Possessed an Academy Security Guard

10 – 010. Yewon Ji (4)

The end of winter.

On a Sunday night, the snow from the previous day had half melted and mixed with the dirt. As usual, Taehyun, who started the road walk, was running slowly along the trail around Yeongrang Lake.

The area around the lake was extremely quiet.

A romantic date course for lovers. Nearby college students lay down mats every night and drank with the scenery as friends. The trail he was running on would normally be dotted with people out for a walk or jog.

But only that day, no one was seen.

No matter how much you look around, you’re the only person there.

How lonely it must have been to run along the intermittent road with only the faint light of a street lamp.

Taehyun gradually slowed down at the suspicious shadow staggering from afar.

As the distance got closer, the shadows became more vivid.

The identity is a woman of the same age as him.

However, her whole body was stained with mud, and her skin was covered with reddish cuts in places. She stumbled with a limp at every step, as if her leg had been injured.

‘Are you okay?’

The woman didn’t even answer Taehyeon’s question and just went on her way. Taehyun followed closely behind her.

‘You don’t look well. Can I call an ambulance for you?’

‘Where are you in such a hurry… …. Do you have any urgent business?’

‘If there is anything I can do to help, just tell me.’

Strangely excessive kindness. That was Taehyung’s nature. When she sees someone in trouble, she can’t turn away, and when she sees injustice, she can’t stand it. It was a man named Ryu Tae-hyeon.

‘You seem to be seriously hurt, but did you get caught up in something? Then go to the police-.’

‘No cops.’

At those words, the woman turned to Taehyeon for the first time. A blank gaze scanned Taehyun’s body from head to toe.

‘…… Anything helps, right? Then let’s do one favor.’

The woman took a small box out of her arms. It was a luxurious case used to store rings at jewelry stores.

‘No big deal. I want you to take care of this for a while. I’ll come to pick you up tomorrow.’

‘Do you want me to take this?’

Taehyun received the case and inadvertently tried to open it.

‘Don’t open it.’

With a firm word, the woman grabbed Taehyun’s shoulder. The desperate feeling of a woman came out from her tight grip.

‘Never try to find out what’s inside. I am saying this for you.’

‘You just need to keep things safe and hand them over to me tomorrow.’

‘In the meantime, don’t show the case to anyone, and never hand it over to anyone else. It’s small enough to fit in a pocket, so I always carry it with me.’

‘Tomorrow at this time. I’ll be waiting for you at this place.’

‘If I don’t show up, throw the things out of sight. It’s okay to bury it in the mountains. You can throw it in the lake here. Somewhere out of sight.’

‘And if someone asks about today, don’t ever answer. They say they don’t know anything.’

‘You said you would help first. So I’ll ask you without shame.’

‘But I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.’

‘Then see you tomorrow.’

With those words, the woman took her steps back. No matter what Taehyung said, she didn’t listen. She’s still limping on her leg.

Looking at the woman walking away, Taehyun thought.

That woman must have been caught up in trouble. She wants to help if she can.

However, as if the woman had told her not to come any closer, she left Taehyeon alone and disappeared into the darkness. She left only the ring case she half-forced in his hand.

Taehyun thought. If I see that woman again tomorrow, she’ll ask then. Listen to the situation properly, and if there is anything you can do to help, let’s help.

I promised that.

The woman didn’t show up the next day.

-Excerpt from Episode 313: The End of a Winter-

***

—–

[ Quest information is updated. ]

[ The progress of the case has deviated greatly from the original development! The remaining time until the occurrence of an event fluctuates due to uncertainties! ]

[ Remaining time until incident: ??Hours ??Minutes ??Seconds. ]

—–

The moment I saw that message, I ran to the studio like crazy.

“Ji Ye-won!”

As I kicked in the door, Chae Yeon and Ji Ye Won were sitting face to face with a folding table in between. Min Chaeryeong’s face appeared on the tablet above it, as if she was making a video call.

“What, why did you run so quickly?”

Ignoring Chae So-yeon’s question, I quickly summarized the current situation.

‘Event changes due to uncertain factors.’

‘What is an indeterminate factor? Are real stockings the cause? No, it can’t be.’

‘Let’s think about it calmly.’

‘This case is different from the original. First of all, Yewon Ji. The fact that Ji Ye-won, who is still at the motel or somewhere else, is here with me. Obviously that’s the cause.’

‘What does it mean when the timer is filled with question marks? Are you saying the timing of the incident is random? Or, is the time of occurrence determined by my actions from now on?’

‘The location of the incident location displayed in the quest window hasn’t changed yet. Then at least there won’t be any attacks here.’

‘But even that is not certain. Just as time has changed, places can also change. The first priority is to take Ji Ye-won to a safe place.’

I finished thinking. Looking at the two dumbfounded people, I exclaimed urgently.

“The team leader has prepared a safe house. We move right away.”

“We’re talking about that right now.”

“What do you want to talk about? One o’clock is urgent. Let’s move quickly.”

“I want to, but I have work to do before that.”

Chae So-yeon glanced at Ji Ye-won.

“What is to do?”

“There are things I need to retrieve before going to the safe house.”

It’s something that needs to be retrieved. There was a corner to chew on.

“Come to think of it, he said he stole something from the Dawning. Could it be that?”

“Right.”

“Is it important?”

“…… It’s important. That’s great too.”

As if asking for an explanation, Yewon Ji continued.

“To explain everything would be too long, so I will keep it simple.”

To summarize Ji Ye-won’s story, it was roughly like this.

The dawn, a criminal organization, has a terrible plan, and she and her colleague Kim Min-ah betrayed the dawn to stop the plan. She said she was a member of the Dawning because she was too crazy to even look at me.

Anyway. While Ji Ye-won made a fuss and drew attention, Kim Min-ah stole the ‘thing’ that was the core of the plan from the organization.

Kim Min-ah tried to run away with her belongings. However, the organization’s pursuit is faster than expected, and she fails to escape overseas. She says that even if she gets caught, she hides the item somewhere so that she won’t be taken away.

“I got a call at dawn yesterday. It was said that the things were well hidden so that they would not be seen. However… ….”

I haven’t been able to contact you since then.

Ji Ye-won said that with an anxious expression. There is no way I can’t contact you for any reason. Perhaps by now, Kim Min-a would have been captured by the gang or dead. Ji Ye-won seemed to guess that.

If Mina Kim was captured by the Dawning Corps, she couldn’t be relieved no matter how well she hid her belongings.

Because of her severe torture, the place she hides can be blown away, and even if she shuts her mouth, there are supernatural powers in this world that can forcibly reveal the truth.

“I understand the story. If so, tell me where you hid it. Mr. Yewon, head to the safe house, and in the meantime, I or Jae Gwa-yeon will retrieve the items.”

“…… It can’t be. I have to go myself to retrieve the item.”

She rolled up her sleeves, revealing a small key-shaped tattoo on the inside of her arm.

“My colleague’s psychic ability is ‘space storage’. It is the ability to freely store and retrieve objects in a sub-space created by tearing space apart.”

Simply put, it’s like a game’s inventory, she added.

“Basically, only the user can interfere with the subspace. However, only those to whom the user has given the ‘key’ in advance can retrieve the item instead.”

“You mean that tattoo is a key?”

“Right. As you can see, it is integrated with my body. I have no choice but to go to retrieve the goods.”

“Is there no limit to giving keys?”

“No. So, you have to hurry.”

If Mina Kim is captured by the Dawning, she can force her to use her powers and get her key.

“…… Where are you hiding the things?”

Judging from the story so far, there was a place that I could roughly guess.

“Here it is.”

Yewon Ji opened the map app and showed it to us.

‘As expected.’

The marked place is an abandoned building located in Yeongrang-dong.

It was the expected location of the incident displayed in the quest window.

‘Now I get it. That’s how it happened.’

I think I know why the quest timer changed to a question mark.

According to the original story, Ji Ye-won would have visited this place around midnight tomorrow. Because that was the time originally displayed on the quest timer.

However, by contacting us, that future has changed. That’s why the timer turned into a question mark. Unlike Ji Ye-won when she is alone, when she heads to the abandoned building, the intentions of me and the vegetable association will also be reflected.

‘Then it’s better to go fast than to be late. There is a possibility that the Dawn Team hasn’t found Ji Ye-Won yet.’

“Chief Chaeryeong Min.”

Min Chaeryeong, who had been silent for so long, answered my call.

– Why?

“I think we should go straight to the abandoned building. If what Yewon said is true, there is no benefit in delaying time.”

-I think so too. I don’t know what the Dawning’s plan is, but it’s clear that it will harm society.

“Then shall we leave right now?”

Min Chae-ryeong nodded her head at Chae-yeon’s question. After Min Chaeryeong’s request to be careful, the three of us started preparing to go out immediately.

As I was putting on the coat and equipment I received during the day and inspecting them, Ji Ye-won came to my side.

“What is it?”

“Stockings.”

Come to think of it, I forgot. I took her convenience store envelope that I had thrown beside her shoe rack and handed it to her.

“Here you are.”

“Thank you. Now turn around. I won’t even tell you to go outside.”

With those words, his eyes naturally turned to her lower body. It was only then that I was able to witness the true identity of the ‘fashion that even women who sell their bodies would not wear like this’, as Chae-yeon said.

Ji Ye-won was wearing a navy blue tennis skirt with white accents.

As Chae-yeon said, the length was so short that the length of the skirt exposed under the hem of the shirt she wore outside was less than half a span.

‘Definitely.’

She couldn’t be seen from the angle looking down from above, but from a little distance you could see her thighs as well as the bottom of her hips.

‘Oops.’

Inadvertently, I was staring too hard. She raised her head belatedly and immediately met Ji Ye-won’s eyes.

“… ….”

Like the heroine in a light novel, ‘Kyaaak! Transformation! What are you looking at! Low quality! Beast! Take responsibility!’ There was no response.

Ji Ye-Won was just staring at the trash bags strewn on the roadside, with a moderate amount of contempt in her eyes.

“Well, come to think of it, what are the items to retrieve?”

A word that came out of nowhere. At that, Yewon let out a sigh.

“Right! I was curious too! That’s the point of the plan! What the hell is that thing?”

Ji Ye-won seemed to be pondering for a moment at Chae-yeon’s question, but she spoke softly as if she had made up her mind.

“…… Talisman.”

“Talisman?”

Chae-yeon tilted her head. Apparently, she didn’t know what Talisman was.

“It is one of the artifacts found in dungeons.”

Artifact. Items with special effects found only in dungeons.

Among them, talismans are extremely rare, even in high-level dungeons, and their efficacy was to awaken new superpowers to the wearer.

When Ji Ye-won explained the situation, Chae-yeon was visibly surprised.

“Awakening a new psychic power? Isn’t that a complete scam?”

Scam Items. It was an accurate expression.

In this world where one person basically awakens only one superpower, the value of Talisman was to call. In a world where the strength of superpowers is the strength of superhumans, it was the only way to buy strength with money.

“Well, what determines the value of a Talisman ultimately depends on what ability it contains.”

“Really? So, what kind of abilities are in the thing you are looking for now?”

“A superpower that allows you to use superpowers infinitely.”

Huh?

I couldn’t believe my ears at Yewon Ji’s answer.

What? What ability?

“Wow. It’s a real scam.”

“Right. With this talisman, the psychic ability, which is powerful but has poor durability, is free of penalty. Even if you just become the Royal Knights Guild Master right now-“

The conversation between the two felt distant.

In my head, I constantly chewed over what Ji Ye-won just said.

A superpower that allows you to use superpowers infinitely.

It was an ability I had never heard of. It was a familiar ability. I couldn’t help but get used to it.

Yeah, that ability was what the main character of the original work, Ryu Tae-hyeon, had from the beginning of the work.

‘But why is it here?’

It seems that something is wrong.

It’s also very tight.