Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 329

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Episode 329

Academy Gumiho is a Magic Genius 329

Absence (4)

Step, step.

A woman wearing something black that was neither shoes nor boots wandered along the hillside.

The thing Nam Hwa-yeon wore was more of a concept than actual footwear.

It was a unique type of magic she had developed.

Not only did it perfectly replace the function of shoes, but it also satisfied aesthetic needs. Depending on the situation, it could even act as a sensory organ beyond the five senses, detecting all kinds of traces on the ground.

For example, if she wanted to find raspberries, it would scan the entire terrain of the mountain to pinpoint their location. By analyzing footprints in the soil, it could determine a person’s direction and, using stride length as a measure, estimate their body type and gender with a 99.9% accuracy.

It was that kind of magic, but…

Somehow, she hadn’t found a single trace of the young man who had come to this mountain a week ago.

“…Not here either.”

Nam Hwa-yeon mobilized all her magic.

The magic she created was primarily designed to satisfy her curiosity and expand her knowledge, not necessarily for practical applications, so she didn’t have many spells specifically for finding things.

Currently, her most effective search tool was this pair of ‘shoes’.

Shoes crafted in the likeness of dark matter, which she found aesthetically pleasing.

“…Should I just get rid of these?”

She was seriously contemplating discarding them.

The appearance of the shoes pleased her, and the abilities she had imbued them with were considerable.

However, after a week of trying to find traces of one person with that ability, she had achieved nothing.

Nam Hwa-yeon valued pretty clothes and shoes, but first and foremost, she was a magician.

For a magician, tools that failed to fulfill their intended purpose…

…Were not worth keeping.

Poof.

With a soft explosion, her shoes vanished.

Nam Hwa-yeon, now standing on the grass with her small, delicate feet, decided to sense things with her bare body.

Having reached the level of a great mage, each of her blood vessels and cells functioned like a magic circuit of a typical magician.

The same applied to her bare feet.

Blood vessels and nerves intertwined within her feet.

The magic power utilized in these small feet alone was equivalent to the magic circuit of a high-ranking magician.

It was a stark reminder of just how monstrous a magician Nam Hwa-yeon was.

But even such a great magician…

…Was not an omnipotent being capable of everything.

The fact that she had been struggling for a week in the mountains to find the remaining traces of her disciple demonstrated this.

However.

“…Found it.”

She didn’t claim she *couldn’t* find it.

Nam Hwa-yeon certainly didn’t possess omnipotent knowledge and abilities, but through repeated trial and error, she was bound to uncover something.

The traces of her disciple, Seung-woo, who had disappeared.

Nam Hwa-yeon discovered these traces connected within a distorted space. And the nature of that space was something Nam Hwa-yeon knew well.

“…The reverse side of the world [an alternate dimension or pocket reality] is in this small mountain?”

The reverse side of the world.

A fragment of a world that had already been destroyed.

That splinter could be sensed through this small hole.

“…A fragment?”

A fragment is a broken piece, not connected as a whole.

From that perspective, the scale of the world connected beyond this hole was far too significant to dismiss as just a fragment.

“…It’s too huge.”

There are no gaps.

It’s unbelievably vast, making the idea of it being a mere fragment seem absurd.

At this rate, it’s practically the original itself.

“…Isn’t this just the world itself?”

The reverse side of the world is given names such as villages and cities depending on its size.

So far, the largest one discovered was only the size of a country.

Even those were less than 10 worldwide.

In fact, it was generally accepted that a reverse side of the world the size of a country was the maximum size possible.

In reality, that was the largest that had ever been found.

And theoretically, it was impossible for anything larger to exist.

“…It’s completely defying the calculations.”

Nam Hwa-yeon examined the hole.

The world on the other side was ignoring all the laws and formulas she knew.

‘…At this rate, you can’t even call it a new discovery.’

Her head throbbed.

What in the world *is* this?

It was an incomprehensible concept.

Its trajectory was completely different from magic.

“…It would be best to set up camp around here first.”

After confirming the last traces of her disciple, Nam Hwa-yeon channeled a massive amount of magic into the area, creating a powerful sealing formation.

Essentially, it would make people instinctively avoid the area, preventing them from entering. And even if they did enter, it was a trap they couldn’t escape.

The title of King of Magicians was not just for show.

Nam Hwa-yeon waved her hand once in the air to construct a complex magic spell and then left the spot. Now that she knew where her disciple had gone.

“…It’s time to check what that guy left behind.”

Nam Hwa-yeon, knowing where she needed to go thanks to her unique magic, unleashed her magic. She vanished from the mountain in an instant.

Moments later, she appeared in the sky above a small house built in the countryside.

A modest house located in a rural area.

Nam Hwa-yeon slowly descended from the air to the ground, observing the house with its surprisingly extensive underground defense system.

* * *

Baek Seung-woo had disappeared.

That fact had now become widely known and accepted.

Everyone had followed his tracks and footsteps, but no one could find him.

As a result, rumors began to circulate in certain circles.

Nothing particularly noteworthy.

Just baseless speculation that he had made a ‘bad choice,’ a common narrative the media often promotes when a celebrity suddenly disappears.

“You, take down all the articles you wrote.”

“But there’s no guarantee that Baek Seung-woo is still alive…”

“That’s exactly why! There’s no evidence right now. Evidence!”

While the media was eagerly dissecting the sensational news.

The company associated with Baek Seung-woo, specifically, the people connected to Cheonho Baekga [one of the Nine Families, a powerful clan] and those who owned its stock, vehemently refuted all slander and speculation and took action.

To what extent?

“What… what do we do now?”

“Our biggest supporter was the head of the family, but if he disappears like this, we’re now…”

“Completely out of luck.”

Even the family elders, divided into old and new factions and constantly at odds, were in disarray.

The new elders were in the greatest turmoil.

Composed of emerging figures selected by Baek Seung-woo, they were relatively young and quick to react when it came to their own gains and losses.

They understood the severity of their current situation.

“This is a real problem. Should we align ourselves with those old men now?”

“Don’t even think about it. We fought so hard against those old badgers; they’ll never forgive us.”

“From our perspective, we have no choice but to declare that there is no problem with the head of the family’s safety.”

“But that won’t last long either. If something really bad happened… No, that shouldn’t happen.”

If the head of the family who appointed the new elders were to die, their appointments would be nullified.

Because they were not yet fully established as elders.

Even in the family registry, the names of the existing old elders were still listed.

To erase them from the registry and grant the new elders full power and position, the authority of the head of the family was essential.

The branch families of Cheonho Baekga issued statements.

There is no problem with the head of the family’s safety.

The system ranking calculation was simply disrupted due to an issue during an experiment.

People only disappear from the system ranking when they die or are corrupted by a demon, but you know? Our head of the family is a genius.

These were just words appealing to people without concrete evidence.

But because of what Seung-woo had demonstrated so far…

…People kept their doubts to themselves and moved on.

“There’s no direct evidence, but if he’s a genius, we can accept it without evidence.”

“The youngest grand mage. A high ranker. A player who fought and won against a huge demon in the city. The head of Cheonho Baekga. None of those are easy titles to achieve.”

But this wouldn’t last more than four days.

During those four days, the new elders would pray for Seung-woo’s return.

While praying, they would also need to promote one of Seung-woo’s sisters as the head of the family or devise a new plan to prepare for any eventuality.

Many people were filled with anxiety.

While conversations involving stories for fun, money, and profit were exchanged regarding Baek Seung-woo’s disappearance from the rankings.

“Did you guys find out anything?”

“The teacher likes cigarettes? Well, I found out that much.”

“Who told you to find that! …But he likes cigarettes?”

“Yeah. Cigarettes. He seems to like smoking with a pipe. And it’s dried poisonous herbs.”

“If you’re going to talk nonsense, just leave! Okay, next! Is there anyone else who has found any other information?”

There were also people who genuinely worried about Seung-woo.

All of them were students who had received his teachings.

All the children who received intensive training in the early part of the first semester were gathered.

Seung-woo’s students had now become formidable powerhouses, all considered promising prospects in the top 10 on average.

Perhaps because they were promising students, dubbed the golden generation, their skills already surpassed those of the third graders, even though they were freshmen.

Thanks to this, they had a lot of contact with people, and they obtained a lot of information based on the relationships they had built, but…

There wasn’t much information about Seung-woo.

No matter how much time they spent or how much they connected with high-ranking people.

The only information they learned was that even *they* didn’t know the details about Baek Seung-woo’s whereabouts. Still, the students didn’t give up.

Seung-woo was their mentor and the teacher who helped them become the promising prospects they were today. They couldn’t give up.

Especially for one of the students.

He was not just a teacher.

“…I know something.”

Isabelle used the power of her family.

She desperately collected information, leveraging the information she had obtained by negotiating with her grandmother.

As a result, she uncovered one small fact.

“As expected of the Sirius family’s young lady! Your information is extraordinary.”

“So? What information did you get?”

“I’ll say one thing in advance: I still haven’t found out where the teacher is.”

“Hey, what’s that? You’re not going to find something like the cigarettes that Easy found, are you?”

Seong Yeon-hwa said with a smile.

Then Isabelle nodded.

“How did you know? Alcohol. The teacher likes alcohol, especially expensive alcohol.”

“Alcohol?! Cigarettes are bad enough, but even alcohol… He’s a terrible person, even if he’s an educator. But I have to write this down too.”

Scribble, scribble.

Isabelle wore a faint smile as she watched Seong Yeon-hwa write down what she had heard in her notebook. It was a smile that hadn’t been seen in the past week.

Isabelle’s tired smile was still proof that she was having a hard time, but she was slowly regaining her mental and emotional stability.

“You.”

“What?”

“Did you find out something more substantial? You know, something that has a similar meaning but is used like a swear word.”

“That guy… no, the teacher has a child.”

Isabelle took two photos from her pocket.

Each photo showed Seung-woo with a baby with horns on its head and a girl with ruby-red eyes.

“A person with an unnecessarily strong sense of responsibility wouldn’t make a ‘bad choice’ with children, would he?”

Isabelle said calmly.

Somehow, her eyes were so calm that it was unsettling.

And there was silence again.

The silence was so profound that the whole area felt like the bottom of the sea.