Magic Academy's Genius Blinker - Chapter 167

Chapter 167

Ghost Story (3)

Whiiish…!

A black wind was blowing. Winds generally have no color, but the wind blowing here was deep black.

It was probably because this place was saturated with dense dark mana.

The sharply cut black cliffs jutted out like spikes trying to pierce the sky. The ancient castle standing between them was as grand as Stella Academy but slightly tilted to the side, making it look precarious.

Caw… Caw…

A flock of crows flew, and bats with glaring eyes watched the ground.
T h i s w a s c o p ie d fr o m k i n g mt l .o rg

This place, where dark mana swirled, was forbidden to ordinary people.

‘Screaming Cliffs, Dwelling of Darkness.’

Once the residence of the ‘Dark Mage King,’ known to have ruled the dark mages, this place was familiar yet unwelcome to Ma Yuseong.

“Father. I shall take my leave now.”
T h i s w a s c opied f r o m k in g m tl. o r g

Kneeling in the center of the Hall of Kings, Ma Yuseong spoke with his head lowered. A man sitting on the high throne slowly raised his head.

His red eyes gave off a chilling sensation, making ordinary dark mages involuntarily kneel just by meeting his gaze.

“Come closer.”

“Yes, Father.”

As the Dark Mage King spoke sternly, Ma Yuseong responded with no emotions, like a puppet, and approached him.

For a while, the King gazed at his son.

“My son.”

“Yes, Father.”

“You are destined to be the king one day.”

“I know.”
T h is w as c o p ie d fr o m k i n g m tl.o r g

“No, you don’t.”

The Dark Mage King interrupted Ma Yuseong’s words and continued.

“You are the weakest among my sons, with a gentle disposition, and even mixed with filthy blood. You are… the worst candidate for the throne.”

“But you resemble your mother a lot. Thus, you are destined to be king. Unlike me, who forcibly usurped the throne, you will be loved by all, just like your mother who was naturally loved by everyone.”

Ma Yuseong lifted his head.

His eyes, still like those of a doll, burned with deep anger, causing the Dark Mage King to halt his speech.

He knew well that any mention of his mother was a sensitive topic for his youngest son. Especially when he himself brought it up, Ma Yuseong hated it more than anything else…

The King knew this very well.
T his w as c o p i ed fr o m ki n g mtl . o r g

Even so, he had to mention it.

The youngest son still didn’t understand.

How quickly this world was changing.

The Dark Mage King might be considered the strongest in this world.

But for how long?

He didn’t trust his power.

Within the next five… or ten years, he was certain someone stronger than him would emerge.

When that time comes, the society of dark mages would be utterly crushed and destroyed.

Thus, a new king was needed.

A perfect king who could embrace both humans and dark mages, like Ma Yuseong, who had both bloodlines.

The youngest son was born with the qualities of a king. This rarely manifested quality even among humans did not appear by mere chance.

It was undoubtedly a divine decree.

Ma Yuseong had to follow his divine destiny and become the ruler of the entire world.

However, the youngest son still didn’t understand his father’s profound intentions.

He seemed to have no desire to be king.

Sending him to Stella Academy to study humans had only deepened his immersion in human society.

His occasional emotional outbursts proved this.

“Do you hate me for forcing you to be king?”

T h i s w a s co pied fr o m k in g m t l .o r g
Ma Yuseong shook his head.

“I just hate you, Father.”

If a son said such a thing without hesitation or any emotional precursor, any father would be hurt, but the Dark Mage King wasn’t.

He had already been hurt too much, his body and mind scarred to the point of no longer feeling pain.

He endured.

“I have pushed you to your limits without any reward.”

Though the youngest son’s will was firm, he was still too young. His behavior was due to ignorance of the world at his mere seventeen years of age.

What could he possibly understand at such a young age?

Thus, the King chose the easiest way to sway his young son’s heart.

“My son. If you decide to become king, I will grant you one wish.”

“…A wish?”

“Yes. Do you desire anything? Or is there something you want? I can grant anything.”

Something he wanted…

T h is w a s cop ie d fr o m k i n g m tl. o r g
The Dark Mage King saw Ma Yuseong’s eyes waver greatly at those words and smirked.

After all, no matter how mature, a child is still a child.

It was effective.

“Yes. Tell me what you want. I will grant it immediately.”

At those words, Ma Yuseong met the Dark Mage King’s eyes and slowly parted his lips.

“I want…”

He hesitated for a moment.

Then, as if resolved, he exhaled.

“I want your neck.”

It was indeed not going to be an easy matter.

* * *

Though Jeremie had diligently gathered ghost stories about the 7th main tower, it was a pity that Flame had little interest in the ghost story itself.

Among countless rumors, she knew there was a true story, and she even knew what it was.

Knowing the ‘build-up’ and ‘development’ but not the ‘conclusion’ was like this. She didn’t know how it would end, but she had a thorough understanding of the middle story.

This was Flame’s unique strength, something even Baek Yu-seol didn’t possess.

Lunchtime.

Flame, who was with Anella for the investigation and ended up having lunch together, was joined by Crown Prince Jeremie.

Flame’s face crumpled like a waterlogged piece of paper, but Jeremie, oblivious, began to speak with a bright smile.

“Flame, I heard an interesting story. Want to hear it?”

“Oh, interesting.”

“Come on. It’s about the ghost story of the 7th main tower. Aren’t you curious?”

What?

Flame raised her eyebrows, and Jeremie smiled. It was as expected. However, there was a different reason for her reaction.

‘Does Jeremie play a role in this story?’

Whether in novels or games, one unavoidable fact exists.

Not all characters can play major roles in every episode.

This applies to both otome games and games targeting male audiences.

And in this episode… Jeremie had almost no role, while Ma Yuseong had a very significant one.

But after Ma Yuseong returned to his home, there was no sign of him. Instead, Jeremie was prancing around.

‘Sigh. The original storyline is twisted again.’

Such occurrences were not rare, but it was still surprising.

“Well, let’s hear it. Tell me.”

As if he had been waiting, Jeremie’s eyes sparkled as he recounted the ghost story of the 7th main tower.

Most of it was nonsense, making Flame yawn, but Anella seemed to find it quite interesting.

“Really? There’s a monster with seven heads in the 7th main tower?”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“Oh, how fascinating… Oh my, I’m being silly…”

Occasionally, Anella would say something that made her seem like a middle-aged woman, trying hard to manage her expression. Flame found this more amusing and adorable.

Honestly speaking.

Everything Jeremie mentioned was useless. Not a single piece of it was valuable information.

Only Anella reacted occasionally. Flame, with a bored expression, rested her chin on her hand and sipped her drink. Jeremie’s expression wilted.

“Not interesting?”

“No. I’m leaving now.”

“Uh…”

As he stood up weakly, he suddenly seemed to remember something.

“Flame. Just so you know, I wouldn’t recommend delving too deep into this ghost story.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“…There are many people who don’t look favorably upon you. A lot.”

Jeremie’s bitter smile cast a shadow over his face, giving Flame chills. It was her first time seeing him make such an expression, but she had read such descriptions in the original novel occasionally.

Sometimes, Jeremie’s smile was shadowed. No one noticed, but the blue-haired girl did.

“Jeremie. Why are you so angry?”

He was furious. With a smile, calmly… It resembled the eye of a storm, where people didn’t realize the impending disaster.

T h is w a s co pi e d f ro m k i n g mt l. o r g
But his anger would inevitably consume everything around him.

Including you.

In the original novel, Jeremie rarely showed true anger. The most notable was when Aiselle’s affection fully turned to Ma Yuseong, leading to their kiss… That was when his anger erupted the most.

Although it didn’t seem as severe, Jeremie was currently very angry.

‘Did I treat him coldly?’

No.

That wasn’t it.
T his w a s c o pie d f r om kin gm tl . o rg

At least… Jeremie wasn’t someone who would get angry at a lady he liked.

He might torment her until she uttered that she wanted to die.

Jeremie got angry in the original novel mostly when he felt he was losing Aiselle, whom he loved.

In reality, his affection had shifted from Aiselle to Flame…

‘Does it have something to do with me?’

No idea.

Jeremie hadn’t even gotten mad when she faked a relationship with Baek Yu-seol, so what could possibly make him lose his composure like that?

“Hey, wait…!”

She tried to stop Jeremie to ask more, but he was already gone.

“…What the heck?”

* * *

Stella’s faculty alone numbered in the hundreds, with some having no interaction whatsoever.

Conversely, it wasn’t strange for some professors to form groups and bond closely.

“Professor Laydin. I heard Professor Checyrin caused some trouble recently.”

“I calmed him down, so don’t worry.”

“Calmed him down… Ha-ha.”

Though Laydin was known for his lack of sociability, he attended the weekly faculty meetings.

‘Sunshine Faculty Fellowship’

The fellowship didn’t need a grand name. Just… if the ages and interests matched, they’d gather and bond.

The Sunshine Fellowship was one such group.

Age and gender varied greatly here, with no discernible common ground among the professors. Yet, they maintained a very close bond, with no one missing their weekly meetings.

No, there was one commonality.

They were all dark mages hiding their identities.

“Recently, the number of non-attendees has increased, leaving some empty seats.”

Eltemon Eltrine had somehow discovered and weeded out the dark mages infiltrating the academy.

As a result, the Sunshine Fellowship also saw an increase in empty seats, which was quite distressing.

Out of the hundreds of faculty members, about thirty were disguised as professors.

Infiltrating Stella as a dark mage professor had required many sacrifices, only for nearly half of them to be caught in an instant.

But since they were aware of the possibility of their colleagues dying quietly since the moment they infiltrated Stella, no one felt sorrowful.

Just a bit complex.

“So, Professor Laydin… I heard you took on the recent project. Can you handle it?”

The project they spoke of was related to the 7th main tower. It had been planned since the dark mages first infiltrated Stella, where the relics of Abeline Stabererk, known as the old Dark Mage Leader, lay.

They had waited for the right time, and now it was time to retrieve it.

…Unfortunately.

Despite their efforts to infiltrate, they couldn’t enter as professors.

Only students could enter the 7th main tower, so they had no choice but to spread related rumors throughout Stella.

“The students have taken the bait.”

“Perhaps soon, a student meeting the entry conditions will appear.”

“But recently, there’s a student that’s been bothering me.”

They all knew who it was.

The commoner girl, Flame.

Recently, she had been scouring Stella Academy, not just for the ghost stories but to find the people who spread them, naturally drawing attention.
T h i s w a s c o p i e d f r o m ki n g mtl . o r g

“Should we take care of it?”

“She’s an arrogant brat, but it’s rather fun to play with her. Heh-heh.”

T h is w as c o p i e d fro m k i n g m tl . o rg
“Yes. We are keeping an eye on her. The moment she crosses the line… we’ll grab her immediately.”

The colleagues began whispering in a creepy tone. Clearly, none of them were sane.

Laydin glanced around the room and cut in.

“No. Given Principal Eltemon’s heightened vigilance, it’s better to lie low. Besides, a student or two running around won’t find out anything.”

“Hmm… That’s true.”

No matter how much of a genius Flame was praised to be, she was just a seventeen-year-old student. Professors held much higher status within the academy, severely limiting what she could achieve.

“…So, I’ll handle everything related to Flame.”

Laydin had always been diligent and quick to resolve any issues that might harm the sect, so his colleagues dubbed him the ‘errand boy.’

Who would stop him if he volunteered to take care of something troublesome?

“Heh-heh. Professor Laydin, are you trying to hog all the fun?”

“Good. I trust you, Professor Laydin.”

“Make sure to discipline her ‘as a professor.’ We’ll take our leave.”

“Oh dear, I have a lecture soon.”

Without any special signal, the meeting ended, and as colleagues began to leave one by one, Laydin also silently stood up.

‘…Flame, huh.’

Though his colleagues thought Laydin would handle Flame, he had a different idea.

That girl was the closest to uncovering the secret of the 7th main tower.

So…

Wouldn’t it be wise to use her if possible?

Thinking so, Laydin was the last to leave.

The luxurious café room, now empty, was filled with silence.

End of Chapter