novelraw Chapter 162 : Rumor (2)
Chapter 162 : Rumor (2)
Rumor (2)
If Yeon-ji had been the Ji Yeon-hwa of the past, that would have been something she absolutely couldn't tolerate.
Just now, Sol Mayer's remark was as good as provoking Yeon-ji by saying she was beneath Shin Ah-yeon.
As expected, the mood at the table instantly turned cold, and even the reporters exchanged uncertain glances as if wondering whether they'd really just heard what they thought they had.
For it to be Sol Mayer of all people making such a remark.
"Oh my, yes, indeed."
But Yeon-ji simply gave a faint smile and set her drink down on the table.
To Sol Mayer, her reaction as if to say, "Where is this barking dog coming from?" caused his eyes to narrow slightly.
It must have been a much calmer reaction than he had expected.
"Hunter Mayer-nim."
I offered a gentle smile to Sol Mayer and spoke.
"You seem to be quite disappointed that Hunter Shin Ah-yeon-nim couldn't be here today."
"Ah, yes, well... She did become a great mage at the youngest age, after all, didn't she?"
He looked right at me as if to insist I shouldn't misunderstand his intentions, and returned my smile.
He was certainly handsome enough that, for most people, that alone would allow them to gloss over the situation.
Of course, I wasn't one of them.
"Come to think of it, hunter Mayer-nim, didn't you say in an interview that you wanted to have a match with Hunter Shin Ah-yeon-nim?"
It was something he'd said in an interview in UK, right before coming to Korea.
He'd said he wanted to face Shin Ah-yeon directly to decide once and for all who the real genius was.
An article written with the nuance that Ah-yeon was a "fake genius," manufactured for show.
"If it's a match between geniuses you want, then how about Hunter Lee Soo-ah-nim here?"
"Hunter Lee Soo-ah-nim?"
"Yes, hunter Lee Soo-ah-nim is just as much of a prodigy as Hunter Shin Ah-yeon-nim."
At the mention of Soo-ah being a genius on par with Shin Ah-yeon, Mayer gave Soo-ah a once-over.
He must surely have already known all about her.
After all, there were very few cases in the world of someone becoming S-rank at the age of twenty-one.
In fact, wasn't Soo-ah even younger than Mayer himself?
"Now that you mention it... Are you Manager Park Jung-woo?"
"Yes. Don't tell me you didn't know?"
"No, no. Of course I knew—I did ask you to guide me, after all. I just wanted to confirm."
He said this, glancing between Soo-ah and me.
"They say you're called 'God's Eye' in the circles. I've always wondered if that reputation was true."
"I never thought my name had reached all the way to UK."
"Maybe laypeople wouldn't know, but we're in the same industry, aren't we? Even excluding Hunter Shin Ah-yeon-nim, you're known as an excellent manager who's discovered two S-rank Hunters."
It sounded like he was praising me, but there was an edge to his words.
Almost as if he were implying that I'd somehow pulled one over on people.
"I'm fine with it."
Just then, Soo-ah, who'd been sitting quietly, smiled gently and spoke to Sol.
"I don't know if I'll make a worthy substitute for Hunter Shin Ah-yeon-nim, but it would be a great honor for me to have the opportunity to gauge the renowned skills of Hunter Sol Mayer-nim from UK."
It was rare for Soo-ah to say so much.
Yeon-ji and I exchanged glances at Soo-ah's reaction.
'She seems angry.'
'Looks like it.'
Soo-ah was basically kind-hearted, but she really hated it when anyone messed with people within her circle.
That now included not only me, but recently, Yeon-ji and Ah-yeon as well. That must be why Sol's comment didn't sit well with her.
"Hm, very well. I have no reason to pass up a chance to see the skills of Hunter Lee Soo-ah-nim, who's become such a hot topic..."
But just as Sol Mayer was casually voicing his agreement, he suddenly trailed off.
And not only that—his complexion started to go pale.
"It seems I'll have to put this off until another time. I had hoped to converse with fellow mages."
"Huh? What are you—"
While we were all watching curiously, Sol Mayer, having snapped to his senses, shifted his gaze from Soo-ah to Yeon-ji, then hurriedly stood up.
"I—I think I'll be going for today. Something urgent has just come up."
"Hunter Mayer-nim?"
"I'm sorry."
Paying no mind to the reactions of those around him, he quickly rushed out of the cafe.
I wondered if I should follow him, but an association staff member shook their head, so I had no choice but to stay seated.
"... His attitude seemed strange."
Soo-ah commented in puzzlement, and Yeon-ji nodded in agreement.
"Definitely... For someone they call a great mage, there were a lot of things that seemed off. As if..."
"As if?"
"... It's a weird feeling, but he reminded me of my old self."
Yeon-ji was clearly referring to her former self—Ji Yeon-hwa.
"A bundle of inferiority complexes."
Truly a feeling unbefitting an S-rank mage known as a genius.
'Is it an inferiority complex toward Ah-yeon?'
No, it felt like something else entirely.
At the moment when he was calmly discussing a duel with Soo-ah, Sol Mayer's face suddenly changed.
I distinctly felt a faint stirring of magic power.
'Magic.'
Maybe he'd used a communication spell of some kind.
It was a kind of magic unseen in the current era, where only basic elemental magic existed.
"Maybe... someone else was observing this meeting."
The problem was, we couldn't be certain what that someone's true objective was.
***
"Idiot."
SLAP!!
Inside a luxurious hotel room.
The sharp sound echoed within.
"Are you crazy? Trying to fight Lee Soo-ah?"
Kneeling before the cold-voiced man was another handsome man.
What was remarkable was how strikingly similar the two looked.
"B-but she's just an Awakener who only recently became S-rank! If we're going to fight at Odyssey, what's wrong with previewing her skills in advance?"
"With your skills?"
The man, who had the same face as Sol Mayer, sneered.
"Yeah, you may be just small fry, but being an S-rank Awakener should give you plenty of confidence."
Sol Mayer flinched at being called small fry.
"But remember this. Unlike you, who merely wears the face of a genius, that side is a real genius."
"..."
The kneeling man trembled in humiliation at that cold rebuke.
To become S-rank, the desperate wish for which he had sold his soul—this was the price.
"Still, your Conceptualization Technique is useful. After all, it's copied a part of me. Consider that a compliment, Chester."
The 'real' Sol Mayer laughed as he tapped the cheek of the 'fake'.
To his older brother, ten years his senior, who wore Sol Mayer's face like a mask.
"Use your Conceptualization Technique to discover the true nature of Shin Ah-yeon's magic. Oh, and that Hwang Yeon-ji woman isn't bad either."
"Hwang Yeon-ji... But she's only an A-rank Awakener, isn't she?"
"Hah. You truly know nothing at all."
Sol Mayer shook his head as he looked at his foolish brother.
"She uses something different from modern magic too. There's definitely something there."
He was deeply interested in the Korean S-rank Hunters.
Especially those who had awakened as S-rank at even younger ages than the genius himself.
He'd come to learn about Hwang Yeon-ji quite by chance while investigating them.
'That black chain-like power. It definitely manifested in a magical form.'
It wasn't magic, but there were certainly similarities.
If his brother Chester could use the Conceptualization Technique to steal even a fragment, perhaps they could analyze that power as well.
'If I can't get a meeting with Shin Ah-yeon, I'll have to settle for that.'
Leaning back in his chair, Sol Mayer let out a languid sigh.
He absolutely had to finish this before the Odyssey tournament.
The mysterious magic wielded by Shin Ah-yeon and Hwang Yeon-ji.
He needed to obtain them—in order to face that monster in America.
"Hah, but..."
"Chester."
Seeing his pathetic brother hesitate, Sol Mayer spoke coldly.
"I gave you the chance to live as a genius. You should pay the price for that."
"..."
At those words, Chester bowed his head.
Sol Mayer—the greatest genius in UK, no, in all Europe.
The weight of carrying that name was far too great.
***
From the very first day, Sol Mayer called me up daily to ask.
When could he meet Ah-yeon, and could he visit Unique?
Because of Song Hyun-seung's request, I had no choice but to guide Sol anyway, but his attitude was definitely strange.
"I haven't really heard much, just that he wanted to meet Shin Ah-yeon, so I asked you," was all Song Hyun-seung could say when I asked, just in case.
'Could he be connected to the demons?'
I could sense nothing of that sort.
There was no demonic energy at all.
But Sol Mayer's oddly off-kilter attitude still bothered me.
"A formal invitation really arrived."
Ah-yeon waved a black letter in her hand, looking thoroughly unenthusiastic.
Just as Patrick had said, a letter had arrived at Ah-yeon's mansion requiring her to appear before "Odin's Eye" on October 20th.
"What about Odyssey?"
"Odin's Eye is in UK, right?"
"Yes, it's over 6,000 kilometers away."
Not a distance you could easily go back and forth by.
It wouldn't take all that long by plane, but if we needed Ah-yeon at a crucial moment, she wouldn't be able to make it back immediately.
"Speaking of UK, I heard that Sol Mayer guy still hasn't left?"
"He says he wants to meet you."
"He's persistent, honestly. What do we do, just meet him once and send him back quickly?"
As I considered Ah-yeon's suggestion, shaking her head as she spoke, I fell into thought.
In the past, I would have simply arranged the meeting and sent Sol Mayer on his way.
But his extreme persistence in meeting Ah-yeon was getting more and more suspicious.
"Let's put that off for now. Something about this feels too off."
"Then he'll just stay in Korea? Even on the Internet people are already saying why I keep refusing to meet him."
Sol Mayer wasn't simply whining about wanting to meet Ah-yeon while staying in Korea.
He'd appeared on several Korean broadcasts, saying he was waiting to meet Ah-yeon.
People, expecting a "meeting of geniuses," began to find it odd that Ah-yeon seemed to be avoiding an encounter with Sol Mayer.
"They're saying I don't want to be compared to a real genius after meeting one... Ugh, I'd better just keep my mouth shut."
Seeing how annoyed Ah-yeon looked as she grumbled, I thought that I needed to find a way to deal with Sol Mayer no matter what. Especially since Ah-yeon wasn't the only one he wanted to meet.
"Then I'll meet him."
Just then, as if she'd been listening to our conversation, Yeon-ji came out from the living room.
"I heard he said he wanted to have a proper conversation with me as well? He even mentioned on a broadcast he wanted to spar."
She was right.
The one he wanted to meet wasn't just Ah-yeon; he'd recently included Yeon-ji as well.
At first, he had only shown odd behavior, but now, wanting to meet Yeon-ji too, it was clear he had some bad motive in mind.
"Still, it's weird just to let him go, isn't it?"
"... True."
Until we figured out whether he was linked to the demons or what his true intentions were, sending him off so easily bothered me as well.
Should I just go for a private meeting and try to counsel him directly?
That might be the fastest way to resolve this.
"I know what you're thinking, but don't."
Yeon-ji immediately cut me off, as if she'd read my mind.
"So you're saying you want to meet that suspicious guy yourself? I'm against it."
Ah-yeon crossed her arms and shook her head in response to Yeon-ji's suggestion.
I felt the same way. No matter how much trouble he caused, as soon as Odyssey started, he'd almost certainly have to leave.
"But if he leaves like that, she'll be the only one to take the blame, won't she?"
Yeon-ji pointed to Ah-yeon.
Given how desperately Sol Mayer was calling for Shin Ah-yeon, if she continually refused to appear, public opinion would surely turn against her.
"Hmph. W-well, it's not just for her sake that I'm doing this. It just... personally bothers me, too."
Yeon-ji glanced away deliberately as she said this.
She probably didn't want to outwardly show that she was stepping forward to help Ah-yeon.
Besides—
'It bothers her personally, huh.'
That, too, was clearly true.
For some reason, Sol Mayer had some oddly similar aspects to Yeon-ji.
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
Fake genius with an inferiority complex is a good match against a someone who had shed her inferiority complex.
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】