Ch. 408 - Change (3)

The final week of summer break had arrived.  

There wasn’t a single ordinary cadet at Stella lamenting the fact that classes were starting again next week. This was because the cadets at Stella spent their vacations productively, never taking a complete break.

However, Baek Yu-Seol didn’t find the start of classes particularly appealing. With the semester resuming, his training time would be cut short.  

"Still, isn’t it nice that you can rest now? You’ll have less training time."

After pushing Scarlet through intense training for an entire month, he figured it was time to let her rest. He expected Scarlet to be pleased about finally having time off once classes began, but her reaction wasn’t what he anticipated.  

“Hmm… Well, I don’t know.”  

“What? Did you actually enjoy the training?”  

“N-no! The training was exhausting. But, uh… hmm… I don’t know. I guess I’m not exactly excited to rest either.”  

“Why not?”  

Despite how much she seemed to dislike training, her reaction to being told she could rest was strangely ambiguous.

“I don’t know too…”  

In the end, Baek Yu-Seol finished his final training session with Scarlet without ever understanding the reason.

By now, Baek Yu-Seol had improved to the point where he could handle Scarlet’s Class 6 magic without relying on Flash.  

He had wanted to push her to show him Class 7 magic, but she admitted that it was still beyond her current limits. Though disappointed, he had to accept it.

"For just a month’s worth of training, you’ve grown incredibly fast."

Much of his progress was thanks to Scarlet, who had helped him break through the invisible barriers holding him back.  

In addition, training to control the energy of the Twelve Divine  Moons had gradually raised the level of his blessing, which in turn enhanced his overall stats. His raw strength had increased significantly as well.  

And yet, Baek Yu-Seol still felt frustrated.  

He knew that growing this much in such a short time was already an unprecedented achievement.  

But he couldn’t shake his impatience… especially since his mastery over Silver Autumn Moon’s abilities was still developing far too slowly.  

“You look frustrated.”  

“Well… yeah.”  

“Don’t worry about it. Once someone breaks through that ‘wall’ even once… They can grow endlessly. Most people can only achieve that after reaching their prime, but you’re not like ordinary people, are you?” 

Baek Yu-Seol had used unconventional methods and connections to quickly break through his limits.  

It was likely that geniuses like Flame, Hong Bi-Yeon, and Eisel would also break through their barriers before graduating.  

Geniuses of the century, unmatched in history.

But the fact that so many extraordinary individuals had been born in the same generation… No matter how he looked at it, it felt unnatural.  

Baek Yu-Seol had a rough idea of why such an unusual phenomenon was happening.  

Meanwhile, as Scarlet observed Baek Yu-Seol deep in thought, she offered a bitter smile.  

When he eventually realizes that there’s a limit to how far a human body can go, despite all his blood, sweat, and tears, what kind of expression will he make?

Baek Yu-Seol would soon stand shoulder to shoulder with her.  

And one day, even the geniuses who appeared after centuries or millennia would eventually catch up to them.  

The limits of being human.  

Unless he somehow became something beyond human - like a star in the heavens - reaching his ultimate goals wouldn’t be easy.  

Scarlet could only hope that Baek Yu-Seol wouldn’t fall into despair when he finally faced that reality.  

…But there was something Scarlet misunderstood.  

Baek Yu-Seol wasn’t aiming for the limits.  

He only wished to grow strong enough to fully accept and wield the power of the Twelve Divine Moons.  

He hadn’t even begun to think about reaching the end of his potential.  

“Since this is our final training session, do you want to grab a meal later to celebrate?”  

After finishing his training, Baek Yu-Seol took a shower and changed into his gym clothes before asking. Scarlet’s eyes widened in surprise as she replied,

“Do you even know what rumors are going around about us?”  

“Rumors? What rumors?”  

How could he be this oblivious?  

She couldn’t believe this was the same Baek Yu-Seol who once prided himself on being perceptive.  

“There’s a rumor that you’re dating a first-year student. And not just any student, but the incredibly popular student from Class S, me!” 

"... Aren’t you embarrassed to call yourself very, very popular with your own mouth?"  

"Why? It’s true. There’s not a single student who hasn’t fallen for me. I even make it a point to visit all the classrooms and throw in a smile here and there."

"Why on earth would you do that?"  

"Because it’s fun. Being adored by humans is surprisingly delightful for a witch, you know."  

"..."  

Baek Yu-Seol hadn’t thought about it that way.  

"Well, other witches might call me shameless if they saw me, but who cares? Anyway, let’s sneak out for a meal later! It’s for your sake."

Baek Yu-Seol was slightly taken aback that Scarlet would be concerned enough to protect his reputation. Still, he nodded in agreement.  

Following Scarlet’s advice about avoiding suspicion, he left the gymnasium first. Then he headed to the faculty office to get an outing permit.  

His destination? The Waning Moon Plains.  

To get there, he had to either board an airship or use the warp hole, so the journey wouldn’t take long.  

Since he had visited the Waning Moon Plains many times before, there was no risk of getting lost.  

After passing through the warp hole gate and boarding a train, Baek Yu-Seol gazed out the window and noticed a group of magic warriors traveling in automated carriages.  

‘Starcloud?’  

The carriages bore the Starcloud Trading Company’s emblem, which made Baek Yu-Seol raise an eyebrow.  

Mobilizing private forces from the company recklessly could lead to national sanctions, so it was rare for Starcloud’s magic warriors to be deployed.

If something like this was happening, Baek Yu-Seol should have known about it. Yet, this was completely unfamiliar to him.  

‘…No, wait. This has happened before.’  

Aether World Online was a game with countless choices leading to countless outcomes.  

For example, in the game, Alterisha was never supposed to succeed in developing the item.

However, due to the players persistently focusing on Alterisha, a new route was created where she developed an item before the dark mages. At this point, the dark mages abandoned their efforts to develop their own items and chose to steal human technology instead.

Naturally, players reinforced security measures, and Baek Yu-Seol had also emphasized the importance of security to Alterisha multiple times.  

Later, the dark mages shifted tactics and began attacking production facilities around the world.  

Among those countless attacks, the Starcloud Trading Company was also targeted.  

…Or so it was written in the Sentient Spec.  

Since this was just one of the countless storylines he had bypassed, he didn’t clearly remember it.  

‘Did Starcloud get attacked by dark mages?’  

From what he recalled, that incident had disastrous consequences.  

Starcloud pretended to send magic warriors to rescue their kidnapped engineers, but in reality, the cold and pragmatic Jeliel believed it was far faster and cheaper to simply hire new engineers.  

In the end, the missing engineers were never recovered and ended up handing over the item’s technology to the dark mages.  

This led to the worst-case scenario, where the dark mages became even more powerful and uncontrollable.  

Even though the real-life Jeliel was supposedly different from the one in the game, Baek Yu-Seol couldn’t shake his unease.  

‘I should check it out after I meet Hong Bi-Yeon…’  

Finally arriving at his destination, Baek Yu-Seol stepped off the train and quickly located the Magic Tower.  

In a rural area like this, Stella Academy students were treated like honored guests.  

“Ah! We’ve been expecting you! Please, this way.” 

If by chance, a Stella cadet spread rumors like, ‘That magic tower is pretty good,’ and another cadet coincidentally ended up working there, it would instantly boost the tower’s technology and reputation. While this behavior was understandable, no Stella cadet would willingly want to work in such a place.

Still, since they had taken care of Hong Bi-Yeon, he smiled in gratitude.  

The tower master was so pleased by this small gesture that he personally escorted Baek Yu-Seol, which was amusing but not entirely surprising. After all, the princess of Adolevit was lying in their infirmary.  

“Oh, you’re here!”  

When Baek Yu-Seol opened the door to the hospital room, he saw Hong Bi-Yeon lying in bed, fast asleep, her cheeks flushed red.  

Beside her, Eisel and Flame were sitting and chatting.  

“Why are you so late?!” Eisel immediately protested.  

“I had something to take care of.”  

"What if she dies while you’re at it?"

"It’s not a fatal condition. I’ve already treated that."

Even as he said that, Baek Yu-Seol felt a slight pang of guilt.  

He thought the measures he’d taken with the Blue Winter Moon would lessen her pain, but she must have pushed herself too hard, as her fever was higher than expected.

‘But I can fix this quickly…’  

Thinking that, he gently placed his hand on her cheek, only to suddenly feel the weight of Flame and Eisel’s stares.  

“...”  

“What?”  

To dispel Hong Bi-Yeon’s heat, he needed to infuse her with cold energy and that required a kiss.  

But doing that in front of Flame and Eisel felt… awkward.  

“Can you two step out for a moment?”  

“Why? I’m curious about how you’re going to heal her.” Flame crossed her arms.  

“Uh… well, it’s a bit… uncomfortable to do in front of others.”  

“We’re not ‘others,’ are we?”  

“Honestly, if you were strangers, this would be less awkward.”  

“What exactly are you going to do? You’re not planning to strip her or something, right? Pervert.” 

"No, hey. Eisel, are you serious right now?"

"If it’s not that, then why are you hiding it?"

“I’m going to be spending a lot of time with Hong Bi-Yeon, so wouldn’t it be better if I knew how to handle situations like this?”  

“I agree.”  

“Right? Right?”  

As Eisel and Flame continued pressing him, Baek Yu-Seol had no choice but to explain… at least partially.  

“The thing is… I need to infuse her with cold energy to stabilize her condition. And… well… the only way to do that is through artificial respiration...”  

“Artificial respiration? Oh...”  

“W-wait... What?”  

Understanding his words, Flame and Eisel immediately looked embarrassed and avoided eye contact.  

‘Artificial respiration means…’  

‘It’s exactly what we’re thinking… isn’t it?’  

Despite understanding the situation, an uncomfortable, awkward, and even slightly irritating feeling welled up inside them. Neither of them wanted to leave the room, but Eisel eventually gritted her teeth and tugged at Flame’s arm.  

“Fine… we don’t have a choice. Let’s step out for a bit.”  

“... Alright.”  

Once the two girls reluctantly left the room, Baek Yu-Seol let out a deep sigh and turned his gaze to Hong Bi-Yeon.  

He had done his best to keep this hidden from others, but in a situation like this, there was no choice but to reveal it.

‘Why did she push herself so hard?’  

From what he had heard, Hong Bi-Yeon had pushed herself far beyond her limits. In this condition, it was inevitable that someone would eventually find out about her condition.  

She must have known that too.  

Baek Yu-Seol couldn’t help but feel that she might have done this intentionally.  

Still, he shook off the thought. He didn’t want to believe that a sick patient could have such manipulative intentions.  

Gently, he placed his hand on her flushed cheek.  

‘Huh?’  

It seemed like her eyebrows twitched slightly, but that couldn’t be.

According to the doctor, she had been unconscious for over half a day and still hadn’t shown any signs of waking up.  

There was no reason for her to pretend to be unconscious.  

‘I don’t even know anymore.’  

Resigning himself to the situation, Baek Yu-Seol slowly leaned in toward Hong Bi-Yeon’s face.  

Her hot breath brushed against him, so vividly intense that it almost felt suffocating. 

———

TN:- Enjoying this story?

If you’re liking the journey so far, don’t forget to check out my other academy novels too! 

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https://www.novelupdates.com/series/i-became-a-genius-black-mage-at-the-holy-academy/

https://www.novelupdates.com/series/i-became-a-troublemaker-at-the-academy/

https://www.novelupdates.com/series/i-became-the-academys-gunslinger/ (Completed)

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