Magic Academy's Genius Blinker - Chapter 60
Chapter 60
Masked Ball (3)
Leaving Flame who stood still in bewilderment behind, Jackie stood before one of the four passages.
“Since this situation is also what the professors intended, we just need to handle it without panic. Right, everyone?”
“Uh, yeah…”
T h i s w a s c o p ied f r o m ki n g m tl . o r g
“Then, I’ll go first.”
Th i s w as co p i ed f r o m k i n g m t l. o rg
After saying that, she stepped into the passage without hesitation. As she disappeared instantly, the other students grew restless.
If this situation was indeed a performance evaluation, then the time spent hesitating would be counted against them.
“I-I’m going in too.”
“Hmph, I’ve always prepared for situations like this.”
As the students rushed into the passages one by one, Hong Bi-yeon sighed.
‘Not one of them is moving systematically.’
They were choosing passages randomly without knowing what they meant or where they led.
Moreover, considering what the NPC said earlier, there would surely be monsters inside. Even if the points were individual, it would be advantageous to form a team with the minimum number of members to earn better scores.
She glanced sideways at Baek Yu-seol.
If anyone here excelled in interpretation and strategy, it would undoubtedly be Baek Yu-seol.
He had kept a cool head during the necromancer attack and used his unique wit and excellent strategy to handle five medium-sized monsters during the mock monster battle.
If she were to follow anyone, it should be Baek Yu-seol.
“Which way are you going?”
Th i s w a s c o p i ed f r o m k i n g mt l . o rg
As Aiselle casually asked Baek Yu-seol, many students perked up their ears to listen.
‘What difference does it make which path you take? It’s all the same…’
Baek Yu-seol, however, had no particular thoughts. The moment they passed through the passage, everyone would be scattered randomly. So, he decided randomly.
“Let’s go this way.”
Standing at the leftmost passage, Aiselle joined him.
“Then I’ll go this way too.”
“Why?”
“It feels like you’ll be right.”
“No. You should go the other way.”
“No, I won’t.”
“Geez.”
Feeling exasperated, he looked at Aiselle and then sensed many presences behind him. He turned around.
“Ahem.”
“Ahem.”
Most of the other students had chosen the same passage as Baek Yu-seol. Even Hong Bi-yeon was subtly following.
‘These kids, only picking up tricks.’
Seeing a few more students shifting their positions to this side, he sighed.
“Ahem, then I’ll…”
“Ahem.”
Thus, excluding Jackie who had already left, fifteen students ended up moving together.
It was absurd, but it didn’t matter, so he didn’t say much.
Baek Yu-seol was the first to step into the passage.
As soon as he felt a pulling sensation, the air grew dense, and a damp, dark hallway appeared.
“W-What? Where did everyone go?”
“They disappeared…”
Students who entered later panicked. They thought they had all entered together, but most of the students had vanished.
‘Hmm, I didn’t expect to end up in the same passage as Hong Bi-yeon…’
Sixteen students were distributed into four passages, four students each. Aiselle and Flame were likely in one group.
“It seems we can’t move together in a big group. Let’s go.”
The hallway was quite eerie. Beyond the half-broken windows, there were only walls. The purpose of the windows was unknown. Most of the lights were broken, and the remaining ones flickered weakly.
“There’s something like a statue in the hallway.”
“You can see it?”
Thanks to the effects of Mana Leakage Syndrome, his physical abilities were superior, and the new ‘infrared’ function of his Bulbul Glasses made the darkness no issue.
But the other students were different.
“Light a fire.”
At his words, a few students created globes of light in the air. Even without the light attribute, illumination was a basic spell.
Still, the visibility was poor, and they couldn’t see the statue Baek Yu-seol mentioned.
Only after walking a bit further did the statue he mentioned come into their view.
T h i s w as c o p ie d f rom k i n gmt l . o r g
“You saw it from that distance?”
“Wow, what kind of eyesight do you have?”
The students whispered in surprise. Hong Bi-yeon, though silent, was equally astonished.
“But that… it is a statue, right?”
There were multiple statues, all dressed identically and frozen in dancing poses.
They looked so lifelike that the students flinched as they passed by.
At the end of the hallway was a door, firmly locked by something.
“I know an unlocking spell, but will it work here?”
“Doubtful. We couldn’t even interpret the gate.”
Hong Bi-yeon looked around with her lips tightly shut.
‘This sense of incongruity…’
Something felt artificially awkward.
Her intuition struck her.
There was a puzzle hidden in the dancing statues.
Since they couldn’t interpret the Persona Gate right now, they had to use their insight to solve the puzzle.
“Hey, commoner. Did you interpret this gate?”
Suddenly asked by Hong Bi-yeon, Baek Yu-seol blinked and answered.
Thi s w a s c o p i e d f r o m k i n gmtl . o rg
“No.”
Her response was slightly disappointing.
“But I do have a rough idea of how to get through here.”
“…Really? Even though you didn’t interpret it?”
“There are things you can know without interpreting.”
He pointed at the statues.
“If you look closely, each statue is in a different pose, but they’re all doing the same type of dance.”
There were nearly dozens of statues, each vividly depicting a dance move. Hong Bi-yeon nodded.
“’Requiem of the Dead Serena’. The dance Serena performed just before her tragic end.”
“Yes, you know it well.”
“Dance is a basic part of culture.”
“Then you’d remember the steps, right?”
“Well, that’s… Ah.”
Realizing Baek Yu-seol’s intentions from his smiling words, Hong Bi-yeon’s expression hardened.
‘No way…’
She hurriedly examined the statues’ poses.
Upon closer inspection… each statue’s pose was part of a sequential dance.
She had thought there were just many dancing statues, but they were actually depicting the movements of one person in chronological order.
However, some poses were missing. Precisely four poses, matching the number of students.
“So we need to fill in those gaps with our poses?”
T h i s w a s co p i e d fr o m k i n gmt l . or g
“Yes, that seems right.”
This was the first puzzle of the gateway.
Since there were previous and following poses, guessing the missing ones wouldn’t be too difficult.
“Let’s each take a position starting from the end. We don’t need to actually dance, just mimic the pose.”
“I’ll take this one.”
“I’ll go here…”
Even without Hong Bi-yeon explaining the steps, the students found their positions and assumed the corresponding poses.
This dance was not only famous, but nobles also learned it as a part of their essential education.
As the four students filled the missing poses, creak! With a grinding noise, the door at the end of the hallway opened.
“We did it!”
“Wow… It was easier than I thought. I’m glad I’m in the same group as Baek Yu-seol.”
“Let’s go. There will be more puzzles ahead.”
Baek Yu-seol glanced at the still statues as he urged them on. Fortunately, they succeeded smoothly this time, but had they failed or taken longer, those statues would have come to life.
As they passed through the door, they entered a large room.
A grand room, about 100 pyeong in size, exuded an elegant and warm atmosphere, contrasting sharply with the dilapidated hallway. Various knight statues were placed around the room.
Some knights pointed swords into the air, some stood still, while others stared into the distance.
“Isn’t the puzzle about those knights this time?”
“Yeah, I think so too.”
Indeed, the statues seemed suspicious. Since the last puzzle also involved statues, the students began examining them closely.
About five minutes passed like this.
“It’s the carpet.”
“Huh?”
Baek Yu-seol spoke. Until then, Hong Bi-yeon was still observing the statues.
“Look at the patterns on the carpet. They are all dancing. When I slightly interpreted the gate, I saw ‘dance’ as a keyword. This time, the puzzle seems to be about the dance on the carpet.”
“R-Really?”
“Yes. If you look closely, there are tiny human figures performing dance moves, but some parts are slightly off. Matching them correctly is probably the puzzle.”
At that, Hong Bi-yeon felt a spark.
She, too, had partially interpreted the gate and saw the dance keyword.
‘Why didn’t I think of this…?’
Feeling as if she had been hit with a hammer, she stood there with her mouth agape. She had wasted time assuming it was about the statues.
It was a fixed mindset.
Even though she knew how dangerous rigid thinking could be, she still hadn’t corrected it.
“Now, turn this here. You see the proper dance, right? This is… ‘Serena’s Quiet Tango’.”
“Oh, I know that one.”
“Yes. Do you all remember the steps?”
“It’s a famous dance, so I’ve done it many times.”
Th is w as c o p ied f ro m k i n g m tl . org
“Then, let’s match the carpet pieces to the dance steps.”
Th i s wa s c o p ie d f r o m k i n g mt l .o r g
As the students busily moved, Hong Bi-yeon watched Baek Yu-seol’s side profile with slightly clouded eyes.
‘He is… different.’
She had known since he first taught her ‘thinking outside the box,’ but realizing the difference directly made him feel distant.
He figured out the secret of the statues in that short time, observed from a different perspective, and thought differently.
Given enough time, Hong Bi-yeon could have figured it out too. Anyone could have.
But Persona Gates inherently have a ‘time limit.’ The longer they took, the more disadvantageous it became.
Baek Yu-seol, without worrying about time, derived the solution the moment he observed the puzzle.
Strategy, brainstorming, observation, calculation, deduction.
In every intellectual field, Baek Yu-seol was naturally gifted.
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Then, she wondered.
‘Naturally gifted?’
Something felt off. Simply saying he was naturally gifted… Baek Yu-seol’s thought process resembled that of an experienced veteran.
It felt like Baek Yu-seol had a depth that came not just from creativity but from the ‘difference in experience.’
It was as if he had gone through countless Persona Gates, viewing things from a perspective different from that of a first-year Stella cadet.
‘Hmm, a difference in experience…’
T h i s w as c o p i e d f r o m k ing m t l . o r g
Hong Bi-yeon’s curiosity only deepened.
End of Chapter
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Keremhasid
Yeahhhh that last line gonna make wonders