Chapter 219: Rune Clan

"Goodbye, Nuna."

"Yeah. See you next time."

"Of course. Make sure to contact me when you get home safely."

"Fufu, I will."

I waved my hand enthusiastically, seeing Su-rin Nuna off.

Moon Su-rin gave a pleasant smile in return.

'That Nuna is really cute too.'

After seeing her off, I headed to the dormitory.

Even though it was lunch time, the streets were quiet with few people around.

'If I keep seeing her like this, we'll probably end up in a relationship.'

How should I put it.

There's a budding romance kind of vibe with Su-rin Nuna.

But dating like that makes a harem difficult.

"Hmm..."

What should I do?

Step, step.

The sound of my footsteps echoed down the street.

Step, step.

Lost in thought, I had been walking for quite a while.

How long had I walked?

I gradually noticed something strange.

"..."

Even though it was a path I always walked, something felt off.

A silence that was hard to explain in words.

And soon, I figured out what that unnatural feeling was.

"There's no one here..."

There wasn't a single person around.

As soon as I left the main street and entered a narrow alley, all presence completely vanished.

It wasn't just that there was no one around.

Not a single natural sound could be heard, like distant voices, music from stores, or the exhaust noise of passing cars.

At the same time I sensed that strangeness, I felt something around my body.

'Magic power?'

It felt a bit foreign for magic power, but it was definitely magic power.

To counter someone's magic power pressing down on my body, I immediately drew up my own magic power.

'An attack...? No, if that were the case, Combat Sense would have reacted.'

Raising my magic power slightly lessened the crushing pressure coming from all sides.

However, magic power still lingered in the surroundings.

"... It's a mess right after I get discharged."

I don't know why I'm so popular.

It would be nice if I were only popular with heroines.

I surrounded my body with a Rune Barrier in preparation for whoever was coming.

I guess the silver lining is that Su-rin Nuna didn't get swept up in this.

And the moment I cast the barrier, I felt it.

"This is a Rune Barrier."

The magic power wrapping around my body was a Rune Barrier.

The method of use and the magic power arrangement were different from mine, but the core formula was definitely the Rune Barrier.

It was the exact same feeling I had during the Association party venue terror.

'The Rune Clan...?'

A core executive of Pandemic who uses the Rune Barrier.

I thought we would cross paths eventually, but I didn't want to meet her alone in a place like this.

While I was tense from the unexpected appearance of an enemy and scanning the surroundings with mana detection, it happened.

"Haa, we finally meet."

Click, clack.

A red-haired woman appeared from somewhere and walked straight toward me.

"..."

The aura she gave off was that of an S-Rank demon or even higher.

Rebecca, a mage of the Rune Clan whom you could only defeat in the latter half of the original work.

She was a mage with a level of prowess I couldn't even dream of approaching right now.

Crackle-

Crunch-

The Woman in Red. As Rebecca approached, my Rune Barrier began to collapse.

Unable to put up even a little resistance, I was naturally swallowed up by my opponent's magic power like an ant getting stepped on.

'What is this...'

If we were using the same magic, I would never be pushed back.

That was my magic power operation with [Mana Resonance].

But even then, that was only when compared to fellow humans.

Bzzzt- Crackle-

It didn't work against anomalous mages like Im Sol or Rebecca.

Rebecca inched closer to me, and I swallowed hard in nervousness.

But the closer she got, the more suspicious I felt.

Because my heart was still calm.

My special privilege, 'Combat Sense', didn't activate.

That meant Rebecca had no hostility towards me.

"I'm sorry for showing up so suddenly. You're flustered, right?"

"...?"

Still, even if she had no hostility, we weren't on those kinds of terms.

I furrowed my brow, staring at Rebecca as she spoke to me in a friendly tone with an apologetic expression.

"It's been really hard for you all this time, hasn't it? You don't have to hide anymore. I'm also from the Rune Clan, just like you."

"Excuse me?"

What kind of sudden development is this.

I couldn't hide my bewilderment.

It was because an executive of Pandemic suddenly started spouting bullshit at me.

I'm from the Rune Clan?

"I've been looking for you this whole time. For the revival of the Rune Clan...!"

Rebecca pushed her red hair back with a deeply moved expression.

"What kind of bullshit..."

The Rebecca I remembered wasn't a woman who made expressions like that.

She was an incredibly annoying villain who appeared at every terror attack and made it difficult to save the heroines with her Rune Barrier, so why was she looking at me with those eyes?

"... Don't try to hide it. The blood flowing in your veins is real."

Squeeze-

As Rebecca stepped closer, the pressure on my body grew heavier.

Because there was a gap that couldn't be overcome with simple magic power operation, I couldn't resist the magic power slowly constricting my body.

"No, what do you mean by the blood flowing in my veins...!"

Is this that common cliché for an orphanage-born protagonist?

'... No, it's not.'

Lee Ho-yeon is just an ordinary orphan.

There are absolutely no hidden settings like that.

Rebecca slowly approached me as I was bound by a magic rope.

"In 10 years, we can increase the numbers to 10. In 20 years, 20. In 50 years, restoring the old Rune Village won't be just a dream."

"Wait. Hold on. What is this. Why are things going like this?"

I kept racking my brain on how to escape this situation.

But I couldn't help but be flustered by Rebecca's subsequent actions.

Slide-

Because Rebecca started taking off my top.

Why the hell is she taking off my clothes?

I couldn't understand the current situation at all.

This is too sudden.

Why is a villain from the original work trying to pounce on me.

"It's fine. You don't have to do anything."

"Wait. No, wait a minute. Ah, fuck, seriously..."

You should at least explain things before doing this.

When I couldn't hold back and spat out a curse, Rebecca finally met my eyes properly.

As if reading the bewilderment and annoyance in my eyes, Rebecca put on an apologetic expression.

"Right... I'm sorry. I was too hasty. I should explain things to you as well."

"..."

I waited for the calmed-down Rebecca's next words.

"Lee Ho-yeon, the last survivor of the Rune Clan. I've been looking for you this whole time."

"... What?"

"You might think the entire Rune Clan was wiped out by a mysterious attack, but I was secretly on a mission in the outside world at the time. Thanks to that, I was lucky enough to survive."

"I'm telling you, I'm not from the Rune Clan."

"The barrier you use... the Rune Barrier is a secret technique that only those of the Rune Clan can use."

"That's true, but..."

"To revive the Rune Clan, I've been tracking down the two boys who were the only ones to escape on the day the clan was destroyed."

"..."

Listening to Rebecca's following words, I learned about her inner circumstances that weren't in the original work.

I naturally assumed Rebecca had fallen victim to Maestro's mind control as well, but it seemed that wasn't the case.

She had her own reasons.

"So, you have to make a child with me."

"Why does it lead to that conclusion..."

"Because we must revive the Rune Clan. The Rune Clan requires a pure bloodline...!"

Haa.

Seeing how she approached me not long after I was discharged, it seemed she'd been eagerly waiting for a chance to strike.

If I had known this backstory, I wouldn't have gone around spamming the Rune Barrier so recklessly.

Anyway, seeing how she explained the situation, it seemed Rebecca didn't have bad intentions.

"By any chance, during the Association party venue terror, was it you, Ms. Rebecca, who approached the Holy Maiden and said something about the Clan of the Past?"

"I certainly did. You were unconscious at the time."

So the person talking about the Clan of the Past was Rebecca.

When she mentioned a clan, I did think of the Rune Clan, but since I lacked the background knowledge that Rebecca was looking for them, I couldn't connect the two.

Haa.

Well, what can I do. I should just be honest for now.

"Umm, Ms. Rebecca. I'm really sorry, but... I'm not from the Rune Clan."

Since Rebecca seemed to be trying to treat me politely now, I spoke politely as well.

Because I had to clear up what needed clearing up.

"Don't lie. You're deploying a Rune Barrier even now. The Rune Barrier is a magic that cannot be cast unless the blood of the Rune Clan flows in your veins."

"No, haa..."

How do I explain this.

[I obtained the Secret Tome of the Rune Clan from the Academy warehouse, and because my talent is incredible, I was lucky enough to be able to use it.]

Who would believe it if I explained it like that.

To begin with, the Rune Barrier is a secret technique only usable by the Rune Clan, and the talent I possess is not something an ordinary person could have.

It's literally a special privilege... a realm beyond mere talent.

And so, this misunderstanding came to be.

It's not that I never thought about what I'd do if I met a member of the Rune Clan later on.

But I only ever expected plot progressions like, 'To think you could use my Rune Barrier! Impossible! Uwaaagh!'... I never imagined a development like this.

'No, I'm the normal one here. Isn't reacting like this the abnormal thing?'

Thinking logically...

[To revive the Rune Clan, the two of us, as the remaining members, must have a child.]

How could anyone predict this.

"It's fine... I tied you up in advance because I figured this would happen. I heard men can ejaculate even if they don't want to?"

"..."

She might be trying to be considerate of me, but reviving the Rune Clan seems to be her top priority.

My tightly bound body proved that.

Persuasion won't work.

'How do I escape this situation?'

I assessed the situation as calmly as possible.

Rebecca, who is looking for a survivor of the Rune Clan, and me, who needs to escape this situation.

The best solution would be to find the Rune Clan survivor for her... but there's no way I have a hint.

Rebecca carefully stroked my hair.

"I think black hair suits you better than red hair. Your face is exactly my type too..."

"... Are members of the Rune Clan originally supposed to have red hair?"

"Don't play dumb. Anyone can dye their hair."

"..."

I just got another hint.

I had 3 hints in total.

Red hair.

A boy.

And the Rune Barrier.

There were too few hints.

I can't identify a survivor with just this...

'Huh?'

As I quickly scoured through my memories, I found one boy who met those conditions.

The Sunlight Orphanage where I did volunteer activities with Baek A-yeong.

The boy who noticed my Rune Barrier when I was secretly having sex with Baek A-yeong in the bathroom there.

At the time, I brushed it off, thinking his magic power resonance must be good~, but actually, if I think about it carefully, it makes no sense.

Because a Rune Barrier isn't the type of barrier you can detect just by having good resonance.

And coincidentally, that boy's hair color was also a crimson red.

"Why, did you suddenly feel like taking the lead? If so, I can allow it. We're of the same Rune Clan, after all..."

"I'll say this once again... I'm not the successor to the Rune Clan. But I think I know who the real survivor is."

"I'm telling you, you're the survivor."

"... No, I'm not the survivor. Haa, just untie this first."

"Do I have to?"

"Just meet one person with me first. It won't be too late to do it after that, right? ... You can always catch me anyway if you want to."

"Hmm, I suppose that's true. Shall we go meet them first, then?"

Pondering for a moment, Rebecca dispelled the magic power binding my body.

"..."

'I'm probably right.'

It's not a 100% certainty, but I'm probably right.