If you had to pick keywords that came to mind when looking at Dang Gyu-young, they would be charisma, casualness, and a bit of playfulness.
Dang Gyu-ri, on the other hand, seemed to have a much larger share of that playfulness.
Her face looked younger, and her height which had once been tall and slender seemed a little shorter as well.
As seen at the entrance ceremony, her hairstyle was a ponytail, which also contributed to the different impression she gave.
Shin Byeong-cheol appeared to feel something similar. He seemed relieved after concluding that she was a different person.
Even so, his tone remained cautious.
“Uh… what brings you here…?”
“We saw Senior Kim Ho, so we wanted to come say hello.”
Dang Gyu-ri answered with another bright smile.
Shin Byeong-cheol pointed at me and asked again,
“And… how do you know him…?”
“I visited the main family with Gyu-young noona. That’s when we met.”
“Oh! Oh, right! You said you were going during winter break, didn’t you?”
Shin Byeong-cheol nodded repeatedly.
Then the freshmen introduced themselves to him.
“I’m Dang Gyu-ri, Senior.”
“I’m Dang Eun-bi. Nice to meet you.”
As if his danger-detection sensor had gone off again, Shin Byeong-cheol froze for a moment.
The former president of the Thieves Club and this girl shared two characters in their names?
Once again, he asked in a careful tone.
“Uh… if you don’t mind me asking… Senior Dang Gyu-young is what to you…?”
“She’s my cousin.”
“Ah, uh, your cousin… I see.”
Perhaps because of the sudden tension and stress, he looked like he was getting a serious stomachache.
Still, he seemed to think it was only polite to finish introducing himself.
“I’m Shin Byeong-cheol.”
“So you’re Senior Shin Byeong-cheol. Unnie has mentioned you before.”
“…What did she say?”
Since it was unexpected praise, Shin Byeong-cheol started to look a little pleased.
But Dang Gyu-ri tilted her head as though trying to recall something and continued,
“She said you’re really good at getting things done.”
“……”
“Though she also said that sometimes you make people really angry and that it was a shame she hadn’t hit you with a bat more often.”
“……”
Shin Byeong-cheol shivered as if a chill had run down his spine.
Then it seemed like his brain started spinning at incredible speed before he smacked his forehead.
“Oh man, what am I doing? I was just on my way to take care of some club business! I’d love to chat with the juniors and buy you some coffee, but I guess it’ll have to be next time.”
“Yes, Senior.”
Then he rummaged through his pocket and handed each of them a business card.
The same card I had received when I first met him on the train.
[Dragon Slayer Academy Errand Service!]
“If you ever need anything, feel free to contact me anytime. Mention my name and you’ll get a huge discount.”
“Thank you, Senior.”
“Oh, it’s nothing. Anyway, have a good time with that guy, and I’ll be off!”
Having said that much, Shin Byeong-cheol hurried off as if fleeing the scene.
Watching his retreating figure, we commented,
“Doesn’t seem like he figured it out, but his danger-detection instincts are pretty good.”
“I know, right, Senior?”
“Why are you still speaking formally?”
“You’re a senior, so of course I should!”
“Gyu-ri, don’t you think it’s time to stop?”
“Hehehehe.”
Dang Gyu-ri giggled as though she was having the time of her life.
Then she pointed at her own face and asked,
“So, what do you think of me?”
“You’ve gotten cuter.”
“That answer came out way too fast. You’re a total pro.”
“It’s just what I was thinking. I’m being honest.”
“…Hmm, I like that. Keep it up.”
Dang Gyu-ri nodded in satisfaction.
This time, I asked a question.
“So, how’s it feel to be a freshman again?”
“It’s been pretty normal. It’s only the first day, after all.”
“That’s true. How did the placement test go?”
“A pretty average 600 points.”
The first-year placement test consisted of three duel matches, with 300 points awarded for each win.
Which meant that,
“Sounds like you intentionally lost one match.”
“Mhmm. I got matched against a promising student.”
Han Gyeo-wool, who had been an executive in both the Sapphire Magic Tower and the White Magic Club.
Her younger sister Han Ga-eul had apparently enrolled this year as a promising student.
She was so talented that she was receiving even more attention than Hong Yeon-hwa had the previous year.
Dang Gyu-ri continued,
“I needed to keep my score under control anyway, so it worked out perfectly.”
“You can’t afford to stand out too much.”
The academy had secretly re-enrolled Dang Gyu-young and several of the guards to protect the first-years.
The more attention they attracted, the greater the risk that their identities would be exposed, so it was best for them to keep a low profile.
Especially since top-ranked students often had their match replays sold and circulated.
Then I looked at Dang Eun-bi.
Unlike Gyu-ri, she was an ordinary student, so there was no need for her to hide her abilities.
She caught my glance and replied briefly.
“I got 900 points.”
“As expected.”
Given her memorization skills and her talent for quickly learning techniques, I figured that even if she wasn’t quite at the level of a promising student, reaching the upper ranks would come easily enough.
And from the looks of it, that prediction had been right.
Since we were already talking about the placement test, I asked the two of them another question.
“Did either of you notice anyone suspicious? Someone who felt like they were deliberately hiding their abilities, like noona?”
“…Not really. Nobody stood out as suspicious. Why?”
“I think Seo Ye-in may have noticed something.”
I briefly explained what had happened during the entrance ceremony.
How Seo Ye-in had reacted strangely, as though she had spotted something among the first-years.
Dang Gyu-ri and Dang Eun-bi exchanged glances.
“Eun-bi, you didn’t notice anything either, right?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Did we both miss it? Maybe they were really good at hiding themselves.”
I added,
“Or maybe she was mistaken. Just in case, I already sent a message to the principal.”
“It’s not something we can just brush off. We’ll look into it too.”
“Just don’t dig too deeply.”
“We’ll be careful.”
If someone had infiltrated Dragon Slayer Academy with a specific purpose, they would have to be fairly capable.
Even if they were only around A-Rank, Dang Gyu-young would struggle on her own, and the closer they were to S-Rank, the worse her chances would become.
If a fight was inevitable, it would be best to make sure they were fully prepared first.
That served as both a warning and a request to the two of them.
Dang Gyu-ri asked,
“So what are you doing now?”
“I was thinking of taking a walk around campus. Want to come?”
“Mhmm, sure.”
Dang Eun-bi, on the other hand, seemed to have other plans.
“I’m going to check out the Alchemy Club.”
“Just looking around? Or joining?”
“I’ll probably… join.”
Her main specialty had originally been making medicines and poisons.
But during winter break, she had unexpectedly succeeded in creating Special Potion No. 1 and No. 2.
After testing them on a certain sloth, they had produced a variety of reactions, including Chattering Sloth and Possessive Sloth.
It seemed that experience had awakened her interest in alchemy.
What is she planning to make this time?
And who is she planning to use it on?
For some reason, I had a feeling Seo Ye-in would end up being the test subject again.
Or perhaps the people around me.
This is going to be very entertaining.
As long as it’s not me, isn’t that all that matters?
So I made no effort to stop Dang Eun-bi. In fact, I even kindly pointed her in the right direction.
Pointing toward one of the buildings, I said,
“The Alchemy Club should be over there. Second floor.”
“I’ll go take a look. Thank you.”
After sending Dang Eun-bi on her way, Dang Gyu-ri and I started walking.
“You’re not going to visit the Thieves Club, right?”
“Nope. If I go there and end up getting recognized, it’ll only cause problems. Da-bin’s pretty sharp, too. And speaking politely to those idiots? Absolutely not.”
Dang Gyu-ri frowned.
Then again, the Thieves Club had always been overwhelmingly male.
And, true to their nature, most of them were a bunch of troublemakers.
Back when she was club president, she had kept them in line with ruthless bat beatings, but she couldn’t exactly do that anymore. If she went now, she’d probably just end up stressed out.
“But you have no problem speaking politely to me.”
“That’s because you’re a senior~”
Dang Gyu-ri smiled sweetly and linked her arm with mine.
***
The place we headed to next was the Magic Engineering Workshop.
I wanted to meet Bong Jae-seok’s younger sister.
Despite it being the very first day of the semester, Workshop No. 1 was bustling with activity.
Club members hurried back and forth, while flashes of blue light flickered nonstop.
In the middle of all that, a third-year club member passing by seemed to recognize me and stopped.
I greeted him first with a bow.
“Hello.”
“Oh! Long time no see. What brings you here?”
“I came to meet Senior Bong Jae-seok’s younger sister.”
“Ah, her? Hold on a second.”
The senior quickly headed deeper into the workshop.
A moment later, he returned with a first-year girl.
At a glance, she looked exactly like the kind of engineering geek you’d expect, and as if proving she was Bong Jae-seok’s sister, her face practically said, “I’m busy.”
Since she had apparently been pulled away from whatever she was working on, she even looked slightly annoyed.
The first thing she said went straight to the point.
“So you know how to make the cube?”
“Before that, did you finish the blueprint?”
I needed to know that before I could teach or demonstrate anything.
The last time I checked, it had been about eighty percent complete, and Bong Jae-seok had confidently declared that it would definitely be finished by the start of the new semester.
Sure enough, the younger Bong casually opened her inventory and said,
“Of course I finished it.”
She pulled out a cube about the size of a soccer ball.
Looking closely, you could see that it was actually composed of countless smaller cubes.
This was the 10×10×10 blueprint.
Now it’s time to teach her how to make it.
The ultimate goal of the Bong siblings and the Magic Engineering Club was to mass-produce the S-rank Cube of Life.
More blueprints would continue to come in, and there was no way I could make time for every single one of them.
Nor could I leave [Magic Engineering] occupying a copy slot indefinitely.
So the agreement I had made with Bong Jae-seok was that I would teach them the manufacturing method and receive a share of the profits in return.
I made a suggestion to Bong’s younger sister.
“First, shall we go somewhere quiet?”
“Yes.”
The place we headed to was Workshop No. 4.
It had been practically deserted last year, and this year was no different, which made it the perfect place for a private lesson.
After sitting across from each other with a table between us, I handed her the blueprint again.
“Let’s see. Show me how you do it.”
“I think you start here… from this section.”
A moment later, Bong’s younger sister’s hand turned blue.
It meant that [Magic Engineering] had been activated.
In that state, she traced one side of the blueprint as though searching for something. When she found it and pressed down firmly—
Click.
Cubes popped out from the opposite side.
It’s very different from an ordinary cube puzzle.
If it were just a matter of matching the outer surfaces, anyone could solve it, but a magic engineering blueprint was three-dimensional.
You had to account for the arrangement and orientation of the cubes inside as well.
And since it was a 10×10×10 structure, that meant dealing with a thousand cubes.
Click, clack.
Perhaps because of that, Bong’s younger sister gave up not long after she started.
She looked somewhat discouraged.
“…I’m not really sure what comes next.”
At this point, I was basically teaching her from the very beginning.
Considering the difficulty, this outcome had been obvious, but there was still a reason I had her try first.
I need to copy the skill.
[Activated ‘Copy Skill.’]
[Registering the target’s skill ‘Magic Engineering (A)’ in a slot.]
▷ Copy Skill [4/4]
1. Feather Step (A+)
2. Ice Wall (B)
3. Magic Engineering (A)
4. (Empty)
The minimum requirement for making changes to the 10×10×10 blueprint was [Magic Engineering] at A-rank or higher.
The senior from Workshop No. 4, whom I had copied from last year, had only been B-rank, so I had supplemented it with [Amplification].
And I had been planning to do something similar this time as well.
I never expected a freshman to be A-rank.
I don’t know about her other skills or traits, but both [Core] and [Magic Engineering] were A-rank.
Bong Jae-seok who had been club president had described her as “a genius who makes someone like me look insignificant” and now I could see why.
It’s a shame she’s in a production-type field.
If she were combat-oriented, Seo Ye-in would have a serious rival in the genius department.
In any case, I took the blueprint and asked,
“What about the crystal orb?”
“It’s ready.”
After confirming that Bong’s younger sister had started recording, I activated [Magic Engineering].
Both of my hands glowed blue as they moved swiftly across the cube.
Shrrr—
Dozens, then hundreds of tiny cubes slid in and out, rotating over and over.
Then, at a certain point, my hands came to an abrupt stop.
“That’s enough for today. Review it while watching the crystal orb.”
If I covered too much at once, it might be difficult for her to keep up.
It would be better to take things step by step and adjust the pace as we went.
“……!”
Meanwhile, Bong’s younger sister stared blankly between the cube and the crystal orb.
A moment later, her dazed expression filled with admiration and respect, and unlike before, she bowed politely.
“Thank you for teaching me, Senior.”
“Sure. Keep working hard.”
“My name is Bong Jae-young. And your name is…?”
“Kim Ho.”
So we’re finally exchanging names.
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