Magic Academy's Genius Blinker Chapter 537: Green Core (2)

To sum it up, Hui-Ryeon’s scheme had been carried out with 99% flawless precision.

Even though the Dark Mage King crushed the Earth Dragon with alarming ease—beyond all predictions—Hui-Ryeon still managed to offer up the Dark Mage Alliance leader as a sacrifice, unleashing the energy amassed across 18 long years to strike a deadly wound on the Dark Mage King.

All that was left now hinged on Ma Yu-Seong inheriting the power of the severely wounded Dark Mage King. During that very transfer, Hui-Ryeon intended to hijack the inheritance process itself.

It was impeccable.

Unexpectedly immense strength from the Dark Mage King had surfaced, yet that too fell within estimable bounds.

Once Ma Yu-Seong learned of the Dark Mage King’s injuries from the fight, he rushed back here. The Dark Knight gave a majestic address, imploring him to claim the throne and almost fully convincing him.

This marked the ultimate phase indeed.

The end was drawing perilously near.

"Why...?"

Hui-Ryeon let his staff slip from his grasp as he watched Ma Yu-Seong vanish abruptly before the Fortress gates, triggered by the necklace’s sudden power.

"Why...?"

Ma Yu-Seong’s abrupt choice utterly baffled him, defying all logic.

That kind of action lay entirely beyond his forecasts.

Odds of Ma Yu-Seong abruptly abandoning the throne’s inheritance and heading back to Stella Academy from that spot hovered near 0%.

A booming laugh exploded from behind as Hui-Ryeon gaped vacantly at Ma Yu-Seong’s vanishing point.

"Ha-ha-ha! As expected, he truly is my son."

The injured Dark Mage King.

Perched upon the throne, chest half-ripped apart and teetering on death’s edge, he managed to laugh nonetheless.

What an utterly remarkable figure.

Hui-Ryeon despised seeing the Dark Mage King cackle on the brink of demise, but reality stared him down: this clash ended in his loss.

A devastating strike had been landed on the Dark Mage King by Hui-Ryeon, yet slaying him outright proved unattainable. Moreover, repeating such harm seemed impossible moving forward.

Put simply, missing this chance to claim the Dark Mage King’s powers meant his elaborate schemes would crumble to dust.

"Leader, Leader!"

"...Did you find out?"

Dark Mage followers rushed to Hui-Ryeon, who questioned them with a rigid face.

"Y-Yes... The reason Ma Yu-Seong suddenly left..."

"Stop stalling and speak."

"According to the informant we planted in Stella... It’s because of... a promise he made with Baek Yu-Seol..."

Crack!

Upon hearing that name, the dagger gripped in Hui-Ryeon’s hand warped and twisted.

"Baek Yu-Seol... Did you say Baek Yu-Seol?"

"Y-Yes, that’s right..."

Hui-Ryeon’s features contorted into a fiendish grimace. Baek Yu-Seol had no business in this plot; interference from him was inconceivable.

So why had the entire scheme unraveled due to Baek Yu-Seol?

Hui-Ryeon remained in the dark.

He had no clue that Baek Yu-Seol spent over a year drawing near Ma Yu-Seong, steering his soul from the path of corruption.

Overlooking that detail caused Hui-Ryeon’s strategy to shatter utterly.

Conversely, Baek Yu-Seol unwittingly dismantled Hui-Ryeon’s plot, shielding Ma Yu-Seong from descending into shadow.

"W-What will you do now...?"

Hui-Ryeon whipped around to face the Dark Mage King.

The King kept grinning.

As though taunting him.

His smile seemed to mock: ’Behold me. Though gravely hurt, I’ve bested you.’

"Leave while I’m sparing you. If I recover even slightly more, I won’t let any of you go unpunished."

Hui-Ryeon snapped his head back and shot, "... We’ll retreat to the temple for now. I need to revise my plans."

Not capturing the Dark Mage King’s powers amounted to a catastrophic error. Lacking them rendered slaying the King and seizing the throne unfeasible.

His father, Fawn Prevernal Moon, encountered myriad ’sons’ through infinite realms, yet declared every one a failure.

Would he join their ranks as yet another flop?

Fists balled in fury, Hui-Ryeon stormed across the fortress moat seething with rage.

"Just wait, Baek Yu-Seol... My father told me not to touch you, but I can’t hold back any longer. You’ve interfered with my plans time and time again. The only solution is to eliminate you."

***

Back at Stella Academy, Ma Yu-Seong arrived four full minutes past their agreed meetup. The necklace’s teleport only dropped him at a fixed spot, leaving the actual rendezvous still quite a trek away.

"Four minutes and forty-two seconds late."

Ma Yu-Seong just grinned casually, acting utterly unconcerned.

Spotting Ma Yu-Seong's unusually buoyant attitude, Baek Yu-Seol couldn't resist asking, "What happened?"

The night's dinner consisted of blisteringly hot spicy rice cakes— fiercer than any detonation— garnished with tender brisket slices.

Tears streaming and nose dripping, Eisel refused to abandon the spicy rice cakes, continuing to devour them. Observing her distress, Ma Yu-Seong passed her a tissue.

"Well..."

"You seem like you’re in a good mood."

"Haha, in a way, you could say it’s something good. Although... it’s not something that should be good. From another perspective, it could even be considered bad."

"What kind of nonsense is that?"

Even while devouring the chaotic, sauce-flinging tteokbokki, Ma Yu-Seong retained an elegant poise.

"My father... has been gravely injured."

"What?"

Eisel froze with tteokbokki halfway to her mouth. Baek Yu-Seol, who had stayed composed, halted his hand completely.

"Y-Your father?!"

Clueless about the Dark Mage King’s real identity, Eisel showed overblown worry. Yet Baek Yu-Seol, privy to Ma Yu-Seong’s father’s true nature, went stark white.

This twist appeared in the original plotline, but it came way too early.

Originally slated for much later, near Ma Yu-Seong's graduation, the wound from the throne succession battle was crucial for his rise as the Dark Mage King.

In this realm with Flame as the lead, Ma Yu-Seong functioned as the virtual main heroine. His dark corruption path counted as a nightmare bad end that players shunned desperately.

But Baek Yu-Seol had no escape from it now.

"Tell me more. Why was your father injured?"

"Well... My father is something of a magical warrior, you know. It seems he recently clashed with some dark mage and got hurt. But they say his life isn’t in any immediate danger."

It made zero sense.

For the Dark Mage King to suffer such a dire wound, only three living dark Mages could pull that off.

And any of those three would've slain the Dark Mage King outright after striking—no mercy, no survivors.

So how did he live with just a severe injury? And precisely who was the foe?

Baek Yu-Seol puzzled over nothing.

Ma Yu-Seong chilling here, smirking through tteokbokki, showed the throne succession hadn't advanced that far.

While Baek Yu-Seol mulled deeply, Ma Yu-Seong caught his stern face and asked with curiosity, "Why are you so serious?"

"Well, wouldn’t you be serious if your friend’s father was injured? How can you sit there smiling like that?"

"Friend...?"

Ma Yu-Seong blinked, the word stunning him briefly.

"Anyway, make sure to pass along my wishes for his speedy recovery."

Saying so, he forked up more tteokbokki. Ma Yu-Seong watched with a radiant smile and nodded.

"Yeah, I’ll definitely let him know."

***

Later that evening

Whoosh—!!!

That night, torrential autumn rain hammered down as Flame headed for the library.

Her latest magical puzzles had climbed to nearly Class 7 complexity, way past Stella’s ordinary textbooks.

She gathered her hair into a snug ponytail and popped open her umbrella.

Suddenly, she came to a stop, easing her umbrella down a touch to stare at the heavens.

Crackle!!!

A spine-tingling shiver that lifted every hair.

She recognized it instantly—the precise aura when angels attempted to reach her.

Yet no voices echoed this time.

Ever since clashing with Pale Yellow Autumn Moon months prior—or truly, after her trip to a far-off ancient era—the angels’ whispers had faded away.

Something appeared to be jamming their messages.

Truthfully... she wanted nothing more to do with their voices.

Baek Yu-Seol had exposed those angels as far from noble luminaries; they were mere astral illusions, distant stars twinkling overhead.

Their striking visages and gorgeous wings? Purely fake, illusory creations.

She wondered openly why they'd targeted her initially, but dreaded that ongoing contact could twist her thoughts.

"What are you doing here?"

Flame lingered in a daze, and right on cue, a voice hailed her.

By now, this was familiar territory.

That prickling vibe always heralded something monumental.

Typically... it steered her true.

Like needing transport—the tingle struck moments before Hong Bi-Yeon rolled up with a carriage ride. Or迷路时, a pathfinding expert materialized to show the way.

"Hello."

Noticing the other person seemed to be a female assistant from Stella, Flame courteously greeted her beforehand.

"I need to get into the library, but it’s locked."

"Ah, if that’s the case, no problem. I have the key."

Flame released a faint, resigned chuckle. Naturally, the exact individual with the key had shown up right in her path.

"Here, let me unlock it for you."

The assistant unlocked the library door and departed straight away.

Left by herself in the library, Flame placed her soggy umbrella outside and entered without bothering to switch on the lights.

Flash!

Thunder crashed, lighting up the shadowy library and casting a spooky vibe, yet Flame paid it no heed.

She sank into a chair within the library's central hall, blankly fixing her gaze on the ceiling.

Crafted from stained glass, the ceiling let light filter through faintly. During downpours like this one, the outside scenery grew strikingly clear.

Honestly, she lacked any compelling motive for staying seated there.

She merely... awaited someone's arrival.

Prickle!

Following a period of waiting, that recognizable chill crept down her spine anew.

"Huh? Flame? What are you doing in a place like this? I almost thought you were a ghost."

Just as anticipated, Baek Yu-Seol showed up and welcomed her kindly.

Such a 'coincidental' twist, leaving them isolated together in the pitch-black library.

Flame faintly grasped that she herself might have engineered this scenario.

Wordlessly, she stood from her chair, advanced gradually toward Baek Yu-Seol, and halted near enough to crane her neck upward at him.

"W-What’s up?"

The peculiar mood heightened, likely owing to her hair still wet from the rain.

Silently, Flame gazed up at him before shutting her eyes and resting her head on his chest.

"I don’t know..."

"W-What?"

"I just... wanted to see you, so I waited."

Upon uttering those words, she drew her head back and bolted from the library, fleeing as if in panic.

Lately, Flame remained unaware that her own conduct was turning ever more bizarre.