The Novel's Extra-Chapter ss62: Side Story 62 – Chae Nayun (17)

[What about this?]

I received a picture on my smartwatch.

[Calcuation of Internal Mana in a Mock Dungeon]

Rachel sent me her calculation. I reviewed her work before sending back a reply.

[It’s correct. Not a single thing is wrong.]

[Ah! Really? That’s a relief! V-V]

[Thank you! Have a great time studying, Hajin! ★v★!]

It would be theory week soon, so the Cube Community Forum and the library became quite busy. Of course, I didn’t have to study and was free compared to others.

“Hmm…”

Anyways, I finished helping Rachel and should probably continue what I was doing. I inspected the modified Heart of the Amazon floating in midair.

[Heart of Adaptation] [Treasure]

A heart that will adapt to its environment.

The heart will slowly adapt to its environment and empower its user. The user will be empowered the longer the heart remains in the same environment.

The user will adapt to their current environment along with the heart.

The heart’s power decreased, but it became more flexible to use since I removed its restriction of only being able to be used in swamps and jungles. I didn’t forget to add a roll-back function just in case I found myself in the Amazon one day.

“Ah… I’m broke…”

It cost me a whopping 1,250 SP just to alter this heart’s settings, which was most of my SP. I only had three remaining SP left now.

I did obtain a large chunk of SP when I stole the Heart of the Amazon, but I didn’t gain as much as I thought since the incident had been kept under wraps.

“Well, this is still good enough…”

I planned on using this item as medicine one day, so it wasn’t a bad idea to revert it to its original settings for a forty to fifty percent SP refund.

“Sigh…” I let out a sigh.

The description described me as its user, but it was basically… erm… something too grotesque to put into words.

I placed the heart on my chest and it suddenly melted into my skin. It felt like having a hot mud pack on my chest, but the only difference was that it didn’t feel good at all.

Then, the heart finally finished settling in my body. I felt much better right away after that.

“Phew…”

I fell asleep immediately afterwards.

***

Tuesday was Cube’s special class, Rush for the Artifacts.

Tak! Tak! Tak! Tak!

Yoo Yeonha ran through a passageway and spotted someone blocking the end of it. It was the white team’s ace and gatekeeper, Chae Nayun.

Yoo Yeonha didn’t slow down and ran even faster towards her. She swung the whip in her hand.

Chwaaak!

However, Chae Nayun casually turned her body and easily avoided the whip. Then she bent over and pulled out her sword.

She pulled out her sword in an instant and swung it towards Yoo Yeonha’s blind spot.

Clang!

However, a bullet came flying and blocked Chae Nayun’s sword. She ended up missing Yoo Yeonha after having to change trajectory.

Yoo Yeonha jumped back to safety. “Phew…” she sighed in relief.

“…”

Chae Nayun looked around indifferently, but couldn’t spot the sharpshooter. On the other hand, Yoo Yeonha held the artifact close to her chest after realizing that reinforcement arrived.

Someone asked through her earpiece.

— Can you get past her?

Yoo Yeonha observed Chae Nayun guarding the path with a sword and bow.

There were no weapon limitations in today’s class, so Chae Nayun decided to use both today. Meanwhile, Kim Hajin also used a large monster sniping rifle instead of his handgun thanks to this exemption rule.

“Cover me,” Yoo Yeonha replied.

Chae Nayun suddenly rushed towards her as soon as she said those two words. She looked like an angry bull right now, and every one of her movements contained animosity.

Bang!

However, a large bullet suddenly zipped through the air and struck Chae Nayun before she could even reach Yoo Yeonha.

“Euk…!” Chae Nayun grunted in pain and flew far back after being hit by the bullet infused with stigma and the knockback effect that Kim Hajin added to its settings.

It was impossible for the bullet to pierce through all of Chae Nayun’s defenses, but it was still possible to knock her back.

— Run.

Yoo Yeonha infused mana into her legs and kicked off the ground. She ran as fast as she could and could feel the soles of her shoes wearing down. She also felt a scary gust of wind chasing after her from behind.

Chae Nayun was coming for her.

Bang!

“Argh! Stop it!” Chae Nayun shouted in frustration after Kim Hajin struck her with another bullet.

Kim Hajin covered Yoo Yeonha without a hitch, which frustrated Chae Nayun. However, what frustrated her even more was the fact that she could see the bullets, but couldn’t evade them. The main problem wasn’t the bullet’s speed, but the surface area it covered.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Kim Hajin’s bullets triggered a chain of explosions as soon as they hit the ground. They were the prototype exploding bullets developed by Essence of the Straits.

“Touchdown!” Yoo Yeonha exclaimed in delight after arriving at the end zone.

The class ended with the blue team emerging victorious.

“Alright, great job.”

Kim Hyojun and Kim Suhyeok greeted Yoo Yeonha after she came out of the man-made cave.

She placed the artifact on the ground and sat beside it.

Chae Nayun came walking out of the cave as well.

“Ah, that Kim Hajin… I should have made him retire first… I shouldn’t have given him a chance…” Chae Nayun grumbled in anger.

The savior of the blue team, Kim Hajin, came out of the cave with a large sniper rifle on his back. Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak followed him out and kept each other at bay the entire time. Then Kim Horak and the others who retired from the match also came out.

Kim Suhyeok gave a speech with all of the cadets out of the cave, “Alright, all sophomores are required to write a battle report.”

The sophomores attended this class too and monitored the freshmen in the cave from the outside. Every one of them looked at Kim Hajin in a strange manner. His [Parkour] ability allowed him to move like a beast and instantly secured him a sniping spot. His vision as a sharpshooter also left quite an impression on them.

“I’m not going easy on you next time…” Chae Nayun tapped Kim Hajin’s shoulder and grumbled.

Kim Haijn simply nodded in response.

On the other hand, Yoo Yeonha still trembled on the ground after being the artifact courier. Chae Nayun’s aura and anger overwhelmed her, which was definitely not something a mere cadet could unleash.

“Alright, this is the end of our class. Go rest up and prepare for your final exam. Don’t forget to prepare for your practical tests too!” Kim Suhyeok said before he dismissed the class.

***

“Bye, Kim Hajin! Great work today!”

Friday, deep within an unnamed forest in Gangwondo.

I, along with Kim Suho, acquired [Misteltein]. We found it at a much earlier time than in the original story because [Misteltein] was a weapon that would be much stronger the sooner we acquired it.

“See you at Cube.”

“Okay! See you!”

I separated from Kim Suho and went my own way. I walked on a quiet path before I suddenly felt someone looking at me. It felt as if someone was watching me from behind. I turned around, but found no one there.

I brushed it off as some passerby walked past, but then suddenly recalled what Yoo Yeonha said.

‘Someone seems to be following us.’

I continued walking without showing any signs that I noticed them, but the dark path felt eerie now that I knew someone was following me. I couldn’t help but feel nervous inside.

I put my right hand on my Desert Eagle as I walked and prepared to fight back if required.

Thud… Thud…

Thud… Thud…

However, there was no attack whatsoever no matter how much I walked. Soon, I reached the main road.

“… What was that all about?”

Was it an owl? Or were they looking for an opening before deciding to bail?

I stood underneath a bright street lamp and looked back, but the only thing I could see was the eerie darkness.

***

“Eup! Eup! Euuuup!”

Jin Sahyuk covered the struggling man’s mouth.

“Who are you and why are you following him?” she asked.

She had been watching over Kim Hajin this entire time. She wanted to find out the reason behind the strange emotions and sense of familiarity she felt towards him.

However, she suddenly noticed that insects began to swarm around him. She caught one of them before they could step out of line.

“Answer me. What’s your objective?” she asked, but the man refused to answer.

Of course, that was definitely the wrong choice as she immediately twisted the man’s neck without an ounce of hesitation.

C-Crack!

The man was killed in an instant. His smartwatch immediately conveyed the death of its owner. The signal was sent to the higher-up who ordered the covert action. The higher-up misunderstood that Kim Hajin was the culprit behind the man’s death.

All of this happened in a place that Jin Sahyuk wasn’t aware of and through a technology she wasn’t familiar with. Of course, Jin Sahyuk wouldn’t have cared even if she knew all of this. She nonchalantly threw the man’s corpse away before following Kim Hajin again.

“Who are you really?” she muttered while following him.

It was still not the right time, but she was going to ask him sooner or later. That was the only way she would find out the reason why she came to this world…

“I’m certain that the key behind my identity is with you…” she said before blending into the darkness.

***

The Jonghwa Island located at Goseong, Gangwondo truly lived up to its name as an island. Jonghwa Island was an island the size of Yeouido that emerged after the mana explosion occurred. It quickly cemented its position as Gangwondo’s main city thanks to its spectacular views and abundant monster fields.

I finished my task given by Cube’s practical test, the monster hunt, and went to the cafe.

“Does this mean the final exam has been changed for this year? That’s surprising…”

A problem suddenly occurred. We had to obtain the butterfly dust for our final exam, but the fact that the final exam deviated from the… No, was this actually better since it became much easier?

We had to go to the test area and obtain the butterfly dust either by ourselves or with a team. Whoever used outside help could simply justify it as foraging ingredients for medicine.

“Hey, is this difficult? Can you grade this, Yeonha?” Chae Nayun showed the exam paper to Yoo Yeonha.

It was quite surprising that Chae Nayun was studying for a change…

“Give it to me,” Yoo Yeonha took the paper and scanned it before saying, “Hmm… It’s easy. You get 53% for this.”

I found it funny that she stole a glance at me just in case she was wrong.

“Aaaaack!”

“Yaaaawn…!”

Yi Yeonghan and Kim Suho stretched.

“Ah… Theory is really difficult… Hey, Hajin, how are you so good at this?” Kim Suho asked.

I remained silent and continued drinking my coffee.

Chae Nayun threw her pencil and grumbled, “Why do we have to study this difficult crap? Where are we even going to use this?”

Yoo Yeonha bitterly smiled and replied, “It’s still good to study it. You’ll need to make calculations while you’re inside a dungeon after all. Of course, you’ll be going to a dungeon with a member specializing in making calculations, but who knows what could happen in one.”

“…”

I found it difficult to adapt to these so-called main characters. I initially planned to hunt alone, but had no idea how Chae Nayun caught wind of it and clung to me.

“Kim Hajin,” Chae Nayun called me.

I looked at her, but she was fixated on her paper while mumbling.

“Kim Hajin… Kim Kim Hajin… Kim Hajin… Kim Kim Hajin…”

Why did she have to mumble my name? She kept it up and even sang a tune for a while before eventually turning over her paper.

“Ah, this is too difficult… I give up!”

“Hey, you’re going to lose to Rachel again if you keep that up.”

“Nah, I’m just going to lose. Forget about it,” Chae Nayun simply shrugged off Yoo Yeonha’s attempt to instigate her.

I noticed that she had been acting quite mature these days, which was unlike her.

Yoo Yeonha continued studying before feigning indifference and nonchalantly asking, “By the way, where’s Jonghak?”

“Who knows? He must be with our club supervisor. They’ve been meeting up quite often these days,” Chae Nayun replied.

“…”

Yoo Yeonha’s face darkened for a split second before she nonchalantly replied, “Hmm… I see…”

She took out her smartwatch and began angrily tapping on it.

It was then.

Kkrwaaang! Khrwaaang! Kkkhrwaaaang!

Extremely loud thunder exploded in the distance and lightning with mana shook the entire cafe.

Chae Nayun jumped and clung to me, “W-What was that? What’s going on?”

“Wow… my heart almost dropped…”

The lights in the cafe went out for a moment before switching back on. Chae Nayun looked out the window while holding onto my clothes.

Krrwaaang! Kkkkrhwaaaaaang!

Thunder erupted again and it began to heavily rain as if a hole was torn in the sky.

“Wow… let’s go back now. I’m scared… What’s wrong with the weather?”

“… Good idea.”

We collected all of our belongings and left the cafe.

Whiiiiish! Whoooooosh!

The wind outside was no joke. We could see something similar to a typhoon coming from beyond the coastline.

“Ah, this is so annoying!” Chae Nayun shouted in anger before setting up a barrier.

The round barrier blocked the wind and protected our party.

“Wow, Chae Nayun. You’ve grown stronger.”

“This is nothing,” Chae Nayun smugly replied.

I could see that she was handling her mana quite well. We were amazed at her control and began walking.

It didn’t take long for us to reach the portal station. This was the only portal station on Junghwa Island, so it bustled with people.

Forget about civilians and guild members, a lot of cadets from Cube also came to do their practical exam.

— What happened here?

— Why won’t the door open?!

— Hey! I’m busy! I have a meeting to attend!

However, the portal was closed shut.

Only after the people vehemently protested did a fearful station employee come out.

The staffer repeatedly bowed and apologized, “I apologize! The portal station is closed today due to safety reasons! The lighting is too strong, so the portal is unstable! I repeat… the portal is closed today due to safety reasons…”

Everyone was disgruntled, but there was nothing they could do about natural disasters.

Chae Nayun clicked her tongue a few times, “Ah… Well, there’s nothing we can do… Let’s go back to the villa.”

All of us turned around, but I couldn’t help but feel bothered.

Rain, wind, lightning, and an island… I was pretty sure that the four of these belonged to an episode that I decided not to use in the original story…

We followed Chae Nayun, but she soon stopped after spotting a few Cube cadets loitering around the station.

“Hey! You guys!” she called out to them.

All of them looked at us. I noticed they were all freshmen judging from their name tags.

Chae Nayun brightly smiled and shouted, “Come follow us if you don’t have a place to stay! I’ll let you sleep for free!”