chapter 66
After returning from Sydney, I resumed attending school and focused on my training.
However, my mindset was a bit different from before my trip to Sydney.
“…Because now I have a clear enemy.”
Until now, I had only thought of the Doctor as the one who unleashed the chimeras in the world before my regression.
The Doctor was the one who created them and also modified them.
But, on second thought, that seemed a bit strange.
[“I created them to fulfill the wishes of all humanity.”]
[“The wish for the eradication of the Black Mist….”]
[“And I started this research hoping everyone in the world would recognize my genius in eradicating the Black Mist.”]
[“I intend to use these children I created to fight against the Black Mist.”]
At the time, the Doctor answered my questions this way.
And after examining his mind, I realized he was telling the truth.
In other words, his goal was indeed to eradicate the Black Mist first.
For a man like him to have the chimeras attack humanity—that was strange.
“Besides, the Doctor’s lab was fairly large, but not enough to mass-produce the countless chimeras that attacked humanity before my regression.”
This meant that someone else, using the Doctor’s research, mass-produced the chimeras to attack humanity.
The prime candidate for that someone would naturally be the organization that had dealings with the Doctor and is suspected of the recent terror in Sydney.
“Judging by the doppelganger they unleashed this time, the chimera mass-production system must have already been completed.”
And it’s very likely that a similar system existed even before my regression.
The doppelganger in Sydney was weaker than the ones I had seen before or the ones created by the Doctor, but that’s probably because the Doctor died too soon at my hands, and the research data wasn’t fully transmitted. Let’s leave it at that.
Anyway, through this incident, I realized which targets I should focus on eliminating.
“Of course, the Black Mist is also an enemy that must be erased eventually….”
But when it comes to the Black Mist, there’s no clear method other than advancing Sammae Evolution to erase the ether that forms the Black Mist.
The terrorist organization led by the Oracle is different.
I still don’t know the Oracle’s identity, but I’m sure there are ways to remove them from this world.
Thanks to that, my mindset changed, and this small realization fused into my body.
Thus, I reorganized the numerous realizations I had gained, and as a result, my Harmonized Divine Technique grew stronger over time.
“Geonwoo! Ha-eun! Congratulations on your graduation!”
“Time really flies… It feels like just yesterday that you first met at Jaehui’s house.”
It was the day of my and Lee Ha-eun’s elementary school graduation and middle school entrance ceremony.
“…So the day I graduate from elementary school finally came.”
…My mother and Ha-eun’s mother felt that time was passing quickly, but I couldn’t agree.
So much had happened before I became a middle school student.
In fact, middle school marked the period when I would take my first steps as an Awakened.
“From now on, Geonwoo and Ha-eun will learn about aura and magic at school, right?”
“…That’s right.”
Even in elementary school, there were lessons about aura and magic, but the details were not taught.
There was no reason to teach detailed knowledge of aura and magic to elementary students, and controlling aura and magic just enough to prevent them from going out of control was sufficient.
Ah, of course…
“Speaking of middle school lessons… do they have any meaning for Geonwoo and Ha-eun?”
“No.”
I answered my mother like that.
Lee Ha-eun had learned magic from me, and by now she had mastered auxiliary magic at a level that one would only learn after graduating from the academy and entering the field.
As for me, although known as an Aura user, I was not technically an Aura user, so the classes were meaningless.
For that reason, middle school-level lessons held no significance for either of us.
Not that we wouldn’t attend, though.
“Ah, Geonwoo. The class assignments are done.”
Ha-eun said as she showed me her smartphone.
Seeing that, I also pulled out my phone to check my assigned class…
“…Ah…”
Before I could even confirm my class, I saw Ha-eun sit down in disappointment.
“What’s wrong?”
“…Geonwoo and I are in different classes.”
“Ah…”
Right.
This is probably the biggest difference between elementary and middle school.
The specialized elementary school for Awakeneds had only one class since it only gathered children before entering elementary school. But middle school was different.
Just from the classes confirmed so far, there were five… which meant there was a 1 in 5 chance that Ha-eun and I would be in different classes.
Of course, class assignments aren’t completely random.
Personally, I think the teachers deliberately separated Ha-eun and me.
‘Middle school teachers must have heard from elementary school teachers that Ha-eun and I are close…’
If it were just normal closeness, we would have been in the same class.
But Ha-eun relied too much on me, so they probably thought it better to give us some distance.
‘If it were me, I’d do the same.’
For Ha-eun’s future, sometimes it’s better to keep some space.
So it’s only natural that we ended up in different classes.
Seeing my mother and Ha-eun’s mother wearing similar expressions, I checked the list of classmates and recognized a familiar name.
“Ryu Ah-young?”
“Huh? Ah-young?”
“Yeah. I’m in the same class as Ryu Ah-young. By the way, she really did move to our neighborhood?”
Ryu Ah-young, an ability user I met at the elementary school retreat.
Since reuniting at the fifth-grade retreat, she had kept in touch and said she wanted to move to our neighborhood. Now, we were going to the same middle school.
“Ah, that’s right. Ryu Ah-min is in my class too.”
It seemed that Ryu Ah-min, Ah-young’s twin, was in the same class as Ha-eun.
Naturally, if Ah-young moved to this neighborhood, Ah-min would come along.
Saying it like this makes it sound like Ah-min is just a bonus for Ah-young, which is a bit unfair, but oh well.
Besides Ha-eun and me entering middle school, several other changes occurred.
First, Yeon Mirae graduated from the academy and joined the Ironblood Guild.
Although she had been pre-assigned to the guild, her joining caused its reputation to skyrocket.
Moreover, the White Wolf Guild—which I had destroyed after they sent a spy to the Ironblood Guild—essentially became a subordinate organization of the Ironblood Guild, further raising its status.
‘The Ironblood Guild is now called one of the three major guilds in Korea, huh?’
Of course, not only Yeon Mirae, an Aura Master, but also Kim Baek-rang, the leader of White Wolf, who is also a strong Aura Master, effectively became part of the Ironblood Guild.
The second change… Rachel and Arthur returned to England.
Naturally. They only studied in Korea temporarily, and their nationality is British.
Although Arthur suggested living in Korea, Rachel wasn’t willing to abandon her family and homeland.
Still, they frequently keep in touch with Yeon Mirae.
And the final change…
‘Terrorist activity has increased.’
Various chimeras, like the doppelganger in Sydney, were reported in Asia, Africa, and South America.
…The Oracle and his subordinates had begun moving in earnest.
However, instead of attacking heavily populated cities like Sydney, they seemed to focus on developing or impoverished countries, likely deciding that attacking advanced nations to become a global public enemy was premature.
Though technically, they already were public enemies, full-scale war was being avoided.
Not that advanced countries did nothing either.
[Awakened from various countries gathered relief supplies and were dispatched to the affected countries…]
[Currently, the terrorist targets are only developing nations, but there are concerns that advanced nations may be targeted in the near future…]
Many Awakened moved to prevent terror.
Not only Awakened, but UN peacekeeping forces were also dispatched to conduct anti-terror operations.
‘Before my regression, Awakened were rarely sent overseas, let alone armies.’
Because, like Yeon Mirae going to Sydney, the number of dungeons overseas had decreased, so both Awakened and armies had the capacity to act.
In a few years, the number of dungeons will increase again, so this is only a temporary situation.
‘…Maybe the Oracle knows this too.’
The Oracle could not observe my existence, but seemed able to predict everything else.
So he probably knows that dungeon numbers will increase again in a few years.
If so, I could roughly guess the Oracle’s purpose.
If continued terrorist attacks force many Awakened and armies to remain overseas…
If the number of dungeons in each country increases again in that situation…
If the Oracle’s subordinates hinder the return of Awakened and armies to their homelands…
‘…It’ll be a disaster.’
Because many Awakened and military personnel will be abroad, some dungeons won’t be dealt with.
Moreover, if the Oracle’s terrorist organization directly attacks, it won’t be stoppable.
‘The Oracle is definitely not someone to take lightly.’
He doesn’t hesitate to abandon subordinates.
He uses his foresight to carry out terror.
…Most of all, a massive terrorist organization is active, yet there are no clear leads.
‘…All I can do right now is make myself stronger and continue my Artist activities.’
But I had a gut feeling.
There would be an opportunity to catch the tail of the Oracle’s organization.
That opportunity would come when the Oracle’s organization begins directly attacking advanced nations.
I only need to prepare for that time.
To do so, I first need to secure a relatively high social status.
But the Oracle’s organization is likely to act in earnest when dungeon creation returns to its previous levels… when I attend high school.
How high could a high school student’s social status realistically be?
“…A kid who just graduated elementary school wielding an Aura Blade…?”
“Even if he’s a disciple of an Aura Master… an Aura Master at that age…?”
So I decided to gain an extraordinary social status.
I would become the youngest Aura Master.
By publicly displaying what appeared to be an Aura Blade, a symbol of an Aura Master, in front of everyone.
…Of course, it wasn’t an actual Aura Blade, but if others perceived it as one, that was enough.
It was also something even stronger than an Aura Blade.
