During the Tower of Growth schedule, the professors in charge of the respective grades gathered in one place.
The reason was not only to discuss the progress of the tower’s events but also to respond promptly to any potential emergencies.
The theme of this semester’s Tower of Growth event was ‘Contemplation.’
The content was simple.
A battle against a copied version of oneself.
After overcoming oneself, the student could summon other entities upon request, but fundamentally, it was a fierce duel with their copy.
Consequently, unlike the first semester’s Tower event, the evaluation criteria were neither diverse nor strict.
From the start…
“Can we just let them go then? I mean, they aren’t even sharing live updates…”
A voice echoed in the stark silence.
It was Lee Su-yeon, the professor in charge of the elite class.
Her muttering, as she cradled her chin in boredom, earned a few agreeing nods from other professors.
Unlike the previous semester’s Tower event, there were very few holograms projected onto the table.
And even those weren’t live feeds; they were merely charts with simple equations and data points.
For some reason, this Tower event didn’t involve any live video sharing.
As a result, the first-year professors gathered in this room were left handling their own tasks in the meantime.
A teaching assistant near Lee Su-yeon replied with a smirk.
“Well, they might be an emergency.”
“An emergency that has never happened before! It might be negligence in safety, but honestly, what sort of accident could happen here? Maybe just some students fighting?”
“Aha ha…”
The defenses of Shio-ram were notorious.
It had countless stories of trickery, and not a single minor intrusion had been tolerated. Invincible would be the right word.
For such a place to have problems… was something Lee Su-yeon couldn’t even imagine.
Yet, since it was protocol, she was holding her ground.
Anyway, given that the first-year professors were gathered, discussions ensued multiple times.
“Is this year’s birth festival going to be held like last year?”
“According to the Vice Chancellor, it’s going to be even grander this year.”
“Oh really? Last year was pretty spectacular; I had a blast. Especially going around all the stalls set up by the students… Oh, I’m a grade supervisor now…”
The main topic of discussion was indeed the Birth Festival.
The Birth Festival was a celebration held at Shio-ram at the end of the year.
The festival, which has been continued since the early days of Shio-ram, is meant to celebrate the futures of children leaving the cradle for the world.
Although many parts of the process and schedule have changed over time, the festival’s essence of eating, enjoying, and playing has not.
Thus, the schedule remained relatively the same.
Ultimately, the agenda was for festival participants to enjoy themselves.
They host entertainment contests, competitions, and showcase new magical tools.
And, as with any festival, food stalls sell delicious foods, drinks, and alcohol.
While self-employed individuals set up stalls in the Commercial District, students often organize stalls themselves.
Lee Su-yeon’s face brightened as she reminisced about the fun times drinking and partying from last year.
But soon, she remembered that she was now a first-year supervisor involved in festival preparations and her bright face promptly fell.
Even though as supervising professor she wouldn’t miss out on the festival itself, she wouldn’t be able to enjoy it as freely as last year…
“……”
“……”
While the meeting continued, two individuals were quite disengaged from the topic of the Birth Festival.
Riana and Atra.
Riana listened attentively with wide eyes, and Atra kept her eyes neatly closed.
In other words, she was silent.
To be precise, she couldn’t contribute.
“…Professor Atra, do you have any thoughts?”
Riana whispered to Atra, who sat beside her. Atra opened her eyes slightly and shot Riana a glance.
Atra was not a Shio-ram graduate.
She was a graduate from an academy in the UK. While there were festivals there, Atra had been a crazed training fanatic, always holed up in the training room.
“I have none. You need some knowledge to provide input. Besides, isn’t it your turn to have an opinion? You’ve experienced it firsthand.”
“…Me? I don’t really have an opinion, though.”
Riana trailed off, avoiding the response.
She was a Shio-ram graduate, having experienced the Birth Festival four times from freshman to senior year.
However, Riana never enjoyed the festival.
While others opened stalls and participated in contests happily, Riana spent her time absorbed in books at the library or playing with spirits in vacant areas.
Though there were many wanting to join her who held first place at the time, Riana had never actively participated.
At that time, she was someone with a peculiar personality who had yet to taste the bitter side of magic.
In any case, both of them felt distanced from the concept of a festival.
And with Lee Ha-yul’s tower video not being shared live either, the time felt aimless in many ways.
Riana had her duties as the Ipchun Class supervisor, but Atra had truly nothing to do.
Thus, Riana diligently handled her tasks, and Atra passed time pondering Lee Ha-yul’s training schedule.
– Zzzzt…
“…Huh?”
A hologram flickered to life on the table.
A disturbance appeared, showing the slowly opening entrance of the tower.
Everyone turned wide-eyed at the sight. It was now the fourth day afternoon of the Tower event. There was still a day left until it ended.
“Who’s coming out? Wait, let’s access the records…”
Several professors began to fuss over the hologram.
“…Lee Ha-yul?”
Someone voiced with a hint of confusion.
Before they could fully process it, Atra and Riana sprang to their feet.
On the screen, Lee Ha-yul stumbled out of the tower’s entrance, swaying precariously. A wave of dread filled both of their hearts.
That clumsy fish again, what on earth had happened for him to exit the tower early? Why was he staggering again?
Suppressing the flurry of anxious thoughts, they bolted toward the tower entrance.
“…!?”
Atra, who had rushed out, suddenly stopped.
Instinctively, she tried to lunge forward, but her body resisted.
Her heart ached to rush toward Lee Ha-yul and check on him.
“…What…”
Fur standing on end.
Her instincts warned her not to approach. Years of experience screamed that it was dangerous.
The atmosphere around Lee Ha-yul changed.
His aura, which had been subtle and erratic, suddenly surged.
The energy felt like it could materialize into a blade and literally shred the surroundings.
Cold, deadly sensations teasing the back of the neck felt like an illusion.
Even Atra’s body stiffened at the ominous energy.
Unconsciously, a drop of cold sweat trickled down her cheek.
“Oh my god.”
“…What on earth has happened in the tower?”
Even Riana, who came running late, along with the other professors, froze from the dreadful aura surrounding him.
An uneasy standoff continued.
Just when someone was about to swallow hard.
[Master?]
[Riana Professor?]
A charm hanging around Lee Ha-yul’s neck clicked. A voice distorted as if plagued by noise echoed.
Simultaneously, the dreadful energy began to settle.
Lee Ha-yul’s oddly tense face gradually relaxed as he regained his usual round expression.
Despite the sudden change causing others to panic, Lee Ha-yul took heavy steps forward.
Some remained frozen in tension, unable to let go of the ominous energy that had enveloped them.
Lee Ha-yul paid them no mind.
He headed straight for Atra, the nearest figure.
And buried his face into her embrace.
“…?”
Atra, equally stunned, blinked her eyes.
Lee Ha-yul had snuggled into her arms.
Her body reacted reflexively.
She spread her arms and without hesitation opened them wide to receive him.
Wrapping her arms around his waist, she gently patted his head as he sank deeper into her embrace.
Being able to hold Lee Ha-yul was not a big deal.
With that thought, she soothed the clingy Lee Ha-yul in her arms.
“What’s going on this time…”
Riana quickly approached as well, also feeling the sudden need to console the oddly changed boy, stroking Lee Ha-yul’s head and back.
“…Though it’s a heartwarming sight to see the bond between master and disciple, can’t we first sort out the situation?”
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
“Although it’s not good to meddle in personal affairs… I feel like this is too much contact in such an open space…”
It had gone on for much too long.
Only when Professor Alberott could no longer wait did he intervene, snapping the two professors back to reality.
As they glanced up, they were met with myriad strange gazes focused curiously on them.
“Oh my…”
Among those gazes, many were quite interested. Particularly, Lee Su-yeon’s eyes widened as she covered her mouth, breathless with surprise.
*
In a world previously filled with ominous sounds, silence had descended.
The wasteland, where one could hardly find a blade of grass, had long become useless trash land.
Deep gouges, ruptures, and cracks…
In a place where weapons clashed countless times and their expansion abilities had engraved their impact upon the ground.
A second persona, sitting atop a mound of displaced earth, idly surveyed the surroundings as a sudden ache struck their shoulder.
Pain radiated.
Injuries ranging from the right shoulder to the left hip.
For the second persona, that was nothing out of the ordinary.
They had sustained countless wounds throughout their life. Some had left lingering effects, while others had healed but left numerous gruesome scars.
Even a healthy adult might faint at the sight of the second persona’s visage, which was grotesquely distorted.
“Ha…”
But now, the second persona experienced a complex mix of emotions regarding these injuries.
No matter how much the second persona had lowered the physical level…
It was a wound inflicted by the ‘real’ one; a blow from which they could not have topped before.
The mere fact that this wound would count as a success in overcoming a trial while the original just recently exited was ironic.
Originally, their mental state was nearing collapse, and the second persona had planned to pause for a moment.
“…Haha…”
As they brushed over the wound, the second persona had no choice but to acutely feel the difference between the fake and the real.
No matter how much time had elapsed rolling about in pools of blood and honing their skills, the real one had just clumsily grasped it all in just a few days.
Truly an overwhelming disparity.
The more they became aware of that fact, the more they felt a hollow laugh emerging.
Further, was it correct to even say ‘lifetime’ in the first place? The fake had never known what it meant to be ‘real.’
“…Seems like you’ve got a rather light behind.”
While lost in thought about their injuries, the second persona muttered. The words echoed softly back as we could hear.
However, the second persona’s senses, the Tensor of Existence, could detect a change. The target behind them didn’t go out of their way to conceal their presence.
Without turning, the second persona continued talking.
“Isn’t it ridiculous? You didn’t show yourself while I was desperately hunting for you, and now you finally reveal your face only after you’ve become a dead spirit?”
There was no answer. Only silence returned.
“Why do you keep your mouth shut once you show your appearance? If that’s the case, you might as well crawl back inside or come chuckle at this pathetic face of mine.”
『G…!? Not…!』
At the second persona’s dry inquiries, a strange sound emerged.
What should I call that? Maybe it was similar to hearing underwater, muffled and distorted.
Of course, it was on an incomparably lower level than that. It was utterly incomprehensible.
“You’ve lost it. I’m just going to wallow in self-pity here.”
Scratching its ear, the second persona shook its head.
“I get it. I understand your way; it’s better to feel pain now and gain happiness later than to perish and lose everything like a sad sack.”
Having directly hit the real one, it was clear that Lee Ha-yul’s pain was very much incarnated as well. But it didn’t stop there.
For something so trivial, halting the experience felt too wasteful. The person behind wasn’t saying otherwise, either.
In reality, Lee Ha-yul had returned with results that exaggerated all their expectations.
Although still inexperienced, he had enough potentials in him to utilize on his own.
An absurd existence.
Aside from that, the tower’s choices could also be understood… understood… understood…
Suddenly, the second persona halted its words.
Instead, memories flashed through their mind.
A life that could be perceived as long or short.
A life that felt thick in some ways and narrow in others.
An existence that was merely a shell of the true one.
“…I understand. Given my circumstances, considering yours, this would be the best, the most efficient, and indeed the most certain choice.”
Again, the presence behind them said nothing.
“No matter how much I understand, I still hate you.”
The second persona tightened its grip. Thick veins bulged painfully across the scarred hand.
“Even if it’s well-intended, and your actions were not meant to bring me such suffering, nor was it your best option, I can’t bring myself to like you.”
Birth, growth, cradle, bitterness, longing, loss, helplessness, desperation, impatience, death…
The second persona, Lee Ha-yul, reflected on their life. It was full of twists and tribulations.
Not a single achievement was made. Their skills paled in comparison to their wishes.
Scraped and bruised, they had suffered greatly yet still ended up dying pathetically.
And that shabby life wasn’t even Lee Ha-yul’s.
It was just a possible strand, an observation that happened to take place once.
The sheer fact felt unbearably filthy. The life they had struggled so hard to lead was being negated.
No, it was indeed being negated. Their life was not real.
『……』
No response.
Was it something they couldn’t say, or was it simply more comfortable to bow their heads and accept the blame?
Noticing the second persona’s exasperation, they sighed heavily.
“…Still, I don’t wish for your demise.”
As much as they hated it, that behavior was not necessarily wrong.
If this plan succeeded, the world would not descend into ruin, and Lee Ha-yul would ultimately lead the happy life they’ve always yearned for.
The presence behind trembled lightly, taken aback by the unexpected words.
“So, do help properly. After all, you have nowhere else to go.”
The second persona, Lee Ha-yul, was not the type to wish that others suffer just because he had.
“The real one must attain happiness, after all.”
The lengthy conversation came to a halt. As Lee Ha-yul’s body began to dissolve into light, he vanished into thin air.
*
Meanwhile, in the common training room inside the Tower of Growth.
“Yeon-hwa, can we have a talk about Ha-yul?”
“…About Ha-yul?”
Elia snapped her fingers, and Hong Yeon-hwa’s complexion grew tense.
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