#6: ○○○ Lives On Jiri Mountain — The Academy's Student Council President Wants to Drop Out

Boom!

From far away came the sound of air bursting.
And someone who heard it opened his eyes.

Snap!

“What bastard is using a skill on campus again… ah.”

Right. I decided not to care about that anymore.
Ro-un, who had opened his eyes the moment he heard the blast, let out a sigh and got up.
Yeah. I was wondering why things had been so quiet these past few days. Now it finally feels like I’ve really regressed.
Ro-un dragged a hand down his face and said with murderous eyes,

“I need to go catch that chairman bastard.”

Whether he dragged him back on a leash or chopped his head off, if he kept having to watch the chairman make a spectacle of himself around here, he might end up with a neurosis.
I need to get out of here as soon as possible.

“Haa. Let’s move.”

After a short sigh, Ro-un rose from his seat.
As Ro-un got up from the bed, something that had been sleeping by his pillow raised its body.

“Shiiik.”

It was the white snake.
The snake, white enough that the delinquents had mistaken it for Ro-un’s hair the day before, stretched out as if yawning at the sound of movement.
Rubbing the smooth head of the stretching white snake with his index finger, he said,
“Did you sleep well?”
“Shiiik!”

The white snake twisted its body back and forth.
It was a smooth, unconcerned motion, as if brushing back fur it did not even have, and the white snake flicked out its tongue as though it liked Ro-un’s touch.

“Before I go catch the chairman, I’ll send you home first.”
“Shiiik!”
“To begin with, how did your parents not come looking for you even after you got out?”

Even though it clearly understood what Ro-un was saying, the white snake pretended not to and coiled itself around his hand.

‘Clever little thing. So even young, a white snake is still a white snake?’

Since ancient times, white beasts had been called the messengers of the gods.
Even when they were not forgotten beings, people did not lightly lay hands on white animals.
After the , as forgotten beings returned, humanity came to understand the words ‘divine punishment’ and ‘karma’ in its bones.
The fact that the being before them might be someone’s child, parent, or sibling, and that horrific retaliation might follow, kept people from harming them carelessly.

‘Thanks to that, nature protection and animal protection became worldwide campaigns.’

Recalling what he had read a few days ago in [History of the Otherworld War], Ro-un inspected the white snake here and there.
At his touch, the white snake squirmed as if ticklish.

“Shiiiiik.”
“Ah. Sorry. But you do know where home is, right?”

The snake nodded up and down as if to say Ro-un was right.
It really is a Spiritual Creature.

“I’ll wash up and take you there, so stay still.”

After roughly ruffling the snake’s head, Ro-un went into the shower room.
After showering quickly, Ro-un reached out a hand to the snake.

“Come on. I’ll take you home.”

The white snake wagged its tail as if excited.
Climbing onto Ro-un’s hand, the white snake wrapped its body around his arm.
I should get it back before the parents go berserk.

‘Come to think of it, before the regression, this snake’s parents should have gone berserk after losing their child, so why is there no record of it?’

Had the snake species ever caused a major incident?
Up until now, Lee Ro-un had left the academy to drag back troublemakers who skipped class, but now he himself was stepping outside the academy while skipping class like one of those troublemakers.

“Who cares? I’m quitting soon anyway.”
“Shiiik?”
“No. I wasn’t talking to you, so don’t worry. But really, how did you get out of the nest by yourself? Are you going to pretend you don’t know about this too?”
“Shiiik?”
“Forget it.”
“Shiiik!”

After lightly tapping its head as if giving up, Ro-un started walking again, and the white snake straightened its body as if proudly showing off its specialty.
That wasn’t praise.

“So where exactly are your parents?”
“Shiiik!”

Like a navigation device, the white snake raised its head and pointed somewhere.
Following the direction the snake’s head was pointing, Ro-un muttered a curse under his breath.

“So I’m ending up going there after all.”

Stuck doing an unwanted climb in March, Ro-un pulled his collar tight.
A place piled with glittering white snow.
The young snake’s head was pointing toward the highest peak of Jiri Mountain.

“Haaak, haaak.”

White breath shattered in the air.
Knowing that 【Protection Lv.1】 would not be very effective since this was a ‘natural phenomenon’ and not an ‘attack,’ Ro-un still kept the skill active under the pretext of training it as he walked, then stopped and raised his head to look at the summit.

“How much, huff, farther?”

At Ro-un’s words, the white snake poked its head out from between the tightly fastened collar.
As expected of a creature weak to the cold, the white snake had already tucked itself inside Ro-un’s coat from the moment the climb began.
The white snake, with only its head sticking out, looked around to gauge their position, then gave one big nod.

“Ten minutes?”

Shake shake.

“An hour?”
“Shiiik.”
“So it really is the very top after all.”

Ro-un, who had hoped that wasn’t the case, squinted up at the summit as his worst guess turned out to be true.
Should he say it was a good thing he really did have climbing gear in his inventory?
So the times he’d been dragged off on mountain climbs over the weekend actually came in handy after all.
Checking his condition, Ro-un, decked out in enough climbing gear to be mistaken for a mountaineer at a glance, started up the mountain again.
After about another hour of walking, Ro-un finally reached the summit.

“I made it…!”

It was a good thing the academy was located halfway up Jiri Mountain.
For an ordinary person, climbing roughly 4,000 meters in a single day would not have been easy, but Lee Ro-un was an Awakener.
The moment he reached the summit, Ro-un flopped onto the ground and let out a sigh as he looked up at the lightly clouded sky.

“I’m worried about getting back down too, but I’ll think about that later….”

At Ro-un’s words, the snake, with only its head sticking out, flicked its tongue.
At the movement tickling his chin, Ro-un pushed himself up and looked at the snake.

“Is this the place?”

Nod nod!

The white snake nodded.
And the moment it nodded, a loud sound rang out as if a bomb had gone off.

Kugugugugugugu!

The ground rumbled.
At the way it roared like a volcano about to erupt, Ro-un steadied himself and quickly scanned his surroundings.

‘A landslide? The other peaks are fine. The ground isn’t collapsing. The earth is shaking like this, but there’s no sign of an avalanche either. Someone has taken control of this space!’

Ro-un’s gaze turned toward the white snake peeking out from inside his coat.
Nine times out of ten, the one controlling this space would be this young snake’s parent, or one of its kind.

‘It came looking for its child.’

Cradling the spot where the snake was tucked away, Ro-un quietly waited for the being causing the tremor to reveal itself.
The white snow blanketing only Jiri’s peak suddenly shot into the air.
A white blizzard swallowed up his view, and something slowly emerged from beneath the ground.

“Huh?”

A black body came into view.
It was a tremendously thick body covered in scales.

“Huh?”

Ro-un took a few steps back.
I-It’s bigger than I expected?

Black scales, a thick body, intelligent yellow eyes, and a long… scar near its snout?

“No way…!”

Several months from now.
A terrifying monster would appear between Yeosu and Namhae.
It had not come from the otherworld, nor was it one of the strange spirit beasts.

Evil Beast

The Evil Beast that appeared between Yeosu and Namhae raised storms and tidal waves and swept over the inland regions.

The Evil Beast that had submerged parts of Jeolla and Gyeongsang rose high from the snow-covered peak of Jiri Mountain and revealed itself before Ro-un.

Ro-un swallowed hard at the sight of the gigantic imugi before him.
The legendary being with black scales loomed over him.

Even in Ro-un’s memories from when he had gone out as field support, it remained vivid.
It was one of the most important incidents among those he would have to stop in the future, so it was only natural that Ro-un was flustered when the very being at the center of that incident suddenly showed up on top of Jiri Mountain.

‘I’m not ready to face an imugi yet.’

As Ro-un, with his pre-regression memories still vivid, drew up his Holy Power to try something, the white snake inside his clothes slipped out and flung itself into the snow.

“Hey!”

Before Ro-un could stop it, the white snake moved quickly and slithered toward the black imugi.
The imugi’s body, thick as an ancient tree that had stood for thousands of years, bent smoothly.
When the imugi lowered its head onto the white snowfield, the contrasting white snake climbed energetically onto its head.
Blinking, Ro-un asked,

“So this is your parent? ”

Nod nod.

The white snake climbed onto the black imugi’s head and rubbed against it.
It was a movement full of affection.
At the affectionate movements of the young one reunited with its parent, the imugi’s atmosphere softened.
So it really is its parent.
Seeing the gentle parent and child, Ro-un felt relieved.

“I see. …Then was caused by an imugi enraged after losing its child.”

Now he finally understood the whole story.
He had wondered why an imugi had suddenly appeared out of nowhere….
Most likely, the poison-type delinquent who had fallen into the spring had used his skills recklessly to escape the passage, and this young snake had gotten caught up in it.
After losing its child, the imugi must have later learned that the delinquent had been involved in its death and set out to avenge its young.

‘They did say beings like dragons can sense their offspring’s death, and its cause, even from far away.’

An imugi was said to be an animal that had cultivated itself over many long years and stood just before becoming a dragon, and incomplete though it might be, it was still a Spiritual Creature close to one.
How bitter and grief-stricken must it have been for a being that had trained for hundreds of years to become a dragon to turn into an Evil Beast and rampage?

‘No wonder. It had appeared without any sign of an Evil Beast. No wonder we got hit without being able to prepare. Still, if that’s the case, does that mean there’s no need to prepare for anymore?’

Good.
That Evil Beast that had devastated the southern coast would no longer appear.

‘Clearing the spring passage really was lucky.’

Ro-un let out a faint laugh as he looked up at the little white snake rubbing its entire body against the imugi’s head, whether it was the mother or the father.
It was the first smile Ro-un had shown since first regressing and declaring he was dropping out.

“That’s good.”

At Ro-un’s words, the white hatchling raised its head and looked at him.
Ro-un was reflected fully in its glossy eyes.

“Live happily with your parents for a long, long time.”

After meeting its gaze one last time, Ro-un shifted his attention to the imugi.

“I brought your child back safely, so you won’t come down the mountain, right? If possible, I’d appreciate it if you stayed away from the sea until you become a dragon. That’s all I want.”

No answer came back from the imugi.
Ro-un knew it was an intelligent being, but he had no particular desire to speak with it.
The black tail that had torn through the coastline was still vivid before his eyes.

‘Ugh. It still gives me chills just thinking about it.’

Though only part of it had been visible and its lower body had remained hidden, Ro-un shuddered as if he could still see that thick, violent tail in front of him.
At that moment, a warm heat settled into Ro-un’s body.

“…Was that your doing?”

Feeling as though he had stepped into spring sunshine in the middle of the cold snowfield, Ro-un looked up at the imugi in search of the cause.
The imugi quietly nodded its head.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, I’ll be able to make my way down warmly. I should get going before it gets any later. Ah! And humans who detect the anomaly might come looking for this place. The chances of the idiots at our academy noticing are low, but just in case, I’d recommend moving your dwelling. If possible, that peak over there would be a good choice. It should be safe for the next three years.”

Ro-un said this while pointing at the small peak that had remained safe until before his regression.
Having said everything he needed to say, Ro-un bid the imugi family farewell and turned around.
Even if he had saved its child, staying around an imugi that had almost become an Evil Beast was still a little frightening.

“…Let’s get down quickly.”

Leaving the reunited parent and child behind, Ro-un flew down the mountain.
If he didn’t hurry down, it felt like the sun would set before he got back to the dormitory.

‘Maybe it’s thanks to the imugi’s spell, but my body feels light.’

The imugi mother and child watched Ro-un’s retreating back for a long time.
When Ro-un’s presence, bouncing farther and farther down the slope, disappeared from the white snowfield, the white hatchling draped itself across its black mother’s scales and flicked its tongue.

“Shiiik.”
[Is that so?]

The imugi’s will became sound and resonated through the space.
It was a voice she had not let Ro-un hear while he was present.
At the gentle, warm voice of its mother, the hatchling rolled once on top of her head, then lifted its head toward the place where Ro-un had disappeared.

[I know. He was a good human.]
“Shiiiik?”
[So that human is why the heavens have been so noisy.]
“Shii? Shik! Shiiik! Shiiii!”
[You heard what that human said too, didn’t you. You aren’t going to sneak out again, are you?]
“Shiiii! Shik! Shiiik? Shiiiik!”
[It can’t be helped. We still haven’t repaid his kindness, so fine.]
“Shiii!”

Though the imugi had shaken her head as if objecting and let out a firm sound, she was no match for her child in the end and finally nodded.
The white snake bounced up and down as if thrilled.