Chapter 31
“*Gasp*.”
I jumped in surprise and turned around.
Then I noticed something strange on the wall.
“……What’s these lines for?”
A rectangle was formed on the wall.
I approached it.
Thud! That sound once again ringed in this space again.
I was finally certain of it. That the sound was coming from the wall where the rectangle was formed.
I reached my hand and touched the line.
“This is…… .”
I looked at it closely to see that it wasn’t a line but a crack.
That was nothing other than a door. A door seeming to lead down to some secret pathway.
“Oh ho. Is it trying to prove that he is a mystic sorcerer?”
My heart skipped a beat in excitement. This was something that could be seen in novels or movies.
In the game, Vinter always appeared like a ghost in front of the heroine if she was feeling down, and showed off ‘shalala’ pretty magic.
The producer’s intentions were pretty clear on this Vinter character.
‘Your one and only healing man who appears and makes your mood whenever you’re sad!’
is probably what they aimed for, for this character.
The normal mode was really easy but Vinter’s was the easiest.
Unlike the other tricky male leads, he started pouring his interests to the heroine from the start.
That’s why I didn’t cross his name out on the list I made. He’s caring. Just in case.
‘Even though now I’m trying to raise his interests on me.’
I stopped thinking and started examining the area.
“How do you open this?”
It didn’t have a doorknob, and it wasn’t the kind of a door that you could open without a knob.
It was only a crack with the shape of a door.
“Definitely sure it’s not just some kind of office interior.”
I rubbed my chin and stared at the door seriously. Then I tried laying my hand on the door again.
Who knows, there might be a hidden button.
Just when I was feeling the door with my hand.
The white square box appeared.
Hidden Quest! [Reveal the sorcerer’s secret!]
You have found the sorcerer’s secret space. Would you like to enter? (Reward : Unknown something.)
[Accept / Reject]
I widened my eyes at the sudden quest.
“What?”
It was a quest that didn’t appear in the normal mode.
I checked the reward and frowned as soon as I did.
“Argh!’
The quest was just like it said, ‘hidden’, so it didn’t tell you what the reward was.
Just like the [Choices ON/OFF] system.
“Do I need to?”
I considered for a little on the spot, glaring the ‘accept’ button.
Vinter’s interest was the only thing that mattered to me, and I didn’t really want to know his secrets.
Every people have their privacy and what do I gain from revealing it?
‘Interest’s not the guaranteed reward. What if something bad happens? Ha!’
I was just about to hit the ‘reject’ button.
Bam-. Once again, the loud noise filled the room.
The wall vibrated. This time, I was watching with my own two eyes.
“……But if this is Vinter’s secret base, then it means that Vinter might be in there.”
Now I realized that I’ve waited for quite a bit. He still didn’t show up.
I shouldn’t think this shortsightedly. This could be one of the hard mode’s routes that I failed to unlock while playing it.
I carefully read the letters in the box again.
It only had the reward and there were no penalties for ‘fails’.
Even if I fail this quest, there wouldn’t be anything much happening afterward. Probably.
“Yeah, you know what? I’m here already, I’m going to see him today before I leave.”
I changed my mind and pressed ‘accept’.
Then the door opened with a somewhat large sound. The secret pathway was revealed.
I entered without hesitation.
Behind the wall was dark and large hallway.
From the outside, it wasn’t a place big enough for a pathway this big and long.
I felt like a heroine in a movie which made me feel excited.
Thud, bam-!
The loud sound continued to come from in the pathway.
I raised my hands to my ears and covered it.
‘Just what is he doing?’
The noise seemed to be coming from the space in the other end of the pathway. The bright light was coming from the place as well.
I walked down the hallway with my ears covered and stopped in tracks when I arrived.
An extremely large, about the size of the Eckart family’s mansion field, was revealed.
Each wall had so many bookshelves with so many books stalked on them.
The Eckart family’s library in the mansion was extremely big but this place was the level of a National library.
“Wow…… .”
I blankly looked around the magic space that I didn’t even get to see while playing the game.
There were so many other things to see besides all the shelves and books.
Glass cages on the floor. And inside it, filled with varieties of accessories and jewels that I’ve never seen before in my life. Or are they fossils?
There were giant bones of many unknown animals on the other side of the room.
“This place is like…… like a museum.”
I muttered, looking around the dreamy place.
“Goodness, this place is great.”
To think there are more secretive things in the already secretive place in a secretive place!
I was going walk around to see them more closely and took my hands off of my ears without me realizing it.
And when I was about to take a step.
BAM! THUD-!
The loud sound that I forgot about for a moment there, brought me back to my senses.
“Hey, idiot! I told you to aim for that thing!”
“L, like this?”
“Like this!”
Thud, crack!
“Ack! Be careful of the fragments!”
I saw little kids scatter from each other in one corner.
At the same time, sharp ice fragments started raining down.
Each kid had an animal mask on. Lion, cat, squirrel, puppy, pig…… .
“Ahh, gosh! Be careful! We’re dead if one of the boxes get ruined! The sir sang-dan-ju will kill us!”
(sang-dan-ju: A term to describe the informant group’s owner.)
(NOTE: By the way, it says the informant group but usually there’s only one informant in each group and others are co-workers. In Vinter’s case, Penelope said it before that there aren’t any co-workers.)
The kid with the lion mask barely managed to avoid the ice fragments and rose and shouted.
“Okay. I’ll carve the area carefully then…… .”
One kid muttered sorrowfully as he picked something up.
‘A staff? Are they sorcerers?’
The other kids who ran away from the fragments came back and raised their staffs, too.
“This time, you do the left! I’m doing the right!”
The 5 kids surrounded the giant ice that was higher than their heights.
I studied the ice. I saw something stuck in the middle of the ice, frozen.
That didn’t look too strange for me.
If I remember it correctly, that’s…… .
‘The ancient sorcerer’s relic!’
[Ancient sorcerer’s relic earned!
This necklace is one of the ancient remains that Vinter discovered in the North, and is an artifact that the ancient sorcerers used. It changes color if poisonous things are near…… .
……The other relics are destroyed during the departure, therefore it is the one and the only relic left in the world which if you earn this item, the scarcity is acknowledged as Vinter’s interest…… .]
I didn’t remember what percent of Vinter’s interest rose.
‘There is a reason why there’s only one relic left in the world!’
Just then.
“Nom Perdanyong Pero Ssoom!”
One kid with a pig mask on shouted a weird spell.
At the same time, a white light brimmed from the staff and the light was shooted like a laser.
And, thud-!
It caused an explosion as soon as the light touched the ice.
“Ack! Get away!”
The kids ran away from the ice again.
The white fog was soon lifted and through it was the ice with a small hole that almost reached the box in the ice.
“Wow, guys! We finally created an edge! We did it!”
“We really did. Let’s try it once more!”
I was shocked while watching the kids jump from happiness.
‘Those reckless kids! You treat the ancient relics like you treat a newborn baby!’
Judging from what they are doing, they’re surely going to break the ice but the box inside it, too.
“Hey kids!”
I hurriedly rushed over to the kids.
“Nom Perdanyong…… .”
“Kids, stop!”
I stopped the kids who were casting that weird spell again.
“Just what are you doing?”
10? No, 11 years old? The kids’ gaze turned to me.
The lion mask moved his staff from the ice and pointed out to me.
“*Gasp*! Who are you, auntie?”
(NOTE: In Korea, auntie and uncle could also mean middle-old-age people a.k.a not too young but rather old.)
“What do you mean auntie?!”
I turned serious.
“But you’re wearing the mask that looks like some noble aunties!”
“Yeah, yeah! Scary noble auntie’s face!’
It was when they commented that I realized that I was wearing a mask.
‘But why a noble aunt?’
I tilted my head and kind of understood.
Maybe a white mask with a smiling face reminds them of a noble women.
“I’m not a noble aunt. I came here as a customer.”
I calmed myself down and explained, acting mature. I asked.
“Who are you guys?”
“We are the sir sang-dan-ju’s top pupils.”
(In case you don’t know what pupil is or think its the eye thing, a pupil in this case, is like a student/disciple of a master/teacher.)
“Idiot! You’re not supposed to say that!”
“Hey, the customers are not allowed in here though!”
“They can’t come in here! How did she come in?”
I couldn’t think straight with all the kids talking all at once.
I wasn’t good with kids even back in the world I belonged to.
I was flustered of what I should do when this kindergarten line popped up in my head.
“Kids! Stop, stop! Hocus pocus, everybody focus!”
_______
Only
-CatLovesTowels-Lizette ^^
COMMENTS (On the raws):
– Clap 3 times!
– I remember my kindergarten days…
– That works for like a second but like, kids start chatting again 3 seconds later.
– This just became childish.
– Lmao, what’s up with the spell.
