Chapter 100 : Chapter 100
Chapter 100
At dusk.
Most of the cadets had arrived at the starting point and gathered inside a large warehouse-like building to await the instructors’ decision.
The moment I reached the starting point, I left Do Minyeong among the cadets and headed straight for the situation control room where the instructors were gathered.
Waiting in front of the control room door was Kim Dasol, a support cadet and a top student.
It seemed she was planning to relay the situation to the warehouse as soon as the instructors reached a decision.
“Ah, they are still in a meeting—!”
When I approached the door, Kim Dasol tried to block my way.
But she must have remembered my affiliation, because instead she pulled the door handle.
“Go in.”
“Thank you.”
Inside the control room, every instructor who had accompanied the tactical evaluation was gathered.
On one side, hundreds of monitors covered the wall. In the corner on the other side, the three social care beneficiary cadets who had been shot lay unconscious on folding cots.
Treating them was magic instructor Kim Seulhee.
Because the only medical instructor had gone to accompany the third-years’ tactical evaluation.
“Cadet Ji Seokhyeon. I thought you would come.”
Shooting instructor Oh Hyeokmin greeted me with a grave face.
I gave a light nod and walked over to where the patients lay.
As I approached, Kim Seulhee naturally briefed me.
“None of them are in danger of dying. But one of them may need to wear Metalgrid later. She was hit properly by an anti-attribute round. As you can see, her right thigh…”
Without interrupting Kim Seulhee, I examined the gunshot wounds.
As expected, every injury was from a .43 caliber.
Each of them had been hit by a different anti-attribute round, and every wound was a clean through-and-through.
In other words, the shots had been taken from quite close range.
In particular, the cadet whose thigh had been pierced had a line of damage running from her thigh all the way down to the sole of her foot.
A steep, high-angle trail, as if lightning had struck.
…
Only after seeing the impact marks did I feel certain.
There had been another presence—one we had all overlooked.
I walked to the table where the meeting was taking place.
“Have you reported it to Hero Prep?”
“No. The communications equipment has had issues for a while now. Since the smartwatches still work inside the island, something is clearly interfering with external communications…”
That seemed likely.
It was earlier than in the original work, but with all the cadets gathered in one place, there was no way the Demonic Being Allie would not seize the opening.
“And this time as well, you did not find any trace of the sniper?”
The answer came from Yun Jeongseop.
“I investigated the area near the incident until just now. There was no clue worth noting.”
“What about the drones?”
“Same. We could not find the bullet’s trajectory on the footage. Of course, there are many drones we have not checked yet, so we still need time. For now, we have recalled all drones to this location.”
“Either way, we should assume it is the same culprit as before, correct?”
“Most likely.”
“What is your personal view, Instructor?”
“About what?”
“Your inference about the culprit.”
“We did not find a single clue, so what is there to infer? At best, we can only assume they used a perception-inhibiting ability so perfect that even cameras cannot capture them.”
Yun Jeongseop’s assessment was not wrong.
From an ordinary perspective, that was the best conclusion.
I glanced toward the table.
The structure of the island was being projected there in light.
“So what will you do now?”
At my question, Oh Hyeokmin stepped forward.
“First, we plan to leave for the mainland using the docked cruise. If we use the aircraft and the engine gets shot, it is over. The moment we reach open water, we will coordinate with Dispel.”
“Will only the cadets be boarding?”
“That is right. Except for the magic instructor, we will all remain and search the island. Which is why we need your help.”
He meant using my Demonic Eye for the search.
I had no grounds to refuse, so I nodded reluctantly.
But setting the search aside, would they truly be able to send the cadets out to sea?
If communications were jammed, it meant the episode was about to begin in earnest.
“Then you will search the island after sending the ship out.”
“Yes. From our perspective, safely boarding the cadets comes first. If you want, you can move first. To be honest, I am a bit worried because you still look like a cadet… but you are someone acknowledged by the Special Affairs Division Chief.”
Acknowledged…
Was that man not simply watching me like an amusing specimen?
In any case, right now I had to find the culprit behind this sniping incident first.
Before Allie’s scheme fully unfolded.
“Then let me know the moment you set the ship sailing. I will move ahead.”
Leaving those words behind, I exited the control room.
And instead of heading for the warehouse, I immediately left the starting point.
“I need to deal with the culprit before things become even more troublesome.”
I had figured out how the culprit had sniped the social care beneficiary cadets.
There was a high chance the culprit was Choi Jaejin.
Given that he knew the victims’ attributes, there was little room for doubt.
So the only question left was the culprit’s location, and in truth, that was not a serious problem.
If it was certain that social care beneficiaries were being targeted, then the muzzle would inevitably turn toward me as well—the last remaining social care beneficiary.
***
The warehouse where the cadets had gathered.
Cadets were thrown into confusion by the unexpected act of terror.
Some were anxious because a malicious sniper existed, while others, driven by impatience, had their nerves stretched taut.
But most of them were angry that the evaluation had been disrupted.
If the cadets who still maintained their composure had not been holding them back, they looked ready to rush outside and hunt down the sniper themselves.
Amid that complicated situation, Do Minyeong had been moving briskly through the crowd for some time.
‘Ji Seokhyeon. Where did he go again this time?’
Ji Seokhyeon always moved without a word.
Then he would appear again without warning and resolve every problem cleanly.
This time, too, he must have dashed out to solve the incident.
He had no obligation to report everything to Do Minyeong, but she still wished he would at least give her a hint.
‘If he would at least say where he is going, I would worry less.’
As Do Minyeong wandered through the warehouse, the instructors’ decision was finally delivered.
All cadets would board the cruise and move to the mainland.
‘What? Ji Seokhyeon still has not returned…’
At the instructors’ words, the surrounding cadets hurriedly began packing.
Just as the fear of leaving Ji Seokhyeon behind grew heavier, someone lightly tapped her shoulder.
“Cadet Do Minyeong.”
It was Cha Yeri.
“If you are looking for that man—no, for Cadet Ji Seokhyeon—he headed deeper into the island.”
How did she know Do Minyeong had been searching for Ji Seokhyeon?
Do Minyeong hesitated, then belatedly nodded.
“So it was, after all…”
Cha Yeri had not been watching Do Minyeong.
Rather, she had been keeping an eye on Ji Seokhyeon.
Do Minyeong’s gaze fell on Cha Yeri’s outfit.
Cha Yeri was fully armed, as if she were about to fight at any moment.
It was not the appearance of someone preparing to board a cruise.
“Are you going to look for Ji Seokhyeon?”
“Yes. I cannot stop worrying. Every time he disappears somewhere, he comes back after causing trouble.”
…
“So, Cadet Do Minyeong, would you like to come with me?”
“What?”
“Of course, we would have to avoid the instructors’ eyes. If we get caught, we might be disciplined later… but since you have been moving with Cadet Ji Seokhyeon in this evaluation, I think you could find where he is fairly easily.”
…
An unexpected invitation.
If she were with Cha Yeri, even Do Minyeong, who was powerless, could move through the inner island without difficulty.
She might even find Ji Seokhyeon.
It was a chance to discover what that infuriating Ji Seokhyeon had been doing, but…
Do Minyeong could not accept easily.
Looking back, she had not been able to help Ji Seokhyeon.
At the tactical training ground, during the Spring Scholastic War, at the bus garage…
Of course, in the academy violence case involving Choi Jaejin, she had provided information through a Superpowered Detective, but that had not been her own ability.
That was how it had always been—so what help could she offer now, even if she went to find him?
The reason she had been searching for him here was not something noble.
It was simply worry.
Because he was the kind of person who did things no one could predict.
At last, Do Minyeong shook her head.
“I am sorry, but I will decline.”
“…What?”
“I do not want to become a burden.”
***
By the time I entered the forest, the sun had fully sunk.
Moonlight scattered weakly through the dense leaves, and whenever the wind blew, the chill of a summer night cooled the sweat on my brow.
“Six, seven… around twenty drones, I suppose.”
My current position was closer to the east than the west where the starting point lay.
For some time now, I had been sprinting wildly, trying to shake off the drones pursuing me.
Wheee—.
Wheeeeee!
It might seem ridiculous to sweat while being chased by drones, but those drones had mounted gun barrels and were pouring bullets at me as they pursued.
Thunk!
Thunk—!
“Persistent.”
The sniper who had targeted the social care beneficiary cadets was the drone.
More precisely, it was the person behind it, controlling the drone, but the one firing was the drone itself.
A .43 caliber was a barrel commonly used on aerial devices, and the abnormal firing angle existed because the drone had been sniping from directly above.
The reason the drone could roam the island without arousing suspicion was also because it was using the same type of drone as Hero Prep’s.
Thunk—!
If the culprit had committed the crime a bit more carefully, it might have become a perfect crime—so flawless that even I would not have noticed.
No. If they were not truly trying to kill the social care beneficiary cadets, perhaps they had been watching my reaction and enjoying it.
Or perhaps they had been trying to send me a message.
Something like, ‘You are next.’
Pew—.
Thunk!
All of the rounds the drones used were attribute rounds.
The one that had just grazed my shoulder and embedded itself into the ground was a freezing round that caused whatever it touched to stiffen with ice in an instant.
They were firing multiple attribute rounds because the culprit did not know my attribute precisely.
“Well, even if he did, would it change anything?”
While luring the drones as they chased me, I finally arrived beneath the cliff I had been seeking.
A place where shadows blanketed the surroundings like a colossal wave.
It was a location I had kept my eye on during the evaluation.
When the drones saw that I had reached a dead end, they stopped firing. As if a signal had been input by the culprit, they descended to a low height with their barrels trained on me.
With my Demonic Eye, I could see that the drones still had plenty of ammunition.
But they were no longer a threat.
Because they, too, were already being swallowed by the cliff’s shadows along with me.
…
While the drones hovered, I sensed the culprit approaching.
Soon a man stepped out of the forest and came down beneath the cliff. He passed through the swarm-like drones and revealed himself before me.
Then I heard a familiar voice.
“Have you grown used to clowning around?”
It was Choi Jaejin.