Even if I Make It Roughly, Ex-rank Items Continue to Accumulate - Chapter 72

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Even Hastily Made Ones Keep Stacking Up as EX-Rank (72)

R.S.E

Not long after, Lee Si-hyeok was able to finish all his work.

Taking off his work gloves and checking the time, it was 4 AM.

‘It finished faster than I thought.’

For having crafted six artifacts in a row, it was quite early.

Well, there was a good reason for that. Except for the barrier he made first, they were all the same type of artifact.

“Alright.”

Lee Si-hyeok got up and stretched while looking out the window.

The sun that had just begun to rise was gently scattering its light. The quiet and still dawn. In contrast, his whole body felt stiff.

He would have liked to take a refreshing shower, but Lee Si-hyeok carefully packed the artifacts into his backpack.

‘The session starts tomorrow morning.’

He had to finish all preparations before then.

After finishing tidying up the research lab, Lee Si-hyeok stepped outside the building.

Because it was so early, there wasn’t a single person in sight.

Thinking that he was alone in this vast campus, the strange atmosphere could be a bit eerie, but.

‘For me, it’s actually a good thing.’

What he was about to do from now on must not be discovered by anyone.

Just in case, he firmly instructed Isaac to be even more vigilant, then took out the file he had brought from Ryu Se-eun’s dormitory to check it.

Rustle.

The ‘Mana Rift Generation Plan’ she had left behind.

Besides Pyo Jae-hwan’s scheme, detailed contents were written here as well.

Among them, the most important page was [Spatial Compression Device Storage Locations], where the machines that would be the core of the incident were kept.

[※Spatial Compression Device Storage Locations

1. Engineering Practice Building

2. Computing & Communications Building – Server Room

3. Energy Management Building

….]

Five buildings in total.

In those buildings, Pyo Jae-hwan planned to generate mana rifts using machines called Spatial Compression Devices.

And the reason he deliberately distributed them across multiple buildings was probably due to the scale.

‘In the past incident, it was just an experiment targeting only six people. He wouldn’t have needed to go through this much trouble.’

But this time was different.

Pyo Jae-hwan was plotting against over a hundred participants. Moreover, most of them were high-ranking awakeners, weren’t they?

To that extent, he would need to simultaneously generate mana rifts from multiple locations to swallow them all up.

‘Okay. I’ve memorized all the locations.’

Lee Si-hyeok, having memorized all the simple maps, put the file back in his bag.

After a while, moving quickly, he arrived at his first destination, the ‘Engineering Practice Building’.

Avoiding the surveillance cameras and entering the blind spot on the first floor, he carefully took out an artifact from his bag.

Swoosh.

A gray, round ball-shaped artifact.

It had an adhesive surface underneath so it could be attached somewhere, but other than that, it had a plain appearance overall.

However, its purpose was more terrifying than anything else.

[〈Terminal Pulse〉 – A-Rank / Bomb

A bomb that completely blows away an entire area simply by activating it. It even burns up the surrounding mana, turning it into a handful of ash. Please be extremely careful.]

[+ Enhanced by the creator’s modifications! Its power is compressed within a limited range.]

It was indeed a bomb of tremendous power.

Literally, it had the power to turn not just one building, but an entire small town into ruins.

‘It was a Legacy Artifact that was moved to the 『Subspace』 in Orbes’ Treasury.’

This was the method he came up with while pondering how to effectively ruin Pyo Jae-hwan’s plan.

Just destroy the building itself. So that mana rifts or whatever couldn’t even be dreamed of.

Of course, there were many other methods too.

Like breaking all the Spatial Compression Devices right now so the plan couldn’t even begin. Or immediately telling everyone about his scheme.

‘But….’

That would be too one-dimensional. It would be effective in its simple brutality, but there would be too many things missed.

Eterion Magical Engineering Academy, rotten from the roots.

It was once a place Lee Si-hyeok had dreamed of so much, a place of admiration.

Could I someday shine like those students there? Could I research something in that position?

With such imagination, he had spent countless years in his room.

But now, having reached this point?

“….”

It was different from his imagination.

More ugly than he had imagined.

All the evil deeds he had discovered in the Central Records Hall. Not every part of Eterion would be like this, but it certainly wasn’t what he had thought.

He wanted to tear it down and rebuild it. Completely from the roots.

For that, the simple methods mentioned earlier wouldn’t work. Persuasive power was needed. The kind of persuasive power that would make everyone nod their heads.

―Click.

Lee Si-hyeok’s eyes gleamed as he installed the Terminal Pulse in a corner of the first floor.

‘…Tomorrow I’ll show everyone directly.’

What Pyo Jae-hwan and the Dean are plotting.

And at the most crucial moment, he would overturn the entire game.

* * *

After finishing the installation of the remaining four Terminal Pulses.

Lee Si-hyeok returned to the Dormitory Park and sat on a bench, having a brief phone call with Chairman Lee Young-hoon of Termion.

―…Tomorrow, you say?

“Yes, please come at the time I mentioned.”

―Haha, well then. I understand. I also have something I promised back then.

“Thank you.”

Click.

Having completed all preparations, he finally felt somewhat relieved.

“Phew.”

As he was relaxing his body that had been tense with nervousness, he suddenly felt a presence from one side of his vision.

Lee Si-hyeok casually turned his gaze to look there.

However, only a single tree stretching out green branches came into view, and there was nothing else besides that.

“….”

Just how long are they planning to keep that up?

Actually, it was a presence he had been sensing for quite a while. Hadn’t it been several days? It had been quite some time since it started when he entered the Central Records Hall.

The reason he had ignored it was because there was no need to address it. It hadn’t approached with malicious intent in the first place.

So they probably saw everything, including him installing the bombs just now.

Lee Si-hyeok shook his head and carefully took out the bead bracelet from his pocket.

The promise he made with Ryu Se-eun at the last moment.

It seemed the time had come to keep it.

‘It’s getting hard to keep pretending I don’t know anymore.’

He began walking slowly toward the tree where someone might be hiding.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a secluded corner of the Dormitory Park.

Where there stood a tree that had grown to enormous size thanks to feeding on Mana Fertilizer, now called one of the Magical Engineering Academy’s landmarks.

“No, so at that time I was with Si-hyeok…”

“Um, Team Leader.”

Hidden behind that massive trunk, the Team Member who had been chatting away glanced back for a moment, then hesitantly interrupted Yoon Seo-jin’s words.

“Hm? What is it?”

“Sorry to interrupt, but I think you should check behind us.”

“Suddenly?”

Yoon Seo-jin tilted her head in confusion and turned around.

Behind the tree that came into view.

The bench where the researcher named Choi Hyeok had been sitting just moments ago was completely empty.

“…What? Where did he go?”

“I, I’m not sure either.”

The Team Member could only give that response.

The time Yoon Seo-jin and he had looked away was at most 30 seconds. And it wasn’t like they had let their guard down either. They had definitely activated ‘Mana Sensitivity’ and expanded their Ki Sense, hadn’t they?

So did that mean even that had been bypassed?

“This doesn’t make sense.”

Yoon Seo-jin’s thoughts were similar. He had vanished without a trace in a moment too brief to even call an instant. It didn’t make sense. That was the most accurate way to describe it.

“Hurry up and look for him!”

“That’s what I’m already doing!”

Neither needed to go first.

Whoosh, whoosh! The two quickly turned their heads, thoroughly scanning their surroundings. Skills, artifacts. They mobilized everything they had.

And simultaneously, they felt it.

“Hey, this…”

“…I think we’re in big trouble.”

Ten meters. A distance reachable in just a few steps.

From there, they began to sense a presence. It wasn’t something they discovered by trying to find it. The other party had revealed themselves ‘first’. As if asking to be noticed that they were here.

Moreover, that presence was gradually getting closer to this location.

Tension enveloped their entire bodies.

The two exchanged glances for a moment, then the Team Member spoke first as if blurting it out.

“T-Team Leader.”

“Hic.”

“Well, I have something urgent to attend to. I’ll go, go ahead first.”

“…What? No, hey, hey!”

And then the Team Member ran away like crazy without even looking back.

“Hic. That, that guy’s lost his mind…!”

He was so fast that he disappeared in an instant, making Yoon Seo-jin hiccup while clenching her fists tightly.

Even during this, the presence was getting even closer.

It was too late to run away. If only she had left together with the Team Member when he departed! Regretting this, Yoon Seo-jin squeezed her eyes shut.

And finally, a voice was heard from the front.

“What are you doing here?”

Yoon Seo-jin slightly opened her closed eyes.

It was a face both unfamiliar and familiar. The face that the Team Member had described as ‘objectively decent’ a few days ago.

She who had been stammering squeezed out a voice that wouldn’t come.

“Ha, haha. Hello, Hyeok…”

“Yes. May I sit down?”

“Hic. Pardon?”

“I asked if I could sit next to you.”

—Plop.

“Oh.”

She hadn’t even answered yet. The other person approached with an indifferent expression and just sat down next to her. Even that behavior resembled someone Yoon Seo-jin knew too much.

“Yoon Seo-jin.”

“Yes…”

“You must be curious about why I came looking for you like this.”

The moment she heard those words, Yoon Seo-jin bit her lips tightly.

She could tell without even listening.

The reason he came looking? Obviously it must be because she had been tailing him for the past few days. She didn’t know how he found out, but naturally it would be something that couldn’t help but be unpleasant.

‘…I really was crazy.’

Whether that person resembled Si-hyeok or not. That was only her personal matter. Now that it had come to this, she couldn’t think of Si-hyeok or anything like that at all.

She was just dominated by thoughts of what words would flow from that person’s mouth.

As she regretted the past few days’ actions and prepared words of apology.

“I received a request from someone.”

“I’m sorry…! Huh, what? A request?”

Completely unexpected words flowed from the other person’s mouth. Wasn’t he going to get angry? Yoon Seo-jin blinked.

“What kind of request?”

“They asked me to deliver this.”

“…?”

The other person opened his palm toward her with those brief words.

And the moment she saw the Bead Bracelet with Pure White Beads placed on top of it.

—Zap!

“…?!”

Severe headache struck and something began to engulf her mind.

It was a kind of ‘memory’.

Something she had definitely experienced in the past, but had been erased at some point.

Clear memories of an irreplaceable friend.

After that painful and confusing time passed.

“What is this exactly…”

Yoon Seo-jin, who had picked up the bracelet, stared blankly down at her own wrist.

There was a bracelet that looked exactly the same as the one the man had given her.

[R.S.E]

A Bead Bracelet engraved with those initials.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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