I Became the Academy's Kibitz Villain

Chapter 350: The Wild Show For Attention

After completing the final check on the upcoming events at Ji Cheon-hyang’s house, I returned to the pension.

On the way back, I gathered information and data on Ji Cheon-hyang, which the original work didn’t provide. I could fully understand the background of her twisted eating habits.

“Why do you look so pale, oppa?”

As soon as I returned to the pension, I met Yumir, who was cooking.

She was preparing some stir-fried rice in the kitchen, and there was no trace of anything resembling ‘fruit’ among the vegetables she was using.

“I had a conversation with someone who has a truly horrible diet.”

“A horrible diet...? Who are you talking about? Se-rin unnie?”

“Mint chocolate isn’t that horrible.”

I tried to launch an attack on her personal taste as soon as she left the room, but Yumir would surely freak out if she heard it.

“Ji Cheon-hyang, she puts tangerines on ramen and takes a big bite.”

“...Did you say oysters?”

“Tangerines.”

Even Yumir, as if she had heard it wrong, filtered it through her brain and asked again, but she had heard correctly.

“Oranges? Mandarins? That kind of tangerine?”

“Yeah. And even later, when she mixes rice into the ramen, she also stirs in the tangerines.”

“Oppa, is it possible she has some sort of limitation that forces her to do that to maintain her S-rank ability?”

Yumir turned off the heat for the stir-fry and asked me seriously.

“The ability where you have to mix tangerines into your rice to keep your powers... If that’s the price she pays to protect Jeju Island, oh my... That’s just... tragic.”

In this world, abilities were a matter of imagination becoming reality.

However, among the various abilities in fictional works, there were some cases where abilities came with a ‘risk.’

For example, you might have to pay some kind of price whenever you use your power.

Or, excessive output might cause your body to revert to a younger state due to overuse.

In fantasy stories about abilities, it was common to set some kind of drawback for using powers.

“To protect a region as a hero, she has to eat tangerine rice for all three meals? That’s just too much.”

If you thought about it like that, was Ji Cheon-hyang’s habit of mixing tangerines into her rice a drawback of her ability?

Half right, half wrong.

“Yumir, just because she controls tangerines doesn’t mean she has to put tangerines into everything she eats.”

“R-right?”

Yumir, nervously touching a peeled Hallabong, was on edge.

“O-oppa, this isn’t going to explode like shrapnel or anything, right?”

“I’ve already secured the area around the pension with Se-rin, so nothing will happen. Also, we’ve removed all the magical connections from the Hallabong.” řἈŊȯВƐS

“Are all tangerines connected with some sort of magic?”

“They’re connected by scent. It’s like a kind of collar...”

“A collar? Orange-colored?”

“Think of it like a network. A tangerine network. Again, the only reason it’s tangerines is just the nature of it. Just like how objects with electricity have magnetic fields, these tangerines have a specific scent that spreads out like a wave.”

I finished peeling the Hallabong and placed the segments in front of Yumir.

“If objects with electricity have magnetic fields, then these tangerines create a field based on their unique scent. Ji Cheon-hyang controls all the tangerines across Jeju Island through that scent. You’ve seen the extent of her power, right?”

“Yes. I’ve realized how powerful regional dominance-type heroes can be.”

It hadn’t been long since Yumir went out as Platinum Sun, but she witnessed firsthand the control Ji Cheon-hyang had over Jeju Island.

“Even though the Hero Association officially announced that Seon Ga-eul was defeated, all those bone suckers that landed on Jeju were imprisoned in tangerine jails. Some of them were put inside rotten tangerines, too.”

“Yeah. She’s powerful enough to select and attack with tangerines based on their freshness across the entire island. But that doesn’t mean her obsession with tangerines is some kind of ability drawback.”

I popped a big piece of the Hallabong into my mouth.

And that was why I, too, was loyal to the society.

As a ‘reader’ who once loved this world more than anyone, even when the author discarded it by dropping a meteor, I worked for the society because I wanted to protect the world I once cherished so much.

That, without a doubt, was love.

“We ended up talking about this while discussing tangerine rice. Anyway, when you have kids, raise them well. Otherwise, they’ll grow up eating tangerine rice. Got it?”

“Are you dissing me?”

“It’s unfortunate that the background of tangerine rice is sad, but that’s beside the point. Would you want your child to grow up picky and eat tangerine on rice instead of meat?”

“Of course not.”

Yumir clenched both fists in determination.

“How could I let my precious son do something like that?”

“...You’ve already decided it’s a son?”

“Hehe, oppa.”

Yumir smiled brightly as she placed a piece of fish on the rice I scooped.

“You’re not denying that it’s your child, oppa?”

“.......”

I just shrugged my shoulders lightly.

At that moment.

Somewhere along the dark, shadowy Olle Trail in Jeju Island, a white-haired woman—Hyeon Se-rin—was silently waiting for someone.

Rattle, rattle.

The sound of wheels scraping over the gravel of the Olle Trail drew near as a woman with orange hair, dressed in a suit, pulled a large suitcase towards her from afar.

“Rin-ah!! Unnie’s here!!”

“......You’re late.”

Hyeon Se-rin covered her face with her hand, smiling at the grinning woman.

“What took you so long?”

“The cross-country hike?”

“What?”

“I walked all the way from Seoul without getting caught.”

“...You walked?”

“Yep! Didn’t want to waste my magic power.”

“Ah, haaa... No.”

Hyeon Se-rin started to say something, but pressed her temple with her hand and closed her mouth.

“...So, did you bring the item?”

“Of course. Our section chief personally asked for it, so I brought it myself.”

Tap, tap.

The woman—Chaos—tapped the suitcase with her hand, her lips curling into a smirk.

“A globally anticipated auction item. Something all the S-ranks will drool over, a completely legal item for sale.”

Click.

As the suitcase opened, the moonlight peeled away the shadows inside, revealing what lay within.

“The Phoenix Feather.”

Inside the suitcase was a feather glowing blue like flames.

“It’s a one-time consumable item, but if it can revert your body to how it was 10 seconds ago, anyone would drool over it.”

It was the relic of a hero, containing the ability of time reversal (10 seconds).

“What do you think the bidding price will reach?”