Chapter 103
Today was the day of the closing ceremony.
In the old world, a university closing ceremony ant listening to the school president’s tedious address….
No, did the concept of a closing ceremony even exist?
Most people went straight into vacation and did not even show up to campus.
In any case, the academy here in the 4th Scholastic District—especially Hero Prep—held a closing ceremony that was special.
Unlike the entrance ceremony, which only first-years attended, every grade participated, and Hero Prep opened its gates so that even the cadets’ families could attend and grace the occasion.
On top of that, many reporters sward in from outside, and heroes of the Great Rift, as well as famous figures who had graduated from Hero Prep and were currently rising in prominence, took part in the awards ceremony.
At this scale, it would not have been strange to call it an official event of the 4th Scholastic District, but this phenonon was not achieved by Hero Prep’s prestige alone.
More than that, it happened because it was rare for Seoul’s notable figures to gather in one place.
“More precisely, it is a regular eting of the social leadership class, diated through Hero Prep.”
Successful Hunters, top-tier craftsn, guild masters counted among the elite of the awakened world, and even officials from the Bureau.
As a result, the closing ceremony was an event that made the awakened, hungry for connections, unable to keep from salivating, and the fact that the children attending were nearing marriageable age played a significant role.
After all, nearly half of them would end up marrying fellow Hero Prep graduates, so parents ca to scope out cadets their children had taken interest in, to see their prospects in advance.
If they liked what they saw, they would strike up conversation with that cadet’s family on the spot, and if the target happened to belong to a clan they held a grudge against, they could cut the budding interest down before it grew.
It was hard to imagine a more efficient process for arranging such etings.
So, in such a grand event, what was I, a Social Care Beneficiary, doing?
“Cadet Ji Seokhyeon! May we have a brief interview!”
“Investigator Ji Seokhyeon! We would like to ask about the Demonic Being you hunted this ti!”
“Do you intend to continue balancing your studies as well!”
“If there are any fellow cadets you are close with, could you tell us!”
The mont the official schedule ended, I was being hounded by dozens of reporters.
The flashes were so intense that even with Demonic Eye, I could barely keep my eyes open.
In the end, I only managed to escape the closing ceremony venue because Hero Prep’s Guards blocked the reporters.
“Damn it.”
By now, the other cadets would be deep into socializing at the outdoor banquet Grand Pistachio had prepared.
Of course, it was not that I was longing for the banquet.
I only wanted to check who had attended.
So of them might beco involved in the story going forward.
“For better or worse.”
With the Guards’ help, I headed to the Hall of Justice, the main building of the Investigation Division.
The main buildings and dormitories of each division were restricted areas that outsiders could not approach.
I considered going to the dormitory, but it was too far from the closing ceremony grounds.
Besides, it was not as though the Guards had the leisure to keep escorting around.
In any case, I headed for the rooftop of the Hall of Justice.
If I was going to be alone anyway, I might as well watch the banquet from afar.
I climbed the stairs quickly and reached the rooftop, only to find soone already there.
“A celebrity has arrived.”
“Even if you mock , it does not affect at all.”
It was Probationary Investigator Yun Jeongseop.
As always, he carried irritation across his entire body like a habit.
I walked over and leaned against the railing beside him.
After watching the banquet grounds in silence for about five minutes, Yun Jeongseop spoke without moving his gaze.
“If you have nowhere to go, co to my place.”
“Is it a monthly rental? Which district is it?”
“I own it. And it is Seoul’s District 5.”
“Oh. You live well.”
“I inherited it.”
“Hmm….”
Well, Yun Jeongseop was also a Hero Prep graduate, so it was not strange for him to live in District 5, where the awakened elite resided.
The reason he was telling to co to his ho was that construction on Hero Prep’s grounds would begin in preparation for the second sester’s lecture objectives.
They would build convenience facilities for cadets, make structural changes to the tactical training grounds, and even change the outdoor training ground’s surface from grass to dirt.
So for a few weeks while the construction was underway, cadets would have to live off campus.
That was why Yun Jeongseop was offering to let stay at his place during that period.
During that ti, I would not be able to continue training with An Hwigom anyway, so I had considered taking it easy and visiting Jeju Island, but Yun Jeongseop’s offer did not seem bad, and I nodded without resistance.
“But should I at least pay you for the room?”
“It does not matter. I will be at the laboratory anyway.”
“They throw cadets out, but instructors can use the laboratory.”
“If they throw the instructors out too, who is going to prepare the second-sester lectures?”
“That is true.”
Yun Jeongseop watched my expression for a mont, then spoke carefully.
“Have you heard anything about the Elixir?”
“Not yet. It does not show up even on the Special Affairs Division’s information lines.”
“I see…. I see.”
Yun Jeongseop’s expression looked slightly sad.
No, his face was naturally shadowed like that.
“Then what do we do now?”
“About what.”
“The Mystery Club.”
“Lee Eunho….”
“Do we keep it going?”
“If you will give up your stubbornness and accept mbers.”
“So you are saying I should do what I want.”
“Since the Hunter Association club and the Autumn Arts War have already been established, it would not matter even if the Mystery Club is dissolved.”
One of the changes caused by Lee Eunho’s disappearance was the Mystery Club.
In the original story, various incidents occurred around the Mystery Club, but unless he returned, the Mystery Club would have no aning.
Well, there was still ti before the second sester.
I could think about it gradually.
And I needed to hear Cha Yeri’s stance as well.
“Either way, take your ti and choose carefully. He might return.”
“Will he, though.”
Even if he returned, could he clear the suspicion that he had co into contact with a Demonic Being?
No, did he even have the option of returning?
Without answering, Yun Jeongseop straightened from the railing.
Then, turning his back to , he headed for the stairs.
“Are you leaving?”
“Yes. I only ca up for so air before going to the laboratory.”
After Yun Jeongseop disappeared inside the building, I kept watching the banquet for a long ti.
My mind was full of Lee Eunho.
Should I go and bring him back?
If I did, where would I even go to find him?
District 11, one of Gen’s hideouts?
Or Gangwon-do?
And even if I found him, would persuasion work?
On top of that, could I even find soone who had the Phantom Thief’s Cloak…?
With resentful eyes, I stared at the System ssage that had occupied part of my vision for days.
[Sub-character, ‘Ji Seokhyeon,’ has reached a certain threshold of episode influence.]
[The character’s status rises to ‘Main Character.’]
The ssage ant I had beco the main character in place of Lee Eunho, who had derailed from the original plot.
Considering everything I had done until now, I had sensed that I would beco the main character soday.
However, the problem was the ssages that followed.
[No further episodes will be announced.]
[You can no longer use Remake Coins.]
[Remaining Remake Coins will be automatically distributed according to the character’s settings.]
If episodes were no longer announced, it ant the future could no longer be defined by the original story’s subtitles.
And as the original author, it was a asure that made a certain kind of sense.
I had beco the main character, so granting further advantages would have been unfair.
For the sa reason, I could no longer use coins to remain in the black-and-white space.
Which ant simulated training was now gone, and I could no longer check item information either.
“All right. Up to here, I can accept.”
If I still rembered the original story’s knowledge, I could respond.
The problem was the final ssage.
That the coins would be automatically distributed according to my settings.
[Durability 13.3] [Strength 4.7] [Stamina 3.0]
[Agility 20.0] [Intelligence 15.3] [Magic Power 6.0]
[Fire 0%] [Water 0%] [Wind 0%]
[Earth 40%] [Lightning 0%] [Light 0%]
[Darkness 90%] [Void 15%]
In a situation where I could not even open an item information window, the only thing I could confirm was the status and attribute display.
Including the coins I had gained from the most recent reward, I had held 8,493 coins until the very end.
It was not a small number.
But the problem was that the coins that had been used had reduced my stats.
“Instead of increasing them when I am already lacking, they lowered my stats?”
The reduced stats were stamina and magic power.
Stamina went from 5.8 to 3.0, and magic power went from 11.4 to 6.0.
Because it took fewer coins to decrease stats than to increase them, my magic power had dropped sharply.
In the end, the automatic distribution the devoted reader had ntioned was, in other words, a character nerf.
From that person’s perspective, my abilities must have been judged to break the balance.
“The loss of magic power hurts, but if I concede a hundred tis, I can substitute it with mana potions. But stamina… damn it.”
The intent behind lowering the stamina I already barely had felt far too malicious.
How much I had suffered because of stamina until now.
How long I had endured under the idea that natural increase would be easier.
“If I had known, I would have invested in lightning and run rampant.”
Still, it was not only reductions.
They had raised my wind attribute from minus ten percent to zero percent.
It might sound like only ten percent, but simply not taking attribute-based damage was an enormous rit.
A Social Care Beneficiary cadet had recently been injured so badly that he had needed to wear talgrid, and it had happened because of a single attribute bullet.
“Of course, his luck had been terrible.”
There was another change in the settings.
The concept of ability, which should have appeared along with the status, had vanished.
At first, I thought it was simply being hidden.
But it was not that.
The very concept of ability had been deleted.
In fact, even when I asked nearby cadets, they could not understand the concept of ability.
“A strange change, as if my narrative had been added by the devoted reader’s intervention.”
The reason I had created ability in the setting book was to give each character a unique power and to restrict that power.
But with ability deleted, awakened beings gained extensibility in their powers.
Of course, as long as status and attributes remained, the limits themselves would not change.
However, with the concept that had restricted application now gone, a wider variety of superpowers would manifest going forward.
“Even so, bloodline abilities will remain unrivaled.”
My ability, Stow—an inventory-like power—was not sothing that could be acquired through status and attributes.
In any case, now that I had beco the main character, I had no choice but to follow the developnts proactively.
To do that, I needed to keep watching the direction the awakened society was moving, and I could not afford to miss even private scraps of information.
“In the end, becoming a mber of the Special Affairs Division was the greatest luck I could have.”
Because I could obtain information more accurately and quickly than anyone.
Of course, the Special Affairs Division’s information lines were not sothing one could enjoy without a price.
In fact, yesterday I had received contact from Special Affairs Division Chief Baek Dojun.
An order to investigate a certain case as an investigator of the Special Affairs Division.
“If it were before, an episode would have been announced already.”
In this case, an extra episode.
I stepped away from the railing.
Then I stretched my body broadly.
The sky I looked up at, naturally, was ash-gray as always.
For so reason, it felt as though that color was foretelling my future, and an involuntary curse slipped out.
“The sky is already acting up.”
Still, there was no need to fall into despair already.
Sumr had only just begun.
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