Chapter 13: To Become Stronger (5)

Chapter 13: To Become Stronger (5)

The conversation was in full swing, and we’d finished a delicious meal. It felt like the time had come to part ways.

“Mr. Ji-hwan.”

Baek Seol-hee started addressing me by my name.

“Mr. Jihwan, if you were to awaken as an ice ability user, how would you use your ability?”

“Are you asking for my advice as an ice-ability user?”

“Yes. It’s just a question. It’d be great if it could help.”

“What should I say to a specialist in ice abilities?”

“They say two heads are better than one. Right? If you were an ability user who had awakened ice magic, if you could freely produce ice, how do you think you would fight?”

“Um....”

Was I being asked for advice by an enemy?

Well, since I didn’t know yet that she was an enemy, I could just speak casually.

“Well, all I know about how Ms. Seol-hee fights is from videos. You use an ice whip, create walls of ice, spread wings of ice...?”

“That’s correct. What do you think would be a good variation here?”

“Um....”

Should I help her?

When it came to ice-related abilities, I definitely knew more than Baek Seol-hee.

Ice abilities were indispensable in this subculture.

“First of all... what about an ice spike?”

“Ice spike?”

“Yes. Literally a spike, but the size is almost like a stalactite. You would impale your enemy with it. If it pierces an enemy’s shoulder and they’re pinned to a wall, they won’t be able to escape without breaking the ice, right?”

“I see.”

Her response was lukewarm.

It probably didn’t differ much from the way she currently used her abilities - things that were abbreviated as ‘skills’ in two letters - like an ice spear.

‘How to do it?’

Should I tell her about the ice magic she awakened in the original work?

Or should I tell her about the ice magic that didn’t exist in this world but that I knew about?

‘Headmaster. You told me to try my best to persuade her to our side, so don’t complain later.’

If Baek Seol-hee, or Snow White, became stronger and later led to complaints about me, I could just say that I was loyal to my mission.

“You seem to already know about things like ice spikes.”

“Well... for now.”

“Then how about this? You scatter ice crystals in the air. They freeze any enemies they touch instantly, like dry ice.”

“...Um.”

Now she was troubled for a different reason.

“Is that... possible?”

“Isn’t whether it’s possible or not up to you, Ms. Seol-hee? After all, the power of ability users usually develops based on their imagination.”

“You seem to know quite a bit about the abilities of ability users.”

“For those living in this world, knowledge about abilities is akin to knowing how to use a computer or smartphone.”

I smoothly dodged Baek Seol-hee’s inquiry and pointed at the ice cream that was served as a dessert.

“Pieces of ice this size spread all around, numbering hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands. When someone touches an ice piece, the compressed ice spreads and covers the enemy with cold.”

“Um....”

“The skill name can be something like ‘Ice Age Oxidation,’ right?”

“Even a skill name? That’s very detailed.”

“When we were young, didn’t we all try to create our own heroes?”

A request for her to attend a gathering of heroes from Busan.

All of them were official matters and things where she had to be in front of others as a ‘hero’.

There was no ‘Baek Seol-hee’, the individual, the human, there.

What merely existed was an S-Class superpowered individual, the pride of South Korea.

“Haah.”

Baek Seol-hee covered her face with her hand.

“Do I have to live like this for the rest of my life....”

Probably until the day she died.

Even marriage would be a concern for the state.

If she were to fall for a foreigner and consider marriage, everyone from the country would be mobilized to reprimand and dispute the marriage.

Her freedom as a hero was already gone.

From the moment she started walking the path of light.

Heroes with overwhelming power roamed around like emperors, even overseas, but it was hard in Korea.

“I am....”

The moment Baek Seol-hee stretched out her hand toward the empty air.

“......!!”

An ice crystal she unintentionally created in the air began to scatter instantly.

Small ice pieces multiplied from one to two, two to four, and four to eight.

She picked up an ice fragment that spread out like a grid as if forming a cube and gently tossed it towards the balcony window.

Crackle.

The balcony window started to freeze as if frost had settled on it.

Even though it was just palm-sized, the small ice fragment exploded like a bomb with ‘coldness’.

“Wow....”

What just happened?

Could that man’s conversation have helped her develop a new skill?

Because of just one thing that man said?

“... That’s impossible.”

She hadn’t thought of such a skill.

Yet, she mastered a new skill as if she had known it all along.

Thanks to Do Ji-hwan’s imagination.

“......Hehe.”

Baek Seol-hee gripped her smartphone.

And she looked at the profile picture of the man named Do Ji-hwan.

“...What?”

His profile picture, his face fully exposed.

“Is it a selfie? Pff.”

It was a selfie taken with an awkward expression.

“......Hmm.”

Click.

With the sound of a screenshot, Baek Seol-hee began to examine the profile pictures back and forth.

Click.

Click, click.

Click.