Chapter 34 Part 4: Connivance.

Dealing with them wasn’t a big deal in itself.
They were just a few people with guns, at most.

What? You’re asking if it’s dangerous because they had guns?

Yes, it was indeed dangerous.
It was a precarious situation since I couldn’t use my full power either.
Besides, with so many eyes watching, I had no choice but to take a roundabout approach this time.

“Yeji…”

I heard Kang Xia calling me, but I ignored her.
Right now, it was important to calmly assess and respond to the situation.

So, I slowly looked around and quietly tensed my body.

Now that I looked closely, it seemed that everyone wasn’t completely incapacitated, but rather they just couldn’t use their abilities.
Of course, their physical abilities would still remain, but… well.
There’s no way the other students, except for Kang Xia and me, would have trained in that.

Just a female student who could use a little bit of martial arts.
It wouldn’t deviate much from that.

“I guess I have no choice.”

I muttered to myself and grumbled inwardly.

I hate being the center of attention, so I’d like it if someone else helped, but what can I do?
This is like cutting off the arms and legs of someone who worked out hard and telling them to work out again.
Expecting students at this time to anticipate that they wouldn’t be able to use their abilities was asking too much in the first place.

So, I kicked off the ground, thinking I’d take the bullets with my body if push came to shove.

Through my sunglasses, I saw the gazes of the people, completely flustered.
They were aiming their guns, but they probably didn’t expect me to rush in.
But after a short while, the enemies calmly pulled the triggers.

“Oh, dear.”

With a short grumble, I compulsively swung my arm once.
My arm, covered in snake scales, literally became steel and deflected the bullets. Right after, I heard a strange sound from behind.

I turned my head and saw Kang Xia standing blankly.
A bullet cut in half. A broken sword blade. Her cowering in fear.
I could clearly see what had happened, so I said with a smile.

“Impressive!”

Gazes from around asked if this was really a situation to be happy about, but, well.

Honestly, the situation wasn’t that bad.
I couldn’t kill them with all my strength.
But I could protect my body with all my strength.

“Bullets… don’t work!?”
“Boss’s ability should have hit…”

The completely flustered enemies aimed their guns again.
I rushed forward and swung my arm before they could pull the triggers.

With a familiar impact, people flew into the air.
I thought it was excessive force, but I couldn’t help it.

They had guns.

“Wouldn’t it be better to surrender?”

I said that and stood in front of the students, shielding them.
I saw Kang Xia, who had somehow remade her sword at some point, coming to my side.

She couldn’t do anything about the bullets, but it was clear she stepped forward out of a sense of justice.
She probably also thought she had no choice but to step forward.
It was obvious from how her sword was shaking, which was unlike her.

“Xia, are you okay?”
“…Really, will we be okay?”
“Ah, sorry. We won’t be okay.”

“…What!?”

Kang Xia next to me made a crying face, telling me not to joke, but it was true.
Leaving the groaning and fallen people behind, men in suits formed a wall in the distance.
And as those people slowly moved aside, someone started walking towards us as if they had been waiting.

It was a completely useless, showy act, but it was effective enough.
The people’s agitation began to increase noticeably.

That someone adjusted his red tie with a smile as if he was in a good mood.

A shirt contrasting with the pure white suit jacket.
Pink hair that seemed to contrast with his blue eyes.
And a mask that only revealed his mouth, as if he were at a ball.

That someone soon smiled a bewitching smile and laughed at me.
As if he knew me.

Of course, I also knew who that person was.

Was it because I met someone I didn’t want to meet so unexpectedly?
I felt a sense of foreboding creeping up my spine.
I was grateful, for once, that my emotions were disappearing, and I racked my brain.

The spider of the underworld, famous for committing crimes across borders depending on his interest, Trickster.
I didn’t know why one of the few notorious Korean villains was here, but one thing was clear.
If he really tried to attack me, I would have no choice but to use my full strength.

“Oh, ladies. I’m sorry, but shall we put down our weapons and talk? We can at least have a conversation.”

Trickster spoke fluently, mixing in various gestures.
I was on high alert and didn’t fall for it, but I saw Kang Xia drop her sword.

Seeing that, Trickster smiled.

His ability was Persuasion Complete.
I didn’t know the exact process or anything, but once the persuasion was over, one had to abide by it until someone refuted the argument.
If it couldn’t be refuted, one had to find a hero specializing in mental abilities to remove the ability.

Naturally, people tended to underestimate Trickster’s ability.
At first glance, it’s not a particularly threatening ability.

See? It seems easy that it disappears if you refute it, right? But it wasn’t like that at all.
There are sophistry and eternally unending dilemmas in this world, after all.

“Do you think I would!?”

It was the same now.
As soon as Kang Xia steeled herself and picked up her sword again, Trickster laughed and said.

“Miss. I’m sorry, but if you do that, I have no choice but to use violence.”
“Ugh…”
“If you think talking is better than communicating with weapons, shall we talk with words?”

The words filled with sophistry were barely finished when Kang Xia lost her will to fight and slumped down.
She probably already thought it was better, so it was clear she wouldn’t be able to hold her sword until the situation was resolved.

And I would end up the same if I let my guard down.

“…Huu.”

I took a deep breath and glared at Trickster.
I hadn’t met him face-to-face much, but the underworld is a small place.
He probably figured out my identity by now.

It was indeed the case.

“Ah, Yeji. It’s been a long time. I wanted to meet you, but I didn’t expect to meet you here.”

My heart started pounding.
It was just a simple greeting, but I couldn’t know if it was a prelude to some kind of persuasion.

Immediately after, my emotions subsided.
My pounding heart also calmed down, and I stared at him calmly, putting my clear reason first.

“Ah, Yeji. Won’t you say anything? I’ve been waiting for a long time.”

I had heard from my aunt.
Trickster was the type of person who had to get everything he wanted.
Even if it was a country girl on the other side of the world, he had to have her.

“I’m going to sulk, Yeji. Can’t you answer me?”

And the other students would surely look like gemstones in his eyes.
I would probably look like a considerable jewel, too.
And it was also certain that he would try to somehow recruit me by now.

Yes, this was the problem.
The life I wanted to enjoy was a life in the light, not in the shadows.
A life where I could interact with many people and where many people would mourn when I died.
But the moment a villain like Trickster reached out his hand, there was a high possibility that that life would go awry.

So I had no choice but to ask.

“Really, you’re still so shy. Yeji? Yejiii? I’m getting tired of waiting?”
“…A deal, let’s make a deal.”
“A deal? My, to think I’d hear the word ‘deal’ from Yeji’s mouth.”

Trickster’s lips curled up to his ears.
It was also an expression like looking at a butterfly caught in a spiderweb.

I wanted to ignore him too, but I couldn’t help it.
Since things had come to this, I needed to know where my information had leaked.
Where the mastermind was. And what their purpose was in pretending to know me and attacking.

And if there was someone who would disturb my peaceful life… well. Maybe I’d take some action, wouldn’t I?

I continued a series of such thoughts and slowly walked forward.

I didn’t go all the way to Trickster.
It was about halfway between him and me.

Trickster saw that and walked towards me without hesitation.
The movement, as if dancing, was absurd.

“What if I kill you?”

So I immediately whispered to him.

“Do you think you can kill me, Yeji?”
“You think I can’t before you open your mouth?”
“Ah, how cute. It feels like just yesterday that you were trembling in a glass window.”

Trickster said that and stroked my chin.
I wanted to resist the creepy feeling, but I held back.

The deal wasn’t over yet.

“…Just answer the question. Who gave you the information?”
“It won’t do you any good to know. I buried many while digging up a masterpiece like you.”
“…If there’s a helper, is it my acquaintance? Or someone inside the academy?”
“Well… Which one could it be? How about Yeji try to guess?”
“Ugh…”

A cold gaze flickered behind the mask.
An illusion, like my older siblings looking at me when I was young.
The moment I thought I was having a hallucination, the drugs awakened me.

“No other questions? Yeji, you look like you have a lot of questions.”
“…This is the deal. I’ll meet you once later, so get lost now.”
“I’ll contact you again later.”

Trickster smiled as if satisfied.
And he joked that he should run away before other heroes arrived, and then turned around and disappeared.

I watched him and his group flee into the hazy curtain for a moment, then slumped to the ground.
Soon after, the heroes arrived and took care of the situation, but I couldn’t smile.

Several days passed in an instant after that incident.

Under the obvious judgment that there might be an internal helper in the academy, the inspection became stricter.
Because of that, there was a risk that the medicine my aunt was trying to send me would be discovered, so I couldn’t take it properly.

“Haa…”

I sighed and administered the medicine.
The side effect of suppressing emotions had gotten worse, becoming closer to killing emotions, but I still had no choice.

It was better than seeing hallucinations.
Because Trickster had appeared, I even had nightmares.

I knew I should get counseling soon because something was twisted, but I didn’t.
If I don’t talk about how hard it is, it’s okay.
I thought things would somehow work out, so I just kept overlooking it.

As always.