Chapter 107
“Huh..?”
ㅡFlap-flap
I called Suri out with my eyes squeezed shut, and something like a winged ping-pong ball was buzzing in the air. Looking closer, it was Suri, and for something so tiny, it had bean-sized eyes, cute little wings, and feet—basically everything it needed.
“A-ah, no....”
“Jeez, Eve, that's so cool.”
“I admit it. Miniaturizing a flying golem is a skill too.”
In its true form it was way too big, so I had wanted it to turn into an eagle, but I guess communication with the pup wasn't great, because it had changed into the tiniest form in the world.
ㅡPooof!
Suri flapped with all its might and landed on top of my head. Honestly, it was so light I couldn't even tell whether it had really sat down; it looked so round it would roll right off if it walked, but it was still gripping my hair tightly with its tiny feet.
“Suri... you didn't have to come out this small...”
ㅡChirp chirp....
“If you're going to give an order, at least do it properly, okay..? Whine, whine.”
Though it grumbled, Suri still changed back into eagle form.
ㅡFwoosh!
“Whoa, that's heavy.”
ㅡKreee....
Suri, which had been sitting on my head, suddenly grew larger and I almost toppled to the floor, but it grabbed the collar of my clothes and lifted me up so I didn't fall.
“Wow, you got big all of a sudden.”
“Wait, do golem mages even have a feature like that?”
“I guess A-ranks are just different.”
“Hehe... it can get even bigger than this, too...”
“Even bigger than this? It can do a second-stage evolution?”
“That’s like Pokémon.”
Suri returned to its original eagle form and landed on the floor. Teacher Baek Sangjun, who had been watching closely from the side, stared at Suri for a moment before adding one more thing to say to me.
“Aren’t you going to bring out anything else?”
“Ah... something else..?”
“What else is there?”
“You did just say there were a few more.”
“Not right now, though... I’ll show you later.”
“All right, got it. You can go back now.”
“Yep.”
It didn't really feel like I showed my power properly, but this should be fine, right? Honestly, if Ophelia, Minyum, and Grandpa Galahad were here too, I'd be the strongest by far. But I was holding back a little.
“All right, you two dragoons, step forward.”
“Yes.”
“Bring it on, Na Byung-ho.”
“Gyeongwon, you should go meet your parents up in heaven.”
“My mom's back home and doing just fine.”
“Give her my regards.”
Team formation starts after everyone trades a few insults and gets smacked on the back of the head by Teacher Baek Sangjun.
“Rock, paper, scissors.”
“Damn it.”
“Woo-hoo~ Hayeon-woo, step up.”
“I really hate this.”
“I knew I was better than Byung-ho, right?”
“What are you talking about? I hate both of you.”
“What?”
With Senior Byung-ho winning the first round of rock-paper-scissors, Yeonwoo unni ended up on Byung-ho senior's team. In response, Senior Gyeongwon took Choa, and after Byung-ho won again in the next round, he took me.
“S-Senior. Why did you choose me?”
“Newbies are always the first ones to get picked. But, Eve, I picked you because I like you.”
“Ah... yes.”
“What is this reaction?”
I guess it's some kind of thing where they pick the younger kids early so they don't get discouraged. I knew I'd be separated from Choa, but now that it actually happened, it feels kind of weird.
“Eve, let's do our best. Though I am going to win.”
“Y-yeah...”
“It's okay, Eve! Unni's here!”
Instead, we had Yeonwoo unni on our side. Just from the vibe, Senior Gyeongwon felt a little less good at fighting than Senior Byung-ho? I figured it was probably because of their roles—Byung-ho senior was a tank, after all.
After that, the two raid teams were more or less sorted out through one round of rock-paper-scissors after another.
“All right, no objections, right? This is how things will stay for a few months.”
“Eh, really?”
“Yeah, there are no take-backs in this world. Even if the team doesn't fit, once the raid starts you're comrades fighting back to back. Instead of thinking about changing teams, you should be thinking about adjusting to each other.”
Teacher Baek Sangjun, surprisingly, put forth a very reasonable argument. The split team list was as follows.
“First, our team.”
Na Byung-ho (main tank, 2nd-year high school, male, A-rank)
Ha Yeonwoo (curse mage, 2nd-year high school, female, A-rank)
Eve (golem mage, 4th grade elementary, female, A-rank)
Lee Sana (wide-area healer, 2nd-year middle school, female, C-rank)
Lee Jin-seo (earth mage, 3rd-year middle school, male, C-rank)
Song Si-woo (swordsman, 1st-year high school, female, B-rank)
Park Min-jae (archer, 3rd-year middle school, male, C-rank)
Park Geon-woo (assassin, 3rd-year middle school, male, C-rank)
Kim Do-yun (Inventory, 1st-year middle school, male, D-rank)
Kim Gang-uk (psychokinetic, 6th grade elementary, male, B-rank)
Kwon Narae (illusionist, 5th grade elementary, female, C-rank)
Jang Tae-hoon (enchanter, 5th grade elementary, male, C-rank)
“Next, Senior Gyeongwon's team.”
Ahn Gyeongwon (long-range fire mage, 2nd-year high school, male, A-rank)
Yu Choa (self-healing and body reinforcement, 4th grade elementary, female, B-rank)
Gyeon Dae-hoon (barrier tank, 1st-year high school, male, B-rank)
Lee Han-sol (summoner, 2nd-year middle school, female, B-rank)
Jo Se-eun (swordsman, 2nd-year middle school, female, C-rank)
Kim Ji-ho (spearman, 1st-year high school, male, B-rank)
Seo Yu-na (water mage, 1st-year high school, female, B-rank)
Kim Seol-yeon (spearman, 3rd-year middle school, female, C-rank)
Han Yu-eun (buffer, 1st-year middle school, female, D-rank)
Kim Do-hyeon (explosion mage, 6th grade elementary, male, B-rank)
Min Ha-rin (psychokinetic, 1st-year middle school, female, C-rank)
Cha Min-gyu (body reinforcement, 5th grade elementary, male, C-rank)
After the raid teams had been divided, each team was given a strategy time under Teacher Baek Sangjun's orders.
“Eve, see that girl over there? She’s the summoner—think you can beat her?”
“She's a summoner, Byung-ho.”
“Right.”
“I’ve never seen her use her ability, so I don’t really know....”
“Yeah, that’s true. I’ve never seen her either, so I don’t know how strong she is.”
Senior Gyeongwon's team also had a summoner who, like me, used her ability to command subordinates. But that senior was also a transfer student, so I still hadn't seen her use her ability.
“Eve, actually, the students aren't going to fight each other. There’s an entry-type gate behind the school, and we’re going inside there.”
“Oh, really? We weren't fighting each other?”
“Yeah.”
Come to think of it, that makes sense. Hunters are supposed to hunt monsters, so I guess there wasn't any reason to fight the other students after all? This is actually more convenient. I don't really want to see my golems fighting people anyway.
While Yeonwoo unni and Senior Byung-ho were sitting in a circle and debating earnestly, another unni sitting next to me tapped my shoulder and leaned in.
“Eve.”
“Ah, uh, um..! Senior Sana?”
“That’s right.”
Senior Lee Sana, a 2nd-year middle schooler and specialist in wide-area healing. Her name is a little unusual, but she is Korean. She wears an eyepatch over her right eye and a bandage on her right arm. I wasn't sure if it was a fashion statement or an injury.
Come to think of it, there are only Koreans in our class. I could've sworn they said there were a few foreigners too.
In the G class studying nearby, there were two people who looked foreign even from far away. There was a black-haired senior girl who looked about middle school age, and one Black male senior.
Senior Sana sat down right beside me, pressed up against my hip, and quietly spoke.
“Eve, I think you and I are the same kind of person.”
“Huh..? The same kind...?”
“Yeah.”
What on earth is she talking about..? The same kind of person? Wait, could this unni actually have been a guy too...!
“I’m actually hiding my power. It’s sealed right now, but my wide-area healing actually holds an enormous secret.”
“Uh, ah... what is it..? What secret..?”
“My ability isn't healing. It's a powerful reality-altering spell that deletes the very concept of ‘wounds.’”
“Ah... um...”
Did she say she was a 2nd-year middle schooler? Then I guess this is just that kind of age.
“If I take off this bandage on my right hand, the seal will be broken. And my ability will transform into a lethal ability. But it’s too dangerous, so I’m keeping it sealed for now.”
“I see... then you’d better keep it sealed...”
I guess she's talking like this because I'm young, but please don't end up kicking the blanket like crazy in bed later. I'm the one getting embarrassed just from hearing it...
“Then what about the eyepatch..? Is that sealing something too?”
“Yeah, this eye is infused with tremendous magical power. It might look scary to other people, so I’m keeping it hidden—but do you want to see it once?”
“No, thanks. I'm scared of scary things too. Good luck.”
“I see.”
Sana unni had really gotten completely absorbed in her own shtick. But if I were her, I think I'd be the same. Even non-awakened people get middle-school syndrome, so if you awaken powers at this age, you might go a little crazy.
“Suri, your golem is really cool. It makes me want to raise a familiar of my own.”
“R-really..? Suri, say thank you...”
ㅡKreee..?
“I'm a loner, so I'd like to have someone I can openly share my secrets with.”
“Then have you ever used that ability?”
“Not yet. If I had, my rank might have become S-rank.”
“Aha...”
“Okay, confirmed. My hands and feet are about to curl up from embarrassment, so I want to stop listening now.”
Listening to Yeonwoo unni, Senior Byung-ho, and the others' passionate debate like background music, lunchtime arrived before I knew it. We’d kept on with class without even realizing third period had ended.
The dome lid must have opened in the middle for sunlight and warmth, and by the time it opened it was probably the start of fourth period. Maybe time goes by faster when you're with other people than I thought, or maybe it's just because a lot has happened today.
“You kids over there, eat and then gather back here. Don't be late.”
“Teacher, where did you go?”
“Why do you ask? I went and buried someone I didn't like in the back mountain.”
“Wow, what a bad person. Eve, we shouldn't grow up to be like that, right?”
“R-right...”
“Hurry up and go. This is the teachers' resting area now.”
The teacher said that and whisked away. He looked like he was heading over to talk to the G-class teacher in the distance, and apparently Teacher Baek Sangjun was the higher-ranking one, because the G-class teacher bowed his head politely.
“Kids, anyone want to eat lunch with this cool senior?”
“Hyung, cut the nonsense and let's go.”
“Geon-woo, you’re a lifesaver...”
The boys hurried off to eat with the other boys. Looks like Senior Gyeongwon's raid team was going to eat with their own team too.
“Kids, shall we go too?”
“Yes, unni. Let's eat quickly and take a little walk.”
“Yeah, let's.”
Naturally, I was included with the girls.
“Maintaining the seal requires calories.”
“Ah...”
This senior really commits to her concept.
* * * * *
The top floor of Nova's headquarters on Teheran-ro in Gangnam.
“Sigh, this is way too sudden.”
“But it also seems like a good opportunity. The problem is that we don't have enough people who can head out right away.”
A call had come in at Nova headquarters from the Korea Dungeon Management Association.
“If it's at least twelve people... they're asking us to put together one raid team and bring it over.”
“I suppose so. That would also be advantageous later when calculating the contribution ratios for the dungeon investigation.”
They would assemble a raid team for the long-delayed re-evaluation of Silence Laboratory's dungeon rank. Normally, the standard method would be to find hunters with stealth abilities or high mobility, then take scouting equipment and quickly measure the mana density up to the 5th floor.
This method isn't strongly encouraged in the world dungeon investigation manual, so it's basically a somewhat shady, off-the-books investigation. The previous Silence Laboratory investigation was also carried out this way.
With attention on Silence Laboratory so high, if they chose the cut-corners method one more time, the reputation of the Korea Dungeon Management Association could crash into the dirt. They already had a history of taking a big image hit thanks to the sudden actions of some 10-year-old girl.
Nova was currently working its subordinate hunters hard to raise funds for the upcoming auction of Silence Laboratory, so there was no quick way to secure extra personnel from somewhere.
“Team Leader Yu, can't we bring that girl from last time this time around?”
“Eve..? Eve is... probably in school right now. The Dungeon Management Association also asked us to bring people from Nova's side...”
On top of that, while it might not be a huge problem, there had been that incident where Eve had unintentionally completely wrecked the Dungeon Management Association. Taking Eve along for the association's request felt a little awkward.
“But still, if Eve comes in..?”
We could meet the twelve-person requirement far more easily than by bringing over a handful of Nova hunters running around everywhere.
“If we can somehow make up the headcount with Ophelia, Minyum, and that new golem we saw before...”
“Team Leader Yu?”
“...I guess there's no choice.”