Academy's Silver Gatekeeper-Chapter 51

Another rank evaluation, another experience. Through this, I realized something all over again.

Crimson Witch, Kim Suhyeon.

If that woman had turned villain, she would have been the worst nightmare of all.

“Hah… hah….”

This time too, her chronic stamina issue caught up with her.

Gasping for breath, Kim Suhyeon sank to the ground.

However, her offensive power had been so overwhelming that I could only marvel.

Even though I had seen two Elders, plus the extraordinary Irina, I still got chills from Kim Suhyeon’s fierce attacks. It was the first time since facing those two Elders and Irina that I felt that eerie “Oh, this is terrifying” feeling.

Seriously… this girl is on the same broken level as Lee Hyunwoo.

If Irina was a fully developed top-tier from the start, then Lee Hyunwoo and Kim Suhyeon were the kind of top-tiers who grew over time.

Honestly, I never worried about Lee Hyunwoo, because I knew he would look after himself and flourish on his own. That left only Kim Suhyeon. If she kept things up like this, I had no more wishes to make.

Thanks to that, I was improving quickly as well.

I tackled my stamina issue by working out like a madman after leaving the office every day. Yet there was a limit to how much actual battle experience I could gain just from rank evaluations. Lee Hyunwoo and Kim Suhyeon helped me transcend that limit.

The more evaluations I did, the sharper my judgment and movement became. Fighting the Elder, glimpsing Irina’s instantaneous power—those experiences allowed me to mimic them, if not precisely, then at least to a decent level.

The only explanation is the Gatekeeper Trait.

Otherwise, maybe I’d have to be some lab-created superhuman who broke free of a facility to explain my present growth.

Anyway, I now have another reason to keep acting as a Gatekeeper.

I have to keep facing the stronger ones, absorbing everything about their moves, their choices, even down to their combat breathing.

For that, they need to keep improving. If I just tested people who stayed weak, there would be no benefit. It would be like a high-level gamer grinding in a level 1 hunting zone.

“I—I’m sorry. I can’t go on….”

“No, it’s fine. This is enough.”

Truthfully, I wanted to just drop to the ground. I was still the Examiner, so I couldn’t do that right after declaring a failed attempt. I clenched my teeth, forcing strength back into my shaky legs.

“I failed again, right? Sorry. I really gave it my all….”

“Why apologize? How do you think the others would feel if you do that? Don’t say stuff like that.”

Kim Suhyeon had mostly escaped that crushing inferiority complex. Yet a faint trace of it remained.

If she sensed the slightest shortcoming in herself, she turned to self-deprecation. I couldn’t relax while that habit lingered.

A wounded mind doesn’t heal completely. People live with it for the rest of their lives. I recalled hearing that somewhere, and I gently reassured Kim Suhyeon.

“Suhyeon, did you learn your sword style from Chairman Kang Minseong?”

“Huh? Oh… He did show me a few things, but he never taught me the way he taught my cousin. Back then, I felt I was too weak and pathetic, so I cried and insisted I hated it….”

So she never got formal lessons, yet she was already this good?

Chairman Kang Minseong, called the “Sword Demon,” never personally devoted himself to training her. Yet for a moment, I, who could handle near-B-rank villains just fine, was pushed back by her.

“Hah….”

I sighed automatically. If what she said was true, then Kim Suhyeon’s talent was overwhelming.

If her ability had blossomed properly from the start, how incredible could she have become?

She belonged to a top-tier weaponry family, and she had Kang Minseong as a potential teacher. Other excellent ability users must have been around as well, so she would have soared quickly.

How did she end up with crippling self-doubt despite having such broken talent? She could have become more gifted than anyone else. I couldn’t understand it, no matter how many times I thought about it.

…No, maybe it makes sense. She was created for this role.

She was meant to be the most dangerous foe, overshadowing other villains. The story hammered that point by giving her all those details. At least I broke that cycle in time.

Even showing half her present skill would have reached Gold by the Academy’s standard. Stamina aside, Silver would have been a lock.

“Why… what did I do wrong?”

“Oh, no. Nothing at all. That wasn’t a sigh. Honest, Suhyeon.”

“Oh… that’s a relief. I thought maybe…”

She clutched her chest in relief.

Yes. Those old traces were still there. She looked fine now, but if anything toxic slipped through the cracks, she could revert.

At least we avoided a crisis so far. The problem was that she had already awakened her Crimson Witch side. If some new trauma came along, it might be devastating.

“Suhyeon.”

She wasn’t clueless about who she relied on most right now.

Me. Baek Seojin.

Sure, she leaned on her grandfather Kang Minseong too, but not like she did with me. I was the only one who could steer her and keep her on the right path.

I’d use that. This situation, Kim Suhyeon herself, and me.

All to reach the best result for both of us, guiding everything in the most positive way I could.

“Remember when we said we’d have dinner together? That never happened, because you got ambushed by those villains.”

“Ah… right. I’m so sorry about that. The villains jumped me, so…”

“Don’t apologize. It wasn’t your fault, Suhyeon.”

I patted her head lightly. She was not to blame if villains targeted her.

“How about tonight? Are you free? I’ve been looking forward to that dinner you promised me. Unless it’s too much trouble…”

“No, no! Absolutely not! That’s great! T-tonight?! Tonight is good, right?!”

She had been sitting there moments ago, exhausted. Suddenly she was on her feet, grabbing my hands and jumping around. Her eyes sparkled so brightly that I worried if I said I couldn’t make it, she might snap and become the Crimson Witch.

“R-right now! We could even go now! Want to go right now?! I have the rest of today off anyway!”

“Suhyeon, calm down. It’s still my work hours.”

The Headmaster had my back, and Irina treated me as a friend, but I was still a civil servant. It was only right to stay until quitting time. I wasn’t about to do anything illegal. A little idle time was one thing, but I didn’t want to break rules.

Realizing she was overexcited, Suhyeon tried to calm down. She still shook my hands joyfully, though.

“I’ll see you after I clock out. Let’s meet at the main gate.”

“Yes!”

Watching Suhyeon look so happy made me feel pretty good too.

*

…I never saw this situation coming.

I finished work in a great mood, then headed to the main gate to meet Kim Suhyeon as planned.

I just hoped no more villains appeared. We were finally about to celebrate her stepping onto the path of a true ability user…

“There he is. Been a while, handsome oppa?”

“…Irina?”

That crazy blonde, Irina. She was standing at the main gate.

‘Why was she here again?’

I glanced sideways, noticing Kim Suhyeon’s wary eyes and the tense bodyguards. Suhyeon was especially on edge, sneaking hostile looks at Irina.

That was a bad sign. A very bad sign.

‘Don’t do it, Suhyeon. She’s way out of your league right now.’

Irina either didn’t notice or didn’t care. She grinned lazily, letting out a playful hum.

“Strange. You look even better than last time.”

“I haven’t had any plastic surgery.”

“Right. Of course you haven’t.”

She suddenly darted close, letting me catch a soft fragrance. My mind went blank for a second.

“Instead, maybe you got stronger.”

The instant she said that, I snapped back to reality and jumped away. She beamed at me.

She was crazy, but she really was pretty. Thinking that probably made me insane too, like I’d caught her craziness.

“It’s closing time, right?”

“Yes. As you can see.”

“Then come with me for a bit.”

“Uh, sorry, but I—”

“The Examiner already has plans!”

Kim Suhyeon shouted before I could answer. Her voice was so loud that even the bodyguards jumped.

“Oh. Did you just yell at me?”

Irina, sounding surprised, looked at Suhyeon. She was still smiling, but her eyes had gone cold.

“You don’t know who I am? I might ‘Oh my, you scared me!’ and slap you upside the head. You’d get flattened.”

That was an outright threat. The bodyguards tensed, but they knew it was pointless. She was Irina.

“The Examiner already has plans.”

Suhyeon wasn’t backing down for a second. She looked ready to throttle Irina if they kept this up.

Crimson Witch vs. the Crazy Blonde. Tension crackled. Irina would obviously win. She could take out the current Suhyeon in five seconds.

I hoped Suhyeon would get frightened and back off, but she showed no sign of it.

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“…Unbelievable.”

To my surprise, Irina stepped back a little, gazing at me in disbelief.

“Hey, Seojin oppa? Who is she? What’s she so confident about?”

"I’ve never seen anyone like her before. Maybe she doesn’t know who I am? No way. In this hellish plac… ah, sorry. In South Korea, there’s no one who doesn’t know the ultra-beautiful, ultra-powerful Irina, right?"

To be able to say crap like that in front of everyone without batting an eye…

She really earned that nickname of ‘crazy blonde.’

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