Chapter 231
A serene yet beautiful indoor garden.
Han Si-hyuk was deep in concentration, holding a fountain pen in his newly arranged quarters.
A prophet is better suited to a pen than a staff.
Han Si-hyuk thought so himself as he began to write a letter on a blank sheet of paper.
He hadn’t spent his time idly in this place where he could do nothing.
Though he was in the same boat as Sepia, he did not support Abaddon.
Before coming here, Han Si-hyuk had contemplated ways to help the ones who were still, in some sense, his family.
And that involved tracking Sepia’s movements.
Where she went, where she came from.
She hadn’t made a particular effort to hide these things from him.
Over the past two years, Han Si-hyuk meticulously remembered her movements.
Reorganizing and deducing them in his mind, he had reached his own conclusions.
“…Is it around here?”
Han Si-hyuk had to move residences several times with Sepia.
Though he was under her protection, he wasn’t exactly confined, so he had a good grasp of the surrounding geography. If he retraced her steps each time they moved…
He could locate the NGC district.
“…”
Next, he recalled each trivial conversation she had and arranged the terrain in his mind.
The building was underground, and a mountain in front completely surrounded the entire NGC district.
Natalie and Yoon Haul had only managed to backtrack locations using the cube.
Han Si-hyuk, however, had obtained a vast amount of information from Sepia—far more than those two combined.
He knew that gathering all this information and creating this map…
Was a betrayal of her.
Han Si-hyuk ran his hand over the crisp map and lowered his gaze.
Then, as he always did, he continued his rationalization.
This was for her as well.
Because Abaddon would kill Sepia.
Han Si-hyuk clenched his lower lip tightly.
This one thing, at least, was what the worthless prophet wanted to prevent, so he picked up the pen.
Of course, the map was still incomplete.
If he entered with this map, he might find the location of the NGC district, but he’d only get lost in its maze-like internal structure and end up destroyed.
He needed more.
To capture Abaddon, he had to know it in greater detail, inside and out, as if he had seen it with his own eyes.
Han Si-hyuk clutched his head for a long while before muttering.
“It’s not enough.”
He would have to scrap it.
He sighed, looking at the half-completed map.
“This isn’t enough either.”
Something was closing in.
His instincts screamed that time was running out.
The map was too incomplete to send to anyone, and there was still so much left to discover. At this rate, he would never complete it.
Han Si-hyuk, grasping his throbbing head, eventually gave up.
“I’ll have to wait for Sepia.”
Though she had been suspiciously inquisitive lately, he felt he needed to learn more from Sepia to find a breakthrough.
So, that was it for today.
Sitting for so long had made his legs restless.
Han Si-hyuk put down the fountain pen and stood up.
At that moment—
Han Si-hyuk turned his head toward the faint presence outside the door.
There was a knock, and he asked calmly.
“Sepia?”
She had only just gone out, yet she was back already.
Smiling, Han Si-hyuk reached for the doorknob.
But then—
He froze.
“So, this is where you’ve been hiding like a rat?”
The one who entered was not Sepia.
A man with a delicate appearance.
But his eyes were filled with a disturbing madness.
Though it was a face Han Si-hyuk had never seen before, he knew immediately.
Han Si-hyuk stared at the man with a pale, stricken face.
“You… Are you Abaddon?”
* * *
Meanwhile, Adela was preparing to leave the barracks.
Having gotten permission from Han Siha and mostly completed her handover, there was no reason to stay in this godforsaken backwater any longer.
“Oh, this is so great.”
Honestly, she had tried not to show it for the sake of the soldiers who had to remain behind.
But good things are good, right?
She couldn’t help but hum a little tune, unable to suppress her delight.
Adela loaded the last of her belongings onto the carriage, bobbing her head happily.
“Never looking back twice! People should live in the city, after all.”
She felt the burning stares from behind, but who cared? She’d never see those people again anyway. Stretching with satisfaction, Adela turned her head.
At that moment—
“Huh?”
Flap, flap—
A large eagle flapped its wings as it flew toward her, catching Adela’s eye.
It was one of those types she used to see often when she was at the Academy.
With smartphones having become widespread over the past two years, it was a rare sight these days.
Still working hard, huh?
“Ugh!”
Adela scowled, rubbing her forehead where the letter envelope had struck her.
No, at least in the past, they had the decency to hand-deliver them!
Now they just drop it and fly off?
Grumbling, Adela picked up the envelope from the ground.
“Is this letter really meant for me? I wasn’t expecting any mail.”
The way the letter had fallen, perfectly targeting her, suggested it was meant for her, but there was genuinely no one who would send her anything.
Han Siha detested bothersome tasks like this, and she couldn’t even consider Won or Seymour. Solia, on the other hand, was one of the few who actually used letters often…
“She wouldn’t send me anything.”
Adela opened the envelope, puzzled.
To her surprise, the name of the recipient on the letter was completely unexpected.
“Han Si-hyuk…?”
Professor?
Had he been fired or resigned from Ardel Academy? No one really knew his whereabouts after that.
Han Siha’s older brother, whose obsessive nature was evident even in the neat handwriting that immediately caught her eye.
With wide eyes, Adela quickly unfolded the letter.
He wouldn’t have sent it for no reason.
– To my long-time assistant, urgently sent.
“Well, at least it’s addressed to me…”
Did something happen in Castica?
If he had to contact someone, reaching out to Han Siha would have been much easier, yet Han Si-hyuk had suddenly sent her a letter.
– There’s no time to ask how you are.
The rest consisted of just a few brief lines.
He mentioned being in hiding and preparing some things that might be needed, briefly outlining his current situation.
However, the words cut off abruptly in a way that felt unnatural.
– Prepare for an attack.
“An attack?”
Adela’s expression turned cold.
– Check what I’ve given you.
She hastily flipped to the next page.
A hand-drawn map filled the page.
– And.
Adela, unable to immediately grasp the map’s meaning, read the last line of the letter.
– Do not trust me.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Although it seemed like he had carefully sent her something important, she couldn’t help but blurt out such words.
“Can’t you just explain it clearly?”
This is why I can’t stand prophets.
Just like Yoon Haul, they list a bunch of incomprehensible things and expect you to decipher them.
Sending a letter asking me to trust him, only to then say not to trust him.
Adela decided to leave the confusing words for later and looked back at the map Han Si-hyuk had sent.
As his assistant, she had spent enough time with him to have developed a keen eye for these things.
At a glance, it seemed packed with vast amounts of information, but knowing Han Si-hyuk’s habits when recording such things, it wouldn’t be too difficult to interpret.
Slowly scanning the map, Adela froze in place.
“No, wait… Could this be…?”
The building structure was so complex that even with a map, one could easily get lost.
Overall, the center formed a communal area, with maze-like interconnected rooms on all sides.
Occasional blank spaces indicated that the map was incomplete.
One might wonder what could possibly be gleaned from it, but Adela understood why Han Si-hyuk had sent this map to her.
“At least the entrance is clear.”
Even with an incomplete map, Adela could detect the magic within and find her way.
Given that the district was underground, it gave her a significant advantage.
Han Si-hyuk had chosen the perfect person.
And as Adela scanned the map, she had a feeling.
Slowly, she lowered her head.
The acronym beneath it.
NGC.
“Professor…”
A mix of shock and horror surged through her.
What on earth had this man been doing?
* * *
Natalie’s workshop.
Since arriving in the Castica territory, Yoon Haul had been working diligently in this place.
Though she could have directly participated in combat, her talents clearly leaned more towards research.
Yoon Haul’s role was to enhance the accuracy of their backtracking efforts.
If they had roughly pinpointed a location using the cube, her task was to refine that to a level that would satisfy Han Siha.
She didn’t want to send her friends into peril, and thus was preparing for the possibility that Adela might discover the truth.
However, an unexpected guest barged in during the middle of the day.
Yoon Haul looked up, startled by the sudden noise from the other side of the room.
“Yoon Haul! Natalie!”
A voice echoed down the hallway, loud enough to make it vibrate.
It was unmistakably Adela’s.
“Huff… huff…”
Adela threw the door open, her face drained.
Who knew how far she’d run, but Adela, who had never lagged in terms of stamina, was drenched in sweat and panting heavily.
Natalie shot up from her seat.
“Adela, what’s going on?”
“I… I found… something incredible…”
Adela swallowed hard, struggling to get the words out.
She didn’t mention the map she’d received from Han Si-hyuk.
Rumors had once swept through the empire, accusing him of colluding with dark sorcerers. If she mentioned him, they might not believe it.
But Adela trusted Han Si-hyuk.
And she believed the map in her hand was credible.
That’s why she had rushed over.
These two were the most capable of deciphering the map.
“Check it out, quickly.”
Adela caught her breath and handed the map to Yoon Haul.
With a bewildered expression, Yoon Haul took it.
“What’s so urgent that you came running?”
“It’s a map.”
“A map of what…”
Yoon Haul unfolded the map, and Natalie, sitting beside her, was the first to recognize it.
The NGC District.
Without needing to closely examine the incomplete map, the two who had been mentally piecing it together for a while immediately understood.
It was slightly more detailed than what they had backtracked using the cube.
However, without Adela’s assistance, it remained an unfinished product.
Recognizing its significance, the two looked at each other.
With a hardened expression, Yoon Haul muttered.
“So, you finally figured it out.”