Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 253

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius – Episode 253

An Imperfect Copy (3)

Dawn.

The sun rose, and morning arrived.

I sipped the last of my red tea from the empty cup, lost in thought.

Even after I’d finished, I kept sipping, so deep in thought I didn’t even notice. My deep contemplation revolved around her.

It was because of the story Baek Hyeon-ah had told me.

“…There’s a good chance there were lies mixed in.”

Some parts of her story felt truthful, but my life hadn’t been easy enough to trust everything she said.

I doubt everyone’s words.

Even those of a child or a friend.

If there’s even a slight chance information might be unintentionally incorrect, I doubt it without exception.

Of course, I don’t show it.

Why would I ruin someone’s social life?

I at least pretend to believe what they say.

But when no one is watching, who cares about my expression?

“It’s best to keep that in mind.”

My expression shifted as I thought.

Other information was also concerning, but especially the last thing Baek Hyeon-ah said.

The part about my memories being leaked to someone else for about a minute bothered me.

According to her, the leaked memory was from around the age of 20. That was when I was still wielding a sword and active on the battlefield.

She knew all the past and flaws I wanted to hide.

She seemed to know certain memories better than I did. After all, she didn’t directly experience those memories but observed them.

Unlike me, who sometimes becomes mentally disoriented due to PTSD when recalling memories, she could calmly examine even trivial memories.

‘Around 20 years old. Inside the barracks. There were black and blue cloths hanging. Eve was next to me, and she had a yellow notebook.’

That was the detailed explanation of the memory that Baek Hyeon-ah said had leaked.

She only remembers the situation at the time. She said she needs a little time to recall the details of what was said.

In the end, I started piecing together the fragmentary information she gave me based on the five Ws and one H [Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How].

First, the time.

Around the age of 20 would be the sixth battlefield I was active on.

Next, the place—that is, ‘where’.

If it was a barracks with black and blue cloths, there’s only one in my memory.

The joint barracks of Eve and me, set up to collect and store information to command the battlefield. Unconfirmed information was piled under the black cloth, and confirmed information was piled under the blue cloth.

‘I’ve roughly matched the time and place, but how can I know the exact time?’

The approximate time was hinted at by the clue that it was around the age of 20, but the phrase ‘around the age of 20’ meant that the information to be recalled spanned about a year. There are too many memories to recall.

So, I need to narrow down this range a bit. When did I start and stop distinguishing information with black and blue cloths?

‘I think I used it from the end of summer to winter.’

If I’m generous, I can narrow it down from August to December.

But the time frame was still wide. While analyzing the clues Baek Hyeon-ah gave me a little more, I remembered the color of the notebook she mentioned.

Eve’s yellow notebook.

If my memory is correct, it would have been her 16th or 17th notebook.

‘However, considering that the 15th notebook was from January to April, the 16th notebook was from May to August, and the 17th notebook was from September to December, with notebooks being replaced every four months, the time frame is from September to December.’

September to December.

The search range has been reduced by 1/3.

After that, I tried to narrow down the time frame with the clothes, but when I think about it, I always wore a white uniform and armor, and Eve wore a robe, whether it was summer or winter. I can’t deduce it from the clothes.

That was the current situation, desperately recalling memories while reliving those years that were already more than 5 years ago. Baek Hyeon-ah had already been lying in bed with the children for a long time.

She said that as a nanny, she was doing her part just by being with the children.

It was true, so there was no way to stop Baek Hyeon-ah from sleeping.

“…Hoo, I know the approximate time, but I would have remembered it faster if we had done it together. That doppelganger. Should I push her off the bed for being resentful?”

─Don’t. You might get betrayed later.

“That’s true too. I have no choice but to move on.”

─But you know, I have one question.

Tamamo asked me.

Her gaze was on Baek Hyeon-ah, who was lying in bed and breathing comfortably.

─Why is her name Baek Hyeon-ah? Is it perhaps a name you’ve cherished deep in your heart to give to your daughter later?

“That’s a terrible thing to say. It’s not a name given with any special meaning.”

The moment I first shaped the doppelganger into a woman, I thought while looking at Erzsébet’s eyes, who couldn’t hide her joy at the fact that they had a mother to take care of them. I don’t mind just calling him a doppelganger.

A nanny who raises children.

No, in order to properly fulfill the role of a parent, it was necessary to give him a name as well. So, my last name ‘White Baek’, ‘Mysterious Hyeon’ taken from the black tail, and finally the first-person pronoun ‘I Ah’.

Combining these three letters, the name Baek Hyeon-ah (白玄我) was born.

─It feels like you put a lot of effort into it, but it also feels like you made it up roughly.

“…I thought I named it really well.”

─No, the most important element in a name is love and affection. Meaning is important, but is it okay if only meaning is important?

“…Baek Hyeon-ah, Hyeon-ah. I think the name is pretty and well-made, not just the meaning.”

I don’t know why Tamamo is suddenly looking at Baek Hyeon-ah with pitiful eyes.

Judging from the situation, it seems to be because of the name, but I think I named it well in my own way. Hyeon-ah, the name is pretty, and it has its own meaning. I didn’t give her names like Heuk Seung-woo, Cheon Seung-woo, or Man Seung-woo, which were on the list of names, so I thought it was a sensible name.

Let’s tell Tamamo this fact.

─Yeah, Hyeon-ah. That’s better.

“Right?”

─Yeah. If you had given her a different name, there would have been a big commotion.

“Is it that bad? I thought the other names had their own characteristics.”

─From now on, when you name people or things, please consult with me before you name them. That way, there won’t be any problems. Got it?

I felt like I shouldn’t answer wrong here.

I don’t know well, but it seems like she doesn’t like the name very much. I, who didn’t have much interest in names, nodded and tried to open the door and go outside.

The morning sun had already risen considerably.

It’s time for most homes to greet the morning.

Our children and Baek Hyeon-ah, who fell asleep late, are still in dreamland, but people’s footsteps and voices are slowly starting to be heard inside the mansion.

The mansion has come to life as the owner has woken up.

It’s almost time for breakfast. From my point of view, staying in this mansion, it was a part that I couldn’t help but pay my respects.

Well, it’s just a greeting.

The social status of the Leonhardt family and the Cheonho Baekga family is at the same level, so it’s just a greeting between business partners in the same position. Of course, I’m a mediocre head of the family and the worst between the two families, though.

I can’t just not say hello.

So, I’m about to put on my clothes and go out.

Click. Click.

The doorknob won’t open.

“What is it? Did they lock it from the outside?”

The room we’re staying in is a special room with everything we need, including a bathroom, bed, and refrigerator. It was truly a perfect guesthouse for guests.

However, depending on your point of view, you can solve everything in this room, so I felt an unspoken intention not to come out of the room.

But that’s just what I mean.

They don’t actually lock the room from the outside. What crazy house in the world locks a guest room?

Maybe it’s a unilateral action by a servant or butler who hates Cheonho Baekga, or one of the family’s pressures.

‘If I knock on the door and ask them to open it, the children might wake up, so I’ll just have to open the keyhole.’

If they locked it from the outside, I have to open it from the inside.

What can I do? Is it because it’s a wide and old Western mansion?

I still used the key.

I was going to pour clay-shaped magic into the keyhole to match the keyhole and then harden it to open the door. Fortunately, there were no other measures except for the keyhole.

Clunk!

This time, the doorknob turned properly.

The door opened, and the scenery outside was visible.

It was a thick door like a front door, but what I saw when I opened the door was a long corridor and servants moving busily to prepare for breakfast.

It’s a very unique sight.

When I opened the door outside the room, which had everything: a room, a bed, a bathroom, a kitchen, and a refrigerator, what I saw was not the outdoors but a corridor. I realized how big this mansion was and at the same time, I felt something strange.

A sense of déjà vu.

It was as if I had received this sight, this feeling, somewhere.

It was definitely something I had never experienced before, but when I traced the cause of the feeling that I had experienced somewhere, I realized that the beginning was the key.

The locked door.

To open that door, I made a key and turned it.

Then, what unfolded was not an outdoor space but a long corridor in the mansion. Well, this was a mansion comparable to a palace, so it wasn’t strange.

The room we were staying in already had all the requirements for living, enough to be considered a lodging or a house. So, I thought I would feel the outside air, but what caught my eye was the busy footsteps of butlers and servants wearing uniforms.

So, this time, I focused on the key.

When I opened the door with the key, a different scene unfolded than I had expected.

The key. That was the key.

The reason I came to this distant land was to secure a nanny and a key. But when did I hear that?

When I thought about it, strangely enough, the time period that Baek Hyeon-ah mentioned for 1 minute of memory. The time period that overlaps with that was in November.

‘…I know who made the doppelganger with their skills. I know why they sent me here and made me use my skills to make it.’

The accidental attack of the Mind.

And the appearance of the doppelganger.

Maybe everything was to get the knowledge I had through the doppelganger. No, that’s for sure.

I realized what they wanted.

“The key.”

The key to opening the garden,

Eve said. This is a concept like a MacGuffin [a plot device that drives the story forward].

It’s not important, but it’s an important item. But there is no explanation, and it will be broken right after only the key is mentioned.

She definitely said that.

‘Now is not the time to be stuck here.’

The key is an item used in the second half.

Before the guys who peeked into my memories make a move first.

I had to find the key quickly.

What’s the big deal about a greeting?

So, I ran out of the mansion. The head of the Leonhardt family, who thought I would come to him as soon as I came out of the room, was waiting for Baek Seung-woo in the head’s office and was naturally stood up.

His children were just wondering why their father hadn’t come down to eat for 2 hours.