Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 381

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius – Episode 381

Academy Gumiho is a Magical Genius 381

A Moment Unremembered (1)

Simon was an orphan.

A very capable one at that.

He was quick-witted, and unlike the other orphans in the alleyways, he never missed a meal. He knew where the hypocritical charity of the well-fed took place, and he knew how to subtly steal food from the vending machines without anyone noticing.

He even realized one day that he possessed a special talent.

Pazzzzzzt!

Electricity sparked from his fingertips.

A world where people couldn’t use magic.

This electricity was a clear manifestation of an extraordinary ability.

That was when it began. Simon started running, barely able to eat.

“S, save me…”

The weak voice of the boy echoed in the alley.

He had been running for days without a single proper meal.

Simon ran desperately, as if in a chase.

The only reason a boy with nowhere to go, an orphan with no strength to run from lack of food, could run for days as if in a chase was simply this: no one was actually chasing Simon in the first place.

Even if the researchers of the Magic Tower were weaklings who had never exercised, they weren’t so feeble that they couldn’t catch up to a boy who hadn’t eaten properly for days.

So, what was this boy running from?

The answer to that was also quite simple.

“Just! How much further do I have to run…?”

Simon’s muttering was filled with a sense of futility.

He asked himself, but there was no answer.

It was natural that there was no answer because there was no end. The boy was running from his own future.

“I, I don’t want to. I don’t want to keep running like this…”

It wasn’t widely known that the Magic Tower conducted live experiments, but the orphans of the city vaguely knew it. Because orphans disappeared in abnormal ways every day.

If they starved to death or were attacked by monsters, traces would remain, but when the Magic Tower researchers came, no trace was left.

However, these facts were not Simon’s concern.

That was until just a week ago.

“…But if I stop running, it’s over.”

In a city lacking energy, the ability to generate electricity was a very valuable skill.

So valuable that if the Magic Tower found out, they would definitely capture him.

So he ran and ran. Simon ran to escape the terrible future that awaited him, but he was now reaching his limit.

It was at that moment.

“What’s going on here?”

A man’s voice was heard.

Simon looked up, searching for the voice.

The sunlight was so intense that he couldn’t see the man’s face properly, but he definitely saw nine silhouettes flickering behind him.

The man grabbed Simon and carried him on his back.

“…”

Exhausted, Simon fainted without any resistance.

The man took him to his residence. That was Simon’s first memory of his teacher. Those memories of that moment were precious memories that he could not forget even as an adult.

* * *

Simon shouted at Seungwoo.

A welcoming expression, with a faint sadness hidden within it, was reflected in Seungwoo’s eyes.

‘What is that expression?’

It was an expression as if he had some connection with me.

Of course, that couldn’t be the case, but Simon’s expression was somehow bothering me.

It wasn’t Simon that was bothering me, but his expression.

Because that expression right now…

‘It looks like the expression people often make when they’re about to cause trouble.’

I feel uneasy for some reason.

Instinctively sensing something was wrong, Seungwoo took out a sword from the space within his ring. A sword that wasn’t very sharp. This sword was so worn out from being used for too long in the previous battle that the blade was completely ruined.

He hurriedly tried to take out another sword, but—

──────!

The hair on his entire body stood on end.

Seungwoo scraped the floor with the ruined sword.

Perhaps because it was the lowest level, the floor was very hard and thick.

However, it wasn’t strong enough to withstand a sharp sword aura, so Seungwoo stuck it into the floor in the shape he had cut, using it like an umbrella. One peculiar thing was that he unfolded it in front of him, far away from Simon and Eve.

“Luna! Come here!”

“…!”

A hurried call.

Luna knew his personality, so she quickly moved to Seungwoo’s side.

She didn’t even ask why he had called her.

Luna, who arrived at Seungwoo’s side, immediately hugged him.

A huge alloy [a mixture of metals or a metal combined with other elements] was visible in Luna’s view. The alloy remained in the shape of the floor being cut out. It was so huge that the entire view in front was filled with alloy.

“Why suddenly?”

It was the moment she was about to ask why he had called her.

Kugugugugugung!!!

A huge light burst out, and Seungwoo and Luna began to be pushed back.

Luna wanted to lift her head to see what was being pierced, but she couldn’t open her eyes because of the intense light. When the light that lasted for about 5 minutes ended, Luna could see a huge hole pierced above their heads.

“That… that’s pierced all the way to the top floor, right?”

Luna looked up at the ceiling.

A very large hole. The stars were faintly visible above it.

That meant that a hole had been pierced from the lowest floor to the top floor.

Confused as to why this situation had occurred, she reflexively looked towards the glass tube, but Eve and Simon had already disappeared. They took advantage of the flashing light.

“Did they die at the same time?”

“Die? Of course, they ran away.”

“Can’t you see these traces?”

Seungwoo, who threw away the completely ruined sword this time, pointed to the ceiling.

It was a familiar trace of magic.

It was a trace similar to Eve’s exclusive magic that used light as a medium.

It was a much simpler and more primitive method than Seungwoo knew, but this was definitely Eve that he remembered. It was clearly the trace of the Great Archmage.

“…It seems like I need to know something before I go.”

He thought about chasing Eve and Simon, but it didn’t seem like the right thing to do in the current situation. In the end, Seungwoo scoured all the documents in the basement of the Magic Tower.

Many of them had disappeared in the huge light just now, but there was still a vast amount of documents left.

He sorted through the documents, searching only for the keyword ‘Eve’ in the huge pile of documents that could form a tower if stacked.

The mountain of documents was reduced to the amount that could fit in his hand.

“Wait a minute, can you hold the 8th and 9th ones?”

“Why are these documents so thick?”

“I know, right? I don’t know why there’s so much content.”

Of course, he said it was the amount that could fit in his hand.

It wasn’t a thickness that he could hold with his hand.

The documents stacked precariously were still numerous.

“Are you planning to read all of these?”

Luna asked.

“Of course. It’s what amateurs do to rush into a fight without knowing anything about the opponent. Of course, if you have overwhelming skill, it doesn’t matter if you don’t know the opponent…”

Seungwoo stroked his right hand.

His magic circuit was still not normal.

He could fight with a sword, but he couldn’t confidently subdue her with swordsmanship alone. In the end, Seungwoo opened the first document.

Flap.

The first page.

The significance of the experiment and the expected results were written.

It wasn’t very important content, so he quickly skimmed through it.

Hundreds of pages. Only after reaching a thousand pages did he barely finish reading the first experimental document. Seungwoo reached out to Luna.

“The second document.”

“Yes? The second document… Ah! Here you go.”

Luna handed the document over with both hands.

Seungwoo grabbed the document without even turning his head, let alone thanking her, and opened the second page.

Swish.

The only sound that echoed in the empty 66th basement was the sound of him flipping through the pages, not knowing whether he was reading the book properly or just turning the pages in order. Luna was very familiar with this situation. It was something she had experienced every day for the past two weeks while working as Seungwoo’s assistant.

“Do you need a magnifying glass or glasses?”

“Glasses.”

“I’ll make them with the glasses you usually use.”

“Increase the power by one level.”

“Understood.”

Luna, who was holding the third document in her hand, put the document down.

A seed floated in her empty hand. The small dot, which was unknown what kind of plant’s seed it was, sprouted in an instant. It became a long and thin branch.

The branch floating above Luna’s hand bent in several directions and soon turned into glasses that people wear.

Glasses with the lens part empty.

Luna filled that part with water and added some skill.

A very slight skill that allowed the water to not fall or flow from the glasses and maintain the refractive index that Luna wanted.

“Here you are.”

“…”

Seungwoo took the glasses without saying a word this time.

He continued to flip through the documents with one hand and adjusted the glasses to fit him with his mouth. Seungwoo put on the glasses and skimmed through the documents.

Seungwoo and Luna in a very natural atmosphere.

The two had been repeating this situation for two weeks already.

At first, he conveyed his gratitude every time, but at some point, he stopped conveying his gratitude for the sake of faster work efficiency.

“Document number 4.”

“What about the third document?”

“Standby.”

“Understood.”

Luna, who had become accustomed to the secretary’s job, quickly handed over the fourth document and prepared to present the third document. Seungwoo, who had quickly speed-read hundreds of pages this time, wanted the next document.

“Document number 10.”

“There are only nine documents.”

“There are only nine?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then give me document number 7.”

Luna handed over the seventh document.

Seungwoo tore off ten pages from the back of the document bundle and handed them to her. Luna, who received the bundle of paper, said.

“What are these papers for?”

“From the first to the ninth document. Bring only the last ten pages of each, for a total of 90 pages.”

“Understood.”

Seungwoo read the remaining documents except for the pages he had torn off.

Luna also tore off the back of each document and combined them into one, matching Seungwoo’s speed of turning the documents at a speed that was hard to say he was reading them. She firmly fixed the combined documents with a wooden clip and handed them to Seungwoo.

“Here you go.”

“Okay.”

Thanks for the quick work.

Seungwoo conveyed a brief thank you to Luna, who was keeping up with his speed, and boasted his crazy speed-reading again. The speed at which he usually read books and processed documents was never slow, but now, because of the situation, he was shoving the letters into his brain several times faster than before.

There is considerable pain in my head.

Trickle.

The vision was momentarily stained red.

Blood was flowing from the corners of his eyes. His ears were also slightly damp, and his nose was moist.

“That! You need to wipe the blood quickly…!”

“Don’t make a fuss. The next document─”

Get ready.

Just as he was about to say that, his throat was blocked.

Gulp.

He didn’t know what it was, so he swallowed it, but he felt the bitter taste and smell of iron.

It was the taste of blood. If his condition is this bad, it seems like he has overworked his head very badly. Seungwoo grabbed his head and started reading the documents again.

The speed was no different from before.

That’s how Seungwoo read all the documents somehow.

“Okay, let’s take a break for a minute.”

“How long should we rest? Would 10 minutes be enough?”

“If we rest that long, there’s no reason to finish the work quickly.”

Thud.

Seungwoo, who dropped his head powerlessly on the pile of documents, said.

“1 minute. 1 minute is enough.”

Leaving those words behind, Seungwoo fainted like that.

Luna looked at him and lowered her head.

“It doesn’t seem enough at all.”

Perhaps he overworked his head too much.

Quite a lot of blood flowed on the floor. Still, Seungwoo had the ability to recover himself, so his condition was better than the amount of blood he spilled on the floor.

Well, his condition is okay, but his appearance is a bit.

His condition was not good at all.

─He’s just a rag. All done.

Even Tamamo looked quite pitiful.