It was 2 A.M. in Korea, but 7 P.M. in Norway. The two countries operated in different time zones, but their skies appeared equally dark. Night descended on the snowy mountain, and the hunting club concluded their event. Chae Nayun and I obtained the first and fourth place flags. First place rewarded Yun Seung-Ah’s one-time coupon, and fourth place rewarded a VR gaming set worth 3 million won. The active hero seniors gave out fantastic gifts as expected. Chae Nayun and I returned to the cabin for the barbecue party. The other members greeted us with smiles.

“Wow, you got first place? I’m jealous!”

The club leader saw the flag in my hand and exclaimed. The other members also looked envious as I bitterly smiled.

“Now, let’s eat.”

The barbeque started as they placed the meat on the grill. It pleasantly sizzled, but these kids didn’t know how to properly grill. I stepped up to volunteer.

“I’ll handle the grilling. All of you can rest.”

I took pride in grilling since my aunt ran a Korean bbq restaurant. It made me quite confident in my technique.

“… You’re different from the rumors, huh.”

A male senior said surprisingly as he handed me the tongs. I focused on grilling without talking. Knowing when to flip was the most crucial step, and it was best not to cut anything until the end. Of course, I kept my ears open as I grilled. The seniors gave everyone valuable advice.

“Be careful on your upcoming finals. It’ll be more rigorous than anything before. Don’t trust anyone.”

“Is it that difficult?”

“I’ve seen friendships ruined. Everyone will be on the edge because it affects the rankings. Also, you all know that there’s a separate class for people held back, right?”

“Ah, yes.”

“You have to be especially cautious of them. There are about 200 of them every year. They won’t stop at anything to pass since they’ll be expelled.”

Cadets from the previous year would be the source of trouble. Of the 200 repeaters, close to 20% contracted with djinns or were part of high profile organizations. The co-author might have even increased the numbers.

“Hey, um… Haejin?”

“It’s Hajin. Kim Hajin.”

“Ah, Kim Hajin. You’re a great griller! You should eat some too.”

“I’ve been eating while grilling, so I’m full.”

“Really?”

The barbeque party continued for 20 minutes. Everyone saw me favorably after my spectacular grilling.

“The original plan was to hunt at night, but let’s just rest since we’re full.”

The club leader changed his mind.

“Team 1 will use Cabin A. Team 2 will use Cabin B.”

The 18 club members split into two cabins. Chae Nayun and I were assigned Cabin A, which was surprisingly big. The first floor had three rooms and a large living space, while the second floor had six rooms. After unpacking our belongings, we met in the living room and played Mafia.

Chae Nayun was killed in the first town vote every time she became the mafia. The mafia killed her on the first or second night whenever she had important roles like the doctor or cop. She died relatively fast even as an ordinary citizen. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. She just simply couldn’t hide her emotions.

“Ah, I haven’t laughed that hard in a while.”

The game ended, and everyone went to sleep. I left the cabin and sat on a bench outside. I couldn’t help but laugh as Chae Nayun’s face popped up in my head. She might have cried if we pushed her a bit more. I stopped laughing as a notification came in. I turned on my laptop and saw that Truth Agency had received another request.

[There is a conman named Jerome Müller. He acted as my asset manager until he took the money and ran. Here are several pictures of his face, height, and other identifying information. Please tell me his location.]

This was the second request I had ever received. The first customer must have introduced him, judging from the German name. The Book of Truth could easily find this conman since I knew his face and identifying information. I released stigma’s magic power and opened the Book of Truth. I spent nearly 80% of my magic power to find his location and slightly staggered after feeling lightheaded.

[It will cost 5,000,000 points.]

I held back from asking for 50 million. Surprisingly, I immediately received a message saying the money had been deposited. I wrote back what the Book of Truth stated, but no reply came. I closed the Book of Truth and put away my laptop. Then I looked into the distance at Norway’s untouched nature. I suddenly thought of something in front of this scenic beauty. Cigarette.

“Ah, I stopped smoking…”

I just realized. I used to smoke half a pack daily because of stress, but smoking hadn’t crossed my mind since I arrived in this world.

“You used to smoke?”

“Whoa!”

I jolted at the sudden voice.

“W-What! Where are you!?”

“Above you, idiot.”

I looked up and saw Chae Nayun peeking from the second-floor window. Since when was she there?

“So you used to smoke? A real delinquent, huh. Do you also have tattoos?”

I flinched at her words and looked at my upper arm. Thankfully, my clothes covered the two streaks of stigma.

“What, you really have them? Let me see.”

“I don’t.”

“Hmm.”

Chae Nayun raised her eyebrows as she looked down at me. Then she looked back up into the air. It seemed she didn’t see me opening the Book of Truth.

“… By the way, are you confident?”

Chae Nayun asked as she gazed at the horizon.

“Confident? About what?”

“About winning against me.”

I replied arrogantly, “What about you? Are you confident in giving up the bow if you lose?”

“That’s impossible, so it never crossed my mind.”

“Are you going to cry if you lose?”

“Do you want to cry now?”

“You almost cried today because of Mafia.”

“… Screw off.”

I felt like I won our exchange, but then I wondered what I was doing with a kid. Being around them started making me childish. I sat back on the bench and enjoyed the view. I only saw snow and evergreen trees until I looked at the sky full of stars. That was the first time I saw such a beautiful scene. Now I understood why Chae Nayun opened her window. She was looking at them too.

“Oh right, traveling club is canceled this week.”

Chae Nayun mentioned the unsurprising news. The same had occurred in the original story, where Belbet succeeded and Natasha broke up with Oh Hanhyun. However, now she broke up with him because Belbet had failed. Oh Hanhyun should be heartbroken right now.

“By the way, have you seen the news article from France?”

“News article? Is it about me?”

“Yeah, Yeonha showed me. They’re calling you the Korean Sherlock who captured the conman of the century.”

“Oh.”

“I can’t believe a delinquent who smokes and fights with me is Sherlock.”

“Just go to sleep.”

“I was going even if you didn’t tell me!”

Tak. Chae Nayun shut her window. I also got up as my smartwatch rang. Chae Nayun sent me the link to the news article.

[Conman of the Century Captured by Korean Cadet.]

Such an article like this existed. I laughed in embarrassment as I read the translation.

[Authorities arrested Belbet in a large mansion on the outskirts of Paris. Belbet is a conman who scammed thousands of people over the past 20 years… He tried to bury his wrongdoings by faking his death, but a Cube cadet with keen insight saw through his clever methods…]

Tak. Chae Nayun opened her window again and curiously asked.

“Hey, what does a cigarette taste like?”

“…”

***

“Oh, man.”

Yoo Jinhyuk returned from his journey. For the past 2 days, he saw 24 hours of a person’s past. His limit was two days because he could only hold in his bowel and bladder for that long. He ran to the bathroom as soon as he woke up.

“Did you find anything?” His secretary spoke from outside the bathroom.

“Yeah, a few strange things.”

“What did you see?”

“The day he entered the orphanage. He spent 23 hours and 55 minutes in front of the orphanage door.”

Yoo Jinhyuk could move around a virtual reality of someone’s past. However, moving spent enormous amounts of magic power because of his spirit body. As such, he would always stay as still as possible.

“Some kid dropped a kid off.”

“… Huh? A kid gave birth to a kid?”

“No, the kid was too young to give birth, but I don’t know too much more. That’s where it ended. His past is strangely dense, so I’ll have to maintain my peak condition and try again.”

Pffft, pfft. Unpleasant sounds rang out from the bathroom. The secretary frowned.

“Anyways, this is looking like it’ll take a while. I don’t know if I can do it for free.”

“You have to because another request came in.” The secretary sent a message to his smartwatch. The screen displayed a familiar picture.

“What, it’s Kim Hajin again?”

It was the same picture of Kim Hajin that his niece sent.

“Yes, but look at the buyer’s rank.”

“Rank? … Red, Red Diamond?”

Red Diamond was Violet Banquet’s highest rank. Yoo Jinhyuk also held the same rank. Red Diamond members could see the ranks of other buyers and sellers. Furthermore, they could recognize each other since only a few Red Diamond members existed. Naturally, Yoo Jinhyuk knew the owner of this account.

[Requesting for this individual’s background information. You are not allowed to hurt him. We will deposit 100 million points as a security deposit and an additional 500 million points when the job is done. (Contract will be canceled if the target finds out or is hurt)]

The brief request and the exorbitant amount of money they offered hinted at their identity.

“This…”

Spending 600 million won to investigate a person’s background… He was certain this was the Chameleon Troupe.

Yoo Jinhyuk stared at the picture of Kim Hajin.

“There might actually be something about him.”

Yoo Jinhyuk smiled at the first exciting request in some time as he sat on the toilet.

***

A week passed, and the long-awaited day of my archery duel with Chae Nayun finally arrived. I would prove that I could beat her with just a month of practice.

I headed to the archery range as soon as class ended. Chae Nayun and her friends followed. She brought quite an entourage. At least 70 people, including well-known cadets like Kim Suho, Yoo Yeonha, and Shin Jonghak.

After about 15 minutes, we arrived at an archery range built on an artificial mountain.

The archery range looked similar to a shooting range, but the lanes were huge. Chae Nayun warmed up in a lane about 50 meters away.

“We’ll be doing the usual. You practiced archery for the past month, right?”

I briefly responded, “No.”

“What?”

“I didn’t. Explain.”

“…”

Chae Nayun frowned.

“See that in the distance? The maximum range is 1km. We’ll start from the 100m mark and increase by 50m every time. Let me show you.”

Chae Nayun held up her bow. After clearing her throat, she shouted, “Shot!”

A target immediately rose from the 100m mark. It wobbled as if to dodge Chae Nayun’s arrow. She fired a wooden arrow when the target reached its maximum height. The arrow cleanly pierced the target with her textbook posture and textbook technique. The spectators cheered. Honestly, my jaws also slightly dropped.

“Why? Is it more difficult than you thought?”

I responded with a slight smile, “No, I just thought it was too easy.”

I held out my hand to Chae Nayun.

“What.”

“Give me your bow and arrow. I don’t have any.”

“… I thought you’d do something like this.”

Chae Nayun growled and looked behind her. Immediately, some guy ran up and handed her a bow and a quiver full of arrows.

“Take it.”

“Thanks.”

I set the quiver down and examined the bow first.

“You ready?”

“Wait.”

This was the first time I touched a bow. I couldn’t rent from Cube without paying. Thankfully, this traditional bow would be easier to use. I tried pulling on the string and nocking an arrow.

“Is this how you shoot?”

My gift couldn’t do anything about my posture.

“...”

Chae Nayun dumbfoundedly stared at me. I meekly laughed and muttered, “I’m kidding. I’m ready. Let’s go. Start.”

I could just copy Chae Nayun’s posture. She clicked her tongue and turned towards her target. Then she loudly shouted, “Start!”

Her voice echoed with confidence.