The Novel's Extra: Scrapped

Kim Hajin is an anomaly, the moment he notified me, he was clear and concise. He didn't care whether or not I believed him.

All he needed was for me to go there and trust his words. But since I owed him a favour, he didn't need me to trust him.

I don't know anything about how he operates or anything about his past.

Well, it's not like it matters now. I no longer owe him anything… though his aim was probably to make his credibility in my mind rise.

"Very cunning." I muttered to myself.

My watch buzzed with a message.

[Kim Hajin: I notified the rest of the group. They should be tending to Yeonha in the infirmary.]

[Me: Alright]

I acknowledged it before typing something back.

[Me: How did you know?]

I asked. Although I found him anomalous, he seemed reasonable enough to give me a hint.

[Kim Hajin: I have good eyes.]

Vague.

[Me: Fine. Then what's next?]

A simple question but one with a few meanings, I didn't need to spell it out.

[Kim Hajin: Get stronger. I'll inform you if something is up.]

Hmmm… he probably means to keep me as a backup weapon in case he can't handle it alone. In that case…

[Me: Sure, but don't expect me to work for free.]

I'll milk the guy for everything he's worth.

[Kim Hajin:🤦]

…

Yoo Yeonha opened her eyes. A patternless white ceiling filled her sight, and the sound of something being cut tickled her ears. She turned towards the direction of the sound.

Kim Suho was cutting an apple with a fruit knife. His expression was downcast and solemn.

"...What are you doing here?"

Yoo Yeonha tried to get up and after a small struggle sat up straight. Kim Suho tried to stop her with a worried expression.

"You're awake. Are you alright?"

"...I'm fine."

"The doctor said there's nothing wrong with your body."

Yoo Yeonha touched her neck and let out a shuddering breath.

"Right… you didn't answer my question."

"Um… Me, Nayun, Shin Jonghak and Kim Horak are taking turns nursing you."

Yoo Yeonha thought back to the incident and what led to it.

"Why?"

She asked in genuine curiosity.

"Well, it's kinda our fault… we never even noticed your disappearance and when we were notified… it was long over." Kim Suho clenched his fist.

Yoo Yeonha remained silent. Their fault? In what way? She couldn't imagine it.

"As members of the same team, we should have been more careful. We were so absorbed in caring for Nayun that we were too negligent…"

Yoo Yonha let out a soft chuckle. Was it out of satisfaction or disbelief, she didn't know.

"Pfft… No, it's fine. I'm just glad someone showed up when they did."

Kim Suho tilted his head and handed Yoo Yeonha a plate of bunny shaped apple slices, making her smile.

"Still, I'm worried. We never found out any details. Yun Hyun disappeared and the penthouse of the second year dorms has been completely destroyed. If you aren't feeling too bad, do you think you could recount your side of the story?"

Kim Suho looked expectant.

"They didn't tell you?" Yeonha blurted out.

"They?"

He…doesn't know? That means… they're leaving it up to me how I want to tell the story.

If that's the case, I should probably cover up their involvement…. Wait, didn't Minori want me to tell the whole story? But that guy seems to want to keep it a secret. Are they close? Minori seems to owe that guy a favour… yeah, I'll cover it up. Better to be safe than sorry.

"Nothing, I'll make an official report to Cube and clear things up. You'll know then."

She tried to get out of bed but was stopped.

"No, you have to rest for now. We can wait that long at least." Kim Suho replied patiently.

She looked out the window, seeing the bright blue sky cresting over the dazzling Eas Sea.

She quietly stared for a while, but picked up her smartwatch to send a message.

…

[Yoo Yeonha: Thank you. I'll repay you for sure.]

I looked at the message while quietly brewing a cup of coffee. The curtains were drawn and my clean room had long become a mess of papers, books and diagrams. On my desk in the living room was a stack of research papers all centred around magic, runes and spirits.

They weren't to do with the midterms but were instead out of interest.

[Me: Sure.]

[Me: What story did you tell them?]

I asked so I could match my story with hers if Cube staff came to ask.

[Yoo Yeonha: I told them about what Yun Hyun did to me and how someone interrupted it, causing Yun Hyun to throw me into the closet. I told them I only heard Yun Hyun scream before the door opened and someone carried me out.]

[Me: Intentionally vague. Good, I don't want to deal with Cube staff or another award ceremony.]

Although, that's what I said, I would like a reward from Cube, maybe a recommendation to the hero tower or something.

After the messages I looked around and noted how messy it was.

"Haaa… this is why I can never be a magician. I can't keep this stuff tidy at all." I muttered and began grabbing papers and putting them into larger piles.

'Magic Intuition'

'Application of magic circles'

'The act of praying for magic'

'Attributed magic and how to master it'

'The limits of the Human body.'

…

The infirmary was quiet, only the sound of cloth blowing in the wind and light tapping were present.

There was another week before midterms, everyone was either in the fitness centre, training or studying in the library. 

Only Yoo Yeonha, who has yet to be discharged, remained stagnant.

It was due to Cube's decision to keep her there for a little longer despite there not being anything pressing.

Yoo Yeonha would be discharged before the end of the week, but even so, she felt severely under prepared.

She had missed several days of class and had no access to the library.

Of course, she could ask the people tending to her to get books that she needed but… they were… incompetent.

Nayun was an idiot, Suho would try his best but ultimately bring the wrong thing, Horak may as well be a bull in a china shop and Jonghak… Well, she'd rather not ask him.

It would be a disgrace if she were to go down in rank so she had to make do with the resources on the internet. Even so, the information available was nothing in comparison to Cube's rich archives.

"Haa… should I just order someone to do it?"

In all honesty, she should have, much earlier. But it wasn't really up to her, she really couldn't bring herself to ask for help. Especially not after what happened before.

click-sliiide

A tired looking young man walked inside holding a stack of papers.

He then made his way to the desk beside Yoo Yeonha, and looked her in the eyes.

Minori Nii… What is he doing here?

"You missed quite a lot of content in the previous lessons."

Wait, he couldn't be…

"Here are the notes. I added a few things to make it understandable."

He placed the stack of paper down on the desk along with a pen.

"Your… helping me?" Yoo Yeonha couldn't wrap her head around it.

"Not for free of course." 

Minori reached out and disabled Yeonha's new watch.

"I need you to keep an eye on Cube staff during monster wars. If anyones suspicious we should root them out as Djinn."

The look in his eye was completely serious. Djinn within Cube staff was…not possible.

Hesitation crossed her features as she thought about how to handle it.

Cube Staff? Djinn? How is he sure something will happen during monster wars? Should I really be doing this?

Why did he bring the papers in exchange for… was he using it as an excuse to talk to me about this? He shut off my watch which means he's suspicious that they might be wire tapped.

Countless thoughts raced through her head but no words flowed out.

After a few seconds of silence Yoo Yeonha let out a breath.

"Alright. I'll see what I can do."

Minori nodded and stood up to leave. 

"Wait." She called out, her hand outstretched.

Minori looked back, his eyes calm and his expression stoic.

She wasn't sure why but she had a strange expression on her face. Perhaps she was still shaken and didn't know it, or maybe it was the fact someone had come to her despite having ulterior motives.

She wanted to say something, it might've been 'thank you' or something of the sort, but instead a question fell from her lips.

"What are you going to do after thi… n-nothing." She couldn't finish her sentence as her composure returned.

Her face tinted pink at her own words.

Minori looked back and at Yeonha, the same apathy in his eyes. It made Yeonha shrink back slightly.

Seeing that his gaze softened and his tone turned somewhat warm, yet somehow mocking.

"...pfft, nowhere you need to know." 

"…"

Yeonha later spent a good thirty minutes with her head buried in the pillow, reevaluating her life choices.

…

Light footsteps echoed in the corridor as Minori retreated from the infirmary.

His blank face hid his emotions as he planned for the future.

Even if Yeonha doesn't do as I tell her, it wont matter. The thought is already present in her head, which means she'll be more sensitive to the matter. 

The more people we have on the case the better. We need to get rid of as many Djinn as we can before Cube tightens security.

As long as I'm not the one doing the murders, it should be pretty consequence free.

The less Djinn in Cube the more they'll have to rely on me. 

After the midterms, I'll get to meet the Boss of the Evil society and get to understand their internal works. 

Pretending to be a Djinn might be impossible, so I'll just act as bloodthirsty as possible…no that doesn't suit my role. I'll play a conniving rat.

I could've just killed Yoo Ah-Ra in the coffee shop that day, the Carrion division are a bunch of morons so I could've killed them too… But I've resolved myself to go as deep as I can before ripping them apart. 

If I can get into contact with a trustworthy hero with a lot of influence, I can mobilize a large force to siege the Evil Society and no one will find out about my alliance with them.

Getting into contact with a hero can wait… I need some evidence to back up my claims when I meet them anyways,

I'll also need to be able to convince them to attack the place without alerting the hidden Djinns…

Which brings me back to exterminating the Djinns in Cube…