Magic Academy's Genius Blinker - Chapter 59
Chapter 59
Masked Ball (2)
“We will prepare your dress and shoes.”
T h is w a s co p i e d f ro m k i ngm tl .o rg
At the butler’s words directed at her, Hong Bi-yeon narrowed her eyes.
‘What is this?’
She couldn’t grasp the situation.
Entering the Persona Gate, only to be greeted by a ballroom, was unexpected.
While each world within the gate was said to have thousands of unique characteristics, she had rarely heard of a ballroom appearing in a Persona Gate. Honestly, she was a bit flustered.
But only for a moment.
Hong Bi-yeon skillfully arranged runes in the air to analyze this world.
A Persona Gate was in itself a massive ‘puzzle,’ as if challenging the entrant to unravel the mysteries of this world.
When mages perfectly analyzed the phenomena within this world, they earned the right to solve the puzzle and the ‘guideline message’ would appear.
‘Challenge it this way. Then you will be able to clear this world.’
Swoosh!
A magic circle visible only to her distorted, and keywords appeared one by one.
[Duchess of Aiharen… Protagonist of the ballroom, Dance of Temptation…]
A 3-risk level Persona Gate was typically challenging for a first-year student to interpret. However, Hong Bi-yeon, who had already mastered the 3rd class, found it not too difficult.
…Or so it should have been.
‘What is this? Something’s off.’
This place was definitely a virtual Persona Gate. So why did it reek with such a thick and murky smell of mana?
Moreover, even if this was practice, it was standard to place Persona Gates that first-year students could easily adapt to and overcome.
For some reason, this place was too complex and difficult to interpret, even for Hong Bi-yeon’s level.
Her mind, as if clogged by something, came to a halt.
Hong Bi-yeon’s runes shattered in the air, and the guideline message failed to appear.
With a blank expression, Hong Bi-yeon lowered her trembling hand.
‘This… is an unknown formula.’
An unknown formula?
Just realizing that was enough to shatter her mental state. She had always struggled with coping with things she hadn’t learned.
That made it all the more strange.
How could an unlearned element appear in a first-year practice? Even she, who had prepped through college-level coursework, was struggling—what about the other students?
‘This is as if…’
As she quietly pondered.
“Miss, the dinner ball will begin soon. What would you like for a dinner dress?”
“…What?”
“Is there a problem?”
“How can you say that? Is that a scripted line?”
“Hoho. It seems I have overstepped. My apologies. I will wait until you’ve gathered your thoughts.”
“No, that’s not it…”
Hong Bi-yeon took a step back, her mouth slightly open.
This place was a ‘fake,’ created to closely mimic a Persona Gate.
The NPCs in a real Persona Gate thought and acted like real people, but those created by mages only resembled humans and couldn’t behave like that.
T h i s w a s copi e d f r o m k i n gm t l . or g
Yet, the old butler before her had expressions, smiled, thought, and spoke as if he were a real person.
‘No way…’
An unbelievable possibility came to mind.
Th i s w a s c o pi ed fro m ki n gm t l. o rg
The chance that this place was real.
No. No way.
This was Stella Academy. There was no way a real Persona Gate could intervene here. It was just that Stella’s technology had advanced a bit more.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing to worry about. I’d like a wrap-around dress made of Berchestic silk. I don’t like sleeves. Have the hemline above the knee in a wave pattern. Attach an amethyst brooch to the chest, and the shoes should be red. I assume there’s jewelry?”
“Of course.”
“Prepare a silver bracelet without patterns and a ruby gothic chain.”
Assisted by four maids in the dressing room, Hong Bi-yeon quickly changed into her dress. Meanwhile, she didn’t neglect analyzing this place.
Of course, she also evaluated the dress.
Smack!
Hong Bi-yeon slapped the maid’s cheek and spoke in a cold tone.
T h is w a s c o p ie d f r om k i n gm t l .o rg
“A trash picking trash. Did you bring this for me to wear? Get another one.”
Th i s w a s c o p i ed f r o m k ing m t l . o r g
“I-I’m sorry!”
“This is too short. Did you even prepare the right size?”
“I-I was sure this would fit… I’m sorry!”
It took twelve rejections to finally find a dress that suited her picky taste.
Even then, she only approved because there was little time left until the dinner ball.
“This will do, barely.”
The two-tone dress starting with pure white and fading to red around the waist suited Hong Bi-yeon’s silver hair and red eyes perfectly.
“This dress definitely exists for you…”
Even the maids who had been slapped multiple times couldn’t help but admire her beauty.
“Bring the shoes.”
Wearing red shoes and a ruby necklace, Hong Bi-yeon elegantly walked to the ballroom like a princess.
Murmur, murmur.
A long rectangular table. Stella’s students, dressed in gowns and suits, awkwardly glanced at each other.
She instinctively looked for Baek Yu-seol. He was in a plain black tuxedo, but his proportions made him look quite fitting despite his youthful appearance and short stature.
‘…He wears clothes well.’
As she looked at him, memories of reading his ‘past story’ last night came to mind. His personal story, starting with the words ‘I miss my mother.’ She felt guilty for secretly peeking into his past, but having already seen it, she couldn’t help but be concerned.
For some reason, he seemed a bit different. Having overcome such a past and walking the path of knighthood at Stella…
Screech-!
With Hong Bi-yeon being the last, all sixteen students gathered. As the front door opened, a woman wearing a mask instead of a dress walked in.
“You’re all here. Are you ready to infiltrate the Aiharen Mansion?”
…
The students were puzzled but soon nodded.
In the Persona Gate, a certain ‘concept’ is set, and the strategy proceeds according to the corresponding story.
And those concepts and stories are always written in the ‘guideline message’…
None of the students here could decipher the Persona Gate and understand its concept or story.
“Listen carefully. You must attend the masked ball hosted by the Duchess of Aiharen. Surely, something will happen there.”
The students focused on the woman’s words.
“Exit through one of those four passages to enter the mansion’s underground. However, the underground is full of mazes and traps, and the mansion’s knights will move if you get lost. So, you must trust your own intuition and insight. Can you do it?”
T h i s wa s c o p i e d f r om ki n g m t l . org
While no one else understood, only Baek Yu-seol answered.
T hi s w a s c o p i e d f r o m k i n g m t l . o r g
“Yes.”
Seeing that no one else answered, he awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
It was natural. The being in front of them was merely an NPC speaking according to the manual.
It wasn’t a real Persona Gate, and what fool would respond to the NPC of a fake Persona Gate?
But.
“That’s right, you. Your confidence is commendable.”
“…What?”
“It responded…?”
As the NPC reacted to Baek Yu-seol’s words, the students’ eyes filled with confusion. They had already sensed something was off, and this made it even more suspicious.
“Before infiltrating, everyone must wear this mask.”
The woman distributed white masks that covered their entire faces.
“Remember, once you exit through that passage wearing the mask, never take it off. Understand? Never forget this.”
After saying that, the woman disappeared. The students, holding their masks, looked at each other.
-Uh…
“W-We have to go…”
The Persona Gate practice was part of their performance evaluation, so the professors were likely watching and scoring them.
Unfortunately, everyone here had failed to interpret the Persona Gate. But they couldn’t outright say, ‘I couldn’t interpret it properly, can someone help?’
If they were a bit smarter, they would have realized the difficulty level here was absurdly high. But alas, nearly none of them reached that conclusion and were just waiting for someone to act first to avoid showing their ignorance.
‘Hmm…’
T h is wa s c o pi ed f r o m ki n g m tl . o rg
Among the students, Flame was ready to speak.
By now, no one would know this Persona Gate was real.
‘In the original, the lack of shared information made it extremely dangerous…’
So Flame decided to speak up. To inform them that this Persona Gate was real and dangerous.
“Guys, doesn’t this practice feel a bit off? It’s hard to interpret, and the NPC seems real too.”
“That’s true.”
As the students agreed with her, Flame took the momentum to make a bombshell declaration.
T h is w as c opi e d f r o m k in g m t l . o r g
“To be honest, I couldn’t interpret this Persona Gate at all.”
“Huh?”
“Why suddenly…”
The students, surprised that the professors were likely watching, didn’t expect such words from Flame. She hurriedly continued.
“I don’t think it’s just me. I bet none of you could interpret it either. Right?”
“Well…”
“I’m sure of it. This is not an intended situation. It’s not logical for a first-year practice to have such a difficult Persona Gate.”
“Yes, I thought it was strange too.”
“Yeah. Actually… I couldn’t interpret it much either.”
“The NPC did seem real…”
As the students began to agree, Flame’s expression brightened. Just as she was about to reveal that this place was real.
“Flame, what are you trying to say?”
Jackie abruptly interrupted.
She raised one corner of her mouth and spoke as if mocking.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to say this place might be real? Although you like jokes, you wouldn’t go that far.”
“…What?”
A sharp remark. Flame faltered, her mouth agape, and Jackie laughed more mischievously.
“Haha, you were really going to say that? Wow, unbelievable. Thank me for stopping you. That was a terrible joke. It would’ve killed the mood.”
“No, I mean…”
As Flame tried to explain, Jackie interrupted again.
“Guys, this is clearly what the professors intended.”
Jackie confidently smiled at the still confused students.
“Isn’t it obvious? In real scenarios, you can’t always perfectly interpret a Persona Gate. This difficult situation was designed by the professors to test us.”
“…Oh!”
The students widened their eyes in realization.
It was a plausible explanation.
What would you do if you couldn’t interpret the Persona Gate?
If the professors created this situation to see how they would handle it and score them accordingly?
“I see…”
“That makes sense…”
As the other students seemed convinced, Flame bit her lip.
‘This isn’t good…’
Jackie’s logic was flawless, complicating the situation further.
Th i s w as cop ie d f r o m k i n gm t l . o r g
No matter how much she insisted the place was real, she had no evidence.
The vivid NPCs and the inscrutable gate—all could be explained as the professors’ intent.
But who would believe a crazy claim that a real Persona Gate appeared in the middle of Stella Dome?
“Jackie… What’s your intention?”
“What intention? I’m just trying to get along. You’re not trying to deceive others with some weird logic to get the score for yourself, are you?”
“Don’t talk nonsense! I just want us to be cautious…”
“Stop spouting nonsense. This is Stella. The best academy for magical warriors, Stella Magic Knights. Their technology to detect Persona Gates is the best in the world. Do you think they wouldn’t notice a gate appearing in the school?”
Right. That was undeniably true. But what could she do if her statement was true?
“I really…”
Flame, in utter shock, glanced at Baek Yu-seol’s direction unconsciously, hoping for help.
But he was already wearing his mask, standing far away, merely observing the situation, as if he had no intention of intervening.
[EP006 Jackie’s Dark Mage Route]
Baek Yu-seol fiddled with his mask and thought.
‘So it’s leading to this branch.’
From Flame’s perspective, this situation must be bewildering. There was no character named Jackie in the original romantic fantasy, so she wouldn’t have expected things to twist this way.
However, the scenario where Jackie obstructed Flame was one of the many branches in the original game.
In any case, one of the three students had to be sacrificed to the Dark Mages. Even though he wished for no one to be corrupted, it seemed the destined fate couldn’t be changed.
Even if he spoke up now to help Flame, the result wouldn’t change.
So, stepping back was the correct decision.
Regardless, the protagonists had set tasks to overcome this situation.
End of Chapter
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Keremhasid
Unfortunately the persona gates are actually real and aren’t fake imitations of events they are events that happen in the past present or future of this worlds universe