Chapter 92. Expert of the Information Guild
"Congratulations, Cadet Lee Hoyeon. Tier 10 in 9 seconds—this is a new record. You've practically secured first place in this real combat monster training."
"...Thank you."
She seemed even happier than I was. What a kind professor.
"You really are the academy's rising star. Keep it up!"
"Yeah..."
With the professor's encouragement, I stepped down from the dueling arena.
I didn't expect that scarecrow to be the 'Nightmare of the Hamel Dungeon.'
It definitely looked disgusting enough, though.
"Lee Hoyeon! What the heck~!"
"Hoyeon, y-you're amazing!"
As soon as I got down, Lucy and Lumi, who had been waiting, greeted me.
"I got lucky. It was just a good match-up for me."
Though even if it had been a different monster, I would've won—but I wouldn't have set a 9-second record.
A random mental-attack-specialized monster appeared, and the perk I didn't fully understand turned out to be immunity to mental attacks.
That's just plain luck.
"Still, it's amazing, no matter what!"
"Yeah... I was just happy to hit tier 8."
"You two will get stronger in no time. Since we're all done, should we head out?"
Since all three of us had finished, there was no reason to stay in the testing grounds.
"Ehh? Aren't we gonna watch the others?"
"Uh... watch?"
"Of course! Watching others fight is so fun."
Honestly, I wasn't that interested.
But there wasn't anything to do even if I left early, so I guess I'll go along.
Just as I was about to say okay, I caught a glimpse of Nam Daeun in my sight.
She locked eyes with me, her pupils shaking, and quickly turned away and left the testing ground.
'Wait, should I follow her?'
Her pale face made her look like she was in a bad state...
"Come on, let's watch together, yeah?"
"S-Stay with us..."
"Uh..."
Lucy locked arms with one side of me, and Lumi carefully grabbed the hem of my clothes.
With both of them asking together, it felt hard to say no.
And Nam Daeun had already disappeared—too late to catch up.
"Alright. Let's watch together."
"Yay!"
She's probably just going to call her sister or something.
She's not the type to mentally break that easily.
She held up well in the original story, too.
*
Nam Daeun, upon arriving at Lee Hoyeon's arena, had to face reality.
[9sec]
The stopwatch glowing above the arena pointed to 9 seconds, and cadets were cheering for the new record.
"Looks like this time, we might have a new number one."
"Yeah. Lee Hoyeon's on fire."
"Nam Daeun's definitely strong, but... how do I put it, she hasn't shown much progress."
She didn't care about the rude chatter from cadets. That phase was long past.
The problem was that even professors were now praising Lee Hoyeon.
"He's only tier 8, but this strong..."
"His mana capacity is low, but his mana control is excellent—that means he has high potential for growth."
"The internet's gonna blow up again."
"I'm more worried about all the guild scouts coming to the 1v1 duels tomorrow. Sigh..."
"That's Professor Kim Jinhyuk's problem."
Nam Daeun's sharp senses picked up the professors' conversation even from afar.
Feeling a complex wave of emotions for the first time, she looked around—and locked eyes with Lee Hoyeon.
Lee Hoyeon was laughing cheerfully with his friends, even after setting that insane record.
'I'm betting my life on this test...'
Nam Daeun dashed out of the testing ground.
Jealousy toward Lee Hoyeon flooded her mind.
'He's just as talented as me—so why does he look so happy?'
I'm stuck living this kind of life because of my talent.
Why is he allowed to smile like that?
I wish everyone were as miserable as I am...
Dark thoughts spiraled endlessly.
Smack!
Nam Daeun slapped her own cheek, snapping herself out of it.
"Haah, no more of this ugly jealousy."
Lately, these kinds of pessimistic thoughts keep coming up.
It's times like this when I need to push myself even harder.
Nam Daeun turned on her smartwatch and sent a message to her hospitalized little sister.
Her only healing and emotional refuge—her sister, Nam Dahee.
Ever since she got scolded last time for calling during a bathroom break, she always sends a message first.
- Me: Dahee. Can we talk?
- Our Dahee: Yep. I'm good!
As soon as she got the reply, Nam Daeun started a video call.
- Unnieee! I missed you!
"Me too. What did you do today?"
- I drew a picture! Wanna see?
Nam Dahee showed a doodle of two people holding hands and smiling.
- It's me and you. Cute, right?
"...Yeah. It's really cute. You've got talent in drawing too."
Nam Daeun looked at her smiling sister holding the sketchbook, but didn't let go of her tension.
She felt like if she relaxed even a little, the tears would come pouring out.
Every time Nam Daeun talked with Nam Dahee, her heart ached.
Her little sister should've been outside playing with other kids at elementary school—but instead, she was wasting away in a hospital bed all day. It was unbearable.
She hated herself for being unable to do anything. And she hated the world.
But still, she kept going, day by day, for her sister.
She couldn't leave that child behind.
If Dahee ever wished it, she could've killed every member of the Bayer Guild and died alongside her.
Nam Daeun was so exhausted that thoughts like that came naturally.
- Unnie! You're gonna get first place again, right? I'll draw a picture in advance!
"...Yeah. Of course. I'll definitely get first place."
- Yay! Oh, the nurse unnie is here. I'll call you back later, okay?
"Got it. Send me a message."
- Love you, unnie! smooch smooch
"Yeah, me too..."
Beep—
The screen soon went dark, and Nam Daeun lowered her head.
"I have to get first place. No matter what..."
To protect that smile, she could do anything.
Nam Daeun began clutching at her hair again.
*
Elise was in a terrible mood.
She had failed to clear tier 10 again today.
'If I'd just drawn the magic circle a little faster at the end, I could've won...!'
Tier 9 was always manageable, but the difficulty spiked at tier 10, and she always hit a wall.
Nam Daeun cleared tier 10 again in just 30 seconds, and checking Everday in the car revealed Lee Hoyeon had cleared it in 9 seconds—adding to her stress.
Of course, on the bright side, she had gotten closer than before, which meant her chances were improving.
"Haa..."
While trying to relax with the scent of wine, Sebastian, seated in the driver's seat, spoke up.
"Young Miss. I'll give you the midterm report on Cadet Lee Hoyeon."
"...Midterm report? There's that much to investigate?"
She had only asked for a quick, intuitive check—but he was being so thorough.
"Well, I got into it while digging. He's a bottomless pit of intrigue."
Despite focusing on the road, Sebastian smoothly continued his report.
"Before I begin, this is embarrassing to admit... but I got caught during the investigation. I was too careless. Since then, he's had a bodyguard."
"...You got caught by Lee Hoyeon?"
How could that even happen?
For a mere cadet to notice the stealth of an Iris Guild executive...?
"I can't say for sure if it was Cadet Lee Hoyeon's doing. There may have been another collaborator from the start. But one thing's certain—he has backing."
"Hmm... And then?"
It wasn't strange for someone like him to have support.
With that kind of ability, someone was bound to notice and latch on.
Given his closeness to Moon Surin, it was likely the academy—but maybe someone like Baek A-Young or Im Sol was helping him out individually.
There could even be another guild involved.
"I've confirmed that he regularly meets with the Saintess for treatment."
"...Does he have a chronic illness?"
If he's meeting the Saintess regularly for treatment, it must be something serious.
"Not sure. But they seemed quite close even before she took her post at the infirmary. They've had consistent contact for over a month. And around the same time he started seeing the Saintess, he switched his path from swordsman to mage."
"A career switch... that's just to distract attention."
Elise had noticed the sudden change in career path, too. Back then, she hadn't expected him to be such a talent, so she'd ignored it—just like most other cadets probably did.
"I agree. No way someone with only a month of magic training could show that level of skill. But if he'd been training for longer, his mana capacity seems oddly low."
"True. Everyone assumes he's new to magic because of that."
"Yes. But that assumption doesn't make sense in the first place. Additionally, I discovered he's been using unidentified funds to consistently purchase high-grade mana stones."
"High-grade mana stones...? Why would a cadet buy those? They're less efficient and way more expensive than mid- or low-grade ones."
Unlike the practical mid- and low-grade stones used in daily life, high-grade ones were usually for research or artifact crafting—even active Hunters rarely got their hands on them.
Supply was low and hard to acquire, but demand was stable—so prices kept rising.
"If it were for profit, he's not buying enough. But if it's for personal research, he's buying way too many. And no matter the price, he buys weekly without fail."
"I seriously don't get it."
What started as a simple investigation had become so tangled that Elise started regretting even requesting it.
Sip.
She tasted the wine in her hand and waited for Sebastian's next words.
"This is just a guess... but as you know, mana stones are also used to treat mana disorders."
"Wait, don't tell me..."
Upon hearing that, a specific diagnosis flashed through Elise's mind.
"He's buying mana stones regularly, has extremely low mana despite his skills, and meets the Saintess for treatment—this all points to..."
"Congenital Mana Disorder..."
The same illness Elise herself suffered from.
Born with too little mana to function normally, those with this illness have to rely on mana stones to cast spells.
"Correct. I suspect Cadet Lee Hoyeon has the same rare illness as you."
"I honestly never expected that. Amazing work, Sebastian."
Taking small pieces of seemingly meaningless data and deriving that conclusion—
Truly the skill of a high-ranking member of the Information Guild.
Sebastian's sharp edge hadn't dulled one bit with time.
"Thank you. Also, um..."
Sebastian hesitated, debating whether to bring up Lee Hoyeon's relationships with women.
But ending it here felt like a waste.
Decades of intuition screamed at him—
There's something more. Lee Hoyeon is hiding a big secret.
"Is there more?"
Elise was curious to hear Sebastian's next words.
Just finding a rival's weakness was impressive—but was there even more?
"No, not yet. Nothing solid. I'll complete the investigation by the end of this weekend and report again."
"Alright. Good luck."
"Yes. I won't get caught this time—don't worry."
"Yeah, yeah."
Elise felt an odd sense of kinship with Lee Hoyeon.