Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 19

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius – Episode 19

Magician Hunter (4)

It’s an old memory.

No, maybe it’s not that old.

It was only five years ago.

Five years might seem like a long time to someone in their mid-20s, but looking back, it really isn’t. It’s still vivid in my mind.

So vivid that it sometimes leaves me breathless.

“Lieutenant, you’re here?”

A frail voice came from the end of the path.

Normally, I would have answered readily, but I didn’t feel like it right now.

No, I wasn’t confident I could answer.

Confident I could answer properly.

“Hey, Lieutenant. Did you hurt your ears or something? If you did, you should go see Saint Mary right away.”

“…Since when was my rank Lieutenant?”

A prickly tone.

You could sense a lot pent up inside. The old man approached, dragging his aged body.

“Starting today. To be exact, you were promoted 40 minutes ago.”

“Are there cases where such important things are done without the person in question being present?”

“Well, what can you do? There’s no one to tell you about the promotion, and no place to hold it.”

“…Ha.”

His tone was utterly nonchalant.

That caused magic power to spread in all directions. Sharp magic power, like a blade, surrounded the old man.

The sharp magic power neatly cut anything it touched.

Hangers that had been half-destroyed by the bombing and trees that had been charred black were chopped up like tofu. But it didn’t reach the old man.

I gnashed my teeth hard enough to break them.

Even though the heart of that frail old man had long grown cold, his honed senses and skills were as sharp as ever.

If only he had used that ability, they wouldn’t have died so futilely on the battlefield. I was displeased with the old man’s brazen attitude.

“Lieutenant Baek, calm your energy. I’m fine, but there are injured people nearby. Most soldiers can’t handle your energy.”

“…You’re incredibly shameless.”

The old man said it with an indifferent expression.

I didn’t want to follow his advice, but I suppressed my energy because I judged that it could harm the injured.

I absolutely didn’t follow the old man’s words.

I was just acting according to my beliefs.

“Since when have you cared about the well-being of your subordinates? Weren’t they always just treated as expendable pieces?”

“Lieutenant, your words are harsh. I know you’re angry, but you should use respectful language with your superiors.”

The badge on the old man’s chest sparkled.

The badge had one star on it.

It was a symbol representing the rank of Brigadier General in the military.

The difference in rank between a Lieutenant and a Brigadier General is vast.

A normal Lieutenant wouldn’t even dare to make eye contact.

“…Superior?”

In my case, it was different.

I don’t care about ranks.

It’s a world where a Second Lieutenant gets promoted to Lieutenant overnight.

There’s no time or place for a proper appointment ceremony, not even people. In such a world, is there any need to be hung up on ranks?

“Hey, old man, do you know why I’m not committing insubordination?”

“…”

“It’s because I still feel you’re necessary.”

I raised my finger and pointed at the old man.

He would have been angry at the rude gesture, but the old man couldn’t say anything.

Tears of sweat streamed down his forehead. It wasn’t just a few drops.

Sweat poured down as if a bucket of water had been dumped on his head.

“I’m stronger than you. I have more achievements than you. What do you think is the reason I’m under you?”

It was incomparable to the energy from before.

A sense that was on a different level from anger. A sticky, deep murderous intent.

The old man’s instincts, honed on the battlefield, screamed.

Run away immediately. Run to survive.

He had never felt this way, even when facing huge monsters or encountering hordes of demons.

“First, it was because of your connections.”

The war had been going on for decades.

It was shorter than the Hundred Years’ War, but the damage was unimaginable. Humanity united for survival.

The front lines against the demons were spread all over the world. Accordingly, the supply of materials was always insufficient.

That’s why I relied on the old man’s connections.

With a Brigadier General’s connections, there would be no delays in the supply of materials.

In fact, I benefited a lot from his connections.

“Second, I trusted your experience and command ability.”

As the war dragged on and the damage increased, humanity lost the need for national divisions and borders. There was no room to divide into countries.

Therefore, humanity united the military system under the name of a military state.

That was simpler and more certain.

The old man who had risen to the rank of Brigadier General in such a huge army.

His experience and command skills had long been proven.

Even if time had clouded his judgment, I believed that his experience honed in the hellish battlefield would be as strong as an iron fortress.

But that belief was betrayed.

“What do you have left now?”

The Brigadier General’s connections?

The old and aging old man’s connections were mostly made up of his peers. Composed of those who were nearing their end, his connections were no different from old ropes.

The old man’s experience and command ability?

He may have had a wealth of experience, but his command ability was incompetent.

His tactics were stuck in the past.

Because of that, countless soldiers, comrades, lost their lives in vain.

They didn’t die valiantly.

It was a dog’s death.

“Th, that’s not my fault…”

“No. It’s your fault.”

Intelligence that demons were moving into the valley terrain.

The old man believed it without any doubt because his close aide had delivered it. He moved thousands of soldiers to the top of the valley, and it was only a moment before he realized it was a trap.

While the soldiers were organizing their ranks, the valley suddenly collapsed.

Many soldiers fell into the deep valley or were swept away by rocks and lost their lives.

And the demons that appeared from the collapsed valley crevices.

It turned out that the old man’s aide was a demon who had betrayed humanity.

He was fooled by false information.

Thousands of soldiers died like dogs.

But there was still a chance. There were still hundreds of veteran soldiers left on top of the collapsed valley.

They could buy enough time.

I, who was performing an outer mission with a separate unit, believed that they would buy enough time and brought a sword with me.

But there──.

“─Nothing is left. Nothing.”

What I found there was only the old man who was sticking to old tactics, driving even the remaining soldiers to a dog’s death. All the soldiers except him died.

Some even risked their lives to save him, the Brigadier General.

“You’re not qualified.”

Swish, I drew my sword from my waist. The pure white sword aimed at the old man’s forehead.

I wanted to pierce this head full of old tactics.

I wasn’t worried about insubordination.

The soldiers’ trust was already directed at me, not the old man.

If I put forward my achievements and accomplishments, even the military headquarters would have no choice but to condone my insubordination.

In this ruined world, what matters is not a mere position, but visible achievements.

His achievements and accomplishments have long been faded.

Now is my era.

Swish, I swung my sword smoothly. Then, the badges and medals on the old man’s chest were cut off.

I sheathed my sword and declared quietly.

“Our White Sword Squad will now leave the battlefield of Area 14.”

“…Where are you going?”

White Sword Squad (白劍隊) [Baekgeomdae – literally White Sword Corps/Squad].

That was the name of the special unit I led.

The fact that the White Sword Squad was leaving Area 14 meant that the special unit’s range of action would change.

This is synonymous with the fact that there will be no more encounters with the old man. It’s something that a normal unit wouldn’t even dream of.

“Who knows.”

I don’t care at all.

It’s just a special unit, but its achievements far exceed those of a single battalion.

Even the military authorities cannot express dissatisfaction with the White Sword Squad’s movements.

In this dying world, trivial complaints are worthless.

However, to be honest, there is a problem that there is no suitable battlefield to go to other than Area 14.

The battlefield in Area 14 is vast. It would take at least two weeks to move to another battlefield.

It will definitely be a tough march.

There is no designated place, but it was clear where to go.

“I have to go die.”

In this ruined world, being on the front lines means dying.

Well, I’ll die even if I’m not on the front lines. I won’t let my subordinates die a dog’s death.

At least, I hope our deaths will be valuable deaths.

I finished the notification, packed my bags, and moved the White Sword Squad.

The road was rough, and I couldn’t sleep properly because of the demons attacking from all sides, but I arrived at another unit.

Several days later.

News came that the old man had died.

The cause of death was death in battle (戰死) [jeonsa – killed in action].

As expected, he was surrounded by a horde of demons, and they couldn’t even find his body.

He probably became food for the demons.

The next day, I was promoted to Captain.

A super-fast promotion shortly after being promoted to Lieutenant.

The reason was that there was a shortage of officers.

Of course, this time too, I suddenly heard about the promotion without an appointment ceremony.

It was a really dog-eat-dog world.

* * *

When I opened my eyes, I saw that it was bright.

A long-awaited sleep. But I didn’t feel refreshed.

How much time has passed?

I shook off the dirt and ashes on my butt and back.

I shook it off without thinking.

Ugh, my whole body was in pain.

“…I really feel like I’m going to die.”

Bones, skin, blood vessels, joints, etc. There wasn’t a single place that was intact.

I felt like my whole body had become minced meat. I was able to endure it reasonably well until I was about to faint, but is it the same principle as being sore the day after a car accident?

Anyway, it’s bright, but I still didn’t feel any signs of people.

If there was a commotion all night, it would be noisy by now.

Hasn’t much time passed?

I rummaged through my pockets.

I intended to check the time, but everything I had in my pockets was broken. Well, I had such a chaotic battle, there’s no way anything would be intact.

“Even my body isn’t intact.”

The process of getting up from where I was lying wasn’t smooth either.

It seems like my leg joints or ankles are broken. I moved, groping the wall with my left arm that was still moving.

Trembling.

A gait as if a newborn fawn had possessed me.

Even when a newborn takes its first steps, it won’t shake its legs this much.

The wounds continued to open in the process of moving, but there was no choice.

I didn’t have a cell phone, and there wasn’t a single passerby in sight. There was no way to contact 119 [emergency services number in South Korea] or the outside.

“How can there not be a single person on the street?”

It’s understandable that there was a raid last night, but the silence didn’t make sense.

I couldn’t hear people screaming, demons howling, or even the sirens of ambulances or police cars. Not even the birds singing to brighten the morning.

I felt something eerie.

Soon, I dismissed it as a feeling and increased my pace. I felt the pain of my whole body twisting, but the pain wasn’t a big deal now.

I quickly went to the infirmary.

There was no one inside. Instead, there were traces of taking medicine and medical devices outside.

‘Did they take everything to the shelter and run away?’

Thinking so, I moved my steps to the shelter.

The road I passed was stained with blood, but I didn’t have the energy to care about it.

My head was complicated by the anxiety that I hadn’t found a single person while walking this big road.

There was no one visible outside the shelter.

I glared with the thought that maybe.

The red eyes were dyed like amethyst.

Woo-oong.

Then, the movement of artificial magic power came into view.

It was people.

“Were they all in the shelter…”

Hoo, that’s a relief.

I knocked on the door of the shelter with relief. In an emergency, the door of the shelter cannot be opened from the outside.

It can only be opened from the inside.

─Who is it?

A voice was heard from beyond the door.

A voice full of tension and vigilance.

I suppressed the painful groan that was boiling inside and made my voice as kind as possible.

“I’m Baek Seung-woo, a teaching assistant under Professor Nam Hwa-yeon. I’d like you to open the door.”

─Teaching assistant Baek Seung-woo? Just a moment, I’ll check with the other teaching assistants.

As soon as the other person finished speaking, I heard a hurried running sound.

While leaning against the wall for a while, the sound of footsteps got closer and the door of the shelter opened.

“I, I’m sorry. Didn’t I open the door too late?”

“No, it’s okay. By the way, you were a student.”

I thought it was another teaching assistant or a security guard because it was quite a mature voice.

Unexpectedly, the other person was a female student. Judging from the color of the torn uniform and name tag, she seemed to be a third-year.

Did I stare at the uniform and name tag too much?

The female student felt my gaze and blushed.

“Th, that gaze is too…”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t expect to meet a third-year in this situation.”

I didn’t have any special feelings about staring at her.

I was just curious. The third year, the highest grade at Chilseong Academy.

They are the strongest in the academy except for the professors.

Of course, that’s true for promising students.

If she’s a third-year, she’s not someone who can be easily defeated by force.

If she was, she would have been able to respond to the attack to some extent.

Why do I feel like I’m seeing her for the first time?

Feeling my gaze, the female student said quietly.

“I’m weak. Last night, I was organizing documents for other friends instead…”

I think I know what she means.

The energy I feel from her is faint. At this level, she could probably beat an average first-year.

Not all third-years are necessarily strong. It’s possible enough.

I thought it would be rude to know more than this, so I changed the subject.

“But do you happen to know where the first-years are? Actually, I told 10 students to go to the shelter a few hours ago.”

“The first-years, you see those kids wearing uniforms on the right. If they evacuated late, they’ll be in the front.”

I thanked the female student and moved my steps.

It was to check on Kyle’s well-being.

I was curious about Kyle’s condition when I came here.

He won’t be awakening anymore, but I wanted to see him one last time. I also wanted to apologize for what I said last time.

‘I wonder if I said harsh things because I was too hasty.’

It wasn’t wrong, but I thought I might have hurt his young heart. So I wanted to apologize.

With 2,000 students gathered, I don’t know where Kyle is. Instead, I found Seo Erin far away.

She was sleeping like a dead mouse, with a splint wrapped around her leg.

And next to her, the injured were lined up and collapsed.

Kyle was injured, so he must be there.

“Oh, Teaching Assistant Baek Seung-woo?”

“…Ah, it’s that guy from then.”

I turned my head when someone called my name. He was wearing a torn uniform, and he was the male student I saved with Kyle.

“What brings you here? Did the work already end?”

“…Work?”

What does he mean?

Did the security guards or teaching assistants who weren’t here go to catch the remaining demons? When I tilted my head, the male student said.

“Um? Didn’t you know? Two hours ago, the teaching assistants went to pick up the kids who weren’t in the shelter.”

“Was there no assistance from the nearby guild?”

“Ah, the A-class and B-class guilds nearby went into the dungeon two days ago and left their seats. Why at this timing…”

The nearby guild happened to go into the dungeon two days ago.

Is it because it’s in a novel? It’s a series of exquisite timings like a well-written script.

…But wait a minute.

Kids who aren’t in the shelter?

I grabbed the male student’s shoulder and asked.

“There are students who aren’t in the shelter?”

The male student was embarrassed by my actions and opened his mouth.

“S, suddenly, there was a request for rescue by cell phone from the outskirts of the academy. They said there were critically injured people, so they selected students to go find them.”

I doubted my ears for a moment.

What did he just say?

There was a request for rescue ‘suddenly’ from the ‘outskirts’ of the academy?

They selected ‘students’ because there were critically injured people?

‘…Wait a minute, they selected students?’

I questioned the situation, which was like a very artificial script.

I denied the thought that came to my mind and opened my mouth with difficulty.

“Name! What’s the name of the student who was selected?!”

“Ah, the teaching assistant will know too. Among my friends, there’s a guy named Kyle who was originally very weak, but suddenly his energy changed…”

“Damn it!”

I burst out of the shelter in an instant.

The male student seems to be looking at me strangely, but that’s not important.

The pain I feel in my legs is painful, but I can’t be tied to this pain. My low physical ability is enough to hold me back.

Let’s endure this with evil and grit.

I immediately ran towards the outer area.

The academy site is large, and the outer area closest to the outside accounts for the largest proportion of the area.

How do I find the students in this vast outer area?

That’s why the teaching assistants and security guards took Kyle with them.

“…Wasn’t it all over?”

I judged that all variables had been removed.

The high-ranking demons targeting the protagonist’s friends, the person who caused the incident.

I killed them all with my own hands.

But what is this?

I ran frantically.

When I overworked my already overworked body, I almost fainted for a moment.

Every time that happened, I woke up using the screams from my whole body as an alarm.

How long have I been running?

When my body became heavier and my mind became faint.

I smelled something.

“…!”

The smell of iron that grazed my nose.

It was the smell of blood and corpses without a doubt.

I moved my steps there.

I hoped they were alive. Even if they shed a lot of blood like me, I hoped they were just alive.

The place I arrived with that mindset was a remote forest.

A place called the Cursed Forest, where entry is prohibited except for those involved. Even I, as a teaching assistant, cannot enter without permission.

Right there, I heard a faint breath, Hoo-oo.

It’s proof that people are alive.

It’s not important that it’s a restricted area now. I entered the cursed forest without hesitation.

“…What is this?”

I was cursed as it was.

I doubted my eyes.

The trees that grew lush in the forest.

Among them, there was a particularly large tree.

It is a beautiful evergreen conifer such as a Korean fir or a fir tree. It looks like a tree that is perfect for decorating as a Christmas tree at the end of the year.

Is that why?

Even though it was March after Christmas, decorations were hung here and there.

What might be someone’s intestines were dangling like ribbons.

Colorful magic power shone like light bulbs. It was the remnants of magic power flowing out from the gaps in the chest.

Not only that.

Replacing the snow in midwinter, the ashes of the plants I burned were piled up.

All kinds of organs were decorating the tree.

End of March.

An early Christmas had come.

Taking the lives of the students.

A too early Christmas.