Regarding the Sole Successor 14

Chapter 14

Since there was no reason to refuse, Sehyun nodded lightly.

“Okay.”

At Sehyun’s answer, Jieun, who had been staring blankly, turned her head. Her hood fell back, revealing her face. It was bruised and swollen. Sehyun stared at her face silently.

As if realizing the state of her face, Jieun stammered, trying to explain.

“Um… well, this is… I fell yesterday. That’s why.”

Did she come back late because of that?

Last night, Jieun had slipped into the room just as Sehyun was about to go to bed after showering, as if she had been waiting for that moment.

Then, without even showering, she crawled into her bed and started reading something.

Sehyun had heard her sniffling occasionally, but she pretended not to notice, thinking Jieun might be startled if she acknowledged it.

“I fell pretty hard.”

Jieun laughed awkwardly. Sehyun’s eyes narrowed.

Sehyun knew the difference between a wound from falling and a wound from being hit better than anyone. The wound in front of her was clearly from being hit.

But even though she knew…

“It was dark last night, so it was easy to trip.”

She pretended not to know.

Because acknowledging it might hurt Jieun even more.

Jieun might not want her to know.

Besides, even if she knew, there was nothing she could do to help.

“Y, yes. That’s right.”

Jieun forced a smile and replied.

“Let’s go eat. I think we’ll miss breakfast if we’re late.”

“Y, yes!”

Jieun walked beside Sehyun, keeping a distance.

Then, as if she had prepared a line, she fidgeted nervously, her lips moving silently.

She kept taking deep breaths and exhaling.

She seems to have a knack for making people nervous.

Sehyun thought absently and stopped walking. Jieun, who was approaching her, flinched.

“Why are you walking so far away?”

“Ah… just…”

“Walk next to me. Unless you dislike me.”

“Oh, no! I, I don’t dislike you! Absolutely not! I, I like… You’re so pretty…”

“Ah…”

Sehyun looked flustered.

“I’m, I’m sorry if I offended you.”

“Why would I be offended? I’m just surprised to hear something unexpected.”

A moment of silence followed. They were about 50 meters away from the cafeteria when,

“Did you sleep well l, last night?”

Jieun gulped and asked, mustering all her courage.

She went through all that trouble just to ask that?

“Yes, I did. Did you sleep well, Jieun?”

“Yes, I slept s, soundly.”

Lies… I heard you tossing and turning all night.

Sehyun thought but didn’t ask out loud.

Instead, she said something else.

“Should we drop the formalities?”

“What? Y, you mean…”

“We’re the same age. You don’t have to if you’re uncomfortable.”

Jieun stared blankly at Sehyun, as if she couldn’t believe her ears, and then nodded quickly.

“Oh, I, I’d like that! I’d love that!”

“Okay, let’s talk comfortably.”

“Y, yeah!”

Jieun’s cheeks flushed red.

Anyone watching would think I just confessed to her.

Sehyun thought but smiled faintly, looking at Jieun’s happy face.

After all, it wasn’t so bad to see someone happy because of her words.

“Where should we e, eat?”

Jieun, who had filled her tray with food, asked Sehyun, who was following her.

“There.”

Sehyun answered without hesitation, pointing to a spot.

“Th, there?”

Jieun looked at Sehyun, startled.

“Yes, there.”

The corners of Sehyun’s lips curled up slightly as she answered.

It had to be there. She had something to check.

Ten people were sitting at the table Sehyun was pointing to.

“N, no. Th, there. Sehyun. Th, that place…”

Jieun was so flustered that she forgot about dropping formalities and blocked Sehyun’s path. It was clear how flustered she was, considering her timid and introverted personality.

“Th, those are the A-grades.”

Jieun asked as if Sehyun didn’t know.

“Why are you being formal again?”

“Ah, well, that place… Never mind.”

Jieun stood close to Sehyun with a panicked expression.

“Those are the A-grades, but they’re not just any A-grades. You, you don’t know who they are, do you?”

Sehyun glanced over Jieun’s shoulder.

Their faces were so dazzling that it seemed like they were chosen based on their looks. As Sehyun was just observing them, Jieun spoke hurriedly.

“Those people over there are children of National Assembly members, chaebol families, and Guard Association executives. It’s n, not good to stand out to them.”

“I know two of them.”

“You, you do?”

“Yes.”

She couldn’t exactly tell her that she knew them because one of them had called her a rat and the other was Shin Jooho, but she said it anyway.

“So don’t worry. You can eat somewhere else if you’re uncomfortable.”

Sehyun smiled reassuringly and placed her tray on the table next to the ten people.

The atmosphere instantly turned cold, and the air grew heavy. Sehyun pretended not to notice and sat down, picking up her spoon. She glanced sideways.

“Nice to see you, Shin Jooho.”

“…”

Jooho’s face, who was sitting at the end of the table, hardened at Sehyun’s friendly greeting.

Sehyun ignored him and scanned the remaining nine A-grades who were looking at her.

People of other grades weren’t uncomfortable around these people because of the weight of their A-grade status.

It was because these people made everyone else uncomfortable.

In other words, they were people who didn’t want to associate with people of other grades.

So how would they react to her approaching them?

Ding!

A status window popped up.

Skill: Sound Blocking (Unavailable)

Skill detected. Sensitivity increased by +1.

…Here we go.

It seemed like one of them was using ‘Sound Blocking’ to talk to Jooho without her hearing.

And to use that skill, they had to set it up so that Sehyun couldn’t hear either, which meant she was also exposed to the ‘Sound Blocking’ skill.

The person using this skill is probably…

Sehyun’s gaze shifted to the black-haired man sitting diagonally across from her. As expected, the man’s gaze was fixed on Jooho. On the surface, it seemed like nothing was being exchanged, but if she looked closely, it was different. Jooho was looking down with an uncomfortable expression.

Two of her assumptions were correct.

One, Jooho was somehow at the bottom of the hierarchy among these ten people. And two, she needed to have a lot of contact with these people to use the unavailable skill.

Her hypothesis, which she had formulated last night, was that the more she was exposed to the skill, the higher her sensitivity would become, and at a certain point, she would be able to use it.

And judging by the increase in her sensitivity just now, her hypothesis was becoming more credible.

Skill: Sound Blocking (Unavailable)

Skill detected. Sensitivity increased by +1.

As expected.

Sound Blocking (Unavailable) – Sensitivity 3

Since it could be used for a long time once activated, the black-haired guy probably wasn’t using it again. That meant someone else was using it…

Skill: Sound Blocking (Unavailable)

Skill detected. Sensitivity increased by +1.

Sound Blocking (Unavailable) – Sensitivity 4

…This is more serious than I thought?

Could it be that everyone at a certain grade could use ‘Sound Blocking’?

Sehyun was deep in thought when,

“…Kim Sehyun.”

Jooho glared at her with eyes that seemed to want to tear her apart. Sehyun looked at his face and smiled slowly.

“What?”

“Go eat somewhere else. Know your place.”

Jooho spoke in a clear voice, loud enough for everyone to hear. His biting tone was a message not only to Sehyun but also to people of other grades. Everyone seemed to understand, as they quickly averted their gazes and pretended to eat.

“That’s cold. You specifically came to me yesterday and said we should be friends.”

Sehyun smiled sweetly on purpose.

“Kim Sehyun.”

“Do these people know? About you and me…”

Sehyun deliberately drew out her words.

Ding!

Skill: Sound Blocking (Unavailable)

Skill detected. Sensitivity increased by +1.

“Shut up, Kim Sehyun.”

Jooho’s eyes gleamed like a madman’s. A surge of bad memories made her head throb, but Sehyun clenched her fists and endured it.

…Endure it.

Sehyun muttered to herself as if to brainwash herself, and then spoke slowly.

“You want me to shut up? Then you shouldn’t have acknowledged me.”

“How can you do this when you know what will happen in a month?”

Sehyun chuckled.

He was talking as if he would let her off easy in a month if she just stayed quiet.

He knew better than anyone that it wouldn’t happen.

He would be the one to track her down and find her as soon as the month was over.

So this one month was her only chance to survive.

Moreover, she had a unique skill, however peculiar it might be.

“You want me to get lost?”

Sehyun asked calmly, her smile gone.

She sighed softly, looking at Jooho, who glared at her as if she had said something outrageous.

It was a dangerous method. Dangerous, but the most reliable way to confirm her hypothesis.

“Then spar with me.”

“…What?”

Sparring between new Guards.

It was a way to exchange techniques and improve their abilities.

The problem was, high-ranking Guards didn’t spar with lower-ranking Guards. They didn’t gain much from it, and it only exposed their skills.

Even when they sparred among themselves, they did it secretly.

So there was no way for lower-ranking Guards to interact with higher-ranking Guards. Especially when the higher-ranking Guards were openly hostile to them like this.

“The day after tomorrow, 8 p.m. Gaon sparring room, first floor.”