Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 240

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Episode 240

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius 240

The Funeral (5)

The life of a boy saved by a couple, only to be abandoned in the end.

I couldn’t understand that unfortunate life.

“Why?”

I asked, curious.

Why did the parents curse their son at the very end?

I was quite curious about that, and I couldn’t understand parents who would utter such words as their last will. It would be different if they hadn’t given love from the beginning.

But that wasn’t the case.

‘Baek Seung-woo’s’ parents gave him unconditional love during their lifetime.

An equal love, no different from their own children.

“Well, I don’t know either. It’s a will, after all. Those were the last words they uttered, so how would I know my parents’ true intentions?”

“……”

“But it’s not like I can’t understand my parents’ feelings at all.”

Tuk!

‘Baek Seung-woo’ tapped the floor with his shoe.

He finally spoke after tapping the floor at regular intervals several times. He seemed to have something to think about.

“You don’t seem to want to talk about it?”

“It’s not that. It’s just that I didn’t want to recall that day. But in order to explain it in detail, I have no choice but to revisit that time.”

Don’t worry.

I’ll give you the answer properly.

It’s just… a little painful.

“Is it necessary to recall it?”

“……”

“Without thinking too much, you can just explain what happened at that time, right?”

‘Baek Seung-woo’ was silent at my words.

I repeatedly asked him, who had closed his mouth.

“It’s not a difficult task. There’s no need to revisit painful memories.”

“……”

“You can just talk while skimming over the wounds you suffered that day. The wounds that haven’t healed to this day, right?”

There are three types of wounds.

Light wounds that heal well and leave no scars.

Heavy wounds that have healed but the scars don’t disappear.

And extreme wounds that don’t even heal before scars form.

That goes for both the body and the mind.

Wounds inflicted on the mind also do not heal if they are too extreme.

The curse he heard as his parents’ last words must have been an extreme wound.

In that case, there was no need to revisit the memories. He could just slowly skim over the unhealed wound with his fingers. That was all the answer I wanted.

“I thought about it while listening to the story. Your young heart must have been hurt by your parents’ last words.”

“……”

“But that’s not why you went astray.”

“……”

“Your actions after becoming the head of the family are openly revealed in the family’s journal, which records the major and minor events of the family.”

A vicious head of the family.

A villain who commits sexual harassment and violence.

Thanks to that, ‘Baek Seung-woo,’ who had become the head of the family at the young age of a minor, lost all popularity. The power of the elders who had to be kept in check became excessively large.

He eliminated his political standing by proceeding with the breakup with his fiancée.

Unfathomable with general common sense.

A series of extravagant choices. But I felt a strange sensation in those choices. A sense of déjà vu that I had experienced sometime before.

“Tell the truth, but don’t deliberately drag out the story.”

“……Interesting. So, what do you think is the story I want to tell even if I have to drag it out?”

“You said you engraved a curse on your own body. I don’t know how you engraved the congenital incurable disease, 「Solar Meridian Severance」 [a fictional disease], on your body, but you must have tried to explain your evil deeds along with the wounds you received from your parents.”

“A mentally immature middle school student heard a curse from his parents. Wouldn’t that be enough to become a vicious head of the family who commits bad deeds?”

‘Baek Seung-woo’ said in response to my question.

The curse his parents gave. That made him curse himself and fall to the bottom.

“What excuse? If you’re going to make an excuse, think of a proper one.”

‘Baek Seung-woo’s’ brow furrowed at the remark that seemed to cut down his wound.

Shock and anger. His expression, wavering as if struggling between them, gave me confidence.

“Shall we refute it point by point? First of all, let’s talk about ‘mentally immature middle school student’ that you mentioned.”

I read ‘Baek Seung-woo’s’ diary.

I personally experienced what kind of person he was in the past while getting involved with the people related to him. At least ‘Baek Seung-woo’ was not immature.

“He created his own faction at a young age and awakened magic in specific fields to 「Intermediate Magic」 or higher at the age of 7. At the age of 10, he easily awakened even 「Advanced Magic」, which is a higher level than that.”

“That’s not mature, it’s smart. A genius and a clever person are clearly different.”

Yes, a genius and someone precocious are different.

“Isn’t there a reason why geniuses are said to be eccentric?”

That’s right.

What I have mentioned so far has little to do with being mentally immature. Those are stories related to geniuses.

……If there wasn’t one premise.

“You’re right. But if you manipulated the timing of learning, the meaning of my words would be completely different.”

“……”

“You know what I’m trying to say, right?”

Manipulated the timing of learning.

What I’m saying is that ‘Baek Seung-woo’ didn’t awaken 「Intermediate Magic」 at the age of 7, and he didn’t master 「Advanced Magic」 at the age of 10.

I could tell through the diary.

Unlike the surrounding remarks that only magic from a specific school had reached a certain level.

In his diary, there was a description of magic from a completely different school.

Of course, it was difficult to recognize because it was a sentence written by a child’s small hand, but thanks to reading so many magic books, even with the expression described in strange handwriting.

I could clearly see what magic the subject had learned and what magic they had used.

“In the family’s journal, it is written that you mastered 「Elemental Magic」 at the age of 7. But the description written in your diary was quite different from 「Elemental Magic」. Especially in the description of manipulating the earth, you used the expression ‘lifted the earth.’ This is impossible at your level at the time. The 「Elemental Magic」 that gives the sensation of lifting the earth is included from the advanced level or higher.”

Then did ‘Baek Seung-woo’ awaken 「Advanced Magic」 at the age of 7?

That could be the case.

Or he may have learned magic in other fields.

The magic that makes it possible to lift the earth. Among the intermediate levels, there is gravity magic, which is famous for being difficult.

For reference, only 5% of current magicians master both gravity and elements up to 「Intermediate Magic」 at the same time.

“Perhaps you were confused about the sensation of using magic because you were young. But would a genius not know what the sensation of using magic feels like?”

That’s impossible. In that case, ‘Baek Seung-woo’ naturally mastered two different schools of magic up to the intermediate level at the age of 7, or he mastered 「Elemental Magic」 up to the advanced level.

“But it is impossible to awaken 「Advanced Magic」 at the age of 7. That’s not a genius. That’s a monster. That’s why you downplayed your talent to the people around you. The fact that you were capable of such thoughts at a young age is one of the proofs that proves your mental maturity before you were a genius.”

“……”

“How is it? Is there anything to refute? You can say anything if you have any. There are still many things to go over anyway.”

‘Baek Seung-woo’ lowered his head at my words.

He shook his head with an expression that he didn’t expect me to go this far.

“Shall I tell you one more thing? I actually felt strangeness in the story of your parents’ will.”

Slowly lifting his lowered head, ‘Baek Seung-woo’.

Instead of an expression of being caught or embarrassed, a resigned expression appeared on his face.

“It’s not that your story is a lie. However, I doubt whether you were really sad when you heard those words.”

“What on earth are you talking about……!”

“You weren’t sad. No, you were sad, but you couldn’t wallow in sadness. Coincidentally, their words were reasonable and valid.”

His parents’ curse. He was behind that background.

At the time, the two were dying of illness.

“The cause of the disease. The reason why the two who were healthy died was because of you.”

I was surprised the moment I heard ‘Baek Seung-woo’s’ story.

It was a brief moment of emotion, but I vividly felt the feelings he felt at the time. It was an indescribable cry and a sense of guilt.

“I don’t know the exact reason. But it’s certain that you were their death. Of course, you didn’t want that.”

You killed the parents who took you in.

Am I right?

“……Haha.”

‘Baek Seung-woo’ responded with a dry laugh.

That was the same as him tacitly agreeing with my words.

“As a result, you acted and worked hard to become a vicious head of the family. You broke off your engagement with Isabel and put the restraint called 「Solar Meridian Severance」 on yourself. But that wouldn’t have been an outburst of self-abandonment. There was some intention hidden in your actions.”

And that intention.

‘Baek Seung-woo’ kept wanting to hide it.

As if it were his weakness.

He didn’t want to reveal it.

“……That’s right. My parents’ curse was a response to the curse I placed on them. I only then realized that I had cursed them.”

A curse cast without knowing it.

Ironically, ‘Baek Seung-woo’ realized this fact the moment his beloved parents uttered words of curse to him.

Having been cursed, he saw the curse that had bound them for life.

“It wasn’t something I could do if I wanted to. Of course, I could weaken the curse to the level of a simple muscle pain, but in the end, a curse was a curse.”

“Why did you curse your parents?”

“There was no special intention. It was just innate and instinctual. The entity called me was born to scatter curses around.”

Cheonhobaekga. The family of white foxes.

A black and ominous colored child born there.

Indeed, the rumor was true. The black fox was ominous and scattered curses everywhere without any malice.

“I put a restraint on myself to suppress the scattered curses. But that matched my constitution and evolved into an incurable disease called 「Solar Meridian Severance」.”

It was a very unfortunate story.

He made his beloved parents pass away with the curse he instinctively scattered. In the last moments of parents who loved their children, instead of saying good words or saying they loved them, they made their son aware of his constitution by uttering words of curse.

That’s how the curse became their last words.

How much pain would it have been for parents who loved their children so much?

It was also a great pain for the child.

But.

‘This is not enough.’

Not yet, I haven’t reached the root.

What I’ve heard so far is tragic enough.

But his story was not yet at its climax. There were more parts to listen to.

I had a responsibility to see his choices and ending.

Not to give shallow comfort.

I was in a position to use his body now. I had a duty to know his regrets and resolve them.

At least I had it.