Chapter 35 – I Don’t Need You Right Now

“Lee Seo-ha.”

I raised my head when my name was called by the instructor who entered the classroom.
Maybe he didn’t like the student who was absent without permission yesterday.
Answering his call with “Yes,” The instructor let out a small sigh and cautiously opened his mouth.

“Are you feeling better?”

Yet I don’t know
Is it because of Lee Seo-ha’s background that he is being careful?

“Yes.”
“You’ve become a completely different person.”

Or am I being wary of myself because of my magical powers that I have and I don’t know about?
The instructor looked at me for a moment, then looked away from me as soon as he finished what he had to say.

“If you’re still not feeling well, you should contact the instructor, but it’s not polite to have a colleague deliver instead.”
“Sorry.”
“Be careful next time.”

He looked around and took a small breath.

“Just in case, the academy is an institution that lays the groundwork for you to live as guardians in the future.”

Then, I wonder if there was something you wanted to say to other students other than me.

“The principal thinks that this education does not have to be done by forcibly holding on to students who are not feeling well.”

I was afraid to talk about the reason why I hadn’t said a word about the fact that I was not feeling well.
Is that why you judged that I couldn’t talk about it?

“So, if you feel unwell, please don’t hesitate and tell the truth. Before you are academy trainees, you are precious guardians of the future.”
“Yes.”

But even if that person talks like that.
I will never be able to tell you the truth about why I was feeling unwell yesterday.
There is no such thing as a male student who menstruates at a men’s academy.

“The noise has gotten longer.”

The instructor hit the desk a couple of times as if to draw the distracted student’s attention to himself.
Then the eyes of the students turned back to him.

“Do you all remember the brief outlines of the types of the Underworld from yesterday’s lecture?”
“Yes.”
“Today, we are going to experience the world if it is linear.”

When the instructor confirmed that his attention was directed to him, he looked at me for a moment as he got to the point.

“Lee Seo-ha.”
“Yes.”

Is it because I didn’t listen to the lecture yesterday?
Before starting today’s work in earnest, do you intend to briefly explain and move on?
With the words “I’ll explain it only once, so listen carefully”, He started talking about the hidden world he will experience today.

“Lee Seo-ha, do you know that the Underworld is largely divided into six types?”
“No.”
“Then you’d better listen carefully. The world behind the scenes is divided into five major categories depending on how you clear them.”

Does the instructor even have the idea that he should explain well to the students who couldn’t hear the lecture yesterday?
After catching his breath, he began to explain.

In fact, I could figure out what it was about right away from his introduction.
In the original novel, each and every detail of this setting brings out a sense of reality.
That’s why it was a setting that I made, and it was a setting that I remembered.

“It is largely divided into linear, ring, centralized, tree, and mesh types.”

That knowledge should not be exposed.
Because Lee Seo-ha is a newbie who has been enrolled in the academy for less than a month.
I needed to act accordingly.

First of all, since he is not a regressor like Kim Joo-won, there is also a reason to avoid unnecessary suspicion.

“You’ll understand the rest gradually, so let’s go over it for now, and listen to others as a review level, don’t talk!”

Did he sense that the students were losing their concentration in that moment?
At those words mixed with slight anger, all the students shut their mouths.
Only then did the instructor begin to speak again.

“Among them, the world to be experienced today is the linear back world, and the linear back world means the world where the final clear goal is revealed and you can head straight to that goal.”

It’s starting
The first button for the regressor, who must have accumulated a lot of experience while regressing, to finally distance himself from other students in earnest.

“Do you know what I mean roughly?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Then, as I said before, today, under the guidance of this instructor, you will personally experience the linear side world.”

A hologram screen slowly appeared next to the instructor.
It’s not actually there, but under the illusion of looking at the status window.
A large picture hung in the center of the blue hologram window.

“Of course, you all know that you haven’t even used your own abilities properly a few times yet, so you don’t have to worry too much about the difficulty level.”
“Instructor, can I ask a question?”

The light green liquid was filled with a person floating in the center, who seemed to be an experimental body.
Maybe it gave the students a little fear rather than interest?

“You can do it.”
“Is the underworld in that picture the underworld we’re going to clear today?”
“Yes.”
“Do I really need to clear it?”

Numerous stories tangled in the underworld.
Among them, I won’t let go of the Guardian until the other side world is cleared.
It means that if you fail to clear and the encroachment begins, you cannot escape from that world forever.

…Settings I made to give you the compulsion to clear the Underworld.

“There’s no need to clear it. It’s because today’s goal is cleared anyway.”
“Ah.”
“Of course, if you can clear it, you can try. This instructor likes those who challenge. Of course, there will be no disadvantages if you fail, so if you feel like you can do it, you can try.”

Then there were shouts of relief from all over the place.
But the instructor didn’t like what the students said.
After hardening his calm expression a little, he left the lecture room with the words, “Then, everyone can gather at the training ground.”

What the instructor said just now sounds like you should go in and struggle whether you succeed in clearing or not.
It must be because the students are focusing on the fact that you don’t have to clear it.

“Thank god.”

But maybe Yoon Shi-hoo didn’t see the instructor’s expression like that?
She heard his voice from the side and almost sighed, but she suppressed it and rose from her seat.
I was curious.
What kind of expression will our regressor make?

‘I wonder if this incident happened in the previous car as well.’

Kim Joo-won looked out of his window with an expressionless face for a while before standing up.
Perhaps in the last episode, he was experiencing the same incident.

Of course, I would have prepared in advance.
Even if I put aside the error case of the virtual side world from earlier.
This virtual world, where he must acquire ampoules that will help him grow, will be important to him.

But his plan has a fatal flaw.
That is, the ampoules must be stored in Lee Seo-ha’s two-dimensional space and taken out so that the ampoules function normally in reality.
In other words, it’s a plan that would be difficult to succeed normally without Lee Seo-ha’s help…

‘What were you thinking?’

As I thought about it, a question came to my mind.
If he had thought of that, he would never have done that to me.
What do you believe in and still do that to me?

There’s no way he wouldn’t know that Lee Seo-ha’s two-dimensional space is essential for his own growth.

You probably won’t have much time to talk.
Now in the morning, when the time to be alone with him passes, it should be around 5:00 PM before I can be with him.
At that time, no matter what you ask, you treat me as a slave and I will not give you a proper answer.

‘Dimension transfer.’

An intense blue light surrounds me.
Let the light disappear and shine the world again.
An empty training ground, where not even an instructor had come yet, greeted me.
Kim Joo-won, of course, did not arrive.

Of course, the waiting time was not short.
In the original work, he always said that he was preparing before doing anything, and he had a habit of coming to the place where the event was going to happen.
Because that habit was also valid for Kim Joo-won in this world.

“Lee Seo-ha?”

Is it strange that I, who usually always come last, came early?
He saw Kim Ju-won, who had arrived before him, tilting his head.
He gave me a look as if you were already coming for some reason.

“It’s a little early today.”
“Kim Joo-won, is today a bit different from usual?”

I caught my breath as I watched Kim Joo-won gradually move closer to me.
What is the guy thinking?
What do you believe in me?

I don’t know of any information.
Only one.
All I believed was that he needed my abilities.

I don’t know if there are things like subspace pockets.
It’s because it’s something that can’t be acquired with the guy’s abilities at this point.

“What do you mean?”

Kim Joo-won, standing right in front of me, looked down at me and asked me again.

“You said you’d need me first, so don’t think wrong with me.”
“It did.”
“But you’re not saying anything right now?”
“You know what I’m going to do today?”
“You know, why don’t you stop pretending.”

Kim Joo-won and my gaze crossed in the air.

Regressor.
By reliving the life he lived, while knowing the future.
Paradoxically, he has the irony that he will one day live in a future he does not know about.

“You knew that. Even if you’re not a regressor like you, you can see the future to some extent.”
“Yes? But I can’t seem to see everything.”
“What?”

It was then.
Kim Joo-won grabbed my shoulder and pushed me aside with the words “Move away.”
Even though he was being pushed out of his hand, Kim Joo-won did not answer when he asked, “What are you thinking?”
Moving on, I approached the point where the gate to the virtual underworld would be created later.

“Lee Seo-ha. I don’t know what you’re thinking.”

And he spoke unbelievable words to my ears.

“I don’t need you right now. Of course I will need you later, but then you will need me.”
“…What?”
“See you later at 5pm, Seoha.”

His words ended there.
Just when I was about to ask him what the hell was that about.
Soon, I heard the voices of other students from behind, and I had to shut my mouth.
What I wanted to say now was something no one else should have heard.

However, did the idea of ​​knowing instinctively outweigh rationality?
Then, all of a sudden, an idea came to my mind.
I couldn’t believe it, so I looked at him with surprised eyes.

And then, just in case, I spat out a word.

“Kim Joo-won, you can’t…”