Ch. 56 - Persona Gate Training (3)

Chapter 56: Persona Gate Training (3)

After sending Hong Bi-Yeon off, Hong Si-Hwa went to find the mage Milkenen, her original goal. It was to discuss the Aslan Seminar, which only the best and most promising candidates could attend.

"Hmm..."

However, she came earlier than expected and Milkenen hadn't arrived yet. Bored out of her mind, she sat in the reception room, sipping her tea quietly.

‘Did I do too much?’

Mentioning her older sister would surely hurt Hong Bi-Yeon.

‘No, I had to do it.’

She had suppressed her emotions.

Mentioning their eldest sister was quite a painful thing for even her, but it couldn’t be helped.

For the greater cause, she had to act cold-blooded in front of Hong Bi-Yeon.

"Princess."

"Yes, what's the matter?"

While flicking her fingers quietly, Hong Si-Hwa turned her head with a big smile when her magic knight called her.

"I received a file from a Stella representative, and it briefly describes the past of the student named Baek Yu-Seol."

“Oh, really? No matter how much we investigated, nothing came out. Could there be something important there?”

“I don’t know for sure. When I asked the faculty members who read it about its authenticity, they seemed to avoid answering, as if they were hiding something.”

"Is that so?"

In that case, regardless of its truth, the contents were bound to be interesting.

“Alright. Shall we take a look right away?”

Rip!

Hong Si-Hwa lightly tore open the envelope and took out the contents. When she saw the title, she burst into a sly laugh.

[Title: Dear Mother]

"Ahaha, so the kid is still a kid, huh?"

She couldn’t suppress the laughter that came out when she read the phrase, “I miss my mother.”

‘What a cute kid.’

With that thought, Hong Si-Hwa slowly read through the letter.

And the more she read, the more her expression loosened.

"Hmm..."

In there, a story presumed to be Baek Yu-Seol’s past was written like a poem.

It was a story about Baek Yu-Seol’s childhood in which even going out for a meal was difficult due to poverty.

“Poverty."

Most of the staff and students at Stella were either nobles or wealthy.

Poverty?

Someone in poverty should never have been able to come near Stella.

For Hong Si-Hwa, poverty was just a distant story, and the most she thought of was people who couldn’t afford to eat properly.

There was no need to pay attention to it.

After all, there was an immense distance between them and her. Since there was no relationship, there was no need to care.

However, Baek Yu-Seol’s writing vividly described the pain of poverty.

Every day, exhausted from eating boiled ramen, the naive Baek Yu-Seol begged his mother to eat something delicious.

Unable to afford proper meals, his mother had to dip into their emergency fund.

But for some reason, his mother only ordered a bowl of jjajangmyeon.

And for another reason, his mother didn't eat the jjajangmyeon.

[Mother said she didn’t like jjajangmyeon.]

In an instant, something welled up in Hong Si-Hwa's heart.

The naive child didn't understand.

He didn't understand his mother's feelings when she couldn't afford more than a cheap bowl of jjajangmyeon because they had no money.

He only realized it after he grew up.

His mother didn't actually dislike jjajangmyeon.

‘I could never have imagined such a past…’

She had never imagined it. She simply thought he was just a slightly peculiar commoner.

She had never deeply thought about poverty, not even once.

She had no idea how impoverished commoners lived or ate.

But Baek Yu-Seol lived like that.

Fighting against poverty such that he couldn't even afford a single bowl of jjajangmyeon, he entered Stella and steadfastly upheld his belief in chivalry. 

Living like that, full of regrets, he was still able to smile in the end.

Perhaps it was because he had been accepted into Stella Academy.

Suddenly, Hong Si-Hwa remembered the information she got when she investigated Baek Yu-Seol’s past.

"The day before he entered the academy, Baek Yu-Seol’s hometown was razed by dark mages.”

“Zero survivors.”

“All his family, neighbors, residents, and friends, gone."

"What is this..."

As Hong Si-Hwa read further, her expression contorted.

She didn't realize that her expression had changed. Nevertheless, she tried to finish reading Baek Yu-Seol’s writing.

But she couldn't.

When she read the sentence stating that his mother fell into a deep sleep and never woke up again, her vision blurred.

"Oh, wait... Why is this happening?"

She was embarrassed by such emotions rising inside her since it was her first time.

Milkenen, who arrived late to the reception room, opened the door and entered abruptly.

"Oh, sorry for being late, Princess. There was a meeting... Huh?"

Milkenen met eyes with Princess Hong Si-Hwa’s and momentarily doubted if this was the princess he knew.

‘She certainly looks like Hong Si-Hwa... But aren’t her eyes moist with tears?’

"Prin-Princess...?"

Only then did Hong Si-Hwa belatedly realize her own condition and wipe away her tears. However, she had already revealed her emotions to Milkenen.

"Oh, no..."

It was an emotion she had hidden her entire life.

She had been caught off guard in the most unbelievable way.

But the tears wouldn't stop.

Because the last sentence kept echoing in her mind and she couldn't rationalize it.

“You should leave."

It was Milkenen's reception room, so Hong Si-Hwa should be the one to leave. However, Milkenen nodded to show his understanding.

"As you wish."

As Milkenen quietly left the room, Hong Si-Hwa leaned against the sofa, accepting the handkerchief handed to her by her knight.

"Ha... I feel like I’ve been completely played, don’t you think?"

While still sniffling from her runny nose, Hong Si-Hwa looked at her knight, who simply bowed his head.

With a dejected smile, Hong Si-Hwa gazed out the window. She couldn't forget the text she had just read. Perhaps she would never be able to forget it for the rest of her life.

There was one incredible secret in this world that he had discovered in his 29 years of life.

"Jjajangmyeon (black bean noodles) tastes best when ordered from a jjamppong (spicy seafood noodle soup) restaurant.”

This was by no means a joke.

It was a fact certified by 27 million jajangmyeon maniacs. The reason why he mentioned it was because the opposite applied as well.

"Jjamppong tastes best when ordered from a jjajangmyeon restaurant."

For that reason, he always searched for specialized jjajangmyeon restaurants to order jjamppong. In truth, he was not particularly fond of jjajangmyeon, and he generally enjoyed spicy food, so jjamppong was a dish he frequently sought out.

Thanks to his mana leakage delay, Baek Yu-Seol’s basal metabolic rate was quite high, so after ordering three bowls of jjamppong, he had to order tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork) to feel truly full.

He originally wanted to order one more, but he refrained from doing so because there were more than five people gathered and he was worried about getting reported.

“Activate voice output.’’

[Activating voice output. What would you like me to read?]

The Sentient Specs had lost many functions, but they still possessed quite a variety of features. Among them, the most frequently used feature was the automatic storage of the text he read.

However, not all information was recorded in the Sentient Specs, so from time to time, he still went to the library to read books.

Well, he pretended to read.

"Read to me the beginning of the Cocoontool War and the origin of persona gates."

[The Beginning of the Cocoontool War. Chapter 1…]

He didn't have to read the book with his own eyes. The Sentient Specs had an excellent feature of reading books aloud.

Thanks to that, he could efficiently use his time by listening to books while eating or doing physical training.

[Cocoontool was later named 'empty and meaningless' by humans.]

The name stuck.

This history book started with the thought that this world had become his reality. It was not bad to keep that in mind and start reading.

When Baek Yu-Seol was playing the game, he skipped all the stories, but he started reading the history book since there would be nothing wrong in learning a word or two about the world that had become a reality.

But this wasn’t bad either.

No, honestly, it was really interesting.

When you think about the world's history, don't you usually imagine something dull?

Like what someone did during the Goryeo period or what Napoleon did.

But the history of this world was infused with the element of fantasy, and each part was filled with truly intriguing elements.

[Humans believed they could obtain divine power from the Monument of New Moon and started a war to seek it.]

“Always fighting.”

[The war was long. It lasted ten years, then 20 years, and finally 50 years. However, humans who emerged victorious from the war could not gain any power from the Monument of New Moon. It only brought disaster instead.]

“Humans are the problem again.”

The history of war in this world was mostly caused by humans, initiated by humans. Humans were always the problem. That was the only content.

Elves and spirits pursued peace, dwarves and giants of the earth were only interested in hammering iron, and non-human species like the feline and canine tribes formed small villages, enjoying leisure by picking fruits and singing.

Only humans desired something, coveted and seized it to make it their own.

He really couldn’t tell who the demons were.

[When it was confirmed that the Monument of New Moon was no longer benevolent towards humans, the dark mages' religion, the Dark Mage Cult, began to actively operate.]

“Ah…!”

After slurping up the last drop of jjamppong broth, he patted his stomach. The restaurant owner was staring at him as if he were a strange creature.

[The leader of the Dark Mage Cult said, “The power of the Monument of New Moon is no longer exclusive to you. We, too, can obtain power from the New Moon.” The mages didn't believe it, but those words soon became a reality. Because...]

“Ouch, my head.”

The Sentient Specs were great, but the problem was that they consumed mental power, causing headaches.

[Mental Strength EXP: +0.01%]

Still, it was good to engage in this consistent mental stamina training. Even simply using the Specs had slightly increased his mental stamina.

[The dark mages summoned mysterious powers from another realm and used magic to create a persona gate by punching a hole in reality. And in this place, common sense doesn't apply at all…]

“Wait.”

[Yes, please speak.]

“Your voice sounds a bit monotonous. Can you read it more affectionately?”

Even though it was a machine, Baek Yu-Seol had gotten tired of the machine-like drone.

[How exactly would you like me to read it?]

“Hmm… Read it like a lover.”

[Such a function does not exist.]

“Or like a girlfriend.”

[It would be easier and faster to get a girlfriend and ask her to read it instead.]

“I'll really break you.”

As Baek Yu-Seol’s headache worsened, he disabled the voice output function and checked his stats.

[Baek Yu-Seol]

[Stats]

[Strength: 2 stars (61%)]

[Senses: 2 stars (45%)]

[Agility: 2 stars (42%)]

[Endurance: 2 stars (12%)]

[Toughness: 0 stars (97%)]

[Mental Strength: 1 star (59%)]

[Mana: ~]

Perhaps it was due to consistent exercise while walking around the Leafanel territory, his stats had accumulated tremendously. However, he had almost reached his limit in that place.

'Divine beast erosion.'

Other humans wouldn’t have their lifespans reduced when training in the spirit's garden. They didn’t suffer from mana leakage delay, after all.

Leafanel's garden was truly a great training ground, but now it was time to gradually restrain himself due to the immense penalty of divine beast erosion.

He had no idea how to manage it, let alone decrease it.

Once the erosion level rose, it was highly likely that it wouldn’t decrease permanently, so he had to  be cautious.

‘By the way, it’s about time to restore the other functions of the Specs.’

Among the many functions lost with them was also persona gate pattern analysis. 

This was a function that thoroughly analyzed a persona gate and derived the fastest and easiest path to the correct answer, allowing players to take clear actions and navigate the persona gate without getting lost.

A similar effect would be the quest notification system in an RPG, which marked the directions on the minimap.

Without it, he would wander foolishly in this [episode].

Unlike other mages who had mana and could analyze the patterns of the persona gate, he didn't possess such remarkable abilities.

Thanks to the academic presentation where he assisted Alterisha, he received several rewards.

He could inherit some of the items and skills possessed by the character Baek Yu-Seol or restore some of the functions of the downgraded items he currently possessed.

Of course, even if he chose to restore the downgraded items, it wouldn’t mean he could restore all of their functions, so he still couldn't expect them to be on the level of ancient relics.

However, it was entirely possible to restore one of the key functions of the Sentient Specs.

[Partial functions of the item <Sentient Specs> have been activated.]

[▶Phenomenon Analysis]

[Telescope]

[▶Infrared Vision]

Perhaps it was because of sufficient narrative power, but some of the functions that were lost had been restored as a bonus.

With this much, he wondered if receiving other items wouldn't result in a significant downgrade.

Now that he could enter the persona gate without getting lost, he felt relieved.

The next day.

"First-year students, please choose the persona gate you wish to train in."

When that message was broadcast through the academy announcement, Baek Yu-Seol immediately headed to the classroom bulletin board.

The students were already buzzing with excitement.

[First-year Class S, Rank 1141, Baek Yu-Seol.]

[You have chosen the C-7 practice field.]

Baek Yu-Seol tapped on the holographic board and selected the gate where the incident was scheduled to occur.

Luckily, the capacity hadn't been exceeded yet.

The slight worry here was that the C-7 Persona Gate, where the incident would happen, had a maximum capacity of 16 people.

Since he took someone's spot, one person wouldn’t be able to enter.

What if key figures like Flame or Eisel couldn’t enter?

[C-7 Team List]

[Flame, Jecky, Baek Yu-Seol, Ivan, Eisel, Karschel, Gellion....]

There were currently 7 spots filled. Most of the key figures had already applied.

Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be able to participate in this practice with Ma Yu-Seong or Hae Won-Ryang, but since Eisel and Flame were here, they wouldn’t fail in conquering the Persona Gate.

He didn’t plan to have much involvement in the strategy against the final boss.

The hidden reward, the enchanting tree's petal, was all he needed to obtain.

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