot more complicated than his dull appearance may present.
What's more than that, he is one of the very few people who have reached enlightenment before becoming a fully fledged hero.
I made my way into the towering building before getting into the elevator.
The sleek design of the metallic buttons seemed alien to a slum rat like me but once again, I shoved that feeling down, much like I had for the several months I had lived here.
And then I paused. My finger hovered over the buttons for a moment too long.
The reason?
'Damnit, I forgot what floor he lives on…'
…
For the second time today, I brought my fist onto someone's door. Only this time, I had spent an awkwardly long amount of time, alone in the elevator, looking through my contacts to find Hajin's rank and room number.
'But we don't talk about it.'
And we won't, as Kim Hajin opens the door with a blank expression.
"Minori."
"Hajin."
A moment of silence passed as we blankly glared at each other, he was clearly trying to figure out a possible reason for the visit, and I was trying to remember whether my contacts were still in.
"Aren't you going to invite me in?"
Hajin paused before stepping aside.
I walked in without much though but immediately noticed something, there was a faint trace of Rachel here. Not as if she had been here and left traces… it was more like a part of her was here right now.
"...interesting."
I narrowed my eyes but went over and sat down on his sad little couch. It was a bit too soft, and a little too springy but it was more familiar in terms of build to my old one.
The door shut with a click as Hajin looked at me coldly.
'Wow, his facial expression control is even better than before. What incredible learning speed… it's unnatural.' I filed the thought away.
"So? I guess you want something. Minori Nii, you know you still have that free use of the Truth Agency right?" He spoke as though he had long anticipated my arrival.
'I guess it's safe to assume he knows I killed Thompson…wait, he doesn't?' My intuition, which had been whispering incoherently for over 17 years of my life had once again appeared to answer unspoken questions.
The Prophet, such a mysterious ability, always whispering, always mumbling, always correct.
"Of course I want something. Why else would I visit you personally? To study?" I let out a chuckle at my own joke, only to see the expression Hajin wore begin to crack. Even so, I couldn't feel his mana fluctuate.
"And no, I won't be using my one question to your shady agency. I won't do it until it's gathered a bit more renown."
"Then why'd you accept my earlier offer?" He deadpanned.
'To keep an eye on your ugly mug.'
"Because friends have to support eachother." I spoke politely, a smirk crossing my face. He visibly shuddered.
"Get to the point, you cunning bastard." His insult was casual, a show at how the months had worn away our manners.
"Alright alright. In around two weeks, I'm gonna pretend to be captured by the evil society and stage a small ambush. I already have Yeonha hacking into the Djinn's watch, so we'll be able to properly lead them on."
Hajin's eyes widened as he connected the dots. Ryan Thompson was a Djinn, I had already killed him. And because of that, I'm going to make a move on the Djinn.
"You… you want me to help you?"
"Yes. I want you to help me with the plan." I spoke with a steady smile, a practiced one that was neither grim nor a sneer.
"Why not get Yeonha to do it. She's already doing work for you. What's another simple job?" Hajin was glaring at me, as though trying to tear me to shreds with his eyes.
"Well, isn't that simple? You, out of everyone at Cube, are one of the most well connected people. You seemed prepared for the Djinn attack in the museum and again in France, you were atop a building weren't you."
Hajin's eyes widened as he realized I had somehow caught him. I mean, who else in their right mind brings a gun to a sword fight..
'I also need to test whether that brain of yours is of any use.'
…
In an office, within the Temple of Justice (it looked like a regular sky scraper, but the building was white).
A short woman was sitting at her desk, reading paper with a grim look on her face. She had long blonde locks of hair that had been tied into a high pony tail. Her chair was raised to the highest it could be yet the woman still required a small cushion to be at the correct height.
Her hands scrunched the papers, balling them into a sphere before raising her hand.
"This paper will turn into a cool breeze." The moment she spoke, her words, filled with a delicate stream of mana, became true.
The paper unravelled and gently dispersed into a slightly sweet, cool breeze that… floated around the room before disappearing into the vents.
The sheet of paper, a document containing probably important information, had been wiped away by a single sentence.
This was the power of The Living Dragon, The Final Spirit Speech user-
"Miss Aileen!" The door slammed open and a distraught looking man rushed into the room.
"W-Wah! What?!" The little girl almost jumped out of her seat with a fright as the man slammed a piece of paper onto her desk.
"Look at this!"
Aileen steadied her beating heart and snatched the paper. And began glossing over it.
"Ahem! Don't barge in you-! Um, yes very uhh good…? Wait, what? Hey are they crazy!? Giving such shitty notice! It's in a weeks time!" The girls eyes widened as they read over the words.
[Troll Blood Patent Negotiation : Order for Protection]
It was an order from the government. For the heroes of the temple of justice along with many other guilds to partake in the protection for one of the biggest negotiations this year.
Troll blood, a substance that has the qualities of restoration and regeneration, used in almost all potions in the modern industry.
One of its main suppliers are from Norway and more importantly its most profitable guild:
The White Clad.
At its head, is prime minister candidate. Vatz Morgan.