Stephen had told Byron to keep watch even if he wasn't actually watching him, but suddenlytoday Byron returned to him with some news.
"So are you saying that a female student disappeared right in front of you while you were watching?"
Byron nodded his head.
Stephen asked seriously:
"Tell me all the details without leaving anything out."
Byron spoke:
[I was wandering near the library and saw a girl running toward something, but she suddenly disappeared as if she had never existed at all.]
[And I felt demonic mana after the girl disappeared in front of me, and when I approached the place where she vanished, I didn't find any trace leading to her.]
Stephen frowned in thought.
'Kai couldn't discover the reason for the students' disappearance in the original story. This was one of the many unknown cases that happened in the novel.'
'I had to think it through and write it even if the protagonists couldn't figure it out.'
Stephen now felt regret for not describing the villains' plans completely, but he had decided to destroy them all even if he didn't have enough information.
"Let's head to the disappearance site."
It was now 6 a.m., and there was still time before the first class today, which would start at ten, unlike past days when the first class began at 8 a.m.
Nathan was still sleeping, so Stephen left him and went to speak with Byron.
Even Stephen's clothing was just a loose black shirt with a slightly open collar that showed a bit of his pale neck, and loose black pants.
Stephen went to the place Byron led him to.
Byron stopped and walked in a circle around the area.
[She was here, and then she suddenly disappeared afterward.]
Stephen crouched and placed his hand on the ground, then controlled his mana. He frowned a moment after activating his mana.
'How did I forget this?!… My power is currently restricted by the earring.'
Stephen shook his head and removed the earring from his ear.
Byron turned his head, trying to suppress his laughter before Stephen saw him.
Stephen turned to look at Byron suspiciously, but Byron had already made a serious expression—though he still looked cutely cat-like.
Stephen refocused on the place where the girl disappeared and controlled his mana through his hand.
The world appeared different before him. It was saturated with various lights of different colors and shapes.
Awakening wasn't only about gaining power and skills.
After awakening, a person could control their mana in any form they wanted, even using it to track mana signatures they recognized.
Of course, not everyone could freely control or analyze mana or track it—only those with talent or great power could do so.
Stephen frowned involuntarily when he sensed the demonic mana. Feeling demonic mana was disgusting—like feeling insects crawling all over your body.
Even though Stephen had dealt with much demonic mana before, he still felt disgusted by it, as if he had an old hatred toward it.
After sensing the mana, Stephen found extremely faint demonic mana surrounding the place where he had placed his hand. There was also a very tiny, broken trail that was almost unnoticeable.
Stephen followed this small trail, and the place it led to was very strange.
It was the academy museum, where most relics and strange inventions made by students were displayed.
Inside the museum were some students who seemed curious about the place, and others who were simply fans of these things.
After Stephen entered, the last trace of demonic mana vanished completely.
Stephen looked around strangely. The place was very normal, nothing odd at all, even after he inspected it.
He walked around, observing the extremely strange tools. Each tool had a name written under it—surely the name of the one who made it—and beneath the name was a description of the tool and how it worked.
Byron was also wandering with him inside the museum.
"There's nothing strange here…"
Stephen noticed Byron suddenly run toward something. When Stephen looked at the end of the path Byron was running toward, there stood a familiar person staring at a relic with focus.
The students around him were looking at him fearfully and avoiding him as much as possible.
Stephen was confused.
'Isn't that the third-year student I saw Byron sitting in his lap?'
'Why are the students afraid of him? … When I met him, he seemed like a kind person.'
When Byron arrived, he rubbed his head against the student's leg. The student noticed him, bent down, petted Byron's head gently, and spoke:
"Byron, how did you get here?"
The student did not wait for an answer—of course, how would a cat answer him? After lowering his hand to Byron's furry neck, he spoke gently:
"…You can roam freely now after getting the collar."
Then he lifted Byron with his hands and let him sit comfortably in his arms.
Stephen approached them. Due to his sharp hearing, he had heard what the student said to Byron. When he arrived, the student noticed him.
Stephen glanced at Byron briefly before shifting his gaze to the relic the student had been looking at.
It was a small ring suitable for a slender girl's fingers, with a very beautiful gem—blood-red—carved in the shape of a small, delicate flower.
The student's name under it was: Oliver William.
The student noticed Stephen's gaze toward the relic and spoke calmly:
"This beautiful relic has a strange story behind it."
Stephen looked into the student's beautiful green eyes.
'He's familiar… Did he appear in the novel?'
After noticing Stephen's interest, the student continued:
"There was a second-year student who fell in love with a first-year girl. He started following her everywhere, confessing to her. The girl was common, had nothing, and her parents exploited her like a machine. The boy came from a wealthy family, though not extremely rich. After many attempts, he succeeded in winning her love."
"But unexpectedly, when the boy crafted this ring to gift her—by the time she reached the third year—the girl suddenly disappeared. He searched everywhere, even went to her family, but found nothing. When he was on the verge of madness for not finding her, he received news from her friend. She told him she had noticed her friend acting strangely recently—looking scared—and told her that her family had been acting weird. And right afterward, she disappeared."
"The boy rushed madly to the girl's home, but he didn't find her parents anywhere. He searched the entire house and found nothing. He stood inside her parents' bedroom—the only place left. He searched and found nothing as well… but he noticed a small wooden doll beside the bed. When he picked it up, his attention was drawn to the doll's strange eyes, and then he felt dizzy and fainted. After waking up, he found himself in a strange place that looked like an underground cave. The atmosphere was suffocating, and the smell of rotten blood filled the area. His whole body was trembling—not from fear for himself, but from fear of the worst possibility. And guess what he found?"
The student didn't wait for Stephen's answer and continued:
"He found his lover covered in blood in the center of a circle with strange black markings. Outside the circle, the girl's parents were dead, with blood flowing from every opening in their bodies."
(The Writer: Obviously the openings are the ears, nose, mouth, and eyes.)
"The boy collapsed on the ground. His legs failed to carry him to his lover. He could only crawl toward her while crying hysterically. He held her and begged her to wake up, telling her he had made a ring for her, telling her the ring contained a gem the color of the sea she loved, and that he carved it like a flower because she loved flowers so much. He even took it out to show her, but due to his trembling hands, he couldn't hold the ring, and it fell into the blood. It is said that this is when the gem's color turned into this blood-red color."
Stephen was stunned. Suddenly this third-year student started explaining the story behind the ring without Stephen even asking.
And what was with this tragic story out of nowhere?
He already had enough tragic events happening after entering this academy—meeting Nathan, Mark's revenge, and the main characters starting to notice him. Why did this story appear now too?
The third-year student smirked at Stephen's shocked expression and gently petted Byron's head.
After Stephen noticed the student had stopped talking, he suddenly asked:
"So… what happened to the boy?"
The third-year student shrugged and spoke:
"It is said he disappeared along with his lover's corpse. No one knows where he went. And no one even knows if this story is true or not, so don't think about it too much."
"….…"
Stephen had nothing to say in response.
'I didn't know he talked this much. And why is Byron so comfortable in his arms?'
Stephen spoke to Byron:
"Class will start. I'm leaving now. You may roam freely."
After Byron nodded lazily, Stephen turned and left without even greeting or glancing at the third-year student again.
After Stephen left:
'What's wrong with Byron? He didn't even like Mark this much.'
'Did Byron know him even before meeting us?'
Stephen was deep in thought as he headed toward building C6, where his shared room was.
But he noticed Alisa standing near building C6, and he felt puzzled.
'What is she doing here?'
He approached Alisa. When she noticed him, she quickly walked toward him.
After getting close enough, she looked right and left to make sure no one saw them, then told Stephen in a low voice:
"Kai, Aira, and Evelyn are planning to prank you again. You must be careful when you enter the classroom."
Then she quickly left after telling him this.
Stephen stared in astonishment at the spot where Alisa disappeared.
'Is she really acting as my informant?!'
'And what's with checking left and right like a real spy? Where did she learn that?'
After Stephen returned to his room, he looked at Nathan, who was still sleeping messily on the bed. Half of his stomach was showing from his white T-shirt, and one leg here, another there. It was also his habit to remove his eyepatch before sleeping.
Stephen remembered how Nathan kept pestering him to wake him up the past days, so he approached Nathan's bed and said:
"Wake up."
After seeing no response from Nathan, Stephen raised his index finger and tapped Nathan's head several times.
"Nathan, wake up."
Nathan opened his eyes quickly and looked at Stephen, then rushed to cover his right eye and sat up to put on his eyepatch.
Stephen's mission was complete, and he went to change into his academy uniform.
When Nathan noticed Stephen was almost done, he quickly got up, changed, and followed Stephen before he left the room.
"You're a good friend; you woke me up."
Nathan smiled cheerfully as he followed Stephen to class.
Before they reached the classroom, they met David, and the three walked together.
When Stephen saw the classroom door, he suddenly stopped walking and pulled David back to stop him from entering.
'The old man told me to take care of his grandson.'
Nathan hadn't noticed the other two stopping and continued walking happily. He opened the door and stepped inside, then—
BOOM!
Brown sand burst all over Nathan, covering him from head to toe.
Nathan stared forward in shock, then looked back and found Stephen and David standing far away from him.
And at that moment, Nathan felt… betrayed.