Episode 98: Experience (4)
“Yes… So, we’ll conclude this matter here.”
The conference room on the 7th floor of the Hero Association.
From Association-certified guilds to civilian organizations—quite a large number of guilds and groups were in attendance.
At the very center, seated in a rather prominent spot, Kang Arin was in an extremely uncomfortable state.
“…Arin, calm down a little.”
The person sitting next to Kang Arin was her uncle, Kang Yoon-hyuk.
The guild master of the Maengju Guild and the one who had personally brought her to this meeting.
“I’m not upset.”
A short, dry reply.
But inside, she was boiling over.
She was so angry she could die.
By now, she should have been touring the headquarters with Kim Haeun guiding her and Jung Haein by her side, taking photos together in the lobby, trying on equipment.
They should have been standing shoulder to shoulder, experiencing their first trial together.
But instead…
She was stuck in this mind-numbingly boring conference room.
Her uncle, Kang Yoon-hyuk, had dragged her here.
Something about it being time to start making appearances or whatever.
She knew it was all for her sake, but…
She was all too aware that it was nothing more than empty formalities.
The meeting was already winding down.
People were organizing their documents and starting to rise from their seats.
‘All this just to listen to *this*…’
“Haah…”
A deep sigh escaped Kang Arin’s lips.
But then—
“Ah, and everyone is aware, right? Tonight’s Strategic Exchange Meeting—we hope many of you will attend again this year.”
The bright voice of the Association President echoed through the conference room.
“Haha, of course we’ll be there.”
Forced laughter and replies were exchanged here and there in the room.
The Strategic Exchange Meeting.
An annual event held around this time for organizations.
The official purpose was “joint response to global threats,” a platform for sharing strategies among one another.
But in reality, it was more of a social gathering—closer to a party—for building camaraderie between guilds and groups.
At that moment, Kang Arin’s eyes *snapped* open.
‘This is it.’
Life quickly returned to her previously tense expression.
“Uncle, who’s going to that?”
“Well, probably I—”
“I’ll go.”
“Huh? What’s gotten into you? I was just thinking about going alone, but if you’re coming too, that’d be—”
“No.”
Kang Arin smiled faintly. The corner of her lips curled up slightly.
“*I’ll go.”
“Huh…?”
The invitation allowed one guest per person.
And as for who Kang Arin would bring…
Well, she already had someone in mind.
***
Kim Haeun led the students into the research building.
Numerous pieces of equipment and artifacts awaiting analysis were neatly arranged in order.
The air was stuffy, filled with the sounds of machinery, keyboard taps, and the low murmurs of researchers.
Among them, one person stood out unmistakably.
A woman in one corner, practically glued to her monitor.
Her hair was hastily tied up, glasses perched on her nose, and she looked utterly exhausted.
Dark circles were heavily spread under her eyes.
She probably *could* be pretty if she put in the effort, but right now, fatigue had taken over, leaving her complexion far from ideal.
Kim Haeun cautiously approached her.
“Um… Hero Kang Soo-jin? I’ve brought the students.”
Kang Soo-jin, who had been staring holes into her monitor, only shifted her eyes.
“Ugh…”
*Thud.* She turned her shoulders and stood up from her seat.
“Yeah, hey kids. You’re here.”
She raised a hand and gestured around her.
“This is your future.”
“…I’m fine with that!!”
One student shouted enthusiastically.
Kang Soo-jin just blinked slowly.
“…Yeah, good for you. I’m not.”
Then she pulled out a cigarette from her bag before stuffing it back in.
“Ah. Sorry.”
She looked back at Kim Haeun.
“So, what do you want me to do with them?”
“Ah, just… a quick rundown of what you’re working on~”
Kim Haeun playfully tapped her shoulders. Kang Soo-jin smirked incredulously before turning the whiteboard in front of her.
—Screech.
“Alright then… How about we start with this?”
The back of the whiteboard was crammed with dense equations, structural diagrams, and circuit maps marked in red.
But something about it felt familiar.
‘…Wait, is this—’
“This… is what you call a ‘Fragment,’ right? A Fragment.”
The students nodded.
“It’s a hypothesis my cousin sent me a while back—about the essential conditions for extracting power from a Fragment. By the way, my cousin is one of your professors.”
She continued,
“He suddenly sent me this theory some student came up with, and I was going to ignore it, but… look at this? It actually makes sense. What was the student’s name again… Jung something, I think.”
“Simply put, to extract a Fragment’s energy, you need the ‘System’s Selection.’”
—Swoosh. She drew a large circle around the words:
[System’s Selection]
“But here’s the problem. We have no idea how this ‘selection’ happens or what kind of reaction triggers it.”
Kang Soo-jin turned her head.
“How the hell are we supposed to figure out this reaction? Anyone here got an idea?”
The students began to fidget. Of course they would—it was an impossible question. Even Kang Soo-jin, a top-tier researcher, hadn’t found the answer.
She added,
“Relax.”
One by one, the students hesitantly raised their hands.
“Um… maybe it reacts to bio-signals? Like, each person has a unique frequency…”
A male student in the front row spoke cautiously.
“Okay, next.”
“Could it be tied to specific genes… or maybe certain diseases trigger it?”
“Yeah, next.”
A few more suggestions followed, but her expression only grew more exhausted.
After listening for a while, Kang Soo-jin closed her eyes and nodded.
“Alright, kids, good effort. Ms. Kim Haeun—take them out now.”
“Ah—yes!”
Kim Haeun quickly responded.
Even then, I hesitated.
‘Would saying this actually help?’
If the Maengju Guild—Kang Arin’s guild—advanced their research on Fragments, it wouldn’t hurt.
I quietly spoke up.
“What if neither the Fragment nor the subject is ready yet?”
Kang Soo-jin, who had already slumped back into her chair, slowly turned her eyes toward me. Kim Haeun nervously waved her hands with a forced smile.
“Ah~ Let’s stop here, our researcher is very busy—”
“Wait.”
Kang Soo-jin stopped her.
Then, tilting her head slightly, she said,
“Keep going.”
I nodded and continued calmly.
“The ‘System’s Selection’ can only be observed if a reaction occurs. But if the subject isn’t strong enough to withstand the Fragment’s energy, it’s only natural that no reaction happens at all.”
In the original story, characters had to reach a certain level before they could even find a Fragment.
In fact, the reason I initially considered Yu Hana as the first candidate to bond with a Fragment was because she seemed the closest to reaching that threshold.
In other words—right now, the subjects aren’t ready, so the Fragments don’t react.
But once those characters do reach that level?
The Fragments respond immediately.
“Fragments are high-dimensional energy. To extract their power, the subject has to be strong enough. Right now, there’s no reaction simply because the candidates aren’t prepared yet.”
As I finished speaking, I glanced around.
Unnoticed, nearby researchers had started gathering around us.
“So…”
Ah, whatever.
I’d already come this far.
I walked straight to the whiteboard.
Amid the dense equations, there was one empty space.
I boldly drew an X over it.
“Maybe the problem is that we’re assuming a reaction like ‘System’s Selection’ even exists in the first place. If we’re calculating based on something that might not be real, of course we’ll never find an answer.”
For a moment, the lab fell into complete silence.
Kang Soo-jin tapped her desk lightly. Her face was unreadable.
One researcher whispered,
“Uh… Researcher Soo-jin, this is…”
Kang Soo-jin raised a finger to her lips.
Shhh.
“Then, when will they be ready?”
“How should I know?”
I wasn’t about to give away everything for free.
Finally, Kang Soo-jin let out a dry laugh.
Sensing the shift in the atmosphere, Kim Haeun stayed quiet.
“What’s your name?”
Kang Soo-jin stood up and rummaged through her pockets as she walked toward me.
“Jung Haein.”
“Jung Haein? Jung Haein… Ah—so it is you. My cousin talks about you a lot.”
The professor who had tried recruiting me for grad school before.
So she was his cousin.
She pulled out a business card and handed it to me.
“Here’s my contact. Call me anytime.”
Then, running a hand through her hair, she turned to Kim Haeun.
“Ms. Haeun.”
“Yes?”
Kang Soo-jin handed her a blue card.
“You know the café on the 3rd floor? Get the kids something to drink. They worked hard.”
“Ah—thank you…!”
“Oh, and—”
She suddenly turned back to me.
“You—get yourself some cake. Two or three slices. Actually, just eat as much as you want.”
Kang Soo-jin grinned at me.
Then, spinning around, she shouted at the researchers.
“Alright, everyone?”
The researchers began avoiding eye contact.
“Looks like we’re pulling an all-nighter.”
A collective groan echoed through the lab.
***
The Maengju Guild’s Specialty.
The 3rd-floor company café.
Kim Haeun was sitting across from me.
“Do you even realize how huge this is? Kang Soo-jin is so… I mean, she’s so cold and unapproachable, and yet she gave you her business card…!”
“Ah… yeah.”
Kim Haeun was shoveling cake into her mouth like there was no tomorrow.
Honestly, she probably just wanted an excuse to eat the delicious cake.
Still, this must’ve been big news for them.
A breakthrough in research that had been completely stuck.
Before the key characters reached their potential, the Fragments wouldn’t have shown any reaction at all.
The way the other students looked at me had definitely changed too.
Before, their gazes had been almost pitying…
But now? It was like they were sizing up a rival—full of wariness.
Then, in that moment—
“Oh, she’s here.”
A murmur spread through the students, and someone quickly stood up.
“Good afternoon!!”
I turned my head to see Kang Arin walking through the café entrance.
She was only a first-year, yet even the upperclassmen bowed slightly as she passed.
Her steps were confident, natural.
Kang Arin gave a light nod.
Then, her sharp eyes locked onto mine.
The cold, sharp expression on her face melted away.
She grinned brightly.
“Jung Haein~”
“Hey, you’re here?”
Without hesitation, she walked over and shot a brief, pointed glare at the back of Kim Haeun’s head—who was still sitting in front of me.
Then, as if nothing happened, she plopped down right next to me with a smile.
“What’d you do today? Was it fun?”
She started chattering away.
At school, she barely talked to me, but maybe because this was her turf, she seemed way more excited.
A few students stared at us from a distance.
Confusion, doubt, disbelief—
‘Why is Kang Arin…?’
It was written all over their faces.
“Oh! Arin-nim, you’re here?”
Kim Haeun greeted her cheerfully between bites of cake.
Kang Arin nodded coolly.
“Haein is seriously smart, you know? He even got Researcher Kang Soo-jin’s business card!”
“Oh~ Really?”
“Yeah, and also—”
Kang Arin cut her off mid-sentence.
“By the way, Hero Kim Haeun, don’t you have a summons?”
“A summons? Nope! I’m totally free today. Heehee.”
“Ah… Is that so?”
Kim Haeun kept happily munching on her cake.
Kang Arin, without changing her expression, pulled out her smartwatch and tapped the screen twice— click, click.
Then, suddenly—
~Ding ding.~
Kim Haeun’s watch started ringing.
“Now?”
“Ah…!”
She stared at her watch in dismay before reluctantly standing up.
“Ugh, I’ll be right back. Save my seat.”
Kang Arin gave her a sympathetic smile and waved.
Thump, thump.
Kim Haeun trudged away, her cake left unfinished.
…I almost felt bad for her.
“Tch.”
Kang Arin clicked her tongue softly as she watched her leave.
Then, without missing a beat, she scooted even closer to me.
Nudge, nudge.
She bumped her elbow against mine and whispered,
“Hey, Haein… Wanna go somewhere with me tonight?”
“Where?”
“Hmm…”
She tapped a finger against her lips.
“A party?”
Then she smiled quietly.
Her eyes sparkled mischievously.
For a second, I felt like I was back on Mount Baekdu.
‘This…’
Right now, she was making the exact same face as back then.