I Became a Swordsmanship Genius at the Academy

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Kim Il-sin, who brought Hazuki to a private room in a nearby café, asked her as he seated her.

“What’s going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“Even if you came here directly, what about that school uniform…?”

The school uniform of Cosmo Academy was not only created to be sturdy enough not to be cut by a blade but was also expensive and symbolized aspirations to become a hero.

Naturally, such uniforms were not to be given out to just anyone, nor should they be.

The fact that Hazuki was wearing such a uniform meant that she was a member of the academy.

“I was originally going to transfer here completely, but it took some time to handle things because of the people from before.”

That made sense. From their perspective, losing Hazuki, the heir of the Endo family and the top student of her grade, would be quite a shock.

But the result was as Kim Il-sin could see it now.

Hazuki spread her arms wide, grinning as she showed off her appearance.

“I’m a student of Cosmo Academy now too! To be precise, I’m an exchange student, though.”

“Oh, I see…”

Kim Il-sin had nothing more to say.

It was her choice to come to Cosmo Academy, so he had no reason to object.

He did have one curious question, though.

“Why did you choose Cosmo Academy? I thought that place was pretty good too.”

“Because this place has more advantages.”

“…But it seems there’s more to it than that.”

There couldn’t have been such a big decision made for just that reason.

With narrowed eyes, Kim Il-sin leaned forward, invading her personal space.

“Be honest. There’s another reason, isn’t there?”

“W-what…? Um, w-well…”

Hazuki couldn’t come up with a suitable answer and looked away.

Noticing her vividly flushed cheeks, he felt sure she was hiding something.

“If it’s too hard to answer, then I won’t push.”

There was no sign of a response, so Kim Il-sin leaned back.

Clearing his throat, he got to the main point.

“Did you bring the information?”

“Oh, yes. Here it is.”

The reason for their meeting was to relay information related to the Endo family.

Kim Il-sin scanned the files laid out on the table.

“There’s nothing special here.”

It was a disappointing outcome.

Most of the information was either already known to Kim Il-sin or useless.

There was no information about the demon king either. It seemed they hadn’t obtained anything substantial.

“Thanks. You worked hard.”

“Ah, but there’s still something you haven’t seen.”

“Hmm?”

Hanarin pulled out one more file.

It was a file that was very thin compared to the others.

As Kim Il-sin opened the file and read it, he listened to Hanarin’s explanation.

“I couldn’t find much about the demon king. It wasn’t well known. But recently, a book said to be written by that person was released in the market. Since there wasn’t much interest, it took some time to gather information. I really wanted to obtain it beforehand, but it wasn’t easy to get.”

Even the legendary Endo family struggled to obtain it. This wasn’t because the book was particularly valuable.

The matter was that it was difficult to access the place where the book was available.

Hazuki pointed to the last part of the document that said “Universal Treetop.”

“It says that they have the book at Universal Treetop. However, all the entry tickets assigned to us have already been used, so we’ll have to wait for the next quarter. Even if we try to get extra, there are no places selling it right now.”

Entry tickets to Universal Treetop are distributed periodically.

They were so precious that even the Endo family’s wealth and power couldn’t secure additional tickets.

“So it seems we’ll have to wait until the next quarter to get the book. We’ll arrange tickets for you in advance, Kim Il-sin—”

“No, that’s unnecessary.”

“Huh? Oh, you don’t need the book?”

Seeing Hanarin misunderstand his words, Kim Il-sin clarified again.

“I have an entry ticket.”

It was the ticket he received from Lee Yeon-woo as repayment for accompanying him to the demon king’s ruins last time.

As he showed it from his pocket, Hazuki’s eyes widened in surprise.

Her gaze was riveted on the entry ticket to Universal Treetop.

“This is… wow…”

Hazuki, unable to shut her mouth, kept exclaiming in amazement before finally lifting her head and asking,

“Do you have the foresight skill…?”

“Not a chance.”

Kim Il-sin immediately denied the absurd suggestion and explained how he got the ticket.

“…It seems like a really big help you got.”

“I didn’t think it was to that extent.”

“Everyone feels differently about these things. It must’ve been a huge help to that person.”

“Is that so…?”

“Of course.”

Kim Il-sin slid the ticket back into his pocket.

“I have to go check it out tomorrow. If someone else takes it first, that would be a disaster.”

“Right. As far as I’ve found out, no buyers have shown up yet, but it’s still better to be quick about it. Also, if it’s alright with you, could I accompany you? I can guide you.”

Each entry ticket to Universal Treetop allows one accompanying person.

This clause was established primarily for security reasons, given that valuable items are traded there.

“That would be appreciated.”

There was no reason to refuse.

With Hazuki’s guidance, obtaining the items would surely become much easier.

And in case of any unexpected problems, he was adequately prepared to defend himself.

“Let’s head out tomorrow.”

“Alright.”

The feelings of surprise from Hazuki’s sudden appearance had long since faded.

Where the surprise had been, anticipation now filled the space.

The demon king’s book.

Having learned the skill of Illusionary Sky and Heaven from a previous book, Kim Il-sin couldn’t help but be excited about the content it could hold.

***

“Are you ready?”

“Yes. No problems here.”

“Then let’s head out.”

The next morning, Kim Il-sin met Hazuki at the entrance of the academy after their conversation.

As he had mentioned the day before, they planned to swiftly secure the demon king’s book at Universal Treetop, just in case.

Kim Il-sin and Hazuki got into the prepared car and set out without delay.

Universal Treetop transacts business with people from all over the world, so its entrances are located throughout various places globally.

They could enter Universal Treetop through entrances connected by spatial magic, with one in Seoul and another in Busan, South Korea.

Their destination was obviously the entrance in Seoul.

‘It’s not far at all.’

It was a short distance that would take only about 30 minutes to reach. Kim Il-sin sat quietly, gazing outside the window.

Ding ding—

Not long after setting off, Kim Il-sin’s phone rang.

It was a call from Hanarin.

He picked up immediately.

“Yeah? What’s up?”

“Hey, you said you were going somewhere today. Did you leave already?”

“Yeah, I’m about 10 minutes away from arriving.”

“…Last time, you said you were going with that girl, right? Was it Hazuki?”

“I need guidance since I’ve never been there before.”

“Did anyone say anything?”

“…No.”

Feeling as though he was being interrogated, Kim Il-sin sputtered out excuses he didn’t even need to give.

“Alright. Just call me when you’re back. I might be a bit late today, too.”

“What for?”

“Got some work to do.”

“Got it.”

After randomly chatting about having breakfast, the call ended.

“Looks like they’ve arrived.”

At the same time, the car came to a stop. They had reached their destination.

***

‘…….’

Hanarin, staring at the phone screen after the call ended, muttered softly.

“Not pleased.”

Currently, her mood wasn’t very good. There were two reasons for that.

The first reason was Hazuki suddenly appearing and sticking to Kim Il-sin, shooting him unpleasant looks endlessly.

But that wasn’t the main reason.

‘…What if he gets hurt again.’

The other reason was the fear that had continually loomed over her since the last incident.

Hanarin had always yearned for the affection of those around her.

The unfulfilled deficiency from her childhood haunted her subconscious until just a few months ago.

But recently, she hadn’t felt that deficiency.

Ever since she realized that Kim Il-sin was on her side, Hanarin had not experienced that emptiness.

Her time spent with him every day kept her from falling into loneliness.

It showered her with a kind of happiness she had never felt before.

Sometimes she felt greed for more, but just that was enough to make her happy.

Yet, not long ago, she almost lost that happiness.

Kim Il-sin had been attacked by the Bishop of Jeokcheon Sect. Because of the injuries sustained in that battle, he had been on the brink of death.

Creak.

The few days during which they had lost contact were a terrifying time she never wanted to experience again.

Just imagining it made her hands tremble and her breath quicken.

In her heart, she wanted to keep him from going outside.

‘…That can’t happen.’

But that would mean obstructing his goals.

Kim Il-sin was always moving towards an uncertain future that Hanarin couldn’t comprehend, and she didn’t have the confidence to bear the resentment he might feel from a failure in his objectives.

But neither could she help him directly.

She was weak, and all she could do was create weapons or armor for him.

‘I have to do that, at least.’

Hanarin decided to do whatever she could to protect Kim Il-sin.

Having already completed the design, it was now time for the production stage.

‘I need to go to the Mountain Range Workshop again.’

Hanarin wanted to protect Kim Il-sin with her life if necessary.

That was her choice.