Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 252

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Episode 252

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius Episode 252

An Imperfect Copy (2)

S-Rank Skill, 「Doppelganger」.

When I first acquired this skill, I felt a strange sense of unease. Even though 「Doppelganger」 is an external skill that can be taken from others, the process by which I obtained it felt too simple.

Originally, it should have involved a very complicated process.

‘A wide underground waterway. Finding a palm-sized stone there, infusing it with magical power, and making it mine.’

At least, that’s how the villain from the original story obtained 「Doppelganger」. A task requiring a great deal of time and effort.

I was willing to invest the time and effort because it was worth it, but an entirely unexpected stroke of luck occurred.

But thinking about it, was it really just pure luck that I obtained 「Doppelganger」 there?

And the sudden battle with the Mindo [a type of magical creature]?

Considering that the woman who asked for help was also a Mindo, and there was a Mindo who induced the actions of others, it’s possible that 「Doppelganger」 was also part of someone’s scheme.

So, I examined every nook and cranny, but there was nothing unusual.

「Doppelganger」 moved naturally, following my memories and experiences.

The way I eat, the way I walk. It copied and imitated even the smallest things.

That could be proof of its excellent performance, but then one question arises. If it copied my memories and experiences exactly, then it would have experienced the pain and trauma I went through.

I am slowly breaking down, unable to overcome that pain.

But how can a mere skill be unaffected after experiencing my pain?

If it were an emotionless block of wood or a machine, I would have accepted it. But today, 「Doppelganger」, who was taking care of the children, smiled very naturally.

Its expression wasn’t fabricated.

A genuine expression. Something a block of wood or a machine couldn’t produce. It has emotions and can learn.

And that thing calmly worried about me and made me black tea?

It’s strange from that point on, and there’s even poison in the tea.

There’s no denying it now.

“Did you intentionally give me poisoned black tea?”

“Doesn’t work, huh? Well, I knew you could detoxify it, but I didn’t expect it to be completely ineffective.”

The white-haired woman smiled and sat on the sofa.

The sofa opposite me. 「Doppelganger」 set up her own cup of black tea on the table in front of her and sipped it.

“This has a nice aroma.”

“Don’t change the subject. What do you want?”

“Just. Be careful. You shouldn’t trust others so easily, right?”

Yes, you shouldn’t trust others so easily.

But that’s not something someone with my memories and experiences should say.

It may be in the form of a woman, but that form originates from me. Even the skills it possesses are mine. Every element that makes up 「Doppelganger」 is made of me.

Can we really call our relationship that of strangers?

I carried that concern in the back of my mind throughout the dawn.

And now I’ve come to a conclusion.

“You are not me.”

To say these words twice in two days.

If others saw this, they would point fingers and call me crazy. Fortunately, the first statement was uttered in my mental world, and the second statement is addressed to my clone created by 「Doppelganger」.

A clone is ultimately a clone.

It can never become the original.

Some might suggest the possibility of a fake surpassing the original, but most fakes in this world cannot beat the original. That’s what most people think, and it’s only natural.

A fake and the original are different. A fake can never surpass the original.

That obvious thought was shattered this morning.

The fake, 「Doppelganger」, had all my memories.

This was something closer to a clone than a fake.

“This isn’t what I wanted…”

Something strange has been born.

Even though it fully possesses my memories and experiences.

It has an ego separate from me, ‘Baek Seung-woo’.

In simple terms, it only has the memories of Baek Seung-woo in another person’s personality. It is by no means Baek Seung-woo.

This is driving me crazy.

“Things in the world don’t always go as you want.”

“I don’t want to hear that from you.”

“Then what are you going to do? Are you going to kill me?”

「Doppelganger」 asked with a relaxed expression.

She looked at the children sleeping in the bed.

It seemed like she was implying that something might happen to the children if things went wrong, but well. It didn’t seem like she had any intention of harming the children. Rather, it seemed like she wanted to smooth things over by using the children as an excuse. Sigh… Okay.

“…Baek Hyeon-ah.”

“Who’s that? A lover? Or do you have more children?”

“That’s the name you’ll be using from now on. And if you’ve seen my memories, you’ll know. I don’t have a lover or biological children.”

“Okay, I’ll gratefully accept the name. After all, I need a name to live in this society.”

She looks at me with a look of having done me a favor.

I didn’t like that look, but I decided to let it go.

“You. Do you know your previous owner?”

“Previous owner? No, not at all. You’re my first owner from the start.”

“…Then how did you move? Transforming into Leona, imitating her experiences and skills, was it all because you were moving as someone’s skill? It seemed like you were teaching her some knowledge. Where did you get that knowledge from?”

“Please ask one question at a time. There’s still plenty of time until the morning sun fully rises. I’ve boiled a lot of water to make tea, so calm down and let’s talk leisurely, okay?”

I certainly asked a lot of questions.

I have so many questions I want to ask her, but I need to unravel them one by one.

“Then I’ll answer what comes to mind first? First of all, me transforming into Leona Leonhardt, that cat, was an impromptu action.”

“Impromptu? You seemed to be fighting quite seriously for something impromptu.”

“Hey, that’s impromptu enough. Both she and I were just pretending to fight; we weren’t fighting seriously. If we were fighting seriously, we would have broken each other’s limbs a long time ago. In some cases, it could have been even worse.”

Impromptu, huh.

Well, it could be impromptu. Peeking into the memories and experiences of others, being able to fully transform into their appearance.

I don’t have that ability, so I don’t know.

「Doppelganger」 and I seem to have slightly different concepts of impromptu.

“Don’t have anything more to say about this, right? Then the next question. The fact that I taught that child. That was really made by combining the contents that came to mind.”

“Contents that came to mind?”

“Yeah, I can transform into the appearance of others and peek into their memories and experiences. It doesn’t suit the name Doppelganger, but it’s easier to think of experiencing everything about them from a third-person perspective.”

She closed her eyes tightly, as if recalling the situation at the time.

“To me, the memories of others are like watching scenes as they flow by like a movie, and experiences are like riding a bicycle. You know how even if you don’t ride a bicycle for a long time, your body instinctively remembers it? It’s like that.”

“If you do well, you can only take the advantages of others.”

“Yeah, that’s right. If I were human, I would have been called a genius. But I’m not human, so I won’t be called that. Ah, before that, I wasn’t even a living thing. Is that why? I’ve transformed into so many people. I succeeded in gaining so much knowledge.”

Skill, 「Doppelganger」 is made of flesh and blood, but its raw material was magic.

Eventually, when the magic runs out, it reverts to its original form.

When I first forced her to release Leona’s form in order to take her as a skill, 「Doppelganger」 was in a liquid form.

Even that liquid probably isn’t the real 「Doppelganger」.

She doesn’t have a clear form.

It might be a tragic story depending on the speaker or listener, but the two spoke silently and listened silently. Because they had seen so much pain and life beyond their own identity.

The atmosphere didn’t sink with just this much talk.

Rather, they calmly moved on to the next topic.

“It seems like we can talk about this much, oh? Where did I talk up to? The conversation went off on a tangent in the middle, so I’m not sure.”

“The reason you transformed into Leona. The source of the knowledge you have.”

“Ah, then there’s only one left now. Can I close my eyes for a bit after talking about this? It’s a bit hard to answer in a state where I haven’t slept well because I was putting the kids to sleep.”

“Do as you please.”

“Good. But the last question is…?”

“Your previous owner.”

「Doppelganger」, no, Baek Hyeon-ah answered with a question.

She, who will now live as the children’s nanny, repeated the words ‘previous owner’ several times at her mouth with a look that didn’t understand the gist of the question, and then said.

“I don’t have a previous owner. You’re my first owner.”

“Really?”

“No, why are you looking at me with such suspicious eyes? It’s true. However, there was someone who woke me up from a long sleep in a deep and dark place. He didn’t own me and released me in this country.”

“…What?”

I can’t even believe the story that there was no owner, but someone released her without taking her?

What kind of nonsense is that?

If my memory is correct, 「Doppelganger」 is stored in the form of a ‘skill stone’ in an underground waterway, and then enters the hands of a man and becomes his skill.

If the skill stone is suitable, it is right to awaken the contents with magic and take it as your skill. But you only awaken the skill in front of you and leave it as it is?

No matter how crazy the other person is.

That was too much of a violation of common sense.

I thought in my head that her words were false or that something more was hidden. And that thought was valid.

As the latter.

“Ah, instead, there was a restriction. My range of activity could not leave this country, and some of the memories of the person I imitated flowed to that man.”

“…Could it be that my memories also flowed?”

“Right? Your memories are more vast and dense than others, so they couldn’t flow for even a minute, though.”

My memories were peeked at by someone else.

I felt the fatigue disappear from that fact. What took its place was anxiety.

The fact that the memories that flowed out were less than a minute long soothed my anxiety, but my heart was still shaking. What kind of memory from what point did he peek at?

Right then. The situation when I first witnessed her came to mind.

Why did I have to meet her at the moment when I was confronting two Mindo?

1 minute. That short time was now strangling my head.