Ch. 58 - Masquerade Ball (2)

Chapter 58: Masquerade Ball (2)

Upon hearing the butler’s words directed at her, Hong Bi-Yeon narrowed her eyes.

'What is this?'

The unfolding situation was completely unexpected.

After entering through the persona gate, she never expected the grand masquerade to appear.

Although each world within the persona gate had its unique characteristics, it was rare to encounter the masquerade within the gate.

Frankly, it was a bit surprising and confusing.

However, it was only for a moment.

Hong Bi-Yeon skillfully arranged the runic language in the air to analyze this world.

The persona gate itself was a massive enigma. It was as if it was inviting the mages to unravel the mysteries of this world.

So when the mages fully analyzed the phenomena of this world, they were recognized as qualified to solve the enigma, and the guideline message would be displayed to show them the way.

‘Do this and challenge that. Then you will be able to clear this world.’

Poof!

Magic formations visible only to her distorted in the air, and keywords appeared.

[Duchess Aiaren… protagonist of the ballroom, dance of temptation…]

It was natural for a Level 3 persona gate to be difficult for ordinary first-year students to interpret. However, Hong Bi-Yeon had already mastered Level 3 classes for a long time. It wasn't too difficult for her.

… Or so it should have been.

‘What’s this? Something feels off.’

This place was clearly a virtual creation, the persona gate. Then why was the mana so dense and heavy here?

Moreover, since it was a training session, it was reasonable for them to set up a persona gate that was easy for first-year students to interpret and overcome.

For some reason, this place was far too complex and perplexing even for Hong Bi-Yeon’s level.

Her mind froze as if something had tightly blocked it.

Hong Bi-Yeon’s runic language shattered into pieces in the air and scattered, and the guideline message didn’t appear.

With a bewildered expression, Hong Bi-Yeon trembled.

‘This... It's an unknown formula.’

An unknown formula?

Just that fact alone was enough to shatter Hong Bi-Yeon’s confidence. She still lacked the ability to cope with something she hadn't learned.

That was why it was even more strange.

How did something they hadn’t been taught show up in a first-year training session?

Even though she had studied up to the university level, she was struggling, so how would other students fare?

‘This is like…’

She quietly pondered.

"Miss, it's almost time for the evening masquerade. How would you like to dress for dinner?"

"... What?"

"Is there a problem?"

"How can you say that? Is that a designated phrase?"

"Hehe. It seems I overstepped. My apologies. I will wait until your thoughts are sorted."

"No, it's not that..."

Hong Bi-Yeon opened her mouth slightly and made a quiet sound.

This place was a fake created by mages to resemble a persona gate.

While the NPCs in the real persona gate thought and acted like real people, the existences created by the mages in the fake persona gate were only made to resemble humans.

Such actions were impossible.

However, the servant in front of her made expressions, smiled, and spoke various lines as if he were a real person.

Could it be...?

An unbelievable possibility came to mind.

The possibility that this place was real.

‘No, it can't be.’

This was Stella Academy. It was impossible for a real persona gate to appear here.

It was just that Stella's technology had advanced a bit.

"What's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing. I would like a wraparound dress made of Berchestic silk. I don't like sleeves. The hem should rise above the knees with a wave pattern. Put an amethyst brooch on the chest and red shoes. There will be accessories, of course, right?"

"Of course."

"Prepare a silver bracelet without a pattern and a ruby gothic chain."

Assisted by four maids in the dressing room, Hong Bi-Yeon quickly changed into the dress. She didn't neglect to analyze the situation here either.

Of course, she also commented on the dress.

Snap!

Hong Bi-Yeon slapped the maid's cheek with her palm and spoke in a cold tone.

"Trash bringing over trash. Did you bring this for me to wear? Get another one."

"I-I'm sorry!"

"This is too short. Did you properly prepare the size?"

"I-I thought this size would be... I apologize!"

After being rejected a staggering twelve times, they finally managed to find a dress that suited her eccentric taste. Even then, she barely accepted it because there was little time left until the evening masquerade.

"This will do, I suppose."

The two-tone dress, starting with a pure white milk hue and gradually turning red towards the waist, perfectly suited Hong Bi-Yeon with her silver hair and red eyes.

"This dress is undoubtedly made for you, Miss..."

Even the maids, who were not in a good mood after being slapped several times by Hong Bi-Yeon, couldn't help but be amazed by her beauty.

"Bring me the shoes."

Red shoes and a ruby necklace adorned Hong Bi-Yeon as she gracefully walked into the masquerade hall like a princess.

The room buzzed with chatter.

Long, straight tables were set up, and Stella's students, adorned in dresses and suits, awkwardly glanced at each other with hesitant eyes.

She instinctively searched for Baek Yu-Seol. He was wearing a plain black tuxedo, and despite his youthful appearance and relatively short stature, his proportions suited him quite well.

“He dresses pretty well."

As she looked at him, memories of the story she had read the previous night came to mind. His personal story that began with the words, "I miss my mother."

Although she felt guilty for sneaking a peek at it without his knowledge, now that she had seen it, she couldn't help but be curious and concerned.

Somehow, he seemed a bit different. Rising from such a past and walking the path of chivalry at Stella. 

Squeak~!

As the sixteen students gathered, the front door opened, and a woman walked in. However, she was wearing a mask and not dressed in a gown.

"Everyone is here. Are you ready to infiltrate Aeron Mansion?"

The students looked bewildered at first but soon nodded in agreement.

Within each persona gate, a certain concept was established, and the story progressed according to that concept.

The guideline messages were supposed to contain information about the concept and the story.

However...

None of the students present in this room understood how to interpret the persona gate, leaving them all unable to comprehend the concept or the story.

"Listen carefully. You must now attend the banquet hosted by Duchess Aeron. Without a doubt, something is happening there."

The students listened attentively to the woman's words.

"If you take one of the four passages, you’ll reach underground. However, it’s filled with mazes and traps, and the moment you get lost, the mansion's knights will start moving. So you have to rely on your own insight and intuition. Can you do it?"

Amidst the lack of understanding, Baek Yu-Seol was the only one who answered. "Yes."

Since no one else responded, he felt slightly awkward and touched the back of his head.

Of course, it was natural.

The presence in front of them was an NPC who spoke according to the manual.

It was not a real persona gate, so who in their right mind would be foolish enough to respond to an NPC in a fake persona gate?

However...

"Yeah, you. It's nice to see such confidence."

“Wh-What?"

"Did it just react...?"

The confusion in the students' eyes deepened as the NPC responded to Baek Yu-Seol’s words. They had already sensed something strange, and they were now even more suspicious.

"Before infiltration, everyone should wear this mask."

The woman distributed white masks that covered their faces.

"You must remember this. The mask must never be taken off once you enter that passage. Understood? Don’t forget."

After saying that, the woman disappeared. The students held their masks and exchanged glances.

"Hmm..."

"We should probably go, right…?"

Since the persona gate training was also part of the assessment, the professors were observing and grading the students' performance.

Unfortunately, everyone present had failed to interpret the persona gate.

But here, it wasn't easy to openly ask, “I didn't interpret it correctly. Can someone help me?”

They just thought that the difficulty level here was unreasonably high.

Unfortunately, no one wanted to speak. They were all waiting for someone else to make a move to avoid revealing their ignorance.

‘Hmm…’

Among those students, Flame was slowly preparing to speak up.

None of the students knew that this persona gate was real.

‘In the original, it was said to be extremely dangerous because they didn't even share the most minimal information they discovered with each other…’

Flame had to convince them that this persona gate was dangerous and real.

"Hey, guys. Isn't this training a bit strange? It's difficult to interpret, and the NPCs are acting so real."

"That's true."

"Yeah."

As the students agreed with Flame’s words, she seized the momentum and made a bombshell declaration.

"To be honest, I can't interpret this persona gate at all."

"What? H-How…?"

The students were taken aback, knowing that the professors were watching.

What was she saying all of a sudden?

Sensing the students' confusion, Flame quickly continued, "From what I can see, I'm not the only one. None of you could interpret it either, right?"

"Well..."

"I'm sure of it. This is definitely not an intended situation. Does it make sense for a first-year training to be so difficult?"

"Yeah, I thought it was strange too."

"Yeah, actually... I couldn't interpret it either."

"And the NPCs earlier seemed so real..."

As the students started to agree, Flame’s expression brightened. She decided to let them know that this place was real.

"Flame, so what are you trying to say?" Out of the blue, Jecky interjected. She raised one corner of her mouth and sarcastically said, "You're not trying to spout nonsense like this place might be real, right? Ah, you're someone who likes jokes, but surely not that."

"What...?"

With each word hitting the mark, Flame became flustered and hesitated to speak, and Jecky laughed even more mischievously like a wicked child.

"Ahaha, so you really meant that?? Wow, unbelievable. Be grateful that I stopped you. It would have been such an unfunny joke, and the atmosphere would have turned cold."

"No, I meant..."

As Flame hurriedly tried to explain, Jecky cut her off and walked away.

"Hey, guys. From what I can see, this is a situation intended by the professors."

Wearing a confident smile, Jecky looked back at the still-confused students.

"It's obvious, isn't it? You can't always interpret the persona gate perfectly in real-life situations. So that means that the professors intentionally created a situation that can’t be interpreted."

"Ah!"

The students suddenly realized something and their eyes widened.

It was a plausible statement indeed.

If the situation reached a point where the persona gate couldn’t be interpreted, how would one act?

What if the professors orchestrated such a situation to assess how students would cope and score in such circumstances?

"That makes sense..."

"Well, then..."

Realizing that the other students seemed convinced by Jecky, Flame bit her lip.

‘This is not good…’

Jecky’s logic was flawless, making the situation even more complicated.

No matter how much she argued that this place was real, there was no substantial evidence to support it.

The fact that the NPCs moved with liveliness and the inability to interpret the gate no matter what.

If everything were attributed to the professors' intentions, it would make sense instantly.

Who would believe the absurd claim that a real persona gate appeared in the middle of the Stella Dome?

"Jecky... What exactly are your intentions?"

"What do you mean? All I want is for us to go along with what they want. You're not planning to deceive and surpass the other kids with some strange logic and get all the points for yourself, are you?"

"Don't talk nonsense! I'm just saying we need to be careful—"

"Don't you talk nonsense. This is Stella. It's an academy that trains the best magical warriors, and there are Stella knights, who are known for their top-notch skills in perceiving persona gates. Do you really think they wouldn't notice if a gate appeared within the academy?"

Yes, that statement was undoubtedly true. But what could she do if her own words were not truly factual?

"I really..."

With a sigh, Flame looked in the direction where Jecky, who was already wearing her mask, stood, simply observing the situation as if she had no intention of intervening.

[Episode 6 ‘Jecky’s Dark Mage Transformation.’]

Baek Yu-Seol touched his mask and pondered.

So, they were heading down this branch after all.

From Flame’s perspective, it had to be an extremely bewildering situation.

In the original novel, there was no character named Jecky, so she couldn't have anticipated things turning out this way.

However, Jecky’s interference, preventing Flame from speaking up, was one of the many branches in the original game. 

In any case, one of the three students had to fall victim to the dark magic. No one wanted to be corrupted, but it seemed destiny couldn't be changed.

Perhaps even if he tried to say something to help Flame, the outcome would remain the same.

So taking a step back was the correct answer.

Regardless of what happened, the protagonist had a predetermined task to remedy the situation.

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