Chapter 59: Masquerade Ball (3)
Leaving Flame standing there in confusion, Jecky positioned herself in front of one of the four corridors.
"Since the professors intended this situation, all we have to do is face it without panicking. Right, guys?"
"Uh, yeah..."
"So, I'll go first."
After saying that, Jecky confidently stepped into the corridor without hesitation. The other students were taken aback as she disappeared from their sight.
If this situation was indeed an assessment, then any time spent hesitating would be counted as a deduction.
"I... I'll go in too."
"Well, I've always been prepared for situations like this."
Hong Bi-Yeon sighed as the students rushed toward their respective corridors.
’No one seems to be moving systematically.’
Without knowing the meaning of the passages in front of them or where they led, they just picked randomly.
Moreover, considering what the NPC said earlier, there had to be monsters inside. Although the points were individual, forming a team with the minimum number of people would be more advantageous for earning points.
‘Why don’t they realize that?’
She glanced sideways at Baek Yu-Seol.
If there was anyone in this group who was skilled in interpretation and strategy, it would undoubtedly be Baek Yu-Seol.
He remained calm and organized the situation even during the crisis when the necromancer attacked.
In the simulated battle against the monsters, he demonstrated his wit and exceptional tactics by defeating five intermediate-level monsters.
If she had to follow someone, it would be Baek Yu-Seol.
"Where are you going?"
There were several students who shared the same thought as Hong Bi-Yeon, and when Eisel asked Baek Yu-Seol as she passed by, they all pricked up their ears to listen.
'What’s the point of thinking about it when all the paths are the same…'
However, Baek Yu-Seol had no thoughts at all. Since everyone would be scattered randomly when passing through the corridor, he made a rough decision.
"I'll just go this way," he said, standing by the leftmost corridor. Eisel followed behind him.
"Then I'll go this way too."
"Why?"
"You seem to have a clearer idea."
"No, you go the other way."
"I don't want to."
"Oh, come on."
He looked at Eisel as if he couldn't believe it, but suddenly he felt a presence behind him and turned around.
"Ahem."
"Ahem."
Most other students had also chosen the same corridor as Baek Yu-Seol. Even Hong Bi-Yeon followed closely, glancing at him.
'Really…?'
Some of the students who were observing the atmosphere also subtly moved closer.
"Ahem, then I'll..."
"Ahem."
Thus, except for Jecky, who had already set off, fifteen people moved together.
Though it was ridiculous, there was no meaning in making a fuss, so no one said anything.
Baek Yu-Seol was the first to step inside the corridor.
Whoosh!
As if being sucked in, the air became heavy, and a damp and dark hallway appeared.
"Uh, what? Where did everyone go?"
"They disappeared..."
The students who entered late exclaimed in surprise.
They had all entered together, yet most of the students had disappeared.
‘Hmm, I didn't expect Hong Bi-Yeon and I to be in the same corridor…’
A total of sixteen students were divided into four groups of four in each corridor. Eisel and Flame were probably in the same group.
"It seems like we can't all gather together at once. Let's go for now."
The atmosphere in the hallway was quite eerie. Outside the half-broken windows, there was nothing but walls.
Baek Yu-Seol didn’t even know why there were windows. Most of the lights were shattered, and the remaining ones were flickering faintly.
"There's something like a statue in the hallway."
"For real?"
Thanks to his mana leakage syndrome, his physical abilities were exceptionally high, and with the new infrared function of the Sentient Specs, he had no problem in this darkness.
But it was different for the other students.
“Light a fire.”
In response to his words, some students conjured light spheres in the air. Even though they didn't have the light attribute, Light Sphere was a basic magic skill.
Still, their field of vision remained limited. They couldn't see the statue mentioned by Baek Yu-Seol.
It was only after they walked a bit further that the statue he mentioned came into their view.
"You saw it from so far?"
"Wow, how do you have such incredible vision?"
The students murmured in surprise. Hong Bi-Yeon didn't say anything, but she was also quite startled.
"But… those are statues, right?"
There was more than one statue. They were all in various dancing postures, wearing the same dress.
They seemed so alive and dynamic that the students couldn't help but flinch as they passed by.
At the end of the hallway, there was a door. It was firmly locked as if sealed by something.
"I've learned unlocking magic, but will it work here?"
"Well, we probably can't do it at our level without understanding the interpretation of the gate."
Hong Bi-Yeon tightly shut her mouth and looked around.
‘This unease.’
‘It feels real and awkward.’
Her intuition was telling her that there was a riddle hidden within the dancing statues.
Since they couldn't interpret the persona gate, they had no choice but to use their insight to solve the riddle.
"Hey, commoner, have you interpreted this gate?"
Hong Bi-Yeon asked directly, and Baek Yu-Seol blinked before replying. "No."
His answer was slightly disappointing.
"But I have a rough idea of how we can pass through here."
“Really? You just said you couldn't interpret it."
“There are parts you can figure out without interpreting.”
As Baek Yu-Seol said that, he pointed to the statues.
"If you look closely, you'll see that each statue has a different pose but is performing the same type of dance."
There were about ninety statues, each intricately depicting the movements of a particular dance.
Hong Bi-Yeon nodded her head and spoke.
"The Requiem of the Dead Serena. It was a dance that Serena, who couldn't bear her own tragedy, performed right before she died."
"That's right. You know it well."
"Dance is a fundamental part of culture."
"Then you must remember the movements well, right?"
"Well… uh."
Finally understanding Baek Yu-Seol’s intention through his smiling words, Hong Bi-Yeon hardened her expression.
‘No way…?’
She urgently examined the movements of the statues carefully.
She noticed all the statues' movements were connected in sequence.
She initially thought there were just many statues dancing, but now she realized that those countless statues had arranged a single movement in chronological order!
But occasionally, there were empty movements.
There were precisely four movements.
It matched the number of people.
"So... if we fill in those empty movements with our own, will it work?"
"Uh, yeah? That seems to be the case."
That was the riddle of the first gate.
Since there were preceding and following movements, it wouldn't be too difficult to predict the intermediate movements.
"Alright, let's each take a movement starting from the end. No need to actually dance, just imitate it."
"I'll take this one."
"I'll take this one..."
Even without Hong Bi-Yeon explaining the movements, the students found their positions and performed the corresponding movements.
There were various reasons why this dance became so famous, but fundamentally, it was because dancing was considered an essential etiquette for nobles to learn.
As all four of them took the vacant positions, gears clicked into place!
With the sound of the grinding, the door at the end of the corridor opened.
"We did it!"
"Wow... It was easier than I thought. I'm glad to be on the same team as Baek Yu-Seol."
"Let’s go. There will be more puzzles ahead."
Baek Yu-Seol urged them forward while glancing briefly at the statues. They were fortunate to have succeeded smoothly this time, but if they had failed to solve the riddle or taken any longer, those statues would have come to life.
As they crossed the door and moved forward, a large room appeared.
The spacious and elegant room, about 100 square meters in size, had a completely different atmosphere from the worn-out corridor. It exuded luxury and warmth.
Knight-shaped statues were arranged throughout the room. Some knights were aiming their swords at the air, some stood still, and others gazed in a particular direction.
"Perhaps these knights are the riddle this time?"
"I think so too."
Indeed, the statues seemed a little suspicious. The previous riddle was also related to statues, so the students focused their investigation on them.
About five minutes passed like that.
"It's the carpet."
"Huh?"
Baek Yu-Seol spoke up. Until then, Hong Bi-Yeon had been observing the statues.
"Look at the pattern engraved on the carpet. They’re all dancing. When I partially interpreted the gate, the keyword 'dance' came up. Perhaps this time, the dance on the carpet is the problem."
"Really?"
"Yes. If you look closely, you'll see that the person depicted in the pattern is performing different movements with their fingers in different sections. Properly matching it might be the solution to the riddle."
Hong Bi-Yeon felt a flash of realization at those words.
She, too, had interpreted this place to some extent, yet she missed the keyword.
'Why didn't I think of this...?'
As if being hit on the head with a hammer, she stood there dumbfounded.
Once again, she had wasted time on unnecessary details, assuming it would naturally be a statue.
It was a fixed mindset.
She knew how dangerous such rigid thinking could be, yet she still hadn't been able to fix it.
"Here, let's rotate this. Now, can you see the proper dance? This is the Serene Tango."
"Oh, yeah. I know that."
"That's right. Does everyone remember the movements?"
"It's such a famous dance, so we've tried it many times."
"Then match the pieces on the carpet to fit the movements."
As the students started moving busily, Hong Bi-Yeon looked at Baek Yu-Seol who was working diligently with slightly lowered eyes.
‘He’s definitely different.’
Since the moment she was taught the concept of unique thinking, she had known it, but now that she directly experienced the difference, he somehow felt distant.
The ability to grasp the secret of the statues in such a short time, to observe and think from a different perspective than others…
Surely, given enough time, Hong Bi-Yeon could have figured it out too.
No, anyone could have figured it out.
However, the persona gate inherently had a time limit.
The longer the time dragged on, the more disadvantageous it became.
Baek Yu-Seol, unaffected by time, immediately derived the solution the moment he looked at the riddle.
Strategy, ideation, observation, calculation, deduction, and more.
In every field that required intellectual prowess, Baek Yu-Seol was undoubtedly a prodigy.
However, a question arose.
'A prodigy?'
There was something odd about using such a term.
It wasn't simply a matter of being a prodigy... Baek Yu-Seol’s way of thinking resembled that of a master strategist.
In other words, what distinguished him was not just a difference in raw creativity but a depth that stemmed from his experiences.
It felt as though Baek Yu-Seol had explored persona gates dozens, if not hundreds of times, allowing him to view things from a perspective different from that of Stella's first-year students.
‘Hmm, a difference in experiences…’
Hong Bi-Yeon’s suspicions gradually deepened.